Chapter 112 : Chapter 112

Chapter 112. Lynn Aurora, Eli the Master Actor

“Lynn?”

Lucius murmured the name in a daze. Those unfathomable eyes of his were now filled with disbelief.

Ten years ago, when he had held an important post in the royal capital of Orlandia, he had spent quite a long period of time with that lively and adorable grandniece of his, the one with the royal family’s distinctive silver-white hair.

That tiny figure, her bright laughter, and the way she cried when she was hurt had all once brought a rare trace of warmth into his cold political life.

The face before him had shed its childish softness and gained a measure of resilience forged by hardship.

But those brows, that outline, and especially that equally striking white hair...

They were at least seventy to eighty percent similar to the Princess Lynn in his memory.

Hearing Lucius murmur the name in such a rare lapse of composure, Eli naturally turned his head back and smoothly introduced her.

“Lynn? Sir Lucius, I believe you may have mistaken her for someone else.

“This is the very person I mentioned before—my wife, Aila.”

When Aila heard Eli directly call her his wife in front of someone so exalted, her cheeks still flushed faintly, even though it was the truth.

She quietly moved her hand behind her back and gave Eli’s arm a light pinch, half shy, half reproachful.

Eli did his best to keep his expression calm, as if nothing had happened.

Aila had no choice but to step forward and bow to Lucius.

“Aila greets Sir Lucius.”

Lucius did not respond. His gaze remained fixed on Aila.

That stare was too intent, and it made Aila deeply uncomfortable.

Why was it that look again?

Seeing this, Eli raised his voice slightly and repeated himself.

“Sir Lucius?”

That call finally seemed to pull Lucius back from his dazed state.

He suddenly drew in a deep breath. The shock in his eyes faded slightly, only to be replaced by an emotion so complicated it was almost unreadable.

Then, in a rare breach of composure, he strode out from behind the desk and directly reached out to help Aila upright.

“Child...” Lucius’s voice was hoarse as he pressed urgently, “What is your name? Tell me your full name!”

Aila was made even more flustered by the great man’s sudden urgency and answered instinctively,

“Sir Lucius, I... I’m called Aila.”

“No!”

The word escaped Lucius almost at once, and only afterward did he realize how out of character he had become.

He forcibly reined in his emotions, but his brows remained tightly furrowed.

At that moment, Eli interjected at just the right time, his tone carrying perfectly measured confusion.

“Sir Lucius, she is indeed called Aila. She is my wife. Is... there some problem?”

Hearing that, Lucius raised a hand and rubbed hard at his temple, as if trying by force to calm himself from the tremendous shock.

After a moment, much of his usual steadiness had returned to his eyes.

But the slight quickening of his speech still betrayed how far from calm he truly was.

“Child... would you... let me see your left hand?”

Aila grew even more puzzled. She instinctively looked toward Eli, asking with her eyes.

Eli naturally gave her a gentle nod, signaling for her to do as asked.

After a brief hesitation, Aila extended her left hand, palm up.

Lucius’s gaze fell on her fingers, especially the place where the bases of her index finger and middle finger met, and he examined it carefully.

He remembered it clearly.

Ten years ago, in the royal capital, he had once been entrusted by his niece to look after little Lynn for a short while.

Because of a moment’s carelessness, he had failed to put away the fruit knife left on the table in time.

Curious little Lynn had imitated the way adults cut fruit and accidentally sliced her own finger on her left hand.

The wound had not been deep, but it had bled a great deal at the time and frightened the child into sobbing uncontrollably.

His niece had given him a fierce scolding afterward, saying that he did not know how to care for a child at all.

The location of that scar...

He still remembered it vividly.

His gaze locked onto the side of Aila’s left index finger. There... there really was a mark there.

It was extremely, extremely faint, almost smoothed away by time itself.

But on close inspection, a very shallow linear scar could indeed be made out. The position... matched exactly.

Could there truly be such a coincidence in this world?

The same facial features. The same hair color.

Even the position of an insignificant little scar from many years ago was exactly the same?

At that moment, Lucius almost began to wonder whether he was trapped in some bizarre dream.

To verify it, he lifted his hand and gave Eli, who was standing nearby, a light punch on the shoulder.

“Ugh!”

Caught completely off guard, Eli looked at Lucius in astonishment.

“Sir Lucius, what... what was that for?”

