Chapter 7. The Person Who Comes When You Are Lost
Today, I got lost again.
“…….”
I was so dumbfounded at myself that no words came out.
Yesterday, after getting lost, I admitted it to Madam Lucy, and she laughed, “Ohohoho,” and replied.
“The garden isn’t that way.”
“But Madam Lucy, you definitely said it was that way…….”
“Oh my! Did I?”
So today, I deliberately walked in the opposite direction from where I had gone yesterday. After walking for a while, just as Madam Lucy had said, the garden really did appear.
It had already been an hour since I boldly stepped inside, rejoicing at finally finding the garden.
I had become the ghost of this place…….
I was clearly walking a different path, yet I kept returning to the same spot.
I had walked so much that my legs ached terribly. Even so, I couldn’t just sit down and wait for someone.
Because no one would come looking for me.
“At this point, this isn’t a stroll, it’s exercise. Seriously.”
As I walked endlessly, grumbling to myself, I spotted someone leaning against a tree in the distance.
It was the first person I had found in a full hour of being the ghost of this garden!
I quickly approached the stranger.
“Um, excuse me, could you tell me the way…….”
My voice gradually trailed off. I couldn’t bring myself to ask any further.
The man leaning against the tree was none other than Michael, the man I had met yesterday.
“Hm…….”
I tried to quietly back away and disappear, but our eyes had already met.
I smiled awkwardly, gave a slight bow, and turned around.
Fortunately or unfortunately, the man called Michael paid me no attention whatsoever, and I was able to escape that spot safely.
And that was the beginning of my misfortune.
“……This can’t be.”
I had walked as hard as I could to get away from that place, yet I had returned to the same starting point once again.
My eyes met Michael’s. An awkward air flowed between us.
“Haha. I suppose this isn’t the way.”
I let out an embarrassed laugh and turned to leave again, but I failed to see a stone jutting from the ground and tripped, losing my balance.
“Ack!”
I screamed and squeezed my eyes shut.
But there was no pain. Instead, I felt an unfamiliar sensation.
Someone had caught me around the waist, stopping my fall. I gasped and opened my eyes.
“Are you all right?”
The moment I opened my eyes, what I saw was a dazzling face.
A handsome man with brilliant, shimmering deep blond hair and lake-blue eyes—Michael—was looking down at me.
Whoosh―
Just then, a wind blew in, violently tossing my hair before fading. In the man’s eyes, my startled reflection was faintly visible.
My heart pounded for a moment at the sudden situation, but I quickly regained my senses.
Because the shame of having shown such an embarrassing display to a stranger I had met only twice was far greater.
“I-I’m fine.”
I unconsciously touched my face and realized that the veil that had been covering it had vanished somewhere. It seemed it had blown away in the wind the moment I nearly fell.
I had been told never to show my bare face to anyone. What should I do?
I worried, but it was already too late.
In any case, this man wouldn’t know that I was the Crown Prince’s fiancée, so wouldn’t it be all right?
Fortunately, there were no witnesses. The man looked at me and smiled faintly.
“Please be careful.”
“Yes, thank you.”
After my answer, neither of us spoke another word.
Um, excuse me? Could you please let go of me now?
I pleaded with my eyes, but the nameless handsome man simply stared intently at me.
Ugh, the pressure was tremendous.
“Um, excuse me, could you please…….”
In the end, I had to ask myself.
Because I felt an absurd sense of crisis, as if the day would pass with me practically cradled in his arms.
“Ah, forgive me.”
Only then did the man seem to realize, quickly setting me upright and taking a step back.
It was a very clean, efficient movement.
What followed was a time of tremendous awkwardness. I wanted to return to my bedroom just like this, but I would obviously end up back here again.
I looked at the man with desperate eyes.
“Thank you for your help. But if you don’t mind…….”
“Yes.”
At the look in the man’s eyes as he answered, I flinched without meaning to.
It was as if he was thinking, ‘Is this woman also circling around me trying to confess?’
“I really am not trying to confess or anything like that, so you can rest assured! I truly am just lost, so could I please ask you for directions?”
Phew. I said it. I looked up at the man, hoping he would understand my feelings of not wanting to be misunderstood.
The man tilted his head at an angle and smiled.
“That’s a little disappointing.”
“What?”
“Where is your destination?”
I thought I had just heard a puzzling answer…….
But as I followed behind the man walking ahead, that question soon vanished.
“I’m trying to get to Lily Palace.”
“……Lily Palace, you say?”
If the man’s voice sounded as though it had suddenly sunk, was that my imagination?
I glanced up at him in slight surprise, but his expression was no different from before.
I must have imagined it.
“Yes. That’s where I’m staying.”
“I see.”
“I-I’m truly sorry about the rudeness the other day.”
