CH 37

“….”

“I don’t want His Highness… to regret the decision of that day… so…”

“Okay.”

Clarisse only smiled a little now and said as if she had promised.

“I’ll definitely be a wonderful 18-year-old. I’ll grow up well!”

It was quite sincere, but Maximilian didn’t answer for some reason.

Maybe he couldn’t find anything to say.

‘I must have troubled the Duke…’

When she lowered her head in despair, a large hand popped up on top of her head.

Clarisse lifted her eyes and looked up at him, and laughed ‘hehe’ without knowing at the warmth she felt above her head.

****

When Maximilian left the annex, Clarisse immediately came out into the garden and kissed Mallang.

“What do you think? Isn’t it amazing?”

Clarisse placed Mallang on the palm of her hand and spun around on the spot.

Around the mansion were evergreen trees taller than Clarisse.

The neatly trimmed green leaves almost obscured the stems and branches, making it look like a huge green wall.

In the middle of the garden was a non-functioning fountain and a narrow ornamental waterway leading from it.

It is not filled with water now, but probably in the summer it seemed to ripple along this road.

This ornamental waterway ran beyond the green walls surrounding the garden.

Clarisse spread his legs wide and stood on both ends of the waterway.

She doesn’t know why she suddenly wanted to do this, but somehow it was fun.

“Cooh!”

“I won’t fall. I can walk forward.”

Clarisse started walking along the waterway, waddling with her legs wide open.

“Cooh!”

“I won’t get hurt.”

After taking a few more steps, Clarisse felt a bit stuffy and pulled the hat that covered her head and ears.

Her hair, which had been beautifully arranged, rose like a lion.

“It’s fresh. Even though it’s winter here, it feels warm… Huh? The capital is warm, right?”

Clarisse giggled as she paused her waddling steps.

“Cooh?”

“Well, that’s because I feel like I’ve really become Sheridan’s child. The gardener’s grandfather said that Sheridan’s child would feel warm in the capital’s winter. That’s why.”

Clarisse lifted her chin slightly. Like pretending to be proud.

“I am the child of Sheridan.”

“…Coo. (Usually you catch a cold from being so conceited.)”

‘No, no,’ Clarisse said, moving her legs wide apart along the waterway again.

But this delightful adventure seemed almost over.

Before she knew it, she arrived in front of a tall evergreen tree.

“Coo?”

“We can’t go any further from here. The Duke said I can’t.”

“Coo.”

“What do you hear…?”

Clarisse quietly put her ear to the rough tree.

Mallang said it could hear something, but Clarisse couldn’t hear anything.

“No sound… ah.”

Clarisse knew the answer quickly.

What Mallang’s ear hears, but Clarisse doesn’t.

Clarisse jumped down the waterway. It was not dangerous because it was a little over the knee.

After quickly placing Mallang behind my shoulder and between my hair, I lay flat on the floor.

There seemed to be a ‘talking stone’ under the evergreen tree.

‘What kind of stones are there in the royal palace?’

Curious, Clarisse crawled forward.

When passing through a low tunnel made of tree leaves, she crawled with her head and body even lower.

And then at that moment.

Thud! The top of her head hit a very hard place, and she felt a huge star spinning around.

“U, ugh!”

Clarisse quickly wrapped her head around her and fell on the floor.

The air seemed to pass through, but was there a wall?

“Ugh.”

No, it didn’t seem to be a wall.

When she hears a boy’s voice above her head.

‘Who is it?’

Clarisse rubbed her still tingling head and quietly raised her head.

Because the wooden tunnel was dark, the opponent’s appearance was only a dim shadow.

“Who are you?”

Clarisse asked very carefully.

“….”

The other person didn’t answer, but instead, Mallang between Clarisse’s hair whispered quietly her ear, ‘Coo’ 

“You’re angry…?”

Startled.

Her story made the other person flinch for a moment.

“I’m sorry I bumped into you.”

Clarisse quickly handed over the apple.

Instead of answering, the opponent took a few steps back.

When Clarisse immediately closed the distance, he hurriedly escaped out of the tree tunnel.

Clarisse soon got out of the tunnel, too.

Then, the strong sunlight fell white through the eyes that had been accustomed to the darkness for a while.

The blurred vision made the appearance of the opponent she met in the tunnel faint.

It wasn’t an adult.

