Chapter 5.4

[To Miss Brienne.

Hello, this is Lusell. Has your issue been resolved? By the time you get this letter, we’ll probably have arrived in Roeta. I’m really indebted to you again. I feel like I’m always getting help from you, and I’m sorry for that.

His Highness and I entrusted the evidence we got from that prison to the temple and plan to return to our daily lives for a while. That means we’ll have plenty of time. If you ever need my help, please contact me anytime. I’ll do my best to help with anything.

Lusellion Bartshire, with sincerity.

P.S. Miss, you know I’m waiting for your reply, right? I’ll send you a letter every month until you say you’re entering the academy. I’ll use royal authority to obsess over you if I have to. 

……Oh no, it seems His Highness peeked at my letter. Ignore this part. Hope you’re well.]

‘Goodness, a prince who steals someone’s letter just to add his own postscript. And the content is so childish…….’

Reading the letter, Brienne couldn’t help but smile.

‘So self-centered.’

‘What a peculiar person. And Lusell, who coldly erased that part.’

Brienne thought she would never meet people like Garzen and Lusell again. Just then, Marie’s voice interrupted her thoughts.

“Oh, you finally smiled!”

“……Huh?”

Brienne looked at Marie in surprise. Marie, who had come to cheer her up, was beaming with satisfaction.

“Whoever wrote that letter deserves thanks. Our Miss, who’s been gloomy all day, finally smiled because of it.”

‘I smiled…….’

Brienne touched her cheek in a daze at Marie’s words. She really had smiled. For a moment, reading the letter, all her worries and troubles felt lighter.

It was strange. Brienne looked between the letter and Marie. She had thought she was all alone, but Marie, Lusell, and Garzen were all by her side.

The empty part of her heart filled with warmth.

“That’s true……”

Brienne, trying to hold back the feeling that she might cry, read the letter once again. Her eyes lingered on Garzen’s postscript, unable to move away.

‘……Roeta Academy.’

What kind of place could that be?

A small excitement appeared on Brienne’s face. Even if she claimed she wasn’t interested, when something kept being mentioned, it was only natural for her to become curious. Besides, Brienne had already wanted to go to Roeta Academy.

Unlike Rontiano, which only gave educational opportunities to noble men, Roeta National Academy offered equal chances to everyone. There, even women and commoners could study anything they wanted without discrimination.

It had seemed like nothing more than a childhood dream, but maybe now she could actually achieve it.

‘……I was thinking of looking into the soul-binding magic anyway.’

If Herace didn’t explain things clearly, she would have to find the answer herself. She had been agonizing over that, and now, given how things had turned out, it seemed more accurate to go and find out in person.

‘I’ll talk to Father when he returns.’

Once she made up her mind to go, the reasons she wanted to attend Roeta Academy kept growing. Brienne rose from her seat with a face that had finally brightened.

Her father had sent Shylo to the academy, so she thought he would surely give his permission.

However…….

“What? Going to Roeta at such a dangerous time? That’s absolutely out of the question. Brienne!”

* * *

“I… I want to enroll in Roeta Academy.”

The night she received Lusell’s letter, Brienne went to find her father.

For Brienne, who had been branded as having run away with Kaiden Bannon on the day of his engagement ceremony, studying abroad at the academy was a sweet proposal even in social terms. Even though the rumors had died down after she returned alone, there were still people who believed them.

Since it wasn’t true, there was no reason to run away.

But Brienne didn’t even want to explain herself. Her crush on Kaiden Bannon had been an open secret. It was so obvious that for a short time, even her own family believed the ridiculous rumor.

So how would it look to others?

Whether they believed it or not, people would talk about it. For two weeks at the shortest, a month at the longest, Brienne was sure her name would be on everyone’s lips.

That was how high society worked.

And she was truly sick of that world.

“Please let me go, Father.”

Brienne looked at her father, hands clasped tightly. She needed a fresh start. But it seemed her father didn’t agree.

“What? Going to Roeta at such a dangerous time? That’s absolutely out of the question. Brienne!”

Damon jumped up, his face shocked. Seeing his exaggerated reaction, Brienne’s face showed confusion.

“……What? You’re saying no?”

Her father had always followed His Majesty the Emperor’s wishes and promoted the Roeta Academy exchange program. He had even been the head of the delegation, so Brienne naturally thought he would approve her decision. Wasn’t he the one who had enthusiastically supported Shylo’s studies abroad?

“Why…… are you saying no?”

“I told you, it’s too dangerous. There have already been three disappearance cases in the capital, which was the safest place in Rontiano! And you were one of them! I… just can’t……. Absolutely not. For now, don’t even go out.”

‘Don’t even go out?’

“……Father.”

Brienne cut off Damon’s words with a sigh. She gestured to the newspaper on the table. The front page, of course, was dominated by news of the successive disappearance cases in the capital.

“People may not know anything, but you do, Father. You know that Kaiden aside, my disappearance was orchestrated by Derrick Harrington. Now, that guy is just gone.”

