-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 59
Chapter Title: An Unexpected Reunion
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The moment she heard “fawn,” Ella hurriedly looked back at where Kai was standing.
As all eyes turned to him, Kai unknowingly clutched his chest.
Ella's eyes widened as she looked back at Eric.
“So it was true? It was!”
“...It is not....”
Eric pressed a hand to his forehead. But Ella was already fully committed to teasing him.
“Still, I can't give you my attendant. He's precious to me.”
“...No....”
Eric shook his head, trying to stop Ella's rampage, but then he caught sight of the attendant's blushing face and tilted his head.
‘Why does he look like...’
“Then who is this fawn-like man? Another one of Imeline's lovers?”
‘Two or three of them?’
Eric recalled Imeline's shameless lies and shook his head.
“That woman doesn't have any lovers.”
“But the problem is, you can't be her lover either. Isn't that right?”
Eric scowled. He shook his head.
“That is not the case.”
“Don't deny it. If I've gained anything from this marriage, it's not preventing the Mermaids' Tomb from falling into the Duke's hands, but seeing you make a face like that.”
Ella winked. Eric's expression soured even more.
“It seems Imeline's ideal type is a fawn-like man... In that regard, you don't fit the bill at all. I may have said something about you smiling like a fawn just now, but aren't you really built more like a jaguar that hunts fawns?”
Ella wore a thoughtful expression.
A jaguar.
Eric thought of Imeline, who would get scared at the mere sight of tall, large men.
And that scared Eric, too. It wasn't pity; it was fear.
‘...?’
Eric glanced down and touched his own broad torso. He had to admit, he couldn't argue with being called a jaguar that hunts fawns.
His build was more sleek than brawny, but that was just an illusion. In reality, standing next to Imeline, he was probably twice her size.
“But don't look so dejected. There are ways, you know.”
“When did I ever look dejected...?”
Eric found it hard to keep his wits about him under Ella's continued assault.
“The truth is, being a fawn-like man doesn't come from the body, but from the heart. There's a certain gentleness that springs from deep within. And you have that.”
While Eric mulled over her words, Ella pulled an invitation from her dress and tossed it to him.
“It's an invitation to my birthday party next week. Come and try to appease Margaret Beaufort. As you know, that woman is crazy about your face.”
Crazy.
The word was intense, but it was an expression he couldn't deny, even if he wanted to.
Eric recalled Margaret Beaufort taking a picture of him at the department store.
“And while you're there, dance with Imeline. To see what's in her heart, you first have to touch what's under her clothes. Dancing is a great excuse.”
At Ella's vulgar words, Eric shook his head and made the sign of the cross. Seeing this, Ella chuckled and said.
“In any case, your and your wife's standing in high society needs to improve, for my sake as well, won't it? Do something about it.”
Eric stopped making the sign of the cross and returned to his usual serious demeanor.
Standing in high society.
For Eric, this was perhaps the most difficult part. And it was likely the same for Imeline.
Eric looked at the princess with a troubled expression. But the princess herself was a troublemaker who had never once been called a virtuous maiden in high society.
She, too, seemed well aware of this fact, wearing a look that said she couldn't help.
‘Is the only one left... the butler?’
Eric tucked the invitation into his coat.
As Eric stood to leave, Ella added as if she had forgotten something.
“Oh, right. There's been no contact between the Curlling family and the ducal house. I confirmed it last night.”
“How...”
Ella grinned, looking at the knights training shirtless in the distance.
“My way.”
Not particularly wanting to confirm what that 'way' was, Eric gave a polite bow and departed.
✵ ✵ ✵
I carefully tucked the letter for Margaret Beaufort into my dress and climbed into a carriage emblazoned with the ducal crest.
A carriage with the ducal crest.
It felt truly strange.
Only members of the family could use a carriage bearing the crest.
So, for me to ride in this carriage meant that I, too, was being acknowledged as a member of the House of Orleans.
“A-are you sure I don't need to go with you...?”
...As if.
I waved my hands dismissively, looking at the butler's anxious face.
If you're going to acknowledge me as part of the family, then trust me and let me go!
The butler had been chattering away, meddling in my choice of dress, gloves, and shoes. And now he was repeatedly asking if he shouldn't be accompanying me.
“...That's enough. Stop it! I'll be fine on my own. After all, Madam Margaret Beaufort is human, I'm human, and we both speak the same human language. What's the problem, huh?”
Do nobles communicate with some kind of antennae?!
Suppressing the class consciousness boiling inside me, I took Lily's hand and boarded the carriage.
The butler waved until the very end, shouting.
