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4. Treated Like a Dog
After Fabian left, Daphne wore a dazed expression. A dog? She was a dog?
She had been a dog?
There was no way that could be true.
Daphne bit her lip. It couldn't be. She shook her head forcefully.
"I must be mistaken."
What would someone like Fabian know anyway?
Treated like a dog—that was going too far. She forced a smile. Tears streamed down from her eyes. Ashelard wasn't the kind of person who would do that. He was so gentle with people.
He was a bit sensitive at times, but that was only natural for someone of high standing. Had he ever fed her from a dog bowl? Had he ever put a dog collar on her?
Being treated like a dog was far too absurd an exaggeration. And yet, why did one corner of her heart throb so painfully?
Daphne rose from her seat. Should she go see Ashelard? Then perhaps the misunderstanding could be cleared up.
If Ashelard smiled at her, if he spoke to her kindly once more, she would gladly believe Ashelard over Fabian. She would gladly do so.
Because Ashelard had come chasing after her, hadn't he? Daphne would never forget, for as long as she lived, the image of that young man chasing after her in that moment when the winter rain fell.
Having made up her mind, Daphne rose from her seat to go see Ashelard. Perhaps because she had been lost in a daze, it was already noon, and if nothing special was happening, this would be the time when Ashelard took his walk in the rear garden of the Crown Prince's palace.
Daphne hoped that something urgent had come up and Ashelard was away. But Ashelard was walking there. With Callista at his side.
Callista was holding some kind of leash in her hand, and following it, it was attached to the collar of a long-haired white dog. Daphne had heard that Ashelard had gifted the Empress a dog to relieve her boredom. So this was where they walked it.
Daphne fell deep into thought as she watched Callista and Ashelard. She couldn't hear their conversation from here, but at the very least, the two of them were talking while facing each other.
Facing each other.
Daphne had never realized that could be such a wondrous thing. She knew all too well that, given their respective stations, she had never been able to converse with Ashelard in that manner.
And yet, she was envious.
Daphne moved a little closer. A few knights noticed her, but they paid her no particular mind. They probably knew she would only linger here a while before leaving.
Ashelard and Callista sat down on a bench. They were chatting about something that seemed delightful. The dog sat between Callista and Ashelard.
As they watched the dog panting with its pink tongue lolling out, they exchanged a few more words.
Then, Ashelard raised his hand and stroked the dog's head. Just watching it felt like being struck across the head.
Ashelard seated in the chair, the dog sitting at his feet. And his slow, unhurried hand stroking it.
As if stroking Daphne herself, Ashelard looked down at the dog with a smile. Whether it liked his touch or not, the dog wore a happy expression and leaned its head against Ashelard's knee.
Then Ashelard took a biscuit from his pocket and fed it to the dog. The dog happily ate it.
Daphne nearly gagged. She covered her mouth several times before forcing out a hollow smile. Her breathing grew ragged, and tears flowed ceaselessly from her eyes.
She stumbled backward and fled the Crown Prince's garden.
"Ha, haha. Hahahaha!"
He was just petting a dog. Merely, merely petting a dog.
"It was me, wasn't it? It was me all along!"
That dog was unmistakably her. Daphne trembled violently with surging humiliation. As a criminal's daughter, she had always bowed her head. A criminal, there before Ashelard! 'If you've committed a sin, you must pay the price.' That was what Ashelard had always said. Ashelard had been giving her his 'punishment' all along—pretending it was for her own good more than anyone else's, deceiving her with tender affection, doting on her like a 'dog'!
Daphne gasped for breath. She couldn't breathe properly. She clenched her teeth, afraid a sob might escape.
Daphne returned to the maids' quarters. She ran into Sara, who was just coming back.
"Daphne! What on earth happened?"
"……"
"Good heavens, your face is a mess!"
She had thought she'd swallowed her tears, but apparently it had all shown. Daphne spoke, choking back her sobs.
"Sara."
"Yes?"
"His Highness the Crown Prince… did His Highness the Crown Prince order that no one approach me?"
At those words, Sara's face stiffened. From that face alone, Daphne knew the answer.
"Is an order all it was?"
"……"
"He even killed people, just for having spoken a single word to you."
Sara's voice was dark and heavy. Daphne's eyes went wide. In this moment, as she learned that her very life had been toyed with, she fell precipitously into the abyss.
