Chapter 89
Chapter 89
"Sir. We've arrived."
Thud.
The luggage wagon came to a smooth stop with a loud rattle.
I lightly braced a hand against a crate and hopped down from the wagon.
Then I rummaged through my coat and pressed two silver coins into the coachman's hand.
"You've worked hard getting me here this late."
"Oh, thank you, sir! But…"
Even after taking the silver, the coachman still couldn't bring himself to turn the wagon around.
He glanced at the pitch-black forest around us and looked at me with a deeply worried expression.
"Are you sure it's all right to let you off here, in the middle of this lonely forest, at this late hour? What if some beast comes out…"
"Don't worry and go on in. Someone will be coming out to meet me."
"Ah, I see. Then I'll be on my way."
Only then did the coachman relax, flashing a broad smile as he turned the luggage wagon around.
Clop, clop.
Only after the sound of the horse's hooves faded away did the surroundings finally sink into silence.
I rolled my stiff shoulders and muttered under my breath.
"Hah. What the hell is this bullshit in the dead of night?"
I'm exhausted to death.
I wanted nothing more than to dive straight into a soft bed, pull the blanket over myself, and snore the night away.
Considering the spectacle I'd gone through all day, it was a miracle I was still standing here.
'Still, I have to do what I came here to do.'
I straightened the collar of the cloak I'd thrown over myself.
The reason I'd ridden in the Farne family carriage only as far as the outer gate, then switched to a passing luggage wagon and rode the rest of the way packed in like a stowaway.
'Word's going around that the Farne family's second son was lurking around Rosenberg territory late at night.'
It was because I didn't want to hear that kind of tiring, worthless rumor.
The imaginations of high-society gossip hounds could practically break through the universe, so if I visited here in a carriage bearing my family's crest, there was a chance a marriage article about me would be in tomorrow's morning paper.
'I even deliberately picked a cheap cloak with no crest on it.'
It was a perfect disguise, anyone could see that.
'If this were a male-oriented world instead of a romance fantasy, my throat would've been slit without warning by now.'
Isn't that just the norm in a male-oriented world? The moment you set foot on someone else's turf—especially some remote turf—masked assassins pop out and stab you before they even bother asking who you are.
But this was an elegant and beautiful world.
So I actually felt more at ease.
It wasn't that I wanted to leave my movements hidden from third parties; I simply wasn't planning to illegally sneak onto Rosenberg's private property.
Fortunately, there didn't seem to be any grim-looking sentry standing in my way, shouting, "Who the hell are you!"
I leisurely walked in the direction of the gigantic light shining in the distance—the only thing in the forest that glittered, not the sky.
Tap, tap.
The sound of leaves crunching beneath my feet was rather cheerful.
And after walking leisurely for quite a while, at last an enormous iron gate appeared.
And then.
"Halt!"
Clank!
Two guards who had been firmly protecting the iron gate crossed their spears and blocked my way.
The two guards were looking at me as if they'd skewer me without a word the moment I moved a finger, but the words coming out of their mouths were astonishingly gentle.
"This is the private property of the Duke of Rosenberg's house. Did you perhaps lose your way in the night?"
'Just as expected of a romance fantasy world.'
So very kind.
Rather than immediately shoving weapons in my face and forcing me to kneel, they were even checking first whether I was some poor lost lamb. What noble conduct.
Fortunately, tonight of all nights, I had a perfectly legitimate reason to knock on another family's front gate at this unholy hour and explain myself brilliantly.
I pushed back the hood of the cloak I'd been wearing and smiled very politely.
"I am Cassian Del Farne, the second son of the Farne family."
"…Pardon?"
"Farne...? The court count's……"
The eyes of the two guards widened in alarm.
This is exactly when a family's name really comes in handy.
I said in a clear voice,
"As the one responsible for today's emergency at the Academy, I've come for an appointment with Young Lady Elysia."
Of course, those guards in front of me probably had no idea about the "Great Clash! Saintess Kidnapping Ruckus!" event.
But anyway, maybe because I said it so forcefully.
The guards' gazes wavered.
Right.
Go on and fetch the person in charge already.
* * *
"…That's all."
It felt as if I had dredged up a heavy boulder from the bottom of a deep well.
The fact that she had declared she wanted to break off her engagement to Crown Prince Louis, and the existence of a new man who kept catching her eye.
And everything about today's tangled love quadrangle.
'She'll probably think I'm pathetic.'
Elysia fidgeted with her teacup and lightly bit her lip.
