🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 16
“Yes, that’s right!”
When I said that with a bright smile, a conflicted look spread across his handsome face. I persisted firmly.
“She’s a child with extraordinary magical aptitude. She’d be a help to Prince Alec, never a loss!”
I wasn’t lying. It was true she had the qualities to become a dungeon boss in the future.
“No wonder you insisted I come in person.”
“What if something happens to the child? I can trust you, Sei.”
“You certainly have a way with words.”
Despite his sarcastic tone, the hand that pulled Sherry’s arm was endlessly careful.
Unlike his cold, sharp way of speaking, Sei was softer-hearted than he appeared and weak against fragile things. That nature of his was evident even in his letters.
“How is she?”
“…She certainly is a girl overflowing with power.”
Which meant he was admitting I was right, at least for now.
I don’t know why I feel as proud as a parent hearing their child praised. Maybe it’s because we’ve been through thick and thin together for over ten days.
“First, how many people know about this girl?”
“No one except one maid. She’s my dedicated attendant, so she’s trustworthy. I even hid the child’s existence from the coachman.”
Since finding her, I had kept the child in the inn room and made time to visit every two days.
Walking in Floren Forest was part of my daily routine anyway, so no one at the Grand Ducal estate found it strange.
“She’s quite a formidable little one. I have no idea where you picked up something like this… but I won’t ask.”
“Ahaha.”
“You’re only going to brush it off with an ‘ahaha’ anyway.”
Since that was exactly what I’d just done, I scratched my head awkwardly. But telling him wouldn’t change anything, and I didn’t know that much about Sherry either.
I didn’t want to plant preconceptions by mentioning she might become a future calamity.
Just then, I felt a tug on my clothes and looked down. Sherry, gripping me tightly with small, fern-like hands, whispered.
“I like Wendy.”
Looking at Sherry saying that stubbornly, I covered my mouth in emotion. It felt like watching a shy stray cat crouch at my feet.
Sei, who had been standing with both hands on his hips, let out a low sigh.
“If it were up to me, I’d entrust you to that side, kiddo.”
He bent his knee and placed his hand lightly on Sherry’s head. Then, meeting eyes with the child staring up at him, he said,
“Unfortunately, the power you possess is far from ordinary. It seems it would be difficult to handle unless someone of my caliber.”
But Sherry kept her lips pressed firmly together, so Sei drove the point home in a light tone.
“If you don’t follow me now, Wendy might be in danger. Is that what you want?”
Sherry’s pupils shook violently, and at the same time, the hand gripping my clothes lost a tiny bit of strength.
“But…”
“You can’t trust me, but you can trust Wendy, can’t you?”
“Still…”
“Just grow up big and strong. Then you can come see her again later.”
“…Really?”
“No, wait a moment!”
What kind of promise were they making without me, the person concerned?!
Sei, who had glanced at me as I hurriedly cut into the conversation, rose to his feet. To me, who was just opening and closing my mouth, he added in an indifferent tone.
“You don’t intend to die, do you.”
“…Well, that’s true, but.”
“Then think about surviving even if you die. I don’t want nightmares.”
I know the future this world will reach, yet I don’t know my own future.
There were nights I agonized over the sense of disconnect that fact gave me, and nights I couldn’t sleep for fear of not knowing what lay an inch ahead.
Things that had seemed somewhat light when I only encountered them as a novel felt so heavy now that they wore reality and existed.
Still, hearing those words, it felt like the emotions pressing down on my chest had become just a little lighter.
“I understand.”
To me, making a determined face, Sei nodded as if it were only natural.
And then, low footsteps sounded from outside the door. The moment I registered them, I turned my head.
“What…”
The footsteps approached without hesitation, and the doorknob of the firmly closed door rattled. Ten seconds later, the moment I saw the face that appeared through the open door, I was startled.
“…Your Grace?”
Kaien, the cold-faced handsome man, was looking at me.