In other words, Derrick Harrington didn’t disappear—he ran away. But Damon was firm.

“Nothing has been officially revealed yet, has it? I know you suspect Derrick Harrington, but there’s no evidence. And that’s what bothers me. You never know.”

“……What do you mean, ‘you never know’?”

‘What was that supposed to mean?’

Brienne’s face twisted in disbelief.

“Father, don’t tell me…….”

Her father, who had said he wouldn’t let Derrick Harrington go, suddenly changed his attitude. Brienne just couldn’t believe what was happening.

“Derrick’s disappearance overshadowing my case—is that not the only reason for this?”

“…….”

“……Father, please answer me.”

Damon couldn’t easily reply and avoided Brienne’s gaze. Her heart sank with a thud. She felt as if she’d been struck on the head, so dazed that a hollow laugh escaped her lips.

“This can’t be, Father……! Even if we’ve received help from the Harrington family…….”

“Brienne, I told you. There’s no evidence.”

“Are you…… serious?”

Brienne’s voice trembled.

She had respected her father all her life. He always put work before family, but she thought his heart was different. She believed he loved her more than anyone.

But what was this?

Her thoughts were completely wrong. The father she thought would do anything to punish Derrick Harrington was now just talking about evidence.

“How could you…….”

She was deeply disappointed.

Where was the gentle father she knew? Brienne looked at him with a bewildered face. Damon ran his hand over his face with a heavy expression.

“Brie……. I understand how you feel. How could I not? You’re my daughter. But politics…….”

“…….”

“Sometimes you have to join hands with your family’s enemy to survive. As you know, things aren’t good right now. His Majesty wants unity among the Emperor’s faction, and Earl Harrington reached out to me first. Our family still needs Earl Harrington’s power.”

‘……Then what about me, Father?’

Brienne swallowed words she couldn’t bring herself to say and gave a bitter smile. Right now, she needed her father’s strength too. But, as always, he chose work. Even as the Marquis of the honorable Ford family, he was declaring that he wouldn’t be his daughter’s support.

There was nothing more to say to such a father.

“……Fine, then.”

That was a decision made not as a father, but as a head of the family who must lead his house.

“I understand your wishes perfectly.”

Brienne rose without regret and looked down at Damon. Only then did a belated look of guilt appear on his face.

“Right, Brie. Then let’s stop talking about this and have dinner together…….”

“No.”

Brienne mercilessly cut off Damon’s words. She walked to the door and spoke in a flat tone.

“What’s the point? You’ve chosen Earl Harrington over your daughter, so you can have dinner with him instead.”

* * *

Back in her room, Brienne calmed her pounding heart. She had snapped in the heat of the moment, but she’d seen her father’s expression crumble in that instant.

The wrongdoer was someone else, yet she was the one feeling guilty.

Brienne was angry even about that. Why did she feel like she should apologize? Why did she keep regretting things?

‘……If only I’d shown my face then. That would have proven I was in Harrington Earldom.’

On the day she rode in the carriage and avoided the checkpoint, would things have been different if she’d revealed her identity? Would that have been enough as solid evidence?

Her mind was a tangled mess. As she shook her head to clear her thoughts, her gaze landed on the note left on the desk.

“…….”

It was Lusell’s letter, which Marie had handed her earlier.

Staring at it, Garzen’s voice suddenly echoed in her mind.

<Miss, do what you truly want.>

His voice, looking straight at her and encouraging her with such trust. That one sentence lingered in her ears. When had she ever received such support before? Brienne sighed and lowered her gaze.

What she wanted.

Right now, all she wanted was to leave for Roeta. But there was no way. With her father so firmly opposed, what could she possibly do?

Her heart felt stifled, as if trapped in a cage. She wasn’t even allowed to go out for the time being. Then, a sudden question popped into Brienne’s mind.

‘……Do I really need permission?’

In fact, if she set her mind to it, she could leave for Schwitz Harbor on her own. She’d have to be careful not to get caught by her father, but she could ride in the servants’ carriage or sneak out at dawn—there were plenty of ways to go alone.

As for enrolling in the academy, Garzen and Lusell could help with that, and she could pay tuition with the money she’d saved up. She’d never spent any of the allowance she’d received all her life.

But really……

‘Is that okay?’

She couldn’t tell what the right answer was. Maybe her urge to leave for the Holy Kingdom of Roeta was just an adolescent impulse that hadn’t faded.

But one thing was certain: she didn’t want to stay here any longer. After thinking it over, Brienne approached her desk and sat down.

‘……If it’s not allowed, I’ll make it possible.’

Her father’s permission, which didn’t come from trusting her, no longer mattered. The right to decide her life belonged to her.

Besides……

This was the first decision she’d made for herself, not because of Kaiden.

Brienne took a deep breath and picked up her pen.

[To Sir Lusellion Bartshire.

Hello, this is Brienne Ford. I received your letter well. I’ve carefully considered the offer you made me. With this letter, I wish to express my intention to enroll at Roeta National Academy.

However, there’s something I’d like you to help me with, Sir Lusellion…….]