Chapter 20
Episode 20: Eyes Filled with Pitiable Feelings
Unbelievable.
Olivia defined her situation that way.
Fear bred fear, and the dark maze amplified it further.
But what was this?
The sound of footsteps chasing her was no longer audible. Instead, only the endless maze yawned open.
Wide and vast. She couldn't even see where the main garden was, and it must have been far away.
Pitch black without even a common Brazier or lamp.
She had long lost her sense of direction, and all she could do was sigh in the face of the impenetrable darkness where she couldn't see an inch ahead.
"Professor is going to scold me."
I wish it were at least a little brighter.
Then, a flashlight popped into Olivia's head.
"That's right!"
Olivia quickly opened her clutch and took out the flashlight.
When she twisted the head twice, a fairly bright light poured out. That alone seemed to give her hope.
Olivia carefully chose a direction. Though it was no more than a guess.
"Let's go this way."
Please, let the main garden appear. If not, at least the end of the maze.
How long had she been wandering through the maze?
Noah, who had been walking for a while, suddenly stopped.
What am I doing right now? He had unconsciously set out to find the missing woman, but why was he doing it?
He was dumbfounded by the woman who recklessly jumped into an unknown maze, and he was also dumbfounded by the nobles who brought her out with vulgar intentions.
"Astrid must think this is very funny."
In front of the maze without a Brazier or lamp, Noah eventually turned around.
No matter how pathetic, she wouldn't have gone into such a pitch-black maze.
What on earth were the knights and servants doing who were standing in the middle?
When he opened his watch, he had already been wandering around for an hour. Perhaps the Head Maid had found her and taken her to the main garden.
Besides, rationally speaking, even if he wandered around here alone and looked for her, the chances of finding her were slim.
"Ha, I'm really doing such pointless things."
Noah put his hands in his pockets and turned his head.
But it was just then.
Something sparkled in his eyes, which had become accustomed to the darkness.
"……?"
It was an unfamiliar light. The light source, which reached quite far, was not a flickering candle.
What is that?
The light was flickering just beyond the densely overgrown rose bush wall, repeatedly flashing and getting closer to him.
Noah stared intently at the approaching light, his nerves on edge. A thin ray of light that had leaked through the lush trees touched Noah's cheek and disappeared.
And at some point, Noah also heard the sound of small footsteps that he seemed to have heard somewhere before.
Huh?
It was the moment Noah narrowed his eyes and tilted his head slightly.
"Why is this damn garden so big?"
A half-crying voice, and footsteps that felt heavy as they got closer.
Noah put his hands in his pockets, lowered his head, and chuckled.
The image of a woman in a blue dress walking with slumped shoulders was clearly drawn.
The small, weak footsteps grew closer and closer, and the sound of sniffing could be heard from time to time.
"It's really bad taste, it's perverted, really."
As the grumbling was heard right next to him, as if passing by Noah with the tree wall in between, Noah turned his body in the direction she was walking.
Then he glanced around the dark maze.
That's right. At this point, it's right to say it's bad taste and perverted.
"Professor……. Where are you, Professor. I'm lost here, sob. Grandma……."
None of Marguerite's nieces had ever cried and grumbled to her, but Olivia began to sob, looking for Margo.
As if overwhelmed with sorrow, she stopped and cried.
Noah stood in the position where he could feel her presence, sighed softly, and looked up at the sky.
It's not like crying will solve anything, so why is she crying?
Now that he's found her, he has to take her away…….
Noah's patience was too shallow to wait for her to stop crying.
He narrowed his eyes and groped through the maze in the dark. Fortunately, the tree wall separating him and her ended a few meters ahead.
Noah, judging that it would be better to go around the wall and appear in front of her to take her away, was about to move when a crow cried somewhere.
"Hic."
At the same time, the crying sound that had begun to feel tedious stopped abruptly. She must have been surprised by just that much.
Then, small murmurs were heard in succession.
"How come there are no signposts, why are there no lamps here, and there's no Brazier when it's so cold. The person who made this garden must be either a paranoid or a pervert."
At the frank criticism of Astrid's ancestor, Noah finally let out a laugh.
