The Author's Will

10 | Little Sprout

　　 "Happy fifth birthday, Irene!"

The sound of party poppers burst into the air, as myriads of coloured papers came fluttering down onto the flowery sheets of her bed. The little girl, who had been sleeping peacefully in her room, woke up with a start from the sudden cacophony — staring with wide golden eyes at the three figures around her bed.

Her mother — Sarah Cherliann, hugged her tightly while engulfing her into her arms, as the white-haired child struggled to open her eyes. Outside, it was still a pitch black winter night, but her room had been lit up with lanterns and candles that weren't there before.

"Mother, what's going on?" She yawned, as her mother pulled away. "What time is it?"

"It's midnight of course!" Sarah chuckled. "We came to greet you before anyone else would, for today."

Irene wailed, closing her eyes and laying back on her pillow. "But it's so late... Couldn't this wait till morning?"

"Come on now, Rene," her brother chuckled, sitting on the edge of her bed. "You should be more excited! You're finally five years old!"

As Irene glanced up at him, he suddenly caught her in a headlock, causing her to yelp. She screwed her eyes shut as Rayvis ruffled her short hair playfully.

"B-Brother Ray, stop that!" She pleaded, squirming out of his arms as he laughed cheekily.

The third person, who was always the quieter one of the three, approached Irene's bedside with a gentle smile. In his slender, gloved hands, he held a wrapped gift box decorated with silver ribbons and snowdrop flowers. The tall man's familiar handsome face came into view, silver hair partially falling over a pair of deep, red eyes.

"Happy birthday, Irene." Rudien smiled, leaning forward and gently brushing aside her soft, white bangs to plant a kiss on her forehead. As she finally came out of her grogginess, Irene rubbed her eyes, and gazed at her family.

Both Rayvis and Sarah were warmly dressed in their night clothes - whereas Rudien was clad in smart, noble attire. She remembered he had to meet with the other dukes the previous day, and it seemed he had returned late, but managed to greet his daughter for her birthday.

Irene smiled, a warm feeling in her chest. Five years had passed by since she was born into this world, and throughout all that time, she had grown happily and healthily alongside a family who cared deeply for her. Although she wasn't sure how things changed so much from the path of her original story with such little effort, there were many things that Irene felt relieved about.

For starters, her mother was alive and well — as opposed to how things went in Hanna's story. Originally, Sarah would have died while Irene was only three years old. But Irene successfully managed to stray from that outcome, just as she wished. Every day after she turned four, Irene was thankful for her mother for simply being alive. She was far more important to the family than anyone would have realised.

Secondly, Duke Cherliann, who once was feared as the silent "silver angel of death," was no longer the cold duke who once ignored his daughter. Although his personality hadn't changed that much, and his skills as a swordsman had only sharpened, he was much more a family man than before.

Meanwhile, Rayvis was still as kind and sweet of a brother as he always had been. At nine years old, he had grown into a beautiful young man, who stopped disliking his father as he did before. In fact, throughout the last four years, Rudien started to pay as much attention to his son as he did his daughter. Now that Rayvis was following in his father's footsteps to become a powerful knight, the two spent much time together and had grown closer as a father and son.

It had been only five years, yet so much was different now. Irene wasn't a spoiled brat without the guidance of her parents, but rather - a kind and clever girl who was adored by all those who surrounded her. This outcome was one she carefully ensured would happen, in order to avoid a frightening future for her and her family. Irene had gotten used to acting as though she were mentally a small child, to avoid too much attention.

But even as the time went idly by, she was always planning ahead. Not once did she forget about the story that would transpire in several years time.

"Here, this is a gift I got for you," Rudien said, handing Irene the neatly-wrapped box in his hands. "I picked this out last minute, but I hope that you like it."

Irene smiled, happily taking the box into her lap. He's been so busy recently, but he still made time to give me a gift. She thought, gently undoing the ribbon with her small hands. Once she had unfurled the box, Irene lifted the lid. And to her surprise, a beautiful bejewelled bookmark was there waiting for her.

Ever since she had learned the language of this world, little Irene always had her nose buried in books. Rather than playing with all of the toys in her room, she preferred to read — a hobby she had maintained since her past life. Whenever she would visit her father in his office, she would often read the books neatly assorted onto the shelves - even though they were all books that would be difficult for a child to comprehend.

The bookmark was designed as a beautiful pink rose, with elegant filigree designs. Despite it being crafted from jewels and pure gold, it was flat and could be closed within a book.

"Thank you, Papa!" Irene beamed. "I love it a lot, I'll treasure this forever!"

Her father appeared rather pleased, especially as she jumped out of her bed to give him a hug. Irene wrapped her small arms around his neck, but as she did this, a small feeling of guilt had risen in Rudien's chest.

"I'm sorry, Irene," he then apologised softly. "I won't be able to make it to your birthday party, this evening. But I wanted to still be the first to greet you, so I hope this doesn't bother you."

Irene paused for a second, slowly letting her father go. Although she smiled kindly for him, she did feel rather disheartened.

"That's okay, Papa. I know that you've been really busy recently, but make sure you don't work yourself too hard, okay?" She told him, her little hands pressed onto her father's cheeks. She could feel the outline of his jaws with her tiny, plump hands.

This man stays beautiful no matter how many years pass. She thought, sighing inside.

Rudien smiled warmly at his daughter, nodding his head. "I promise I'll make a free day for you soon. Just wait for me, okay?"

At this point in the story, Irene was sure the war between Laydel and a neighbouring empire, Izadel, was brewing. It happened while she was five years old, and lasted for three years, until she was eight.

Although the novel took place at a time later than this, this event was a significant part of her story. Hanna never really went into detail about the war, other than the fact that the army of Laydel came back victoriously with Rudien Cherliann as their leader.

After her family left the room, and Irene said goodnight to them again, she buried her little body back inside the blankets of her bed. But she was wide awake now, and deep in thought about the future.

The war is coming soon, and my father will be going to fight in it... She thought, frowning softly. I won't be seeing him for a while, but during the time he's away, I'll probably have my hands full too.

After all, it wasn't long until Mikael Laydel, the second prince of the empire, would come to live at House Cherliann.

　　 "The two princes of Laydel..." Irene sighed softly, her wide gold eyes staring up at the moon from her window. "Mikael, and Daniel. I wonder what they're doing now..."