Four people sat side by side in the drawing room.
First, the master of the castle, Viscount Owen Delkist, and his daughter Amy. Then the unexpected visitor Rowell, and Sandy, who had somehow ended up seated alongside them.
Clink.
Setting down his teacup, Rowell looked at Amy.
“Thank you for coming out at this late hour, my lady.”
Amy before him simply smiled pleasantly.
Rowell felt a strange unease. Normally when someone came calling like this, they would ask what had brought the visitor here.
“What brings you to see me?”
A question that came a beat late, and then:
“Is it perhaps because of Sister Catherine?”
She already knew the reason for his visit.
And rather than protecting Catherine, there was a peculiar nuance suggesting she would rather he hurry up and take Catherine away.
He had assumed that since Catherine and Vivi were close, Amy would be close with them as well, but apparently that was not the case.
If they weren’t on good terms, why had Catherine chosen to impersonate Amy of all people? Was it possible that Amy alone disliked Catherine? Had there been some misunderstanding between the two? Or perhaps feminine jealousy?
He couldn’t say.
Well, it wasn’t his concern.
Rowell studied Amy with a composed gaze.
“You already know. Word travels fast.”
“Sister Catherine came and went.”
Amy smiled pleasantly. Then with a deepening smile, she added:
“Just now.”
“Is that so?”
Rowell’s blue eyes gleamed coldly for a brief moment.
What is this woman? Why is she telling me everything so freely?
His instincts put him on guard against Amy.
Sandy, seated beside him, was also startled. Learning that Catherine was this close by, she kept anxiously watching Rowell’s expression. She was on edge, worried he might dash out at any moment and grab Catherine by the scruff of her neck.
It was then that Owen asked.
“Catherine came here?”
“Yes, Father.”
“If she came, she should have come to see me. Surely she didn’t just leave without stopping by?”
“It would have been nice if Sister Catherine thought of you so fondly, Father.”
“What do you mean by that, Amy? Of course she does.”
“Does she, I wonder?”
Amy smiled pleasantly.
Her gaze returned to Rowell.
“Sister Catherine said she could communicate with Sister Vivi as well.”
“Is that so?”
It was something he had already known. He had gone to the trouble of not pressing Sandy, but all that effort to play ignorant had come to nothing.
It put him in a poor mood.
It was true that he had come here to catch Catherine through Amy.
But why was she telling him everything so freely.
“Why are you telling me all of this?”
“Because Sister asked me to. She said if I couldn’t go with her right then, I should lie and say I had just come back from a short trip.”
“……”
“I absolutely detest lying.”
“……”
“There’s no other reason. I simply don’t want to get tangled up in something complicated.”
Rowell was silent for a moment.
Owen looked back and forth between Rowell and his daughter, wondering what on earth was going on.
Then Rowell, who had been silent, lifted his head and looked at Amy.
“Would you be able to keep this matter a secret?”
“A secret?”
“You said you don’t want to get tangled up in something complicated.”
“Ah.”
Amy, who had been rolling her eyes in thought, smiled pleasantly and answered.
“Of course. I do hope things go well for you.”
– – –
Delkist Castle was truly vast in area.
Rowell walked along the corridor, looking down at the grounds below. Owen had invited Rowell to stay the night at Delkist Castle. And Rowell, with apparent leisure, had accepted.
“Just now, she came and went…”
That meant she was still somewhere nearby.
“This is going to end far too easily.”
If she had gone to all the trouble of boldly running away from the Emperor, she could have been a little more thorough about it.
To Rowell’s seasoned eyes, Catherine was full of vulnerabilities.
It had only been yesterday that he had received the order from the Emperor. He still had plenty of time.
But what was this uncomfortable feeling. If the Emperor had told him to do it, he simply had to comply.
The fact that he had to bring Catherine to Edwin continued to make him uneasy.
“Perhaps because she’s an innocent woman.”
A soundless sigh slipped through his teeth.
His gaze automatically swept over the people coming and going below the castle. Searching for Catherine, who would be somewhere among them.
“Why am I like this?”
The fact that he was even deliberating over it was laughable.
He let out a quiet, wry smile and turned to walk away.
He had decided to stay here tonight as Owen had requested, so he thought he might as well look around the castle.
Thud!
He collided with someone coming down the stairs.
“Hmm?”
“Oh!”
A ripple of shimmering golden waves.
A voice that sounded like one he had heard just yesterday.
The person who had bumped their head against his chest was…
“Catherine Rochelin!”
Rowell’s eyes widened slightly in surprise.
In contrast, Catherine’s eyes went as wide as a pair of footballs.
Rowell’s gaze wavered.
‘Oh, for goodness’ sake.’
He had been trying to let her slip away, and now she appears right before his eyes like this.
‘What exactly am I supposed to do now?’
– – –
A short while before.
Having slipped out of Amy’s room, Catherine decided to make a run for it then and there.
But upon reaching the castle gates of Delkist Castle, she quickly changed her mind.
Because she came face to face with a harsh reality.
“Oh no! Getting in so easily was pure luck!”
Catherine clutched her head.
Strangely, the security had suddenly been tightened. The number of guards was absurdly disproportionate for a peaceful, quiet rural estate.
She had her identification, but since she couldn’t afford to have her identity discovered, Catherine was stuck like a rat in a trap, unable to do anything. On top of that, she was still wearing the maid’s uniform. She was too busy trying to escape to have time to change clothes.
In any case, that made using her identification even more out of the question. Insisting she was Lady Rochelin while dressed in a maid’s uniform would look tremendously suspicious.
All right.
Given the situation.
She would have to switch to the “hiding in plain sight” strategy.
