"Mommyyyy—!!"
Isabelle screamed and ran quickly into the arms of a woman. The woman with soft blonde hair and warm features embraced Isabelle.
"Such a grown girl acting so embarrassingly."
"Have you been well?"
"Same as always."
Isabelle's mother, and the wife of the hero Maximillian. Maria de Etoile looked like Isabelle grown up by about 10 years.
With an appearance that seemed to be just entering her early thirties, she could almost pass as Isabelle's slightly older sister. Asidis stared blankly, wondering if she should consider Tilles cosmetics for skincare.
"Lady de Etoile, I hope you've been well."
"My, Prince Etakrih. Please speak comfortably."
"How could I? You are my godmother, Lady de Etoile."
"Calling me godmother makes it sound so distant, doesn't it? Hehe. It feels like so much time has passed already."
After warmly responding to Oskar's greeting, Maria opened the door and gestured.
"Please come in. I was just preparing dinner."
"Excuse us!!"
While a maid was setting up pre-dinner tea, Maria, who had been smiling at the group, suddenly spoke.
"So, Bella. What brings you here in the middle of the semester? Did you finally decide to drop out?"
"Drop out? Mom, I'm an excellent student!"
"Then why didn't you bring your last semester's grades?"
"What college student shows their grades to their mom?!"
Isabelle grumbled while sipping her tea. As Asidis munched on finger foods, Elfihera tapped her hand and whispered quietly.
"Eat moderately, don't you want dinner?"
"I can eat it all."
"A pig walking on two legs does look somewhat human."
"I'm sorry, but I only gain weight in specific places. See?"
"H-how vulgar...!"
Elfihera looked at Asidis's "specific places" then reflexively lowered her gaze to examine herself before biting her lip hard.
"It's not about s-size, it's about shape!"
"My goodness, did you sleep through Economics 101? You don't know about economies of scale? Usually small countries without sufficient scale say things like that. Hehe."
"Excuse me for interrupting, but I'm feeling embarrassed now."
Yu-jin's words were ignored. As Asidis and Elfihera began to growl at each other, Yu-jin sighed and scanned the surroundings.
'Maria de Etoile. The hero's wife.'
A commoner from a small rural village. A woman known for teaching language and culture to the hero who "appeared from the sky" and helping him realize his calling.
Removing some of the propaganda, well, she's something like an advertising pillar.
Four years have passed since the hero disappeared.
The vanished hero now remains not as an individual named Maximillian but as a symbol, and like all symbols, he is treated more as a concept than a real existence.
The hero is a symbol of peace marking the end of the old era. He's no longer felt as a person, but rather some superior concept.
Therefore, the Tilles royal family must have assigned this ordinary woman to take his place. To show that the hero existed, was a Tilles citizen, and that his home and family remain in the capital.
It would bring powerful advertising effects. For national prestige and royal authority.
'That's why they built this mansion in this area exposed to ordinary citizens rather than in the palace.'
Wouldn't there have been a place for that woman to stay in the palace? Building such a splendid mansion in the middle of this busy district makes it conspicuous.
It's too heavy a burden for that ordinary woman who would probably prefer to live normally, quietly remembering her vanished husband. Yu-jin inwardly clicked his tongue.
'I've been transmigrated into a world that's fundamentally twisted.'
He wondered if the world needed to be implemented to this extent. Having fallen into the middle of power struggles teeming with political creatures, his thoughts were becoming increasingly similar to his brother's.
So he even found himself thinking:
Living in this kind of world for 30 years, and in the middle of battlefields at that—no wonder that man ended up like that.
It's been only 4 years since the hero saved the world. Just that much time has passed. For someone like the hero, it's a period short enough to consider it a temporary vacation rather than a disappearance.
In just that short time, the hero's wife has become an advertisement for royal authority, and the countries the hero protected are each trying to tear apart peace to lick the entrails for greater interests.
What a nice neighborhood to live in. Whether there's a Demon King or not. Perhaps that's human nature.
He took a sip of tea with these thoughts.
"So why exactly did you come to Tilles?"
"Ah, we don't know either. The person who knows hasn't arrived yet..."
"Who? You're not caught up in something, are you?"
"...How should I put this... Whether we're already caught up in it, or about to be..."
Isabelle frowned and tilted her head. It seemed like they were about to get involved in something, but she hadn't heard exactly what was happening.
Seeing that expression, Maria's face hardened. She had sent her daughter to study abroad so she could peacefully study and socialize with peers. It was concerning to hear such talk after returning in the middle of the semester.
