Chapter 14
“Sir, that kind of thing….”
“Yes?”
“…Never mind. Have some fun, and let’s meet in front of the workshop in two hours. Don’t get into debt.”
“Yes! My lady!”
Esdel watched Darren run off with an uneasy expression, then shook her head. He might look unreliable, but he was old enough; he wouldn’t fall for some ridiculous scam.
Esdel was just starting to walk towards the salon where she had made a reservation. She felt the presence of someone following her from behind. She pretended not to notice and quickened her pace. The heavy footsteps following her sped up as well.
For something like this to happen as soon as she sent Darren away. Whether it was a man interested in her or a peddler trying to sell something, it was equally annoying.
Still, was it better than in Reinhardt? Now she had a ring to show as an excuse.
“Excuse me.”
“I’m sorry, but I’m waiting for some—Theodore?”
Esdel, who had been uttering a gentle refusal while glancing back, stopped short. She saw the man who had been troubling her for days holding out his hand to her. When she took the offered hand in a fluster, the corners of the man’s lips curled upwards.
As he tilted his head, his swept-back bangs lightly brushed over his eyelids.
“Were you waiting for someone?”
“What if I was?”
“Unfortunately, they would have made a trip in the cold for nothing. Since I took your hand first.”
Theodore lifted Esdel’s fingertips. Bending at the waist, he placed a short kiss over her lace glove. It was just a formal greeting, but her fingertips tensed up.
Esdel pretended not to notice and quickly withdrew her hand. Hiding her hand behind her back, she opened and closed her fist as she spoke.
“I’m not waiting for anyone, so stop joking. My appointment at the salon is soon, so I have to hurry.”
“I will go with you.”
Theodore started walking in the direction of the salon Esdel was heading to. Esdel followed him for two steps in a daze before suddenly coming to her senses.
“Wait, just a moment. Weren’t you out for some other business?”
“I came to atone for the sin of trespassing in a lady’s room without permission. Will you accept my apology?”
“After not showing your face for days, I see you’ve suddenly felt the need to apologize again.”
A hint of disappointment she hadn’t realized herself clung to the end of her words. Whether he knew it or not, Theodore quietly held out his hand again. Esdel knew the sensation of that hand touching her body.
“I heard that you waited for my return.”
“Any noble who knows their manners would be mindful of the master of the house where they are a guest.”
“Is that so.”
When Esdel didn’t extend her hand, Theodore took her hand himself. Their touching fingertips were scorching hot. It was so hot she feared sweat would form on her palm.
“But you are not a guest, so please don’t do that anymore.”
Theodore’s voice was close. The man, bent at the waist, was tucking her hair back with his free hand.
“It would not be good for either of us if you were to fall ill over it.”
His voice was low.
Esdel found herself glancing at his eyes. The man’s blue eyes were clear, without a single blemish. She felt a small, private sense of relief. She had thought she was fine after what happened last time, but it seemed that wasn’t entirely the case.
Esdel swallowed dryly. The day seemed like it would be unexpectedly long, but on the other hand, she thought it was a good opportunity. He wouldn’t be able to run away while holding her hand so tightly.
She steeled her resolve inwardly.
No matter how thorough a person is, they are bound to let a small clue slip during a conversation. Today, she would definitely coax the man and find out at least one small thing.
However, the moment she entered the salon holding Theodore’s hand, Esdel felt her resolve turn to dust.
The women chatting amiably in the salon turned their heads at the sound of the door opening. Their gazes met Esdel, who was at their eye level, before drifting to the man holding her hand.
The exchange of glances was fleeting, but it was obvious they were all thinking the same thing. The brief silence was broken by a woman who came walking briskly from the inner part of the salon.
“Goodness, is that you, Esdel?”
“Marchioness Cermond.”
Esdel bowed her head lightly in greeting. The woman, with a slightly stiff face, examined Esdel’s attire, then soon uttered words of sympathy.
“I heard what happened in the territory. It’s a relief to see that you seem alright, but… oh my, for such a thing to happen….”
A band of robbers attacked, she said. The woman, mindful of their surroundings, whispered in a small voice only Esdel could hear.
A band of robbers?
The Arpenta royal family, even after being briefed on the Reinhardt incident, clearly had no intention of properly preparing for The Unknown’s transfer phenomenon. To think they would try to cover it up with such a ridiculous lie when they should be revealing the truth and sharing everything the royal family knows.
“My husband was very worried. In case the County suffered great damages. But it’s good to see you like this. You look healthy.”
Esdel replied with a vague smile.
The current Marquis Cermond was her mother’s younger brother, two years her junior. The words of concern were likely not a lie, but he probably didn’t care enough to visit Esdel personally. That was the extent of their relationship.
After exchanging a few more words with Esdel, the Marchioness turned her gaze to Theodore.
“Esdel, but this gentleman is….”
As the Marchioness trailed off, the gazes of the other noblewomen in the salon also subtly gathered on him. An unknown tension tightened her chest.
