Chapter 9

I could not understand how Redic had gotten past the guards, so I looked around. Gizelle’s face was one of horror as well.

She urgently looked for the butler, but he was nowhere to be seen either.

People who felt threatened retreated from the center toward the walls, and Redic Bangeger charged through the empty space they left behind.

“How dare a lowborn wretch like you… make a fool of… me…”

He scanned each person with blazing eyes. His determination to find me was plain to see. It seemed this would not end unless I stepped forward.

I, standing at the very back, took a single step.

“Don’t go.”

Kirill, who had somehow come to my side, seized my wrist.

He had definitely been far diagonally across from me just moments ago—I had no idea how he had reached this spot so quickly.

“Let go.”

“I can’t.”

The expression on Kirill’s face—who had never paid me any mind—was unfamiliar. It looked like the expression I had always wished for, and my heart wavered again and again.

But that could not be. Perhaps even my heart wavering was nothing more than part of my role.

“Go and help Gizelle.”

Even at my words, his hand would not release me. The more he held on, the greater Redic Bangeger’s rampage grew.

“I said let go!”

Even as I twisted my wrist to pull free, he did not budge. Kirill looked as though I—not he—were the one behaving incomprehensibly here.

“What is the meaning of this?”

At the languid, low voice, both mine and Kirill’s gazes turned back to the center.

There stood Imperial Grandson Pavel, his murky blond hair swept back coolly, looking down at Redic Bangeger with a cold face.

Every party was nominally obliged to invite the Imperial Grandson. It was a shame if he did not come, and a great honor if he did.

Imperial Grandson Pavel was not the type to enjoy parties. If he wanted to attend a party, he held one himself. The only party he ever attended was the one held at Erdona.

‘I suppose that’s because Gizelle is the host.’

He cherished Gizelle. For reasons even I did not know.

His narrow, constricting eyes looked down as though at an insect.

“…I asked what you are doing. Why is no one answering?”

At his words, Gizelle hastily pushed through the crowd. Unlike when they were alone, she bowed to him with proper courtesy.

“There was a small disturbance, Your Highness. It is an honor to have you here.”

“Is it because of the Red Erdona?”

Despite Gizelle’s efforts, Pavel turned the conversation back toward Redic Bangeger. The chilling atmosphere sank endlessly.

Now that he had spoken, hiding any longer was meaningless. This time, even Kirill could not hold me back. He must have known he could not.

When I emerged through the crowd, the thoroughly drunk Redic Bangeger staggered toward me.

“Seeing as he cannot understand human speech, it seems there is a beast in our midst.”

His expression as he sought agreement—as if asking whether he was not right—was endlessly gentle, but the atmosphere conversely grew even more rigid.

It was a very simple motion. Redic Bangeger fell flat to the floor with a loud crash beneath Pavel’s foot. Even drunk, he could feel pain, it seemed, for he let out a groan.

The mood among the people grew unsettled. Where could there be a more entertaining spectacle than this?

My eyes met Gizelle’s. She signaled me with her eyes to somehow handle this situation. Once again, she placed her hand on Pavel’s wrist.

“…Your Highness?”

“You must be exhausted. To think even a maggot like this dared send a proposal as a noble.”

“…I will handle this matter.”

The drunk Redic tried to rise again, but he slipped several times, creating a ridiculous sight.

Only then did I move. I lifted Redic’s arm. Supporting Redic Bangeger, limp as water-soaked cotton, was no easy task.

He was so drunk that he did not even realize that the one supporting him was me—the very person he had been searching for.

“…Nngh, you. Let go!”

If only there were no people around, I would have slapped him across the mouth.

My anger was greater than my embarrassment. Cursing inwardly, I put strength into the arm holding him up, and suddenly Redic Bangeger’s body lurched upward.

My strength could not have suddenly increased. When I checked the opposite side of Redic Bangeger, Pavel had somehow come over and draped the other arm over his own shoulder.

“Walk.”

When I looked at Gizelle, her face was already one of utter bewilderment. What was needed now, more than anything, was to get out of this place as quickly as possible.

As we walked, the crowd parted left and right. Slipping through the gap and stepping outside, I could feel Gizelle hurriedly trying to restore order behind us.

The music began to play again.