Aila also frowned at once, and her tone carried a trace of displeasure and protectiveness.

“Sir Lucius!”

His status might be exalted, but striking her Eli for no reason was unacceptable.

Lucius paid no attention to their reactions.

The sensation was real. The response was real. This was not a dream, nor was it an illusion.

He drew in a deep breath, then turned his gaze back to Aila’s face. His expression had become extraordinarily complex as he asked again,

“Are you certain... she is your wife? How did the two of you meet?”

With a bitter smile, Eli answered honestly,

“Yes, Sir Lucius, beyond any doubt.

“We... first met in Thorne City. At the time, she seemed to have lost her memory, so I...”

“Lost her memory...”

The knot of doubt in Lucius’s heart seemed at last to have found a reasonable explanation.

He looked at Aila, and his eyes were now completely filled with gentleness and... excitement.

“Lynn... child, look at me.

“Do you truly... not remember who I am at all? Do you truly not remember anything from the past?”

Aila, who had still been feeling a little frightened over the fact that she had just dared to scold one of the highest rulers in the Western Frontier, suddenly had her eyes light up at Lucius’s words.

In her excitement, she forgot all decorum and grabbed Lucius by the arm.

“Sir Lucius! That’s wonderful! You... you know me?!

“I... I can’t remember anything at all! Who was I before? Where did I come from?”

Hearing Aila’s urgent questions and seeing the confusion and yearning in her eyes, the last trace of doubt in Lucius’s heart finally vanished.

So that was it...

She had lost her memory.

A tremendous surge of pity and responsibility rose in his heart at once, but along with it came a trace of hesitation.

He looked into Aila’s eyes, so full of hope, and in the end, he sighed inwardly.

Things had already come to this. There was no longer any point in hiding it from her. She also had the right to know her own origins.

“You...”

Lucius’s voice turned solemn. He gently clasped Aila’s hand in return and said, word by word,

“Your name is not Aila. Your name is Lynn Aurora.”

Aila held her breath, staring at him without blinking.

“Your mother was the most beloved daughter of Federico La Roche, Duke of the Western Frontier.”

“Your father...”

Lucius paused.

“Was Augustus Aurora, King of the Kingdom of Orlando.”

“...Ah?”

Aila—or rather, Lynn Aurora—went completely rigid.

Her eyes widened, as if she could not comprehend what she had just heard.

Her father was the King? Her grandfather was the Duke of the Western Frontier? How... how could that be possible?

The sheer weight of the revelation crashed into her mind like a tidal wave, instantly stripping away her ability to think.

Beside her, Eli worked hard to look so shocked that his mouth dropped open wide enough to fit an egg.

Even Wolfgang, who had been standing silently by the door, doing his utmost to reduce his own presence, had his furry wolf ears shoot straight upright, his bell-sized eyes filled with disbelief as he, too, fell into a stunned daze.

A strange silence descended over the room.

Only after several seconds did Eli seem to struggle to recover his voice.

He looked at Lucius, his tone full of uncertainty and enormous shock.

“Sir Lucius... you... your meaning is...

“Aila... she is the Kingdom’s princess... Her Highness Lynn Aurora?”

Lucius nodded calmly, confirming that earthshaking truth.

But his gaze never left Eli’s face. Sharp and searching, it observed every minute flicker of expression there.

Yet what he saw on Eli’s face was nothing but pure shock and confusion.

There was no prior scheme, no calculation—only the genuine reaction of a man struck senseless by the truth.

Seeing that, a complicated bitter smile rose to Lucius’s lips.

A man who had spent his entire life inside political whirlpools did not believe in coincidence.

And yet everything before him...

Eli, this frontier lord from the royal capital, had somehow happened to find the Kingdom’s amnesiac princess in Thorne, and through a chain of accidents had become her companion...

Could this truly be the arrangement of the gods? Was it some enormous joke played by fate?

Enough.

He turned his gaze back to Lynn, who was still standing there in a daze, his eyes filled with the affection and guilt of an elder.

He reached out and gently drew the girl, who seemed to have lost all strength, into his arms.

“I am your granduncle... Lynn... child... welcome home...”

His voice carried a faint tremor that was difficult to detect, the eruption of emotions he had suppressed for far too long.

At the side, Eli watched the scene, and the carefully maintained look in his eyes gradually softened as well, becoming complicated and gentle.

He knew that from this moment onward, many things would become completely different.