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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 38
Chapter Title: I'll Be Waiting for an Answer
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Have I ever looked down at Darcy? With his much larger build and height, I always had to look up.
But… this was a problem! He was a prince. He couldn't just kneel before others so easily.
And on the very first day he's meeting everyone, no less!
I glanced around quickly and whispered to him urgently.
“Darcy, get up!”
“If you praise me.”
…Praise him? Seriously!
“It'll only take a moment.”
Seeing Darcy gaze at my hand, my own hand moved before I knew it.
How often does one get to see silver hair like that? Not even the moon in the night sky could shine so brightly.
Then I snapped back to my senses.
No, this is weird, isn't it? Even for friends, this crosses a line.
Darcy might not know, having rarely formed relationships, but I'm a perfectly normal person.
This sort of thing doesn't happen between friends of the opposite sex.
My hand, now with nowhere to go, hovered in the air. As I clenched and unclenched my fist, Darcy gently took my wrist.
“Huh?”
Then he looked at me, his gaze pleading.
*...Cute.*
I must be crazy, finding a man twice my size cute. My rose-tinted glasses are on thick. His almost charmingly cute behavior wasn't helping.
My face must have been flushed. I quickly raised a hand to cover my reddened cheeks.
Darcy urged me on in a soft voice.
“So hurry up and pat my head.”
“…”
“Then I'll get up.”
Darcy's words were persuasive. Too persuasive, that was the problem. The resolve I'd held just moments ago melted away.
Alright, just this once.
In the end, I reached out and gently stroked his hair.
Thankfully, there wasn't a soul in the hallway, but there was no telling when someone might appear.
In the end, I reached out and stroked his hair.
*His hair is so soft.*
The silver strands scattering beneath my hand felt unreal.
Darcy closed his eyes, looking pleased. A grown man, crouched in a hallway with his arms crossed and his eyes closed.
It was a sight that could have been comical, yet it didn't feel strange. In fact, he looked at ease.
*Is this how I looked when I was at home?*
Seeing someone's true self was a stranger feeling than I'd expected. It was as if he had shown me another glimpse of the person hidden behind the solid walls he'd built.
He's going to have so many more tiring days ahead of him.
Would it be easy for him, as a prince, to face all these people? Even if he handles it well, it won't be without pain.
Wishing him luck for the future, I gave his head a couple of gentle pats.
Finally, Darcy opened his eyes and asked.
“Marso, do you find this strange?”
“Huh?”
“That I'm only ever sincere when it comes to you.”
“Mm, it's not strange.”
If I didn't know Darcy, I might have thought so. But after hearing about his past, I could understand, to an extent.
He let out a small laugh at my words and muttered as he rose to his feet.
“It's so difficult to define what I feel for you.”
It wasn't a question for me. It was a self-reproach, spoken in a low voice.
He seemed confused.
Relationships don't always go the way you want. The human heart is the same.
…To be honest, it was the same for me. I didn't know how Darcy saw me.
Whether he had romantic feelings for me, or if it was a sense of specialness born from our being his first real connection, from me knowing his past.
*And I'm just as confused.*
What is it that I want from Darcy?
Even as I think I should draw a proper line with Darcy, I find myself helplessly drawn in whenever he approaches me.
Do I want to remain friends with him, just as we are now?
Or do I want him to stay by my side?
They were answers even I hadn't found yet, so there was no clear conclusion.
But there was something I could say.
“Then we can just figure it out as we go.”
If we don't know, shouldn't we just follow our hearts and see where they lead?
Whatever lies at the end, I didn't want to have any regrets when it came to my relationship with Darcy.
I didn't want to carelessly try to measure or predict the feelings of someone who had altered the very course of his life for me.
The same went for my own feelings for him.
“It's not like we'll see each other for a day and then part ways. We'll be seeing each other for a while.”
*...Until you leave.* I swallowed the rest of my words and looked at Darcy.
“So we can just talk more, spend more time together, and get to know each other.”
“…You're right. After all, I'll be here for a while.”
Darcy gazed at me, his lips moving. *Until you're happy.*
“A relationship isn't something you can define in just one way. I'm saying that it's okay to be confused right now.”
…Not that I'm one to talk, since it took me a year to sort out my relationship with Reshuan and her cronies. Still, I did learn a few things.
“I've never heard anyone say it's okay to be confused before.”
“Because even that is a part of your life.”
At my reply, Darcy, who had stood up, now lowered his head.
