Chapter 68
<71화>
As Aisha’s group departed—
“Haha. Well, anyway, it was a pleasure speaking with you, Duke of Pose. If you’ll excuse us….”
“I’ll be going as well….”
The nobles who had been surrounding the Duke of Pose began to slink away one by one.
“Ha.”
The Duke of Pose, who had maintained a smiling face until the very end, covered his face with one hand.
“Right… Aisha. So you’ve decided to betray me after all.”
Finally unable to hide his expression, a murderous glint flashed between his fingers.
Meanwhile, on a secluded outdoor terrace.
“Phew—now I feel like I can breathe. Don’t you agree, Dad? Why was everyone staring only at us?”
Lucas let out a long sigh, stood on his tiptoes, and dangled from the terrace railing.
“It’s dangerous, so get down.”
“Geez, that’s quite an impressive warning for someone who just barely survived Ahili’s Circus.”
“If your tutor sees you like that, you’ll get another demerit sticker.”
“Oops.”
Lucas’s eyes went round, and he landed back on the floor with a soft thud.
We had decided to take a short break on the terrace because the weight of everyone’s gaze had become too much to bear.
‘Dad said that, but it’s probably because of me.’
Feeling a bit guilty, I kept my mouth shut and stared out at the garden beyond the terrace.
‘…Huh?’
Unlike me, who was startled, Dad and Lucas were still bickering.
“Dad. Is this class time? This is the real world.”
“That’s why I’m telling you to stay still. Look at your sister. She’s staying quiet and elegant, like a noble to the bone.”
While Dad and Lucas were too busy bickering to pay me any mind.
As if possessed, my gaze secretly followed someone’s footsteps.
Inside the labyrinthine garden, noble ladies out for a stroll were walking along the path, their laughter ringing out.
But what caught my attention was what followed behind them.
The servants followed at a respectful distance.
Among them was a woman with hair like spun gold, neatly tied up in a bun.
Why?
Why does she feel so strangely familiar?
I squirmed in Dad’s arms, poked my face out, and narrowed my eyes.
I wanted to see her face, but seeing only her back made my chest tighten with frustration.
I couldn’t tell Dad or Lucas because I wasn’t certain, but I had a hunch.
The moment I saw the back of the woman’s head, my heart dropped.
A person’s intuition is a terrifying thing.
Even things you might normally pass by.
“…….”
Because of that single portrait I had stared at so intently before the banquet.
“……!”
I realized that the profile of the servant following her master back into the castle after their walk was identical to Ariena’s.
She’s going inside.
If so, if I run out right now toward the main entrance corridor…
“D-Dad! Quick!”
“What?”
“Oh, no. The Duchess is over there… No!”
If I said I saw Duchess Ariena here, Calips would freeze for a moment.
That would waste time.
And I didn’t have any time to spare.
“Dad, wait a second. I’ll be right back.”
“Where are you—”
Before a startled Calips could catch me, I hopped out of his arms like a nimble hamster.
“Aisha.”
Calips’s voice dropped low.
But.
“The promise you made to Dad—”
“I’m sorry! It’s an emergency, I need the bathroom! I’ll be back in ten minutes!”
Cutting him off, I ran across the center of the hall while clutching the sleeping Kyle.
“Lady Aisha?”
“Oh, it’s the Lady.”
The surrounding nobles tried to acknowledge me, but I couldn’t even manage a polite smile in return.
She looked exactly like Ariena.
If that person really is Duchess Ariena.
‘Why is she living as a servant?’
As I rushed out of the hall, a corridor slightly darker than the ballroom stretched out endlessly.
The direction to the main entrance is left from here.
Naturally, having already mapped out the general interior of the castle as a spy, I turned the corner of the corridor without hesitation—
“Since the young lady has entered the hall, we’ll wait here.”
“Yes, understood.”
I saw the blonde woman standing at the end of the hall, smiling.
The woman with the same warm, smiling eyes as the portrait appeared before my eyes.
“…….”
When you’re too shocked, your heart stops for a moment. That was me right now.
Wearing purple servant’s clothes with her hair tied and pinned up, she looked much more plain than the woman in the portrait.
There was no white dress. No Dad standing by her side.
“By the way, wasn’t Lady Liana truly lovely today?”
“You’re right. Her face is beautiful, and her dress was so exquisite—”
She was just a servant waiting through a dull period of standing, wearing low-heeled servant shoes.
Why on earth? Why was the person Dad had been searching for so desperately here?
‘Should I try calling her Ariena?’
I thought about it, but I wasn’t certain she was Ariena. So, I decided to call her by the status I saw before me.
“…Miss Maid.”
My voice was thick, making my speech sound clumsy.
But the maid caught it and turned her head, her eyes wide.
“…Yes, Lady? Is there something you need?”
She offered a bright smile, looking ready to serve even me, though I wasn’t her assigned noble.
“…….”
Encountering those golden eyes head-on made me even more certain.
She was indeed the Duchess Ariena from the portrait.
But for some reason, she seemed to have no memory of it at all. As if she truly believed she was a maid.
What else had happened to her?
Feeling a heart-wrenching pity, I approached Ariena.
“Don’t you remember?”
“Pardon…? What are you talking about?”
Ah. Amnesia.
I closed my eyes and shut my mouth. The priority was getting Ariena to Dad first.
“Miss Maid. Could you come to the hall with me for a moment?”
“Is something wrong?”
“…Just because. Please. I don’t know which noble you serve, but if it’s a request from the Lady of Crost, I’m sure they’ll tell you to fulfill it gladly.”
Unless it was a member of the royal family, then the story might change.
But the young ladies I saw in the garden weren’t royalty. That meant they were of lower status than the House of Crost.
“Uh….”
At my words, Ariena’s eyes went wide, and she fell silent with a flustered look.
Then.
“Yes. Of course I can go with you. But I think I should get permission from my master first. Could you wait just a moment?”
She hurriedly tried to move somewhere.
It wasn’t toward the hall. It was somewhere else.
“O-Oh, no!”
I grabbed her sleeve without thinking. I was afraid she would vanish into thin air again.
I was worried that if this person was a mirage, she might disappear the moment I blinked.
“…Yes?”
Surprised by the sudden tug on her sleeve, Ariena turned her head.
She looked like she wanted me to let go, but being a servant to a noble, she couldn’t easily speak up.
“T-Then let’s go together! To get permission from your master!”
“Ah….”
“I’m the Lady of Crost. Don’t you know the House of Crost, Miss?”
Ariena gave a soft smile.
“Of course I know. It’s a very high-ranking noble family.”
And you are the Duchess of that high-ranking family!
It was frustrating. But I had to protect our precious Duchess. Ha, I just want to tell her she’s the Duchess. No. Our precious Duchess might go into shock.
Shaking my head inwardly, I made a bright suggestion.
“If your master gets to talk to the Duke of Crost because of me, they’ll be very happy, won’t they?”
“Hmm….”
Regardless of my persuasion, Ariena fell into deep thought before finally nodding in agreement.
“Shall we go together, then?”
Yes!
“Okay!”
Justice prevails. No, persistence prevails.
‘If I take Duchess Ariena to Dad like this….’
I held Ariena’s hand tightly, for fear of losing her.
And with my nostrils flaring with excitement, I began to imagine.
Heh heh. Father.
This Golden Seed has found the Duchess, following Lucas.
Now if I just find the eldest son. Oh, wait, I have to find the daughter too.
Anyway.
“Miss. Where were you born?”
Returning to reality, I asked Ariena. I was curious how much of her memory she had lost.
But Ariena answered with a troubled smile.
“That is…”