Chapter 13
“At a lady’s pace, you will never catch up in time. Let’s ride.”
“Wait, if you just tell me where they are, I’ll go on my—kyaaaah!”
It seemed that acting before listening to others was a trait he had possessed since birth.
Calyx hoisted the resisting Lottie up and set her onto the saddle. Before she could pour out her protest that she didn’t know how to ride, he swiftly swung himself up behind her.
“It seems I’ve managed to keep my promise to teach you how to ride, more or less.”
Calyx spoke in a voice that seemed to wrap around her ear, his body pressed as close to hers as his hands were to the reins.
“I told you. One can never be certain of how things will turn out.”
“……!”
“Ha!”
With one arm not holding the reins, Calyx securely pulled Lottie by the waist and urged the horse into a gallop.
Lottie, who had been squeezing her eyes shut against the intense vibration she had never experienced before, slowly opened them as the world around her ears suddenly went quiet.
—If I were to ride a horse, it would feel like flying through the wind, wouldn’t it?
Charlotte Evanshire. You were right.
It feels like I’m flying through the sky.
You, who once only knew how to limp along in uncomfortable shoes, are now flying—free and soaring.
The wind rushing against her made her eyes sting. The redness in the corners of her eyes was surely due to that alone.
‘If I don’t marry my ex-husband, what comes next?’
The question that had haunted her relentlessly since coming to Ronvernon surfaced out of nowhere. Lottie thought vacantly as she swayed with the wind.
I’ll marry someone other than Andrew Thompson.
And once I marry, this freedom—this feeling of cutting through the wind as if flying—will be over.
‘Ah….’
The realization didn’t take long. It was the truth within her heart that she had known but kept turning away from.
From now on, forever, I will not marry anyone.
I will not choose a marriage where we bind one another; I will choose the freedom I can enjoy to my heart’s content because I am alone.
“…….”
The horse, running more fiercely than usual, soon caught up to the hunting party. It seemed they had missed each other because the group had taken a detour via the western path instead of the usual eastern route back.
The pack of hounds heard the thunderous hoofbeats first and began to bark loudly. The gentlemen’s gazes immediately shifted toward them.
While they stood there in a daze, the white horse came to a sharp, aggressive halt before them.
Whoa, whoa. Startled by the horse’s rearing, they were surprised once more by the slender youth who leaped down from the saddle.
And when they realized that the person striding toward them was not a boy but a woman, their shock doubled.
Regardless of their reaction, Lottie scanned the crowd and spotted Andrew. The cottage was already right in front of them.
“Mr. Thompson!”
“Miss Evanshire.”
Recognizing Lottie, a flustered Andrew dismounted.
The affectionate nickname he had been using had reverted to the formal ‘Miss Evanshire.’ That alone told Lottie exactly where his heart lay.
“I love you!”
“Pardon…?”
“Not me!”
Andrew, now completely lost as to what was happening, looked at Lottie with an ambiguous expression. Lottie quickly leaned in and whispered to him in a low voice.
“A certain lady is waiting for you. In the garden of the cottage.”
“……!”
“You’re dying to get out of this marriage, aren’t you? I feel the same way. I’ll handle the adults somehow, so you just go. Hurry!”
In this reclaimed life, Lottie had firmly resolved never to sacrifice herself for others. She had vowed to live selfishly, only for herself.
And yet, seeing how she was now thoroughly betraying that resolution, perhaps she too had wanted to see it. Perhaps she had wanted to believe that a love where one could give everything to another without regret truly existed.
Her decision was swift. As Andrew ran alone toward the cottage garden, the group fell into an awkward silence.
Calyx, who was positioned closer than the rest and had been watching Lottie and Andrew, caught on to the situation faster than anyone else.
‘The engagement is broken.’
He realized through the smile that had unconsciously formed on his lips that he was quite satisfied with this conclusion.
No, in truth, he was more than satisfied. He was bursting with joy.
