'Uh?'
It was a remark I hadn't expected at all. I opened my eyes wide and looked up at him.
'Why are you making that face?'
He was squinting slightly as if suppressing something. In contrast, he raised the corners of his mouth, and that smile, which he struggled to pull off, was clearly only for a fleeting moment, yet it lingered intensely in my mind.
His appearance was so unfamiliar that I was left speechless.
And the sight of that weak appearance, which somehow evoked a sense of guilt, weighed heavily on my body like a huge rock.
Since I had always thought of him as selfish, it felt like the vague prejudice that he wouldn't be particularly hurt was crumbling.
Our gazes, which had clashed in the air, soon broke as he lowered his head. However, his face, which appeared hollow due to the height difference, was not obscured but fully revealed to me.
"...I won't go with you. Instead, make sure to take Oscar with you."
My heart fluttered. I felt a heavy weight on my stomach, like someone who had swallowed something they couldn't handle, and my mouth grew dry.
'Oh... it's a big deal.'
It’s driving me crazy because it keeps looking like Thierry genuinely cares about me.
***
Thierry let me go as promised.
The problem, however, was me. I was practically having a hard time keeping my gaze from following his broad back as he walked away alone, wondering why it looked so lonely.
'Did you get carried away by the atmosphere? What's wrong with you? Seriously, get a grip.'
I tried hard to ignore my troubled feelings and headed to the entrance lounge.
"Princess, you're already out?"
Since it was a lounge where the maids who couldn't follow us home were waiting, I was able to meet Marie right away. I nodded slightly and held out my hand to Marie.
"I'm going for a walk for a bit; could you give me a shawl?"
Marie personally draped the sledge she had set aside over my shoulders and quietly followed behind me as I left the palace. Since I had become accustomed to Oscar and Marie following me, I left the palace with a sense of resignation.
I glanced around, thinking I might take a stroll in a nearby garden.
'Come to think of it, this is near where Sylvia and the Duke were arguing earlier, isn't it? Where did Sylvia go?'
I turned in the direction Sylvia had disappeared. I reasoned that she wouldn't have returned to the mansion yet unless she walked across the bushes, as the garden was located there.
'If there is anywhere inside the garden it could be, it would be the pavilion... Shall we go there?'
As if my wandering around had paid off, a place to go immediately came to mind. Oscar and Marie quietly followed behind me, perhaps thinking I was just planning to take a walk in the garden.
I headed in the direction where I thought I would find Sylvia across the bushes, and fortunately, I ended up in the middle of the walking path. I walked along the path lined with well-maintained flowers and trees, searching for Sylvia.
'Oh, so you were really here?'
As I approached the pavilion visible in the distance, sure enough, the silver hair I had seen earlier came into view. I had expected her to be there, but seeing her actually there surprised me slightly.
'...But what do you do?'
I had wandered around searching half-impulsively, but when I actually found Sylvia, I had no idea what to do.
After signaling Oscar and Marie to stay put, I walked slowly alone. I steeled myself, thinking that she might be crying, and approached the pavilion.
"Damn old man!"
But to my surprise, far from crying, a low shout pierced my ears. The voice was filled with rage, so I instinctively flinched.
I hid behind a tree and peeked in the direction of the sound.
As expected, the owner of the voice was Sylvia. She was breathing heavily with a face full of anger, and judging by her bloodshot eyes, she looked as though she were about to burst into tears at any moment.
"Is this the price for enduring all this? Treating me like a doll to the very end!"
Sylvia, burying her face in her hands and crying out softly as if she could no longer bear it, exuded an atmosphere of suffocation. Her trembling breaths, her frail back heaving violently, and her footsteps wandering aimlessly—she looked so extremely anxious that the original description of her as a villainess was completely forgotten.
"...At this rate, I'll be offered to a dying old man. I can do much better than those incompetent humans, yet my value is only conception."
A moment of silence passed, and a cool breeze shook the bushes. As if the heat had escaped with the wind, Sylvia tilted her head back, muttering self-deprecatingly in a weary voice.
But at that moment, a rustling sound cut through the silence. It was me who had momentarily lost my footing while staring blankly at that heartbreakingly sorrowful face.
"Who is this?!"
Sylvia quickly transformed her expression into a sharp one, as if a hedgehog were raising its quills.
'I'm ruined...'
I squeezed my eyes shut and took a deep breath. Of all times to get caught, why at this time? I felt awkward because I looked gloomy to anyone who saw me.
I glanced at my resentful feet, then cautiously revealed my body with a tearful expression.
