CH 17

Elusiana, who couldn’t bear to speak due to the dizzying scenery, closed her eyes tightly. Then Simon’s immediate aide approached and asked Simon.

“Shall we begin, Sir?”

“How many people have gathered?”

The aide, who glanced at Elusiana, coughed once and continued, “I think… all of them.”

“I see.” Simon, who nodded, sighed low, then continued, “I think we will have to stay up all night today.”

“What about Lady Elusiana?”

“Hmm, that’s the problem.”

Simon looked at Elusiana, who was stunned, and then looked at his aide as if he had decided something big. “We can’t let her stay up all night. Let’s do it for a few hours, then continue the rest tomorrow.”

“If that happens, there will be a backlash among the people in the slums.”

“I’ll take care of that.”

Simon tapped his aide on the shoulder and said to Elusiana, who was still looking at the warehouse, “I will be right back, Lusi. Sir Ron, please take care of the children.”

“Is it okay if I don’t go with Father?”

“Of course, it’s fine.”

Simon laughed a little and headed out of the shelter. After a while, Elusiana, who had been staggering, slumped down to the floor.

“Lusi!”

Astonished, Astein grabbed her arm, but Elusiana pushed his hand away.

“Let go, As. We’re doomed. It’s all ruined, hik. What’s this? What kind of place is this?”

After meeting a rich father, she thought she would live happily ever after. Still, after experiencing the catastrophe in front of her eyes, the problem was much worse than she thought.

“What are we going to do about this? What to do? Huaang.”

Astein, who was staring at Elusiana, who was grieving after hitting the ground, clung to her side and comforted her.

“It’s all right, Lusi. Everything’s gonna be alright.”

“What do you mean it’s okay? You don’t know anything.”

“But… you have me.”

“Hiks. Huhuhu.”

Astein embraced the crying Elusiana in her arms. His gaze turned to the people outside the shelter while patting Elusiana’s back,

“Should I kill all of them?”

“Huhu. What were you saying?”

“Uh, nothing. Don’t cry. Calm yourself, Lusi. Crying a lot is bad for your health.”

A friendly touch once again gently patted Elusiana on the back. His expression sank thickly with an unknown light.

Thus, the departure of the two ended in anxiety.

* * *

It was afternoon the next day.

“Isn’t that a bit scary? I mean those red eyes.”

“You think so too? Sometimes when our eyes meet, it feels like my heart is racing up out of fear.”

“More than that, you know the colt that died a while ago, right?”

“You mean Milk? The white colt that nearly made our lady fall off while trying to ride it, right?”

“Yes. Actually, that evening… I saw it. Astein was in the stable.”

“What? R-Really?”

The startled maid, who walked through the hallway, stopped. The maid double-checked if anyone was around and lowered her voice as she spoke. “Don’t tell me, it was Astein who killed that white colt?”

“I-I didn’t mean it like that. But… isn’t it strange? All of sudden, Milk wasn’t feeling well, then died the next day.”

The maid, who had been listening to the other maid with a serious expression, jerked her arm.

“Shh! Be careful what you say. The young lady cares so much about Astein, so how could he have done such a terrible thing?”

“Of course, I think like that too. But, the normally expressionless boy becomes a completely different person in front of our young lady. Isn’t it… too strange?”

The maid, who was listening, trembled at the goosebumps. She did not know how she did not notice it before, but when she thought back, her body lost its warmth quickly.

It was then.

“Can you move, please?”

“…!”

“…!”

A dreary voice was heard. Looking back, the maids froze in surprise. Astein was standing there. The maid’s eyes shook violently as if they had seen a ghost. How long has this demon been here?

“Are my words hard to understand?”

“Ah, yes, yes.”

“I-I will get out of your way right now!”

The frightened maids quickly escaped.

Astein looked at them one by one with indifferent eyes. “You need to be more careful in the future.”

“…!”

“…!”

After Astein disappeared, the pale maids slumped down in their seats. Their clenched fists were still visibly shaking.

“…D-Did his words mean not to block the hallway?”

“D-Didn’t he mean not to gossip?”

The two maids swallowed their saliva and hugged each other with pale faces as if they had come back from hell. They promised not to gossip about Astein again.

* * *

On the other hand, Astein, who passed through the hallway and escaped into the garden, paused for a moment as he saw the cloth that was spread wide.

“…?”

“Huh? As, you’re here. Take off your shoes and come up.”

Smiling brightly like a sun, Elusiana threw the book she was reading to her side and jumped up. Astein stood for a long time as if to see something strange and then brought it up.

