Namgung Se-ga, the warrior, was reincarnated in Romance

In the mornings and early afternoons, I regularly visited the training grounds of the Valentia Duchy, but by midday, I spent more time with the younger cousins, bonding with them.

As a result, most of my time was spent exploring the various parts of the Valentia estate with my younger cousins.

The Valentia estate was more of a castle than a mansion. It was so vast that even a whole day wouldn’t be enough to explore the mansion fully on foot.

We visited several rooms filled with toys that Eisen and Hendel had played with as children, and we also admired portraits of figures from past generations.

While wandering through the large library, I found the complete translated version of the 21 dragons mentioned by Benjamin before.

Asdel was so thrilled that she refused to put the book down, so we spent a good portion of the afternoon in the library.

We also sat on the greenhouse terrace, where flowers bloomed even in winter, and counted the petals, or floated paper boats on a waterway made of white stone.

I played games like hide-and-seek with the children, but when I stuck to the ceiling to try to fool the seeker, I was quickly caught and scolded for doing something dangerous in front of the kids.

Whenever I became tired from walking, I spent time playing chess by the fireplace in the sitting room.

I was delighted to finally get a chance to play a game, after such a long time.

In my past life, before the rise of the Demon Cult, I often played chess.

As I grew older, chess or Go were the only games I could still play without losing face, but Go, being a game where you need to think several moves ahead, never suited me.

There was a person in the past who was great at Go, despite constantly complaining about his wanderer’s life.

The one who could recite every game from memory, like Zhuge Liang, was an amazing strategist.

Chess, on the other hand, was more similar to Chinese chess than to Go.

Having been born again, I had played with my father occasionally when I was young, and I was quite skilled when playing against younger children. But Hendel, the second daughter of the Valentia family, had superior skill.

After losing several games in a row, I became somewhat embarrassed and naturally became more focused on winning.

“…Check!”

“Check?”

“No, I mean checkmate.”

“Ah, I really didn’t notice that this time.”

After losing five games in a row, I finally managed to score a win in the sixth round.

However, I realized that Hendel, who had just shown brilliant moves, couldn’t have missed such an obvious move, and I understood that she had let me win.

I didn’t want to mention it, especially when I saw Michael jumping with joy, happy that his brother had won. I cleared my throat a few times, feeling awkward as I looked at the softly smiling Eisen and Hendel.

All the days were peaceful.

* * *

I spent a designated amount of time each day painting portraits.

Sitting still in one position for a long time was very boring, so the whole family would gather in the large hall, sitting together and chatting casually.

Since I had to pay attention to the artist’s ears, most of our conversation was light and without much purpose.

My aunt shared that she had suffered terribly from morning sickness when she was pregnant with both of her children.

She said that even drinking water would make her gag, causing her to lose weight, and she could only eat fruits that she could tolerate.

When she was pregnant with Eisen, she ate grapes, and when she was pregnant with Hendel, she craved apples.

When she was pregnant with Seirn, she had unusual cravings, wanting meat and sweets, which was quite out of character for her, and she got scolded for it. I laughed briefly, as I had heard this story before.

When she was pregnant with Michael, she ate anything and everything, but when she was carrying Asdel, she experienced morning sickness for the first time.

Upon hearing this, Asdel widened her eyes and tugged at her mother’s sleeve.

“Did I make Mom suffer?”

“N-no, I was just worried about you. I’m so glad you were born healthy, my dear.”

“Uh-huh.”

The assistant to the artist, who had been watching carefully, rushed over to adjust the folds of Seirn’s sleeve, and Asdel’s apologetic look toward the assistant made everyone smile warmly.

“Now that I think about it, Michael was the calmest among the children, wasn’t he? He didn’t cry at all.”

“Oh, yes, that time.”

My grandmother brought up the story of the day I was born.

My memories of when I was born were vague. Perhaps it was because my vision had been blurred, or maybe because I hadn’t fully regained consciousness yet.

It was only now that I realized how worried my maternal family had been, coming all the way to Earl Ernhardt’s estate.

The healing artifacts could stitch torn flesh, but they couldn’t bring the dead back to life.

My grandmother shook her head gently and continued speaking, recalling how the whole family was very worried when I didn’t move at all during the second trimester of my pregnancy.

“When you were just born, you didn’t even open your eyes, nor did you make a sound. Your hands were clenched, and we were all so shocked. If your uncle hadn’t told us that you were breathing, we might have fainted.”

“That’s right, when Earl Ernhardt shook your shoulder, you let out a big sigh,” my aunt added.

