And Winfred, left alone, burst out laughing with a hollow laugh.
'Even if I try to follow, can I?'
It was clear that she had climbed up onto the roof again as before, but she clearly did not know that ordinary people do not fly onto roofs.
And as Winfred had expected, Aila climbed up onto the roof, glanced at the fountain square where Winfred was still standing, and hurried back to the cafe.
In fact, when she overheard Byron and Cloud talking and learned of the existence of the curse, she even thought that it would have been better if she hadn't listened to their story.
Ignorance is bliss, they say. Then it wouldn't be this scary and painful.
But now Aila thinks a little differently.
If she hadn't known about the curse, she would have followed Winfred when she met him today, and she would have lost her life without even knowing why.
Aila quickly returned to the cafe by the same route she had taken, opened the window naturally, and returned to her room.
There was no sign of anyone having been there, as if they had kept Gerald's word not to come until called.
Gerald was still asleep, just as he had been a few hours ago.
‘...Thanks to this fool, I still had fun.’
But what Gerald was about to do was too disgusting to just look at it cutly and let it go.
Since making an issue of this would only make things more complicated, she pretended not to notice and put the remaining money back in her jacket.
Since she didn't use it much, the weight probably didn't change much.
And just as she was about to clean out her pockets.
Aila took out something that caught her eye, and it turned out to be trinkets she had bought at the souvenir shop where she had met Winfred.
'Oh, by the way, I forgot to give him this.'
Even if she said she would give it to her parents later when she met them, she could just give it to Winfred since he was right in front of her.
"No, that kid didn't give me what he said he'd give me. I can't give it to him first."
Then, she felt like she was losing, so she put the things she bought today in a secret box.
It's about time Gerald woke up.
Aila thought as she picked up her fork and took a bite of chocolate cake. Perhaps because she'd had so much fun, it tasted incredibly sweet.
While she was drinking refreshing fruit tea that had cooled down while she was out.
“Hmm...”
Gerald groaned, his body shifting, perhaps the effects of the potion wearing off. After sleeping in that uncomfortable prone position for several hours, it was only natural that he would feel aches and pains everywhere.
But Aila pretended not to know him and continued to focus on eating the cake.
It was Gerald who foolishly took sleeping pills and put them in his mouth.
The story was that there was absolutely no need to help such an idiot.
'This house makes good cakes.'
As Aila was giving a generous review of the food, Gerald finally woke up and sat up.
“Hey, you...! You did it!”
And this is what he said as soon as he woke up.
It might mean something like, 'Did you switch glasses?', but it was a truly absurd question.
The reason this happened was that Gerald had been plotting this evil from the beginning.
'And you're going to blame me for that?'
That was something that shouldn't have been said.
"What are you talking about? What am I making up? You suddenly fell asleep, and I was so bored."
He asked her to play with him first, but she pretended not to know, saying that it was not polite.
If Aila doesn't know, what can he do? If he were to raise the issue, he'd have to confess that he tried to drug Aila into sleeping.
If this were to become known, it would be Gerald, not her, who would suffer more.
No one knew what Aila had done to him after she put him to sleep, and Gerald's actions were relatively well-documented and had clear witnesses.
“...You, really!”
"It's about time. It's time for the knights to return. Aren't you going out?"
Aila set down her fork with utmost elegance and silence, looking at him intently.
It contains the message, 'If you tell someone else about today's work, it's not me who will suffer, it's you.'
Gerald, blushing and blushing, put on his coat without saying a word, wondering if her message had been properly conveyed.
He would be scared of getting scolded by his father, too.
And as he left the room, he muttered something to himself, thinking it was the final blow.
“How dare you act so smart when you’re so lowly?”
“...”
It was a lowly thing. Apparently, he had heard that Aila was not Byron's biological daughter.
So, it may be that they ignore those who are of a lower status than they.
'Unfortunately, I'm not a 'lowly thing'.'
To begin with, it was absurd and unpleasant to call someone lowly or inferior based on their social status, but the blind spot was that even that social status was much higher than his.
