Chapter 11

It seemed that the sight of him taking Hazel home had been noticed by someone. Even if he had blocked it before it became an article, he must not have been able to suppress every bit of gossip afterward.

As he sank into deep thought, the Viscount’s voice reached his ears.

“If the reason you are not inclined toward other marriage matches is perhaps because of that young lady……”

“Not at all. We merely knew each other long ago.”

The hotel in his briefly shaken imagination began once more to be rebuilt in grand form. The earth was dug up to prepare the site, and concrete was poured and hardened.

“I ought to look for a fiancée within this year. So that I may marry around next year.”

“……”

“I, too, am curious who will take the place of lady of the house of ‘El Cortida.’”

Just who would join hands with him and destroy Strauss? His sea-green eyes took in the broad sea.

* * *

“Ugh, uh, hn……”

The man let out nothing but meaningless sounds. The smell of blood and sweat coming from the heavy body crushing him made him want to vomit. In the hot weather, with their bodies pressed together, sweat was pouring from the man as well.

“Ah, uh……”

It was noisy outside. It was the sound of Holdland soldiers searching for him. Since they too would be able to see the carriage shattered to pieces, there was no need to shout and reveal his location.

Even so, groans kept slipping from the man’s mouth. It had already been quite a while since no breath had been felt from the head that had fallen right beside his face.

It was far too cruel a fate for a wealthy prince who had been born and raised inside the royal palace. Bitter regret swallowed the man whole, that he should have simply stayed comfortably in the homeland, amusing himself in the company of women. Never had he imagined that it would not be enough to face death inside a carriage, and that he would then end up pinned beneath a corpse, waiting for someone to come rescue him.

The dead stare clung to his whole body. The swift arrival of buzzing flies was terrifying, as though it were foretelling his own future as well.

The man, having finally managed to turn his head away from the corpse, could not hold it back and retched.

“Blegh.”

A single ray of light leaking through the collapsed roof of the carriage happened, of all things, to illuminate the vomit. He had no leisure to feel ashamed. Perhaps later, when his senses returned, he might stomp his feet and shudder at the memory.

At that moment, a voice like salvation was heard.

“Your Highness!”

Saved!

The Prince used the last of his strength to shove off the corpse pressing him down. As though he cared nothing for how his treatment of the dead man—flinging aside the body that had been sacrificed in his place without even the slightest respect—might appear to the dead man’s comrades.

“I-I am fine. Let us leave here at once. I will return to my homeland.”

Prince Edward staggered upright. To him, the sensation of the dead soldier was nothing more and nothing less than something horrifying that had to be shaken off.

Unable to control his trembling body, he tightly wrapped his arms around himself and lowered his head. It was then that he saw a thin scrap of paper.

“……?”

It was a photograph. A sturdy young man, a woman presumed to be his wife, an older man who was probably the young man’s father, and a wheat-haired woman who looked astonishingly like the young man.

Thinking that the woman was quite pretty, the Prince gestured to a soldier with a rigid expression.

“Find out who this woman is. She seems to be that man’s younger sister.”

Compensation and what came after could be thought of later. For now, the priority was escaping this place.

* * *

To the east of Sainsbury flowed a river.

There were few children bold enough to play in the river, which changed temperament at all hours. Instead, people dipped their feet in the little stream branching off from it and went fishing.

The brook flowing before the plane tree Hazel liked was one of those tributaries. Sitting alone on the lawn that had begun to redden under the sunset, Hazel listened to the sound of the water murmuring along.

“……”

Sainsbury was peaceful. Mr. Bennett, who had worried Hazel might come back puffed up with airs after Bukata, let out a sigh of relief, and Sally, who had been bored while Hazel was away, welcomed her back with delight. Even little Jen, who still could not speak, expressed her happiness by clutching tightly at Hazel’s hair.

After that, daily life flowed on in the same way. She rose in the morning, milked the cow, and tended the fields.

Today, there was a book in her hand. Against the two-hundred-year-old plane tree and the green grass, an old sea-green book suited best.

She had just leaned back comfortably against the tree trunk and opened the book.

“I knew I’d find you here.”

Oliver was one year younger than Hazel, but because he had advanced to the upper class early, the two of them had graduated together. Now he was working as a teacher in the neighboring village, an hour away by carriage.

