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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 62
Chapter Title: An Unexpected Visitor
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As if they had been waiting, the guests smiled and nodded.
“I'll be looking forward to it.”
“As will I.”
“I'd love to be the first to know.”
Princess Werna was no different. While I was pleased to see people rally behind Darcy, Princess Werna was another matter entirely.
I clenched my fists, trying to compose myself.
It's not like I can do anything about Princess Werna, is it? Besides, she's the one who needs me right now.
“However, the preparations will take some time... so I may be spending more time at the estate. I just want you to know it won't be for the same reason as before.”
I had crafted the perfect excuse for when I went to meet the mages.
By telling everyone this now, at least there won't be any strange rumors circulating later.
The tea party was slowly winding down. I was exhausted.
‘I didn't realize it would be this exhausting.’
My unexpected meeting with Princess Werna had completely drained me.
Sudden events are not good for an introvert...
‘Still, I'll be able to rest soon!’
Clinging to that hope, I poured myself another cup of coffee. The caffeine jolted my eyes open.
“Lady Marso.”
I turned my head to see a servant bowing to me. The servant who had greeted me explained the situation.
“A guest has arrived.”
“A guest?”
“He asked me to tell you that it's a welcome guest.”
“A welcome guest at this hour...”
Honestly, only one person came to mind. There was only one person who could come and go from my estate at this hour without notice.
‘Darcy.’
I wasn't the only one who thought so. Werna, who had overheard the servant from beside me, rested her chin on her hand and shot me a knowing look.
“Could it be the very man we were just discussing? I didn't expect him to visit so soon.”
I felt an impulse to just send Darcy away. But it lasted only a moment.
Perhaps because I was so tired, I wanted to see his face.
His sharp eyes framed by silver hair. I wanted to see those enchanting, multicolored eyes and talk with him.
Sudden encounters weren't always a pleasure, but Darcy was different. Whenever he visited, my delight always outweighed my surprise.
I recalled the play we had seen together. I pictured him arriving while I was talking with Ryan, before we had even entered the ballroom. I thought of the trip we took together, too.
‘I want to invite him in.’
I wanted him to come here, where everyone, including Princess Werna, could see him.
‘I want everyone to know how close we are.’
I had decided to move at his pace, but surely I could be this greedy, couldn't I?
I decided to call for Darcy.
“Show him in.”
There were a few things that felt a little unlike Darcy. The fact that he hadn't identified himself, merely calling himself a ‘guest.’ And his sudden visit, considering he didn't enjoy meeting people with me.
But I chalked it up to the somewhat awkward atmosphere of our last meeting.
Which is to say, I never expected the guest to be *this* person.
“…This is unexpected.”
The voices of Werna and the other young ladies, unable to hide their genuine surprise, rang shrilly in my ears.
I cursed violently in my head.
“Marso Etoile.”
No, why are you here?
“I was on my way back and had something to deliver to you.”
Standing there, presenting himself with confidence, was Ryan.
***
Ryan knew Reshuan was avoiding him. He also knew that she had started reducing their meetings right around the time she had visited Marso's estate.
‘Marso did as I wanted...’
He had just heard from Leticia that on that day, Marso had pushed Reshuan away, just as he had hoped.
He figured she just needed time to adjust. He knew Reshuan had, without realizing it, come to rely on Marso. His kindhearted lover had liked that woman from the very beginning.
It was pitiful to see her talking with that woman time and again, completely unaware of her dark intentions.
Reshuan was far too naive. As someone who had navigated high society since childhood, and as the loving man who would be her fiancé, he had a duty to protect her.
Dragging Marso Etoile down to a position where she could no longer torment Reshuan was also part of that duty.
He had been anxious at first, it was true. He had worried she might get angry at him for disparaging and treating someone she liked so poorly.
Reshuan was so kind, after all.
But Reshuan said nothing. Ryan was satisfied with that.
‘It just means they were bound to grow apart eventually.’
Marso and Reshuan weren't that close.
Ryan was seized by the uplifting feeling of doing something for the woman he loved. He took her silence as a tacit approval.
‘That's right.’
She was kind to everyone, so the shock must have come from never having considered someone would leave her.
Her avoiding him was just a momentary lapse. Reshuan would soon find her way and return to him.
That was what Ryan believed.
Until he heard that she was spending time with Kaysen, the Captain of the Knights, while avoiding him.
He was the only one suitable for Reshuan.
