My role ends here.
This much was enough.
At least.
For now, she would not grieve.
&
After the meal, I found myself walking through the garden with Aileen, as naturally as could be.
As if this routine were only to be expected.
Again and again.
Old memories overlapped with the sight before me.
As if this was how it should have been all along.
“By the way, I don’t see your mother.”
“Ah.”
Aileen slowed her steps for a moment.
“She passed away.”
...
I truly hadn’t known.
Thinking about it, there really wasn’t much I knew about her.
Of course, there had been almost nothing I could know.
Back then, I had neither been able to ask her anything nor even dig up any information about this family—nor had I even dared to think of doing such a thing.
Even the poisoning was something I only learned about when she officially revealed the truth behind her father’s unjust death.
Still.
If I had tried just a little harder,
couldn’t I have found out?
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
Aileen smiled calmly.
“You really didn’t know. Usually, there are more people who ask on purpose despite knowing. Though, of course, very few people know this fact.”
“They’re scum.”
“Aren’t they?”
Aileen nodded.
“So they deliberately bring up my mother to try to shake me.”
They truly were scum.
Dragging someone’s dead parent into things just to unsettle them was crossing the line by a long shot.
“Who was it?”
I asked seriously.
“Bring them here and I’ll give them a good smack.”
“Pfft.”
Aileen burst out laughing.
“Really? Who was it again... Ah, you know the Artine family, don’t you? Their young lady did that.”
Artine.
A marquis family, like hers.
Incredibly outstanding intelligence network.
Outstanding power.
And they were famous for having quite foul mouths as well.
I gave a small, awkward cough.
“Oh... mm, that place is a bit...”
“Pfft. What’s that supposed to mean?”
She laughed.
“But thank you for saying it, at least.”
Aileen, who had been walking ahead, suddenly turned around to face me.
“We’ve gotten a little more comfortable with each other now, haven’t we?”
“Pardon? Ah... yes. Well, I suppose so.”
“We definitely have.”
She looked immensely satisfied.
“The way you look at me, Mr. Rayon, and the way you speak to me have become much more relaxed.”
And that was why I was afraid.
“So I’m glad.”
Seeing Aileen say that with a smile, I found myself smiling as well.
An ill-fated bond.
That ill-fated bond I had believed I absolutely had to sever.
The face that smiled when it looked at me.
The voice that spoke to me so naturally.
The times we walked together,
ate together,
and looked at the scenery together.
How desperately had I longed for that?
“Let’s... get closer slowly.”
I answered with a smile.
“Why?”
At Aileen’s question, for a moment I wondered if I had taken a step too far on my own.
“I want to get closer faster.”
In the garden where she had always walked alone,
she was looking at me and smiling brightly.
Thump.
Ah.
Right.
I had failed.
How could I possibly sever this connection with her now?
I don’t know anymore.
Somehow, it would work out.
***
Rattle, rattle.
The carriage shook violently.
Inside it, I was catching my breath with a bewildered expression.
What in the world was going on?!
We were being chased right now.
The problem was that I wasn’t the only one in this carriage.
Elkant was here, and so was Aileen.
A carriage carrying the two children of the Belmardian family.
That meant this situation was far more serious than I could have imagined.
Aileen was looking at me with a hardened expression.
We had originally been on our way to a nearby territory for promotional purposes.
“I’m sorry. It’s my fault for insisting we go that far today...”
“It’s not.”
I cut her off briefly.
“First, let’s get through this situation.”
Elkant was half out of his mind.
His face said that he could not even begin to guess what was happening.
That was understandable.
Who would dare target Belmardian?
“This isn’t the time to look for who did it.”
I spoke firmly.
“We need to think about how to escape.”
Aileen immediately nodded as well.
“B-Brother! Still, among our escort knights, we have one knight ranked within the top hundred!”
Elkant shouted, trying to find any reassurance in this situation.
There were three knights who had accompanied us as Aileen’s escort this time.
Each one of them was at a level not to be taken lightly.
But it was Aileen who answered him.
“That’s why it’s even more dangerous.”
Her voice had sunk coldly.
“Because it means we’re running despite that.”
It would have been natural for her to be afraid, but at some point, she had begun looking at the situation calmly.
“Don’t open the door! If an arrow suddenly comes flying in, it’s over.”
She continued at once.
“Mr. Rayon. If you get the chance, get off first and run. We’ll draw them away. They won’t chase you.”
“No.”
I immediately denied it.
“Now that I’ve witnessed this situation, I’ve become a target to be killed as well. Besides, if they kill me, it would serve as a warning that even getting close to Belmardian is dangerous.”
Unable to refute that, Aileen bit her lip hard.
Her eyes were filled with an all-too-clear apology.
I gave her a light smile.
“Don’t think about anything else right now.”
I took a short breath.
“We need to focus on surviving first.”
It had already happened.
There was no time for regret,
nor any room to think of anything else.
It was then.
Clang!
The sharp sound of swords clashing rang out from outside.
Almost at the same time, someone’s shout reached us.
“Lady Aileen! We will be moving into the forest from here!”
It was the voice of a knight.
The carriage immediately changed direction, and once it plunged into the forest, the shaking became incomparably worse than before.
“Mr. Rayon!”
Aileen shouted while gripping the armrest of her seat.