He had said he was not well-off enough to wait until a position opened in Sainsbury and had volunteered for appointment to Goldengrass School, but Hazel knew he had been considerate of her, knowing that she wanted to be posted to Sainsbury even if she had to wait years.

Hazel closed the book she had just opened.

“You’re off work already?”

“There have to be days like that too. Get your rest while you can. Before long, you’ll also have a day when you deeply understand just how painful it is to be a teacher at a rural school.”

“Your praises are carrying all the way across an hour’s distance to Sainsbury. I hear the parents in that town are making an uproar, begging you to stay a long time.”

Ever since their school days, he had been one of Hazel’s fervent admirers. Though he had not followed her around openly and made her uncomfortable the way others did, he had expressed his interest by subtly taking the seat beside her and coming to the plane tree.

After Kyle and Alice both disappeared at the same time, he had also become a good friend to Hazel, who had lost the place where she could rest her heart, and because of that Hazel could not coldly drive Oliver away.

“How was it, going there? Did it make you want to live in Bukata?”

“No.”

Hazel shook her head.

“Things are too expensive there, and there are too many people. If we went to Bukata, you know? We couldn’t even dream of a house with a yard like this.”

To say there was no yard also meant that people in Bukata had no need to raise cows or farm. But Hazel did not say that much.

“I suppose people there know how to earn money in a refined way.”

“Well, I’m not sure I’d call it refined.”

There were refined places there. The most representative was the Strauss Hotel with its dazzling lights, and the theater and subway station she had glimpsed in passing had also been splendid.

But that city had another side. The dim street where she had met Kyle, the industrial district with grime staining the walls, and even the beggar in front of the hotel.

Bukata had a gap that did not exist in Sainsbury, where everyone was poor in roughly equal measure.

‘And Kyle is there too.’

Kyle Strauss and Hazel Bennett had other names: Bukata and Sainsbury. The thought left a bitter taste in her mouth. Oliver, who had been gazing at her as she fell quiet, spoke.

“Hazel, I like Sainsbury.”

“……”

“I’m glad you said you’d stay in Sainsbury. I really wanted to tell you that.”

Hazel gave a faint smile. That gave Oliver courage.

“Hazel, would you like to go out with me this Christmas Eve?”

“What, is that a date invitation?”

A laugh escaped her. Hazel laughed out loud as she asked him back. In the blowing wind, her hair swayed softly.

“Oliver, it’s still summer. Who makes plans half a year in advance?”

Ever since turning fifteen, every Christmas Eve Hazel had gone out holding the arm of a different boy. Usually, her partner had been decided by first come, first served.

In previous years, he had lost his turn, but Hazel was already twenty. Her girl friends who had graduated with her had started getting married the year before last.

If he was too cautious, it felt as though his chance might never come at all. Oliver answered at once.

“That’s how desperate I am. Go out with me, Hel.”

“……”

Hazel only gave a small shrug.

Oliver was a good young man. He was devoted even to his widowed mother, and he got along well with Colin and Sally. Her father, too, had quietly let it show that he hoped Hazel and Oliver might work out.

He was from Sainsbury, and he had no dissatisfaction with Sainsbury. For building a household simply and modestly, without greed, what better match could there be?

“She’s only pretty.”

He was certainly a far better match than that ill-mannered brute.

“I’ll keep the time free.”

“Thank you!”

They exchanged a few more words and then parted.

Her brown skirt fluttered with her lively steps. As Hazel walked back with dry grass clinging all over her feet, her brows tilted with puzzlement.

Soldiers were standing in front of the house. Sally’s face was covered. Little Jen was wailing at the top of his lungs.

For the moment, it seemed more urgent to soothe her nephew. Her pace quickened all the more.

Walking briskly, Hazel suddenly clutched her skirt and ran. Untrimmed grass brushed against her calves and left scratches. She ran straight up to the soldiers and cried out,

“Sally!”

Fortunately, she managed to catch the baby before Sally dropped Jen. Half kneeling, Hazel panted and looked up at the soldiers.

“What is the matter?”

“Are you Miss Bennett?”

“Yes.”

Even after confirming who she was, the soldier could not speak for a while. Another man was helping Sally into a chair so she could sit safely.

The young soldier who was meeting Hazel’s eyes said,

“Captain Colin Bennett has been killed in action.”