"……Keuk."
Whether she heard the laughter or not, the flickering light disappeared. At the same time, a quiet silence came.
Noah turned his body, with his hands still in his pockets, and looked in the direction of Olivia.
As if he had never laughed, his eyes were as calm as the currents of the deep sea.
She must have been so surprised by the nobles' nasty pranks that she ran away in a daze and ended up in this state.
A maze filled with darkness, a woman with all her nerves as sensitive as a cat. If she gets surprised and runs away, then Noah will cleanly give up on her and go back.
Noah thought, looking at Olivia beyond the wall.
How can he reassure her and take her away as quickly as possible and in a way that is not tiring?
Olivia was just spinning around in the same place. Since she had no way of knowing that fact, she was going crazy because no end came out no matter how much she walked.
It was even more frustrating because she couldn't even tell how much time had passed.
Tears welled up because she was frustrated.
"Ah, why isn't it coming out, really."
In addition, the flashlight was flickering repeatedly, as if the Magical Power that had been charged was almost exhausted.
"Why is this damn garden so big?"
The ill feelings about the endless giant maze piled up, and Olivia, exhausted, walked heavily, half crying.
"It's really bad taste. It's perverted, really."
Her situation was pathetic and absurd.
"Professor……. Where are you, Professor. I'm lost here, sob. Grandma……."
Tears welled up even more when she looked for Margo. She stopped and even cried out loud, and then a crow cawed ominously somewhere.
"Hic."
The garden felt even more eerie. Feeling a chill for no reason, Olivia rubbed her arms and muttered to herself.
"How come there are no signposts, why are there no lamps here, and there's no Brazier when it's so cold. The person who made this garden must be either a paranoid or a pervert."
"……Keuk."
Olivia stopped walking abruptly at the sound of a small laugh that she heard for a moment. Then, surprised, she quickly turned off the flashlight.
Her heart was pounding violently, and she was breathing roughly without realizing it. She looked around stealthily with wide eyes, but there was nothing.
Is it a ghost?
Is it a person?
It was the moment Olivia, who was unknowingly holding the clutch and flashlight tightly, was about to take a step back.
"If you go straight ahead, there's a path on the left. Don't think about anything else and walk looking ahead."
A cool and low voice was heard from beyond the tree wall. A voice that she couldn't possibly not know.
The moment she heard that voice, something tingling swept through her from head to toe.
"P, Prince Noah?"
It was funny even to ask. Why would the Prince be in this place without a lamp?
Well, if that's the case, what about herself?
She heard him clicking his tongue softly beyond the wall, and then a languid voice was heard in succession, as if he was annoyed.
"Walk looking ahead, Miss Liberty. Unless you want to spend tonight here."
"Yes?"
As she blankly asked back, she felt the presence beyond the wall moving away mercilessly.
Olivia quickly moved her feet to follow the presence. She had to run, not walk, to catch up with his presence. Desperate, Olivia moved desperately to keep his presence from moving away even a little.
How busily had she moved?
As he said, as she went straight, there was a path on the left.
The moment she finally arrived at the corner and turned the direction.
The boundary between the land and the sky of darkness, which had been overlapping as if they were one until now, opened as if torn apart, and a golden moon as intense as the sun revealed its face.
All of Olivia's thoughts stopped. Her big black eyes widened a little more, and her light pink lips opened slightly.
He appeared like a mysterious moon and overwhelmed her.
His hair, where the moonlight fell, shone, and the sunken eyes below were so dark that she couldn't tell the color.
At the same time, Olivia realized that he was quite large. The sense of oppression she faced in the dark garden was something she had never felt from anyone before.
She felt very foolish for running away in a panic at the nobles' vile laughter and thinking of him as a lifeline.
The moment Olivia was about to take a step back without realizing it, he held out his hand.
As if showing natural courtesy.
With a calm and clean feeling that did not feel cold, malicious disguised as goodwill, contempt, or vile ridicule.
He is wearing gloves.
The chest that had been swollen with tension and the shoulders that had been stiffened went down with a long sigh, and Olivia lowered her head without realizing it.
