124 Part 2

Tiararose was a little sad, when Aquasteed looked at Schnauss.

He was thinking that it’s weird to adopt a noble family’s son. Schnauss sighed loudly and looked at Tiararose and Aquasteed.

“Sir Aquasteed has seen through it huh.”

When Schnauss said that, Tiararose furrowed her eyebrows too and asked “What does that mean?”

She was sure that he’s the third or fourth son of a noble family and was adopted. However, looking at Schnauss’ behaviour, that doesn’t seem to be the case.

However, if that’s not true, then who’s he?

Thinking of the possibilities, Tiararose widened her eyes.

-Could it be that he’s a royal family member who has hidden his existence?

He was immediately abandoned when he was born and brought up as a commoner- hey isn’t that a story that’s likely to appear in maiden games? Or rather, the possibility is rather high for that setting to occur.

Tiararose thought that it must be that case and was convinced. She was sure that Schnauss will explain about that to her later, so she could listen to him without being shocked.

Tiararose slowly relaxed her breathing.

“Father, please tell me about Darel’s matters.”

“…Yes, of course.”

Schnauss nodded and slowly started speaking.

“Darel’s apparently the disciple of a magician.”

“………Eh?”

Tiararose totally thought he’s an abandoned royal family member, and looked at Schnauss with opened mouth. However, Schnauss just continued speaking.

***

It took place a few months ago.

Schnauss brought Ilutiana to a flower field that’s located in the suburbs. They were still deeply in love with each other, so it’s not rare for them to go out on dates like this on their rest days.

“Sir Schnauss, there’s a very beautiful flower blooming over here.”

“Hmm, it’s great. This is like Ilutiana’s colour, and that is like Tiara’s colour.”

“Sir Schnauss, you are at it again.”

Looking at Schnauss, who’s in a good mood, Ilutiana laughed.

Both of them were sitting down near the flower field and enjoying tea when a howling sound could be heard from afar.

“What was that…?”

“Ilutiana, stay behind me. I’ll immediately check out the situation.”

Schnauss stood up, protected Ilutiana with his body, and tried to check out the situation. The bodyguard knight was there too, so they weren’t really that scared….

“Sir Schnauss…”

Ilutiana sounded uneasy and Schnauss tried to ease her with a smile.

“It must have been a dog or something. However, a wild dog would be dangerous so let’s wait in the horse wagon just in case.”

“…Yes.”

“The knight would immediately deal with it so there’s no need to be uneasy- Ilutiana!!”

A loud rustling sound could be hard from the back, Schnauss immediately covered Ilutiana. At that moment, a wolf leaped towards them.

“Growllllllllll!”

“Ugh… !”

“Eeek! Sir Schnauss!!”

To protect Ilutiana, Schnauss was bitten by the wolf on his right arm and he was bleeding.

“Someone!! Sir Schnauss was…!”

“Sir Schnauss, Lady Ilutiana!”

The bodyguard knight immediately rushed over and defeated the wolf with a sword. It was a short span of time, but so many things have happened that Ilutiana’s train of thoughts could not keep up with it.

More importantly-

“Sir Schnauss!!”

Her husband was bleeding and in pain, she raised her voice to ask for help. Of course it’s not the time to reprimand the bodyguard knight who was late at coming to their aid.

“…I’m fine, Ilutiana. I was just bitten so it isn’t that a big deal. More importantly, I’m glad you’re fine.”

“Please treasure yourself more, Sir Schnauss…”

“Well, you’re my treasure after all. It’s natural to protect you.”

Schnauss smiled gently and she’s relieved that he looked like he’s not in a life-threatening condition. Even so, if he’s left like that, his condition will worsen.

“Please bring a doctor here!”

“Y-Yes, immediately-”

The bodyguard knight ran and when his back was turned towards them, that person appeared.

“Are you injured?”

It was Darel who appeared at that time.

***

Schnauss moistened his throat with black tea and continued talking.

“No, I was really shocked at that time. Darel used healing magic to treat my arm injury.”

“Darel has such power…?”

“It was shocking…”

Healing magic’s very difficult and it’s rare to encounter people who could use them. Akari was able to use the healing magic with the prayers of the saint, but other than that there were only a few hundreds of people who could use them in the country. Furthermore, it’s only a handful few that could heal an injury completely…

“We invited Darel to our mansion as thanks for the healing magic.”

“Is that so…”

“However, we don’t know what kind of person Darel was.”

They tried to investigate about Darel but came up with nothing, and he himself wouldn’t really talk about his matters too. Schnauss and Ilutiana thought that he must have been an orphan who led a hard life.

Also after living together for a while, they decided to adopt this quiet but kind kid.

“However, his healing magic skills were amazing so we thought that he might not be an orphan, but a disciple of a magician instead; that might be a little less sad and Darel did not say anything at all so it’s very likely to be true.”

“Father doesn’t know much about Darel too, huh?”

“Yes. However, I know that he’s a good kid so I’m going to close the gap between us, as father and child, in the future.”

Schnauss said with a fatherly look.