Chapter 53
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Chapter 53
I overtook Lahedis with quick strides and arrived at the Dining Room first.
The Duke was already there waiting.
"Huff... Good morning, Duke!"
"Is someone chasing you? What's the matter that you've come rushing in like this?"
I hadn't been running, but my quick pace had left me just as breathless.
However, I couldn't very well say, "I hurried ahead because I was annoyed at the Escort you assigned me for mocking his short stature!" So I pretended otherwise and took my seat.
"I wasn't running...?"
...Though my words did trail off from the lack of breath.
The Duke regarded me with a suspicious gaze for a moment, but didn't press further.
Just then, Lahedis arrived at the Dining Room a beat late.
"Did you sleep well?"
"Yes, thanks to you."
Once Lahedis had arrived, the servants began preparing the meal.
The Duke set down the newspaper and spectacles he'd been reading on the edge of the table.
The moment I saw the Butler reaching to clear them away, an anxious possibility flashed through my mind.
I hurriedly asked the Duke.
"Um, Duke. If you don't mind, could I take a quick look at it?"
"By all means."
"Thank you."
I unfolded the newspaper and immediately searched for the section reporting yesterday's incidents and accidents.
The fact that Curtis Rohan hadn't appeared until the original story ended meant there was a possibility he'd met with an unforeseen accident.
Special disaster report. Heavy rainfall last night caused the Village to flood, with a teenage boy reported missing...
Below that were various other incidents—robbery, murder, carriage accidents—but there was no report of a victim who was an early-forties man.
As I felt relief at this fact, I immediately mocked myself for it.
'Is it right for me to be glad that I'm not among someone else's misfortune?'
I closed my eyes briefly and offered prayers for the victims' peace and safe return.
The relief was short-lived; my chest soon felt tight and suffocating again.
'The Duke said he'd step in, but I can't just sit and wait idly.'
I was folding the newspaper aside and mentally planning how to search for Curtis Rohan when—
"I have other matters to attend to today, so it may be difficult... How about we visit the Imperial Palace tomorrow, Vivian?"
At the Duke's sudden proposal, my eyes widened.
"The Imperial Palace?"
"Yes. You can only say you've truly seen this Capital once you've visited the Imperial Palace as well."
"Can someone like me, a commoner, even enter?"
"Ordinary commoners certainly cannot, but a commoner sponsored by His Majesty can."
Lahedis answered in the Duke's stead.
Perhaps out of deference to the Duke, he'd reverted to formal speech.
'How irritating, really.'
In any case, from my perspective, it was an offer I had no reason to refuse.
It wasn't every day that someone of common birth got the chance to tour the Imperial Palace.
"I'd love to―"
I was about to answer without a moment's hesitation when a belated thought gave me pause.
'Wait, Allen is at the Imperial Palace, isn't he?'
This place was the Capital, where the original story began.
Allen, the male protagonist, was at the Imperial Palace.
Of course, I was no longer terminally ill now, so I wouldn't die, and I wouldn't need to ask Allen to find my father, so the original story wouldn't repeat exactly as it had....
'But there's no reason to deliberately encounter the man who might plunge my life into regret, is there?'
For that reason, apart from my curiosity about the Imperial Palace, I felt reluctant to go.
However, I couldn't voice such reasoning in front of the Duke and Lahedis, so I had to make an excuse.
"I do want to see it.... But what if, by chance, I happened to meet someone of high standing like His Majesty the Emperor or His Highness the Crown Prince and made a mistake? Then you'd be put in a difficult position, wouldn't you...."
"There's no need to worry about such things."
The Duke set down his teacup and added while gazing out the window.
"It's autumn, isn't it? Autumn is an excellent season for hunting."
* * *
Learning that the Emperor and Crown Prince frequently left the Imperial Palace, Vivian decided to go there tomorrow with Kaltz.
Therefore, today was meant to be spent leisurely at the Estate.
Both Vivian and Lahedis, who had been assigned to her as an escort.
