Grandmother arrived at the imperial palace faster than I expected.

I’m not sure if Betty was quick or if Grandmother hurried.

And now, here.

I shooed away Leoprick, who insisted on staying, and sat face to face with Grandmother.

“…You look just like your mother.”

After a few minutes of awkward silence and several sips of tea, that was Grandmother’s first remark.

You resemble your mother a lot.

So much that it reminds me of your mother’s youth.

Grandmother’s eyes grew distant as she said it reminded her of my mother, who married at exactly my current age.

Of course, I didn’t invite Grandmother here to listen to such sentiments, so I couldn’t quite sympathize.

“I invited you here because I have something to ask.”

“Don’t worry about it. It must have been difficult for you to move.”

While my father addresses me formally as the crown princess of a country, Grandmother spoke casually as if such things didn’t concern her.

If her unconcerned attitude allows me to speak freely as well, all the better.

Though I felt no affection or familiarity towards this grandmother I was meeting for the first time, my experience in social circles made it easy to ask her what I needed.

I asked Grandmother, who was quietly waiting for me to speak.

“I was wondering if there were any special secrets in my mother’s family.”

While I was curious about my mother’s experiences with pregnancy, what I really wanted to know was something else.

The reason for my regression and how I remembered everything.

Leoprick seemed to be guessing based on the incomplete remaining magic and the fact that the person who performed the magic circle had no magical power.

But I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something different about my mother’s bloodline.

“Secrets, you say?”

“Like if there were any magicians among the family’s ancestors…”

So I boldly asked.

These days, you can’t find magicians no matter how hard you look, and magic power only flows faintly in the direct imperial lineage.

But perhaps one of the countless magicians who existed in the past was in my mother’s family.

“…What made you think of such a thing?”

Grandmother, who had briefly closed her eyes at my question, opened them again and asked quietly.

As if wondering what made me think of something that others might consider quite strange.

Her tone sounded concerned at first glance, but I didn’t miss the slight change in Grandmother’s expression.

Clearly, I had hit on something.

“There’s no particular reason. You knew in advance that Mother would marry Father, and Mother was said to have good intuition.”

That’s why Father believed all my words, even those that might have sounded absurd.

I added in a neutral tone, looking at Grandmother.

Grandmother, who seemed to be pondering for a moment at first, slowly raised her teacup to cover her face and then…

“There’s no need to go back as far as our ancestors. Magician blood entered our family long after the empire was established.”

She began her story, as if tossing it out casually.

Grandmother’s story went like this.

A prince who decided to eliminate magic from the empire.

That prince was our ancestor, she said.

“…You mean that prince was my great-great-grandfather?”

“If we were to be precise, yes. Though he wasn’t the founder of our family, he did marry a woman from our lineage.”

The prince, who had taken all the magic books and records spread throughout the empire and gone into hiding, fell in love with a female scholar from our family who went into hiding with him.

To erase his traces from the world, he even used the scholar’s surname, Arte.

Though unintended, powerful children were born in succession, and Grandmother said the reason we have good ‘intuition’ now is probably half due to that magical power.

“This is a story passed down from my mother’s mother. I can’t say for certain if it’s true, but considering how excellent my mother’s intuition was, it’s not unbelievable.”

Grandmother continued speaking as if it were no big deal.

“I heard that the descendants continued to live in hiding until they could no longer recognize their power due to not learning magic. Considering that everyone there knew how to use magic, that power passed down through generations hasn’t completely disappeared even now.”

They had children, and those children had children.

Being people who were determined to eliminate magic somehow, they probably only thought of coming out when their magical power had become much weaker than their own.

Nevertheless, because the power of those who lived together was so strong, it still remains faintly even after being diluted over several generations.

“Because many doubted their own abilities, this story has only been passed down from mother to mother until now. For some reason, that power seems to be more strongly inherited through the maternal bloodline.”

“Then did the sons not have this ability?”

“I’m not sure if they didn’t have it, or if no one thought deeply about it.”

Men tend to think that what they possess is something extraordinarily great.

Grandmother muttered that with a faint smile.

She had an older brother right above her, but she never saw him worrying about such things.

Rather, he seemed busy boasting about his abilities, Grandmother smiled.

So, it’s likely that it’s passed down more strongly through the maternal line.

“Among them, Jenit was, yes. That child was very special. It’s clear that the magical power weakened as the blood mixed with other families, but that child seemed like she was born several generations earlier.”

My mother, who was so special.

They said my mother clearly knew when I would be born and when she would die.

“Jenit… loved you.”

After continuing the story for a while, Grandmother said in a quietly resonating voice.

My mother loved me so much from when I was in her womb, and she prepared everything – the trading company and my father – all for me.

Hearing this, something came to mind.

Father’s brief complaint about Grandmother, who left the empire shortly after my mother passed away.

The reason it remained in my mind despite being a passing remark was probably because it contained Father’s deeply melted heart at that time.

After pondering for a moment, I carefully asked Grandmother.

“When you say Father was prepared for me…”

“Your father was a man who loved work as much as your mother.”

The answer came without hesitation to my carefully posed question.

Grandmother laughed, saying that if she had remained in the empire, Father might have focused a bit more on work without hesitation.

“Jenit knew. She knew that if she wasn’t busy herself, she could be hurt by the marquis’s attitude at any time. There might have been other ways, but she started the trading company work saying it seemed the best option for now.”

“Then are you saying Mother didn’t want to do the trading company work from the beginning…?”

“It’s true that she didn’t like staying still. But she didn’t love work enough to reduce the time she could spend with the person she loved.”

Grandmother shook her head.

And the smile she wore as she did so looked exactly like the one in Mother’s portrait hanging in the marquis’s residence.

I let out a small laugh and leaned back on the sofa.

So, in fact, Mother knew everything.

That the trading company work she started would be of great help not only to herself but also to me.

Because she loved Father so much that she understood his flaws, Mother found her own way to live.

From the conversation with Grandmother, I felt I could understand Mother, Father, and even Grandmother whom I met for the first time.

I let out a long sigh and covered my face with my hands.

“Then Grandmother, why did you come back only now?”

You could have returned anytime before.

I am no longer a young child who needs Father’s care.

Whether Father is immersed in work or not, it’s not an issue that would greatly affect me now.

And it’s been quite a while since that became the case.

So why is Grandmother coming back now to tell these stories?

“Well, because you wouldn’t have understood the stories I just told before you got married.”

Only when you have someone you love, and when you have a child of your own.

Only then will you be able to understand us.

That softly spoken words strangely pierced my heart.

Because at that moment, I felt like I realized that everything surrounding me was ultimately love.

I ended up crying right then and there.