"Are you... Princess Ashtad? What are you doing there?"
"I'm sorry. The atmosphere looked serious, so I ended up hiding without realizing it."
Sylvia, who had opened her mouth as if to say something, recoiled slightly in surprise when I immediately apologized. In aristocratic society, pride and honor are usually valued as much as life itself, so there is a general atmosphere of rarely admitting one's mistakes; therefore, my quick acknowledgment must have seemed quite unfamiliar to her.
Fortunately, perhaps because my straightforward approach worked, Sylvia smiled at me with a look that her anger had subsided a little.
"How much have you heard?"
"Hmm..."
I have a sense of awareness, too. If I were to honestly spill every single detail here, it was obvious that Sylvia's anger would flare up again. I just rolled my eyes with a troubled expression and dragged out my words.
"It looks like you heard everything?"
"I'm not sure if it's all, but I guess you could say just a little..."
I lowered the corners of my eyebrows and made a tearful face to look as pitiful as possible. Sylvia, who had initially looked at me with disbelief, gradually lost that expression. Then, with a pensive look on her face and deep eyes, she gazed at me first.
Sylvia's piercingly blue eyes shone brightly.
"Well then, since things have turned out this way, I'll ask you frankly."
It was an almost overwhelmingly aggressive stance. Sylvia strode right up to my face with an intimidating aura that made me feel like I should bow down and call her "older sister," and looked down at me haughtily.
'No, why are you approaching? Couldn't you have asked right there?'
I had followed along out of curiosity, but I hadn't anticipated a turn of events like this at all, so I couldn't help but shrink back. The bold demeanor I had shown just moments ago as I chased after Sylvia vanished completely, and I clasped my hands together in front of my chest, clutching my shriveled heart.
"Do you intend to marry His Majesty, Princess?"
For a moment, I thought my body had turned to stone. It was such a sudden question that, perhaps due to cognitive dissonance, my body froze in place, contrary to my desire to step back.
'... What?'
I parted my lips with a dazed expression. I really had no clue how to react, so the words wouldn't come out right away.
"Princess?"
Then, Sylvia called out to me, gritting her teeth and speaking each word. Even though she addressed me with respect in her own way, I could clearly feel she was suppressing her emotions.
"Ah, yes. First off, Lady Joubert? I met you once from afar before, and it is nice to see you here."
"Isn't the situation really not right for showing formality now anyway? Why don't you just speak comfortably?"
"Well, if you wish... I mean, are you asking about my marriage to Your Majesty?"
"Yes."
“Suddenly?”
"Was I not supposed to ask?"
"No, no! That's not it. I was asking why I would marry Your Majesty. Your Majesty and I are not in that kind of relationship!"
“Not at all?”
"Yes!"
I wondered if he was asking if I was trying to seduce His Majesty since I had been brought here as a hostage, but since it was not the case, I answered firmly.
"Huh? The rumors weren't true at all."
"What is the rumor?"
"I’m telling you, the relationship between the Princess and His Majesty is extraordinary."
"No. That's...
"If such rumors spread, you have to take responsibility!"
"... What?"
"Since you were close, that's probably why such rumors spread. Now that things have turned out this way, wouldn't it be nice if everything worked out well for everyone? Why wouldn't it?"
It was a massive sudden acceleration. Startled, I opened my eyes wide and stared at Sylvia. What on earth are you talking about?
As I talked, Sylvia got even angrier and went crazy, huffing and puffing as if she were going to lose her mind, and even thrust her face close to me.
Judging by her actions, she seemed like someone trying to get rid of a rival, but her words were the exact opposite of her behavior, to the point of being absurd. I suspected it was because of the insult she had received from Duke Joubert earlier, but I felt conflicted inside.
"...Aren't rumors bound to get exaggerated? Your Majesty does show interest, but it is hard to see that interest as being directed solely at me."
"Do you mean the maid who disappeared by any chance?"
Sylvia grasped it immediately. Since it was a statement I didn't really need to deny, I nodded once. Then, Sylvia looked at me with a thoughtful expression, as if deep in contemplation, and slowly tilted her head.
"Did His Majesty perhaps say that the maid and the Princess resemble each other?"
"Although His Majesty didn't say anything like that, I suspect that if he is interested in me, that could be the only reason."
"That is sophistry. To begin with, I know he is not the type of person to take an interest in others' matters. Rather, doesn't the mere fact that such a suspicion arises mean that the Princess is receiving special treatment from His Majesty?"
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