Chapter 26
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Chapter 26
September's brief evening faded, and the long night rushed forward, dragging darkness in its wake. After confirming that my family had all fallen asleep, I made my way—as I always did—toward the forest path. It was to meet Leopold.
"Your Highness, give me your hand."
I spoke to Leopold, who had appeared before me, lantern in hand. Rather than a greeting, I simply demanded his hand outright. Leopold lifted his gaze, his hair gleaming distinctly in the darkness, his clear gray-green eyes studying me intently.
"What scheme are you hatching now, my lady?"
He narrowed his eyes playfully yet readily extended his hand to me. It seemed he had grown quite accustomed to my peculiar impulses.
I grasped his large hand gently and replied.
"I wish to show Your Highness a beautiful place hidden within the forest."
My ears flushed as I held his hand. His warmth brought back the memory of his lips brushing against my fingertips last night. Leopold tilted his head slightly, asking.
"A hidden place? Something like your secret sanctuary?"
"Well... not yet. We must wait for the wind to guide us there."
I spoke in riddles, my cheeks flushing crimson, before continuing with eager anticipation.
"If we truly discover a beautiful place, let us call it our secret sanctuary."
Today I intended to venture deep into the forest. Ever since hearing Sydney's tale of the ghostly woman who wandered the woods, I had to take care to avoid drawing attention.
"Mmm..."
I drew in a deep breath and closed my eyes. In my dress embroidered with purple wildflowers, my small shoulders trembling slightly, I looked as enchanting as a forest sprite.
Leopold's gaze softened as it passed over me—much like when he watched me sleep during our conversations. Whenever my bright eyes were not fixed upon him, he would regard me with such tenderness.
"Do you feel it?"
Charlotte, still keeping her eyes closed, finally spoke.
"Aunt Elicia was right. Once I stopped focusing on what I could see... the wind began to guide me, showing me where my heart truly needed to go."
Having finished speaking, I followed the fresh, dewy fragrance drifting from somewhere, my steps carrying me forward—one hand holding the lantern, the other gripping Leopold's hand firmly.
Unlike usual, we walked through the forest in silence. The soft rustling of early fallen leaves filled the space between us. I opened my eyes occasionally, meeting Leopold's gaze, but his eyes were so piercing—as if they could see straight through to my innermost thoughts—that I soon had to close them again and simply feel the wind.
After some time had passed, Leopold and I came to a halt simultaneously as we ventured deeper into the forest.
"Isn't it breathtakingly beautiful?"
I spoke as I set down the lantern. Before us flowed a wide stream, and rising from it like an island was a gentle hill crowned with a single massive weeping willow.
"I had no idea such a stream existed here. And that weeping willow, with its long drooping branches... it seems as though it's guarding some secret."
I turned to Leopold with an excited expression. Without my saying a word, it was clear he understood my thoughts perfectly—a deep smile was already playing at his lips. Leopold raised one eyebrow as he spoke.
"Come here, Charlotte."
In that instant, my face flushed crimson. The noble prince Leopold had dropped to one knee before me. With those captivating eyes, he gazed up at me and spoke.
"Don't you want to cross the stream and visit that island?"
"Well, that is... but..."
I stared at Leopold with wide eyes. He remained on one knee, his arms spread open, offering me the shelter of his broad embrace.
"If your dress gets soaked, won't you hear another lecture from your governess? So come—let me hold you."
Leopold, still wearing that half-smile, tilted his head toward me in a gesture urging me to come into his arms.
I brought both hands to my burning cheeks as I spoke.
"You mean to... to carry me across the stream in your arms? Your Highness, aren't you... pushing yourself too far for my sake?"
"Of course—I'd only do something as foolish as drop you from a tree while holding you."
Leopold chuckled softly in response. His shirt collar fluttered gently in the languid night breeze.
"Come now, Charlotte. The wind wanted to go where your heart desires, didn't it?"
At Leopold's voice, pitched low enough to seduce, I found myself drawn toward him in a daze, unable to resist. Leopold lifted me into his arms and spoke.
"We promised to find our secret place, after all."
"Ah..."
A small gasp escaped me as my feet left the ground. Leopold supported my back and legs with both hands, then slowly began wading into the stream.
Splash.
The crystalline sound of the stream reached my ears. And from somewhere even closer, I could almost swear I heard the beating of Leopold's heart.
As Leopold drew nearer to the island hill, the stream that had merely dampened my ankles grew steadily deeper. What had appeared shallow proved far deeper than expected.
