19. Breaking the Secret (4)

It was a nice day.

Having fallen asleep late due to last night’s intense focus(?), Saena woke up to sunlight that had already climbed high in the sky.

“Achoo!”

More precisely, she woke up because Yolly’s fur was tickling her nose.

‘Ah, we’re supposed to go to the ruins today.’

Though she had overslept due to going to bed too late last night, Constantine would surely be up already. She should get up and prepare quickly.

While having a simple meal, Saena sent a servant to Constantine. Through the servant, he conveyed that he had already prepared everything so they could depart right after breakfast.

She put on her riding clothes and went down to the porch.

“Saena.”

And suddenly realized.

At some point, he had started calling her ‘Saena’ every time. Not ‘Saya’.

‘Why?’

But soon she thought she understood the reason. After all, she too would call him ‘Duke’ instead of his name when feeling distant from him.

And as a reaction to not liking the fact she had just realized,

“…Constantine.”

She rolled his name on her tongue.

Almost like she was rebelling, like that. His name instead of ‘Duke’.

“You have luggage. Let me take that.”

He observed her keenly and spoke.

Saena had packed a few things just in case. Among them were several pages of translation notes from decoding the black diamond.

Saena handed over the luggage without resistance.

“I heard you ride often? I had the same horse prepared.”

Two horses for them were already waiting in front of the porch.

Constantine securely fastened the luggage he had received to his saddle and extended his hand to her.

‘It must be proper escort etiquette to assist with mounting.’

Perhaps because she hadn’t anticipated even this much recently, the hand he readily offered caught her off guard—even though it was gloved.

“Let’s mount.”

“…Yes.”

Only after confirming everything—from her mounting with his escort to her taking proper posture and gripping the reins—did Constantine mount his own horse.

Perhaps because of his large build. His horse was also enormous compared to hers.

Since he usually rode Morev, this was her first time seeing him on horseback. From the looks of it, it was a high-pedigree horse that seemed to be the Duke’s personal mount.

‘Come to think of it, why isn’t he riding Morev?’

No matter how high-pedigree the horse was, it couldn’t match Morev’s speed, right?

But soon she could understand the reason.

‘He brought out horses to avoid having to hold me while riding.’

After all, whenever they rode Morev together, they always rode together.

Understanding the reason suddenly made even his careful escort from earlier somewhat irritating.

Because his attitude felt like he’s choosing the lesser evil to avoid the worst.

‘Ha, am I really this sexually frustrated?’

And after a while, she became furious with herself. There was no reason to be this impatient and irritated just because she couldn’t touch him.

Angry at him, angry at herself for being angry at him, and therefore angry at him again.

Caught in this wretched cycle, Saena let out a heavy sigh.

“Hyah!”

Then she spurred her horse and galloped away without waiting for him.

Because she felt like she would go crazy from the frustration right then.

“…Saena?!”

Though he called after her in surprise, she ignored him and increased her speed even more.

Only after passing through the north gate as usual and riding for quite a while did it occur to her that this might not be the right direction.

‘Ah… Where is he?’

But Constantine must have been matching her pace without difficulty, because as soon as she slightly slowed down, he brought his horse alongside hers. Then he said,

“Just keep riding straight.”

Fortunately, it seemed the direction wasn’t wrong.

After that, instead of riding alone, she matched his pace. And as they rode further, she witnessed her earlier assumption proving correct.

‘Those ruins must be those ruins.’

The island with ruins that she visited with Yolly.

She had thought that might be the ruins Constantine had mentioned, and it really seemed to be the case.

As the lake gradually came into view in the distance, her assumption turned to certainty.

The only difference was the location of the shore.

It wasn’t the place where she had swum across with Yolly, but a different shore. As evidence, she could see a marker stone deeply embedded there that she hadn’t seen before.

“Stay close behind me.”

As they approached the lake, Constantine said this without showing any sign of dismounting.

Though somewhat puzzled, by the time she followed his instruction, he had drawn out Caligo’s energy.

“……?!”

The energy of Caligo that streamed out from his back soon seeped into the marker stone. And without any intention of stopping his horse, he galloped straight onto the surface of the lake.

“W-where are you going?!”

