My Ring

KNOCK! KNOCK!

Bree placed the sword she had just cleaned, looking at the door while Aima moved to open it. Bree was clearly curious to know who had come. It was already nighttime, and bedtime had passed.

"Your Grace?"

Bree's heart pumped faster upon hearing Aima's startled exclamation at the sight of the visitor.

"Bree, not sleeping yet?"

"Not yet; he's inside, Your Grace."

And Bree's heart shrank again upon hearing her father's voice. Aima addressed two people in the castle as 'Your Grace', a fact Bree had forgotten. Her father was also a Duke, and Aima, of course, would address him that way too. Bree was startled, assuming that Rad had come.

"You must not be disappointed!" Bree cursed inwardly while standing up and taking her robe, handed to her by Aima, and putting it on. Bree was, of course, happy that her father had come; the disappointment was absurd.

"Father, what brings you here?" Bree followed Aima to the door while tying the robe's strings.

"Are you tired or sleepy? If not, I'd like to take a walk with you. Rad doesn't mind, does he? Is he inside?"

Trey tried to peek inside, but Bree rushed out and closed the door, shaking her head. Her father didn't know that they slept in separate rooms. Bree completely forgot about this.

"He's still working downstairs, so he won't mind." Bree gave an excuse.

"So diligent and enthusiastic," commented Trey. Bree nodded with relief, seeing her father believing her.

"Do you still like walking at night?" Trey asked as they descended to the lower floor.

"Yes, of course." Bree was only half-truthful.

She liked nighttime strolls, always enjoyed the quiet night scenery, and often used it as material for her paintings. But now, Bree didn't paint again. After finishing training, usually after bathing and eating, Bree would dive into bed to sleep. There were no more nighttime walks like in Le Mans.

Moreover, nighttime walks in Marseilles brought back bad memories from the past. Bree saw Rad meeting his lover during those walks, and after that, she never did it again. Bree also didn't do it now, though, for different reasons.

"I think Miriam's efforts to make you afraid and stay in bed were all in vain. You're still the same even after marriage." Trey lightly pinched Bree's nose while chuckling. Bree finally joined in the laughter—a genuine laugh after a long time.

"That's because Mother always exaggerates when telling stories. I'm not scared anymore because her stories became too fantastical," Bree said.

"Sometimes your mother gets too excited when telling stories."

Trey smiled, and then they stopped and sat on the chairs in the garden. The torches illuminating the garden didn't reach the chairs. At the moment, they relied on the pale moonlight hanging in the sky. Half-moon, not too bright but sufficient.

The garden was not far from the field that had been the scene of their quarrel with Rad earlier in the day.

"Talking about Miriam makes me miss her." Trey stared at the night sky with a nostalgic smile.

"I miss her too," Bree whispered, leaning her head on her father's shoulder.

They missed the same person, Miriam. Bree's mother, who passed away about ten years ago due to illness, Despite the repetition of time, there was a death that remained unchanged.

"Missing her scary stories?" Trey chuckled softly, while Bree just smiled wistfully.

In the past, Bree had hated all those stories, but now she would trade anything she had to hear one more story from her mother.

Miriam always told Bree a scary story almost every day. Miriam initially told Bree a scary story almost every day to keep her, who had a habit of wandering at night, in bed. To make Bree scared and stop going for nighttime walks.

Of course, Bree was initially scared by Miriam's quite spooky ghost stories. But it didn't last too long. The stories managed to make Bree fearful for a while, but afterwards, they weren't too effective.

As Bree mentioned earlier, her mother's stories were too fantastical. The creatures her mother described became increasingly bizarre and sounded nonsensical. Like a humanoid creature with horns and deer ears, and many other strange creatures that eventually made Bree stop being scared and realize that it was all just fairy tales.

After that, Miriam continued to tell various magical stories, but Bree enjoyed them more as exciting stories than scary ones.

"Father, was Mother's heirloom ring left behind in Le Mans?"

Bree suddenly remembered the missing ring and asked her father about it. That was the only possibility. Bree hoped she had forgotten; she had left it in Le Mans before coming here.

"What ring?" Trey, who had been looking at the night sky, turned to Bree with confusion.

"The ring Mother gave me before she passed. Father, do you remember? I always wore it, even though it became too small."

Bree raised her hand, showing the hand that now only had Rad's ring, still shining even in the darkness. The precious gemstone on it was expensive.

Trey frowned while reaching for Bree's hand and turning it over. "Miriam left a ring for you? When? I don't know about this, Bree."

Bree's eyes widened, and her back felt cold. Her father's words made Bree realize one thing. The ring didn't disappear. The ring had never been on this timeline. The only plausible explanation was this.

Her father couldn't possibly forget or not know about the ring because her mother gave it to her right in front of him. A few days before her mother passed away. At that time, Trey was almost always with Miriam, taking care of her. Bree remembered vividly how her father took the box containing the ring and gave it to her mother before passing it to Bree.

"What ring?" Trey asked again because Bree remained silent with a strange expression.

"Nothing; I just remembered wrongly. It doesn't matter." Bree shook her head immediately, pushing away the issue of the ring. She must not appear anxious.

Trey stroked Bree's head and gave her a quick forehead kiss. "If you're happy, then I'm glad. At least you can accept Rad now."

The statement slightly disturbed Bree's curiosity. "Father, aside from helping Le Mans, what do you see in Rad? I mean, his personality."

Trey withdrew his hand from behind Bree and then leaned down to support his chin.

"I know what this is about. Are you really not disappointed?" Trey's voice was heavy and deep, full of regret.

"No, it's not like that, Father. Really. I like Rad, and Marseilles isn't bad. I asked out of curiosity, not disappointment." Bree hastily replied, gripping her father's hand. She must not make her father feel guilty.

"Really, I'm not disappointed. There are some unpleasant things here, but it doesn't make me disappointed; you don't need to worry."

Bree tightened her grip on his hand. To reassure Trey that everything was fine, at least for now.

The temptation to tell her father everything overwhelmed Bree. About his death, about his punishment, about the return of time. But all that was something Bree couldn't explain without sounding insane.

Bree didn't know how to convince her father of all this. The worst possibility was that Trey would think Bree was no longer sane due to the pressure here. Another burden of guilt that Bree didn't want to impose on her father.

Without that, Bree knew her father already felt guilty.

"I'm sorry, Bree," Trey said, rubbing his face, and his eyes returned to the darkness.