She had known her life had been a kind of hell, but she hadn't known it was hell to this extent.
"You really didn't know."
Was it pity, or contempt? Sara quietly whispered to Daphne.
"Yes. I didn't know."
She smiled. Daphne, who had learned the truth, covered her face with both hands and wept.
Sara did not comfort her.
* * *
Having gathered her thoughts, Daphne was able to face Fabian in a somewhat more composed state.
Fabian, who had come cautiously at dawn, wore a dark expression. He seemed to have been agonizing over how he could persuade Daphne.
"Fabian."
"……"
"Let's run away. Just as you said."
The world changing was frightening. But more frightening than the fear of change was her desire to escape this place. Daphne's world had shattered to pieces. Perhaps, in truth, she had known all along. But because everything around her had been so far from normal, Daphne herself had not been normal either.
What did it mean to love someone?
Fabian quietly embraced Daphne. No words were necessary. He understood what Daphne was feeling, and he comforted her with his embrace.
His arms were warm. Watching Fabian's actions, Daphne finally understood what it truly meant to love and cherish someone. When someone you love shivers in the cold, taking off even the thin clothes from your own back to give them—that was what affection was.
But Ashelard had done nothing. He could have shown Daphne some manner of kindness. Instead, he had only watched her suffering like a spectator.
A question she had never dared to entertain arose within her. I was nothing but my mother's daughter. So why are you so cruel to me?
He should have known, having watched her for so long. He should have known that she was hardly so remarkable as to make such claims.
He should have known that she was a wretched creature who could never measure up to that noble, exalted reputation of his. Had he simply been unable to stop in moderation?
Why did he come chasing after me back then?
He should have cast me aside instead.
While waiting for Fabian, Daphne suffered, and suffered again.
"Are we running away now?"
Daphne asked Fabian cautiously.
"No, we can't run now."
"Why not?"
"Sometimes you're being watched."
Daphne's face registered shock. Watched? Watched? By whom?
"That's why the people who approached you met with such fates."
Daphne's lips parted slightly. Had Ashelard gone so far as to do that?
"Then how do we escape?"
"In half a month, the sacred festival will be held in honor of the gods. All attention will be focused on that festival. The troops as well. That's when we make our move."
"……"
"If that time passes, you will… be taken to the Emperor."
Daphne swallowed. Listening to Fabian, she began to grasp just how perilous her situation was. Ashelard was Ashelard, but the Emperor, too, was a great threat to Daphne.
Would he ravish her like the Prince of Pindus had? The mere thought sent chills down her spine.
"If we're going to run, this will be the last chance, Daphne."
Fabian grabbed Daphne's shoulders. He was right. If the Emperor reached out his hand, she would become his concubine and reside in the imperial palace. Then escaping might become even more difficult.
"On the second day of the festival, on the night the moon rises, pretend you're going to the privy and slip out."
"……"
"And then jump down. I'll prepare everything."
At those words, Daphne nodded.
* * *
Daphne folded away her feelings for Ashelard. Her feelings for him had been agony, while her yearning for freedom was sweet. Her belongings were minimal.
Fabian had said there would be no watchers, but just in case, Daphne hid as many thick clothes as she could in her cloak and headed for the privy.
A laugh escaped her anew. Daphne's storeroom of a room didn't even have a window, yet the privy had one.
Knock knock—.
She heard the sound of someone tapping on the privy window. Daphne cautiously approached the window. The place she lived was not on a high floor, and it was low enough to jump down safely. And a hooded man stood below.
Daphne placed her foot on the window frame. Her hesitation was brief. She leapt down with incredible lightness. On a moonlit night at dawn, it felt like soaring through the sky.
The thought that she might die didn't even cross her mind. It was all too exhilarating.
Daphne landed on the ground. Fabian, who she had thought would catch her, seemed to have missed her. The soft lawn left her body stinging, but she was able to stand. 'How could you miss this.' Just as Daphne lifted her head with a resentful expression—
"Oh dear, that must have hurt."
A sweet man's voice rang out. As he removed his hood, emerald eyes gleamed in the moonlight. The brilliant moonlight softly illuminated his beautiful face.
"Daphne. Are you all right?"
Daphne stood there, unable even to scream. Like a phantom, a maddeningly beautiful man looked down at her, his eyes gleaming.
It was Ashelard.