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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 36
Chapter Title: A Good Friend
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“Why are you suddenly asking about my friend…?”
His reply, however, was refreshingly simple, making her wariness feel misplaced.
“You look happy when you talk about your friend.”
“Did I?”
She felt embarrassed for suspecting him out of unfounded paranoia.
Calius asked, his eyes on the road ahead as he guided the horse.
“Is he a man?”
It was a very simple question, yet she found herself at a loss for words.
*A man. I've never really thought of Kal as a man.*
He was around my age, so he could be called a man, but his appearance was closer to that of a young boy, making it difficult to answer with a simple yes.
*Still, he is a male.*
I nodded a little belatedly.
Calius then spoke as if he had been waiting for it.
“He must be handsome, then.”
That was the one thing about Kal she could answer most quickly.
After her uncertain replies about her precious friend, she was glad to finally have a chance to answer clearly, and she put conviction in her voice.
“Yes, the most… of anyone I've ever seen!”
As she spoke, she suddenly remembered telling Calius just a moment ago that he resembled Kal.
Wondering if Calius was thinking the same thing, she glanced up at him, only to quickly look away in dismay.
Calius was wearing a smile brimming with pride.
He deliberately finished her unfinished sentence, enunciating each word clearly.
“The most handsome person Your Highness has ever seen, you mean?”
“Yes…”
“I'm curious to see the face of this person who supposedly resembles me so much.”
“I walked right into that one, didn't I?”
“I'm from the mountains, so this is my first time fishing, but it's not as difficult as I thought.”
“Stop teasing me!”
He laughed out loud, a mischievous look on his face.
*He looks even more like him when he laughs like that.*
As she was thinking this, he asked nonchalantly.
“Does this friend of yours know that you're married, Your Highness?”
“Yes. I told him before anyone else.”
Calius tilted his head.
“You mean you've been in contact with him recently?”
She wondered if it was alright to talk so much about Kal, but it wasn't identifiable information, and avoiding such a trivial topic would seem stranger.
“That's right.”
“I see…”
“What's wrong?”
“Actually, from what I've heard, I thought your friend might be someone I know. But since you've been in contact with him recently, I suppose I was mistaken.”
I burst out laughing.
There was no way Calius and Kal could know each other.
“That's impossible. My friend knew nothing about the Marquis until very recently.”
“I see.”
He smiled, muttering just loud enough to be heard, "A handsome, precious friend of the opposite sex…”
It was a strangely cold smile.
*Am I imagining things?*
She blinked and looked up again, and it seemed like just a good-natured smile.
*I must have seen it wrong.*
He asked.
“How did he react to the news of our marriage?”
“He was a little surprised because it was so sudden…”
She recalled how Kal had been astonished when she told him her plan to break off her engagement with Viscount Felsus and marry Calius, asking how she had suddenly come up with such an idea.
“And he was worried…”
Kal had worried about what she saw in Calius to marry him, and whether she could even pull off her plan.
“But most of all, he was happy for me.”
In any case, Kal had been thrilled at the thought of her dealing a major blow to Andrea.
Before, he had been extremely frustrated with her for acting like Andrea's puppet.
“Is that all?”
“Was there supposed to be more?”
Calius shook his head and grinned.
“No. He sounds like a good friend. Just a good friend. That's a relief.”
“What's a relief?”
“That you have such a good friend.”
“Oh, yes. That's right. He is.”
During the short time we took to catch our breath, we continued our lively conversation.
Sometime during it all, the way we addressed each other had changed from "Your Highness" and "Marquis Rodrian" to our first names.
* * *
*What's so funny?*
Vanessa pouted as she heard constant laughter coming from Calius and Chloe at the head of the procession.
But her dissatisfaction was short-lived; the horse she was riding leaped over a rock jutting out from the path, and her body lurched violently.
“Gah!”
Vanessa gripped the handle on her saddle tightly.
Her hands trembled with the strain.
They were walking now, but just moments before, they had been galloping at a frightening speed, and she had been clinging to the handle with all her might, exhausting her strength.
*If I fall off this horse, it's over.*
Vanessa tried her best not to look down.
Her right foot, resting in the stirrup, hovered over a dizzying cliff that looked like the entrance to hell.
The procession was advancing fearlessly along just such a narrow path.
Her face crumpled into a grimace.