She chased him away with a look on her face that said, 'What the heck, there's something like that.'
After Aila returned.
Winfred stood there blankly for a long time, looking in the direction where Aila had disappeared.
This time, too, she appeared like a dream and disappeared like a dream. What kind of mysterious friend was this? He felt as if he were possessed by a ghost.
As he stood there staring into space, Joseph, who had been standing guard so far away that he couldn't hear the conversation, approached him quietly.
“...Who on earth is she, Your Highness?”
It was impossible for the Crown Prince, who had been abroad for the first time in his life, to have any local friends.
If he were a friend from the Peles Empire, Joseph, who had been by Winfred's side since he was a toddler, would naturally be a familiar face.
That strange girl was definitely a face he was seeing for the first time.
And what were they talking about so earnestly? They cried, laughed, cried again, felt disappointed, and burst into laughter again... It didn't seem like a relationship that had only existed for a day or two.
"Secret."
Winfred didn't know whether he knew Joseph's curiosity was about to burst, but he simply said this and kept his mouth shut.
It was quite unusual considering his usual talkative nature.
“Your Highness, will I be upset?”
“Either you beg or not.”
The chamberlain pouted and expressed his displeasure, but Winfred ignored him completely without even blinking.
The sight of him heading towards the place where he had parked the carriage, saying that he was tired and should quickly go back to the lodging, was so annoying.
"Your Highness!"
He called out to Winfred in a loud voice full of resentment, but he answered with his ears pinched.
"Not Your Highness, but my lord. What are you going to do if someone hears?"
Joseph followed the Crown Prince with a sad face, saying that he was innocent when he was young, but as time goes by, he is becoming more and more cunning, like His Majesty.
After exchanging pleasantries with Joseph, Winfred got into the carriage and looked deep in thought with a serious expression on his face.
‘...How should I convey this?’
Aila asked him to convey this to the Duke and Duchess, so he had to convey it, but it was such a big deal that he was already very worried.
It's probably too early to worry, though, as there's still a long way to go before they return to the Empire.
'...Things are getting bigger and bigger. Shouldn't I tell my father?'
It was nothing more than a case of treason, and he wondered if it was okay to keep his mouth shut like this.
He slumped down on the carriage seat, face down, remembering the conversation he'd had with Aila. He felt utterly frustrated and angry.
Why was I born as the nephew of such an extremely evil person?
Not only did he try to kill his father with his own hands, but he also took a child and tried to use it to kill the child's father.
He was a traitor like no other in the world.
'But Aila said she doesn't hate me.'
As Aila's words of comfort came to mind, Winfred couldn't help but pound the carriage seat. Perhaps her personality was just as angelic. Her heart was as silky as her face.
'By the way... You were really pretty today, Aila.'
After hitting the floor of the chair for a while, he relaxed his body, leaned back in the chair, and looked up at the ceiling.
It's as if Aila's face is drawn there.
It was a bit disappointing that he couldn't see her hair, which seemed to shine like moonlight because of her hat pulled down so tightly, but he was still so happy just to see her face.
He's seen how much she's grown. The last time he saw her, he had to look down at her for a long time if they stood next to each other. Now, he can meet her eyes without having to bend his head down much, so his neck hurts less.
Considering how tall she had grown, it was a truly remarkable growth spurt.
And Winfred's one-man show ended with him chuckling as he thought of Aila.
In front of the one and only audience member, Joseph, who was watching with a bewildered face.
“...I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you, Ophelia. I didn’t want to stress you out with your child.”
Roderick, with a gloomy expression, was confessing to Ophelia the things he had been hiding.
A child resembling Aila was spotted at the checkpoint, and the child called Byron "father." There was even speculation that Cloud Air had taught the child swordsmanship.
And Ophelia, who had been listening to his story in silence for a long time, accepted his apology in a calm voice.
"I understand. It's not for any bad reason; it's just my own worries. Now get up. Your legs are going numb."
Roderick had been kneeling in front of her the entire time they were talking.
“...Ophelia.”
He looked up at his wife's face, which seemed calmer than he had worried, while still kneeling.
