Episode 15

With a trickle, dark red blood flowed from her mouth.

She hurriedly clamped a hand over it, but it was no use. Before anything could be done, blood seeped out between her fingers.

What was going on?

Reuden couldn’t understand. She had been perfectly fine just a moment ago. Hadn’t she said the only place she was hurt was her arm?

Plop. She had bled so much that clotted blood fell to the ground. At the same time, her body tilted toward the floor, and Reuden caught her on reflex.

Her hem, which had been only slightly dirty until moments ago, was stained with blood. It wasn’t only her mouth that was bleeding. From her abdomen….

“You have to use healing magic right now! With this much bleeding, she’ll die!”

Someone nearby screamed at Reuden as if in desperation. But the voice did not reach him. His ears only rang dully, as if he were underwater.

How had it come to this? With his mind blank, Reuden retraced everything that had happened so far.

She had been taken to the mansion, feverish and burning, and yet the very next day she woke up perfectly fine, made a strange expression, and said she would follow him to the banquet hall again today.

He had found her suspicious, but thought it would be better to keep her by his side, so he allowed it.

And then…. And now….

A pale face. A neck stained because blood kept surging up. A limp body. Eyes closed without strength.

Reuden stared blankly down at her, looking as though she might die at any moment, yet somehow peaceful.

For some reason, this scene did not feel unfamiliar.

Yes, it was not unfamiliar.

* * *

Today’s final mission

‘At the week-long welcome banquet for the Hugo Knights, shove a certain noble into a cake and humiliate them!’

I checked the hopeless mission with a sidelong glance and looked at the cake on the white table.

I’m supposed to shove a noble into that cake?

Ha….

Just imagining it made a sigh slip out.

If only the first mission hadn’t been to push Catherine from the top of the stairs.

If only the second mission hadn’t been to set fire to Reuden’s room…!

Then I wouldn’t have had to come to another banquet like this.

‘What sort of trick am I supposed to use to succeed at that mission….’

While I was quietly pitying myself, Reuden, who had finished speaking with the other nobles, murmured softly.

“Tell me honestly. Why did you come today?”

“I’ve told you again and again, I didn’t want to come either.”

“Your body.”

“I’m fine…. I’m completely better.”

“Do you know that Sollen took you to the carriage yesterday?”

“I was going to thank him when I saw him anyway.”

Our conversation kept breaking off and continuing at intervals. That was because people dying to talk to Reuden came by from time to time.

There seemed to be a few who couldn’t muster the courage because of me, but even so, Reuden was popular.

Well, of course he would be. He was smart, handsome, well-built, and of high status. Anyone would want to get close to Reuden.

Since there were no familiar faces, I had no choice but to watch the unfamiliar nobles. Anastasia wasn’t here, and neither was Aiden.

Instead, I only saw people who made me uncomfortable. For example….

A black-haired man surrounded by as many people as Reuden was.

Yes, someone like Daiwen Fergus.

Seeing Daiwen smiling pleasantly while surrounded by people brought back memories of yesterday.

‘Anastasia, do you happen to have a mirror?’

‘You damned bastard!’

‘…I hit him, I wasn’t trying to kill him…?’

‘…You really can’t kill me. All right?’

Goddamn it.

The truth was, my memories of yesterday weren’t clear.

I had been sick, and on top of that I’d been desperate because of the mission, so I certainly hadn’t been in my right mind.

So I understood why my memories of yesterday were hazy.

But I couldn’t even remember who I hit!

‘It couldn’t have been Daiwen Fergus, could it….’

A creeping sense of unease crawled up from my feet. The moment it tickled my chest, I shook my head.

‘No. If I’d slapped Daiwen Fergus, my head and torso would have said goodbye to each other. So it must have been someone else….’

Who on earth was it?

In truth, the reason I was observing the nobles now was partly because of today’s mission, but also because I was trying to find the person I had slapped yesterday.

I might remember if I saw their face.

But the more I observed the nobles, far from recalling yesterday, the more I only began to wonder if I shouldn’t get out of this place as soon as possible.

Because the looks the nobles gave me were not kind. If I had my way, I wanted to leave Reuden’s side and be alone, but Reuden had made it very clear.

Today, I was absolutely not to leave his side.

“By the way…. I believe this is the first time I’ve seen you two together.”

That was when I heard someone say that from close by.

‘Huh, is he talking about me?’

I pulled myself out of thoughts that had drifted elsewhere and raised my head, only to see a man I had never seen before.

The man, who looked much older than Reuden, honestly did not give off a good impression.

‘Something about him…. He looks mean.’

Still, I was someone who knew how to hide my true thoughts, more or less.

I smiled brightly, and the other person ignored me as if he hadn’t seen it, fiddling with the black cane he held so dearly.

