Ch 4.5
Everyone was staring at us, just as they had when I first entered the banquet hall.
Ignoring their eyes, I walked toward the Crown Prince seated at the place of honor.
“Your Imperial Highness, I have something to tell you.”
“What is it? Please speak freely.”
“Lady Adela Bayon suddenly felt unwell and has returned to the ducal residence with Lord Eden Bayon.”
“Oh dear, is she very ill?”
“That is… I am not quite sure either.”
“I see.”
“And I would like to take my leave as well.”
“Why is that? Are you also feeling unwell somewhere, Lady?”
“No. It is simply that I am a bit tired from attending a banquet for the first time in a while.”
“Is that so? Ah, then wait a moment. Duke Maxius.”
What, why is he calling Kane all of a sudden?
Before I could say anything about the Crown Prince’s abrupt action, Kane immediately came and stood by my side.
“Yes, Your Imperial Highness.”
“Lady Hates wishes to return home, so why don’t you escort her, Duke?”
What on earth is he talking about?
“It is quite alright. I can go alone.”
Since I was in front of the Crown Prince, I thought it best to refuse politely, so I answered with an awkward smile.
“No. It is not courteous to send a lady away alone, is it?”
“Then I shall escort her.”
“Please do so.”
I was so dumbfounded by whatever scheme the two were cooking up that I was speechless and stayed silent, leading to the conclusion that Kane would take me home.
‘Ha, really.’
It was strange from the beginning.
The Crown Prince suddenly holding a banquet out of the blue.
And demanding that I must attend.
Seeing it now, there was clearly some kind of deal between the two.
“Then, I shall be going now.”
“Go safely, Lady.”
Rather than dealing with two reckless men, I thought it better to drop one of them first.
Escaping the banquet hall was the priority right now.
After bowing to the Crown Prince, I walked out of the banquet hall without even looking at Kane.
And as soon as the door closed, I turned around and glared at him with all my might.
“Do not follow me. I will go alone.”
“His Imperial Highness commanded me to escort the Lady, so I must follow that order.”
“If he asks later, I will say that you did. So let us part ways here.”
“I cannot.”
“Duke!”
Is this man testing my patience?
If I truly could, I felt like I wanted to hit him.
Kane insisted on escorting me, and I refused in my own way as we stared at each other as if in a staring contest.
“Fine. I give up.”
I had been confronting Kane in silence for a long time when he suddenly backed down first.
“So please, just do not hate me.”
Where had the stubborn and adamant man from a moment ago gone? Kane spoke to me as if pleading, with a sorrowful expression like an abandoned puppy.
“Since the Lady is acting so unexpectedly hostile toward me, I do not know what to do.”
What is this?
This person was not the Kane I knew.
He was not someone who spoke softly like a fluttering spring breeze.
He was not someone who would lower himself first to someone else, putting himself in an emotionally subordinate position.
I felt that if he had pushed forward recklessly like before, I wouldn’t have felt this flustered.
“I’m leaving.”
I didn’t even bother to reply to his words and hurriedly left the area.
I wondered if he would follow, but as if keeping his word, I heard no sound of following footsteps.
I arrived at the place where the carriages were in a single breath with a fast pace.
“My Lady?”
“My Lady, why did you return so early?”
When I arrived in front of the carriage looking as if I were being chased by something, Lian and Mary asked me with question marks on their faces.
“Let’s go.”
But I was too overwhelmed by everything right now to satisfy their curiosity.
I needed to return home quickly and organize my cluttered mind.
“Pardon? Ah, I understand.”
“My Lady, please get in.”
Fortunately, both Lian and Mary seemed to read my stiff expression and didn’t ask further.
And so, the banquet attended upon the Crown Prince’s invitation came to an end.
Once the carriage left the Imperial Palace, Adela slowly opened her closed eyes.
Then she sat up straight from her reclining position.
Only Adela and Eden were inside the carriage.
Eden watched her silently before speaking quietly.
“Why did you do that?”
