Chapter 12

Though he spoke as if in concern, Raon, who had come with his mind made up, did not take his eyes off Kina. Perhaps because of that, she too could not look away from him.

“……I just want it to be you, Miss.”

There was no other way to explain it except that no one but her had come to mind.

“I am sorry.”

How could becoming a Duchess be something to apologize for. Whether in form or in sincerity, saying he was sorry was just like him. And only now did Kina realize that it was because he was that kind of person that she had liked him. Even if he was someone asking her to become nothing more than a Duchess in name.

“Is it really all right even if it is me?”

At Kina’s gaze, which seemed to see right through him, Raon lowered his eyes to the teacup. It was an evasion, a way of escaping his conscience.

‘Just go on as before. I don’t know why you are being so rigid.’

‘This seems like it would be the prettiest for the wedding. Raon, what do you think?’

With so many things changed, Chris and Bersha wanted Raon to remain as he had been before.

‘Do you think it would be easy to neatly cut things off all at once after such a public romance? Just look at how he still comes to the palace every day. He still has lingering feelings.’

The countless eyes and ears poured upon them. The sounds that clung to his every step within the palace tormented him without end.

‘Everything is bound to flow on anyway. Your Grace, your time, my time, and even this cloth as well. So sometimes, just let things flow as they will.’

In the midst of all those circumstances, she was the only person who had told him it was all right to remain as he was. A suffering he could tell no one found a sliver of comfort in that one very small and trivial remark.

Raon was exhausted. From Chris, who kept pushing him toward Bersha, from Bersha, who behaved as though they were still lovers, and from himself, who could not remain unaffected as they did.

The tea in the cup he was looking at was still, quiet, and peaceful. Just as he wished to be.

“……It has to be you, Miss.”

Raon gave his answer a little late. He did not speak of the tangled thoughts in his head. As much comfort as Raon received from her, he could protect Kina as well.

A relationship that would be of help to each other. He decided to think only of that.

Even though his words did not hold the meaning Kina wanted, she could instinctively tell. That one phrase, which might mean nothing to him, would help her endure.

“All right, then.”

Kina smiled faintly. But Raon, who had made the proposal, could not smile back.

And so their marriage was decided. After that, the two of them said nothing much and only drank tea.

“Then I will send the proposal letter as soon as possible.”

With those words as his last, Raon left the Viscountcy of Sennet.

* * *

Devilito went to the small yard behind the new poorhouse. Carefully looking around, he confirmed that no one was there and cupped the flower with both hands so it would not be damaged. He squeezed his eyes shut and concentrated, and when he opened them again, light was leaking out from the hands covering the flower.

When he removed his hands completely, it was not his hands but the flower that was shining.

“It worked!”

Devilito let out a joyful cheer, then quickly covered his own mouth. Now he would be able to give this flower to Kina. He had found a reason to go see her. Smiling happily, he covered the flower with his hands again to hide the light and quietly went back into the poorhouse just as silently as he had come out.

And when night came and everyone had gone to sleep, Devilito slipped outside on cautious little steps.

“Where are you going?”

Devilito, who had been about to climb over the wall he had scouted out beforehand, startled and froze on the spot. Mary was there. She was one of the children who had come here together from the old poorhouse.

“Be quiet. I’m just going out for a little while.”

Casting an uneasy glance toward the poorhouse, Devilito quickly gestured for her to go back inside.

“Where are you going?”

“To the capital.”

“I’m going too.”

Contrary to Devilito’s hopes, Mary took the posture of climbing the low wall just as he had done.

“No.”

“Then I’ll scream.”

Annoyance on his face turned into helplessness. Mary smiled with her hands on her waist. It was a smile that naturally stirred anxiety. Devil fell into thought.

If he was going to keep his promise with Kina, then he had to show it to her first of all. If Mary came along, it seemed likely that she would see it first. But if he left her behind, then it was obvious he might end up in a situation where he could not see Kina at all.

