VIII. An Unforgettable Night

“Florencia.”

“Hello, Cassian……”

Florencia, who had been sitting on the tree stump in the garden where they had agreed to meet, only raised her head to look at him after being called several times.

“I’m sorry, I was lost in thought and didn’t hear you……”

Though she tried hard to smile, her violet eyes were filled with deep sorrow. Sometimes she was observed resting her chin on her small hand, gazing into the distance and heaving a deep sigh.

She had been in this state for several weeks. To be precise, since the day that priest had left.

Cassian’s intuition had been signaling that he was a dangerous figure. Though he didn’t want to admit it, he also suspected that the relationship between him and Florencia was not a simple priest-disciple one.

Anyway, if he had left for the Temple, he must be a high-ranking priest, and there was probably no possibility of him returning.

Whatever feelings had existed between him and Florencia, Cassian thought the best thing for her was to help her forget quickly.

“By the way, Ruby is doing well.”

At those words, Florencia finally regained a bit of vitality. With the Academy’s classes ending, all students had returned home. As the weather had turned quite cold, Cassian had taken the cat Ruby to care for at Marquis Esteban residence. He had always felt consumed by endless loneliness whenever he returned to his spacious mansion, but since Ruby’s arrival, he felt much better.

‘It would be really nice if Florencia were waiting for me every time I returned to the mansion.’

He wanted to make Florencia smile. He wanted to make her sorrowful eyes sparkle with overflowing joy, and to bring a warm, rosy glow to her cheeks. She was the first person to make Cassian feel this way.

Florencia’s desire to become a saintess was probably because of that priest.

Now that he had left, perhaps if he stayed by her side and comforted her, an opportunity might come for him as well.

“Florencia.”

“Yes……”

The small, listless voice pained Cassian’s heart.

“……You’ll be okay soon, hang in there.”

It was heartbreaking to watch her in such sorrow. Cassian sincerely wished that Florencia would quickly forget him and look his way instead.

* * *

Florencia visited the Temple every day, but there was no way to get news of Ludwig.

The most frustrating thing was that despite frequenting the Temple for a long time, she actually didn’t know anyone there. She was acquainted with the young apprentice priest Andrew, but for some reason, she couldn’t meet him either.

The white building where she had conducted secret education with Ludwig and the second floor where his room was located were completely locked. She even gathered courage to ask an unfamiliar priest conducting mass in the central chapel, but he simply shook his head without providing any information.

Florencia was somewhat shocked to learn that there were an enormous number of priests and servants residing at the Lebleia Temple. Perhaps it was natural since it was the Grand Temple located in the Empire’s capital, but why hadn’t she thought it strange until now?

She knew Ludwig far less than she had thought. The one who had embraced Florencia from long ago and covered her vision so she couldn’t see anything but him.

She shouldn’t have spoken so carelessly to Father…….

Florencia couldn’t understand herself at all. While she couldn’t even say a harsh word to people who tormented her for no reason, how could she act that way toward the one person who had treated her warmly?

‘Father will never want to see me again……’

She felt so lonely now that classes had ended and she had returned to the Count Hazel residence, and Ludwig was gone too. As if she had returned to being the ten-year-old child she was before meeting him, Florencia cried herself to sleep every night. Her heart ached as if being torn to pieces when she remembered his elegant fingertips that had gently soothed her, wiping away her tears.

“Florencia, may I come in?”

Just as she was about to fall asleep, someone knocked on the door and opened it before she could answer. Florencia hurriedly wiped away her remaining tears and stood up.

“……Eriendna?”

Unexpectedly, the person who opened the door and entered was Eriendna. Unlike her usual self, she showed a kind smile and personally brought in a tray with two teacups.

“Fortunately, you’re still awake?”

“Yes……What brings you here at this hour, Edna?”

“What do you mean? Don’t be so distant between ‘sisters.'”

Eriendna sat down at the table, quickly glanced around the room, and gestured for Florencia to come sit as well.

“Soon you’ll graduate from the Academy and become a saintess, entering the Temple. I thought we might not see each other often after that, and suddenly felt regretful.”

“……”

“Actually, you and I are the only sisters in this world, right? I want to apologize for having been too mean to you, Florencia.”