They say even if you walk into a tiger’s den, you can survive as long as you keep your wits about you.
Thinking it was a rather useful proverb for a crisis situation, Catherine turned back toward Delkist Castle.
She would hide somewhere quiet and make a run for it in the opposite direction once Rowell left.
So where should she go first?
The only places she knew were the maids’ quarters and Amy’s room.
Then she headed to Amy’s room. She needed to ask what Rowell had talked about with her.
“He was looking for Sister, so I said I didn’t know.”
“Really? Is that all?”
“There was a maid called Sandy with him.”
“What? Sandy?”
Catherine was startled out of her skin. She had felt a little guilty about leaving Sandy behind, but why on earth was she there, Sandy? Waaah.
From Catherine’s perspective, who feared Rowell even more than Edwin, she had done something truly terrible to Sandy.
But Catherine should have been more surprised by the fact that Amy knew Sandy’s name than by the fact that Sandy was with Rowell. Because Sandy’s name had never been mentioned in the drawing room.
But having no way of knowing that, Catherine went back and forth worrying about Sandy.
It was then that Amy said:
“By the way, Sister, how long are you planning to stay in my room?”
“Huh?”
“I have a lot to do.”
Amy swept a glance around her room with a tilt of her chin. Books were piled up in heaps all around the room. There were old ones that looked like parchment, and papers covered in what appeared to be drawn diagrams were scattered everywhere.
Unable to contain her curiosity, Catherine asked.
“What is all this? Are you studying magic or something?”
“This is my private business.”
Ah, right.
It had certainly been written that she had been fond of Vivi and Catherine when they were very small.
It seemed she had turned into a rather gloomy sort somewhere along the way through adolescence.
Catherine decided to respect her privacy as she wished. But privacy was one thing. Catherine had her own pressing situation to deal with.
“But I won’t touch your private affairs, so could you let me hide here for just one day?”
She pleaded with bright, earnest eyes.
“No.”
Amy was firm.
“Then why didn’t you leave when you had the chance?”
“I told you. The security was tightened so I couldn’t get out.”
“Hmm.”
Amy sighed as though she found the whole thing genuinely bothersome.
In truth, she was the one who had ordered the security to be tightened, but she hadn’t expected Catherine to slip past the guards and find her way back to her room.
After thinking for a moment, she spoke.
“I can’t study when someone is next to me. So I’ll give you a good room to hide in.”
“Oh, oh. Thank you.”
“Go down one floor and take the last room on the left.”
“The last room on the left?”
“Yes. It’s the room where my friends stay when they come to visit. It’s empty right now, so no one will come in.”
“Thank you, Amy! I will never forget this kindness!”
Catherine headed straight out.
Click.
The moment the door closed, the corner of Amy’s mouth twisted upward.
A cold air drifted through the empty room.
Her gaze bore through the door toward wherever Catherine would be, as though she could k*ll her with her eyes.
“You won’t die easily this time. I’m going to make you live a life of endless torment.”
– – –
Pitter-patter.
Catherine moved quickly.
The last room on the left, downstairs. The last room on the left, downstairs.
She launched herself toward it like a flying squirrel.
‘Once I get there, I’ll be safe! If I can just reach the last room on the left, I’ll survive!’
She rushed down the stairs. She turned sharply to the left and then…
Thud!
“Hmm?”
“Oh!”
She slammed her head into someone’s chest. It should have hurt, but more than the pain, she felt a chill run through her.
A broad chest blocked her entire field of vision.
Surely not.
With a dreadful premonition, she looked up. She didn’t want to confirm who it was. The man’s voice saying “Hmm?” echoed in her ears.
Please…
With the urge to cry, she slowly raised her head.
“Oh no, no, no, NO!!”
Catherine’s eyes went as wide as saucers.
What is this? How could they run into each other here of all places!
She was so shocked and terrified that her entire body went rigid as stone. What was she supposed to do?
Catherine reflexively bowed her head low.
He had surely already seen her face. Everything was ruined. Was she going to be caught this easily and pathetically? Was she going to be taken to Edwin just like this? It had only been a week since she came down to the countryside?
The small, quiet moments of tending to her vegetable garden flashed before her eyes like a panorama.
‘Ah… my vegetable garden…’
‘I left it all behind just in case…’
The crops that had swayed beautifully across the road came to mind.
‘You, who stirred up green waves, were the sanctuary of my soul.’
‘Farewell now…’
‘My vegetable garden, my rice, my wheat…’
As she bid farewell to the companions of her soul in her heart.
A sudden thought struck her that she couldn’t give up here. How hard had she worked to find this peace! How long had she dreamed of this rural life!
If she was going to get caught anyway, she might as well try something.
With her head still politely bowed, she spoke humbly.
“I beg your pardon, Your Grace. Is there perhaps something you require…”
“…Are you a maid?”
Huh? It worked?
Was my face hard to see because it was dark? Or was it too brief a moment? Or could it be that Rowell doesn’t remember my face?
All manner of speculation ran rampant.
But what did it matter!
This was a chance given by heaven!
Not changing out of the maid’s uniform was the move of a genius!
In truth, it wasn’t that she hadn’t changed, but that she “couldn’t” change, but Catherine chose to think of it however suited her best.
“Yes, that is correct.”
“I have nothing to ask of you. You may go.”
“Then, if you will excuse me.”
Without lifting her head, eyes fixed on the ground, she was trying to slip away sideways when.
“Huh?”
A new voice appeared.
“No, Miss!!!”
Sandy came running, wailing at the top of her lungs.
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Xesene
Well, I really don’t like the character Amy at all. With how she is, sounds like she’s being set up as a reoccurring character. Great…. I don’t want to read about her at all.