Chapter 17: Chapter 17

* * *

upon hearing the news that fersen had returned to the mansion, seira hurriedly headed towards the duke’s residence without even changing her clothes.

she couldn’t help but worry about why he suddenly left, leaving only a letter. for ten days straight, she didn’t go out and stayed locked up in the marquis’ estate, only waiting for meals. she hoped he returned safely. hopefully, that’s the case.

with an excited heart, seira arrived at the duke’s rodrian residence, but the unexpected news dampened her spirits once again.

“he went out? where?”

“uh… that’s…”

the butlers stuttered and couldn’t answer. it seemed not because he didn’t know where he had gone, but because it was difficult for him to say where he went.

surely, it can’t be that he has been called by the lady pales after he returned from vincent’s estate.

‘why?’

why does she have to interfere so much between him and seira? what did i do wrong?

at first, she didn’t realize it. they had been close friends since they were young, so she thought, ‘oh, i see. since she’s my boyfriend’s friend, i should be friendly with her too.’

what a fool she was.

but it seemed like she was the only one who thought that way, as everyone around her viewed her with suspicion.

they pitied her, asking why she didn’t say anything, why she couldn’t see that the wicked woman was trying to separate her and fersen.

since then, things that were unseen began to be visible. the truth that her dull self hadn’t realized.

for example, unnecessarily planting worries in her mind, making her think about the woman all day long. or summoning her out so that they couldn’t meet. or showing the intimate moments between her family and fersen like last time, which deeply tormented her.

these and other actions gradually became apparent to her.

for that reason, she came to hate luna, someone she had never met before. if it had happened once or twice, she might not have minded, but it continued, relentlessly, making it impossible for seira not to hate her.

however, she couldn’t express such petty jealousy in front of fersen. he would surely look down on her, considering her narrow-minded.

fersen is a just and righteous person, so he would surely disdain such trivial and petty jealousy.

with this complicated and unhappy feeling, she waited for fersen for three hours. the dinner hour had long passed, and she was growing restless, but finally, fersen she had been waiting for returned to the mansion.

seira imagined a thousand different conversations and actions between the two of them, boiling with emotions. she rushed forward in one step, welcoming him eagerly.

“fersen! i’ve been waiting for you. are you hurt anywhere?”

“…seira? how did you get here?”

however, fersen seemed to have forgotten that he had contacted seira, and his response was only a strange face and awkward answer. startled, seira could only open her mouth, and the butler who had been watching intervened quickly with an explanation.

“when the young master visited the mansion earlier, i contacted lady seira.”

“…ah!”

seira finally remembered the brief conversation where the butler asked if it was okay to contact her. it wasn’t a lie, but since she was already here, he couldn’t ask her to go back.

“i’m sorry, young lady. something urgent came up, so i went to the baron’s residence for a while.”

“…”

so he had visited the baron’s residence after all. she had never really believed it, but everything that young lady peils had said was a lie.

trying to regain her composure and hide her feelings of being pushed into the depths, seira spoke.

“…i see. did everything go well?”

“no, it only got worse. it’s a serious problem.”

though she didn’t ask for the details, fersen quickly and angrily recounted the troubling situation he had faced.

“antes, that bastard seems to have completely captivated innocent luna. talking about the gold mine and all. his speech is rough, and it feels like he’s imitating someone…”

“…”

“i don’t even know how wicked that guy is, and she’s already… already spent the night with that bastard…! ah, i have no idea what to do.”

fersen expressed his anger, saying that the evil man had taken luna’s innocence. every word fersen said was just and right, but this time, even seira couldn’t help but think that something was off.

‘why is he so angry about that…?’

seira knew that fersen liked luna as a childhood friend, but it seemed a bit strange to be enraged by her loss of innocence.

‘now that i think about it, he didn’t like it when anyone other than himself mentioned young lady luna peils.’

she recalled the times when she brought up the topic and talked about various things, but whenever she showed curiosity about luna or made a joking remark about setting up a meeting, fersen would look at her with stern eyes.

because of that, seira gradually came to an unsettling conclusion. wracked with anxiety, she hid her trembling hands behind her back and asked.