“You took a deep breath and then fell asleep right away. We were all so flustered.”

“I must have been exhausted from being born,” I said.

“Our Eisen cried so loudly when he was born,” my grandmother remarked.

It was a story I couldn’t remember. I felt awkward and distant, so I kept quiet.

I thought I should say something, so I opened my mouth carefully.

“…I didn’t know you were there at the time.”

“Well, you wouldn’t have known! If you had remembered the day you were born, you would have been even more shocked.”

“That’s not what I meant…”

“I was going to stay for another week, but your mother said once she felt better, it would be enough to just be with her husband, and she sent us all away. She said it wasn’t good to have too many people in the house with a newborn. Even though she’s my daughter, she can be so cold sometimes.”

I shifted my gaze toward my father’s face.

William, perhaps hearing this story for the first time, opened his mouth in surprise but then quickly shut it.

That period had been one of awkwardness, and it was clear that Seirn had kept the distance between her and her husband from her family.

I alternated between glancing at my father’s pale face and my mother’s flushed cheeks, and I couldn’t help but smile lightly. This was something they had to sort out themselves.

Seirn quickly shifted the topic.

“Still, at least you slept well. Michael always wanted to do things quickly from a young age. I thought he’d be sensitive because of his impatience, but he wasn’t.”

“…That’s right. Even when he was very young, instead of crawling, he wanted to stand on his two feet. We couldn’t take our eyes off him for fear he would fall.”

William continued, keeping his gaze fixed on Seirn’s face.

“Though he never caused any trouble.”

“He always slept soundly, never waking up in the middle of the night.”

“I thought he’d be annoyed by being held, but…”

“Michael was so used to it that, even when he cried, we didn’t pick him up. We just shook his toys beside him. Neither of us knew how to comfort him.”

“Indeed…”

It was heartwarming to see the couple speaking so kindly to each other.

Perhaps it wasn’t as pleasant a sight to me as it was to them, since everyone, both the adults and children, wore a faint smile on their faces.

As the couple, who had previously bickered, became more gentle, my aunt joined in and teased my uncle to show such affection to her as well.

I had always thought of my uncle as a cold, stoic man fitting his sharp appearance, so seeing him act like this in front of my aunt made me feel awkward.

But my uncle glanced at his two children and then said, almost casually:

“I don’t really remember those times. I was too busy worrying about you.”

“Ah.”

Before my aunt could respond, I accidentally let out an exclamation. I hadn’t realized I had made that sound, but the whole family turned to look at me and burst into laughter. I quickly covered my face, embarrassed.

The artist’s assistant, who had been trying to suppress his own smile, rushed over to adjust my posture.

“Why are you so surprised?”

“I was a little surprised myself. My father doesn’t usually say such things in front of others…”

“I think Uncle sharpened his sword to win you over.”

“….”

I cast a side glance at my uncle. His face, as calm as ever, showed no trace of embarrassment.

The words he had once said, that a marriage without love was a sad thing, suddenly echoed in my mind.

“…How did you and Uncle meet?”

“We first met at a ball. Your uncle was very famous at the time. He was the eldest son of the Duke, handsome, tall… when the Valentia heir came to a ball, the whole social world would buzz with excitement. I wanted to see just how handsome he was, so I went to look for him.”

“That wasn’t the case,” my uncle interjected modestly.

“Wait a moment. There were so many people that no one could tell who the Valentia heir was. So, I…”

My aunt laughed as she recalled how she couldn’t find the person she had wanted to see. Disappointed, she went for a walk and got her heel caught on a stone, causing her to stumble, which is when my uncle helped her. She explained in detail how she had never even properly seen his face at the time and had just awkwardly bowed and run away, only for my uncle to later greet her and give her a pair of shoes as a gift.

“When I received those shoes, I said, ‘If you don’t want to marry me, you shouldn’t be doing this.’”

“…What did Uncle say?”

“He just said one thing: ‘That’s why I came.’”

“…Ah.”

Throughout my aunt’s storytelling, my uncle remained silent.

I had never thought much about arranged marriages, but now I was certain that they must have had love at first sight, as my uncle was a strong believer in that.

The way my uncle looked down at my aunt, listening to her chatter, was warmer than a spring day. My throat felt a bit ticklish.

While I listened with great interest, my two cousins laughed and shook their heads. Hendel, who had heard this story many times before, clicked her tongue in annoyance.

“I guess I should practice breaking heels too.”

“No, I didn’t do it on purpose!”

After spending more time than planned listening to all these stories, we had a late dinner. All the lighthearted conversations made the meal taste even better.