Frederick was then taken to a castle where he was cared for. The child of his mistress was not killed, but died in an accident, which apparently reminded his father of Frederick’s existence.
One night, however, there was a commotion in the house.
“Fire!” can be heard from the servants.
Frederick, still recovering from his injuries, looks out the window and sees that his lover’s house is on fire. He walks toward the fire, his body weakened by the long period of malnutrition. He went to the fire because he thought he saw his mother there.
When he arrived at the fire with all his strength and out of breath, he found his mother laughing loudly in front of the burning house of the mistress.
“Ha-ha-ha, you silly woman, my dear…”
After a few laughs, she looked back at Frederick.
Her mother’s hair was disheveled by the flames and she looked like an evil spirit.
“The fire has purified the impure. The gods have freed her from her filth! Come on, little one. Let’s go back to the tower.”
Theresia says tonelessly, reaching for Frederick’s thin arm. She wants to shake him off, but she can’t. She grabs his arm as hard as she can. Her fingernails dig into Frederick’s thin arm, and a trickle of blood spurts out. My mother has gone crazy. I knew it as a child.
Then my father and the guards came, grabbed my mother in a half-crazed state and took her away.
When he woke up the next morning, his father came into his room.
Frederick, you are now the only heir. But if you are weak, you will not be recognized as heir to the Weller family. If you remain loyal to the kingdom and become a strong knight, this land will soon be yours.”
His lover is burned and his mother is sent away for medical treatment.
After his wounds healed, Frederick entered a knight’s boarding school. After five years, he graduated at the top of his class and returned home to find that his mother had died. Later, his father also fell ill during a deployment and died in the war.
“I then dedicated myself to learning and becoming a first-class knight, and threw myself into battle.”
When Frederick finished, Liddell burst into tears.
He is a strong and wonderful man who has learned to trust people again, despite the terrible things that have happened to him. Even when he remembers, he has overcome it without reverting to his former self.
“That’s enough. That’s enough. How awful.”
Liddell slaps the sofa with both hands.
“Liddell, I’m sorry for the inconvenience.”
Her tears make Frederick, who has spoken so matter-of-factly about his past, wince.
“But you don’t have to feel sorry for me, because what I did to you is not the same as what I did to you. Please don’t misjudge me.”
“Pity? I’m so angry, I’m so angry!”
“What?”
He looks like he got off on the wrong foot.
“Never think about the past, don’t regret anything, and don’t hold a grudge! That’s too much.”
Then Liddell hugs Frederick tightly with both arms. It’s sad to see him speak so matter-of-factly about his difficult childhood. It’s not his fault.
“I used to resent it. Sometimes I went to that closed tower.”
“What?”
“It was I who so viciously broke down the doors of the rooms in that tower and trashed them when I grew up and took over. It is a shame!
he says, and his dark, dwindling eyes gleam.
The screams he heard when they were first married, the lights in the tower, that was his misplaced anger.
“I’m not ashamed of you. You have every right to be angry.”
“Thank you, Liddell.”
Frederick smiles softly.
“Well… All that’s left to do is to grieve…. For you were a child yourself. Helpless, unable to resist. You are a victim.”
Frederick’s eyes widened as if he had been told something unexpected.
This man had been sent to war with unhealed wounds in his heart and had not even grieved for himself.
Liddell is crushed by Frederick’s unhelpful circumstances. If only he could, he would save him as a child. Carefully, she reaches out to touch his cheek.
“Liddell… You…”
A single tear flowed down Frederick’s cheek. For the first time, he felt sorry for his past.
The next morning they woke up in the same bedroom, but only as cuddle sleepers. They held hands, cried, and fell asleep. It’s good to be awake, but awkward.
After a few moments of fidgeting and looking at each other, Frederick suddenly straightens up.
“Liddell, in the aftermath of yesterday, I’ve been wondering how to tell you that I want to be a normal couple, since I’ve given you such terrible terms.”
Frederick nodded dejectedly like a scolded child. Liddell could not leave him alone and ran his fingers through his light sand-colored hair to comb it.
Having returned from the battlefield, her husband, despite his size, is strangely endearing. And handsome… Liddell was clearly aware of her love for him.
“Master, I think it’s time we became a normal couple…”
Frederick’s face jumped up.
“Are you sure, Liddell?”
He looked at Liddell with hungry eyes.
“Yes.”
When Liddell nods, his cheeks flush with pleasure.
◇ ◇
The next day, between jobs, Liddell is invited by Frederick to go for a walk. They walked leisurely, enjoying the scenery.
At a field of white clover flowers, Frederick suddenly stops.
“Sir, what’s going on here?”
Liddell asks suspiciously.
Suddenly, he kneels down in front of Liddell.
“Liddell, will you marry me?”
He holds out a ring. Delicate and beautifully crafted, probably by Fie.
“Well, we’ve already-“
“We want to start over. From the proposal.”
Liddell took Frederick’s hand without hesitation and smiled like a flower.
He stood up, hugged Liddell and said.
“I want to do the wedding again.”
“Yes?”
Liddell blinked in surprise.
