Chapter 21

『My period hasn’t started yet…』

Looking quite weary, Joffrey tapped the armrest of his chair with his fingers. Tap. Tap. The regular sound continued. Daphne lowered her head deeply. This was easier than feigning a sorry expression. After pondering for longer than usual, Joffrey finally spoke.

『Receive the veil on the upcoming festival day.』

Daphne looked up and asked.

『…During the Summer Festival?』

『Yes.』

The ‘Summer Festival’ was a festival for the goddess Enna, the largest and most popular in Bellares. Many festivals had disappeared due to the long war, but the Summer Festival was still going strong.

What marked its beginning was the coming-of-age ceremony. It was an event where a priestess of the goddess Enna would place a veil on a young lady who had started her period, and for the young ladies, it was also a chance to make their debut as proper bride candidates.

Daphne deliberately asked in a foolish and innocent manner.

『How can I receive the veil when I haven’t started my period, brother?』

Joffrey was quick to get annoyed.

『It’s just moving it up a little. It wouldn’t look good for it to be any later.』

Daphne was not surprised. Joffrey reacting this way was within her expectations.

Razan had declared he would only provide troops if a bride was offered first, and then he left. Soon, a new Equilla would be born, and he would return to take his bride.

The fact that his pride was wounded by being forced to comply with Razan’s wishes was not, in fact, a very important issue. The real problem was that Joffrey, flustered by the angry populace, had blabbered on that the goddess was enraged because Razan coveted a virgin who had not yet menstruated, all to avoid responsibility for his defeat in the duel.

Joffrey had already once felt the fear of the people’s change of heart. With faith in the Thesarian royal family at an all-time low, it would be difficult to hand over to Razan a princess who hadn’t even had her coming-of-age ceremony because she hadn’t started her period. Joffrey added in a stubborn tone.

『You are a Thesarian. It is merely a bit delayed, there cannot be anything lacking in you.』

So what if it’s a coming-of-age ceremony? Receiving the veil wasn’t a difficult thing. Daphne obediently nodded her head.

『Alright. I’ll speak to Callista.』

Selecting the young lady who would have the honor of receiving the veil on the most popular festival day was one of the few powers the Queen of Bellares possessed.

For a moment, Daphne’s smile vanished. The coming-of-age ceremony itself wasn’t much of a bother, but Callista was someone she was reluctant to deal with.

Callista, King Bation’s fifth queen, was just a seventeen-year-old girl, younger than Daphne. Daphne did not call Callista ‘mother,’ and naturally, Joffrey didn’t see Callista, who was much younger than him, as a mother either. Perhaps, Callista didn’t like that…

‘…Well, it’ll be fine.’

Daphne’s mind was filled with other thoughts, so Callista was easily forgotten. On her way back to her room after leaving Joffrey’s garden, Leah congratulated Daphne.

『Congratulations, Princess. You’re finally having your coming-of-age ceremony.』

Her voice held its usual hint of a faint sneer, but Daphne was busy looking around.

『Uh-huh, well…』

『Prince Joffrey, really. It would have been better if he had told you sooner. There are so many things to prepare, so from tomorrow, as much as possible…』

It was then that Daphne abruptly stopped and looked back at Leah. Faced with Daphne’s bright smile, Leah momentarily forgot what she was about to say.

『Leah.』

『…Yes?』

Daphne gestured subtly with her eyes to the side and whispered.

『See that white cape over there, by the pillar?』

A white cape meant a knight of the Royal Guard, for the king or the crown prince.

『By the entrance to the corridor?』

『Yes. That man keeps looking at you.』

And Leah, like any other young lady, was very interested in knights. Leah blinked a few times, then stared at the man Daphne had pointed out. Their gazes held for quite a long time, and Daphne’s smile deepened.

『I think he’s completely smitten with you.』

After deciding to run away with Thisbene, the first thing Daphne did was find Leah a new lover.

💎

Daphne, who had been peeking at Johannes as he stood leaning against a tree with his eyes closed, stealthily got up. After shooting him another furtive glance for no reason, she casually began to walk along the lake’s shore.

