CH 19

“Sante broke through the window when he came, and because of the wind and Sante tackling him, Hydar was flung to the opposite wall and was hit with glass shards.”

Ophelia’s tone was so matter-of-fact that Alei had to doubt for a moment if what he had heard was as simple as ‘Hydar ate all the plum pies.’

However, no matter how unbelievable the statement was, Alei’s ears were always fine.

“…Somehow, I didn’t think he was hit by a falling chandelier.”

“The window was restored, but I couldn’t do anything about Hydar. That was the best I could do.”

“Most of them won’t know anyway.”

At Alei’s words, Ophelia laughed.

But that’s not true.

Even Alei, who wasn’t a doctor, would be able to tell. There’s no way the staff in the ward wouldn’t be able to recognize the true extent of Hydar’s injuries.

However, in the current situation where Hydar was unconscious, the highest authority in Ladeen Castle was Ophelia, Imperial Inspector and Princess.

These people in the countryside saw her as a representative of the Emperor himself.

So if the Princess said, ‘The chandelier fell,’ who here would be able to refute it?

If they were noblemen, it could be possible, but the servants here had no choice but to bow their heads.

‘Even so, Hydar saw me as a thorn in his eyes.’

Ophelia recalled visiting the ward after dinner earlier.

He didn’t die. The head maid said that a mage had managed to take out all the shards.

—He said it was impossible to treat all the injuries, but at least the shards could be removed. Even the doctor said that it would be difficult to treat everything. But still, what a relief.

The head maid mentioned that her family had been serving the Ladeen family for generations, and so she was praying desperately for her master not to die.

Ophelia suddenly wondered why the maid still acted that way, even though the same Lord had slapped Ophelia in the face and left her in this state.

But on the other hand, Ophelia knew that upholding morals never led to gaining affection.

And affection never stayed by her side for even a single moment throughout all her life.

So it was laughable to hold onto expectations.

Ophelia deviated from her thoughts. She raised her head to return to the disjointed conversation.

“Ophelia.”

And her eyes met with Alei as he raised his hand, touching her chin.

His fingertips gently supported her chin, and his thumb stroked her cheek.

How cautious this touch was, as though she was more delicate than dandelion seeds, as though he couldn’t afford to be rough.

“It’s dark, so I can’t see very well…”

Ah, it was rough. Ophelia corrected her earlier thoughts.

His gaze was rough. His expression was rough.

“Your cheek is swollen.”

And his voice was rough.

Anyone who heard him would realize that he was angry.

Ophelia briefly met his gaze, but slowly averted it once more.

She could see plainly how the corner of his eye twitched.

But even as they were so close together, Ophelia was able to lie calmly.

“I’m sure you saw it wrong.”

No one in the Ladeen Castle, let alone the people in the ward, acknowledged that Ophelia had been hit.

It was such a narrow distance, and yet she could push him away with lies.

“…Did Sante hit you, too?”

However, Alei wouldn’t back down.

A suppressed growl was behind his voice.

“Is that why you’re lying? To cover for him?”

“What are you talking about? Sante helped me.”

“How did he help y…”

Alei’s voice faltered.

The words he couldn’t utter aloud were like spikes inside his throat.

He could clearly see how her eyes widened at his accusation, but he could only think that Sante was the reason for her to lie so plainly.

There were more words stuck in his throat than he thought. Alei picked out what he wanted to say.

What do you mean? How did he help you?

“…Do you trust him?”

But this was what left his lips.

* * *

As she heard those words, Ophelia unknowingly uttered what was on her mind.

“So you heard it. Everything.”

Not that it had come to this, it wasn’t like she hadn’t expected this at all.

Ophelia guessed that Alei might have been outside the door when she opened it, just that he left before she could catch him. No, it might have been longer than that.

However, if Alei hadn’t brought it up, she would have pretended that it never happened.

She felt somewhat apologetic to Alei for doing so, but everything was up to Alei’s choice. She had no intention of interfering with it, and neither had she any thoughts of apologizing.

So Ophelia couldn’t help but be taken aback by Alei’s reaction.

‘I didn’t think you’d want me to know that I overheard you, considering that you avoided me this much.’

Wasn’t his behavior enough to confess that he overheard the conversation? But as she thought about this, Alei confessed.

“I heard it… by chance.”

And his expression clearly revealed that he didn’t intend to let her know either.

As the blue night’s illumination shone dimly on his face, she saw that his expression was distorted.

It would be right to say that his grimace was nothing short of threatening or aggressive, but for Ophelia, it didn’t seem that way.

She knew what the reason was.

To him, there was no reason to be hostile.

And usually, he would direct his own hostility to himself.

He was a man who would stab himself and make an excuse.

“I don’t know if you’d believe me, but it really was a coincidence that I heard. So I went back to the castle and heard that the chandelier in your room fell, and that the Fief Lord was badly injured. I was worried about you, so I went straight to your room.”

“I was talking to Sante.”

Did he know how many times he said the word ‘so’ now? Even a beggar who had been starving for three days wouldn’t be as imploring as this.

Ophelia reached up to touch his hand that was over her cheek and leaned her cheek on it. It stung a little because it was still swollen, but Ophelia didn’t show this.

If she expressed her emotions more, she couldn’t guess which words this man would next repeat.

Ophelia closed her eyes, and then opened them again. Only then did she make eye contact with him.

“I’m not reprimanding you, so calm down. I know you wouldn’t have done that on purpose. And I knew that you heard it to some extent.”

“…I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize for something you didn’t mean to do. More than that, from which part did you hear?”

“When you called me Alejandro, and that I lost my memories after being exiled from the magic tower.”

Then it was pretty much from the beginning. Ophelia almost frowned without being conscious of it.

But it’s not because he heard much more than she realized.

‘It’s like we’re being played with by Sante.’

She was completely unaware, but Sante must have known from the moment Alei appeared in front of the door.

There’s nothing she could do about it. It was her fault for not being more cautious.

Taking a step back from Alei, Ophelia raised her head.

“Now I know where to clarify. First of all, I don’t trust Sante. I don’t know how you came up with that idea.”

“That’s…”

Alei tried to answer indifferently, but his tongue was tied up.

It would be embarrassing to say that he thought she trusted Sante simply for the fact that she talked to him about something she hadn’t mentioned to Alei.

However, Ophelia could read him.

“…I told Sante about it because I was left with no choice but to talk about it. It wasn’t because I trust him.”

To be more precise, it was because she needed Sante to cooperate no matter what.

She could negotiate with Alei because she had his memories as a bargaining chip, but she had nothing to present to Sante. At best, all she could offer was his old friend, Alei, but this was a weak card.

‘I was lucky this time only because of the ring.’

There was no guarantee that she’d be able to slip the ring on his finger again.

So if she had no cards to show next time, there was only one thing left that she could use to make him move.

Curiosity.

Fortunately, Ophelia was confident in this aspect.

She’s a woman who has the magic tower’s lord and was trying to recover his memories. She had plans to go to the magic tower herself. And, she even knew the name of the head of the sirens.

When else would Sante meet someone who could spark his interest like this?

So Ophelia slipped the ring on and made Sante helpless in front of her, planning this all in advance.

She wouldn’t reveal how she knew all these secrets.

If she told him, then it would dampen the curiosity he had of her. This way, Sante wouldn’t lose interest that quickly, and she would also be able to use this continuously as a bargaining chip against him in the future.

This method worked so well that she managed to replace her broken quills with a feather from Sante himself.