'Even if I try to follow, can I?'
It was clear that she had climbed up onto the roof again as before, but she clearly did not know that ordinary people do not fly onto roofs.
And as Winfred had expected, Aila climbed up onto the roof, glanced at the fountain square where Winfred was still standing, and hurried back to the cafe.
In fact, when she overheard Byron and Cloud talking and learned of the existence of the curse, she even thought that it would have been better if she hadn't listened to their story.
Ignorance is bliss, they say. Then it wouldn't be this scary and painful.
But now Aila thinks a little differently.
If she hadn't known about the curse, she would have followed Winfred when she met him today, and she would have lost her life without even knowing why.
Aila quickly returned to the cafe by the same route she had taken, opened the window naturally, and returned to her room.
There was no sign of anyone having been there, as if they had kept Gerald's word not to come until called.
Gerald was still asleep, just as he had been a few hours ago.
‘...Thanks to this fool, I still had fun.’
But what Gerald was about to do was too disgusting to just look at it cutly and let it go.
Since making an issue of this would only make things more complicated, she pretended not to notice and put the remaining money back in her jacket.
Since she didn't use it much, the weight probably didn't change much.
And just as she was about to clean out her pockets.
Aila took out something that caught her eye, and it turned out to be trinkets she had bought at the souvenir shop where she had met Winfred.
'Oh, by the way, I forgot to give him this.'
Even if she said she would give it to her parents later when she met them, she could just give it to Winfred since he was right in front of her.
"No, that kid didn't give me what he said he'd give me. I can't give it to him first."
Then, she felt like she was losing, so she put the things she bought today in a secret box.
It's about time Gerald woke up.
Aila thought as she picked up her fork and took a bite of chocolate cake. Perhaps because she'd had so much fun, it tasted incredibly sweet.
While she was drinking refreshing fruit tea that had cooled down while she was out.
“Hmm...”
Gerald groaned, his body shifting, perhaps the effects of the potion wearing off. After sleeping in that uncomfortable prone position for several hours, it was only natural that he would feel aches and pains everywhere.
But Aila pretended not to know him and continued to focus on eating the cake.
It was Gerald who foolishly took sleeping pills and put them in his mouth.
The story was that there was absolutely no need to help such an idiot.
'This house makes good cakes.'
As Aila was giving a generous review of the food, Gerald finally woke up and sat up.
“Hey, you...! You did it!”
And this is what he said as soon as he woke up.
It might mean something like, 'Did you switch glasses?', but it was a truly absurd question.
The reason this happened was that Gerald had been plotting this evil from the beginning.
'And you're going to blame me for that?'
That was something that shouldn't have been said.
"What are you talking about? What am I making up? You suddenly fell asleep, and I was so bored."
He asked her to play with him first, but she pretended not to know, saying that it was not polite.
If Aila doesn't know, what can he do? If he were to raise the issue, he'd have to confess that he tried to drug Aila into sleeping.
If this were to become known, it would be Gerald, not her, who would suffer more.
No one knew what Aila had done to him after she put him to sleep, and Gerald's actions were relatively well-documented and had clear witnesses.
“...You, really!”
"It's about time. It's time for the knights to return. Aren't you going out?"
Aila set down her fork with utmost elegance and silence, looking at him intently.
It contains the message, 'If you tell someone else about today's work, it's not me who will suffer, it's you.'
Gerald, blushing and blushing, put on his coat without saying a word, wondering if her message had been properly conveyed.
He would be scared of getting scolded by his father, too.
And as he left the room, he muttered something to himself, thinking it was the final blow.
“How dare you act so smart when you’re so lowly?”
“...”
It was a lowly thing. Apparently, he had heard that Aila was not Byron's biological daughter.
So, it may be that they ignore those who are of a lower status than they.
'Unfortunately, I'm not a 'lowly thing'.'
To begin with, it was absurd and unpleasant to call someone lowly or inferior based on their social status, but the blind spot was that even that social status was much higher than his.
She chased him away with a look on her face that said, 'What the heck, there's something like that.'