“You have to go to the bedroom to sleep, Lusi.”

“Sunbathing is the best on a sunny day like this.”

“Sunbathing?”

“It means taking a shower with sunlight. As my whole body relaxes, I feel like the stress that has accumulated so far is washed away pleasantly.”

“…the sky is full of clouds. What do you mean by sunbathing?”

Astein, who narrowed his eyebrows, made a serious expression as if he had heard a foreign language. Elusiana walked with her knees and grabbed Astein by the wrist.

“What are you thinking so hard about? Hurry up and join me. Dessert will be coming soon. I asked them to bring plenty of fruit and sandwiches. Just look forward to it. Because today is our own picnic time!”

“Picnic? You mean what you said last time?”

“Yes! On such a sunny day, a picnic cannot be missed!”

Astein lifted his suspicious gaze and glanced at the unusually colored sky. There’s not even sunlight, and the sky is full of dark clouds.

Elusiana lightly ignored Astein’s question and tapped the spot as if brushing off the dust.

“The picnic itself is not special. But what is special is to sit on the cloth, eat delicious desserts, and have a good time talking. What do you think? Don’t you feel happiness overflowing just by imagining it?”

“I don’t know what’s different from what we usually do over there.”

Astein looked at the white tea table right next to him and made a strange expression.

“Of course it’s different!”

Elusiana put her hand on her waist with a pouting look.

“You have to mind your manners there, but here—”

After cutting her words like that, Elusiana was suddenly recumbent. There wasn’t any sunlight shining down on her, but after blinking her eyes for a moment as if her eyes were dazzled, she started rolling her body from side to side.

“You can roll around like this to your heart’s content. What do you think? It looks completely comfortable, right?”

Astein’s head tilted slightly to the right, watching what Elusiana was doing. She really didn’t care about her own manner. At that time, Astein looked embarrassed when she found Elusiana smiling without knowing that the hem of her dress had risen to her knees.

“Why don’t we just sit down?”

“What are you talking about? Hurry up and join me. I purposely brought the largest cloth. I will grant you this freedom, so enjoy this to the fullest.”

“…freedom.”

Astein, whose cheeks were slightly red, looked up at the sky as if avoiding eye contact. The dark clouds were unusual, and raindrops were about to fall.

“Lusi, it would be better to end it at this point.”

“What?”

“Hurry up and clean up.”

“…”

Astein, looking up at the sky and talking, slowly turned his head in an atmosphere that suddenly became quiet.

“…Lusi?”

“How come you’re like that?”

“…?”

Elusiana, who had been showing an innocent smile, suddenly opened her eyes with tears. Unable to understand her words, Astein was speechless.

“Why are you doing this, because, you don’t know, why I prepared this, today?”

He didn’t know.

“…why did you prepare this?”

“Ha! I’m so stunned! What’s so pretty about you? I was even making a fuss about it since dawn for you.”

“Elusiana?”

“Don’t even call my name! You’re making me stuffier than a steamed bun!”

“…?”

Elusiana, who stared fiercely at Astein’s face, strode out of the garden without wearing shoes. Astein blinked his eyes and chased her distant figure.

“What just happened?”

Astein, who had a bewildered expression, scratched his head for a moment before the rain began to fall drop by drop from the sky.

* * *

Pitter-patter.

The rain from the morning did not intend to stop even in the afternoon. Elusiana glanced at the door once at the endless rain.

“Cold-hearted boy.”

“Yes, Lady? What did you say?”

“Uh, it’s nothing.”

After staring at Elusiana for a moment, Trisha arranged the bedding again.

Elusiana, who sighed, turned her eyes out of the window again.

Is he angry?

Since she got angry all of a sudden, Astein might have been in a bad mood.

“However, I prepared it because I was sorry about yesterday.”

Leaving the mansion without Simon’s permission, coming into the dangerous slum, and most of all, interfering with Simon’s work by revealing her identity. It was all problems caused by her.

However, she thought he would accept it as if he couldn’t win, just like he always did. No, they would have been rolling around together if it hadn’t rained like this.

“The rain is coming so suddenly like a ghost..”

Elusiana looked toward the door once again, resting her arms on the table and putting her chin on that.

It was then.

Knock, knock.

Elusiana automatically raised her body at the sound of knocking and calmly sat back in the chair. Coughing for no reason, she neatly tidied up her messy clothes.

Meanwhile, Trisha opened the door and welcomed the visitor.