Come to think of it, it didn’t seem like adults could pass through such a narrow tunnel.

Clarisse blinked her eyes eagerly.

Each time, the opponent’s appearance was seen a little more clearly.

Pale blonde hair, eyelashes long enough to cast shadows on the eyes, and surprisingly clear blue eyes—.

It was a boy who looked like an adult for some reason.

It could have been because he was perfectly dressed in an uncomfortable-looking suit and even a coat.

The boy was also staring at Clarisse, who had just escaped from the darkness.

It was Clarisse who broke the ambiguous silence that continued as they sat face to face.

“I am Clarisse. No, my name is Clarisse.”

Clarisse thought of talking comfortably to a boy of her age, but stopped.

She didn’t know why, but she had a strong feeling that she couldn’t do that.

“….”

Despite the courageous self-introduction, the boy didn’t respond.

“Are you okay where I bumped into? It hurt as if I could see the stars.”

Clarisse tried to smile as she rubbed her still tingling head with her palm.

The boy didn’t particularly react.

No, it looked like he was still angry, seeing his expression wrinkled.

‘It must have hurt a lot.’

What should she do in this case?

Clarisse, who was agonizing, recalled a storybook she had read a while ago.

There, when a child was injured, they would blow the wind over the wound, saying, “Don’t get sick, whoo.”

Clarisse jumped up from the waterway and strode in front of the boy.

After that, she tipped her cheeks over the boy’s head and blew on him before he could step back.

“Don’t be sick, whoo.”

At that moment, the boy frowned and raised his head and finally opened his mouth for the first time.

“…are you crazy?”

It was a pretty voice.

“I’m not crazy.”

Clarisse answered sincerely and then touched the top of her head for a while.

“It’s still a little tingling, though.”

“Ha…”

The boy glared at Clarisse with a look of astonishment, then brushed off his clothes and stood up.

“If you tell me you saw me here, I’ll kill you.”

Kill her?

It was such a frightening threat that Clarisse was at a loss for words.

‘Come to think of it…’

Clarisse had not been able to speak at ease since the first time she saw the boy, and now somehow, she seemed to know why.

The boy is quite like him.

｢On the day she turns 18, you must bring her neck to me.｣

The owner of this land.

“…Well.” 

As Clarisse looked at him in silence, he sighed and lowered his head.

“I don’t know who it is, so I can’t even talk about it.”

It sounded somewhat self-deprecating.

To Clarisse’s ears, for some reason, those words sounded like a request to know herself.

‘But I really don’t know who it is.’

Except that he resembles the King very much.

It was then.

“Coo…” 

Mallang, still hiding in her hair, spoke in a low voice.

It wasn’t until she heard the story that she looked again and saw that there was a special pendant under the boy’s shirt collar. 

It was a dark blue stone studded with ornaments, but at a glance, Clarisse knew that it was a “stone that tells a story.” 

“That…!” 

Clarisse forgot all manners and pointed her finger at his collar.

However, the boy turned around to the point of being merciless, as if he had nothing to do.

It was then.

“Prince Valentine!”

Clarisse called out the boy’s name.

Valentine Ashton Saphers.

The younger brother of the current king, who was born just before the death of the former king, and another half-brother of Maximilian.

Of course, this information was not known to Clarisse in advance.

Because she didn’t know much about the Sapher royal family.

It was the Prince’s pendant that informed this, and Mallang hiding between her hair heard the story and told it quietly. 

‘The boy responds happily if you call him Prince Valentine.’

But that advice is half right and half wrong.

Prince Valentine certainly did ‘respond’ to Clarisse’s call.

It was to the point where he stood still.

But when he looked back at her, far from putting on a happy expression, he just looked at her with wary eyes. 

Just like when the outer walls of Sheridan Mansion dealt with Clarisse.

“How did you find out about me?”

She couldn’t say the Prince’s pendant informed her of this question. 

“I just… know.” 

Clarisse didn’t have much to say, so she mumbled and answered appropriately.

“Ha.” 

Then the boy seemed even more angry. His face even turned red.

‘If the prince wants to kill me, what should I do?’

If he was a member of the royal family, he would have great power.

Clarisse closed her eyes tightly for some reason and at the same time, heard a soft whisper in her ear.

“Coo…(He looks very happy, so don’t get it wrong.)”

“…Eung?” 

He’s happy?