Chapter 114

Empress Flora Leander had always referred to Ramona as her “benefactor” whenever her name was mentioned. Some thought it was simply because Ramona had fed the Empress well back at the Cassius Duchy. However, Duke Linus, having realized the true weight of that word today, looked back and forth between the portrait inside the locket and Amber.

“By any chance… are you Lady Gemma Agnes?”

“Pardon? What do you mean by that?”

“Do you know Flora Leander—no, Flora Agnes?”

As Duke Linus asked with his dark eyes gleaming, Amber felt as if her breath had stopped. Simultaneously, an aching pain, as if her heart were freezing over, seeped through her.

It was a name she had never heard before, yet it felt strangely nostalgic and familiar. Overwhelmed to the point of suffocation, flashes of someone passed through Amber’s mind in an instant.

“Mom’s cooking is the best.”

“When I become a princess later, I’m going to buy Mom necklaces and rings and everything.”

“I’ll be waiting at Great-Uncle’s house. So you have to make a lot of money and come back quickly.”

“Mom, Mom… Mom! Don’t go. Mom, huaaaaa.”

A young child’s voice echoed in her head like a recurring memory. Like frozen ice melting under a heatwave, Amber could not withstand the sudden flood of information and fainted.

“Aunt Amber!”

Catching the falling Amber, Ramona looked at Sir Mariana, who was nearby.

“I will take Lady Amber to her room.”

Sensing that Ramona should not leave her spot right now, Sir Mariana picked Amber up and dashed out of the conference room.

Kaizen, forced to call a recess, let out a low sigh as he looked at the locket in Ramona’s hand.

“Are you saying that Amber, who lived here after losing her memory as a pirate captive, is the biological mother of the current Empress of Leander?”

“If my guess is right… though they don’t look exactly alike.”

In truth, they shared a resemblance, but it wasn’t a perfect carbon copy.

“The Empress takes after her father more than her mother, so that might be why. Actually, she and my wife, Viola, are cousins, but they look so much alike they could be sisters.”

Despite the interruption to the meeting, Duke Linus’s face was bright. He never imagined he would find the very person Flora had spent every day pining and weeping for right here.

“It’s not certain yet, so please delay contacting the Leander Empire for now.”

It was only right to be cautious with such a delicate matter.

“Yes, I shall follow the Princess’s command. Everyone, keep what happened today a secret. If word of this leaks out, you will face the appropriate punishment.”

Duke Linus spoke to his entourage with a grave expression, and guest rooms were opened for the Leander delegation. Neither side wanted unconfirmed information to leak out.

A full day passed before the unconscious Amber finally woke up. Her previously clouded mind had cleared, and as a result of the trauma, she wept until her handkerchief was soaked through.

It was too much to bear alone—the weight of the years she had lived as a mother who had forgotten her only daughter. Ramona held Amber and patted her back.

“I don’t even deserve to be a mother. Heugh…”

“It’s okay. By those standards, I don’t deserve to be a daughter either.”

“I left a young child alone for decades without a mother.”

Her bloodshot eyes were still brimming with tears.

“She would have been okay. Even though she missed you dearly, Duke Linus said she did well at her Great-Uncle’s house. Oh, by the way, Duke Linus’ wife is your niece by marriage, Aunt Amber. They met through Sister Flora’s introduction.”

Barely managing to stop crying, Amber immediately requested a meeting with Duke Linus. Upon hearing the news, Duke Linus hurried to Amber’s room.

Though she was technically an employee, her room looked wider and more comfortable than any other. Furthermore, the ornaments and furniture were all from the Leander Empire. Because those with the Caspian name had bought items one by one to decorate her room, it briefly made one forget they were in a foreign land.

“D-Duke, do you know how my Flora lived at the Agnes Marquisate?”

Back then, Amber had married the second son of Marquis Agnes and lived independently in a small house with little money. Only a year after Flora was born, her husband died in a sudden accident, leaving her to raise the child alone.

As the daughter of a fallen Baron, Amber had no one to lean on because her marriage had been opposed by her in-laws, so she worked all sorts of jobs to raise Flora. However, when she reached a point where she could barely put food on the table, she made a big decision after hearing she could earn a lot of money by taking a ship.

She wanted to leave Flora with her in-laws, earn money, and come back to live happily with her child, but things did not go as planned.

Recalling her entire past, Amber waited for Duke Linus’ words like a criminal, her heart filled with anxiety.

“You know well the character of the current Marquis Agnes, do you not? He shielded his own children, Maximilian and Viola, and never discriminated against Lady Flora.”