As the legitimate daughter of House Rosenberg, who had to shoulder such grave responsibilities, acting on emotion and impulse like this was beyond a failing grade.
It was a situation where she had nothing to say even if she were harshly rebuked as a disgrace to the family.
But the words that slipped from the maid's lips as she quietly listened to Elysia's confession were a complete reversal.
"At last, even our young lady."
"…"
"It seems true love has finally begun."
True love.
The moment that phrase tickled Elysia's ears, her heart sank with a loud thud.
"…What do you mean?"
If Prince Louis wasn't her first love, then who in the world was?
Hadn't she poured all her strength into standing by that person's side, from before she even knew any better?
"Would it be too presumptuous of me to speak my mind?"
"Please do. I laid everything bare for you for exactly that reason."
"I know better than anyone how much pain, sorrow, and endless helplessness you felt while looking at His Highness the Crown Prince."
Right.
It had hurt so much, so deeply.
"But, my lady."
The maid whispered in a very warm and gentle voice.
"The feeling called love is never a barren flower that only forces itself to bloom in pain."
"…"
"And another person's heart is an unknown realm, something you can't control however you want or see through completely at will."
The maid's eyes were full of affection for Elysia, and Elysia could instantly read the sentence written in that affection.
She was proud of her.
Our young lady has finally understood true love; she's finally grown in the right direction.
"That is why love isn't a predetermined result or a goal to be won, but something that should let you hold the person themselves, completely, in both your eyes and your heart at the same time."
Thump.
Just a little.
Elysia felt as though she could see exactly what the maid was trying to say.
"Could you be a little more direct? I won't take it as rude."
"Could you, in your relationship with His Highness the Crown Prince, accept that one-sided sacrifice can exist within love?"
It was a very strange feeling.
If it had been her old self, she would probably have answered that question with a firm yes.
Because she had believed, without the slightest doubt, that she'd endured countless times for him alone, waited endlessly, and given up everything.
"…It's different."
A gentle smile spread across Elysia's lips.
"The heavy feelings I had to force myself to suppress and endure when it came to His Highness the Crown Prince."
"…"
"And the feeling that rises in my chest when I imagine enduring things in my relationship with that man."
Elysia gently placed a hand over her chest.
"I don't know how exactly to explain it, but fundamentally everything is different."
She had never imagined she'd make such a foolishly clumsy statement.
The maid, after hearing that answer, gave a pleased smile.
"If you talk with him a lot from now on, I'm sure you'll naturally come to understand what I mean more deeply."
"I……"
"Our young lady is the most honest and wise when it comes to her own heart."
"…Thank you."
Elysia's cheeks were dyed a lovely rose color.
As a swell of overwhelming joy washed over her, only then did a small, adorable complaint raise its head.
'Ah.'
It was suddenly maddeningly regrettable that she'd been so scatterbrained as to fail to pin down the meeting place clearly with that man, Cassian Del Farne.
'I should have told him properly where to meet me.'
Even if she'd been flustered and embarrassed, she should have bitten her lip and left a proper place and time.
She only now realized how stupid it had been to ramble on about "any place that's convenient for you," whether the Rosenberg estate or the Academy garden.
By tomorrow, once the sun was high overhead, he'd surely show up at the Academy with a loose, easygoing gait and say with a shameless grin,
'I couldn't help it because I didn't hear the meeting place properly. It's not my fault, is it?'
So obvious. So obvious.
It was exactly then, just as Elysia was pouting inwardly and voicing her cute regret.
"…?"
From the spiral staircase came very hurried but neatly ordered footsteps.
Before long, the butler, who had come up while breathing a little hard, bowed respectfully to Elysia.
"Young lady. I am terribly sorry at such a late hour, but a guest has arrived."
"A guest?"
"At this hour?"
Who in the world was this brazen guest, knocking on Rosenberg's estate gate in the dead of night?
At that moment, an absurd anticipation began to rise from one corner of Elysia's heart.
"Heh."
A brazen guest—and the first man who immediately sprang to mind.
"Young lady?"
"Oh, sorry. A visitor at this hour? Which house is he from?"
But then—
"The second son of House Farne."
"…!"
"He says he has a very important prior appointment with you, and requested to be admitted at the front gate."
Pop!
Elysia shoved her chair back and sprang to her feet with a clatter.
Because she stood up so abruptly, the soft blanket she'd been covered with fell to the floor with a soft thump, but Elysia didn't even notice.
'No way... really?'
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Elysia's heart began to pound violently.