“y-young lady peils is a good person, so wouldn’t it be possible to persuade young master vincent to repent? you could convince him not to challenge your position anymore. marquis vincent has quite a bit of wealth, so he could be a great asset to the baron.”

“no! absolutely not.”

seira made a convincing argument, but fersen flatly refused. her anxiety deepened.

“well… then, would you like me to introduce her to another suitable young nobles? someone wonderful enough to make her forget about young master vincent.”

“that won’t work either. there’s no man in the empire who would suit luna. just leave antes alone. luna is best off being alone right now.”

“…”

upon hearing that, seira couldn’t add anything else. how could she respond to such an attitude that firmly refused without even specifying a particular person?

it wasn’t a typical reaction. even if fersen considered luna as his younger sister, it was still strange.

seira, who had been lost in thought, stopped in her tracks, but fersen continued to express his anger and climbed the stairs leading to his room. seira, who didn’t follow him, paid no attention. her attention was solely on luna.

watching his back with a pitiful feeling, seira bit her lip and eventually changed direction, moving away from fersen.

her eyes were burning, and her nose stung. she felt miserable and sad about learning something she didn’t need to know. for some reason, she didn’t want to be with fersen today.

* * *

the next morning, luna, who was heading to seira’s mansion early in the morning, was hindered by an unexpected turn of events caused by poverty.

“oh dear. it seems the baron rode with young master fersen in his carriage and left it at the baron’s residence. what a shame.”

it all came back to fersen. it was truly irritating in various ways.

with no means of transportation outside, while emma was twirling her parasol, henry came out of the mansion with a coat.

“i’ll borrow a carriage.”

by walking. henry had a good physique, so he could even run. however, since the baron’s residence was far from the central part of the city, it would take at least two hours even if he ran.

she didn’t want to trouble henry unnecessarily.

‘i should have bought a carriage first.’

why did she buy a dress? what was so important about throwing a check at seira’s face?

she should have thought about the baron, who had an old carriage that didn’t fit well with nobility, getting it damaged because of her.

regretting it now was already too late. before the baron could ride the carriage, she didn’t have a carriage for herself.

so she contemplated whether she should just walk there and was gathering her resolve when…

“good morning.”

antes appeared with a smile that brightened up the unpleasant morning.

how could he look so pretty just after waking up? emma let out a small sigh of admiration.

“what’s the matter?”

“oh, it’s just that miss doesn’t have a carriage to ride.”

“a carriage?”

“yes… actually…”

laura, seizing the opportunity, began explaining about the circumstances of the mansion. emma nodded along, and henry’s eyes sparkled with curiosity.

it was a level of charm that captivated everyone in the mansion. it seemed that antes had renewed his affectionate feelings, probably due to the words he said to luna last night, asking her to be his girlfriend.

listening slowly to laura’s explanation, antes casually answered as if asking what the problem was.

“you can take my carriage.”

if there’s no rice, eat bread. if there’s no bread, eat cookies. and if there are no cookies, i’ll give you mine!

with that kind of tone, emma tightly held her hands together and fell into ecstasy. she wanted to pretend not to be too moved, but luna, in her gratitude, sincerely expressed her thanks for him being like a savior.

“thank you for doing that, but… is it really okay?”

“of course. i’m happy to have this opportunity to win favor with young lady luna.”

antes spoke, using his lady-killer charm from last night.

“in exchange, i’ll be the one driving the carriage. it’s bigger, and the people of the merchant guild won’t listen to anyone’s orders other than mine. i apologize for not waking up the coachman now.”

“…what?”

…he’s saying that now he’s using that excuse for the carriage? it’s not for personal use? luna was about to respond to the nonsense excuse, but everyone else had already moved on.

“oh dear. how can you be so kind even though it’s troublesome?”

“my lady, it’s great news!”

“thank you very much. then, may i accompany you until halfway? it’s a bit difficult to go all the way to the baron’s residence, so i’ll only ask for the carriage rental station. it’s because the baron also needs to borrow a carriage.”

“let it be so.”

antes disappeared towards the guest room, promising to return dressed in his outing attire, while receiving the hospitality of everyone in the mansion. even though it was a short distance in the narrow mansion, the three mansion servants clapped their hands and blessed his steps.