RTGD 43

Chapter 43

“…?”

Kilian, striding down the hallway on his long legs, glanced back toward the office.

He had a strange, unsettled feeling.

“Peter Godwin. He really is an unsettling man.”

Recalling the sharp glint in Peter Godwin’s quick-moving eyes, Kilian brushed back his bothersome bangs.

He’d assumed the conversation would be brief and the man would leave quickly. But Peter had lingered at the Grand Duchy far longer than expected.

At least Leticia seemed to have had little interaction with him—but even so, it still bothered him.

It wasn’t just because the Godwin family was close to the Empress Dowager.

“Before the regression, Leticia’s whereabouts vanished like a lie after she left the Grand Duchy—right after passing through one of Peter Godwin’s trade branches.”

Kilian instinctively clenched the hand with the old wound.

Had Peter helped Leticia escape? There was no definitive evidence to prove it.

At the time, Kilian had inquired through Peter Godwin multiple times about Leticia’s whereabouts, but each time Peter had feigned innocence with a disarmingly sincere face.

Still, rumors had circulated then that one of Peter’s trade companies, which had failed to pay taxes, had secretly helped some imperial citizens flee in the night.

So it wasn’t impossible to suspect Leticia had used a similar route to disappear.

“He was so thorough. In the end, I couldn’t find a single trace of where she’d gone. Until she returned on her own, I had nothing to go on.”

Thinking of the white urn, Kilian pressed his fingernail into the rough scar.

In truth, his connection with Peter Godwin didn’t end there.

The reason Kilian had been able to turn back time at all was thanks to an ancient book from the fallen Kingdom of Shuten that Peter Godwin had possessed.

Back then, Kilian had been half-mad. He hadn’t had the presence of mind to question how Peter had obtained a book that supposedly didn’t even exist, or why he had given it to him.

He hadn’t had the luxury of such questions.

Even after turning back time and regaining some sanity, Kilian found nothing particularly suspicious upon further investigation into Peter Godwin.

That was why, under the pretense of diplomacy, he had summoned the man—hoping something might surface from a face-to-face meeting.

But instead of clarity, he was left with an even more uncomfortable feeling.

“Is he hiding something? Or is there really nothing yet to hide?”

Staring at his pale palm, blood flow choked, Kilian gave a slight shake of his head.

At that signal, Mark, who had been following quietly behind, swiftly stepped forward.

“Do you have an order, my lord?”

“The young lord seems terribly homesick. See to it that he leaves for home without delay.”

If Kilian couldn’t see through the man, then there was no reason to keep him nearby. Better to observe him from afar, even if it took more time.

Besides, the way Peter Godwin openly looked at Leticia with interest irritated him.

Ordering him removed in such a refined manner, Kilian looked up at the sun hanging high in the sky.

“The roads are rough. He should leave before sunset, shouldn’t he?”

“Yes. I’ll make the necessary preparations so the young lord can depart before the day is over.”

*

Thanks to Mark’s overly attentive kindness—which Peter hadn’t asked for—preparations for Peter’s departure to the capital were completed in the blink of an eye.

Meanwhile, Leticia had fled to the study like a fugitive and now sat there, dejectedly scribbling with her quill.

She couldn’t focus on the Braille script in front of her; her thoughts were all over the place. So she had taken out a few fairy tale books she’d found in the study earlier and laid them open on the desk.

After doodling a little more with her quill, Leticia buried her face in her arms.

“It’s my business. It doesn’t concern you.”

“I shouldn’t have said anything. I should’ve just… stayed quiet like always. Why did I step in so suddenly…?”

Leticia was tormented by Kilian’s cold words, which echoed endlessly in her ears. She dropped the pen completely and buried her face deeper in her arms.

Just when she felt like she might dig a hole into the ground out of embarrassment, someone knocked on the study door.

“Leticia. Are you in there?”

“…!”

Leticia’s head shot up at the familiar, pleasant baritone of Kilian. Her pink eyes, especially vivid today, darted left and right in panic.

“I know you’re in there. May I come in?”

“Wait, just a moment—!”

“I’m coming in.”