Startled, her body instinctively froze, causing her to nearly fall off her horse. However, Saena managed to regain her balance just in time. Even so, her slowed pace had created a significant gap between them.

“…Saena?”

Noticing she wasn’t following, he stopped his horse and looked back.

“No, how did you do that?”

His horse was standing on the water.

No lie, literally.

Seeing her surprised face, Constantine smiled briefly and continued speaking.

“Come this way. You won’t sink.”

“Uh…”

Saena hesitantly moved her horse.

At first near the shore, she flinched as she felt the horse’s hooves sink down. She could feel the horse’s nervous twitch through her thigh muscles.

“More. Just a little more forward.”

“……”

As she moved the horse forward trusting his words, she felt like she was rising up instead. The feeling of stepping on solid ground.

“Huh, huh?”

Though invisible, there seemed to be some kind of foundation beneath the water’s surface.

My goodness. There had been a secret foundation?

‘…If I had known this, I wouldn’t have had to get soaked every time!’

Suddenly remembering how she had always swum to reach the island, she felt inexplicably wronged.

“The width isn’t broad, so follow closely behind me.”

“Yes.”

It seemed to be some sort of bridge to the island.

“Is this bridge always here?”

“No. It’s manifested each time using the Guardian Spirit’s power.”

“Ah…”

Then her coming this way would still mean swimming in the end.

She thought the process of injecting Caligo’s power into the marker stone earlier must have been the process of creating the bridge.

“By the way, you ride well. Do you usually enjoy horseback riding?”

“Hmm, no. I didn’t particularly enjoy it… but I’ve ridden quite a lot recently.”

She had become somewhat skilled from riding frequently these days. That’s what Constantine had noticed.

“This ruin—I said I would show it to you first, but ended up making you request it. I apologize.”

“……”

If we’re talking about that, what about having already been here? Should she… say something?

While Saena was pondering this, they crossed the barrier.

The scene before their eyes itself changed.

An island hidden in the lake.

Traces of ancient civilization remaining on the island.

Anyone would find it extremely mysterious and incredible.

It would be natural for a first-time visitor to exclaim with wide eyes. And especially for Saena, an ardent fan of Arles-Promesa, anyone could predict she would show an even more extreme reaction.

Constantine too naturally turned his head to see Saena’s reaction following this prediction.

“……”

However, this expression of Saena’s was not within his range of expectations.

Without surprise or wonder, calm and with the ease of someone looking at something very familiar.

Her expression only changed after their eyes met. She suddenly made an ‘oops’ kind of face.

“…This is Arles-Promesa’s last undiscovered ruin. Among those known to be in Kramer’s territory…”

“Ah, yes… right.”

Saena briefly scratched her temple and wrinkled her nose.

From what he had observed so far, wrinkling her nose like that was a habit of hers when mentioning something troublesome. Why?

“Actually, Duke.”

“……”

“I’ve been here before.”

“…How is that possible?”

No matter how mysterious a being Saena was, how could even this be possible?

“There’s… a barrier here. Without unlocking the entrance with the Guardian Spirit’s power, not only will the bridge remain hidden, but entry itself will be impossible.”

“…Eh? Really?”

Hearing the explanation, Saena was the more puzzled one.

“Yolly brought me here…”

Saena told him everything about how she had been coming and going here, and the process.

“Huh, swimming?”

“Yes.”

“Then perhaps that day when you returned completely soaked—you had come here?”

“Yes…? Ah, yes. That’s right.”

He seemed to be talking about when they met outside after he returned from subjugation.

“…You returned with the knight escort while soaked like that?”

“What? No…? I changed out of my wet clothes.”

“You changed? Where?”

“After coming out of the lake…”

“Just outside?”

Somehow, his voice was growing increasingly ominous.

No, why was the conversation going in this direction?

She thought when she revealed coming here, he would ask about the ruins, or what she had discovered, but why was where she changed clothes so important…

“No, I wrapped myself in cloth. A large one… And Sir Rupert kept watch.”

“Even if he turned away, he could still hear everything, right? Do you know how good knights’ hearing is?”

“……”

When Saena looked up with a puzzled face at his voice that was gradually becoming more like an interrogation, he seemed to realize his state and paused briefly.

“Ha, I’m… sorry.”

His fine white hair fell across his forehead as he nervously brushed it back.