TMLOST 45

Chapter 45

The Existence of the Temple (2)

She wanted to meet Aaron and hear what he had to say, but she could not delay any longer, so she decided to leave the Royal Castle. Since Bain kept urging her, she felt it was best to leave the castle first.

“Lady Elia!”

Somehow knowing that she was leaving today, Lotte came running toward her with several guards.

Even though she had done nothing wrong, Elia suddenly felt like she had been caught doing something she shouldn’t have.

“Lady Lotte.”

“Haa… Were you really planning to leave without even saying goodbye?”

“I’m sorry. I don’t think I can delay any longer.”

Lotte’s question made Elia feel guilty for no reason, but she answered as calmly as she could.

She needed to reach a village before sunset if she wanted to get anything done, so it would be a problem if they talked for too long.

“Here, please take these.”

“What are these?”

Elia opened the two pouches Lotte handed her.

One pouch held a few gold coins.

The other contained two bundles of silver coins tied together.

“Once you leave the Royal Castle and reach a village, even if you spend a lot of money, you’ll mostly use silver coins.”

“One silver coin is enough to pay for a day’s meals and a room.”

“Thank you. You’ve already helped me so much…”

“Helped you?”

“I don’t think of it that way.”

“I only wish I could do even more for you.”

As if she had no intention of letting Elia leave so easily, Lotte held her hand tightly.

Elia couldn’t bring herself to pull away, so she just stood there awkwardly.

“When I once had to quickly find food and a place to stay in a village, I didn’t know any better and paid with a gold coin.”

“Then robbers came after me.”

“I forgot to tell you about that, so I came here.”

“Ah… So that happened.”

She had planned to learn how to tell the time by the sun from Zakar.

But in the end, she was leaving the Royal Castle without ever learning.

At least she had often looked at the sky, so now she could roughly tell how long it would be until sunset by the sun’s position.

The reason she thought of this now was because she could see the sun slowly beginning to go down.

“Usually, two copper coins are enough for a night’s stay.”

“So if you need copper coins, you can exchange your silver coins.”

“Back then, Aaron was with me, so nothing serious happened.”

“But gold coins are very rare for ordinary people.”

“So please be careful when using them.”

“Yes, I’ll remember that.”

“Thank you.”

Elia was about to end the conversation by saying she should leave now.

But Lotte began persuading her to ride the carriage she had prepared, at least until they reached the village nearby.

Elia wanted to refuse because she felt uncomfortable riding a carriage with the Royal Castle’s mark on it.

However, except for royal carriages, no other carriage was allowed to leave from the Royal Castle.

It was much better than walking without any plan.

She could save her strength and arrive at the village before sunset.

So the offer was very tempting.

Thinking she might as well trust Lotte, Elia followed her.

When they reached the place Lotte was leading her to, she was relieved to see a carriage without any crest or symbol on it.

“When did you prepare this?”

Anyone could tell this carriage had not been prepared at the last minute.

It had obviously been made ready beforehand.

Elia looked at Lotte with wide eyes.

Seeing Lotte’s calm expression made her feel as if all her plans had been seen through.

“I had it prepared just in case.”

“It normally isn’t used.”

“But after hearing what you said yesterday, I thought you would leave today.”

“So you figured it out.”

“Haha.”

Elia answered with a tired voice, as if admitting defeat.

She herself hadn’t even planned to leave today.

How had Lotte known?

“Please keep these with you too.”

One of the knights standing behind Lotte stepped forward and handed Elia a dagger and a robe.

She had only planned to buy a robe and other necessities after reaching the village.

She never expected Lotte to prepare them for her.

She had never talked with Lotte hoping to receive things like this.

Seeing how much Lotte had prepared for her made Elia realize that Lotte cared about her more than she had thought.

“I have nothing to say except thank you.”

Elia accepted the robe and dagger from the knight.

She tucked the dagger inside her clothes and put on the robe.

Then she suddenly hugged Lotte tightly.

She had been able to become close to Lotte because she had possessed Princess Elia’s body.

But sometimes she wished she had possessed someone else’s body instead of Elia’s.

If she hadn’t been in the body that carried all of Llewellyn’s hatred…

She could have stayed peacefully in the Royal Castle, laughing and talking happily with Lotte.

Without saying a word, Lotte hugged her back.