*Am I really going to die like this?*
Not even half a day had passed, yet such thoughts were already creeping into her mind.
The journey was so arduous that the maid riding behind her had been crying silently for some time.
At least the maids' saddles had handles; Calius's knights were staying on their horses and pressing forward using only the strength of their thighs.
None of them showed any sign of fatigue.
It seemed they had slowed down not because the party was tired, but solely for Chloe's sake.
That made Vanessa feel even more hopeless.
*To think I have to survive among these monsters, relying on a single handle. Could it be that I cheerfully volunteered for this, not realizing it was the princess's path to exile?*
Vanessa trembled with anxiety as she watched the procession advance deeper and deeper into the mountain path.
*The plan was to watch Marquis Rodrian for any suspicious behavior, catch him in the act, and then return to the capital…*
That had been the mission given to her by Cavalla.
But how in the world was she supposed to get back from this path?
The further they went, the bleaker it seemed.
When Cavalla had singled her out for this secret mission, she had been brimming with pride.
It seemed she had been chosen as the one from the best family among the princess's maids, and she had even felt a sense of superiority, taking it upon herself to act as the leader.
She wouldn't have to bother with someone like Chloe, who was rumored to be an imbecile and delusional, so she had felt as if she were the princess herself.
The senior maid's uniform had sent Vanessa's pride soaring.
But as it turned out, Chloe was no imbecile, and the further they traveled, the more a creeping anxiety took hold—the fear that she would never be able to return.
It felt like everything was going wrong.
*Why would they entrust such an important task to me, when I've only been in the palace for a few days!*
She had considered it a windfall, a lucky chance for a swift promotion.
But as the strength drained from her arms, so too did her pride and loyalty.
Vanessa thought about giving up and running away right then and there, but she managed to pull herself together.
*No. The benevolent Empress Cavalla would never abandon us.*
She remembered boasting to her parents after receiving the senior maid's uniform.
“Our clever Vanessa, I knew you could do it. Her Majesty the Empress must have recognized your brilliance.”
“No matter where you go or what you do, you must not disappoint Her Majesty the Empress. Understood? We're counting on you. You're the future of our family.”
For the sake of her overjoyed parents, she had to be strong. With that thought, Vanessa gripped the handle even tighter.
*What are the others thinking?*
Vanessa glanced back at Lamia and the other maid following behind her.
Her eyes fell on Lamia, who was humming a tune and looking around as if she were out for a stroll.
Unlike herself, who was barely managing to soothe her anxious heart, Lamia looked utterly relaxed, and Vanessa was dumbfounded.
*What's with her? How can she be so carefree?*
Hadn't Lamia just last night nearly suffered a terrible fate at the hands of an intruder in Chloe's place?
But Lamia showed no trace of concern.
As if she wasn't cold or tired, she kept looking around and even leisurely stroked her horse's mane.
*Just what is her deal?*
Lamia, who had suddenly joined the group of maids that was supposed to consist of only three, had been a mystery from the start.
*A distant relative of the Empress, she'd said? That she kept refusing this job out of fear of going to Ronheim, but her father pushed her into it.*
Vanessa had looked down on Lamia.
And for good reason. Even if she was a distant relative of Cavalla, she came from a noble family that had fallen generations ago, and her behavior showed no trace of refinement.
Her reckless and willful actions were quite displeasing.
*Last night, she was with the princess without reporting to me and almost got abducted in her place, right? Hasn't she learned her lesson?*
Honestly, she didn't even believe the part about being a distant relative of Cavalla.
She had joined them suddenly as they were leaving the palace, so no one had vouched for her identity.
They simply had to take her word for it.
There was no way to know if Lamia was lying.
*Why on earth would Her Majesty the Empress entrust such an important task to someone like her?*
Whenever she had the chance, Vanessa would shoot displeased glances at Lamia.
Then, her eyes caught Lamia's curly black hair, which seemed to have a reddish tint in the sunlight.
Seeing it, something tickled at the edge of her memory.
*I feel like I've seen similar reddish, curly hair somewhere… Was it in a painting? A person? Where did I see it?*
Having just been appointed a palace maid, she had seen countless people and portraits during her four days in the palace, and all the faces were jumbled together in her mind, making it hard to remember clearly.
*I almost have it, but not quite…*
