IMLM 14

Chapter : 14

“What is all this about all of a sudden?”

Perhaps anticipating how shocked I would be, the letter continued with words meant to calm me down.

Not that it helped much.

I’m sorry I didn’t tell you in advance. I wanted to surprise you.

Yeah, I was surprised all right. I almost spat out the tea I was drinking.

I’ll probably arrive not long after the letter does. Maybe in three or four days.

So it wouldn’t even take long for him to arrive. I take back what I said about him being softhearted.

I really miss Gilbert’s special apple pie.

With that line—something that would have made Gilbert leap for joy if he’d heard it—Enoch ended his letter.

I was certainly surprised, but it wasn’t an unwelcome one. As I’d said before, it had been a full four years since I last saw Enoch.

‘Honestly, I was worried too.’

There wasn’t much time left for Enoch to remain seated as crown prince.

‘Leonard will soon march into the imperial palace to reclaim his position.’

I’d wanted to suggest that he stay in the Kingdom of Allen a bit longer before coming back, but if he was already on his way, then I was far too late.

At this point, all I could do was hope Leonard wouldn’t kill Enoch.

In the original story, Leonard wasn’t particularly cruel by nature, so it wasn’t entirely impossible.

And the novel never clearly described what happened to the emperor and the crown prince after Leonard’s rebellion succeeded.

I’d have to gamble on that uncertainty.

‘Still… Enoch is coming here.’

My shock faded quickly, and before I knew it, an uncontrollable smile spread across my lips.

Enoch would have come of age this year too, just like me. How much had he changed?

Four years was a long time—he must have grown a lot taller. We used to be about the same height; I wondered how it was now.

Judging by the letter, his personality seemed unchanged. His smile had always been beautiful—I hoped that, at least, hadn’t changed.

Imagining Enoch soon turned into excitement about seeing an old friend again.

‘How long has it been, really?’

What should we do when he arrives? First of all, since he mentioned wanting Gilbert’s special apple pie, I should let Gilbert know in advance.

And have the guest room cleaned thoroughly.

‘What will we even talk about?’

I hardly know what’s popular these days. Maybe it’d be better if I just listened quietly.

The thought of seeing Enoch soon filled me with excitement. No—there’s no need to talk about recent things at all!

“Just talking about what happened four years ago would be more than enough—”

The moment I said that, my buoyant mood sank instantly.

Because there was someone who naturally came to mind whenever I thought about four years ago.

‘…I wonder how Jen is doing.’

Unlike Enoch, who wrote to me every week, Jen hadn’t sent a single letter since leaving the Amelio estate.

Just in case, I’d even sent a letter to the Hentison barony, but no reply ever came.

A few days later, I only heard secondhand that Baron Hentison had taken his family and moved to the capital.

‘Nothing bad happened… right?’

No matter how much I tried to think positively, the fact that Jen was an illegitimate child kept bothering me.

Especially when I remembered how Gerald had pretended not to know Jen at Diana’s party.

What if something really had happened?

‘No. Stop thinking like that.’

I shook my head to clear my thoughts. If I stayed still for even a moment, my mind always drifted in the worst direction.

It didn’t make sense anyway. Gerald and Diana, whom I’d met in person, weren’t that terrible.

‘Let’s just think about how to welcome Enoch.’

Forcing myself to calm down, I began preparing for his arrival.

Perhaps because a guest was finally coming after so long, the people in the estate seemed excited—busy yet visibly cheerful.

It was proof that Enoch had left good memories with the servants as well.

‘Come to think of it, the day Enoch left was chaos.’

Because the emperor had sent an imperial carriage, everyone found out that Enoch was the crown prince.

A secret long kept was revealed without warning, and the Amelio estate was briefly thrown into turmoil.

Everyone had been pacing anxiously, wondering if they’d made some terrible mistake.

Of course, they hadn’t. Enoch had always had a good personality, and all the servants liked him.

‘That’s why everyone’s so cheerful about him coming back.’

That atmosphere lifted my spirits a little too.

Right. Surely nothing will happen. I really do worry about the strangest things.

As I helped with the preparations and tried to soothe myself, I saw Mary running toward me in a hurry.

“Miss, a letter from the imperial palace has arrived!”

“Hm? I already read it earlier. That’s why everyone’s preparing for a guest.”

We’d all been there together, so why was she acting like this? As I tilted my head in confusion, Mary looked frustrated.

“No, not that one. A new letter just arrived.”

“What?”

Another letter? Something felt off, but I took the letter from Mary anyway. It bore a familiar dragon seal, but I wasn’t surprised.

Only three people in the world could use that seal, and the only one who would write to me was Enoch.

‘It’s probably from Enoch again.’

Maybe he’d forgotten something and sent another one. Thinking lightly, I opened the envelope.