***
After Aila returned.
Winfred stood there blankly for a long time, looking in the direction where Aila had disappeared.
This time, too, she appeared like a dream and disappeared like a dream. What kind of mysterious friend was this? He felt as if he were possessed by a ghost.
As he stood there staring into space, Joseph, who had been standing guard so far away that he couldn't hear the conversation, approached him quietly.
“...Who on earth is she, Your Highness?”
It was impossible for the Crown Prince, who had been abroad for the first time in his life, to have any local friends.
If he were a friend from the Peles Empire, Joseph, who had been by Winfred's side since he was a toddler, would naturally be a familiar face.
That strange girl was definitely a face he was seeing for the first time.
And what were they talking about so earnestly? They cried, laughed, cried again, felt disappointed, and burst into laughter again... It didn't seem like a relationship that had only existed for a day or two.
"Secret."
Winfred didn't know whether he knew Joseph's curiosity was about to burst, but he simply said this and kept his mouth shut.
It was quite unusual considering his usual talkative nature.
“Your Highness, will I be upset?”
“Either you beg or not.”
The chamberlain pouted and expressed his displeasure, but Winfred ignored him completely without even blinking.
The sight of him heading towards the place where he had parked the carriage, saying that he was tired and should quickly go back to the lodging, was so annoying.
"Your Highness!"
He called out to Winfred in a loud voice full of resentment, but he answered with his ears pinched.
"Not Your Highness, but my lord. What are you going to do if someone hears?"
Joseph followed the Crown Prince with a sad face, saying that he was innocent when he was young, but as time goes by, he is becoming more and more cunning, like His Majesty.
After exchanging pleasantries with Joseph, Winfred got into the carriage and looked deep in thought with a serious expression on his face.
‘...How should I convey this?’
Aila asked him to convey this to the Duke and Duchess, so he had to convey it, but it was such a big deal that he was already very worried.
It's probably too early to worry, though, as there's still a long way to go before they return to the Empire.
'...Things are getting bigger and bigger. Shouldn't I tell my father?'
It was nothing more than a case of treason, and he wondered if it was okay to keep his mouth shut like this.
He slumped down on the carriage seat, face down, remembering the conversation he'd had with Aila. He felt utterly frustrated and angry.
Why was I born as the nephew of such an extremely evil person?
Not only did he try to kill his father with his own hands, but he also took a child and tried to use it to kill the child's father.
He was a traitor like no other in the world.
'But Aila said she doesn't hate me.'
As Aila's words of comfort came to mind, Winfred couldn't help but pound the carriage seat. Perhaps her personality was just as angelic. Her heart was as silky as her face.
'By the way... You were really pretty today, Aila.'
After hitting the floor of the chair for a while, he relaxed his body, leaned back in the chair, and looked up at the ceiling.
It's as if Aila's face is drawn there.
It was a bit disappointing that he couldn't see her hair, which seemed to shine like moonlight because of her hat pulled down so tightly, but he was still so happy just to see her face.
He's seen how much she's grown. The last time he saw her, he had to look down at her for a long time if they stood next to each other. Now, he can meet her eyes without having to bend his head down much, so his neck hurts less.
Considering how tall she had grown, it was a truly remarkable growth spurt.
And Winfred's one-man show ended with him chuckling as he thought of Aila.
In front of the one and only audience member, Joseph, who was watching with a bewildered face.
***
“...I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you, Ophelia. I didn’t want to stress you out with your child.”
Roderick, with a gloomy expression, was confessing to Ophelia the things he had been hiding.
A child resembling Aila was spotted at the checkpoint, and the child called Byron "father." There was even speculation that Cloud Air had taught the child swordsmanship.
And Ophelia, who had been listening to his story in silence for a long time, accepted his apology in a calm voice.
"I understand. It's not for any bad reason; it's just my own worries. Now get up. Your legs are going numb."
Roderick had been kneeling in front of her the entire time they were talking.
“...Ophelia.”
He looked up at his wife's face, which seemed calmer than he had worried, while still kneeling.
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