Turing.

Turing.

Turing.

Forgive this clumsy yet love-filled call… As a spy stationed in a distant foreign land, I still can’t quite believe that I’m going to be a father.

I never dared hope for such simple, ordinary happiness… Just imagining your adorable little babbles is enough to fill my heart with sweetness.

Turing, my son… or daughter.

I took this name from the greatest scientist in the enemy nation of my homeland.

I hope this name will grant you wisdom, give you strength… and the courage to forgive every one of your enemies.

Heh heh, sorry. Am I getting ahead of myself?

That’s the trouble with having a foreign father, you know. They tend to be far too proud, just like Acadia’s mother.

Having two mothers must be quite a handful, huh?

But in truth, your mother agreed to this name too.

She knows all too well the danger of sworn enemies… and what it feels like to be crushed beneath pressure until you can barely breathe.

So she hopes you’ll be able to cast off everyone else’s expectations and live as yourself.

She doesn’t want you to hate anyone… or anything. Even less does she want you to end up hating yourself because of those false hatreds.

Turing.

Turing…

Turing!

Heh heh. I really can’t believe it.

Just two simple words, yet they hold such tremendous magic that merely calling your name over and over makes the corners of my mouth rise on their own.

I love you, Turing, even though we’ve never met.

If my stubborn, old-fashioned mother-in-law Pandora hadn’t made you disappear, you’d be nine years old by now, wouldn’t you?

And by then, I’d probably already be dead—or back overseas, never to return.

Fortunately, Acadia is a matriarchal society, and a father’s bloodline doesn’t matter much. I believe that if you had truly been born, the Altria Family would have been willing to raise you to adulthood…

I used the spare moments between my duties to write ten letters in all, entrusting them with the things I wanted to say to you at different stages of your life.

I asked your mother to give you one letter each year, starting on your ninth birthday. I hoped I could accompany you as you grew in this way.

Turing, I want you to know this.

Perhaps your birth was filled with misfortune and ill omens.

But the truth is, you were born surrounded by love in full bloom.

I believe your mother will make you understand that.

Even if your father may not be able to be there as you grow up…

Even if your father came to this borderland nation as a spy, carrying motives that were far from pure…

He truly loved you.

………………

The first letter wasn’t very long. Prometheus seemed to have written some crucial information about the laboratory’s secrets afterward, leaving Merka no time to savor his feelings. She could only skim through the letter as quickly as possible.

But just as Merka anxiously read on, Oedipus came over at some point without her noticing. She planted both hands on the strongbox, trying to snatch the letter away from Merka.

“This is what Prometheus left for me—you give it back!”

She huffed and puffed like a little wild boar, grunting defiantly.

“What are you talking about? This is obviously what Prometheus left for Turing. Didn’t you see the name written in huge letters on the envelope?”

Merka impatiently pressed the letter down inside the strongbox, refusing to let Oedipus take it.

But Oedipus’s determination was extraordinary. When she started fighting over it, she was just as rough and headstrong as a little wild boar.

Merka didn’t want to use magic, afraid she might hurt her, but that only left Merka at a disadvantage.

“Turing… That’s the name Prometheus gave our child!”

“Give it to me, you, give, it, to me~~~”

Seeing that Merka had the stack of envelopes pinned firmly down and had no intention of handing it over, Oedipus simply grabbed Merka’s hand and began throwing a tantrum.

“Don’t be stupid… What child could you possibly have? Your belly was cut open, wasn’t it? There’s nothing in there!”

At Merka’s words, Oedipus’s body suddenly jolted to a stop, as if she’d been struck by lightning.

But then she became even more unreasonable. She hooked her body around the edge of the strongbox and sharply threw her head back, determined to wrest the envelope from Merka’s hands.

“I don’t care! I don’t care! I—don’t—care!”

“Give me the letter right now, or else…”