Kaltz had left the Estate due to prior engagements, as he'd mentioned at breakfast, and after touring the Town House all morning, Vivian had retired to her room for an afternoon nap.
Lahedis, whose pretext for attending to the sleeping Vivian had vanished, returned to his own Guest Room―since only Kaltz and Owen knew his true identity, the servants remained unaware.
'I could visit the Training Ground. After that, I'll have dinner with Vivian.'
Like those peaceful days from childhood long ago, today was meant to pass uneventfully.
...Until he spotted Vivian creeping along the Corridor.
'What is she doing?'
Hiding her body around the corner of the Corridor with only her eyes peeking out, she was unmistakably someone trying to sneak out of the Estate.
Her body had grown only slightly larger―though still small―but that same mischievous nature from childhood remained unchanged.
Unable to help himself, Lahedis let out a soft chuckle and approached her from behind.
Vivian hadn't noticed, but the Dark Spirit perched on her shoulder sensed his presence and made a sound.
"Meow, meow!"
"Shh! Be quiet, Blackie."
Lahedis leaned his face over her swaying ponytail and peered down the Corridor.
But his attention was entirely focused on the girl beneath him.
Her unique scent, which even the bathing oils used at the House of Edelwein couldn't mask, and the fine strands of hair tickling the underside of his chin made him smile involuntarily.
"It seems there's no one over there."
"It does seem―"
Vivian, answering absently, only then sensed the presence behind her.
"Eek! Mmph!"
Lahedis quickly covered Vivian's mouth as she let out a cry.
"Shh."
"Lahedis...?"
"Where are you sneaking off to like that?"
Caught red-handed, Vivian flinched and averted her gaze from him.
As Vivian hesitated to answer, Lahedis deliberately raised his voice and glanced down the corridor.
"Since the guest wishes to depart, have a carriage brought around—"
But before he could finish, Vivian swiftly covered his mouth with her hand and answered in a hushed voice.
"The Guild! I'm going to the Guild!"
The Guild? Why?
That question gleamed in Lahedis's eyes, his mouth covered by Vivian's palm.
"If I post a request there too, maybe I can find my father faster, right?"
"...."
"But if the Duke finds out, he might think I don't trust him, or it could seem like I'm unintentionally pressuring him...."
Lahedis's brow furrowed slightly as he looked down at Vivian.
'Her father vanished overnight. No matter how brightly she pretends on the surface, there's no way her heart remains unshaken.'
Lahedis carefully removed Vivian's hand from his mouth and asked.
"So you're sneaking out because if you took a carriage, the coachman would learn your destination?"
Vivian nodded.
"So you'll keep it secret, won't you?"
Lahedis let out a hollow laugh.
The way she trusted him so naturally—as though it were obvious—was both absurd and unsettling.
To Vivian, who knew nothing, he was merely a stranger she'd met yesterday.
What if she trusted other men just as easily?
"You trust me?"
"Pardon?"
"We've only just met, yet you keep creating secrets with me since yesterday."
Lahedis continued in a voice tinged with mockery.
He intended to instill a measure of caution in his innocent childhood friend.
"What if you trust the wrong person and get devoured whole?"
But rather than fear, Vivian responded with firm resolve.
"I'm not trusting just anyone. I'm trusting Rachel, who sent you to me."
That Rachel.
For Vivian, Rachel's name alone seemed to be a tremendous guarantee.
I found myself mocking my own jealousy toward the 'Rachel' she trusted and adored so deeply, when the voices of maids echoed from a distance.
Startled by the sound, Vivian quickly seized Lahedis's hand and hurriedly pulled him into a nearby empty room.
Lahedis gazed down at the small hand grasping his.
Vivian's hand, which had been nearly equal to or slightly smaller than his in childhood, was now so delicate that his own could completely envelop it.
Over these past ten years, so much between us had changed—a realization that struck me anew.
Yet if there was one thing that remained unchanged....
'It's still soft and tender.'
The fact that I still cherish this small warmth—that one truth alone.
Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org