Chapter 157. Congratulations on Your Engagement
Late night.
Charlotte Street, upon which darkness had settled, was exuding an atmosphere completely different from its appearance during the day.
Edward, who was walking through that quiet scenery, finally broke the long silence and opened his mouth.
“Ray.”
At the sound of the low call, Raymond’s head slowly turned toward the right.
A face clearly revealed beneath the moonlight.
Seeing his terribly haggard appearance once again, a sigh broke out from between Edward’s teeth of its own accord.
The reason the two people visited Charlotte Square today was to attend a regular noble gathering that was being held.
It was their first meeting in nearly a few weeks with Raymond, who had left Denver immediately after the engagement.
But—
The moment he saw the face of his close friend whom he met again, Edward ended up at a loss for words.
Right, he thought that it would be impossible to erase everything cleanly within that short period of time.
The counterpart to whom he had given his heart for the first time in his life.
No matter how terrible a betrayal he had suffered, the affection between a man and a woman could not be cut off so cleanly with a single stroke.
The action Raymond showed first after the long silence was precisely what vividly demonstrated such a mind.
Edward knew full well that the appearance of him rushing the engagement unreasonably was also entirely a desperate struggle to forget that woman.
But still…….
But still, he had never imagined it would be to this extent.
That Raymond von Cheister.
That he would stagger so helplessly over a fraction of the heart he had given away—
No, even he, who had watched him for a long time, had not dared to guess that those feelings would be this deep.
“You…… do you even sleep?”
It might sound like an out-of-the-blue remark, but it was something he had wanted to ask since a while ago.
Whether he even slept at all, or whether he even ate anything.
As he quietly watched the face full of anxiety, a chuckle, a hollow laugh, instantly broke out from between Raymond’s teeth.
At that appearance, Edward’s brow furrowed fiercely.
“Does a laugh come out right now?”
“Why, are you worried I’ll act like a madman again?”
“…….”
“I sleep well.”
Raymond, who tossed out the words that he slept well, continuously appended words like a song lyric after that.
“I sleep well, and eat well. I’m doing very well.”
Just as he was about to refute those words spoken like a joke, Edward stopped.
Since even if he kept speaking, he wouldn’t listen anyway.
Perhaps because the heat of the day had subsided, the air brushing against the skin felt quite cool.
At such a late hour, he had felt that the suggestion to walk to where the carriage was located was a bit out of the blue, but to the extent that he thought it was a good thing they did so.
It was when they had walked for a long time like that.
On the long-extended road, around its very end, the voices of some people were heard.
A quite noisy sound.
Only then did it come to mind that there was a tavern frequented by the commoner class around there.
Thinking that they might get swept up in an unnecessary squabble, Edward glanced back at Raymond.
“Let’s go around that way.”
“What for.”
What for, to bother. It was a remark spoken like that.
“No, wait—”
“A man, I say!”
Just as he was about to say those words, to go around for a second.
At the roaring sound that suddenly came through, Edward’s words were ruthlessly cut off just like that.
“Must have courage! Being so hesitant, in what era will you capture a woman’s heart!”
One man who was shouting in a sudden anger slapped the back of the tall man standing beside him with thuds.
That force was so brutish that, despite being a completely unrelated stranger, it was enough to make one frown of one’s own accord.
“I understand, so please stop now and let’s go.”
The one supporting the man who was lingering and asking for just one more drink, that is, the taller one of the two, was a man who looked relatively quite young.
Though he didn’t see him clearly since it was a street where darkness had settled, the voice that came through felt that way.
Such, as if he might be around his own age.
Edward, who thought up to that point, soon shook his head.
Though he looked for a moment out of curiosity, it was all a useless action.
The night was late, and with the thought of quickly going to where the carriage was located, Edward hurried his steps.
“Just how long is it that we’ve known each other! Huh?”
It was the moment they had almost approached near the two people who were still altering.
Just when his eyebrows were furrowed of their own accord at the loudly echoing voice.
“I think when I first saw Jade it was probably, like, about 5 years ago, no, is it the 6th year?”
At someone’s name that came out of the man’s mouth, Edward’s steps came to a dead halt right on that spot.
“When I first saw Jade, you know, he looked so elegant that I thought he was a young master from some noble family.”
Jade.
He had wondered if it could possibly be that name he knew, but the moment he saw the face of the man turning toward this direction, his heart sank without him realizing it.
My goodness, of all things.
Looking at the rigidly freezing face, it seemed that side had recognized him as well.
No, to be precise, Raymond von Cheister standing behind him.
Edward felt a belated regret.
That a moment ago, he should have avoided this front somehow.
No, that from the very beginning, he should not have listened to those words to walk the night path.
