“……? Oh, on the stone, Mom’s name is written!”

The child exclaimed with a puzzled face while looking at the tombstone. Judging by the sparkle in their eyes as they called Lutis to come see, it seemed they had no idea what this was.

‘Having been confined to the annex and only recently returned to their nature, it’s understandable.’

The child, apparently thinking the tombstone was just a stone with Aeli’s name on it, looked around curiously.

It took a little more time for them to notice there wasn’t just one such stone and tilt their head in confusion.

Dozens of tombstones with different names. The only commonality might have been the matching surname at the end.

“……”

Lutis, who had been silently looking down at the tombstone, only spoke when the child’s interest began to wane.

“This place is where members of the ducal family who have found eternal rest are laid to rest.”

“Eternal rest?”

“……It’s a place prepared for them to rest peacefully.”

Since they hadn’t visited before, it seemed right to come together this time. Lutis said.

It was unclear whether he was speaking to the child or to the tombstone.

The child blinked with a face that showed they didn’t understand. Aeli then noticed the date written on the tombstone once again.

The first day of September.

The end of summer and the beginning of autumn.

[No wonder there was no one at the training ground today, so……] [Hey, hey, be quiet! I told you we need to be careful today……]

So that’s what it was. The maids’ incomprehensible conversation earlier.

-……

As if the scattered puzzle pieces were finally coming together, Aeli slightly opened her mouth.

Lutis’s mood being noticeably low since dawn, and despite having a lot of work piled up, he cleared his entire schedule, going through all that trouble early in the morning.

“……She would like it if you greeted her.”

“Greet?”

“Yes. ……She longed so much to be called ‘Mom’.”

……It was all because today was her death anniversary.

Before she could react to this realization,

The child, who had been restlessly tapping the ground with their shoe, rolled their eyes.

“……”

-……

At the edge of their gaze, they met purple eyes that reflected their own image.

The child, who had been alternately looking at Aeli’s face and the tombstone, blinked with a serious expression, furrowing their brow.

Blinkblink.

Then they fixed their gaze on her and smiled brightly. As a bonus, they called out without making a sound, just opening their mouth.

Seeing the child behave exactly as Lutis had said, Aeli realized.

‘Since they were told to greet Mom, they’re looking at me instead of the tombstone.’

The serious face and pondering were probably to think about that.

-……

……In other words, they didn’t fully understand the situation.

Although more thoughtful and intelligent than their peers, they were still too young to fully comprehend death.

Standing on the ground where their mother’s coffin was buried, but not even glancing at the tombstone and instead staring at her, Aeli sighed.

‘Having lived with a ghost mom for over half a year before even seeing the tombstone, it’s not strange that it doesn’t feel real, but……’

It felt odd. Aeli quietly clicked her tongue and spoke to the child.

-Adi, don’t look at Mom now, look ahead.

“……?”

-Dad…… well, Dad can’t see Mom, right? If you keep looking here, Dad will think it’s strange.

So if you want to speak, you should talk to the tombstone. As Aeli instructed, the child nodded but couldn’t hide their skeptical expression.

They understood that it was necessary because Dad couldn’t see, but they didn’t like having to greet a stone when Mom was right next to them.

“……Mom, hello.”

Afterwards, as the child awkwardly waved at Aeli’s tombstone, Lutis’s expression, well.

It didn’t look very pleased.

He just readjusted his grip on the child’s hand.

Aeli silently watched the two of them.

“Dad, I’m hungry……”

“……Let’s go.”

-……

Standing as if rooted to the spot, until they were no longer visible.

That was all.

[This is the timeline separator]

Later, after following Lutis and the child, Aeli left the room only after their meal had ended and deep night had fallen. It was after the child, hugging a rabbit doll to their chest, had fallen into a deep sleep.

‘So the time…… There’s really no one walking around except for the sentries.’

It was probably already past midnight or just about to be. Stringing together such thoughts, Aeli moved her steps towards where the annex was located.

-……So that thing I saw earlier was my tombstone.

She knew that they would have held a funeral and laid her body to rest somewhere.

She had also heard before that there was a place within the ducal estate where tombstones for family members were erected.

So naturally, she would have been buried there too. That much she had expected.

-Hmm……

Was it a problem that she hadn’t thought to seek it out deliberately?

‘The feeling of viewing one’s own tombstone in sound mind on the day of one’s death anniversary.’

