I Became the Childhood Friend of the Northern Duchess

which was blowing in the cold wind.

“This is a story told by my mother, that is, Ariel’s grandmother.”

“Yes.”

Ariel’s maternal grandmother had passed away already by the time she was born into the world.

That’s why she can only hear the stories about her grandmother through her mother, Helena, but she was even more curious when she heard that the story was directly told by her grandmother.

“The title is ‘The Story of the Star.’ A long time ago…….”

Listening to her mother’s voice in the cold air, Ariel somehow felt like her heart was warm.

The story of the star, which is recited gently and comfortably, but not boring enough to fall asleep, was very interesting.

Ariel has only thought that stars were just unknown objects floating in the sky.

She has never paid any attention to them, and she has never made any wish to the stars like other childrens of her age would do.

The Story of the Star was a content that changed the existence of stars imprinted in Ariel’s head quite differently.

In short, this was the case.

Stars have their own stories, their own faces, and their own colors.

And when the quiet night arrives when everyone in the world falls asleep, the stars gather for a while and share ‘star stories’ among themselves.

The night was always quiet as usual and they thought no one would notice them as always.

As the stars gathered and talked among themselves, a girl who was confined in a tall tower witnessed their little gathering.

There was an unwritten rule that humans should never witness them, so they decided to erase the girl’s memory in exchange for gathering the power of the stars and granting her a wish.

When asked what she would wish for, the girl said she wanted to ask about the whereabouts of a boy who visited the tower when she was younger.

The boy always told her the story of the outside world and promised to take her away from this tower, but at some point he stopped visiting her.

She doesn’t care if he doesn’t come back, she only wants to know if he’s alive or dead.

The stars joined forces to find the boy’s whereabouts, but the boy had already died at the hands of the bandits.

However, the stars came up with a trick because they thought they might hurt the girl if they told the story as it was.

They said, the boy couldn’t find the tower right now, but if you like to listen to him, we’ll tell you, and we won’t erase your memories either.

The girl accepted, and the stars told her stories every night, little by little, the stories of several other people they had hidden in the night sky.
(The stars are cheating other people’s stories as the boy’s)

Decades later, her last day in this world came.

She told the stars what she had hidden so far.

– Actually, I knew he was dead.
I’ll never forget your efforts for me, stars.

And she wrote “The Story of the Star” on an old notebook in her room so that others could read the story.

However, in order to keep the secrets of the stars, she added a request to deliver it to only two people in their lifetime.

“Isn’t it amazing?”

“Yes, it’s amazing.”

Then, do stars still secretly appear and talk at night?

Ariel tilted her head, and Helena opened her mouth, as if she had guessed her thoughts.

“In fact, mom always looks at the night sky every night because I want to see the stars talking.”

“Have you seen them yet?””

” No.
Maybe your grandmother probably didn’t see them either.”

It’s really hard to see.

Well, that’s why it’s only a story.

Ariel, who nodded as if she was convinced, raised her hand confidently.

“Don’t worry! I’ll make sure to listen to their story and let my mom know!”

“Really? Thank you, my daughter.”

Helena, who once again kissed her cheek, entered the castle holding Ariel.

It was getting colder and colder, so she couldn’t let the weak child outside for long.

“Mom, should I tell this story to only two people in my entire life?”

“Yes.
It’s a promise passed down from generation to generation.”

“Then who else did you tell besides me?””

“Whoa, well.
Who could it be? Ariel, can you guess?”

If it’s just two people in their lifetime, they should be that precious.

Even the young Ariel could guess that much.

“A precious person to my mom.….’

As she was racking her brain, she immediately opened her eyes and shouted triumphantly as if an answer had come to her mind.

“Dad! It’s him, right?”

“Correct.
You are my daughter”.

“Hehe.”

Ariel, who was excited, bounced around and asked Helena again, wondering as if she had realized another problem for a moment.

“Mom, who should I tell it to?”

“That’s up to Ariel.
Someone like that will definitely appear someday.”

“How do you know?”

“Even if Ariel doesn’t know, the child sleeping in here will definitely tell you when the time comes.
So don’t worry.”( The sleeping one is referring to Ariel’s adult mindset.)

Ariel blinked at her mother, who was pointing near her stomach.

‘Is someone asleep in here? Then why doesn’t the sleeping one tell me the answer right now?’

I’ll just lie in bed and think about it myself.

Ariel ran straight to her room, Ding.

She silently tilted her head, as there was suddenly a face that popped up in her mind but it quickly disappeared before she could catch it.

She didn’t know why, but it was a face that reminded her of a friend’s face.