“Make sure you get the invitationnnnnn!”
Lily was to accompany me. As a guard and an attendant, or so they said.
‘This reeks of surveillance again...’
I wasn't thrilled about Lily tagging along, but I endured it, slammed the carriage door shut, and blew a kiss to the butler through the window.
“Goodbye, then! I'll be back soon, so have a delicious spread ready for me!”
The butler watched my carriage disappear into the distance with the sad eyes of an abandoned puppy.
“Ugh! That insufferable butler!”
As I stomped my foot and shuddered, Lily, sitting across from me, wrinkled her face.
“But you do listen to the butler, don't you? Earlier, for the butler's sake...”
Lily looked rather impressed.
Hmph. For the butler's sake? It was all for my own sake.
I brought my face very close to Lily's. She recoiled with a startled expression.
“W-what are you doing...?”
I grinned and said.
“This is all part of the taming process. Taming. You have to be nice at first to get what you want.”
As I spoke in a whisper, Lily's expression hardened. Her guard went up even more.
“Y-you don't have to tame me. I won't be tamed either....”
“The ones who say that are always the easiest to tame. Well.”
“Don't tell me the Young Lord is also one of the targets you're taming?”
I tilted my head at Lily's out-of-the-blue question.
The Young Lord? Is he included?
Nah. No matter how I think about it, that doesn't seem right.
“...He's the one who can't be tamed.”
“For someone like that, he seems powerless against you, Lady Imeline. In fact...”
Lily stared at me intently, her face expressionless.
“I suggested we solve the problem easily by framing Lady Helena for Lord Violode's murder and having her imprisoned.”
“Wow... Are you really saying that to my face right now?”
I looked at Lily, astonished. But her expression didn't change.
Well, I'll be. She's more shameless than I am.
“But it was the Young Lord who trusted you, Lady Imeline. I was the one who doubted you. As you know, Lady Imeline, you aren't exactly...”
“...A trustworthy person.”
“Correct. Therefore...”
“Therefore?”
“...If you're trying to tame the Commander, stop.”
Commander.
It's been over two months since he quit as Knight Commander, but she still calls him Commander....
I let out a small laugh.
Come to think of it, why did Eric agree to my request? It's a mystery.
When you get down to it, by birth, I'm not a noble but a commoner, while Eric is a young lord who could have been engaged to a princess who rides in carriages like this.
Why on earth did he grant my request?
Why did that man help me so straightforwardly?
Why on earth....
Could it be... like a well-fed predator toying with its prey instead of eating it?
‘The important thing is that I can't just ride on his coattails, depending on his goodwill forever...’
I sighed and opened the window.
The view of the capital from the ducal carriage was entirely different.
‘This must be... the taste of capital... the taste of power....’
I leaned against the window frame, rested my chin in my hand, and muttered.
“Oh, dear... How am I ever going to go back to being poor after this sham marriage is over....”
When this whole farce is over, I'll have to go back to living with Mom and Philip, the three of us huddled together, swindling and stealing from others.
All while Young Master Eric lives in a world straight out of a fairy tale, with his kind heart and carriages like this.
But now, even that has become uncertain.
Because I spouted all that nonsense to my mom. Even if it was to protect my family.
The words that I didn't want to live like her.
‘...Will she forgive me?’
I let out a deep sigh.
I feel like a stray cat with nowhere to go....
✵ ✵ ✵
But those thoughts didn't last long. Thanks to meeting a familiar face in front of Madam Margaret Beaufort's mansion.
“...Imeline?”
The woman was Helena.
My mother.
My mother, looking elegant with her glossy red hair neatly tied up and wearing a modest, high-necked dress, tilted her head at me.
She didn't look particularly surprised or angry.
As always... beautiful.
Did she get her hands on some potion of youth and beauty? No matter how I look at her, she looks more like my older sister than my mom.
‘...That's not the point.’
Remembering the harsh words I'd hurled at my mother the last time we met, I flinched and stepped back.
But Helena approached me with a nonchalant expression.
“You look as if you've seen a wild boar in the mountains. Though where would you find such a pretty boar....”
“...Mom, what are you doing here?”
I asked, bewildered by her usual tone. But her calm expression suggested she had expected to run into me in the capital at some point.
‘...I don't want to live like you.’
I remembered the words I'd said before parting with my mother.
‘...I killed your father.’
And the lie my mother had told.
I couldn't bring myself to look my mother in the eye.
The feeling of having to treat the person I believed was closest to me as if she were the most distant.
‘...It's awful.’
I felt a bitter taste fill my mouth.
