"...vian."
She felt like she vaguely heard his voice. Something pointy kept touching her face here and there. It was ticklish but it was also disturbing her sleep so she frowned and swung her hand in the air. Her hand was caught and she felt a pair of lips kissing the back of her hand and fingertips. Lucia opened her heavy-lidded eyes. She blinked a few times, driving away the sleepiness.
"...Hugh?"
Lucia identified him with her slightly clearer vision. The bedroom was already bright, and he was already dressed up. He smiled and lowered his head, kissing her lightly on the lips.
"It's past noon. You should get up." (Hugo)
"...This is your fault though."
Lucia fell asleep at dawn today. He was so persistent in not letting her go that she didn't even know when exactly she fell asleep. She looked at the refreshed expression on his face and closed her eyes.
"I want to sleep a little more." (Lucia)
"You have to get up now to be able to meet your grandfather. He'll be here in about two hours." (Hugo)
Her sleepiness instantly disappeared. Lucia widened her eyes and unconsciously sat upright.
"Who did you say is coming? My grandfather?"
"You said you wanted to meet him. Have you changed your mind?"
"Ah...No. It's not that but...how did you contact my grandfather?"
"I asked the maid to find out where he was staying yesterday."
No matter what decision she came to, whether it was to meet her grandfather or to not, it was essential to first know how to contact the other party. It was a matter of course to Hugo but Lucia didn't think of it at all. When he told her that he would find out how to contact her grandfather, she vaguely thought that with his capability, he would be able to find her grandfather after asking around. But there was such a simple way.
"...But my mind isn't ready yet..." (Lucia)
"There's no need for that If you drag it out, you'll only get sentimental. Why did you want to meet your grandfather?" (Hugo)
"I was curious about what kind of person my mother's father is. I also thought I should let him know about my mother."
"Then meet him with that in mind. Don't bother yourself with too many worries."
Lucia was surprised by him. He was sharp about the point that she hadn't thought of at all. It was natural that worries would increase the more time passed, but the fact that he knew that was fascinating to her.
When she married him, she was impressed by his rapid driving force. He had a personality that pushed forward without hesitation when he made a decision. He seemed like a man that would never waste his time on thinking for too long.
'Does he ever worry? Has he ever regretted a decision he made?'
These days, Hugo worried almost every day. But the cause of this had absolutely no idea that he spent his days worrying and regretting.
* * *
Jerome received his master's order and personally escorted the old man. Externally, he acted secretly in order to avoid revealing the fact that the Duke of Taran brought the Count to his mansion.
Hugo ordered Jerome to be cautious. He hadn't yet decided how to establish their relationship after his wife met her grandfather. Once it was known that the man was the relative of the ducal house by marriage, there were a lot of hungry wolves that would come running.
Hugo didn't have any special feelings for his wife's maternal family. He could respect the man because he was his wife's grandfather, but it was only up to point she wanted.
In the receiving room, Lucia waited for her grandfather. Seeing her sitting anxiously, Hugo wrapped one arm around her shoulder and hugged her. Lucia didn't come out to greet her grandfather and was waiting in the receiving room so that the old man's visit would not look special, even to the servants.
The closed door of the receiving room opened, and Jerome came in, escorting a gray-haired old man. As if frozen, the Count stood at the entrance for a while looking at Lucia. Then with shaky steps, he slowly walked towards Lucia.
Lucia saw the face of her uncle from her dream in the old man's face. And she also saw the face of her late mother.
The two of them, grandparent and grandchild, stood a few steps apart and stared at each other silently.
"Please sit down. You sit too." (Hugo)(TN: He refers to grandpa with the first one and Lucia with the second.)
Hugo stepped in and dissolved with the tense atmosphere. Lucia sat down on the sofa after the Count sat down.
"Is it better if I leave you two alone?" (Hugo)
Lucia shook her head and grabbed his hand. Then she took a deep breath and opened her mouth.
"It's nice to meet you. I am Vivian...Grandfather."
The Count's eyes shook violently. He looked at Lucia with a very sorrowful look in his eyes. He moved his lips a few times but didn't say anything. Then after a good while, he managed to say one word.
"Amanda...?"