It was beyond words.

-I haven’t seen any other ghosts, so I can’t ask about this anywhere……

Then perhaps it would be better to go and see it again directly.

Come to think of it, it was strange that she hadn’t seen any ghosts besides herself, Aeli mused as she walked, rambling on.

Her coffin would be buried under that ground. Given the time that had passed, it would have long since turned to bones.

The shroud, probably similar to what she was wearing now, would likely be tattered and worn.

As she was thinking this while walking along the path behind the annex,

Rustle.

-Ah, aaaaah!

In the pitch-dark forest where not a speck of light entered except for the moonlight filtering through the leaves,

Aeli screamed in surprise at the sound of movement from a dark shadow in the distance.

‘Wh-what is it! A ghost?!’

Even though she had just been lamenting that she hadn’t seen any other ghosts besides herself, for one to appear so suddenly… She wasn’t mentally prepared yet, so Aeli squeezed her eyes shut.

-……

It was only then that she realized ghosts couldn’t make physical sounds.

-……Ah, that’s right……

Feeling embarrassed, Aeli cleared her throat a couple of times unnecessarily before slowly opening her eyes.

She figured that since she was a ghost and couldn’t be seen or touched anyway, she could just run away if needed.

When she opened her eyes and saw who it was, Aeli couldn’t help but be surprised.

-……Lutis?

She had clearly seen him send the child to bed first and then enter his own bedroom earlier.

Without even a torch, let alone a candle, it seemed he had come back to Aeli’s tombstone alone.

And at this hour, secretly from others.

‘……?’

What could it be? Blinking rapidly with a dumbfounded expression, Aeli noticed that Lutis’s state was quite different from what she had seen during the day and examined him closely.

As if he had come out in the middle of trying to sleep, he was in light sleepwear with his hair slightly damp.

‘Looks like he came out without even drying his hair.’

Perhaps because it was so dark all around, the empty eyes staring blankly at her tombstone looked particularly hazy, causing Aeli to unconsciously reach out her hand.

-……

It didn’t connect, of course.

As if the incident of being able to touch the child had been a mirage, her arm passed futilely through Lutis’s hand, and Aeli slowly straightened her body.

As she raised her gaze, perhaps due to the height difference, Lutis’s face was right in front of her.

The violet eyes she had always praised as beautiful whenever she saw them. But now they no longer held any light.

Aeli slowly opened her mouth and asked.

-Why are you here like this?

“……”

-It’s way past your bedtime. You’ll be busy again when dawn breaks, you should rest even a little.

“……”

Even though he couldn’t hear her anyway, she continued speaking as if they were having a conversation.

-How was the war? I heard it was quite long, you weren’t hurt, were you?

“……”

-Come to think of it, your birthday must have been before the war ended. I wonder if they celebrated it there too. No, I guess that would have been difficult in such a dangerous place……

“……”

-……Honestly, I still don’t understand why you locked Adi away and left. You could have contacted Mason.

“……”

-But…… the child loves you so much, and I don’t know what happened during that time.

So I’ll just trust you. Aeli said with a faint smile towards Lutis.

She lowered her head forward, burying her forehead above his shoulder. Since she would pass right through if she touched him, she actually stopped just in front of him.

I knew you weren’t the kind of person to treat the child thoughtlessly. Whatever the reason, you did make a mistake, but it was no longer my place to interfere.

-……So just be good to the child. When Adi grows up and inherits the duke’s position, gets married and has children, and you become a grandfather.

“……”

-And when more time passes and you feel you’ve lived enough, come to me after living well. Then I’ll welcome you.

I’ll be able to tease you about getting old, so that wouldn’t be bad either. She spoke in a monotone voice, as if stating the obvious.

Unable to gauge what her own expression might be like, Aeli lowered her head even more.

It would probably take a very long time for that day to come. Until then, she could only speak one-sidedly like this, but……

‘……This is fine too.’

Just being able to watch over their happiness from the side should be enough to endure.

As Aeli continued speaking, Lutis, who had been standing still, reached out his hand over the tombstone for a moment, hovering over it.

But before even touching it, he lowered his arm and turned his back, so Aeli followed behind, expecting him to return to his bedroom.

Their destination would be the same anyway, so it was a natural action.

But then.

-……What is this?

Aeli covered her mouth with both hands and stepped back.

Her own corpse, unchanged in appearance, was right before her eyes.