Am I truly a devil, to laugh at another’s misfortune?
At the end of the thoughts that made him feel wretched were those light-green eyes. He tried to gauge how long he had been staring at her, only to realize it was a futile effort.
He had a premonition that he could no longer use something as trivial as reason to control the gaze that sought her out.
‘Ah.’
I think I finally understand.
While Calyx reached his final conclusion and quietly swallowed his laughter, the women from the cottage, having heard the dogs barking, came pouring out. Among them was Lottie’s great-aunt, Isabel.
Isabel let out a low gasp when she saw her grandniece, whom she thought had gone for a walk, standing among the men in such a scandalous state. Lottie, meeting her eyes, felt the same.
Well, I did boast earlier that I would handle it myself, but what do I do now?
As she was frantically racking her brain, Calyx stepped up to her side. He whispered in a low voice.
“I need something to wipe with. If you have a handkerchief, could you give it to me?”
When he waved the hand that had been holding the reins, Lottie let out an ‘ah’ and fumbled through her pocket.
She had the handkerchief she was supposed to give to Andrew. Without a second thought, she handed it to him.
He reached out, whispering with a peculiar expression.
“I know the most economical way to break an engagement. Would you like to hear it?”
“……? What do you mean.”
The uninvited guest in the secret room of the Grand Banquet Hall.
The brat who dared to practice petty blackmail and conciliation in front of royalty.
The riddle he still couldn’t determine would be a boon or a poison. And….
—Don’t open it, please….
The only human who had ever grabbed the hand of a man who only knew how to kill and begged him for help.
The woman who had made him want to live up to that expectation, yet in the end, overcame her obstacles on her own without asking anyone for help.
Tracing the emotions that had been swirling chaotically inside him, Calyx felt he finally knew their name.
“You won’t regret it. It’s the most effective method I know.”
It was desire.
A dangerous and beautiful woman who easily disarmed Calyx Valdea, a man who had lived amidst all sorts of intrigue and deception. A faint desire to make her entirely his.
He looked down into those light-green eyes, before which he no longer had to be a deposed prince, a parricide, or anything else.
Lottie’s eyes, looking straight back at him, sparkled transparently. The Calyx reflected in them smiled smoothly.
He gently pulled the hand he was holding.
No, perhaps he was the one being pulled.
“……!”
A shrill gasp erupted from the watching crowd.
He leaned down as if to envelop the woman he had gently pulled toward him. His lips subtly brushed near the corner of her mouth.
He intended to stop there, but the breath that escaped her lips scattered finely over his skin.
A breath that was stiff with shock.
The minute vibration against his skin shook his desire. So much so that it could not be suppressed. No, rather, so much so that he did not want to suppress it.
His lips swallowed hers.
He thought he was the one swallowing, but in truth, her warm, soft touch had swallowed him whole. Having been devoured, he could only flounder within it.
He gripped her as she struggled to escape his embrace.
As her ragged breath broke through their slightly parted lips, he lunged again. He swallowed her breath along with his own damp exhale.
He clung to her. He was drenched in her scent, which was like flowers and like grass.
It was a kiss that felt like an eternity to some, but only a fleeting moment to others.
The libertine kiss ended as the woman, victimized by a rogue who didn’t care a whit for royal dignity, pushed against his chest with all her might.
“Just what… on earth are you doing…!”
Lottie glared at Calyx, panting for breath. Her eyes were a little wet. Her slightly swollen lips were the same.
Calyx stared blankly at her for a moment before finally letting out a low laugh.
“On your broken engagement…”
He reached out again. Lottie flinched.
“My sincere congratulations, Miss Evanshire.”
His hand brushed off Lottie’s hat. The orange hair hidden beneath spilled out in a luscious curve.
Before the woman who made it impossible to look away, he smiled as if possessed.
He had no intention of asking for forgiveness. As he had said, he was not a kind gentleman like Andrew Thompson.
