### Chapter Eight: Aunt Bella
In a soft and frail voice, there was still a chill to it, creating a sense of distance.
However, that utterance of “Dad” was unmistakably heard by everyone.
“Could it really be…?”
“Is it the Little Princess Peilo…?”
In the grand hall, the previously hushed murmurs instantly erupted into a “buzzing” uproar once more.
“I knew my guess was right…”
“But…”
“How tiny she is…”
“Doesn’t match the frost goddess image I had in mind, does it?”
“I can’t see her face…”
“At this rate, I won’t recognize her next time…”
“But she’s always been so low-profile, unwilling to appear in public…”
“Sigh, she’s so little…”
“Don’t repeat it!”
The buzzing chatter quickly fell silent under Queen Ethanbel’s imposing gaze.
On the other side, Lady Catherine’s once cheerful face suddenly went stiff. As her daughter walked past her quietly, her hand remained suspended in mid-air, and a moment of melancholy flickered in her beautiful dark eyes. No one seemed to catch that shift except for Viki, who was closest to her.
“He’s locked up in the palace guard’s jail.”
Skarlij glanced at Lady Catherine’s retreating figure before he turned to his daughter, his gaze softening. “What do you want to ask him? The Lion Hunting Army has taken over that place; Aunt Bella will be watching over it. You can just go greet him.”
“Okay.”
I nodded and didn’t say more.
“Do you need me to have someone accompany you…” Skarlij paused and then turned to Hoover, calling out, “Hoover, you go with Pepé—”
“No need.”
Not waiting for him to finish, I bluntly shot him down: “I’ll go alone.”
“…Alright.”
Seeing this, my father dropped the suggestion.
I stole a glance at Viki and met her eyes for a moment, then saw my mother turning to smile at me. I tugged at the corners of my mouth, unsure if she could even see my smile hidden beneath the hood.
But that didn’t matter.
I turned to weave through the crowd, heading towards the palace gate alone.
However, after just two steps, I suddenly stopped.
“Dad.”
I didn’t look back and casually said, “I’m not planning on leaving just yet, so don’t worry.”
It felt like a disconnected comment.
But after I spoke, I heard my father’s sudden, heavy breath.
…………
Chirius Palace Guard Jail.
This place was supposed to be the independent prison of the imperial palace, unrelated to the Church. It was said to be where the most notorious Valen criminals were locked up, situated just a few streets away from the palace but extremely hidden—it was quite the hassle to find.
Of course, because it now held Emperor Keynes and his ministers, the Lion Hunting Army had simply set up camp nearby, with Aunt Bella personally keeping watch. With the Northern Army frequently patrolling, it wasn’t too troublesome to find it; I quickly spotted the target from above.
I first headed towards the camp. Not far in, some animal-handling hunters stopped me. They didn’t recognize me and thought I looked a little sneaky under the cloak, but the black hair peeking out from beneath the hood made them hesitate. I told them I was looking for “Aunt Bella.” Upon hearing that title, one of the hunters hurried off to report.
Before long, a gray-haired female hunter in a leather coat and triangular hat came galloping towards me on a majestic black horned horse. She jumped off the beast and approached me.
“…Pepé?” the female hunter asked.
“Yep.”
I responded without removing my hood.
However, she only glanced at me a couple of times, seemingly without even needing to confirm who I was. Without a word, she invited me to enter the camp—her idea of an invitation was just a nod, then she silently turned, taking the reins of the horned horse and motioning for me to follow. In a way, she and Viki were quite similar; neither liked to beat around the bush.
As we made our way into the camp, Aunt Bella dismissed the other hunters. Then, at her own pace, she asked, “What brings you here all of a sudden?”
She seemed to think I had something to say.
Well…
It wasn’t that I had nothing to say.
“Aunt Bella.”
Following her closely, calling her “Aunt” felt incredibly natural. There were so many things I had half-remembered while the royal city slept, dreams where I clearly recalled her, just like Uncle Hoover, who had also watched me grow up.
Yet, compared to Uncle Hoover, my memories of her were notably fewer.
When I was younger, there was a period when I was quite afraid of her because Aunt Bella wasn’t like the other hunter uncles, always smiling at me and indulging me, giving me treats and ready to take the blame when I caused trouble.
Aunt Bella was strict.
Sometimes, she was even harsher than my mother.
She was the only hunter who ever scolded me.
Only she never spoiled me.