Thinking that then, they would not have encountered such an absurd coincidence.
Hoping that they would pass by like this, safely without any incident, as he carefully turned his head backward.
“Congratulations on your engagement.”
An unexpected thing occurred.
For a moment, he wondered if he had misheard, but no matter how much he thought about it, the direction from which the sound came through was definitely that way.
That way where Jade Wilkins was standing.
“Though my congratulations, of course, will not be welcome to you.”
Despite any insult, the opponent who had never once opened his mouth first in front of Raymond.
The heavily twisted tone that came out of such an opponent’s mouth sounded incredibly unfamiliar.
The content of the words, which was clearly intended to pick a fight, was as well.
Being too startled, Edward completely forgot about Raymond standing on his rear side for a moment.
“……Stop spouting nonsense and get lost.”
At the sound that echoed low as if threatening, only then did Edward’s mind snap awake.
Even if it were any other time, he must not let these two people clash right now.
To be precise, Raymond, who didn’t know what kind of action he might commit.
“Stop it and let’s go, Raymond.”
While gripping Raymond’s arm, he tried pushing his back, but he wouldn’t budge at all.
Despite being in a state that was seriously haggard to anyone’s eyes, that monster-like strength was still just as it was.
“When it’s an emotion that amounts to a mere nothing like that, you acted so confidently in front of me?”
“……What?”
“Drooling over another’s possession, saying that it’s all because you take after my mother— didn’t you say something like that?”
In a situation where it wouldn’t even be enough to just shut his mouth, he didn’t understand the opponent who was acting like that of all times when Raymond was in this kind of state.
Such, as if he were intentionally teasing to provoke Raymond.
“Hey, stop—”
Edward, who turned his gaze, intended to give a warning rebuking that rash behavior.
But, before he could even go ‘uh-uh’ at his body being momentarily pushed aside, he saw something large darting forward like lightning.
“Ray!”
A sharp outcry cutting through the night air echoed loudly in Charlotte Square.
Bodies clashing in an instant.
From the mouth of Raymond, who had grabbed Jade by the collar, a sound like an animal’s throat-growl slipped out faintly.
“Before I twist that neck— shut your mouth.”
A threat savage to the point of being chilling.
Edward and Roderick, who were attached to each side respectively, were both startled for a moment to that extent.
“Why, do you hate hearing it?”
But just one person.
Jade, who was the very person at whom the tip of that arrow was aimed, with a face that was entirely unconcerned, rather began to denounce even more fiercely.
“It’s rather a relief. That it ended even like that, I mean. To take responsibility for Deborah with a trust that amounts to barely that degree—”
Punch—!
It was a thing that happened in an instant.
By the time he thought that a big trouble had arisen upon seeing the hand raised high, the two people were already rolling on the ground.
Punch—! Punch—! Punch—!
The appearance of them exchanging fistblows while rolling back and forth over the cold ground was, literally, a chaos itself.
Edward, who was dumbfounded at that spectacle, snapped out of it only after hearing the sound shouted by the man who was together with Jade.
“Hey, what are you do— without breaking them apart!”
The two people tried to break the two apart belatedly, but just how great their strength was, as soon as they rushed in, they ended up being flung away simultaneously just like that.
“Ray, stop, stop it!”
“Jade! No, this, Jade!”
At a grazed fist, at a raised elbow— despite not being a blow properly delivered, the joints ached with a throb.
Stopping the two young hot bloods, who inherited the blood of Cheister just as it was, was a situation that seemed utterly insufficient with only their strength.
In the end, the two people who were lacking in strength were flung away, and even after that, a long slugfest continuously carried on.
To the eyes of Edward, who was sprawled out from exhaustion, the appearance of his close friend wielding merciless fists while pinning Jade down onto the ground was visible.
An appearance that looked closely resembling a madman.
If he said these words, harsh words would of course fly at him, but Edward momentarily thought that it was a relief the person pinned beneath him was Jade, who received the blood of Cheister.
Well, since he received that blood, wondering if he would possibly die.
Jade, who was fighting back against the monster-like strength, was seen remaining motionless as if dead, whether his energy had been exhausted before long.
Since the opponent was to that extent, it was natural that the madman who was rampaging on top of him would have lost strength as well.
Is it finally coming to an end now…….
Into the vision of Edward, who was letting out a long sigh, suddenly, Raymond’s arm raised high entered.
‘Crazy…….’
Simultaneously with profanity slipping out without him realizing it, Raymond’s fist descended rapidly for a final blow.
Edward tightly closed his eyes without realizing it.
Punch—!!
Finally.
At last.
The sound announcing the termination of the situation echoed loudly into the night sky.
☆▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎☆
