Turning around, Mila saw Duke Reynard, who cleared his throat, looking down at her with a gaze that had questions regarding Mila's choice to show up at the training ground. The knights took a step back, not wanting to get into trouble with their duke, who had the position to kill them without reason. They cared for Mila but couldn't go up against her father, who held no mercy for those who intervened in their matters.

"H-Hi, father." Mila gulped, hoping he wouldn't give her a hard time after seeing her in the training ground when she was supposed to be doing her lessons from Lady Angela.

"Mila, come with me." Duke Reynard said, looking down at his little daughter, who was shivering to specific outcomes. She had to follow her father, or else he would be more upset than he was right now.

"Yes, father." Mila followed Duke Reynard out of the training grounds with the knights all concerned for her, and both went down into the mansion halls. She had finally caught up to him, and both walked side by side.

"Mila, you've been ignoring your lessons for some time. Why do you keep ditching it like it's nothing to learn about?" Duke Reynard didn't understand what had happened with Mila for the past two to three years that would make her refuse to learn.

"I'm sorry, father. It's just... Well... All of these lessons don't seem to fit for me." Mila did not like reading books with just the Mireraweth Kingdom's education. 'I know that the education from the other kingdoms was likely refused by the Mireraweth Emperor, who does not wish to allow his citizens to learn about other kingdoms and their culture.' Mila sighed, feeling as though this emperor was useless no matter how one thought about it.

"What do you mean?" Duke Reynard did not know what she was referring to. He also had the same thought when he was much younger. 'It seems as though she also prefers to get the proper education from the other kingdoms rather than the one she lives in.' Mila entered into a pathway that was hardly ever used. Both stopped once Duke Reynard was concerned about what Mila meant about the type of education she sought.

"Father, I've traveled to two kingdoms for almost three years. I do not think that learning from books is of any help to me since I've seen a much bigger image before me. Learning from the mainland is far more extraordinary in my mind, which sets an even bigger image for me." Mila smiled, thinking about how she learned a few things from Aiken and Kayla about their kingdom when she stayed as a guest. They had even gone as far as to help her at the most crucial times in her life when she had almost lost it.

"Did you perhaps meet someone of nobility when you were traveling?" Duke Reynard could easily read Mila due to her facial expression of how she showed such love for traveling. 'Who did she meet? Was it a woman or man?' Questions popped up in Duke Reynard's head with thoughts of who his daughter could have met or been with on the entire adventure besides the other four people she was with.

"You can say something like that." Mila giggled, seeing her father tense a bit with his expression ticked off, which she did not want to get him upset or angered. "Haha! Don't worry, father. Those people were far nicer than you think. They also did not have any ill intentions towards me." Mila ensured her father knew she wasn't being treated terribly while traveling. Even though that was part of Duke Reynard's concern, his mind still wondered about another man who could have caught his beloved daughter's attention while separated from her.

"Mila, why didn't you have your scar healed when you were in Asiradda kingdom?" Duke Reynard then asked to prevent his daughter from knowing his other thoughts that lingered. Mila had sent him a letter once about reaching Asiradda’s kingdom, which he assumed would heal her scar.

Mila took a glance around. First, she made sure that no one was around to hear them. "Father, do you know why I didn't want to remove this scar?" Mila laid her hand on the left side of her face. Holding a small smile, she looked to the ground where the stone pavement was the color gray like any other typical stone pavement.

"..." Duke Reynard didn't know why Mila would refuse to remove the scar on her face. 'What is her reason or intentions?'

"Father, there is a saying that a woman here cannot get married in this kingdom if they bear a scar." Mila smiled, looking up to see her father's face filled with the thought of forgetting such a long-forgotten law in Mireraweth’s kingdom. She could tell that her father had been thinking about how to get rid of the scar and have her get married, but he had forgotten the old law that many senior traditional Mireraweth Citizens still hold onto.

"I'm such an idiot of a father." Duke Reynard looked down with guilt, finally realizing that Mila did not want to marry. 'Even if it is a long-forgotten law that traditional citizens hold onto... it would not matter since you can still marry to another in a different kingdom.' Duke Reynard did not know how to stop the marriage since her future husband was from another kingdom. Mila had gone up to him and hugged him all of a sudden, surprising him with her sudden affection.