When we had walked to where the Erdona carriage was waiting, Pavel flung him down. It was with enough force that even my own body staggered.

“Send him away.”

At Pavel’s command, the Erdona coachman looked at me. When I gave a nod of permission, the out-of-his-mind Redic Bangeger shook off the coachman’s hand and caused a commotion again.

But even that was handled by Pavel’s hand. Pavel, using that rough strength once more, stuffed Redic into the carriage and kindly closed the door for him.

“Thank you, Your Highness.”

“If you had taken proper responsibility, this would not have happened.”

“…I apologize.”

An apology should have come first—that was my mistake. Standing before this man, I kept feeling as though things went against my intentions.

“I will apologize to Gizelle separately.”

“Why are you telling me that?”

Again. He never let a single word pass. Perhaps I felt that way because I was so afraid of him.

“That is…”

Because you love Gizelle.

But it was awkward to say that his actions stemmed simply from that tingling emotion called love for someone.

For one thing, I was in no position to exchange such words with him. He and I were worse than strangers.

“Is it a principle in Erdona not to answer my questions?”

“…No. I was simply telling you that I will finish this properly.”

At his trivial remark, I flinched and made an excuse.

His face, which I looked up at, seemed dissatisfied for some reason.

“Strange.”

“Pardon?”

“You are strange.”

What did he mean by that now?

This time, I kept my mouth shut and maintained silence. Pavel, who had been silent alongside me, tilted his head.

“I have done nothing to you, yet you fear me.”

“…That is not—”

“Don’t bother saying it isn’t. It is written all over your face.”

“……”

I felt as though I had fallen into a trap. Like a small piece of prey trapped in an iron cage with no way out, unable to move.

I swallowed hard. I had no idea what to say to escape this predicament.

“Now you say nothing again. Should I praise you for listening well?”

“…No.”

“It seems that is all you know how to say.”

His insulting me did not particularly matter. It was not that I welcomed insults, but it was better than being entangled with him.

“Gizelle will be waiting, Your Highness.”

“That is for me to decide.”

“……”

He left me standing there without a word, as though he had no intention of even glancing at me.

“I will come to the Erdona estate tomorrow at midday.”

“…I will tell Gizelle.”

“Are you doing that on purpose?”

This time, Pavel did not wait for me to answer.

“I am telling you to wait for me.”

“……”

“Tell Gizelle that I returned early.”

Leaving those words behind, Pavel moved away in an instant. When I came to my senses, I was standing alone in the dim corridor.

As I belatedly mulled over his words, a chilling sensation swept across the back of my neck. I had not even been given a chance to reply. I really should not have come out after all.

* * *

In the end, when I rose from bed unable to sleep, dawn was breaking. With a haggard face from having stayed up all night, I pulled back the bed curtains.

It felt as though too many things had come crashing down on me overnight. Kirill grabbing hold of me, and Pavel showing interest in me. It was impossible. It was something that should never happen.

I buried my face in the pillow.

There was only one reason I feared Imperial Grandson Pavel. In the original story, I died one day at the hands of an assassin who came for me.

The problem was that the original story dealt with my death so briefly that I did not know which of Gizelle’s male leads had ordered it.

So the one who killed me could have been Kirill, or it could have been Pavel.

Regarding my death, the two of them hated me so much that they would each claim they had done it themselves.

In fact, in the original story, Kirill had once said this to Gizelle:

「”If I killed her, will you let me stay by your side tonight?”」

Truly, what a tremendous love it was. There had never been any room for me in it from the start.

Even if that was a matter in a book that had not yet happened, the wounds I had received did not disappear.

Still, the more likely candidate of the two was Pavel. It was not because I was excluding Kirill due to my one-sided love for him.

Pavel was the one who, as time passed and I tormented Gizelle more severely than I did now, did not hesitate to threaten me.

Kirill, who had memories of spending time with me in childhood, disliked me, but he never went so far as direct threats.

But Pavel treated me like an insect. He saw me as a being that gnawed away at Gizelle. So the odds were high that he was involved in my death as well.

Should I have been more cautious? But it was already beyond reversing. I let out a deep sigh.

The image of the house I had prepared in Trillin flickered in my mind. At this rate, I might not get there until a whole season had passed.

My heart grew increasingly impatient.