The moment he threw open the door, Kaien’s gaze quickly swept the room.
Apart from an old wooden table, a chair, and a single bed, the utterly simple room was so narrow it seemed barely enough for one person to stay in.
“Your Grace?”
And Wendy, standing alone in that room, looked at him with wide round eyes. Kaien muttered inwardly.
She got away.
“How are you here.”
He had come immediately upon receiving a report that the magical tool attached to the Grand Duchess’s carriage had detected magical power, but it seemed he was too late.
“Are you alone?”
“Yes? Of course I’m alone!”
Fortunately, it seemed Sei and Sherry had grasped the situation the moment they heard the footsteps and vanished before he arrived. Wendy let out a sigh of relief inwardly.
“More importantly, Your Grace, why did you suddenly come all the way here? How did you even know I was here?”
But that was that, and what needed to be addressed needed to be addressed.
Setting aside the invasion of privacy, surely he hadn’t noticed something. Otherwise, how would he have come looking for me here today of all days?
Cold sweat seemed to trickle down my back, but Wendy tried to stay calm and clasped her hands behind her back.
“More to the point, I’ve heard you’ve been visiting this village continuously lately, despite saying you were going to the forest.”
“Well, that’s because I stopped by the forest and then came here.”
“Suddenly?”
“Uh…”
Calm down, Wendy. Even if a tiger carries you off, you survive if you keep your wits about you!
Repeating that to herself, Wendy barely managed to think up the most plausible excuse.
“I, I wanted some time alone.”
It was also half true.
“Time alone, you say. You could do that at the Grand Ducal estate as well.”
“No, I mean I wanted to be in a place where no one knows me. Everyone at the estate knows who I am.”
“…What on earth is the difference?”
“The difference is that I don’t have to be the Grand Duchess.”
At her sincere words, Kaien’s eyebrow twitched slightly. Thinking she had him, Wendy poured out her words in a rush.
“There’s no one at the estate who calls me Wendy. Your Grace only ever calls me ‘you.’”
So it was suffocating and she came out to get some air—that was how she had meant to steer the conversation, but Kaien, who had been listening quietly, asked back in a low voice.
“That sounds exactly as if there were such a person in this place.”
Ugh, how sharp.
“I’m just saying it’s a figure of speech!”
Come to think of it, I hadn’t brought knights along on my recent outings, so I should have realized Kaien would start finding it suspicious. Perhaps because we barely saw each other’s faces, I had let my guard down.
“If that displeases you, would Your Grace keep me company instead?”
When I deliberately smiled with my eyes in a grin, Kaien, brows slightly furrowed, averted his gaze. Wendy hummed inwardly.
Yes, that worked!
It’s always like that—as if he’s seen something he shouldn’t have when I smile like this. And I’ve never been told I’m ugly, either.
Well, with that face and being a Grand Duke, he must have met beauties so numerous they’d be underfoot. Someone like me would look like a pebble rolling on the roadside.
Anyway, being an annoying woman was better than being interrogated.
It was a huge relief that he hadn’t run into Sei. I could just say I picked up Sherry and be done with it, but if he asked why I was with the Crown Prince’s attendant, I’d truly have no excuse.
Even if I said it was to prevent a future calamity, would that work?!
“So, what were you doing?”
“What do you mean, what was I doing. Just being here.”
“…In a place like this?”
“Isn’t it cozy because it’s small?”
No, not at all. A big house is best, far better than a small one. Even when I lived in a studio apartment, it was so cramped I felt suffocated.
Saying things contrary to my beliefs made my mouth prickle, but Wendy forced the corners of her lips up.
“You… sometimes I truly cannot understand you.”
“Oh, is that so? I’m a fairly obvious person, though.”
“I wonder.”
Kaien slowly reached out and lightly brushed Wendy’s nape. Even at the soft touch, Wendy tensed involuntarily and looked up at him, and Kaien murmured low.
“Will you betray me?”
