25-107

EP.107 [Eugene Schneider Begins to "Raise" Vivian.] 

‘Father...?’ 

By chance, Eugene and Vivian’s first meeting happened on Vivian’s morning walking path. In that moment, Vivian’s mind went blank. Specifically, it was when Eugene turned toward her. As she looked directly at Eugene’s face, the only word that came to Vivian’s mind was “father.” 

‘He looks so much like my father’s portrait when he was young...’ 

For about five seconds, her mind was white with shock as she stared at Eugene more closely. 

Of course, she soon realized the man in front of her was not her father. Her father was already dead, and the man before her was far too young. There was no way her father could come back to life, let alone return as a young man. 

“Father, what are you doing?” 

As a child, Vivian would approach her father Alexis, who was busy reviewing documents, and ask him with a cute tilt of her head. 

“These are letters from nobles who want to arrange marriage contracts with my beloved daughter Vivian in advance. For nobles, marriage is very important, so I have to take time to review these things.” 

The Pierre family is a ducal house with imperial blood. At this time, Alexis was being talked about as a potential next emperor. As such, many nobles were eager to secure a connection by marrying his only daughter, Vivian. 

“But I want to respect my daughter’s wishes. So I want to ask you, my beloved daughter Vivian. What kind of man do you want to build your future with? Can you tell your father?” 

Alexis looked at his daughter with eyes full of love and affection. Apart from distant relatives, it was just the two of them. Vivian’s mother, Alexis’s wife, had died when Vivian was even younger. So Alexis had raised Vivian as both father and mother. 

“Pii...” 

Alexis truly wanted to reflect his daughter’s wishes and arrange a good marriage for her. But Vivian’s response was to puff out her cheeks. 

“Are you going to kick me out of the house, Father...?” 

She suddenly asked if he was going to make her leave home. 

“Haha! What are you saying, Vivian? Why would I ever kick you out?” 

Alexis was surprised, his eyes wide. 

“When you get married, you have to leave home... I want to live with you forever, Father... I don’t want to get married... I love you so much, hiii...” 

Vivian, pouting and mumbling, eventually burst into tears. She loved her father so much that she just wanted to stay by his side forever. To her, her father was everything. Alexis was not only her protector but also her mother who raised and cared for her. 

In the life of young Vivian, her father was her whole world. When her father didn’t understand her feelings, little Vivian was overwhelmed with sadness. 

“Oh dear! I’ve made my beloved daughter cry. Come here, Vivian, into your father’s arms. Yes, let’s live together forever. There, there, don’t cry, okay? When you cry, it hurts your father’s heart.” 

Pat, pat, pat. 

“Hihihi... I love you, Father...” 

She cried so sadly, as if her world was collapsing. Seeing Vivian cry so hard, Alexis could only comfort her. 

‘Unlike Mother, Father, please stay with me forever... Don’t leave me...’ 

After being comforted for a long time, Vivian regained her happy smile and, in her father’s arms, made a desperate wish. 

Having lost her mother so early, Vivian’s attachment to Alexis was immense. If her father left too, she would truly be alone. 

At a noblewomen’s gathering that Jeanne also attended, it was Alexis’s cousin who took Vivian out. Alexis had asked his cousin to help with his daughter’s upbringing. But that could never fill the emptiness left by losing someone so young. 

‘Wow! My father is so amazing! Everyone in the world praises my father!’ 

To Vivian, her father Alexis was not just a source of comfort. He was an idol. Wherever she went with him, people praised him. He was the star and the sun on the world’s stage. 

‘Father... Father...’ 

Her father, who was her everything and her sun, disappeared like the wind. 

‘You said you’d always be by my side... my light... my life...’ 

He was truly like the wind. Without any warning, Alexis left his daughter Vivian behind. 

“The Pierre family is finished now. The one who rivaled Louis XV is gone, and the only one left is a girl just over ten years old.” 

The world around her changed instantly, and the void left by her father felt even greater. People who once revered the Pierre family now looked down on them, and all the marriage proposals vanished. 

Vivian’s panic was beyond imagination. 

‘Black hair... my father’s black hair...’ 