The gentle pats on her back felt as if Lotte understood everything.

Tears filled Elia’s eyes.

She forced herself to hold them back before stepping out of Lotte’s embrace and taking one step back.

“When everything is over…”

“Let’s definitely meet again.”

“Yes.”

“You’re not leaving forever, right?”

Elia couldn’t answer Lotte’s question.

She was leaving the Royal Castle prepared to die.

Her goal had always been to bring Lotte and Aaron together.

But now…

More than anything, she didn’t want to bring trouble to them.

She couldn’t help them with her own strength.

So if there was any way she could become useful…

She wanted to try.

I’m glad I decided not to see Aaron before leaving.

If she had talked with Aaron before leaving the Royal Castle…

She might not have wanted to leave anymore.

Just talking with Lotte before leaving already made it hard to take another step.

If she had also met Aaron…

She would have regretted leaving even more.

After getting into the carriage, Elia waved goodbye to Lotte and smiled as brightly as she could.

She hoped the last image Lotte remembered of her would be a cheerful one.

Recently…

She felt she had only shown gloomy expressions.

She wanted to leave behind a good memory.

“Phew…”

The carriage passed through the scenery inside the Royal Castle that she had never properly looked at before.

Then it began traveling between countless trees and thick bushes.

It reminded her of the time she had entered the Kingdom of Veronica after her wedding with Aaron and first arrived at the Royal Castle.

Back then and even now… I’m still carelessly hoping everything will somehow work out.

She questioned her past self, who had thought bringing Aaron and Lotte together would be easy.

Honestly…

She still didn’t understand why the two of them hadn’t ended up together.

Thinking back to the novel…

She had believed that with just a little push, they would realize their feelings and fall in love without taking long.

Just sitting alone in the carriage with Aaron made my heart race.

And we were even pressed so close together.

Thinking about that time felt like a dream.

For a short while…

She had truly felt like they were husband and wife.

Aaron still called her “wife” from time to time.

But she felt sorry for him because it seemed like he was forcing himself to do it under Lotte’s pressure.

Thinking about how Lotte had scolded them for still not fixing the way they addressed each other when they had gathered because of the nanny…

It seemed like a very reasonable guess.

After all, Aaron had no reason to say those things on his own.

It’s a little disappointing.

I couldn’t just enjoy those moments because I was worried Lotte would misunderstand me.

She only liked Aaron as a fan.

But she was afraid it would look like she liked him as a man.

So she spent so much effort trying to think differently that she couldn’t fully enjoy being around him.

Is it already time to get off?

Maybe because she had asked to be dropped off before reaching the village entrance…

The carriage slowly began to stop, even though there were still only trees all around them.

Once it came to a complete stop, the coachman knocked on the carriage as a signal.

When Elia opened the door and stepped out, the coachman was already waiting.

“If you don’t mind, please take my hand.”

“Thank you.”

Holding the coachman’s hand, Elia carefully stepped down from the carriage.

Then she politely bowed her head.

Thanks to him, the long journey had passed much faster than she expected.

The coachman smiled and returned the greeting.

Then he climbed back onto the driver’s seat and left.

Elia listened to the sound of the horse’s hooves growing farther away before she slowly started walking.

If the carriage had stopped right in front of the village…

It would naturally attract attention.

It could also cause unnecessary trouble.

That was why she had gotten off some distance away.

But the road seemed to stretch on without end.

Even after riding in a carriage this far…

I really underestimated the distance.

Once again, she silently thanked Lotte for thinking ahead.

Without Lotte’s help…

She might have collapsed from exhaustion before even arriving.

Tap.

At that moment…

Someone grabbed Elia’s shoulder.

Maybe because she had been lost in thought…

She hadn’t noticed anyone approaching.

She couldn’t believe someone had gotten close enough to touch her shoulder without her realizing it.

Where did they come from?

Without thinking, Elia used one of the self-defense moves Aaron had taught her.

She drove her elbow toward the person’s stomach.

She had reacted purely on instinct.

So she wasn’t sure if she had hit properly.

“Ugh.”

The impact felt strangely familiar.

Just as she was relieved that the attack seemed to have landed…

She heard the groan.

For some reason…

The voice sounded familiar.

Question marks filled Elia’s mind.

She immediately turned around and took one step back.