Having returned to her room with Becky, Relia lay on the bed with an unsettled heart.
Becky had brought plenty of desserts including maclia to comfort the startled Relia, but for some reason she couldn't bring herself to touch them.
'I wonder if he's sick somewhere?'
Remembering Carius, who had suddenly cried and then laughed like a madman, made her feel uneasy.
He was someone who disliked her, but he was also her mother's closest sibling.
'And from what Grandma said, the two of them seemed to be even closer and more intimate than I had known....'
To Relia, her grandparents were kinder than anyone else, but apparently they had been extremely strict parents to their children when they were young.
Perhaps because of that, her mind kept dwelling on it.
At first, whenever he looked at her with those sharp eyes, she thought, 'He's a fully grown adult, why does he act like that?'
But in a way, those eyes also resembled someone desperately trying to protect something.
'Just like an immature adult....'
Relia rolled around hugging her doll with a serious expression, then got up from the bed again.
'Oh right! I almost forgot. I need to do what needs to be done.'
Relia's gaze fell on the basket containing stamina recovery potions.
'I need to earn money quickly and charge the crystal.'
Just as she sprang up and was about to pick up the basket and leave—
Knock knock.
A knocking sound was heard, and thinking it was Becky, she found that it was Carius who opened the door and entered.
Relia narrowed her eyes and looked at him.
His eyes were bright red, as if he had been crying, then laughing, then crying again.
"Sit down for a moment."
Carius spoke bluntly and went to sit on the sofa. After hesitating, Relia walked across from him and took a seat.
"What is it?"
"...I have something to say."
"......"
"Before, that is, in the Imperial City...."
"Yes."
"I apologize. I'm sorry for losing my temper without any reason."
"......"
Relia looked at him suspiciously, wondering if he really had damaged his head.
"And... now I believe your words. No, actually I might have known from the start but just didn't want to admit it."
"......"
"I'm sorry for being such a petty uncle, Relia."
Uncle?
Relia's eyes grew wide.
Wondering what he was talking about, it seemed he now truly believed she was her mother's daughter.
Relia couldn't stop the corners of her mouth from rising and smiled small.
Carius also gave a small smile.
"When I was as young as you."
"...Yes."
"Your father may seem like a very kind grandfather to you right now, but actually he was very strict."
"......"
"He was a very frightening father. He always compared us siblings to the children of the retainals, wanting us to be superior."
"I see...."
"Both my father and mother were always strict and scary, so I was afraid."
"......"
"Whenever I got scolded by my father or my masters and cried, it seems I was in great pain. I even wondered if I was an unnecessary person."
Relia quietly listened to his sudden confession.
Carius, whose eyes had turned red again at some point, continued speaking calmly.
"But whenever that happened, my sister would come find me, hug me, and comfort me."
"......"
In Relia's mind, the young Carius and Elizabeth were pictured. Encouraging each other after being hurt by their strict parents.
That was how precious her mother must have been to Carius.
Relia spoke carefully.
"I'm not defending Grandfather, but he said he always regrets it. That he should have been a kinder father...."
At those words, Carius gave a small smile and looked at Relia.
"Yes, Father changed a lot after my sister died."
"Still... he must have been very sad."
Saying it out loud, she realized she seemed to be taking Grandfather's side too much, so Relia murmured quietly.
Thinking of a child her age who would have been severely scolded by strict parents and frightened, her heart ached.
That was similar to the wounds her most precious friends had received.
'I don't have parents so I can't know perfectly... but I think I understand.'
At Relia's words empathizing with his childhood wounds, Carius couldn't say anything.
Relia looked at the desserts placed on the table.
These were what Becky had brought earlier.
"Please have this."
Relia carefully held out the maclia plate.
After pondering for a moment, Carius spoke.
"...Is it not ridiculous that I, having become an adult, am talking about being scolded by my mom and dad when I was young?"
"...Not at all."
Relia answered with a shrug of her shoulders.
Often people dismiss wounds received in childhood as trivial.
When a wound is inflicted on the skin, it must be disinfected, ointment applied, a scab formed, the itching endured, and that process survived for new flesh to grow.
Wounds of the heart also needed such a process.
'Especially for wounds received in childhood.'
Without going through that process and becoming an adult, even if one looks like a decent adult on the outside, that wound remaining in the heart festers for a lifetime.
'Wounds received in childhood... remain even after death and becoming a corpse.'
Relia also had many wounds from childhood before going to the neutral zone, but she had somewhat healed those wounds through her friends.
So she knew.
