TuxedoTranslations

Chapter 76

“Daddy, look! There’s a puppy!”

Albin pressed eagerly against the carriage window. He was always the type to mimic what he saw — meowing when he saw a cat, bleating when he saw a sheep — so upon hearing the little dog bark, he naturally followed suit and copied it: “Woof, woof—”

He grumbled softly in his throat, trying to imitate the dog’s sounds.

“Arf, woof, woof—!” The little dog seemed to respond, barking even more excitedly. At first, it really did sound like two puppies barking back and forth.

After watching for a bit, Albin said hesitantly, “It feels like this doggy is following us. I think it wants to find us. I want to go take a look.”

Though dogs could sometimes be seen along the road, most were guard dogs and looked rather fierce — he hadn’t had many chances to interact with them.

Hearing this, Padma told the coachman to stop the carriage for a while.

They weren’t in a hurry anyway; letting Albin go outside to play and get some fresh air wouldn’t hurt.

The moment the carriage stopped, Albin jumped out eagerly, gazing expectantly at the white Samoyed. Padma, still worried, stood close beside him to make sure the boy wouldn’t get bitten.

Before long, the Samoyed came bounding up, panting happily and circling Albin in excitement, its fluffy tail wagging furiously.

The corners of its mouth curved into a doggy smile — it looked so gentle and friendly.

Albin grinned wide. “Can I pet you?”

He slowly crouched down and reached his hand toward the Samoyed’s head, cautiously testing the waters — and successfully touched its soft fur.

Seeing Albin’s delighted expression, Padma gave a faint, thoughtful hum.

Just a stray dog, he thought. Perhaps he should turn into his fox form more often — that would impress Albin much more.

Albin petted the Samoyed a few times, and the dog nuzzled against his palm. But suddenly, it bit lightly onto his pant leg and started tugging forward.

“Eh?” Albin, crouched on the ground, didn’t move, and Padma instinctively stepped in to pull the Samoyed away — but Albin stopped him.

“Wait, wait, Padma-gege, I think it wants to take us somewhere! Let’s follow it.”

Though the Samoyed still looked like it was smiling, Albin could sense an urgency in its movements.

Padma frowned, studying the dog carefully, wondering if this could be a bandit’s trick.

“…Fine. I’ll go with you.”

Albin told his father and brother, then followed the Samoyed with Padma toward a small house on the hillside.

The Samoyed led them inside, barking anxiously around a figure lying on the ground.

It was an old man, unconscious. Judging from the dog’s behavior, he must be its owner.

Albin hurried forward to check. The old man didn’t seem badly injured, but Albin remembered hearing that when elderly people fell, it could be dangerous — and his healing magic only worked on surface wounds.

When his spell failed to help, Albin panicked, pacing in circles, while the Samoyed rubbed its furry head against his leg as if to comfort him.

“It looks like a fracture,” Padma concluded after examining the old man. “The dominant faith in the Lily-of-the-Valley Kingdom is the God of Healing — we should be able to find a reliable doctor or cleric nearby.”

Hearing that, Albin felt instantly relieved.

“Then let’s hurry and take him to the town doctor!”

Padma lifted the old man onto his back, while Albin used wind magic to lighten the weight. The Samoyed ran ahead, leading the way.

Halfway there, the old man stirred, his eyes opening slightly in his wrinkled face.

Through his cloudy vision, he saw Albin circling around him and murmured faintly, “Ah… Little Zeman, you’ve grown so much…”

His voice was weak as a thread, and he muttered something else — but before Albin could catch it, the old man passed out again.

Albin brushed his short white hair aside, puzzled. “Did he call Daddy’s name? How does this grandpa know my dad?”

Padma recalled some information he’d received from Edward earlier.

“They say Zeman’s hometown is in the Lily-of-the-Valley Kingdom. Maybe… it’s around here.”

This was the first time Albin had heard such a thing, and he widened his eyes in surprise.

After they brought the old man back into the carriage, space was tight — everyone had to squeeze together. Muen sat outside with the coachman, while the Samoyed lay quietly on the carriage floor. Albin sat in Zeman’s lap.

Excited, he mentioned what the old man had said.

“Daddy, is your hometown here?”

To him, Zeman had always been mysterious — this was a rare chance to learn something about his father.

Just knowing he was standing in his father’s homeland made Albin feel an overwhelming curiosity, a mix of strangeness and warmth.

Zeman thought for a moment, then shook his head. “My hometown is in the Lily-of-the-Valley Kingdom, but not around here.”

He had been taken to the Temple of the Sun at just four years old and barely remembered anything. Later, the priest who brought him away had told him roughly where it was — far from this place.

Albin blinked. “Then maybe the old grandpa moved here?”

They successfully brought the old man to the newly built Healing Temple in town. His injuries weren’t serious, and under the care of the temple’s lone cleric, he soon regained consciousness, though he still looked frail.

“Grandpa, are you feeling better?” Albin leaned over the bed with concern.

“I’m doing just fine,” the old man said stubbornly. His eyesight wasn’t great; he squinted at Albin and smiled. “Little Zeman, you’ve grown so much. Good, good, good! Have you become a doctor like your father?”

“Grandpa, my name’s Albin,” Albin said, tugging his father closer and pointing. “That’s Zeman — he’s my daddy! My daddy’s already this tall!”

He hugged Zeman’s waist like wrapping his arms around a tree, grinning brightly.

The old man looked at Zeman — the same white hair, the same red eyes — and froze in shock.

