CHAPTER 117…………………………………:
The Meeting (2)
Meanwhile, Temia, who had still been almost confined at home under the pretense of resting, finally received some welcome news.
“Are you feeling any better? I was really worried!”
It was Kylie. She was starting to get bored just walking around the garden for exercise. Like a savior arriving at the right moment, Temia greeted her with a feeling of relief.
Kylie, perhaps recalling the days in her childhood when she diligently visited Temia while she was sick, smiled broadly—her usual aloof expression nowhere in sight.
“Of course. I wasn’t seriously hurt, really. I just got a few bumps and scrapes here and there…”
“You know, for a noble lady, that’s no small matter! You really need to be aware that you’re the daughter of a duke. Look at your skin—it’s rough! Are you carefully applying your ointments?”
But before long, Kylie, like Temia’s siblings, began to scold her. Asking relentlessly about her skincare routine, what she was doing to repair her damaged hair—answering all those questions drained Temia in an instant.
‘If I tell her I got sore muscles from rolling around in the fields, she’ll faint…’
Although she found the nagging slightly annoying, Temia tolerated it because it came from genuine concern. So she answered each of Kylie’s questions with as much care as she could. After a long stretch of chatter, she finally took a sip of tea to quench her thirst and managed to shift the conversation. Kylie’s gaze subtly moved down to Temia’s wrist.
“Good, you got it back safely.”
A bracelet identical to the one Kylie wore jingled on Temia’s wrist.
“Yes! I heard Rio kept it safe and delivered it to my father. Lucky, right?”
“Rio? Oh, so you call Mr. Felix ‘Rio’… hmm?”
“Oh? Ah, no, it’s just that…”
Kylie’s expression turned sly. Even if she had seen Temia and Rio together at the previous masquerade, she hadn’t realized they interacted so casually—or that they even used such familiar names for each other. She had heard Temia liked Lowell… but now it seemed there might be a love triangle? A perilous romance of indecision between two men? Could that be why Temia had partnered with Felix at the ball?
“Hey! Whatever you’re imagining, it’s not like that! Stop it!”
“What am I imagining?”
“Anyway! Just don’t misunderstand.”
Temia slammed her hand on the table to stop her friend from being sucked into a misunderstanding. Having known Kylie, who had been half-obsessed with romance novels since childhood, she could easily guess how exaggerated her next assumptions would be.
Kylie rolled her eyes suspiciously, scanning Temia, but Temia shook her head firmly, giving no room for misinterpretation.
With no choice, Kylie returned to the original topic.
“That bracelet—did you leave it there on purpose?”
“Yes! I’m glad. Honestly, I was worried whether he’d notice it was my trace when I dropped it.”
“Rather, he was looking for the bracelet from the start. So you could say he knew it was yours all along…”
She fiddled with the bracelet on her wrist as she spoke.
“You knew? The jewel on this bracelet is quite extraordinary!”
“What do you mean?”
“Felix said that it has some ancient magic. If the gems are apart, it can track their positions through the vibrations! Isn’t that amazing?”
‘It had that function?’
Temia’s eyes widened. She had given the bracelet simply as a token to be with a dear friend, yet it turned out to be helpful. Staring at the embedded jewels, she blinked, and Kylie murmured as if she had expected this.
“Seeing you so surprised, I guess you didn’t know.”
“Of course I didn’t! I just thought it was a bracelet inherited from my mother. I understood that he was tracking it with magic and then realized for sure when he found the bracelet.”
“Anyway, I’m glad it worked out. If anything had happened to you, I really…”
The atmosphere suddenly turned solemn. Remembering the moment her heart had dropped, Kylie’s face twisted as she fought back tears. With the previous playful mood gone, Temia even forgot to ask why Rio knew about the ancient magic. She hastily tried to shift the mood.
“Ah, and I also have something to say…”
“Hm?”
“I like Lowell.”
But Kylie, unmoved, answered indifferently.
“You already told me that. No need to repeat it…”
“Oh? Ah, right… but, well, I even told my family…”
Kylie seemed genuinely surprised that she had confessed to her family. It would take immense courage to openly declare liking a man she had run away and lived with. Impressed, Kylie’s eyes shone as she asked about the family’s reaction, whether they opposed it, and muttered to herself as if resolved.
“Maybe I should run away for my love once too…”
“Kylie—!!!”
After calming Kylie, who was scheming seriously, thankfully, some news arrived that would finally end the boredom.
The Duke, accepting the suggestion to let Temia observe the situation discreetly within the palace, had reluctantly allowed her to stay by Lowell’s side.
“…Why are you staring like that?”
“Because I wanted to see you.”
“P-please don’t do that in front of everyone!”
However, this shameless man openly started affectionate gestures. Even though Temia admitted she liked Lowell, she hadn’t said he felt the same, and the tense atmosphere caught the attention of her family.
Ignoring Temia’s growling siblings, Lowell continued.
“Why? You can’t say you didn’t want to see me. It was hard waiting, you know.”
“Ah, well, that is…”
“Didn’t you want to see me, Temia?”
“…Ah.”
“Really?”
Then he leaned forward, his face close enough to feel his breath. Before a startled Temia could push him away, the Duke grabbed his nape, glaring at him like lightning, and said:
“Ahem. Remember, I called you both here for investigation purposes only, not for any other reason.”
Since Temia had just confessed to her family, she felt extremely embarrassed seeing him in front of them. So she stared stubbornly at her father and said softly:
“Yes… but what investigation?”
Though flustered by Lowell, she needed to know the purpose clearly. Some investigation had already been conducted during her rest, so what more could be done now?
Seeing his daughter blinking innocently at him, the Duke’s anger subsided, and he spoke gently.
“There was news from the temple just now. ‘That child’ has awakened.”
Temia’s eyes widened immediately. She could only think of one possibility.
The child who had been kidnapped with her, carried on Lowell’s back at the end. Emergency care had been given, but the effects of the deadly poison it had contacted were serious. After rescue, the child was hurriedly taken to the temple.
Since then, no news had reached them, so this was delightful. Yet some worries remained.
“Thank goodness! He’s fully awake, right? He’s not still hurt…”
“No, he’s fine. He opened his eyes safely and is recovering, so don’t worry too much.”
Temia finally let out a sigh of relief. Even though the immediate danger had passed, the child’s unknown nature could still pose unforeseen effects.
“So, it would be good to visit, partly to check on him.”
Temia and Lowell nodded. Essentially, it had been Temia and Lowell who had faced Prometheus’s group, so they held the most information—but the child was also a witness.
Temia had been dragged into the kidnapping while chasing the child’s screams, but this appeared to be a planned abduction. Surely, there would be further information to gather there.
The Duke cautiously continued.
“And it would be good to also observe the temple’s current state. Actually, the child had something to convey…”
In their hands was delivered a single letter.