Her only family, her father, was gone, and the world turned its back on her. The pain she felt was like being stabbed in the heart. She wanted to endure. She wanted to live. Her only escape was to yearn for and cling to her father. 

‘I’ll fulfill the dreams my father couldn’t. I’ll prove to everyone that he was right.’ 

So she became a merchant. She never wanted to let go of her father, even for a moment. By taking over his work and following his path, she could convince herself she was always with him. She also thought she could get revenge on those who turned cold the moment her father died. 

‘Barbarian...’ 

But the core reason was her desperate longing to feel her father directly. Most of the places she traveled as a merchant were places she had visited with her father as a child. And outside Elysium, seeing people with black hair reminded her directly of her father. 

‘But Father didn’t feel like that...’ 

But Vivian’s longing couldn’t be satisfied by mere memories. She wanted to meet someone who seemed like her father reincarnated. Even if just by chance, even for a moment, she wanted to fill the gaping hole left by her father. 

But among all the barbarian tribes, there was no one who truly resembled Alexis not just in hair, but in warmth, mystery, and the essence that defined him. 

‘There really is someone like that. Someone who looks so much like my father exists.’ 

Then, without even seeking it, Vivian met someone who filled her heart’s desire: Eugene Schneider. 

‘I want to see him again. What is this feeling? My heart is pounding and fluttering so much.’ 

After meeting Eugene, Vivian fell for him rapidly. It was more than just a man-woman feeling. Though she was 25, aside from her identity as a guild leader, most of her mind was still stuck in the time when she lost her father Alexis. 

It was just a huge sense of lack, a desperate longing for someone. Vivian was suffering in that feeling. In a way, it was pure, but in another, it was an explosive emotion she herself couldn’t fully grasp. 

‘Why is that person with her...?’ 

That vague, almost private fantasy became a more concrete possessiveness as she got entangled with others. Jeanne someone who, like Eugene, reminded her of her stormy youth became a catalyst for negative emotions, making Vivian’s mind more complicated and fierce. 

‘Huhhh... I’m so jealous... I’m going crazy. Seeing him with Jeanne makes me lose my mind.’ 

Vivian was rapidly learning about romantic feelings, but with no guidance and negative emotions as the main catalyst, things started to go awry. That’s why she tried to take Eugene away from Jeanne. 

‘How should I answer? To this person’s question?’ 

She planned to clean up after making her move, since she was immature in everything except running the guild. 

But Eugene started to draw out her true feelings. As a result, Vivian panicked, because answering would mean facing both her longing for her father and her desire to take a man from Jeanne. She was not yet used to such responsibilities she was still an immature, father-complexed Vivian. 

So Vivian, unable to answer Eugene’s question, was at a loss. 

“I-I don’t know...” 

That was the answer of a Vivian consumed by immaturity. 

“Well, then I guess there’s nothing more to talk about. Let’s consider today’s proposal as if it never happened.” 

Step! 

Step, step, step. 

With a firm response, Eugene stood up and left Vivian’s bedroom. 

‘What do I do...? The light I finally found is leaving again... What do I do...? What should I do...?’ 

Vivian panicked as she heard his footsteps fading away, her face crumbling just like when her father Alexis left her. 

 Vwoooooong!! 

Eugene coolly returned to the quarters he’d been using since becoming Vivian’s bodyguard. He took out his greatsword and started his evening training against the wall outside his room. Since taking on the bodyguard job, he couldn’t train in the mornings, so he switched to evening sessions. 

‘It feels like every step forward is a minefield. Is this the life of an alpha male? Maybe it is, since it means having multiple women...’ 

Even as he trained, Eugene’s mind was full of what had just happened. 

Naturally, Eugene didn’t have good feelings toward Vivian. She was the woman who had hurt Jeanne deeply. He wanted to be even harsher with her. But in the last moments of their conversation, he instinctively sensed a depth in Vivian that was more profound than he’d expected. 

That’s why Eugene decided it was better to cut things off cleanly now, before things got even messier. 

‘But I have a bad feeling.’ 

Still, Eugene sensed this wasn’t the end. 

That sense was confirmed when a voice called out behind him. 

“I thought I should give you an answer, so I came to find you, Eugene.” 

It was none other than Vivian, who had just been harshly rejected by Eugene.