“Dr. Star?”

He trembled as if seeing a ghost come back to life.

That name stirred something deep inside Zeman’s memory. Patiently, he explained, “No — Dr. Star was my father.”

So Daddy’s daddy was a doctor!

Albin’s mouth formed a round “wow.”

The healing cleric beside them explained, “His memory has been affected. Sometimes his mind lingers twenty years in the past, and he forgets recent events — even things he just said moments ago.”

The old man snorted and glared at him warily. “Nonsense, you lying charlatan! My memory’s perfectly fine!”

When the Samoyed barked happily beside the bed, the old man waved his hand impatiently. “Where did this dog come from? Shoo! Shoo!”

The Samoyed, who had been sitting on the floor wagging its tail expectantly, let out a pitiful whimper and fell silent, only gazing at its forgetful owner with glossy black eyes.

“Good doggy,” Albin said softly, stroking its head in sympathy.

The cleric sighed. “Dr. Star was once the only doctor in this town. Later, the doctor and his wife died in a fire. That was when the townspeople requested the temple to establish a branch here. That’s why he doesn’t remember me — I wasn’t here then.”

Hearing that his grandparents were gone, Albin tightened his arms around his father and looked up to see Zeman’s reaction.

Zeman lowered his gaze. His expression remained calm — he even stroked Albin’s hair gently to reassure him that he was all right.

It had been twenty years since his parents’ deaths. He had long since accepted the truth.

Yet doubts stirred in his heart. According to the cleric, this was his true hometown?

Had the High Priest who told him the address made a mistake?

Zeman’s eyes darkened with thought.

“More nonsense!” the old man suddenly shouted, pointing an accusing finger at the cleric’s robes. “Dr. Star was burned to death by people like you! Dr. Star was such a good man — there’s no way he’d be punished by the gods. Someone must have framed him!”

The hand Zeman had resting on Albin’s head froze.

The healing cleric stared in shock. Under the sudden accusation of murder, he frantically waved his hands and stumbled back.

“It wasn’t me! I only arrived in this town three years ago! He must be talking about someone else!”

The onlookers glanced away awkwardly.

From the very beginning, Zeman hadn’t looked at the poor cleric — because a different face had already appeared in his mind.

— The High Priest who had promoted him, who had given him the wrong address for his hometown.

Zeman’s eyelashes trembled, their shadows hiding the turbulent emotion beneath his eyes.

He didn’t know whether the old man’s words were paranoid delusion — or the truth.

In isolated places, disasters were often blamed on outsiders. Some people hostile to the temples and priests delighted in spinning conspiracies, treating them as casual entertainment over tea.

With only the words of an elderly man suffering from memory loss, he could not yet tell what was true.

Sensing his father’s unease, Albin also realized there might be more to his grandparents’ deaths. He stepped closer to the bed. “Grandpa, is what you said true?”

“Of course it is,” the old man said angrily, spitting on the floor. “That heartless villain — no way he’d ever set foot in the divine realm after death.”

Then he looked at Albin kindly. “Little Zeman, thank goodness you’re still alive.”

He still mistook Albin for Zeman, though when he caught sight of the real one, confusion clouded his face again.

“Dr. Star… how are you still alive…”

The old man’s condition clearly required rest, so Albin and the others left the Healing Temple. Only the Samoyed stayed behind, lying at the bedside to guard its master.

“Go back to the inn first,” Zeman said quietly outside the temple. He didn’t get on the carriage like the others; his voice was hoarse. “There’s something I need to look into.”

Albin shook his head firmly, worry etched on his face. He clutched his father’s hand tightly, unwilling to let go. “I’m going with you, Daddy.”

Unable to refuse him, Zeman brought Albin along as he began his investigation in town.

Because of their striking white hair and red eyes, people who remembered Dr. Star quickly recognized them and began to talk.

— “That fire? Ah, poor Dr. Star. If not for him, I’d have died long ago.”

— “Hmph, that quack deserved it! He couldn’t save my son — he killed him! It was divine punishment, I tell you!”

— “Dr. Star was a good man. Hard to believe something like that happened. He always looked out for our family’s business.”

— “Yes, I saw it — when the fire broke out, I saw a Sun Temple priest leaving near Dr. Star’s house.”

— “That priest? Oh, I remember him. He was injured and Dr. Star had rescued him from the wilderness. That was the first time I ever saw a priest from the Sun Temple — big figures like that rarely came to small places like ours, so it stuck in my memory. But after the fire, that priest vanished.”

The Lily-of-the-Valley Kingdom wasn’t under the faith of the Sun God, and given Dr. Star’s good reputation, the townsfolk weren’t unanimous in believing the fire had been divine punishment.

When they finally visited an elderly woman, they learned something unexpected.

The old woman, still sharp-minded, took Zeman’s hand after learning who he was and patted it gently.

“It’s good you’re alive. It’s good,” she sighed deeply. Then, answering his questions, she recalled, “After the fire was put out, my son and some of the young men from town went to collect the doctors’ bodies. I heard that the doctor and his wife had died trying to protect something…”

She shook her head sorrowfully. “Such a pity. They almost made it out — they collapsed right at the doorway. But thank goodness you survived. You must’ve escaped then, right?”

“…No.”

In Zeman’s crimson eyes brewed a storm so fierce it seemed ready to swallow him whole. Thunder roared in his heart.

He finally understood.

The ones who had protected him from the fire that night — the ones who kept him safe — had never been the Sun God.

It had always been… his parents.

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