Chapter 193 - 136 : Year 31 - 36 The Cherished One

Chapter 193: Chapter 136 : Year 31 - 36 The Cherished One

Beyond the noise of the worksite, the castle gardens offered a quieter corner of the estate. Sunlight fell across the herb beds and flower borders, warming the stone paths and catching on the leaves of the small trees that lined the walls. A gardener moved between the beds with a basket on his arm, while a servant watered a row of young plants near the wall.

The youngest daughter had made herself at home among them.

At seven, she was still small enough to slip between the flower beds without disturbing much, though she occasionally forgot to watch where she placed her feet. She was forever asking the gardeners what a plant was called, why one flower opened before another, or whether a seed she had planted would grow as tall as the shrubs along the path. Some questions had simple answers. Others led to explanations that she only partly followed before becoming distracted by something else.

That afternoon, she was crouched beside a patch of newly planted flowers, carefully patting the earth around a seedling. Her dress had gathered a little dust at the hem, and a smudge of soil marked one cheek. When the gardener told her not to press the earth too firmly, she looked up with an innocent expression.

"But if I don’t hold it in place, won’t it fall over?"

"It needs room for its roots to grow, young lady."

She considered this, then loosened the soil with her fingertips.

"Like this?"

"Just so."

Satisfied, she rose and hurried along the path to where Elisa sat beneath a shaded arch, a book resting open on her lap. The elder girl had brought a small collection of herbs out with her, hoping to compare the leaves with the drawings in her notes. Her youngest sister had been following her around the garden for much of the afternoon, bringing questions, flowers, and occasional discoveries that she considered too important to wait.

"Elisa! Look what I found."

She opened her hand to reveal a small flower, slightly bent where she had held it.

Elisa looked up from her book, and her face softened at once. "It’s lovely. Where did you find it?"

"Near the wall. The gardener said there are more growing over there, but I wasn’t allowed to pick them."

"Then perhaps we should leave the others where they are."

The little girl looked at the flower, then back toward the wall. After a moment, she nodded and settled beside Elisa, content to watch as her sister returned to her book. It did not take long before she began asking what the plants in the drawings were used for, whether some herbs could help when someone was sick, and why Elisa had to learn so many different names.

Elisa answered what she could, keeping her explanations simple enough for her sister to follow. The girl listened with earnest attention, though her gaze wandered whenever a butterfly crossed the path or a bird called from the trees.

She had inherited her mother’s love of gardening and seemed to find something interesting in every corner of the grounds. Her playful nature made her a familiar presence throughout the castle, and it was difficult for the household not to indulge her. Servants smiled when she appeared in their rooms, guards were accustomed to greeting her as she passed, and her brothers rarely refused her when she asked them to show her something or spend a little time with her.

She was, in many ways, the cherished little one of the family. Trevor might be occupied with his father’s affairs, Sabian could spend an entire afternoon buried in work, and Gabriel seemed to find a new reason to visit the training yard every time he had a free moment. Yet their youngest sister could usually draw one of them away, even briefly, with a question or an invitation to see something she had discovered.

She was still young enough to move between the worlds of the castle without giving much thought to the responsibilities waiting beyond its walls. Her days were filled with lessons, play, gardens, and the company of people who cared for her. The family had no wish to rush her into choosing a path. For now, there was room for her to grow, explore, and enjoy the affection that surrounded her.

The children were growing into very different people, each finding a direction shaped by their nature and abilities. Trevor was learning to govern and lead, while his martial talent gave him a promising foundation for the duties expected of the heir. Sabian was developing the patience and practical knowledge to improve the machinery on which the family’s mines and workshops depended.

Elisa was learning the physician’s craft, driven by a compassion that had followed her since childhood. Gabriel was throwing himself into martial training with a determination that made even his instructors work to keep him focused. Their youngest sister remained free to explore the world around her, still too young to know what she might one day wish to become.

Lucian and Lucy found comfort in watching their children develop their own strengths. They had always hoped the family would be served by more than one kind of ability, and the years were beginning to show what that could mean. Their eldest could eventually share the burden of administration. Sabian’s craft might help the mines and workshops operate more reliably.

Elisa’s growing medical knowledge could serve the sick and help the family’s guards and martial retainers recover from injuries. Gabriel’s unmatched martial talent might one day strengthen the house’s martial force.

But none of it could solve the county’s immediate problems by itself.

Trevor could help his father plan a patrol, but he could not produce trained soldiers in a season. Sabian could improve a lifting frame, but he could not make a poor vein of gold yield more than it contained. Elisa could help the physician tend an injured worker, but medicine could not put food on a family’s table. Gabriel’s talent would take years of training to mature, and his youngest sister had time yet before the world would ask anything serious of her.

Their progress mattered. It gave House Veymont reasons to look ahead despite the strain of the present. Yet the family still had to meet its obligations with the resources it possessed, and those resources remained limited. Lucian could take pride in the people his children were becoming, but he could not allow that pride to distract him from the choices that grew harder with each passing year.