It hadn’t been intentional, but I had secretly witnessed a personal confession and even ran away afterward. It was something I ought to apologize for.
“It wasn’t something you did on purpose, so there’s no need to concern yourself with it.”
What came back was a single remark from a man overflowing with consideration.
Step, step. Pitter, patter.
As we walked, I realized that this man never once put a great distance between us.
The Crown Prince suddenly came to mind. That man’s hobby was overtaking me, getting far ahead, and then frowning.
Though very occasionally, truly very occasionally, he showed something like consideration, which unsettled people…….
“Huh?”
As I followed him, a path I recognized really did appear.
From here, I felt I could go on my own. But I lacked the courage to speak first, so I simply quietly followed behind.
At the sight of a familiar building after several hours, I felt like crying.
I survived! I found my way!
When I raised my head to express my gratitude, the man was looking down at me. His eyes, like a blue lake, gazed quietly.
“Thank you for escorting me. Um, well……. If it weren’t for you, I might not have made it back today.”
I didn’t know what to call him, so I stumbled over my words midway.
“You may call me Michael.”
“Ah, yes. My name is―.”
Just as I was about to say my name, a familiar voice came from not far away.
Madam Lucy seemed to be looking for me.
“Then I shall see you again next time.”
“What?”
Next time again?
Michael gave me a polite bow and quickly disappeared in the opposite direction.
Only belatedly did I realize I had not told him my name.
“Well, we probably won’t meet again anyway, so it doesn’t matter.”
His words about seeing me again were probably just a formal farewell.
I looked in the direction Michael had disappeared and marveled.
It was the first time I had seen someone within the imperial palace who looked so human, had such good character, and was even overflowing with consideration.
The humans I had met were Diano, Terni, Madam Lucy, Adrian, and the like, but all of them…… had serious defects in their humanity.
Perhaps because I had met a normal person for the first time, I was lost in my own admiration.
“Humanity is still alive.”
Overcome with emotion, I let out a review.
* * *
“Artie. Do you have something troubling you?”
Terni, who had stolen and eaten my share of snacks again today, asked me.
I closed the thick book that wasn’t even registering in my eyes and let out a sigh.
“Do I look like it?”
“Yeah. Your expression is a total mess!”
You really have a way with words…….
I looked at Terni with pitying eyes as he smeared cookie crumbs around his mouth.
I did have a concern, but would this human actually give me proper advice?
I already knew the answer, but since there was no one else to ask, I decided to give it a try.
“I heard Her Majesty the Empress has a hobby of collecting dishes.”
“Yeah, that’s right. It’s famous. Probably more than twenty rooms in Grace Palace are packed with Her Majesty’s collection?”
Twenty rooms full of dishes. As expected, the collecting power of the imperial family was on another level.
“I was personally thinking of giving Her Majesty a birthday gift. Do you think she would like it if I gave her a dish?”
“Wait, wait. Artie, you’re going to give Her Majesty a dish? Don’t! Her Majesty’s standards are so high, ordinary things won’t even satisfy her!”
The opposition was more intense than I had expected. But now that I was here, I couldn’t think of any other gift.
Terni picked up a cookie and shook his head.
“Unless it’s a new work by the artisan Jürgen, it’s no use.”
Artisan Jürgen.
The dish Gabriel had shown me at Her Majesty’s birthday party was that artisan’s work.
Since that day, the dish had occasionally come to mind, and now I vaguely understood why.
I looked at Terni and smiled brightly.
“You don’t need to worry about that.”
“Huh? What’s with the confidence?”
Ignoring Terni’s gaze, which looked at me as if I were ridiculous, I changed the subject.
“I have something to do outside the imperial palace for a moment. If I tell His Highness, do you think he would allow me to go out?”
Crunch. Terni, who had cheerfully bitten into a cookie, answered with a grin.
“Probably not?”
As expected……. If Terni, one of the Crown Prince’s closest aides, said this, there was no need to even bring it up with the Crown Prince.
If I brought it up for no reason, there was a good chance I would feel my life threatened again.
I did need to obtain a gift for Her Majesty the Empress, but if going outside the imperial palace was not an option, then there was only one method left.
Still, I had wanted to go out for the first time in a while. Feeling needlessly disappointed, I slumped, and Terni patted my shoulder.
“Lift your head, Artie!”
“……?”
When I raised my head, I saw Terni’s face covered in cookie crumbs around his mouth.
“Who am I?!”
An idiot……?
Shouting proudly without even knowing what his own face looked like, he was the very picture of a fool.
Terni laughed heartily and thumped his chest twice with his fist.
“All right. Just trust this oppa! I’ll take responsibility and get you outside the imperial palace!”
“Ah, no. It’s fine…….”
“Now, let’s get ready!”
The thoroughly excited Terni began preparing to go out with tremendous drive.
There was no time to stop him.