His patience was slowly wearing thin.
The more desperate person is the one who yields.
Apart from his discussions with Marquis Epekel, Ryan requested a meeting with Reshuan.
After she avoided his requests a few times, Reshuan finally relented.
His mood finally improved on the day he was to meet Reshuan.
He had been in a foul mood after telling Emperor Kies that Darcy was a mage, only to be harshly rebuked.
‘Then what would that make me?!’
Kies had no intention of admitting his blunder of having a child with a mage.
Ryan prepared gifts to make up for all the days they hadn't met.
A necklace, a bracelet, and even a brooch, all made with magic stones. She needed magic stones to live. He believed that even these accessories would be of some help.
“Hello, Your Highness.”
Reshuan was as beautiful as ever as she greeted him.
Ryan couldn't take his eyes off her as he asked how she'd been. Reshuan smiled and offered polite, formal conversation.
The topic of conversation that followed took him completely by surprise.
“I heard you spoke with Lady Etoile, Your Highness.”
“…I did.”
He was displeased that this was the first thing she brought up after so long. He couldn't understand why Marso had to be the topic of their conversation.
But not wanting to get worked up right from the start, Ryan remained silent.
“Your Highness, I am grateful for all the help you have given me.”
“There's nothing I wouldn't do for you.”
“But please, don't do so anymore.”
“…What?”
Ryan asked, taken aback by her unexpected words.
First, Marso Etoile declared she didn't love him, and now Reshuan was telling him not to help her. His life lately was full of things he couldn't understand.
“Letting you solve my problems for me, Your Highness, was wrong.”
Reshuan, who usually just laughed happily and avoided deep conversations when she was with him, continued on the somber topic.
“I believe I realized too late that it was the same as leaving a flower to rot.”
Reshuan had changed. And it was obvious who was at the center of that change.
Ryan muttered, as if chewing on his words.
“…What did Marso Etoile say to you?”
From the moment they met in childhood until now, Marso Etoile had been nothing but an obstacle to him.
“Lady Marso didn't say anything in particular.”
“You can speak freely, Reshuan.”
“It's true. Lady Marso's absence simply made me realize many things.”
Had she told Reshuan that she was the one at fault all this time? That sounded just like the villainess, who was always so busy pointing out Reshuan's flaws.
Ryan tried to soothe Reshuan.
“My opinion has always been the same. You've done nothing wrong.”
“No, Your Highness. I'm not perfect. I believe that is simply how people are.”
But today, Reshuan was truly different.
“But I believe it is one's duty as a person to acknowledge it, accept it, repent, and move forward.”
Her gaze upon him was unwavering.
An unexpected fear began to creep over him.
The absurd notion that Reshuan might resent him for his cold treatment and condemnation of Marso Etoile felt as if it were about to become reality.
Ryan spoke urgently.
“Just because Marso Etoile seems to have changed for a little while, it's dangerous to think her true nature has changed.”
It felt somehow like he was making excuses. But he couldn't stop the words that had already begun to spill out.
“You can't forget that the time she spent tormenting you is far longer than the time she has been 'changed.' You and I had every reason to treat her the way we did.”
“…So you do admit that she has changed, Your Highness.”
He was speechless. He didn't know how to respond to that.
How could he forget?
The image of Marso Etoile looking him in the eye and telling him she didn't love him.
“That was a slip of the tongue.”
“You thought Lady Marso had changed, didn't you?”
“…The things she's done still remain.”
Ryan mumbled, swallowing his irritation.
The image of Marso's face appeared in his mind, and his emotions intensified.
She was a woman who stood in stark opposition to Reshuan, who made him a better, more rational person.
Whenever he spoke with Marso, nothing ever went smoothly. Things always escalated to an extreme.
Reshuan stared at Ryan, whose brow was deeply furrowed. Her observant gaze seemed to read a part of him that even he himself refused to acknowledge.
“…Your Highness, why won't you acknowledge the truth?”
‘I’m not acknowledging the truth?’
Ryan couldn't understand what Reshuan was saying.
It was a denial that had always been there.
Even as he witnessed Marso Etoile's transformation, he kept repeating the same words to himself, as if brainwashing himself.
The Marso Etoile he knew had not changed.
“Your Highness, do you truly feel nothing for Lady Marso?”
A realization struck him like a bolt of lightning.
‘How could I...’
No, this was his own wishful thinking.