When her presence moved a certain distance away, Johannes opened his eyes. Daphne, who had moved about twenty paces away in that short time, came to a conspicuous halt just as she glanced back at Johannes. Just like a Leopold caught trying to play a prank… Johannes asked with narrowed eyes.

“How far are you going?”

Daphne replied with a sly voice and an innocent expression.

“Well, it seems the dagger isn’t here, you see.”

“……”

Johannes raised one eyebrow askew. As if to ask, what kind of trick is this now?, Daphne found herself adding, rather hastily.

“Seeing as we’ve looked this much and it’s nowhere to be found, a fawn or a squirrel must have played a prank on us.”

“Nonsense.”

Right, it is nonsense. Daphne thought so too. But she spoke as if she knew nothing.

“But think about it, Johannes. It’s already been several days.”

Then she needlessly checked Johannes’s reaction. In that moment, she worried what she would do if he said, ‘You’re right. It has been several days. I can’t do this anymore.’ Feeling anxious, Daphne chose to just go for it. Whirling around, she added as if to herself.

“I won’t go far.”

It was a tone that said, follow me or don’t. It was all well and good that she started walking as if it had nothing to do with him. However, all her senses were focused on Johannes behind her. With every step she took, she found herself mouthing the word please. But cruelly, no sound came from behind her.

‘…Was it too ridiculous of an excuse after all?’

Having lost her confidence in just ten steps, Daphne stopped walking, thinking of changing her strategy. It was then.

A low sigh was heard, and soon after, she sensed movement as if he was getting up. Daphne turned around with wide eyes. Their gazes met immediately.

Johannes, despite wearing a look of utter annoyance, gestured with his chin as if to tell her to go on. In a daze, Daphne first turned back to face forward.

‘Why…?’

Daphne honestly thought there was no way he would permit her to wander all over the forest. After all, hadn’t he said he was entering the forest as her guard?

‘Why is he tolerating such highly suspicious behavior?’

Inappropriately, her heart began to beat fast with joy, hope, and anticipation. Come to think of it, he only feigned all sorts of malevolence, but in reality, there was nothing he wouldn’t allow. At this point, she even grew curious as to how far he would indulge her.

‘It’s because you’re like this that I keep troubling you without knowing any limits.’

So it’s not just my fault that I end up feeling like we’ve gotten very close, that I fall under the illusion that he’s protecting my back like a personal guard, Daphne muttered to herself.

But in a corner of her mind, she tried to calm her excitement. Let’s not expect any more. Let’s be satisfied with this. The moment I get greedier, his mercy might end. Isn’t this already dreamlike enough?

‘Right, even this doesn’t make sense.’

Walking along the lake, Daphne would occasionally turn her head to glance at him, just in case it was really a dream. The surface of the lake, filled with moonlight, brightly illuminated him from about ten paces behind.

Daphne forced herself to look away from him. Because she felt she might forget the real reason she was roaming the forest.

💎

『If you cross about three streams…』

Crouching on the cold floor, Daphne, with the moonlight as her lamp, moved an old quill pen that couldn’t hold ink properly several times over a palm-sized piece of paper.

『Around here… there’s a shimmering cave.』

Daphne put down the quill pen and held the paper up to the moonlight. Just by following him to the other side of the lake a couple of times, the paper had become quite packed with writing.

『But am I drawing this correctly?』

An accurate map was more valuable than any book, and especially during wartime, it was treated as classified information. All she could do was rummage through her memory of a map she had once seen spread out on Joffrey’s reception room table. Even that was just a passing glance, so she wasn’t confident.

…Well, as long as I can recognize it, shouldn’t that be enough?

After a brief moment of deliberation, Daphne looked around. She was the only one who entered the abandoned room, but she couldn’t let her guard down. After a moment’s thought, she tucked it into a crack in the long mirror hanging on the wall.

It seemed she could complete this map if she went out into the forest three, no, maybe four more times.

For a while, Daphne stared at the place where she hid the paper with a rather determined look, then she quickly came to her senses and hurried her steps.

It was time to go meet him.