* * *
This time, Lord Essen had truly returned.
Thanks to having prepared myself, it was not as shocking as it might have been.
I had finished everything I needed to do, so all that remained was returning to my original place.
But though I met the Crown Prince several times during the days of the Founding Festival eve parties, I never heard a single word from him about it.
“Surely he hasn’t forgotten?”
No. It must be because it’s the Founding Festival period and he’s busy.
I was anxious and uneasy, but wanting to delay even a little, I did not bring it up first.
But I needed time to sort out my feelings on my own as well.
“Let me prepare in advance.”
I’ll be leaving anyway, so it should be fine to pack my things ahead of time, right?
I spread out the bag I had brought when I first entered the palace as a maid in an inconspicuous place, and whenever I thought of it, I put one of my belongings in and organized.
The more my meager belongings accumulated, the more gloomy I felt.
How strange. At first, I wanted to escape this place so badly because I didn’t want to die.
“What should I do with this……?”
Should I just leave it behind after all?
I was agonizing over the dagger the Crown Prince had suddenly given me and left behind some time ago.
Knock, knock.
At the knock, I tucked the bag under the bed and rose.
“Yes. Come in.”
Seeing that there was a knock, I naturally assumed it would be another maid or servant.
But the person who entered was someone I had never expected.
“Lord Essen?”
“Hello. Do you have a moment?”
I nodded dazedly and stepped back, and Essen entered the bedroom.
He looked around the bedroom as if finding it fresh.
“It’s the same as before.”
Madam Lucy had wanted to change the room’s structure and interior, but I had stopped her every time.
Because someday, when the room’s original owner returned, I would have to leave, so I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
Instead of answering, I looked at Essen and smiled brightly. At that, Essen’s expression stiffened slightly.
Why is he like that?
I wondered if something was displeasing him, but that didn’t seem to be the case.
Essen cleared his throat a few times and asked me.
“That aside, is there anything you want?”
“What? Why suddenly ask what I want?”
“……Well. That time in the office, you were the one who untied me, weren’t you?”
He seemed to be talking about when he had been tied up during the golden seal incident.
When I nodded, Essen’s expression brightened ever so slightly.
“I said back then that I wouldn’t forget the favor, didn’t I? I figured I should return what I received.”
I had thought he said it in passing, but he had come looking for me to keep that promise?
I was utterly moved.
Even in this insane imperial palace, there really are sane people! I had been so sad because the only normal person I had met so far was Michael.
And on top of that, such a kind heart that knows how to repay a favor!
I looked up at Essen with both eyes sparkling.
“Lord Essen, you must be an angel!”
“W-what?”
“You’re the second kindest person I’ve met here!”
“……?”
Of course, I couldn’t yield the position of the kindest person to anyone but Michael.
Essen, who had been looking at me with an unreadable expression, let out a deep sigh.
“You’re not normal either.”
“What……?”
I had suddenly, for no reason, become a person who was not normal.
“Anyway, is there anything you want?”
Something I want.
I thought it over, but nothing in particular came to mind.
What I wanted was simply the small happiness of an ordinary, free daily life.
And that had already been achieved.
“It’s all right.”
“All right?”
“The fact that you returned safely is enough for me, Lord Essen.”
I smiled brightly at Essen.
Now that the person I had been standing in for had returned, I could go back to where I originally belonged.
Now I would live a life far from all this anxiety.
But Essen insisted on giving me something.
“That’s a bit troublesome.”
“But I really have nothing I want.”
“Then…… I’ve already said it out loud, and I do need to repay the favor, so I’ll help you in my own way later. You don’t mind that, do you?”
It was such a clean way of settling things that I was left without words. I had no choice but to nod.
As expected of the kind person I had acknowledged.
He was a person of very upright character and straightforward morals.
I must have looked at Essen with sparkling eyes again without realizing it. He flinched and looked down at me.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“It’s nothing.”
“……I think you’re misunderstanding something, but I’m not as good a person as you think.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
Though I answered that way, Essen had already been registered in my mind as a “kind person.”
“Haah…….”
Essen stared at me intently, then let out a deep sigh.
“You, no……. I mean, Artie.”
Being called Artie by the real Artie felt strange.
Perhaps he misunderstood my gaze. Essen hurriedly added a word.
“Anyway, right now Artienne is you.”
“Yes, but why?”
“If there’s anything I can help you with while you’re here, just tell me. I bear some responsibility for you becoming Adrian’s fiancée, so I’ll help as much as I can.”
Actually, it was entirely Essen’s responsibility, but I suppose it’s better to keep quiet about that.
* * *
Putting things into the bag one by one whenever I thought of it, it was full before I knew it.
They were all things I had brought when I entered the imperial palace as a maid. I had not packed a single thing I had acquired after becoming Artienne.
For example, the dagger the Crown Prince had given me, or the dagger, or things like the dagger.
What on earth had he meant by giving me that dagger? I still didn’t know the reason.
“Anyway, all of this is borrowed, so…….”
But the dagger was something I had received, so perhaps it was an exception.
I set the dagger on the bed and left the bedroom. There were quite a few books I needed to return to the library.
I borrowed a few more books and was returning to Lily Palace when I heard the chatter of maids from not far away.
“Did you hear the news that Lord Essen has returned?”
Lord Essen?
I stopped and quietly hid behind a pillar.
“I heard he went to the southern region on a subjugation this time?”
“Huh? I heard the Crown Prince sent him on a secret mission.”
“Wasn’t he ill? I heard he was recuperating!”
Opinions were divided about where the absent Essen had gone.
Perhaps because the person himself could not reveal it, rumors were circulating.
“Anyway, isn’t it a feast for the eyes to see Lord Essen after so long?”
“Of course. Don’t you know I’m a member of the Esa-mo?”
“Hey. I joined before you did, you know?”
Esa-mo. Like Asa-mo, it seemed there was a club for people who loved Lord Essen.
The maids chattered and fussed about Essen for quite a while after that.
I nodded at their words and agreed enthusiastically inside.
That’s right. Lord Essen is truly a wonderful and kind person!
“Lord Essen was so beautiful today too.”
“Right. He’s prettier than me, but it’s a different kind of prettiness, so I can’t even be jealous.”
He really was such a stunning beauty that cross-dressing suited him without any sense of incongruity.
According to Madam Lucy, Essen in women’s clothing was the greatest beauty in Appennino.
And since he was the object of the fastidious Crown Prince’s unrequited love, it made sense that he would have to be extraordinarily beautiful.
I wanted to return to Lily Palace now, but when would be a good time to leave?
Just as I was gauging the timing—
“Did you see Lord Essen and Lady Artienne together this time?”
“I did, I did. Isn’t that combination a first?”
Startled!
My story suddenly came up, and I held my breath for a moment.
“Am I the only one who thinks the two of them look alike?”
“No. Come to think of it, their hair color and eye color are similar. Their atmosphere is different, though…….”
The very reason I had become the Crown Prince’s fiancée was that my hair and eye colors were similar to Essen’s, so it was only natural that we would overlap in people’s eyes when seen together.
That won’t become a problem later, will it……?
“If anything, she doesn’t seem to resemble Lord Terni.”
That’s because they’re not actually siblings.
The maids, who had chattered about me for a while longer, soon hurried away.
“Lord Essen really is a famous figure.”
It was interesting to hear stories about Essen through the mouths of imperial palace people rather than the Crown Prince’s inner circle.
I had also inadvertently picked up a few unexpected pieces of information.
Clutching the books borrowed from the library, I entered Lily Palace, and somehow the atmosphere was unusual.
Somehow noisy, and somehow restless.
I sensed that something had happened.
