14. A Place You Can’t See  

Adam’s eyes were full of worry, but Theo deliberately acted as if he did not notice. Since he knew extremely well what was weighing on Adam’s mind and troubling him, he did not even feel tense. Adam let out deep sighs again and again as if to make sure Theo heard them, and at last set down the teacup he had been holding.  

“I heard what happened at the engagement ceremony. Was it true?”  

“What is it you wish to have confirmed?”  

“That Asilly really was Wesley’s affair partner. And that those feelings carried over to the engagement ceremony.”

“It was merely an accident provoked by Wesley, who dragged out a relationship that had already ended.”  

At his nephew’s composed attitude, as if he did not care at all, the shadow of worry that had filled Adam’s face seemed to gradually fade. Adam, whom Theo had expected to oppose the match for a while longer, seeming to find Asilly displeasing, withdrew surprisingly easily. That part left Theo slightly puzzled.  

Of course, it was not a bad thing that it ended this simply, since it reduced the drain on both stamina and emotions.  

“The past is unpleasant, so I don’t like it. The retainers and other nobles also asked me to reconsider your marriage. But my opinion is different.”

“…….”  

“Since it’s your choice—and you’ve been so capable since you were very young—I won’t argue over it anymore.”  

“Thank you for understanding.”  

“However, tell Asilly clearly. If she behaves in a way that wrongs the Crawford Dukedom, which bears the bloodline of the Imperial Family, I will not let it pass.”  

“Yes. I, too, will take good care of Asilly so that not a speck of tarnish comes to the honor of the Crawford Dukedom.”  

Adam gave a faint nod. After that, they spoke further on various topics, and only after Adam complained of fatigue were they able to part. To reach where the carriage was, there was one garden they always had to pass through. It was shut down now, sealed tight with an iron gate, but around this time of year it was a beautiful garden where forget-me-nots bloomed in varied colors.  

Blue, red, and white.  

A scene brushed past, faintly. A boy of about seven, holding out his hand toward him as he lay on the ground crying. That fern-like little hand and the sweet-scented forget-me-nots. And the boy’s shape, seen in silhouette because he was backlit by sunlight. A shadow tilting his head slightly toward Theo, who was saying something.  

“……For a dream, it’s remarkably vivid.”  

It did not feel like it had been reality. The sensations that had surrounded him and what he had seen with his own eyes were fairly clear, but no matter how he tried to dig through his memory, he could not recall exactly when it had been, or who it had been—there was no precise memory.  

Every time he look at that garden, Theo felt a sense of déjà vu, and today as well, he turned his steps away. Beyond the iron gate, forget-me-nots in bright colors were blooming in abundance. Even the fragrant scent brushing his nose. It was a space far too beautiful.  

And yet no one could trespass there.  

“Young Duke Crawford!”  

Just then, someone called out and stopped him.  

***

Clutching her aching backside, Judy finally made it home. As she headed toward the bedroom with servants supporting her, she ran into Theo’s aide, Luke, coming from the opposite direction with documents hugged to his chest. Spotting Judy approaching with a limp and pain plainly written on her face, Luke could not hide his fluster.  

“Did you get hurt somewhere?”

“I tripped in the square and fell on my b*tt.”  

“What? In the square?”  

Since she could not tell the truth to Luke, who believed she was Asilly, she brushed it off vaguely. As someone meant to become the Young Duke’s wife, she should have behaved modestly—but hearing that she had fallen flat on her backside in the middle of the square, Luke was aghast. With all the attention they were already getting because of the engagement ceremony, the thought of becoming gossip again, spreading everywhere as conversation fodder, seemed to give him a headache.  

“You should be more careful.”  

As he said that, he realized his gaze was unconsciously trying to drift toward Judy’s ‘b*tt’ and startled, quickly pulling it back.  

“I’ll be careful next time. Please call the primary physician. It hurts so much.”  

“Yes, understood.”  

“Okay, thank you. Ah—also, when is Theo coming back?”  

“I believe he’s just left the Imperial Palace.”  

“I see. Please call the physician.”

Still supported by servants, Judy finally reached the bedroom, and not long after, the primary physician came in. Everyone left, and she was left alone with the physician.  