An immature adult is just as fragile-hearted as a young child.
"...If Father knew I told you such stories, he would be dumbfounded. He'd say I'm not acting like an adult, doing all sorts of things."
"If you asked Grandfather to tell his childhood wounds too, he'd probably hesitate at first but then tell you everything smoothly?"
At Relia's words, Carius snickered. Somehow those words sounded like they had deeper meaning.
Carius apologized again with overwhelming guilt.
"I'm sorry once again. For hurting you."
"It's okay."
Honestly, compared to all the wounds Relia had received until now, the wound Carius gave her wasn't even a wound.
Knowing this as well, Carius asked in a much gentler tone.
"...Did you run away because Cedric and Damian tormented you a lot while staying in the Imperial City?"
"That's part of it...."
Actually, to be precise, it was in order not to die.
To somehow survive.
'But if I tell the truth, they'll be heartbroken.'
That's why she hadn't been able to tell Grandfather either. At least to those who knew her mother, Relia's misfortune would be a great wound.
"...You can tell me. You can tell me everything. Because I will be your uncle, not Cedric or Damian."
"......"
At those words, Relia hesitated for a moment.
Honestly, how could she not want to confide in someone?
But she still didn't have the courage to speak.
'I keep acting like a child.'
In her previous life too, she had died at an age when she wasn't yet fully grown.
After reincarnating, she had memories of her previous life, but perhaps because her brain wasn't fully developed yet, there were times when she acted like a real child of Relia's age.
It was the same now. Like a truly ten-year-old child, she felt the impulse to tattle about everything she had suffered until now.
"......"
Relia hesitated, looking only at the innocent basket containing stamina recovery potions.
Right now, she just wanted to avoid this situation.
Noticing this, Carius changed the subject as if nothing had happened.
"What were you planning to do with that? Were you going to distribute it to the people of the estate?"
"...No. I'm going to sell it."
"...What?"
"I'm going to sell it for money."
"What... what... are you trying to earn allowance money?"
At Carius's words, Relia gave a small nod.
"......"
He looked at Relia with eyes half filled with pride and half with pity.
"I'll buy all of it."
"...Really?"
"Yes, how much?"
Relia hesitated for a moment before speaking.
The money she needed right now was exactly 500,000 shillings.
"Fifty... five hundred thousand shillings."
She felt sorry for raising the price by 50,000 shillings, but Carius was clearly rich.
When Relia glanced at him, he smiled and said.
"Whether it's a million shillings or two million shillings, I'll buy it all."
"...Really?"
"Yes."
As if those words were true, Carius took out a leather pouch from his bosom and began shaking out gold coins.
Each gold coin was worth 100,000 shillings, so even at a glance there were dozens of them.
Even roughly estimated, it was an amount far exceeding one or two million.
'Wow...!'
Relia looked at Carius with sparkling eyes. She thought he was an immature adult, but he wasn't. He was completely an adult.
"Uncle!"
At the title that came from Relia's mouth, the corners of his lips rose. However, contrary to his lips, tears streamed down his eyes.
At that bizarre sight, Relia was quite flustered, but soon smiled along with him.
"Let me hug you just once."
Carius reached out his arms. Relia carefully approached.
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry."
Relia quietly enjoyed the touch of Carius patting her back.
In the embrace of her mother's family, there was always a warm fragrance.
'I never imagined that all of Mom's family would become my family too.'
Relia stayed quietly in his arms for a while before finally opening her mouth with difficulty.
"Actually, Uncle, you're right. I ran away because I was scared in the Imperial City...."
"......"
"Emperor Perseus hates me. I thought he would surely marry me off to some strange person. And Cedric and Damian want to take revenge on me...."
"...Why didn't you tell the Emperor the truth? Hmm?"
Carius asked with a voice mixed with tears.
"Because he wouldn't believe me anyway."
Carius couldn't deny those words. If even he himself hadn't believed her, there was no way they would have.
"How upset you must have been. The Emperor and those nephew boys were all so obsessed with that child... even I felt upset watching it. Knowing everything, how upset you must have been."
At Carius's words, Relia's lips trembled. Even though she hadn't told him, her chest stung with him understanding everything.
Suddenly that day came to mind.
The day she had to apologize to Uriana because of the brothers Cedric and Damian.
That day was a great shock and wound to Relia.
It would surely become a wound she could never forget even as an adult.
She would live her whole life hiding that festering wound and pretending not to know.
So Relia wanted to gather courage. It was childish and petty, but she wanted to tattle about that day and receive comfort.