I breathed in Leopold's scent—the fragrance that tickled the tip of my nose—and whispered softly.
"Your Highness, though you are of royal blood, here I am crossing the stream like a princess cradled in a knight's arms... Thank you, Your Highness."
"If the princess is comfortable, then anytime."
Leopold lowered his gaze to meet mine. His grayish-green eyes, shadowed beneath dark chestnut hair, sparkled with pristine brilliance like stars in the night sky.
At Leopold's glib response, I burst into genuine laughter. The vibration from my small frame transmitted through to him.
"Ha ha... It may be a jest, but hearing the title 'princess' from Your Highness's voice makes me so flustered I don't know what to do with myself. I think perhaps just 'Charlotte' suits me better, don't you?"
Leopold offered no reply, merely smiling leisurely. Just then, the night breeze swept across the stream, and my vision filled entirely with him. I suddenly realized how profoundly happy this moment made me.
'When I first met Your Highness, I never could have imagined this...'
I closed my eyes tightly, then opened them. Even with my sight obscured, the happiness I felt did not fade. Like the wind itself, I had learned to sense the presence of things invisible.
'The warmth soaking through my entire body, the arms carefully supporting me, the sound of water with each step, and this fragrance...'
This time, I kept my eyes closed a little longer.
I had thought of him as a phantom visible only to my eyes. I had made a dangerous bargain with a ghost merely because he could help resolve the Oslo Estate incident. Yet now, without needing to see the beautiful smile drawn across Leopold's face, I had grown close enough to him to understand that he was just as happy as I was.
The memory of the day I first met Leopold surfaced in my mind.
On the stairs of the Oslo Estate, Leopold had pressed me with urgency: "Lady, can you hear my voice?" I hadn't understood it then, but now I realized his voice had trembled ever so slightly in that moment.
Our first dawn together arrived, and I had attempted to test Leopold by reciting a prayer, only to fail. Then he had lifted his gaze to meet mine—eyes that blended the verdant green of spring shoots kissed by rain with the ashen grey of a tempest—and completed my prayer for me.
'Grant me, I beseech you, a heart overflowing with passion and love to remain at your side until the very end of eternity.'
On the night I returned home unable to dance at the Ball at the Oslo Estate, he had danced with me in the forest, our steps synchronized to the whisper of the wind.
'It's because of me that you missed your first dance, so... that's why.'
The voice he had whispered against my ear that dawn, cradling me in his arms, remained vivid even now. I slowly opened my eyes. Tonight, Leopold still held me securely in his strong embrace as he crossed the City Center. Moonlit ripples danced along the sharp line of his jaw.
I parted my lips slowly, uncharacteristically hesitant.
"Your Highness..."
Leopold's gaze slowly came to rest on her. Charlotte continued speaking in a trembling voice.
"Your Highness... you knew my name, yet for so long you called me only 'Lady.' On the night we danced together in the forest, that was the first time you called me Charlotte."
As I posed my question, Leopold reached the island in the stream. Water lapped at his knees, and had I crossed the City Center alone, I would surely have been drenched far more thoroughly.
Leopold paused in thought before responding slowly.
"I thought there was no need for you to be remembered."
Leopold set me down gently on the island, his arm still encircling my waist as he spoke.
"By me to you, and by you to me."
My feet touching solid ground once more, I looked up at Leopold. My wispy bangs danced across my forehead with each movement. A faint smile graced his lips as our eyes met.
"But it seems I've become unable to help but remember you, so I have no choice but to call your name."
Leopold whispered with a tone of helpless inevitability, tinged with a hint of playfulness. Upon hearing his answer, my eyes widened with sudden realization. Just as he had become unable to help but remember me, I too had come to understand that something uncontrollable was taking root within my heart.
'Like the wind, wherever my heart is drawn...'
I watched the City Center unfold behind Leopold's back, flowing in the direction the wind carried it.
'Where my heart is drawn...'
My racing heartbeat finally stilled. I had stopped resisting the wind that blew toward me.
'Where my heart is drawn... His Highness Leopold is there...'
Unlike my burning brown eyes, my face illuminated by moonlight had grown pale. Yet that pallor suited Leopold's luminous soul, shining through the darkness, all the more beautifully.
Unaware of my awakening, Leopold drew near and whispered.
"...The wind has truly guided us to a beautiful place, just as you said."
Behind Leopold and me, willow branches swayed in the breeze.
Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org