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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 51
Chapter Title: A Trip for Two
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I naturally took the letter from Darcy's hand.
“Don’t rip it. We need to collect them as evidence.”
Ryan had the sense not to ask for a private meeting. He did offer some vague official reason, though….
Considering the last time I saw him, it was a suspicious invitation.
In any case, collecting these might prove useful later. I placed the letter neatly on the table.
Darcy, leaning back comfortably on the sofa, kept his eyes fixed on the letter.
“…He seems to be out of his mind.”
Darcy scowled and ran a hand through his hair.
“Should I just take care of him….”
He looked up at me and smiled brilliantly.
“It’s not right for someone so far removed from your happiness to keep hovering around you.”
Was he serious? I blinked, and Darcy shrugged.
“It’s a joke. Don’t look at me like that.”
Darcy added in a gentle voice.
“Death is too easy an escape.”
Was that the same reason he, who had suffered under Kies his entire life, hadn’t yet killed the Emperor or Ryan?
I found myself choosing my words more carefully around Darcy. It was the thought that there might be more to his past that I didn’t know.
Sometimes, I worried I might hurt him without realizing it.
“What should we watch today?”
Rising to his feet, Darcy half-lay on the bed that served as a sofa. The sight of him looking so relaxed was somewhat unfamiliar.
I thought he’d be too busy for me to even see his face. But somehow, he had found the time.
And he had come to see me in the same way as before.
I had told him I didn’t want to meet like this, but the smile on his lips was beautiful.
I was happy to see him, but having heard the order Kies had given him, I wanted to ask.
“I heard you were confined.”
“It’s not confinement, it’s a vacation.”
It seemed he had a different reason for obediently following the order.
The rumor that he had assaulted someone on the street had already spread widely throughout high society.
I believed there had to be a reason for his actions.
I perched on the edge of the bed where he lay at an angle and spoke to him.
“What happened? You’re not the type to do something like that without a reason.”
“You’re the only one who sees me that way.”
A strange sense of satisfaction washed over me at the fact that I was the only one who truly trusted him. But this was selfishness.
“If everyone knew what kind of person you are, Darcy, they would all act as I do.”
“Why would they? You’re all I need.”
His eyes curved into beautiful crescents, reminding me of a new moon in the night sky. The way it shone serenely on its own resembled Darcy.
“I don’t need anyone else.”
His words made my face flush. I was flustered, feeling the warmth spread across my own cheeks.
His unfiltered words and actions always caught me off guard. It was harder to gauge his true feelings because they contained nothing but sincerity.
Where was the line that could be permitted for someone experiencing this for the first time?
Did he see me as a woman? Or was this a momentary impulse? Every time I met Darcy, I found myself at a crossroads.
But not knowing was not a reason to back away. I answered with a trembling voice.
“Me too.”
I wanted to show him the same sincerity he showed me.
Until he could fully define his own emotions, I would do my best.
At my words, Darcy’s eyes widened.
After a brief silence, the most beautiful smile I had ever seen blossomed on his face.
Not even a flower blooming alone in winter could have been more beautiful.
Darcy sat up abruptly. The distance between us closed in an instant.
His hand caressed my reddened cheek.
“I’m glad you were the first person I ever met.”
“…”
“Even if you hadn’t been…”
His fingers hovered tantalizingly close, almost touching my lips.
“I would have met you someday.”
I was all the more happy because I knew these weren’t just words spoken in the heat of the moment, but his true feelings.
But I knew the truth. In the book, he had never even appeared.
That was why this time was all the more precious.
The miracle that had occurred between us, who were never meant to meet, had connected us.
“I’m glad I met you, too.”
You were there during the most desperate time in my new life, and because of you, things could change.
Because he wasn’t a character from the book, he felt more real, and that made me want to know him even more.
Hoping my feelings would reach him, I smiled with all my might.
Darcy watched me smile for a long moment before speaking.
“I want to see you smiling like this forever.”
“That’s why I brought something.”
“…Huh?”
Darcy strode over to the corner of the room where he had first appeared.
Only then did I notice the boxes piled up in the corner.
*I didn’t even know they were there.*
It was a testament to how distracted I was by Darcy.
Darcy lifted a box with both hands and set it on the table. When he gave it a slight push, the box felt heavier than it looked.
“…What is this?”
“I heard you’ve been cleaning out the shops lately. I took the liberty of preparing a few things I thought you might need.”
“I was just about to tell you about that.”
Darcy had beaten me to it.
“Though I’m not sure if I really need to go meet them.”
I pretended not to hear the comment Darcy added while glancing at my face. On this point, I couldn’t give him what he wanted.
