CH 25

Unresolved Concerns

[You are late.]

Kyrie returned from the meeting with Lord Leschaux, found Nathaniel who was playing chess alone in the reception room with MarryAnne, who was standing beside him with a pale face.

Kyrie narrowed her eyebrows when she saw the maid who looked like she had been there for a while. She then casually took off her cloak.

“There are lots of people in the dressing room.”

Without responding, Nathaniel moved his Bishop. Kyrie then handed her cloak to Anne Marie.

“MarryAnne, could you prepare the bathwater?”

“But young lady…….”

“Shh. Go now.”

Kyrie’s gaze accompanied MarryAnne’s little back, who hesitantly went after she glanced back at Nathaniel for a while.

“Did you summon MarryAnne?”

[I did.]

Even though he knew that she was waiting for an explanation, Nathaniel didn’t even bother to look her way.

[You’ll see.]

Even after a while he only said one word.

“…… Please stay away from MarryAnne. I beg of you. She’s afraid of Lord Nathaniel.”

[If you didn’t know what the forest beast was planning, you would be able to say that.]

“It has nothing to do with the forest beast, it’s MaryAnne.  No matter what she did, it doesn’t change that she’s afraid of Lord Nathaniel.”

[Me?]

Kyrie silently observed her face with a mirror placed on the bureau. Because she was outside for a considerable long period, her makeup was fading as it isn’t looking as good as it was when it was just freshly applied, which caused the scar on her face to be faintly seen. Peeking from underneath the makeup.

“……”

Kyrie felt a little better when she untied her hair to let it cover her scarred cheeks after she saw her reflection.

She then took a small deep breath and approached closer to Nathaniel.

“Lord Nathaniel, I’m tired today, so could I just…”

[Sit down.]

Nathaniel, who answered in a cold voice, seemed to not allow any objection. It was rare for him to interrupt people who were in the middle of talking.

Kyrie obediently sat on the opposite seat. She twisted her head a little to make the scar less obvious since she was worried it would be seen.

It was snowing outside the window. The moon’s bright light gently shined on where Nathaniel sat. Illuminated his figure who seemed to be very much focusing all his attention on the chessboard with the Knight in his hand. Kyrie thought it was an awkward silent atmosphere.

“Do you have anything to say?”

[Yes.]

The monotonous answer was more listless and weak than usual. Nathaniel, who finally put down the knight piece he was holding, resting his chin on his arm.

Kyrie looked at the picture-like beautiful man leaned against the armrests of his chair. ‘With that kind of gorgeous face that was said to be a sin to ever exist in the world, how could he exude such a dangerous and corrupted aura?’

At that time, his trimmed thick and dense eyelashes caught her eyes unexpectedly. Kyrie, who was secretly admiring him, was finally forced to make eye contact with him.

[Why are you avoiding me?]

“….!”

It made her heart start pounding loudly with the sinking feeling.

[Tell me if I’m mistaken.]

Kyrie avoided his gaze with trembling eyes.

‘Should I lie? No, that kind of trick won’t work.’

Besides, Nathaniel had never told a lie. If she, who knew but still told lies then she is a deceitful person.

Kyrie bowed her head.

“Sorry.”

[I hate to say it twice, and I just asked ‘why’ you avoided me.]

“….”

[It’s three times now.]

“The relationship with Lord Nathaniel…”

[I don’t think that Leschaux is better than I am.]

“How…….?”

Kyrie’s eyes trembled. Leschaux clearly said he would hide it from Nathaniel.

[He had no talent for magic.]

Nathaniel mumbled quietly while picking up the Queen piece. Carefully and patiently laid down the steps looking like witnessing the creation of ivory.

[And how is that ‘how’ related to this story?]

The usual calm and poised smile instantly changed to that closely resembled a scorn.

“……. Not really.”

Kyrie, herself didn’t exactly know how to answer the question thrown at her.

The usual strong, cynical, and confident Kyrie Buchanan, whose shells are stripped, was in fact very insecure of herself.  

Has he ever known the need to turn away from everything and to always deny all the weaknesses she had as if it didn’t even exist? And to suddenly ask her to admit it, was like telling Kyrie to die instead.  So because of that, she decided to do what she did best.

Being resolute. No, pretending to be resolute.

“The journey to Sel Arellano is now over.”

Kyrie broke the silence and said coldly causing Nathaniel’s body to become even more stiffened than it already was.

“That was the purpose of this companionship, is it not? Now that we are already here it means I don’t have to company Lord Nathaniel any longer.”

“Let’s just meet occasionally to inspect my violation against Vallabriga’s restriction.”

‘It has indeed been a very exciting journey.’

I haven’t been this happy since my engagement and the appearance of Rubinia.

Nathaniel’s appearance coupled with his honesty, his carefree attitude to the surroundings, was certainly a fresh breath of air. Completely different from myself, so I envied it.

‘I was vicariously satisfied through him.’

But that didn’t necessarily mean it was okay to show her ugly side. That’s why now it was time to be back to reality, it was time to wake up.

“It’s been a pleasure.”

Kyrie’s voice cuts the air swiftly. 

She saw an unknown look in Nathaniel’s eyes. The blue light of his iris was now tangled with the light of the darkest blue of seawater, deep within the ocean.

It was the first time since she met him. Whether it was annoyance, anger, disappointment, she couldn’t tell. 

What she can tell is that Nathaniel’s voice, which has always seemed to be lively, now has been exceptionally heavy.