From the moment she decided to marry Theodore, she knew she would one day have to introduce him to the capital’s high society. But she never thought that moment would come so suddenly.
Theodore was the best choice Esdel could make. But it was difficult to expect them to understand that.
For the marriage of a high noble, one needed honorable achievements, wealth acquired through proper means, and above all else, a good bloodline.
Theodore was a man who could easily capture the attention of many nobles. But he was not someone who perfectly met their criteria. A person who shines from an ambiguous position is more likely to be singled out and cast away. Just like her father, a count from a respectable family, who was never able to set foot in the capital again after his marriage.
In the end, she was trapped in the very shackles she had so desperately tried to avoid.
The Marchioness was staring at Esdel with a peculiar expression. She probably had no choice but to ask for Theodore’s introduction in this situation, but Esdel couldn’t help but feel resentful.
“This is my….”
Theodore’s hand touched Esdel’s shoulder as she opened her mouth with a stoic demeanor.
“A pleasure to meet you. I am Theodore Dane.”
‘Dane?’
Just as Esdel was about to turn around at the unfamiliar surname, she heard the Marchioness let out a gasp of “Oh, my.” It was a favorable reaction, completely different from what Esdel had expected.
The Marchioness began to speak with a bright face.
“You must be Sir Dane, who became the new master of Birchwood last year? Goodness, of course you are. A gentleman as handsome as you is not common.”
“That is correct. And you must be Marchioness Cermond. It is a pleasure to meet you.”
He gave an almost imperceptible nod. The Marchioness, flustered, nodded back and sent a look to Esdel. It was a look that demanded an explanation as to how she came to be with this man.
Esdel was about to step forward, but a hand gently wrapped around her shoulder came first. Theodore gently pulled Esdel back into a light embrace and spoke. His tone sounded utterly cheesy to Esdel’s ears.
“My fiancée almost had to impose on your household.”
“No… I was only asked by Josephine, I mean, Countess Reinhardt. Impose? More importantly, fiancée… I hadn’t heard the news.”
The Marchioness’s gaze once again fell on Esdel.
Realizing the meaning behind those doubtful eyes made her feel nauseous. The Marchioness was, in many ways, the polar opposite of Esdel’s mother.
If her mother had married down by coming to Reinhardt, the Marchioness was someone who had succeeded in making the opposite kind of marriage. Esdel didn’t know for what reason she held Theodore in favor, but she was not a suitable person to be the first to hear of their engagement.
Although it seemed the time to pass over it without saying anything had long since passed.
She was about to part her lips, suppressing her discomfort. She felt a hand touch her forehead. Theodore, who had come to stand beside her, was looking down at her from up close.
“Are you feeling unwell? You don’t look well.”
“Ah. That’s….”
The man’s words were gentle. So much so that anyone who didn’t know the story behind their engagement would undoubtedly see it as a love match.
Esdel tried to maintain her composure but couldn’t control even a moment’s hesitation. In that instant, Esdel missed her chance to deny it. She didn’t have a fever at all, but to the onlookers, everything must have appeared differently from the truth.
Theodore skillfully used even Esdel’s stunned and rigid expression.
“My apologies, but we must take our leave first. It seems Esdel has a headache from the cold wind.”
“Not at all. Please, go on in. Madame, please show them to a seat.”
The Marchioness readily stepped back. However, Esdel knew that invitations and letters would soon flood Birchwood. Not just from the Marchioness, but all the noblewomen who had been listening nearby were also sparkling with curiosity.
Theodore, with the hand he had removed from Esdel’s forehead, supported her and offered a final farewell.
“We plan to hold the wedding soon, so it would be nice to see you again then.”
“Of course, I must attend. I will await the invitation with pleasure.”
“I am grateful for your kind words. Well then….”
Theodore smoothly navigated through the noblewomen. Esdel, half-cradled in his arm as they went inside, whispered as soon as they were a reasonable distance away.
“You didn’t have to go that far.”
To which he quietly replied.
“You seemed unwell from the moment we entered this place and encountered the Marchioness and her party.”
“We’re not on bad terms. It’s just a little awkward.”
“I do not wish for you to trouble yourself with such trivial matters.”
The man answered in a low voice.
“You may think having a conversation like this now is no big deal. But even small things can grow large when they pile up. So save your heart. So that you can use it where it is needed.”
The reply that came back was heavy. While Esdel was choosing her words to respond, the madame approached and handed her a catalog. Behind her, tailors brought out tea and refreshments, then stepped aside so they could look comfortably.
That brief silence gave Esdel the space to change the subject. With her eyes fixed on the catalog, Esdel asked.
“By the way, Dane, that’s a name I haven’t heard before.”
“It is my father’s name. I lost my original family name long ago, so I have been using it instead. I apologize for not telling you sooner.”
Esdel turned her head to face him. Theodore’s eyes blinked slowly as if expressing regret, but Esdel could feel that he wasn’t particularly sorry.
“It’s alright. More importantly, I didn’t realize you were so close to His Highness the Prince.”
“It’s alright. Speaking of which, I know that Birchwood was royal property. How did you come to own Birchwood?”