“Turn over and lie down, Lady Leroni.”  

As instructed, Judy groaned and turned over, lying on the bed.  

“I will move your undergarment aside.”  

“Okay.”  

Soon the undergarment was moved aside, and she saw the physician flinch in surprise. When the injury that had been tightly covered was exposed to air, it felt even more stinging. After examining it carefully, he diagnosed Judy’s condition in a rather heavy voice.  

“You have quite a severe bruise. Still, fortunately, it isn’t torn. The bruising will likely last quite a while.”  

After prescribing medicine good for reducing bruising, the physician left, and Judy scooped up a thick smear of sticky ointment in her palm and applied it. It hurt so much that tears she had barely been holding back gathered in her eyes as she spread it. Still, how was she supposed to meet Gianna again? Going out to the square where Gianna came to shop again scared her too much.  

“……With this b*tt, I can’t go out.”  

Just imagining Gianna rejecting her again and shoving her away with all her strength, causing the same thing to happen, gave her chills until her whole body trembled.  

“I need to find another method.”

Just as she resolved herself, there was a slight commotion outside, and Theo’s voice could be heard.  

“I’m coming in.”  

The door flew open, and Theo entered, flushed. Then, with a quick sweep of his eyes, he checked her condition first.  

“I heard you fell in the square.”  

“Yeah. Somehow, I ended up getting hurt.”  

“I should’ve gone with you.”  

“I was careless. By the way, Gianna won’t even talk to me.”  

“That makes sense. From Gianna’s perspective, you’re someone who betrayed her master.”  

The eyes full of disgust aimed at her were still vividly clear. If there were no social hierarchy, Gianna might have rolled up her sleeves and charged her. While Judy was newly moved by that absolute loyalty, she also fell into deep worry over what method she should use to prove who she was.  

“So it would be difficult for you to meet Gianna as well?”  

“As if Asilly wouldn’t tell her.”  

“……Right.”  

Asilly was someone who had decided to avoid contact with her on purpose. It went without saying that Theo, too—who knew she was not the real Judy—would be on Asilly’s list of people to avoid.  

“Before that, check this invitation.”  

Theo held out an invitation to Judy, who was sinking into worry.  

“What invitation is this?”  

“Countess Yumelia Rovalya gave it.”  

“Countess Yumelia Rovalya?”  

She was a woman who, while studying abroad, had fallen in love with Viscount Rovalya—one of the royals of the Pyron Kingdom—and after a long courtship, had married in. As royalty of a kingdom, she had wide connections, and with her uniquely warm, genial, and cheerful personality, she was called—within the Dabans Empire—someone with ‘connections everywhere.’  

Judy had seen her from time to time at various social gatherings. But they had not shared deep conversations—only exchanged greetings in passing.  

Between unmarried young ladies like Judy and married ladies, there was a wall in conversation, and they inevitably hit a limit.  

“Yeah. She must’ve heard we’re about to have a wedding soon. She invited us to a gathering of soon-to-be married women and married women.”  

“Ah…….”  

As Judy nodded, something flashed—bright—in her mind. If it was Countess Yumelia, with her vast network, could she perhaps track Asilly’s movements?  

She was someone who had built immense connections not only with nobles, but beyond royals, even with Daria, the Empire’s Empress. Judy judged that if she built ties with someone like that, it would be helpful in many ways—not only with Asilly’s matter.  

Judy carefully peeled off the sealing wax reminiscent of a red rose and took out the contents inside. There was a line congratulating them on their upcoming wedding, along with words asking them to accept an invitation to a small social gathering to be held three days later.  

“If she invited us, we should go. It’s courtesy to the person who invited us.”  

Holding the invitation, Judy smiled softly.  

“Okay. I’ll send a reply that we’ll attend.”  

“Yeah.”  

“By the way, let me see where you’re hurt. Let me see how bad it is.”  

The moment she heard that, a sly thought brushed through her mind—an image of him looking at her injured backside and applying cream for her, or something like that. At the vulgar imagination, Judy shook her head as if it were absurd.  

“It’s a place you can’t see.”  

He hesitated, as if trying to grasp what she meant by that.