His hair cascaded down as he tilted his head so only I could see his face. A smile like a gentle spring day bloomed on his slightly shadowed features.
“You always provide me with the answers.”
“…”
“You've never been wrong, Marso.”
Not even the spring when new buds sprout could be this refreshing. My heart pounded. I took a deep breath for no reason.
“W-Well, let's go now.”
It would be a problem if I got too far ahead of myself when we'd just agreed to figure things out.
Hoping my movements weren't too clumsy, I started walking. Darcy quickly followed.
As if the servants who were absent before had been an illusion, the hallway was now full of people.
Servants and various nobles alike were looking our way.
The murmuring crowd was a sign that today, too, would be anything but ordinary.
“The rumors are about to get even bigger.”
“I don't care.”
Darcy, who shrugged at my words, seemed to genuinely mean it.
If the person involved was fine with it, there was no reason for me to make a fuss. I nodded.
Reaching the door to the hall, I remembered something I hadn't yet said to him and turned my head.
“Dar—”
The reason I couldn't finish his name was because the sight of him fastening the cravat he had loosened earlier was as beautiful as a portrait.
Now fully dressed with his jacket on, he exuded an ascetic aura, a stark contrast to his earlier dissolute appearance.
Darcy tilted his head at me.
“Why?”
I quickly closed my mouth and spoke to him, almost as a warning.
“You said I gave you an answer, right?”
“I did.”
“Then you have to give me an answer, too.”
“What…”
“You have to tell me how you can be happy.”
Because I want him to be happy, too.
I ignored the way he blinked, looking perplexed by my words.
“You deserve to be happy, too. So I won't take no for an answer.”
“…”
“If you don't tell me, I might just go searching for it on my own. This is the first time I've asked you for something like this, you know. I'll be waiting for your answer.”
After stating my terms, I stepped into the hall.
“Announcing the arrival of Lady Marso Etoile!”
As the servant boomed my name, the jewels embedded in the chandelier pierced my eyes.
A ceiling so high it seemed to reach for the sky. The sound of a waltz drifting into my ears. The immediate barrage of stares.
It finally felt real, that I had truly returned to high society.
With a confident smile on my lips, I met the gazes of the crowd one by one.
“It's been a while.”
“It has, Lady Marso.”
There were quite a few people waiting to greet me. And many of them, while greeting me, kept sneaking glances at Darcy, who had entered after me.
“Indeed.”
Of course, I simply exchanged greetings with a look of complete innocence.
I continued my greetings with a relaxed smile, but then I paused.
At the very end of the line stood Reshuan and her grandfather, the Marquis.
I bowed my head to the Marquis in greeting.
“I'm glad to see you look well.”
The Marquis offered me a simple pleasantry. Then it was time to speak with Reshuan.
“…”
The greeting that had come so naturally with everyone else wouldn't come out.
*I didn't realize it would be this awkward.*
Just as I was about to open my mouth, a clear voice rang out first.
“…It has been a long time, Lady Marso.”
Reshuan greeted me with perfect etiquette. Her face, holding a faint smile, had a different air about it than the last time I'd seen her.
Something I couldn't quite put my finger on.
“…Yes, it has been.”
In any case, I thought I should return the greeting, so I hurriedly responded in kind.
At that, Reshuan gave a slight nod and turned away from me.
She didn't expect anything from me. She didn't try to speak affectionately or get closer.
I could feel a proper sense of distance between us, something I thought could never exist.
*It was the same at the play.*
Did she really change after listening to what I said?
I had wanted Reshuan to change. But I never knew how I would feel when she actually did.
I gazed blankly at her retreating back.
It was bittersweet.
***
Even after the greetings were over, people flocked to me, a result of Pitol's words. Quite a few asked what exactly he meant by my 'help'.
Of course, I remained tight-lipped, saying I couldn't speak about it yet.
“Why haven't you been out and about?”
“Was there some kind of trouble…?”
Along with that, many also asked about my whereabouts during my absence. My sudden disappearance seemed to have made them curious.
Rumors had circulated, but no one had managed to uncover the clear truth.
And why would they?
It wasn't because I'd done something wrong.
It was because I got tired of seeing all your faces, including the heroine and the male leads.
I had wondered how I should answer that question, but thanks to Ryan, it was naturally resolved today.
I now had the perfect bait.
A very big piece of bait, at that.
“I was busy clearing up some long-standing misunderstandings with Prince Ryan.”