“Is that so?”

Reuden replied indifferently. It might have been my imagination, but his gaze seemed to go toward the cane the man was holding.

“Yes. How about going around together often? You are like a painting, and it is pleasing to the eye.”

Huh…? Was that supposed to be a compliment?

Neither Reuden nor I were objects meant to please someone’s eyes, so his words struck me as unpleasant.

I glanced at Reuden to see if he felt the same, but he was merely expressionless. I couldn’t tell at all what he was thinking.

After ignoring my smile, the man suddenly spoke to me.

“In any case, Lady Blair, you seem to have changed quite a lot these days.”

“Pardon? Me?”

“Who else would there be but you? Even just a month ago, you behaved like an unbridled colt, but now….”

The man looked me up and down.

“Now you seem quite docile. Have you finally come to your senses?”

I couldn’t answer the man’s question. I only stared at him, blinking in bewilderment.

This man…. He really doesn’t hold back, does he?

I very much disliked how he was doing nothing but making sarcastic remarks disguised as compliments, but for now, I stayed silent.

The man tapped the cane he was holding against the floor.

“At any rate, it is good to see. I do not know the reason, but I suppose you have decided to live properly. Well, you cannot remain in the shadow of the Blair family forever, can you?”

“Um….”

“I hope you meet a good match soon. Though I do not know whether, given your past conduct, you will be able to form ties with a respectable family.”

“…Thank you for your concern. But matters that personal are for me to handle….”

“Ah! But Lady Blair does have one advantage, does she not?”

As his remarks grew more and more out of line, I tried to cut him off appropriately, but instead, the man cut me off.

“You have a great deal of personal wealth. So you might be able to snare some borderland family blinded by money.”

“…Excuse me.”

“Please don’t take this the wrong way. I’m only saying it because I’m worried.”

Did he seriously expect me to believe that? Just as my disbelief grew so great that I could no longer keep my expression under control, the man finally went and set things off.

“But since it’s the truth, isn’t there no reason to take it badly? Honestly, what would anyone see in the headstrong Miss Blair besides her fortune?”

“…….”

“Ah, well.”

The man looked me up and down again. This time was different from before. His gaze was so vile it made my skin crawl.

“I suppose old nobles interested in young women would see something else.”

This bastard…….

It felt as if the last thread of my reason had snapped. Face, reputation, whatever—I just wanted to shut that bastard’s mouth right this instant.

What was this man counting on, to suddenly say something so far out of line?

“That’s enough.”

Reuden quietly cut in, abandoning the respectful language he had used until now.

I hadn’t expected him to intervene, so I stopped just as I was about to say something to the man and looked up at Reuden blankly. His tone was hard.

“Is not knowing your place and acting up when someone stays quiet for you a trait of your family’s bloodline?”

“What did you say?”

“I asked whether not knowing your place and acting up when treated politely is a characteristic unique to your family, Count Sirius.”

“D-Did I say anything wrong? I was merely speaking out of concern for Miss Blair.”

The man called Count Sirius was flustered only for a moment before finding his pace again and answering with a shameless face. Apparently, he meant to claim he had never intended to insult me.

Haa……. If he played innocent like that, there would be no end to it. My mood had sunk so low it felt as though it had plunged through the floor, but making the matter bigger wouldn’t do any good.

Especially if I, of all people, was the one to make it bigger.

Ignoring him was the best course, so I was just about to tell Reuden to let it go.

Suddenly, Reuden took a step toward the count and looked down at the man, who was far shorter than he was.

Then he asked coldly.

“Count. Do you perhaps…….”

“…….”

“Take me for a fool?”

The atmosphere froze. I could feel the nobles around us subtly looking this way.

Whoa, at this rate we’ll become a spectacle with no way out! But neither Reuden nor the count showed any sign of backing down.

“W-What do you mean, Marquis? When have I ever…….”

“If that were not the case, you would not have told such a careless lie. You said that because you were truly worried for this child? Unless you were trying to mock someone.”

“…….”

“You are simply still holding on to what happened three years ago. So you saw that this child has grown more subdued of late and took the chance to insult her like this. Am I wrong?”

“Th-Three years ago? I don’t know what you mean by…….”

For some reason, the man trailed off with an awkward expression.

What happened three years ago? I had been about to step in and put a stop to the two of them, but I faltered, curious about what that incident was.

“You don’t remember? How unexpected. This child, your proposal…….”

“W-Wait!”

“To think you had completely forgotten the fact that she rejected it. Astonishing.”

“M-Marquis!”

As if asking why he would say that, the man called Reuden in a shrill voice. The banquet hall fell silent in an instant, and I stared blankly at the count.

That man, to me…….

No, to Rene Blair…….

Proposed……?