The process of meeting the mages was proceeding smoothly.
Instead, I examined the magic tools one by one.
“Wow, the color on this is beautiful.”
The first thing I picked up was a pouch. Made of silk, it was studded with magic stones.
Could this be what I think it is?
When I turned my head toward Darcy, he explained as if he had been waiting.
“A pouch that can hold anything.”
His thoughtfulness was as beautiful as his face.
I gazed at him for a moment before making a suggestion I had wanted to make for a long time.
It felt like the right moment.
“…Darcy, should we go on a trip together?”
“A trip?”
“Yes, just the two of us.”
*Cough.* Darcy, who had been sipping his tea, choked.
…Ah.
Realizing how my request might have sounded, I quickly waved my hands in denial.
“No! No! That’s not what I meant!”
“I didn’t say anything. I really just choked on my tea. It didn’t mean anything. Really.”
He explained calmly, looking at me.
Only after hearing his words did I realize I had overreacted. The length of his explanation only added to my embarrassment.
Unable to look him in the face, I hung my head low. I heard a chuckle from above. I grumbled.
“You could have just let it go.”
“Your reaction was too amusing to ignore. But why do you want to go on a trip?”
“Well, I want to take some pictures.”
“Pictures?”
I explained my plan to Darcy.
“We’ll be meeting the children there, won’t we? Their experiences are bound to be limited. I want to help fill that void.”
Something I could do that they couldn’t.
I couldn’t suddenly change the mages’ situation, but this was the best I could think of.
“I’ve been taking pictures around here, but I thought it would be nice to have photos from other countries, too.”
“You’re really working hard.”
“Of course.”
Because I wanted the contract with the mages to go well.
To help those trapped by prejudice.
And most of all… I hope you can shed the guilt you carry for them, feel unburdened, and be happier.
Just as you wish for my happiness, I wish for yours.
“You could probably just shove the contract in their faces.”
He wasn’t wrong. They were desperate enough.
“I don’t want to do that.”
Even if we were meeting through a contract, I wanted to treat them as people, not as parties in a business deal.
“They’re people, just like me. We’re just in different circumstances.”
“…”
“And there are things about them I can relate to.”
Darcy frowned at me. It was the expression he usually made when lost in thought.
His face, looking both angry and confused, was like that of a child experiencing something for the first time. That might be an accurate description.
He, who had been confined, was no different from a child born with a mage’s bloodline.
I imagined Darcy’s childhood.
Darcy, lying alone in a desolate, abandoned palace.
A child who couldn’t even properly reveal who he was, all his accomplishments stolen from him.
A boy whose life, between the battlefield and the palace, was steeped in pitch-black darkness.
I regretted my words. I shouldn’t have made it a suggestion.
“Darcy, let’s go on a trip.”
I had to give him a firm answer.
So that colors could be painted over the black that filled the canvas of his life.
So that he, like the children, could build new experiences.
Darcy’s eyes, slowly widening, shimmered with different colors. It was a light as varied as a rainbow.
“Alright.”
Darcy nodded as if he had been waiting.
It would be a lie to say I wasn’t surprised by his ready agreement. The Prince’s schedule couldn’t possibly be free.
“Don’t you need to check your schedule?”
“I’m under confinement, remember?”
His bold excuse was astounding. Despite his arrogant words, his actions, which put me first, made me smile.
“What in the world. How much time can you actually get?”
Considering the interrogations we’d have to go through to visit another country, the time it would take, and the rumors it would stir, we couldn’t go on a long trip.
I also needed to meet with the mages soon to get the business going.
“If I had my way, I’d want to be gone for quite a while, but…”
Darcy rested his chin on his hand and grinned.
“Since we should probably be careful about even spending a single night away, let’s just go from early in the morning until late at night.”
His words made my face heat up all over again. *Calm down.*
“We haven’t had much time to prepare, either. And the amount of time I can be away without being seen isn’t very long.”
“Right, and…”
I tentatively brought up something I’d been wanting to say.
“There’s no need to amplify the rumors circulating about us, is there?”
“What?”
“The rumors that define our relationship.”
Apparently, it was something he hadn’t considered. Darcy’s eyes went wide before he stroked his chin.
The momentary silence felt far too long, which must have meant I was anxiously awaiting his answer.
Darcy looked at me and said firmly.
“It doesn’t matter. If it’s not you, there’s no one else I need.”
He lightly touched the ruby set in the center of his necklace, then narrowed his eyes at me.
“So I don’t mind leaving things as they are.”
His suggestive gaze was asking for my opinion.
Asking how I felt about it.
