Chapter 45

Before I knew it, it was finally time to arrive in the Luthemia Republic.

I hadn’t been able to see Anita again during that time.

‘She’d be better off dumping that loser and staying at the residence instead.’

But since that loser was the child’s father, it was frustrating that I couldn’t easily intervene as a third party.

I had gone out to the deck, and when I picked up a Medeia newspaper someone had left behind, I widened my eyes in shock.

[Federation Banned Books List

The Frost Queen by Lukins — A book that promotes discrimination and hatred against the Esaht people]

"Isn’t that the book Eugene read?"

Eugene said it was about a white-haired monster that ate children.

"...Who gave him a book like that?"

Hayden, his tutor, sometimes gave me suspicious looks, but I decided not to jump to conclusions.

Since there were so many books, it was possible he had given it to the boy without realizing what it was.

First, I needed to confirm it.

"General, do you know the book The Frost Queen?"

I returned to the room and asked Massera.

"It’s a book that’s been designated as banned by the Federation."

Massera answered like a walking encyclopedia.

"Just possessing it will get you investigated. The law was tightened three days ago, so I won’t buy it for you."

"I’m not asking you to buy it... just, how are the investigations done?"

Wouldn’t it put Massera at risk too?

"I conduct the investigations."

That means he’d have to investigate himself, doesn’t it?

First, I needed to check if the book was still in Eugene’s room. He might have gotten rid of it after the law was enforced.

***

We finally returned to the residence.

"Achoo!"

Unlike Medeia, where it was relatively warm, Luthemia was freezing cold.

"Did you have a good trip?"

"Dahlia!"

I was so glad to see Dahlia, who had come out to greet us, that I pulled her into a hug.

After that, I hugged the young trainee servants who were waiting their turn, and just as I opened my arms for the next, I locked eyes with Massera’s aide, Diego.

"Uh..."

"I’ll pass."

Diego stepped back as he took notice of Massera’s expression.

After handing out Medeia souvenirs to the servants, I called out to Eugene, who was hiding in plain sight.

"Eugene, I brought you a train!"

"Eep!"

Startled, Eugene dashed off and disappeared into his room.

With the toy train in hand, I headed to Eugene’s room.

"Once you lay down the tracks, it goes choo-choo and moves. Sounds fun, right? Aren’t you curious?"

Eugene turned his head away as if uninterested, but his light green eyes were clearly fixed on the toy in my hands.

"I’ll set up the tracks for you."

As I opened the box and started assembling it, Eugene had quietly come to sit next to me.

Watching with fascination, Eugene pointed to one of the parts and said—

"That’s the crossing gate that comes down before the train arrives."

"Oh, you know a lot about trains!"

"Yeah. I used to ride trains a lot with Mom and Da—"

It was the first time Eugene mentioned his parents—and then he stopped speaking.

I didn’t press or ask him to continue.

"Come to think of it, there wasn’t any snow in Medeia. I bet there’s no scary Frost Queen there either."

Instead, I gently shifted the topic to naturally bring up the book.

"Who gave you the Frost Queen book? I want to read it too, so could I borrow it?"

"Mister Hayden gave it to me. You can borrow it if you want."

In a good mood because of the toy train, Eugene readily agreed.

A tutor giving him a banned book—what on earth was he thinking?

Just as I reached for the book that was placed backwards on the shelf, there was a knock and Hayden walked in.

He looked at me with a displeased expression and said—

"It’s time for his lesson. Please leave."

"Okay."

Hayden glared sharply at me as I shrugged my shoulders in response.

"What are you trying to accomplish by getting close to Eugene?"

"I just want to get close to him. Is that not allowed?"

"Do you truly intend to take responsibility for a child who isn’t even yours? I’m worried that one day Eugene will be discriminated against and isolated."

"You don’t know me. Why worry about something that hasn’t even happened?"

Stumped by my barrage of questions, Hayden pointed at Eugene, whose expression had turned gloomy.

"Eugene is always anxious that he might be kicked out of the estate because of you."

"I haven’t done anything, so why would he think that? Maybe someone else is the one feeding him those ideas?"

Hayden placed one hand on his hip and raised his chin.

"Who knows? Perhaps someone’s secretly tormenting Eugene behind everyone’s back."

"If that kind of baseless logic counts, then I could just as easily accuse you of secretly tormenting him too, couldn’t I?"