“Thanks to His Highness the Prince, I had the opportunity to purchase it from the royal family through legitimate means.”
“I didn’t realize you were so close to His Highness the Prince.”
“I only saved his life once. The prince is an Awakened.”
“The prince?”
Theodore said it casually, but the content of his words was startling. Esdel tried hard to hide her surprised expression and lowered her voice.
“Is this something you should be telling me?”
“Of course.”
He replied nonchalantly.
The prince being an Awakened was more shocking than finding out that the Arpenta royal family was hushing up matters concerning The Unknown and making up absurd excuses. To think The Unknown had already penetrated deep into the heart of the kingdom long ago, and she was only finding out now.
Esdel massaged her now genuinely throbbing head and asked.
“So, when you say you saved His Highness the Prince’s life….”
“As soon as the prince was transferred, men under the king’s orders tried to kill him. I happened to be staying at the royal palace at the time, so I informed them of the possibility of awakening and surviving even after being transferred to The Unknown. They then withdrew the kill order. The prince survived.”
“And you were able to buy Birchwood through that connection.”
“That’s about right.”
The hand flipping through the catalog came to a halt. The shapes of the dresses simply wouldn’t register in her eyes.
Theodore spoke as if it were nothing, but in a country where even a transfer incident was fabricated as a robber attack, there was no way the fact that the prince had become an Awakened wasn’t a secret. If so, the Marchioness who had recognized him earlier, as well as the other nobles, must have been told a fabricated story different from the truth.
“What is known to the public?”
“It is known that I saved the prince from an assassination attempt.”
“Not a very original excuse.”
Esdel muttered meaninglessly and let out a small breath.
The fact that there was an Awakened within the royal palace had great implications. If even the prince, who must have lived under strict protection deep within, was an Awakened, it meant that nowhere in this country was safe from The Unknown.
As Esdel was lost in thought, Theodore’s arm suddenly appeared before her. He was lightly pointing a finger at the catalog Esdel had been flipping through.
“These three seem to suit you the most. Especially… here, this gray dress.”
The eyes of men choosing women’s clothing were not very trustworthy. If it was someone they were fond of, they would blindly say everything was pretty and suited them well, and if not, they would have a bored expression no matter what was worn.
Esdel had an experience as a child of wearing a dress with a large ribbon that her father had picked out, only to capture the eyes of not only her peers but also their parents. As such, Esdel had no particular expectations for the dress Theodore had chosen.
He’s trying to change the subject. Esdel’s eyes, which had been indifferently lowered as she assumed Theodore’s intention, widened.
“…Hm?”
The gray dress his fingertip was pointing to was very beautiful.
“It will go well with your silver hair. It would also be nice to wear a gold necklace that matches the color of your brown eyes. I have a suitable necklace at the mansion, I will send it to you as soon as we return. I’m sure… it will suit you well.”
A strange light flickered in Theodore’s eyes. It was a completely different light from his usual impassive eyes or the eyes clouded by The Unknown.
It was as if… he was looking at a different place.
Esdel knew instinctively. That his gaze was not here now, but somewhere far away, directed at someone else in the man’s memory. She was curious as to where the man’s gaze was directed. And she found herself, who was curious about it, strangely unfamiliar.
While Esdel was frozen for a moment with her lips sealed, the man’s eyes quickly became serene again. So much so that it felt as if what she had just seen was all an illusion.
👑🏰
After leaving the salon and stopping by a café, Esdel spotted Darren running towards her from a distance. She had definitely asked for a message to be sent to the salon, but it seemed he hadn’t heard it properly.
“Ah, huff, my lady! I’ve been looking all over for… Eek!”
Darren, who had been panting, let out a small scream. At the end of the knight’s gaze stood Theodore, with his arm around her shoulder.
“Oh, you weren’t alone, my lady….”
“We ran into each other in front of the salon.”
“I see….”
Darren approached hesitantly and took the luggage, including the dress Theodore was holding. But Esdel’s eyes noticed the knight’s somehow empty waist.
“By the way, Sir. Where did you leave your sword?”
“Well….”
“I trust you didn’t leave it at the gambling table.”
“……”
Darren tried to laugh it off with a ha-ha. But when Esdel’s expression hardened, he finally bowed his head deeply and apologized.
“I-I’m sorry. It’s just, the ball was really in that red cup! I saw it with my own two eyes and chose it… but there… was nothing there….”
“There’s no need to apologize to me, Sir. I may have bought it for you, but after I gave it to you, it was your property.”
“I’m truly sorry, my lady….”
Darren hung his head low with a dejected face.
Esdel was about to shake her head and walk ahead with Theodore. Darren fumbled in his pocket and then held out a piece of paper to her.
“What’s this? Surely, it’s not an IOU?”
“No, ma’am! I, I am not that kind of trash, my lady!”
“Then what is it?”
“Well… the siblings who run the gambling table, they asked me to give this to you, my lady….”
“To me?”
Esdel took the paper with a frown.
A title was written on the paper in large letters.