As soon as the Count entered, he quickly looked over the receiving room. When he didn't see Amanda, his heart sank with anxiety. Even though he was meeting his granddaughter for the first time and she looked lovely like his daughter, could the keen affection be compared to his own child? He chose to believe his daughter couldn't make it due to unavoidable circumstances. No matter how anxious he was, he couldn't abandon hope.
Lucia's chest surged with heat. This person was a father who missed his daughter. Who knew how much her late mother wanted to see her father for the last time? Lucia's heart ached when she thought about her mother.
"...She passed away."
Lucia saw a mixture of many emotions run through the old man's eyes. Surprise, shock, disbelief, anger, sorrow, despair. Seeing many painful emotions flash by in an instant, Lucia began to sympathize with the pain of the wounded old man. The grief of a parent who lost their child was shown in the teary eyes of the old man.
The Count covered his face with his hands, lowered his head and began to cry.
Tears also fell from Lucia's eyes. She leaned into Hugo's embrace and buried her face in his chest.
There weren't many things to talk about between a grandparent and a grandchild that were meeting each other for the first time. After greeting each other awkwardly, they began to converse relatively easily through the common topic of 'Amanda'. The father remembered his daughter, and the daughter remembered her mother. They found commonalities and differences, and even laughed occasionally.
"The pendant. Are you looking for it?" (Lucia)
Lucia thought her grandfather would ask her about the pendant. But even after they had been talking for a while, he hadn't said anything so she brought it up first.
"...Do you have it?"
The Count looked a little surprised but his reaction was calmer than Lucia expected. The problem pendant that her mother took with her when she ran away. It was the reason why Lucia was able to meet her uncle in her dream.
[The pendant is an heirloom passed down in the Count Baden family for generations. I found out later on that my sister took it with her when she ran away from home. Maybe because she felt sorry for taking pendant, she left a short letter in the safe.] (Uncle)
[What did the letter say?] (Lucia)
Her uncle cleared his throat as if he was embarrassed and said.
[It said that she was going to bring back a nice husband.]
So there was a time when her mother was immature. Lucia was fascinated by the stories that she didn't know about her mother. So, she met up with her uncle a few more times and soon, she invited him to her house.
The mansion of Count Matin was quite large and fancy looking. Her uncle looked awestruck as he looked around the mansion. It was perhaps from then on that he started looking at Lucia differently.
"I don't have it right now." (Lucia)
When Lucia was a child, there was a time when she fell off a tree and got seriously injured. Her mother entrusted the pendant to a pawn shop to pay for her daughter's medical treatments. But her mother could not pay back the borrowed money so she was unable to pick up the pendant on the promised date. This was Lucia's guess of the situation after putting things together later on.
One day, on the way to go shopping with her mother, Lucia discovered a pendant on display at a pawn shop's window.
[Mom, this is yours, isn't it?] (Lucia)
[Mhm. You're right. I'm leaving it there for a while.]
[Why?]
[Because it's precious to me. I don't want to lose it.]
After that, Lucia sometimes saw her mother pause in front of the pawn shop. Her mother looked sad when she saw the pendant with a price tag attached to it.
With her innocent, childish mind, Lucia thought that her mother would be upset if she asked her more about the pendant. So she decided that when she grew up and made money, she would buy the pendant and give to her mother as a gift. But after her mother died, she forgot about the pendant.
Then, there came a time when she had to go to an auction house on an errand for Count Matin. It was antique auction day for nobles with uncommon hobbies. Count Matin asked her to bid and win a uniquely designed jewelry box that would show up there. It seemed like it was a present for currying favor with someone.
Why did they have to compete to buy all these old stuff? Lucia couldn't understand. The jewelry box that she was supposed to bid for was scheduled to show up later, so she watched the fairly long auction with boredom. When the pendant showed up as an auction item, Lucia sobered up. She immediately knew that it was her mother's pendant.
Lucia forgot her real purpose for coming to the auction house. She had no thought other than regaining her mother's pendant at all costs. She actively participated in the bidding and eventually won the pendant. Because there were competitors who coveted a pendant with a unique design, Lucia only managed to snare it for a considerable price.
She used most of the money that Count Matin gave to her for the jewelry box but because she was so moved to have the pendant in her hands, the fear of the aftermath flew to the back of her mind. The pendant vividly brought back long-forgotten memories with her mother. In that moment, Lucia felt joy, something she hadn't felt in a very long time, enough to forget all her sorrows.