[What did Leschaux say?] 

“It wasn’t a big deal.”

[Tell me that ‘wasn’t a big deal’ story.]

“I don’t want to say it.” 

[Kyrie Buchanan]

“The moon is beautiful.”

Kyrie slowly looked out the window.

Kyrie seemed in a daze while particularly remembering something in Leschaux’s words. 

At some point, Nathaniel began to call her by her first name, not her last name. 

[Kyrie.]

At first, Kyrie didn’t understand what his words meant. She thought it was just a simple change to call her name. However, according to Leschaux, it meant ‘special’, so the word is different.

The current emperor was a cunning man. He would certainly desire to use Nathaniel. 

For him, Kyrie, the young Countess Lady was indeed meant to be only good as a weakness to take advantage of.

‘I’ve been betrayed by someone I’ve trusted once, so I can’t get entangled with another one again.’

Kyrie laughed a little while thinking about it.

It was right to think that the bluff was too exaggerated. After all, she couldn’t leave the person in front of her.

“Are you going to take revenge on the royal family?”

[We’ll see.] 

“Is it possible to stop you?”

[Leschaux seems to have hope for strange things.] 

“Right? I’m not special to you. That’s why we’re nothing. “

She said softly as if to remind herself not to forget. Nathaniel hardly seemed to breathe now, but he didn’t mind too much about Kyrie.

“Because there is nothing between any of us. Because there is no relationship. So, it would be better to say goodbye.”

So nobody could use you.

He is too steady to be swayed by the hands of greedy and sinful humans. She didn’t want to see an entity, who should be soaring to high places, being chained down.

[…….] 

A very long silence followed.

Nathaniel, who slowly blinked, staring at Kyrie while leaned against the chair, breath languidly. 

The horse chess piece, which had been lying around, returned to its original position, and before she knew it, there was a black cane in his hand.

He turned his head to look out of the window. Outside, the snow was falling heavily with the loud noise of the wind whirring. Nathaniel muttered in a voice small, enough to be buried in the whirring.

[Yes……don’t care.]

Kyrie suddenly grieved. Like when he was walking down the winter forest, Nathaniel looked very lonely today.

Nevertheless, he always stands up (high, aloof). The king of high winter whispered coldly as if promising not to be tied to anything on earth anymore.

[Go.]

The next morning, when Kyrie woke up, Nathaniel was already gone like a snowman melted underneath the early spring sunlight.

*** 

Capital Sel Arellano was thrilled. This is because Emperor Ginger Orewinbridge held festivals all over the capital to commemorate the crown prince’s engagement celebration.

Laura, whom she met again for the fitting of the dress, was more excited about the festival than the ball itself.

“Hey, Kyrie! Shall we go out after the ball?”

“But when it’s over, it will be past midnight by then right?”

“It’s okay because it’s a festival! If you hide your appearance, no one will know!”

“Well.  Can a festival be held in the first place?”

“Ugh. That’s right…”

The snow was still falling heavily like there’s a hole in the sky.  And when it comes to the weather, Laura has a lot to say.

“It’s snowing in the northernmost tip of the continent. Isn’t it crazy? It’s almost spring! Thanks to that, the transportation cost is tripled now.”

“I apologize.”

“Oh my, why did you apologize? Mother nature did it wrong.”

Kyrie laughed and avoided answering. 

‘Since that day, the amount of snow has increased.’

If this snow is falling because of Nathaniel, he might be angry with her.

However, Kyrie thought, she wishfully thought too much.

‘What am I saying?’

Of course, he must’ve been angry at the situation where for the first time there was a human who dared to reject him, but isn’t it correct? He was the one who was left frozen in a prison. 

He had already been betrayed by Orewinbridge, He must’ve thought that humans aren’t trustworthy.

Laura tapped on Kyrie’s shoulder, who was looking at the sky through the dressing room window in a daze.

“Hey, Kyrie!  Wake up!  What are you thinking?”

“Huh? Excuse me. What were you saying?”

“The evening party. Who are you going to go with?”

Laura asked while trying on a dress.

“I’m going to go with my father. It’s always been like that.”

“I’d come in with your brother if he were here, but where the hell was he?” 

“Well, I don’t care anymore.”

“Hey, what does he have to do with it anyway? He was almost like a stranger.”

Kyrie stopped at Laura’s words.

“Kyrie? What is it?”

“Huh?  No, nothing. That’s right, it doesn’t really matter. We both just have to live well by ourselves.”

Fortunately, Laura didn’t notice anything strange and moved on.

‘Yes, that’s right.’

Kyrie swallowed a sigh.

“How about this dress instead? Was the design a little too much?

“There seems to be a problem with insulation rather than design…….”

“Wouldn’t the ballroom be okay because it’s hot? And it’s spring soon!”

That spring may not come.

“It would be nice, but in case you don’t know, it would be better to wear a fox fur cloak.”

“Well, let’s do that! It’s not much.”

Kyrie and Laura left the dressing room after finishing repairing the dress. Laura frowned at once when the heavy snowstorm ruined her hair.

“Really, I can’t go out there. What heavy snow!”

Kyrie looked up to the sky with anxious eyes.

‘Will Nathaniel really avenge the royal family? Could Patriotic Lord really stop him? What will happen to this country?’

It was a question that no one could answer. Time passed, carrying all sorts of unresolved concerns.

Finally, Eden and Rubinia’s engagement ball was held.