So in the few memories I have of her, I was often at the mercy of her icy gaze, getting scolded to tears, wanting to run to Dad for support, but feeling like her presence instantly made Dad’s attitude towards me more serious, and my mother—my mother seemed to never want to see her.
I don’t remember a time when she and my mother were in the same room, maybe they did when I was smaller, but I can’t recall.
So for a long time, I felt insecure in front of her, with no one around to stand up for me. My two brothers fared even worse when faced with her—though they wouldn’t cry, they might end up locked in a little dark room until Dad “rescued” them.
We used to secretly call her “the old witch.”
As I grew older, I became a bit resentful of her.
Because I always felt she might take my father away.
That feeling was vague at the time; I couldn’t quite understand it. I just had this awful sense that Dad acted differently in front of Aunt Bella, always siding with her. He wouldn’t pamper me as much. Aunt Bella wouldn’t let me have too many sweets, and Dad would actually agree with her. It felt like he would listen to her about anything.
Did Dad love Aunt Bella and not love me anymore…
I said as much in front of my mother.
I didn’t understand what those words really meant.
Until one night, when Dad and Mom had a huge fight, I heard many incomprehensible but definitively distressing words. I had never seen them argue like that before; they always had a good relationship. But that night, my mother cried.
That night, I ran out of the house, and Aunt Bella brought me back, crying on the way to the castle.
I thought Aunt Bella would never cry.
I didn’t know why.
But I understood they cried because of the words I spoke.
I got that.
After that, I didn’t see Aunt Bella for a long time. She wasn’t in our lives for several years.
During that time, I realized I actually missed her.
Then, after a long while, at fourteen or fifteen, having “understood” what love meant from knight novels, I slowly began to grasp the events of that time and learned that Aunt Bella had been loyally serving in the military camp for Dad, but never returned to Shanter Castle.
I was fully aware that in this world, people of my father’s stature inevitably had countless lovers. It wasn’t unusual for an illegitimate child to pop up—it was so common that it could almost be seen as an emblem of “romance” in the Valen Empire and throughout the Western Continent.
And marriage was often just a byproduct of political unions.
Dad was the only exception I knew.
He loved my mother very much. Hence, in terms of feelings, my mother usually took the lead, nurturing a belief that was absolutely unrealistic for other noblewomen—the notion of “being faithful to only you,” which made it impossible for her to accept Aunt Bella’s existence from the bottom of her heart.
It sounds somewhat ridiculous…
But my parents’ relationship was indeed an exception.
Even if he had once had something with Aunt Bella, in this world, Dad could be considered an extraordinarily good man—the kind of “ideal” man that upper-class nobles would mock privately, asking if something was wrong with him.
So even I didn’t know who was at fault back then.
I once thought the blame was all mine.
So later on, my attitude towards Aunt Bella shifted significantly. In my youthful admiration of novels, I came to respect Aunt Bella, this woman who gave quietly and expected nothing in return. I understood that the only thing that could make a woman like that was love. Especially someone as capable and beautiful as Aunt Bella.
I began sneaking into the Shanter Army camp to find her more often, chatting with her while bringing her some Osmelure Cake from the store, even though she never ate it and didn’t have much to say.
But I wasn’t afraid of her anymore.
I felt some sympathy for her.
I slowly started to understand her.
Understanding that, to her, Dad was everything.
But…
I didn’t know what to do about the entanglements among the elders; I lacked the ability and the qualifications to intervene. I felt for Aunt Bella, but my heart ached for my mother even more, and I absolutely didn’t want to let my mother get hurt again in this matter. Yet Aunt Bella’s constant gloominess made it hard for me to bear. I could spend time with her, but I could never replace Dad. I didn’t even dare tell my mother I was coming to the military camp.
I lost sleep over it, wondering how I had grown up too, and I would bury these complicated thoughts in my heart, worrying alone at night.
And that worry continued until I fell into the hands of the “clinic.”
When I went back, I had forgotten everything.
But now…
I can remember it all over again.
And after remembering…
I felt I had to say something.
“I saw Dad holding you in the town.”
As soon as the words left my mouth, Aunt Bella froze in her tracks.
She started to get anxious, suddenly at a loss for words. I could see it.
In the town, when I rescued my father from danger, I saw Aunt Bella lying in his arms, seriously injured. Dad looked pained for her, yet he also seemed to be relieved about something. I realized then that perhaps there had been new developments between the two of them.
And now Aunt Bella’s panicked reaction simply confirmed that fact.
She opened her mouth as if attempting to explain something to me.
