It Was Too Sweet

Chapter 93

Whooosh───.

A pleasant night breeze blew over the balcony of the spire.

The Rosenberg territory stretching endlessly below my gaze was, quite literally, a breathtaking sight.

The softly glowing star trees had spread across the land like a vast Milky Way.

"What do you think?"

Elysia leaned against the railing and looked up at me with a proud expression.

There was only one answer to give here from the start.

"It's beautiful."

"Right?"

"Yes. It's not just a polite compliment; it's such a fantastic view that it's hard to look away."

At my heartfelt admiration, a bright smile blossomed on Elysia's face.

Clatter.

At that moment, a middle-aged woman who had been waiting quietly nearby skillfully set down the teacups.

A teapot steaming with warm vapor.

"The tea is ready, my lady. Please help yourself as well, young lord."

"Thank you."

When I gave her a light bow, she returned a warm smile and then descended the stairs with light, graceful steps.

It was such an elegant exit that even her footsteps made no sound.

Seated across from me, Elysia cupped her teacup in both hands and spoke.

"She's the one who carefully looks after this entire Star Tree Forest."

"Ah. I see."

I nodded, taking in the warm fragrance of black tea.

"I'm glad someone who truly loves this place is looking after this beautiful forest."

"……."

For a moment.

Elysia, who had been savoring the warmth of her cup, came to a complete stop.

Her violet eyes sparkled with interest as they turned toward me.

"Something."

A subtle smile spread across Elysia's lips.

"You say that as if you already knew this forest and that person very well, don't you?"

'Gasp.'

I stopped with the teacup halfway to my lips and winced inwardly.

Man, my mouth really doesn't know when to stop.

When I read the original novel, I had been deeply impressed by Mrs. Emma's devoted characterization as Elysia's maid and the caretaker of this forest.

So before I knew it, the phrase 'someone who loves this forest' had slipped right out.

'How do I fix this?'

But I decided not to break into a sweat and make excuses.

After all, playing it slick was what worked best in front of this young lady.

"Well."

I shrugged with practiced nonchalance.

"Wasn't today the day we promised not to ask each other all sorts of things?"

"Oh my."

At my shameless answer, Elysia widened her eyes, then soon smiled with them curved into crescents.

"Hehe. That's right."

"Right?"

"You're absolutely right. Today was indeed a day for not asking."

Elysia tilted her teacup slightly and continued speaking in a calm voice.

"As you know, this place was left to me by my mother. It's practically an inheritance to me."

"I see."

"Yes. And the person who just served the tea has been with my mother since they were little, almost like sisters, and has served her ever since."

Elysia's face, bathed in moonlight, had softened gently.

"When my mother came here with her after becoming the mistress of Rosenberg, she has continued to protect this place without ever changing, even after my mother passed away. She's truly precious."

"She's an admirable and very precious person."

"Yes. That's right."

Elysia took a deep breath and looked up at the night sky.

"Thanks to her, whenever I feel suffocated or something upsetting happens, I end up coming here first out of habit."

'Right. That makes sense.'

The suffocatingly heavy burden of being Rosenberg's young lady.

A lifelong unrequited love and wounds she could never tell anyone about.

She must have carried all of it alone, enduring it while looking down on the world from this narrow, high spire.

That's why I had been one hundred percent sure she'd be here tonight.

I silently studied Elysia's profile before carefully asking a question.

"If I may be so rude."

"Yes. Feel free."

"You don't seem troubled at all……"

"……."

At my blunt remark, Elysia blinked, then set down the teacup in her hands and smiled faintly.

"Right?"

'How am I supposed to take this situation?'

I kept clearing my throat inwardly.

Of course, the servants of the Rosenberg ducal house—especially the few loyal people guarding this spire—would be tighter-lipped than a grave.

So there was no chance whatsoever that, deep in the night, the duke's daughter and the second son of a mere count had spent time alone drinking tea on this narrow balcony would leak outside.

I knew that, which was why I had so boldly come here even with nothing but a cloak thrown over me and a ride on a baggage wagon.

And yet.

No matter how perfectly the secret was guaranteed.

'Either way, this is clearly a secret rendezvous, damn it.'

Just the two of us.

A nightscape bursting with starlight.

Warm black tea and a distance close enough to touch.

At first, I thought it would be just like when we went shopping for cosmetics in the capital last time.

I figured I'd come as a close friend, or maybe as a loyal academy alumnus, just to give her some 'good words.'

A wholesome, instructive healing time of comfort and encouragement.

'But when I snapped back to my senses.'

We were spending time that, to anyone looking, was practically a date.

And with the most noble woman in the empire, on the very day she had wrecked her relationship with the crown prince by her own hand.

"Cassian."

At that moment, Elysia, fiddling with her teacup, softly called my name.

"Yes, my lady."

"It's true that when I first came up here, I did come because I was terribly troubled."

"……Then why do you seem so calm now?"

At my question, Elysia gave a faint laugh.

"Well?"

"Perhaps His Highness the Crown Prince sent a desperate apology letter here before I arrived?"