Mila smiled again and hugged him, knowing he was still concerned for her. "Father, I don't care. I am not mad at you, and I chose this. This scar is still like a trophy, but this long-forgotten law was made because of an old past with Mireraweth kingdom and its royal family that are afraid of the disfigured and scarred." Mila knew that Duke Reynard would forget and feel ashamed for forgetting such a law but the worry about Mila's future made him afraid.

"Tell this old father of yours, why do you wish not to get married in the Mireraweth kingdom?" Duke Reynard got out of Mila's hug and knelt, holding Mila's shoulders, looking at her for an answer.

"Father, I don't wish to marry anyone from the Mireraweth kingdom. Marrying someone from the same kingdom makes it feel like I am marrying someone related to me." Mila gave a straight answer, but it was only an excuse to avoid marrying the same man in her last life who would kill her in the end. "Will you force me to marry someone I don't like?" Mila said, looking at her father, who held a look she could not even read.

Duke Reynard didn't know what to tell her since she was going to marry someone she didn't like due to arrangements made when she was firstborn. 'Mila, how am I supposed to tell you this? Would you be angry with this useless father of yours?' He held a sad look in his eyes, allowing Mila to read through his mind then.

Mila could see how tense he looked, and he knew that there was too much pressure on him. "Father, don't worry. I'm sure the man you arrange to marry will treat me nicely. If father chooses my future husband, he chose a good man for me." Mila giggled, kissing him on the cheek and then hugging him.

'Mila, how am I supposed to avoid your marriage with a man like our enemy?' Duke Reynard hugged Mila back with his mind worried about the near future of Mila's marriage.

'Father, why do you look so sad and guilty? What did you plan for my future?' She pondered, unsure what ran through her father's mind when she saw his expression. Holding her father's hand, she did not want to start questioning him about anything as they decided to continue their walk down the halls when they reached a closed room with a light honey yellow door that she had never seen before. "Father, what is this room?" Mila went up close to the door seeing how its color made it very distinct from the rest they passed by.

"Do you want to have a look inside?" Duke Reynard smiled, looking at the doors and then down to Mila, who wanted to see.

"You don't have to if you don't want to." Mila didn't want to force her father into doing anything he didn't want to when she had tremendous curiosity.

"You're my daughter, so I don't care if you know or not. No one can order or push you around since they must go through me first to start messing with you." Opening doors, Duke Reynard gestured his hand to allow Mila to enter the room first.

Mila went inside, seeing that the room was kept clean with the curtains open from the windows. She then turned to see a huge curtain hiding some large portrait behind it. 'What is behind these large curtains? Would father allow me to see what lies behind it?' Duke Reynard knew Mila would be curious about what lay behind the curtain and pulled a rope that dragged the curtains open. Mila gasped once she came face to face with such a huge portrait with Duke Reynard in it and a woman with honey blonde hair and ocean blue eyes next to him. "She's beautiful!" Mila said with a shocked voice and face since she had never seen such a portrait before in her entire life. "Who is she?" Mila looked at the portrait and then at her father's face, seeing that her father's face said a lot about the portrait with the woman.

"She is Leo's mother and the only woman to whom I would ever truly give my whole heart." Hearing that from her father, she never expected him to be such a sweet talker. She never thought that her father would be able to find a woman he truly loved, but she knew that Leo's mother did not live long.

"Is that how father got Leo's mother's attention? How did father meet Leo's mother?" Mila looked like a puppy with its tail wagging behind her. 'I want to know how they both met. Seems romantic if the father knows how to keep his heart wholly to one woman truly.' Mila felt more curious about her father's life than before she was even born.

Duke Reynard couldn't help but scoff to avoid laughing, seeing how Mila would ask such questions to him. "You can say something like that, but she is no longer here with us. I will tell you how I met her one day, but not today. She had tough labor, so it was hard for her to live through it."

"Father, you don't have to tell me anymore. In the future, please tell me when you are ready. Even though Leo's mother is no longer here, she wanted to be able to leave something behind, and so she left Leo, who is the love between you both." Mila could tell he was still suffering with his heart aching, but she wanted to be positive towards Duke Reynard. 'Father, I want you to be able to rest at ease. You did nothing wrong along with Leo.'