Chapter 2: Before the Wedding ① ~Aria Goes Out~

“Edel, I’ll be away from home for about ten days starting today.
If anything happens while I’m gone, rely on Sebas.”

The three of them were eating breakfast together when Aria suddenly said that.

“Is it for work?
Please be careful and have a safe trip.”

As the Border Marquis, Aria led busy days.

Unlike Edel, who was still vaguely exhausted after being prodded and fussed over by designers all day yesterday once the wedding was decided, Aria was as composed as ever.

“Yes.
I’m going to inspect the mines, but it seems bandits have been appearing lately.
I’ll wipe them out while I’m there.”

…Wiping out bandits is just a side task, huh….

Normally, eliminating bandits would be the main objective, with the inspection as a bonus, but if Aria said so, then the mines were clearly the primary purpose.
The bandits were hardly being taken seriously.

“I’d like to take you with me if I could, but those bandits seem to appear and disappear unpredictably.
We’ll be moving around a lot, so once things settle down, we’ll go together.
The Harte Mine is one of the top gemstone-producing sites in our territory.
If we don’t secure safety, merchants will stop coming.”

Security around the gemstone extraction sites at Harte Mine is strict, so the bandits apparently target merchants traveling in and out of the nearby town where gemstone trading takes place, popping up all over the area.

Fortunately, there haven’t been any deaths yet, but reports of money and gemstones being stolen have come in, so if they don’t crack down early, the bandits will grow bolder.

“Protecting the people’s safety is our duty.
Chronos, you will one day lead the army as well.
There’s no need to push yourself yet, but make sure you properly learn how to handle weapons and strategy.”

“Yes.”

Aria smiled at her son, Chronos.

The name Chronos was given by Aria.

His birth mother had called him “Kuro,” but Aria grew angry, saying, “Could she not even give her own son a proper name?” and officially took him in as her son, naming him Chronos.

Still, he hadn’t quite caught up with the situation yet, and his awkwardness hadn’t fully faded.

That was only natural.

Unlike Edel, who was already an adult—actually, Edel was older than Aria—and had lived a rough-and-tumble life as a traveling bard, Chronos was still a child.

He had been living alone with his mother when one day he suddenly gained a father he wasn’t related to by blood, then his mother left him behind, and before he knew it, he had become the heir of a noble family.

Anyone would struggle to keep up with a situation like that.

Even so, Aria, now his new mother, was considerate toward Chronos, always speaking to him when they met, and when she was home, eating meals together like this.

“…Um…”

“Hm?
What is it?”

“Ah… p-please be careful… m-moth…”

Hang in there, Chronos.
Just a little more.
One more “er” and you’ll have “Mother”!

Edel was cheering him on desperately in his heart.
Since the day they first met, his son had been trying to say “Mother” but still couldn’t quite manage it.

“Fufu, Chronos.
You don’t need to force yourself in anything.
It’s my wish that you call me Mother affectionately, but you can do it at your own pace.
I’ll wait patiently until the day you naturally call me that.
I can tell well enough that you’re worried about me.”

Aria smiled warmly at her son, who still couldn’t quite bring himself to say it aloud.

“Well then, I’ll go get ready.
I’ll be leaving in the morning, so take care of yourselves while I’m gone.”

After finishing her meal, Aria lightly patted Chronos’s head once before leaving the room.

Edel also gently patted the head of his son, who wanted to say “Mother” but couldn’t.

“Aria understands, Chronos.
She’s waiting for your heart to settle.
It’s okay.
One day, you’ll be able to call her properly.
Just call her when you feel that the time is right.”

“…Yes.”

Chronos was desperately trying to get used to life here, but his heart hadn’t quite caught up yet.

Both Aria and Edel understood that, so they didn’t force him.

They had originally planned to wait until Chronos calmed down a bit more before assigning a tutor, but since he said that having something to focus on would help distract him and that he wanted to learn, Aria hurriedly arranged it.