The door handle turned counterclockwise. In a flustered panic, Leticia jumped to her feet.

Her body moved before her brain could catch up. She dashed toward the bookshelves.

She moved so quickly that one of her shoes slipped off mid-run.

“Ah, my shoe…!”

But there was no time to retrieve it. Kilian entered the study just then, and Leticia reflexively ducked behind a bookshelf.

“Leticia?”

At the sound of her name, she pressed her hand tightly over her lips.

“Why am I hiding?”

Her bare right foot, exposed without a shoe, felt awkward and shameful.

But it was too late now to casually pretend she hadn’t been hiding.

Peeking through a gap by the bookshelf, she saw Kilian bending down to pick up the fallen shoe. His eyebrow arched in disbelief.

That only made Leticia more reluctant to emerge barefoot in front of him.

How ridiculous she must look right now.

And more than anything, she didn’t have the composure to face him directly at the moment.

She felt a confusing swirl of emotions—similar to the disappointment she’d felt the other day when she found Kilian drying his hair alone.

Eventually, Leticia slipped off her other shoe and clutched it in her hand as she crept deeper into the study.

The clock on the wall showed that it was well past noon.

Kilian was always busy, and this time of day was typically when he was at his busiest.

Besides, today was the weekly retainers’ meeting. He wouldn’t stay in the study long. In other words, if she just waited a bit, this would all blow over.

“Surely he won’t find me this deep in here…”

Leticia crouched down in front of the fairy tale bookshelf—the very spot where even the servants had failed to find her once.

Soon, she heard Kilian’s footsteps retreating. Just as she’d hoped, he seemed to be leaving the study.

Leticia listened to the rhythmic footsteps as she pulled down her skirt to hide her bare feet.

“…Looks like he’s gone.”

With no more sound of footsteps, Leticia wiggled her toes and muttered softly, a note of disappointment in her voice.

But then the footsteps quickly returned.

A refreshing, minty scent surrounded her, and in an instant, her vision darkened.

As she lifted her head to see what was happening, her shoulders stiffened in shock.

Those sapphire-like eyes were glowing far closer than she’d expected.

Kilian was standing before her, the overhead light casting his shadow over her completely.

“I saw only your shoes left behind, so I thought you might be playing hide-and-seek with me. But I guess not.”

“…!”

“Why are you here like this?”

“Didn’t—didn’t you leave?”

“I didn’t.”

Kilian calmly lowered himself to her level.

Swish.

The sound of fine fabric brushing accompanied the shadow stretching over Leticia’s head.

Leticia awkwardly averted her gaze.

“How did you know I was here? Even Gorten and Masha couldn’t find me in this spot before.”

“Leticia. I’d like you to remember that your husband is a rather skilled knight. I’ve spent years on the battlefield—of course I can sense where you are.”

He’d known where she was from the moment he entered the study.

He had only pretended not to know, because it seemed she didn’t want to be found.

But after hearing Peter Godwin’s words, Kilian had felt uneasy leaving her alone and had come back to see her.

“Anyway, Leticia. Are you just going to keep staring at the floor? There’s nothing particularly interesting on it, I assure you.”

“A-aren’t you busy? What about the meeting?”

“There’s still time. If needed, I’ll just tell them to wait.”

If Mark heard that, he’d be shocked. His lord, who never wasted a single second, had really changed.

But Kilian’s attention was focused solely on Leticia’s partially visible face.

Her head was bowed so low that he couldn’t see much, but the strained, mechanical smile tugging at her soft lips stood out sharply.

He’d seen that smile several times before the regression.

At the time, it hadn’t meant much to him.

But now, he realized—it was her habit. A bad one. A deeply ingrained, practiced smile used to cover up inner pain. The kind that made the one watching it feel like they were going insane.

“Pfft. You shouldn’t do that, Kilian. You’ll make your retainers panic. Go on, you should go.”

Leticia even raised her hand to cover her mouth, as if she were sharing a pleasant story.

Kilian’s face twisted.

Damn it. At least half of what Peter Godwin had said was right.

“Leticia.”

“Yes?”

“Have I hurt your feelings?”