To give you an idea, even though they weren’t wealthy, whenever Viola and Flora had to go to a party together, he always made sure they had matching dresses. They even shared a pair of earrings belonging to the late Marchioness, wearing one each.

Whatever it was, Viola and Flora learned everything together and were scolded without partiality when they did wrong. Because of that, some people even assumed Flora and Viola were sisters.

Though Flora had no biological parents, she often said she felt forever grateful to have a Great-Uncle who taught her like a parent and a cousin to play and study with.

Even after Flora became Empress, Marquis Agnes never asked for anything; his heart remained upright and steadfast. Thanks to that, while he didn’t live a life of financial luxury, he was an honorable noble respected by many.

Amber listened intently to Duke Linus words, and though tears threatened to burst forth again, she forced them back.

“That is such a relief. I left her there believing that my brother-in-law would surely raise her well…”

It was something she wouldn’t have dared dream of if her father-in-law had still been alive. He had practically kicked her out for her forbidden marriage and sternly warned her never to set foot in the Marquisate again.

“Duke Linus, it seems you’ll have to move quite busily starting today. You’ll need to finish your work quickly and return, won’t you? Quickly! Hurry!”

Understanding what Ramona meant, Duke Linus gave a faint smile and bowed his head. He then immediately proceeded with in-depth negotiations with the Caspian Marquisate.

***

Benjamin, having received advance notice that Duke Linus, who had gone as an envoy to the Roquan Empire, was arriving, waited at the port with a worried expression as he looked at Flora.

“Perhaps we should go back even now…”

Flora, sitting in a chair and cradling her belly, which was so swollen she looked ready to give birth at any moment, gave a broad smile.

“I’m so curious about the gift Ramona said she was sending that I couldn’t just wait at the Palace. Please understand; I just wanted to see it a little sooner.”

A letter had arrived recently from Ramona, earnestly requesting that she receive the gift well and keep it by her side forever. Because of that letter from across the sea, Flora had been waiting at the port since early morning with a look of great anticipation.

“It’s not like the gift the Princess sent has legs and will go somewhere… Ah, I think I see the ship over there.”

In the distance, the ship carrying Duke Linus moved, surrounded by warships as if being escorted. A short while later, Duke Linus reached the port and slowly stepped off.

“What on earth is that fellow… did he find a new flame in Roquan?”

A warning bell went off in Benjamin’s head as he saw Duke Linus escorting a woman with her face covered. He knew all too well that Viola would not stay quiet if she found out.

“I didn’t have an affair. With a beautiful wife at home, would I want my hair pulled out? For your information, this person is the gift Princess Ramona sent.”

“…”

“Even in my eyes, she is truly a benefactor. Hahaha, Your Majesty the Empress might find a hundred—no, a thousand—bows to the Princess insufficient.”

At the mention of the gift from Ramona, Flora clutched her belly and stood up with Benjamin’s support. As she looked at the woman with the covered face, her heart began to beat wildly for some strange reason.

“I never imagined the gift Ramona sent me would be a person.”

Hearing the words “keep by your side forever,” she had assumed it was jewelry made of gems. She thought it meant she should wear it for the rest of her life, so she never imagined it would be a person. Flora swallowed dryly.

Whoosh—

A gust of wind suddenly blew through the port, and the cloth covering the woman’s face flew away, revealing her features.

Looking at the gracefully aged middle-aged woman, Flora’s dark eyes filled with tears that overflowed in an instant.

“M-Mom, Mommaaaaa!”

She was much older than the image she remembered, but she was not such an unfilial daughter that she wouldn’t recognize her own mother.

Thinking of the mother who had boarded a ship saying she would earn money, Flora screamed and called for her mother just like she did in those days. At Flora’s cry, Amber burst into tears and ran to carefully pull her daughter into her arms.

The last time she had seen her, she was six years old, but the daughter she held after twenty years was taller than herself. The daughter, who had grown older in her absence and now carried her own child, wailed.

“Mom is here now, so stop… stop crying. I’ll stay by your side forever, oh! My baby, if you keep crying, the baby in your belly will be startled. No, sweetheart. Stop crying. My precious child… heugh.”

Amber thought she had poured out all the tears she would ever have when she regained her memory, but it seemed there were still tears left as they gushed out like a spring. As she held her daughter, Amber suddenly noticed moisture on the fine dress and shouted urgently: “Her water broke! Move Flora quickly! My baby, it’s okay. Mom will be right beside you, so don’t be afraid.”