That’s when everything went wrong.

I hadn’t even considered the possibility that it could be from one of the other two.

“…What is this?”

I’d felt something was strange from the very first line.

And at the end, there was a name—familiar, yet unsettlingly unfamiliar.

Isaac Dare Defron.

Enoch’s father. The emperor of this country.

“M-Mary!”

“What is it, miss?”

“Use this as firewood. Right now.”

“What? But this is a letter from the imperial palace!”

Mary panicked, unable to bring herself to burn an imperial letter.

“What does it even say that you’re reacting like this?”

‘What does it say?’

If I had to summarize the very concise contents even further, it was this:

Enoch, the crown prince, had reached adulthood without even a betrothal, let alone a romance—and it seemed to be my fault.

He knew we’d been exchanging letters regularly, and since I didn’t seem to dislike his son, he suggested I come and meet him.

At the end, he added that if I couldn’t come to the capital, he’d make time to come down himself.

And then there was this line:

Life in the imperial palace isn’t so bad, young lady.

The moment I read that, I doubted my eyes. I wasn’t stupid enough not to understand what that meant.

There were only two reasons a non-royal would live in the imperial palace—either as a distinguished foreign guest, or…

‘…as someone about to marry into the imperial family.’

This was basically telling me to marry Enoch. And obviously, I wasn’t the former.

‘What am I supposed to do…?’

Enoch wasn’t even in the palace right now, which meant the emperor had probably done this without his knowledge. Enoch’s letter hadn’t mentioned anything unusual.

I understood the sentiment. A crown prince reaching adulthood without a single romance—it was only natural to worry about heirs.

Sure, I get that, but—

‘…No. I don’t get it at all!’

I threw the letter with all my strength. Mary stared at me in shock, but I didn’t care.

This was completely outside my common sense. Who proposes like this? And not even personally—his father does it?!

And jumping straight to marriage? Even if it was Enoch, this was too much.

I’d ignored countless letters until now—was my marriage really going to be decided by just this one?

“…This is ridiculous.”

And telling me to come to the capital when I can barely even leave my own territory? I can’t. I really can’t.

“Mary, I never received this letter.”

“…Miss, I don’t think that’ll work.”

“Why not? Letters get lost in delivery sometimes.”

“You know imperial letters are delivered by a dedicated courier. And that courier doesn’t lose letters.”

“….”

“You’ve received plenty of letters from His Highness, after all.”

Mary shook her head at me. Right… she wasn’t wrong.

With a deep sigh, I watched as Mary calmly picked up the letter from the floor and gently placed it back in my hands.

“Miss, no matter how much you dislike it, you can’t deny what’s obvious.”

I know. I really do. But I still want to deny it if I can. If only I could turn back time.

If I could go back, I’d never exchange letters with Enoch like this.

Well, I’d been careful, and without Enoch’s letters, enduring this life would’ve been harder—so I don’t regret it.

But still.

“Why do you hate it that much? He’s just asking you to meet him once.”

Mary tilted her head, genuinely confused.

Of course she wouldn’t understand. She didn’t know what my fate would be if I went to the palace now.

“His Highness isn’t the type to force things. Why do you look like you’re heading to your death?”

“…That’s because I am.”

“What?”

“I’ll die if I go there.”

Leonard’s rebellion was about to begin. If I was there now, it’d be a guaranteed bad ending.

And for a disposable extra like me? Even more so.

“…Miss, you really do enjoy dark jokes.”

Mary laughed awkwardly, covering her mouth. It wasn’t a joke. There was no good answer here.

Either I went to the capital, or Isaac came here—and either way, if I stayed near that man, I was doomed.

I’d been worried about Enoch this whole time, but this wasn’t the moment for that.

“…All right. There’s only one way.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’ll write a reply.”

With a deep sigh, I sat down solemnly.

I carefully chose my words so that the reader would be as pleased as possible.

This was nothing new to me—I’d done worse four years ago when writing to Diana.

Watching me write, Mary widened her eyes.

“You’re saying you’ll go to the capital? You said you wouldn’t.”

“I’m just saying that. So he won’t come here.”

“Then what will you do later? If you don’t go after sending this, His Majesty will find it strange.”

“Don’t worry, Mary. Enoch will be back before that happens.”

Only then did Mary nod in understanding, impressed. She seemed to trust Enoch quite a lot.

Yes. Enoch wasn’t the type to sit by and do nothing in a situation like this.

“All done.”

I folded the letter neatly into an envelope and handed it to Mary.

Once this was sent, everything would be resolved.

‘That was easier than I thought.’

Now I just had to think about how Enoch might survive when Leonard stormed the palace.

Relieved, I sank into deep thought—

Completely unaware of what consequences this single letter of mine would bring.