It was time to show the results of all those argument simulations I ran in my head before going to bed.

For now, I chose not to confront him about giving Eugene the banned book. If he knew I was onto him, he might just cover his tracks and slip away.

But then—

Eugene suddenly stood up and came over, gently pushing me with both hands.

"Go."

His voice trembled, thick with tears threatening to spill.

"Just go away. Teacher is someone I like."

"You don’t like me?"

"I said I don’t. Stop caring about me. Take the train with you too."

Seeing the child say that with such a heartbroken face filled me with pity.

It didn’t feel like that was how he really felt. Was there something he just couldn’t say?

"Okay, Eugene. I’m sorry."

I gave him a bittersweet smile and turned away.

As I left the room like a defeated soldier, Hayden gave me a smug smile of victory.

‘I’ll just have to retreat for now.’

Standing in the hallway, I took out the book I had hidden in my coat and looked at it with eyes full of resolve.

It was the banned book The Frost Queen.

‘I’ll tell Massera everything and have that evil man punished.’

That was when I noticed a notebook tucked behind the book. It seemed to be a workbook.

It must’ve gotten swept up in the rush. I wondered what kids these days were learning.

“...”

As I looked through the workbook, I began to feel something was off.

"Isn’t this… something for a five-year-old?"

Eugene wasn’t slow or anything, so it was strange.

***

After Cynthia left, Hayden looked back and forth between the toy train on the floor and Eugene with a cold gaze.

‘Eugene and that woman getting close would be problematic. She’s oddly perceptive too.’

In the past, he had been a collaborator and traitor who sided with the enemy empire and reported the Esahts.

Then, after the empire collapsed, he hid his identity and became a tutor here. After all, working in a military officer’s home would raise the least suspicion.

The only reason he passed the strict background checks was because Eugene, who rarely opened up to anyone, chose him himself.

Of course, it also played a big part that Hayden knew Eugene’s mother was an Esaht.

In the end, he was using Eugene as a means to stay here.

"You promised not to get close to that woman. Are you really swayed by such a trivial toy?"

"But..."

"She’s pretending to be nice to win you over, but her real plan is to get you kicked out."

Eugene wanted to say that Cynthia didn’t seem like a bad person and that he wanted to get along with her.

"And I heard you spoke with that Esaht officer recently. What if your secret gets exposed?"

It was the secret of Eugene’s mother being an Esaht.

"That was because I said something mean first, and Cynthia noona said I should apo—"

"The fact that you’re even making contact with an Esaht is suspicious in itself, isn’t it?"

Hayden decided he needed to properly suppress the boy who had lately begun expressing his own thoughts too often.

"People pretend otherwise, but deep down they hate Esaht people. That Cynthia woman also gets ostracized just because she looks like one."

"I’ve seen people start off disliking Cynthia noona, but end up liking her."

As Hayden sighed and looked around, he realized “The Frost Queen” book was missing.

He had hidden forbidden books in Eugene’s room to one day frame Massera as an imperial spy.

‘I definitely tucked it away carefully, so who took it?’

Then he remembered Cynthia awkwardly adjusting her coat as she left.

That damned woman stole it!

Rubbing his face, Hayden scowled and made a terrifying expression.

"Do you still think you’re a young master? If you don’t listen to me, I’ll have no choice but to tell the General that your mother was a criminal who committed a crime and ran away."

Intimidated by Hayden’s threat, Eugene dropped his gaze to his feet.

"I’m sorry. I won’t do it again. Please don’t hate me."

From Eugene’s perspective, Hayden was the only one who knew the truth yet didn’t hate him.

"As long as you do everything I tell you, you’ll never be abandoned."

Too young to make sound judgments and having already been through it once, it was only natural for Eugene to feel anxious.

‘Should I be resenting and hating my mom then?’

Eugene’s light green eyes gradually deepened into teal.

Before coming to the residence, it had been day after day of hiding and running with his parents.

As Eugene recalled that quiet, gray world, he slowly closed his eyes.

"Dad, what did Mom do wrong?"

"Eugene, your mother did nothing wrong. It’s the world that’s wrong."

A child’s mind simply couldn’t grasp it. Not then, not even now.

Beyond the darkness of his closed eyes, memories of walking hand in hand with his mother and father flashed by.

‘I just miss Mom and Dad.’