That joke was my own attempt to lighten the mood.

But Elysia didn't answer. Instead, she turned her head and stared straight into my eyes.

"……."

"W-why are you looking at me like that?"

When I panicked and leaned back, Elysia instead leaned a little toward me.

"I was troubled, but now everything's been neatly resolved."

"Ah. It got resolved? That's a relief."

"But."

Elysia's violet eyes swept over my face as if they were persistently searching it.

"Why it got resolved…… aren't you going to ask?"

"……!"

Whoa.

My breath caught for a moment.

Her voice somehow sounded like she was scolding me for being oblivious.

But rather than feeling unpleasantly sharp,

it felt more like a cute pout saying, 'You're really going to pretend you don't know?' and my heart dropped.

Damn, it was a thrilling feeling, my flimsy guilt being gently prodded like that.

'Damn it, this isn't even a flirtation, seriously…… what the hell is all this?'

My head started spinning.

No, wait. Let's check the facts rationally.

More than I'd thought, meaning this woman didn't just like me as a talkative zoo monkey.

'Even if we assume this bizarre, incredibly fresh worldline where she actually likes me as a man and feels attracted to me.'

Still, there are basic common-sense limits.

More than the shock of seeing with her own eyes the fiancé she'd loved all her life cheating on her,

could my showing up here to comfort her—a guy she'd only known for a few days, basically a loose, jobless neighborhood bum—really be more important and more pleasant?

'That's ridiculous.'

But.

Despite all this reasonable doubt,

no matter how much I turned it over in my head,

'the only answer I can give is that it's because I came here, isn't it?'

At this point, it wasn't a matter of being perceptive but a matter of survival.

I put every brain cell I had into finding that exquisite, ambiguous middle ground that wouldn't cross the line too far or make her uncomfortable.

In other words, a seasoned defensive answer on the verge of stepping into full-blown terminal-case delusion.

"Ahem."

I gave a light cough and put on a sly smile.

"On really gloomy, troubled days,"

"Yes?"

"a late-night tea session with a good friend you can talk to is the best medicine."

"……."

"A friend."

When I hammered home the word 'friend,' Elysia tilted her head slightly.

"A friend?"

"Yes. Wasn't it?"

I lifted my teacup and shrugged shamelessly.

"I even snuck in here by riding a rattling baggage wagon on this exhausting late night just to do that one thing for you."

At my desperate defense, a strange silence briefly settled on Elysia's face.

Did I push it too far?

She won't get offended and storm off, will she?

But my worries were pointless.

"Hehe."

A thin laugh slipped from between Elysia's red lips.

"I see."

"……."

"You're right. Everything you said is right."

Elysia traced the teacup handle with her fingertips and looked at me gently.

"Thanks to that kind and precious friend, I'm smiling brighter than anyone else in the world right now."

"……Ah."

It felt like we were engaged in a practice bout.

No matter how much of a wall I put up, she'd easily take it and roll the ball right back into my arms.

This maddeningly strange sensation, like the area around my heart was ticklish and butterflies were fluttering in my stomach.

'Get a grip, Cassian Del Farne.'

I tightened my grip on the teacup.

If I let myself get swept up in this atmosphere as it was, I'd truly cross a point of no return.

Because then I'd be stepping right into the middle of the vicious, ridiculous love entanglement between the great House of Rosenberg and the imperial family.

It would be the fastest way to wreck my lifelong deadbeat plan of living lightly and peacefully.

'So endure it firmly.'

I resolved myself as if I were about to sing the national anthem.

"The tea smells wonderful."

"I'm glad. I thought you'd like it."

"Yes. It feels like my fatigue is melting away."

And so I kept spitting out those dry, model-citizen answers.

Beneath the starlight spread below the spire.

I found myself unable to look away from Elysia's face, where she wore a dangerously alluring smile like a nine-tailed fox.

"Um, Cassian."

"Yes?"

"Next time too."

Elysia gently tucked her silver hair, fluttering in the night breeze, behind her ear and whispered softly.

"When I'm troubled, can you always come running to me first?"

It was strange.

Normally, I would have said, 'Of course.'

With the thought that her mental state was absolutely vital to this world's peace.

But now the words just wouldn't come out easily.

Because today I'd really felt just how hard she was to deal with.

And saying 'I will' here somehow felt like it would give her reassurance.

But then.

Elysia looked at me and, with a faint smile, softly added to the end of her words.

"We're friends, after all."

This was.

Was it consideration for me, who couldn't bring myself to answer rashly,

or was it a fox's little trick that made it impossible for me to say no?

Whichever it was,

I had no choice but to give the answer she wanted.

"All right. I can't promise I'll be the very first one, but I'll try to come running as soon as I can."

"That's enough. Thank you."

I lifted my teacup to hold on to what little sanity I had left.

At least to wet my throat and clear my head.

But the moment I took a sip.

'……It was definitely bitter tea.'

Even the tip of my nose

and the inside of my mouth

……were too sweet.