Florencia had always been lonely as a child. Her mother had passed away early, and her father regarded her as a troublesome burden. Her half-siblings didn’t even treat her as a person, but despite this, Florencia desperately wanted to get along with them.

Of course, she was the only one who thought of them as family, while they found it shameful to even breathe the same air as her in the same house. Though Eriendna’s suddenly changed attitude seemed suspicious, Florencia nodded, unable to say anything to someone offering an apology.

“Then you accept my apology? Thank you so much!”

Eriendna smiled at Florencia, who still hadn’t let her guard down, and handed her a teacup.

“Florencia, this is tea I personally brewed as a token of my apology. Try it.”

“……Thank you, Eriendna.”

“Looking at the darkness around your eyes, have you not been sleeping well lately? If you drink a warm cup of tea, you’ll be able to sleep soundly tonight.”

Eriendna, who had already finished her own tea, smiled brightly and urged her again. When Florencia reluctantly picked up the cup, she watched until the end and asked:

“How does the tea taste? It’s very expensive, imported from a distant country.”

“Yes……It seems fine.”

“I’m glad you like it. I brought it especially because I thought you might never have tasted such good tea.”

“……Yes, thank you.”

“That tea is particularly famous for helping with deep sleep…… Do you feel sleepy yet?”

Even before she finished speaking, Florencia sensed something was wrong. Her body became heavy like water-soaked cotton, and her vision blurred distantly. With her head buzzing and dizzy, she collapsed onto the table and lost consciousness.

“It was tea too expensive for you to drink, but it’s really effective as I heard. Well then…… sleep well.”

Beyond her fading consciousness, Florencia heard Eriendna’s laughter and Geoff’s noisy chatter as he opened the door and entered.

* * *

“Mmph, mmph……”

When she regained consciousness, the first thing she noticed was that she couldn’t make a sound. The dirty cloth stuffed in her mouth emitted a nauseating chemical smell that turned her stomach. Her tightly bound arms and legs couldn’t move either. She tried to loosen the bindings, but the rough rope only dug more painfully into her flesh.

“You woke up at just the right time?”

Before she could adjust to the splitting headache, Florencia was yanked up by her hair. The pain felt as if her scalp was being peeled off, causing a silent scream to escape from her gagged mouth.

“Geoff, it’s getting late, why isn’t your friend here yet? I’m freezing to death.”

“He’ll be here soon, just wait patiently.”

“I don’t trust anything you do. You said you only met him recently. Are you sure about this?”

“How dare this wench speak to her brother like that……”

“You like being called ‘brother.’ You should have behaved properly if you wanted people to trust you or not.”

No sound could be heard from around the deserted wooden building. The interior, cluttered with various objects piled up messily, was so cold that her body trembled. Eriendna, wrapped in a thick fox fur cloak, had obvious irritation between her brows.

“You lowborn bastard girl, it’s been a while.”

Geoff, who had been scowling fiercely as if about to hit his own sister, suddenly smiled pleasantly when his eyes met Florencia’s, who was shivering in her thin nightgown.

“You probably know that our family has been financially struggling lately. After living luxuriously as a family member all this time, you should repay that favor.”

After failing to become a knight, he had been wandering outside and had secretly accumulated considerable gambling debts unknown to Joseph. It started when he joined a gambling table at a tavern while drowning in alcohol. Eriendna, who had noticed this fact, had manipulated him to plan this scheme while he was struggling with debt.

“We’re planning to sell you as a slave to Lugarn.”

“……!”

“As it happens, I recently made a friend who works in this business, and he agreed to buy you. By tomorrow, you’ll be aboard a cargo ship heading to Lugarn. We should have done this long ago. You’ll find your rightful place fitting your lowly birth, I’ll pay off my debts, and Eriendna……”

Eriendna, seemingly offended by the mention of Lord Schmitt, sharply glared at the excitedly chattering Geoff and cut him off.

“Florencia, do you like the gift we prepared? Lugarn is also where that bastard child you care about is, right? If you’re living as a pr*stitute slave in a brothel there, perhaps someday when your brother comes of age and visits as a customer, you might have a touching reunion.”

Eriendna’s cruel voice gradually took on a joyful tone.