"Who is it? Count Otlean? Count Grandmartel? Or Baron Gramont?"
"...Now I know who's been bothering Mom lately."
"Or is it Krasilov nobles? I heard they're all thugs over there. If there's any problem, you can come back anytime."
"That's actually quite accurate."
Isabelle chuckled and continued.
"It is a Krasilov noble, but someone Mom might know?"
"I don't know any nobles from Krasilov... Who is it?"
"Dad's friend. Ah, it would be less fun if I tell you now. They're supposed to arrive by dinner time. Just wait."
Your father only had a handful of friends.
As Maria was trying to swallow those words, a maid approached and whispered to her.
"A guest has arrived, madam. Shall I show them in?"
"Who is it?"
"They say they are Viscount Yeremov. Do you know them...?"
"I've never heard that name before."
Maria's expression turned cold. A playboy who approached her young daughter by pretending to be her father's friend. And he dared to come directly to her house?
After gesturing for them to wait, Maria quietly stood up and followed the maid to the reception room.
On one side of the lavish reception room hung a large portrait depicting Maximillian, Maria, and Isabelle.
The man called Lord Yeremov was looking up at the portrait with his back to the entrance of the reception room.
Broad shoulders and a solid build. A soldier's physique. A strong scent of iron wafted over. Like all veterans from that era.
Maria quietly closed the door and stood facing the man. This was her house. No matter who this man was who had deceived Isabelle, she couldn't show weakness.
"You've come."
A low voice resonated. A deep voice like polishing rough steel. Maria tilted her head at the somehow familiar voice.
Soon, the man slowly turned around.
-Crash.
A frame fell to the floor. It was because Maria staggered and slipped while grabbing the shelf for support.
Maria looked at the man standing before her with trembling eyes.
"Lord Petrovich...?"
"Maria."
He wasn't the young man she remembered, but she could recognize him by his blue eyes, which remained the same then and now.
The young man she remembered who always wore a cold expression had become a man with eyes as barren as the winter sky.
"I heard... you were dead."
"It was necessary."
"Krasilov is no different from this country."
"All places where people live are probably like that."
Ivan approached heavily and supported Maria. It was a careful and polite gesture. Maria trembled slightly and placed her hand on Ivan's thin cheek.
"I'm glad you're safe. I was worried when I heard from Bella. She said someone was claiming to be Max's friend..."
"If there were such a person, they would die."
Maria couldn't help but smile at Ivan's words. Even his humorless jokes were exactly the same as back then.
It had been ten years. Or a little less. Her memory wasn't clear, but it must have been about that long.
She had cried for two days after hearing he was dead. Because she thought there was not even a handful of friends left who would remember Max.
Friends who could see that brilliant man as a "person," friends who could remember Max as a human being along with her—there were almost none left.
And in the peace that had finally arrived, she thought he too had finally perished at the hands of nobles who were eager to bury the heroes of the past in history.
"So you've been taking care of my daughter."
"It was my duty, madam."
"Really, I'm always indebted to his friends. To Duke Etakrih, and to you."
"It's only proper, madam."
Because Maximillian saved the world. Because everyone who sets foot in this world should feel indebted to that man.
Maria smiled weakly at Ivan's words.
"We live in a world where what should be natural is not."
Pondering the implications in her words, Ivan spoke softly.
"That's why I'm here. Madam, what exactly is Gil Ber doing? While you're being treated like this in such a house?"
"Duke Etakrih has done his best. But as you know, he is also a member of the royal family. It can't be helped."
"Gil Ber is the Guardian Lord. The royal family's opinions cannot force him. If he didn't do it, it's simply because he chose not to."
"No. That's not it, Lord Petrovich."
Maria smiled sadly.
"Many things have happened in these 4 years. Tilles is no longer a single country. The royal family is so terrified that they need even the power of a commoner woman like me to be their canary in the coal mine."
She opened the reception room door and gestured. The fragrant smell of food wafted in from across the hallway.
"Let's have dinner. This isn't a pleasant conversation to have before a meal. And there are too many stories to tell before dinner."
"Gladly."
As Ivan nodded quietly, a maid approached and took his coat.
Maria glanced at Ivan following behind her and stopped walking.
As their eyes met briefly, Maria quietly smiled and asked.
"Will you help?"
What. And how. It was a contextless question missing such words.
But Ivan nodded as soon as he heard Maria's words.
"Gladly."
After all, that was why he had come from Krasilov.