“When Aria goes out, let’s go see her off together.”

“…Yes…”

Edel patted his son’s head once more as the boy nodded in a small voice.

Since the inspection also involved wiping out bandits, the army would naturally accompany her.

This time, elite forces from the Second Army had been selected.

Even when she said she was “getting ready,” it didn’t mean loading dresses and such into a carriage like an ordinary noblewoman.

Naturally, Aria would be riding a warhorse as well.

“Aria, please really be careful.
Don’t drink any strange water, okay?
You’ll upset your stomach.”

“Ha, that sounds just like something my mother would say.
But I’ll be careful.
I don’t intend to make Edel a widower when we’re newlyweds.”

“Yes.
We’ll be waiting properly at the castle.”

“Mm.
I’ll return as soon as the work is done.”

The people watching this couple somehow felt like they were seeing something they shouldn’t, and yet it was hard to believe that this was still a white marriage.

Incidentally, when one of the knights who used to go to taverns with Edel asked if there really was nothing going on, Edel apparently replied, “I haven’t been attacked,” which made everyone oddly accept that their head was the one who would do the attacking.

There was even a rumor that the report documenting this had been preserved as something of a legend.

“Chronos, what souvenir do you want?”

When Aria asked Chronos, who had come to see her off, he looked up at her timidly.

“…You’ll definitely come back, right?”

“Hm?
Of course.
The place where Edel and Chronos are is the place I return to.”

“I… don’t want to be left behind anymore…”

From what Edel had heard, Chronos’s mother, Mireille, worked at a tavern and would often leave him behind to go somewhere.

The neighbors would look after Chronos as he waited quietly for a mother who might never come back.

Would she come back today, or wouldn’t she?

Mireille would disappear without a word, and Chronos lived with the fear of not knowing when he would be abandoned.

After Edel began living with him, Chronos gradually regained his original brightness, but now the feeling of being truly abandoned cast a shadow over his heart, erasing the brightness he had just managed to recover.

“I won’t leave you behind.
I promise, Chronos.
Rely on your father until I return.”

Aria pulled Chronos tightly into a hug.

Startled and unsure of what to do at first, Chronos slowly raised his small hands and hugged her back.

“…Have a safe trip, Mother.”

Hearing him softly call her “Mother,” just loud enough for her alone, Aria smiled.

“Yes.
I’m off.”

Pretending not to notice her son’s reddened face, Aria gently guided Chronos back toward Edel.

“We’re departing.”

Her expression sharp once more, no longer the one she showed her family, Aria mounted her horse and led the army out.

“What a lovely son you have.”

“Of course.
He’s my son.
Until now, I’ve only had worthless relatives, but family truly is a good thing.”

“Haha, I never thought I’d hear words like that from you, my lady.
When you suddenly married, I thought it was some kind of scheme, but seeing those two makes me feel deeply moved, thinking that you’ve finally gained ordinary human emotions.”

The one speaking was the commander of the Second Army.

He was one of Aria’s mentors, having served since the previous generation, and one of the few who still called her “my lady” even after she inherited the title.

Having watched Aria grow up, along with her useless father and sister, he had worried whether she could ever build a proper family, so he felt relieved that his concern had been unfounded.

…Though the family was quite different from what he had imagined, he decided to watch over them with a “to each their own” mindset.

As long as Aria, Edel, and their son Chronos were happy, that was all that mattered.

“You exaggerate.
It sounds as if I had no emotions until now.”

“Close enough.
What you had before was merely a façade.
I prefer your current expression.
It feels more human.”

“Is that so.
I hadn’t noticed myself…
But I do feel better now.”

“It seems so.
Then for the sake of your husband and son, let’s finish the job quickly and head back.”

They had only just departed, yet already talking about returning, but since Aria herself was internally thinking only about what souvenirs to bring back for Edel and Chronos, she merely replied,

“That’s true.”