“The carriage will stop for a moment soon! When it does, we have to get off and run!”
I understood her intention at once.
At that moment, Aileen pulled three robes from among the bundle hidden beneath the seat.
Dark green robes.
We quickly threw them over ourselves.
Even though she knew there was no reason Belmardian should ever be attacked, she had prepared such things—but I had no time to be impressed.
And not long after.
Screech!
The carriage, which had been running at full speed, suddenly stopped.
The instant it stopped, we jumped out at once and began running in a different direction from the carriage.
The coachman driving the carriage immediately ran off in the opposite direction from us.
A two-pronged plan.
And surprisingly, in this operation, no knight followed after us.
A choice close to a gamble.
The moment the enemy noticed, we would die.
Even so, Aileen did not hesitate.
Even though she was still young...
She was remarkable.
As I ran through the forest after her, I still couldn’t get a sense of exactly where we were,
but Aileen seemed to have already read the direction.
Even while running, she kept scanning our surroundings, and at times she immediately corrected our course.
On top of that, though she was clearly exhausted, Aileen gritted her teeth and endured.
Her breathing grew ragged, and I could see her steps gradually losing strength.
At that moment, I immediately scooped her into my arms.
“Eek!”
Aileen swallowed a startled breath.
“M-Mr. Rayon.”
“It’s urgent.”
This was not a situation where we could fuss over anything.
Once I ran with her in my arms, our speed clearly picked up again.
“That way!”
Aileen caught her breath and pointed out the direction.
“Go that way, then turn right at that tree.”
I moved as instructed.
How much longer did we run like that?
Little by little, the forest began to thin.
“Wait a moment.”
I set Aileen down again,
and she quickly looked around.
She checked the condition of the trees and the ground,
then immediately chose another path.
The place we arrived at was near a small valley.
There were overlapping rocks, making it a decent space to hide ourselves.
We immediately squeezed our bodies into the gap.
“For now... I think we can wait here for a little while.”
Amazing.
Despite belonging to such a safe family, how did she even know a place like this?
Aileen panted heavily as she barely continued speaking.
“I’m truly... sorry. Really, I’m so sorry.”
It was not a simple apology.
Her face looked like that of someone who had nearly committed a crime, unable to hide her emotions.
“Aileen.”
I called softly.
“This is not your fault.”
Aileen stared at me for a moment with startled eyes.
Then, slowly, she bit down hard on her lip.
It was then.
A face suddenly popped out from beside us.
“Excuse me, but this isn’t exactly the situation for a rosy mood, you two.”
He muttered with an incredulous expression.
“It’s serious, you know?”
“...”
Aileen acknowledged his words, yet stared at Elkant with icy eyes.
Elkant flinched and withdrew again,
and Aileen organized the situation.
“Once the situation is resolved, a signal will come.”
“Do you have... anyone in mind?”
Aileen thought for a moment, then slowly shook her head.
“There’s a high chance it isn’t Lucevalt.”
“Why? There’s no one else but those bastards.”
Elkant immediately shot back.
Aileen continued without wavering.
“Their goal might be to make us think it’s Lucevalt. This situation itself is extremely sudden. A territorial war did break out, but people still haven’t fully processed the shock of it. And then something like this happens at that timing?”
Her gaze sank coldly.
“Most people would get agitated and look for the most obvious enemy first. And there’s a high chance they were aiming for that.”
Elkant and I nodded silently.
As expected, she was one step ahead.
“This abrupt timing. The very fact that they made it look as if it happened impulsively may itself be part of their goal. The opponent has likely been preparing for this for quite a long time.”
“So it was planned.”
“More than ninety percent certain.”
She was astonishingly confident.
“The moment we suspect Lucevalt and touch them even slightly first.”
I naturally picked up where she left off.
“Lucevalt could use that single remark as a pretext to demand something, or if it goes wrong, it might even lead to a territorial war.”
“Exactly.”
Aileen nodded.
“Especially if I die, even if my father’s reason tells him otherwise, he’ll have no choice but to suspect Lucevalt at least once.”
Of course he would.
No matter how much he was Valterk Belmardian, he could not remain completely calm in the face of his child’s death.
Whether they succeeded or failed,
in the end, this was the outcome they were aiming for.
It was frightening.
The enemy was,
and so was Aileen, for seeing through it.
“To dare do this against us...”
Elkant muttered lowly,
and after a brief silence, Aileen opened her mouth.
“When this is over, I intend to look into the territorial war that started everything as well.”
Her gaze deepened further.
“Perhaps that wasn’t genuine either. Or perhaps someone deliberately caused it to erupt.”
As expected, Aileen thought on a different level.
When she saw one thing, she did not look only at that, but at the other things connected to it as well.
The world she saw was different.
“For now, let’s think about getting out of here alive first.”
At my words, Aileen nodded, then suddenly looked at me.
“By the way... Mr. Rayon, have you trained as a knight before?”
“Ah, I’ve been learning a little from the escort knight who came with me. It’s not that I’m trying to become a knight.”
“I see.”
Aileen took a small breath, then spoke in a low voice.
“Still, absolutely do not push yourself. You mustn’t step forward recklessly in a dangerous situation. Understood?”
Was it real?
Those words and that gaze.
Or else,
was she trying to use my feelings to make me sacrifice myself in a dangerous situation?