134
“Who is the most famous tailor in the capital these days?”
“……I believe it is Marcel Hasset.”
“Then call that person. The schedule until the wedding is tight, so make sure to request that they move up the production of the formal suit.”
Having finished changing his clothes, Lionel was making preparations to completely leave the hospital and head toward the capital.
The neatly falling hem of his coat swayed rhythmically along with his straightly extending footsteps.
Lionel unconsciously frowned at the pain felt in his head every time he moved his body.
On the face of Kalt following behind him, concern was set.
The doctor’s advice was revived in Kalt’s ears.
“As I told you, it is a state of temporary confusion. If you force yourself to correct his perception, the confusion may rather be aggravated.”
The doctor recommended watching over him until Lionel naturally realized it himself.
Kalt glanced at Lionel’s back.
‘Is it really right that he will return to his original state if we wait?’
At a glance, Lionel looked perfect.
His elegant manner of speaking, and his logically flowing judgment as well. There was no difference from usual.
Except for the misaligned timeframe.
He wondered if it was really right to leave things like this, but Kalt eventually decided to follow the doctor’s words.
Since he said it was only a few days.
If he re-examined the passengers of the ship Corel during that time, and also kept a close eye on the movement of the Emperor’s side, there would be no big trouble.
For now, Lionel’s complete recovery was the top priority.
“Colonel, are you really going straight to the capital? Your physical condition is not yet good enough to travel a long distance.”
“Yes, this body.”
Lionel’s footsteps, which had been extending without stopping, slowed down.
“I was thinking I would need some explanation of how this happened anyway.”
Lionel raised his hand and touched the gauze attached to the back of his head. Beneath the gauze, a throbbing sensation was transmitted.
Along with the pain, Lionel’s expression grew chilly.
Kalt picked his words while recalling the doctor’s advice.
“The Colonel came all the way here while pursuing Rebelt’s traces right after the imperial palace banquet. And he was attacked in that process.”
“Ha. I was attacked, me?”
The corners of Lionel’s lips went up crookedly.
“It seems it’s time for me to retire as well. Seeing that I was lying down like an idiot without being able to avoid such a tiny surprise attack.”
That was the end of his reaction.
Even though it was not a matter to brush off so lightly, Lionel, who let out a cold sneer, turned his body again and headed toward the prepared carriage.
It was an attitude as if there was still something more important than his own body.
It was then that Lionel’s head, which had been walking busily, turned around.
Along the alleyway heading toward the carriage, several shops were standing in a line.
Among them was a flower shop as well, and because it was winter, on top of the sparsely empty display stand, a bouquet woven with yellow paper flowers was placed.
Lionel almost reflexively picked up the bouquet, then stopped his hand.
‘Why am I doing this?’
Lionel blankly stared at his own hand that had reached out blindly forward.
Momentarily, it was an action that came out because he somehow felt that if he handed that to Agnes, she would smile brightly for him.
Because Agnes likes flowers.
However, even that was strange.
He did not know Agnes’s taste.
Yet it was a flow of thought that came up so naturally.
A single line of white breath flowed out between Lionel’s lips.
His pupils moved as if sliding and swept across the surrounding scenery.
“Come to think of it…… is it winter right now?”
The moment something like a sense of estrangement was about to bloom.
The clouds covering the sun cleared up, and the pouring sunlight intensely dug into Lionel’s eyes.
In the suddenly intruding light, white light spread across Lionel’s vision, and the outlines of objects split into two.
The rooflines of the shops appeared overlapped in two layers, and the shadows of people overlapped out of alignment.
Together with focus hardly being set, the back of his head reverberated heavily.
Lionel’s footsteps as he grabbed his head staggered minutely.
Between the outlines of the overlapped objects, Agnes’s face, smiling clearly while holding chrysanthemums similar to the bouquet he saw just now in her arms, passed by in his mind.
“……?”
Lionel closed his eyes tightly, then rubbed the eye area with the back of his hand.
Fortunately, after a moment, his vision gradually became distinct.
The shop sign returned to one, and the shapes of people also found their proper places.
The bouquet was still placed on top of the display stand, and the street was flowing as if nothing had happened.
Lionel pressed hard on the inner corner of his eyes once more.
“……It seems I have been lying down for too long after all.”
Both the vision that had become blurry at an unseasonable time, and the lingering image of Agnes a short while ago. Lionel, who dismissed them as mere random thoughts, moved his steps again.