“I’ll only follow quietly.”

Noticing his hesitation, Mary lightly climbed up onto the wall.

“If you get in the way, I’ll leave you behind.”

At words that were as good as permission, Mary nodded vigorously. And so the two small figures disappeared beyond the wall of the poorhouse. That had been several days ago.

* * *

It was the evening of the day Raon had visited the Viscountcy of Sennet, when the lights illuminating the night were going out one by one and dark night had settled over the capital of the Estin Empire. In the darkness, where even the smallest sound seemed strangely loud, very small figures moved quietly toward the poorhouse building. A very faint and tiny light blinked on and off inside the building, showing that someone was there.

But other figures, unaware of that fact, came to the poorhouse building. They loitered about and circled around the building, then quietly disappeared, leaving behind a small spark and some firewood beside it.

Before long, the little spark caught on the firewood and slowly began to burn. As the fire, no longer a mere tiny spark, struck the outer wall of the building without cease, the building too caught fire and began to burn together with it.

Crackle, crackle.

The firewood, having fulfilled its duty, was slowly turning to ash, and the building that had taken up the baton began to burn fiercely as though it were carrying out its own duty.

The fire that quickly devoured the poorhouse building announced its presence by casting a hot light over the cold and quiet streets of the capital.

“Fire!”

At someone’s shout, the surrounding people all rushed out carrying buckets. They worked hard, carrying water and trying to put it out, but it was not easy. After going back and forth several times, the people grew frightened by the force of the flames, which showed no sign of dying, and stepped back to stand by and watch.

Half of the poorhouse building had already burned and blackened, while the other half was still burning fiercely. Black smoke covered the sky of the Empire.

“Miss! The poorhouse……!”

Only long after the poorhouse had lit up the dark night did the news finally reach the Viscountcy of Sennet.

By the time Kina arrived in a hurry by carriage, the poorhouse had already begun to collapse.

“No!”

Kina cried out among the people watching the fire. Dressed only in a thin nightgown, she looked as though she had no intention of stopping her steps even before the terrifying flames.

“Please be careful!”

“No……!”

She was so resolute that several people, including the servants who had come with her, had to stop her.

The keepsakes of her mother, which had been left inside the poorhouse, were burning.

“Mother…….”

Kina could only sink down where she was and watch the building blacken and burn before her eyes.

The people who had gathered to watch the fire disappeared as the flames died down.

The only ones remaining in that place after everyone had gone were Kina and the servants of the Viscountcy of Sennet.

Her face drenched in tears, Kina blankly stared only at the building while taking the cold wind head-on, then suddenly sprang to her feet. Her staggering steps, like those of someone out of her mind, looked dangerously unsteady.

Without caring that the shoes on her feet were getting dirtied in the ashes that had turned entirely black, she headed toward the innermost part.

There she discovered a half-burned letter and fragments of a portrait. It was impossible to tell what had been written or what kind of picture it had been. But Kina, who had read and looked at them again and again, knew.

About the children’s names and about the beautiful woman who had been full of love.

“Ah…… ah…….”

The tears she had thought had stopped began to fall again. Even the small traces of her mother, whom she had believed was always watching over her at her side, had disappeared. Kina cried there without being able to tear herself away, and in the end, after collapsing from exhaustion, she was taken back to the Viscountcy of Sennet.

If there was any consolation, it was that because the children had been quickly sent to other poorhouses, there had been no loss of life.

At the poorhouse, where everyone had gone and even the fire had died down, a young man whose whereabouts no one knew emerged walking out. Smoke was rising from his whole body, and unlike his lower garments, his upper garment had been so scorched by the fire that it was hardly different from being bare. His brown hair and deep violet eyes shone, and his expression was extremely grim.

‘Can we really do this?’

‘It’s the Crown Prince’s order, so what can we do.’

‘Ah, if he’s going mad, he could at least go mad properly. Seriously.’

The man seethed with anger as he chewed over the whispered words of those who had set the fire.