[Lady. Would you please resell that to me?]
A middle-aged man approached her, blocking the road and abruptly asked her to resell the pendant to him. It was her first encounter with her uncle.
[That pendant is my family heirloom.] (Uncle)
[I'm afraid I cannot. I have no intentions of reselling this. It's a keepsake of my mother.]
The middle-aged man was persistent. While Lucia argued with the middle-aged man, they eventually came talk about how the pendant somehow came to be at the auction house. Then they realized that the two of them knew the same woman as sister and mother. It was the first meeting of uncle and niece and it was through an unbelievable coincidence.
Her uncle was distressed and unable to speak for a while after hearing that his younger sister had passed away. His nose was slightly red but he didn't shed bitter tears like her grandfather had. It was the difference between a brother and a father.
[The pendant is a legendary treasure. According to the words passed down in my family from generation to generation, when the family is in crisis, it will save the family and keep the family alive.]
Since it was such an important heirloom, Lucia couldn't insist on keeping it. She figured that if her mother was alive, her mother would also want her to give it back. So she gave it to her uncle.
"My mother needed money urgently so she had to sell it. It's a uniquely shaped pendant so I can find it easily." (Lucia)
Although Lucia didn't have it now, she knew when and where it would be at the auction. She was originally going to wait but she changed her mind. The future she saw in her dream was changing. The pendant might not be at the auction. So she was thinking of asking around and looking for it in antique markets. The present Lucia had the power to task someone with looking for something.
In her dream, her uncle was very happy to get the pendant back. It seemed he was weighed down by the responsibility of the family and wanted to lean on a superstitious family legend.
But her grandfather's reaction was different. He smiled bitterly and shook his head.
"You don't have to do that. If your mother made good use of it, then it has done well enough."
"I heard it's a family heirloom. Isn't it precious?" (Lucia)
"Did Amanda say that?"
Lucia didn't hear it directly from her mother but she replied, "Yes."
"What heirloom. It's just an old thing."
Anyone from the Baden family grew up listening to the legends woven around the heirloom. When others heard it, they seriously believed the ridiculous story and kept the old pendant as a treasure.
At an early age, the Count also believed the legend surrounding the heirloom. However, his father regrettably passed away, he lost his wife, and he buried his daughter in his heart. What was the point of a legend?
For the family's crisis? There had been numerous crisis already and there was an ongoing crisis even now. When the Count reached his twilight years, he realized the indifference of the heavens. He was too old to believe in legends.
"It's just...What good would it be?" (Count)
The Count came to the capital to get back his mansion that fell into other people's hands. He made up his mind to ask for a favor, something that he had never done before in his life.
But as soon as he knew of his daughter's death, everything became futile. The years that passed without him knowing of his daughter's death had passed in vain. What had he been striving to live for? It was all in vain.
"You grew up beautifully. Thank you for growing up well."
The Count was comforted to see the flesh and blood and only trace left by his daughter. He consoled himself that even if it was now, he was able to hear about his daughter and see his granddaughter that he didn't even know about.
'I'm sorry, father. I'm tired now. I want to rest.' (Count)
The Count let go of everything. He folded his plan to ask his friend for money. He gave up on the mansion that was passed down in the family for generations.
'Let's sell the title.'
If he used dark channels, he would be able to find someone to buy the title. Title trading was strictly forbidden by law, but trading between acquaintances was still done. A count title would be able to fetch a good price. It would be enough money for his two sons to make a living. He didn't want to hand over the burden that he had carried his entire life to his sons.
"I should get going."
When the Count stood up, Lucia was surprised and stood up too.
"You're going? At least, stay for dinner..."
"It's alright. I have an appointment in the evening. I'll see you again next time. We know each other so we can meet anytime, isn't that right?"
"...Yes."
As Lucia watching her grandfather turn around and walk towards the door of the receiving room, her eyes filled up with tears. She met him for the first time in her life, and they only talked for a while but he didn't feel like a stranger; it was as if she had known him for a long time. It was not a sad thing yet why did her heart hurt so much?
Hugo hugged her and spoke into her ear.
"I'll see him off and be right back."
Lucia nodded with tear-filled eyes. She wiped her tears as she watched Hugo walk away. She was thankful that he was here with her. Right now, she was just thankful for everything.