As he got into the carriage, he spat out shortly.
“Depart quickly.”
Now was not the time to pour attention into an absurd place.
The flowing time was wasteful.
The last time he saw Agnes was at the imperial palace banquet.
When his appearance came to mind—spitting out ridiculous words about being a mistress or whatever toward Agnes who had fallen on the stage—his facial expression crumpled automatically.
“Damn it.”
Mingled into the sea breeze, a curse scattered.
It was jealousy.
Just jealousy.
It was bothersome to his eyes that Agnes was standing with another man, but without properly looking into that emotion, his ugly tip of the tongue moved first.
However, his true heart was not that.
He was angry at the bastards who made Agnes a laughingstock.
He was just worried about Agnes and only wanted to check if she was alright.
Foolishly, he failed to show his proper heart and ended up causing hurt in vain.
“Instead of saying such words, I should have asked if she was alright first.”
Pressing hard over his eyelids that were becoming hazy once again, Lionel resolved.
That he must apologize as soon as he returns.
And he will tell her.
That calling the marriage with her a dog-like reward was a slip of the tongue spat out by his immature self.
That in truth, he was glad to meet her again. That he missed her a lot.
As the things he had to do became clear, Lionel, whose mind became even more rushed, urged the coachman.
“Move more swiftly, more.”
***
Without dreaming that the secret letter was inside her luggage, Leuceviten approached in front of the guard.
The guard glanced at Leuceviten, whose eyes were dim, poked her luggage a few times from the outside, and opened the way.
Following her were Kain, and then Agnes.
The guard’s gaze stayed thoroughly only on the inside of the bags. It was to the point that he did not look at their faces at all.
Thanks to that, Agnes was able to safely pass the inspection.
Watching the situation from a few steps away, the Chairman swallowed dry saliva continuously.
‘It worked……!’
Confirming the sight of Leuceviten safely passing the inspection, the Chairman unconsciously clenched his fist tightly.
As the line began to scatter, the Chairman hurriedly had his luggage checked and began to chase after Leuceviten while pushing through the crowd.
However, the movements of his plump body were slow.
In a situation where it was difficult to break through the gap of the already bustling crowd, he could hardly move forward, blocked by people’s luggage.
While the Chairman was working hard to get out from among the people, flapping his arms.
Kain, who was handed Leuceviten’s bag, tilted his head.
“Grandmother, it seems something that isn’t our luggage is mixed in.”
“Huh? What do you mean by that?”
Kain pulled out a bundle of cloth sticking out from the side of the bag.
Agnes’s gaze naturally headed toward that object as well.
“This one. It’s definitely something I didn’t see when packing the luggage.”
“Is that so? Would you give it here?”
At the very moment Leuceviten reached out her hand as if to check.
A thick hand suddenly burst out and snatched the bundle of documents.
“That is—! That is mine!”
It was the Chairman who ran over panting for breath.
The face of the Chairman, who barely caught up to Leuceviten, was flushed bright red, and thick sweat was formed on his forehead.
“It seems I mistook the bag and put it into your side’s luggage by mistake! I-I beg your pardon!”
Whether because he was originally nervous, the Chairman’s voice rose beyond his will.
Because of that, the glances of passersby poured in continuously.
Ahem. Clearing his throat belatedly, the Chairman tried to hurriedly pull the documents toward his side.
However, due to his flustered hands, the cloth wrapping the secret letter slipped down smoothly.
And inside it, a part of the tightly folded, luxurious parchment ended up being exposed.
Discovering the red official seal stamped on top of the parchment, Agnes’s long eyelashes trembled finely.
It was a familiar seal.
The kind that no citizen of the Empire could fail to know, identical to the seal engraved on the flag fluttering on top of the highest roof of the imperial palace.
The figure of a giant lion placing a red hawk under its feet was precisely the imperial family’s official seal.
And beside it, Sercadia’s seal was stamped together.
“……!”
The Chairman hurriedly wrapped the secret letter with the cloth.
However, Agnes’s transparent light-gray irises did not fall away from the document.
Because, although she was not certain, she had an intuition that that would not be a simple administrative document.
Both the location and manner in which the seal was stamped were different from offic
ial documents.
From the face of the Chairman, who felt Agnes’s gaze, color gradually drained away.
To make matters worse, a guard member who heard the commotion was even approaching toward the Chairman and Agnes.
“You over there. What is going on?”