“……I don’t know.”
Adela murmured while staring into the invisible distance.
“At first, I really thought you had collapsed. But as time passed and there was nothing wrong with your body, I realized it was an act.”
“That’s a relief. To think it seemed real……”
“Sister.”
“Why did I do that? Eden, I must have been momentarily insane.”
Adela answered with a self-deprecating smile.
“I am so envious of the Lady. I’m so envious I feel like I’m going crazy.”
“…….”
“The Duke isn’t looking at me at all. The fact that the gaze that used to look at me warmly is now directed at someone else makes me feel like I’m going crazy. Eden, what should I do? How can I turn the Duke’s heart back to the way it was before?”
Eden frowned slightly.
This appearance did not suit his sister.
Behaving in this manner was not the person he knew her to be.
“Until not long ago, I was the happiest person in the world, the protagonist of this world, but it feels like that has changed. Now, no one is interested in me. I am so sorrowful. I am unhappy. I want to die.”
And you too……
Adela answered while trying to hide the latter words inwardly.
Eden was a younger brother who would do anything she said.
Of course, it was possible because she had made it so until now.
Whenever their father scolded Eden, she unconditionally protected him.
If he was crying in a corner, she brought him to her room and comforted him.
While all these actions were also for her own sake, she was different from their father.
Because they were family, she did not mistreat him.
Acting that way, Eden followed her well.
In particular, this useless body that was sick at the slightest thing was optimized for gaining people’s sympathy.
Eden also listened to her even better because of that.
And if she continued to hide this impure heart well, there would be no better horse than him to move at a single word of hers.
‘So, it’s not time yet.’
Until she could turn everything back, she could not let go of Eden.
“Please do not tell anyone. I’m begging you.”
“To whom would I speak?”
“You aren’t going to tell Lady Hates or anyone else, are you?”
Adela mentioned Belita on purpose.
“……I will not tell.”
Fortunately, the words she wanted came out of Eden’s mouth.
“Thank you, my brother. As expected, my brother is the best.”
“What do you plan to do from now on?”
“I thought the Duke might like me again if I became like the Lady, so I told her I wanted to be her friend, but I was rejected. As expected, Lady Hates must not be able to forgive me.”
It was only natural.
After meeting Belita, Eden found out exactly what had happened immediately.
He came to know everything, from how much Belita liked Kane to why the two had broken their engagement.
Probably an ordinary person would not be able to forgive those who made them that way.
Therefore, Eden could understand Belita.
That was why he did not give any answer to Adela’s words.
“But I won’t give up until I get a chance to become close.”
Because she had a goal, she had to become close to Belita somehow.
There was plenty of time.
Therefore, it was too early for despair.
“You’ll help me, right? You will, won’t you?”
“……I understand.”
After hearing Eden’s answer, Adela smiled invisibly.
Later, the carriage arrived at the Bayon ducal residence.
Eden got out of the carriage while holding Adela in his arms.
It was Adela’s request.
And she remained with her eyes closed in Eden’s arms, like someone still unconscious.
As soon as I returned to the ducal residence, I washed up, changed into my pajamas, and dismissed everyone.
Then, I carefully recalled the events of today one by one and agonized over what to do next.
‘Kane Maxius.’
Where on earth did his change of heart stem from?
Even though I hadn’t done anything, seeing him change made it even harder to predict future events.
“Sigh.”
My chest felt heavy as if a boulder had settled inside.
‘And Adela Bayon.’
My feelings toward Adela were quite complicated.
In Kane’s case, my definition of that man had never changed because he had already treated me poorly from the moment we first met.
A man with a heart colder than ice and more desolate than a desert.
A bad guy who held another woman in his heart while having a fiancée.
But Adela was a bit different.
She also must have known that Kane had a fiancée named Belita.
Because of that, Adela didn’t open her heart to Kane at first, but nevertheless, she eventually accepted his feelings.
Therefore, if it were the original Belita, she shouldn’t have associated with Adela as well as Kane.