She wanted to treat that wound herself before it was too late.
"Actually...."
"Yes, tell me. I'll listen to everything."
Relia began to speak very slowly.
If she spoke quickly, she felt like she would bawl like a child, so very slowly, gathering her emotions, she spoke.
The day she was first summoned to Emperor Perseus, when she encountered Cedric, Damian, and Uriana.
And what happened on the day of the banquet, the sorrowful emotions she felt then.
How much her legs hurt when she knelt and apologized before Uriana, how hoarse her throat became.
How cold the eyes of Cedric and Damian looking down at her were. She even felt a little resentment toward Uriana who watched anxiously but didn't stop them.
Everything up to the process of having her living quarters taken away, going to her mother's cottage, and then running away.
Slowly but calmly, she poured out all the grievances she had held deep in her heart.
However, Carius who was listening couldn't control his emotions.
Bang!
At the sound of Carius hitting the table with his fist, Relia was startled.
"Those wicked boys! Where did they learn to... make someone kneel and apologize? Do they know who the real princess is!"
Carius's bitten lips trembled.
Cedric and Damian were precious nephews he had to protect in his sister's place.
But to think they had tormented Relia to that extent.
'They even drove her out of the tower where she was staying?'
Of course, he could understand Cedric and Damian's feelings. Thinking Relia was their mother's enemy, how angry they must have been.
It wasn't a situation where he could only blame his nephews. He himself had misunderstood Relia and lost his temper like that.
"...I'm sorry. If I had known sooner...."
"I'm okay. It was a situation where misunderstandings were unavoidable anyway.... But still... I wanted to tell you."
Because just seeing Carius get angry on her behalf like this felt like applying ointment to the wound of her heart.
Relia sighed in relief as if feeling refreshed.
Tears were welling in her eyes.
She didn't know how much she had held back to speak without crying.
Rather, it was Carius who had been crying the whole time while listening to the story.
"How upset you must have been. How grievous it must have been, hmm?"
"...I'm okay. Instead, I escaped safely, didn't I?"
"...Yes, you came well. Thank you for coming here safely."
"...Yes. But please keep it a secret from Grandfather and Grandmother. They'll be upset. Their health might deteriorate."
At those words, Carius covered his face and started crying even more.
How frightened and sad must this small young child have been while running away from the Imperial City.
At an age when she should be throwing tantrums and complaining freely, her worry for her grandparents was both admirable and pitiful.
At Relia's age, he himself was a child who couldn't do anything. He just followed behind his sister's tail, crying and throwing tantrums at every little thing.
To grow up so maturely and admirably in that situation.
"Yes, I understand. I'll keep it secret."
Carius answered with effort.
It felt like his heart was being torn into a thousand pieces.
If her uncle felt this way, how would her parents feel?
Carius felt his heart tighten with guilt toward his dead sister.
And another parent.
Thinking of Emperor Perseus, his chest felt tight.
"......"
Common sense dictated that he should inform him of this fact.
But....
'I can't send the child who ran away because she was afraid of Emperor Perseus back there....'
Moreover, another face came to Carius's mind.
The new family created when Emperor Perseus remarried to reclaim the throne.
The Empress and Uriana.
In particular, Emperor Perseus cherished that child Uriana like his own daughter.
The way he looked at her was as affectionate as when he looked at his own children, Cedric and Damian.
'I'm one thing, but that child is also utterly pathetic. Not recognizing his own child....'
Carius clenched his fist.
Like most of the Superion family, Carius didn't like Emperor Perseus either.
Swearing to make her happy for a lifetime, only to let his sister die alone.
If it weren't for revenge, he would never have helped Perseus reclaim the throne.
Tears kept flowing with grief.
"...Please don't cry."
Relia looked at Carius who was only shedding tears with his fist clenched, then brought a handkerchief and patted his cheek.
Though a very clumsy touch, the warm heart was conveyed as is.
Carius smiled with effort and took the handkerchief to wipe his own tears.
"I'm sorry. For showing you such a pathetic sight... from now on, this uncle will protect you."
'I don't know about that. I think I'll be the one protecting you....'
Relia thought that but nodded her head saying she understood.
The tragedy that would befall the Superion family was all after Relia became an adult.
Relia intended to build her abilities as much as possible through the 'Alchemy Lottery' in preparation for that time.
'For that, I need to make a cash purchase.'
Relia diligently filled the basket with the allowance Carius gave her before he could change his mind.
Carius watched Relia's appearance as if it was admirable.