Chapter 55
“Hoping For It”
“Then, my lady, do you need anything else?”
“No, I’m fine. Thank you, May.”
After thanking May for preparing a perfect breakfast, I took a spoonful of the soup in front of me.
‘It’s delicious.’
The potato soup made with fresh cream and milk was savory and smooth.
Even though it was early morning, the taste made me want to keep eating, and I kept moving my spoon while glancing at May.
“…?”
May, who was brewing the tea I would drink after my meal, looked at me questioningly, as if asking what was wrong.
“Is His Grace very busy today as well?”
After thinking for a moment, I put down the spoon I was holding and carefully asked her.
“His Grace?”
May repeated my words, and I nodded silently.
Watching her blink as if trying to figure out the meaning of my words, I went over in my head what I had been thinking about all night and wanted to ask him.
‘Are you just very busy these days? Have you decided not to have tea time with me at all? Did I do something wrong?’—
I had many questions I wanted to ask, but in the end, it all came down to one.
Do you not even want to have a cup of tea with me anymore?
Just thinking about it felt like something was poking at my heart.
As I held back those words, May’s flustered voice came.
“Oh my, I should have told you earlier. I’m sorry. His Grace has left for Villeron Hill and isn’t in the castle right now.”
“…What?”
“Well, um… because the number of Fenrirs in Villeron Hill has increased rapidly recently, His Grace left early this morning to investigate.”
Hearing May’s awkward explanation of the situation, I let out a sigh of disbelief.
Caught between shock and confusion, with feelings I couldn’t quite describe, I finally forced my expression back to normal and asked,
“Then, if he left for the investigation this morning, when will he be back?”
“Well, it’s just… His Grace usually doesn’t say exactly when he’ll return when he leaves…”
“Doesn’t?”
“I–I can’t say for certain, but I don’t think he’ll be able to return within three days. Usually, when he leaves for work outside the castle, it takes at least three days.”
Her answer made me laugh helplessly.
Three days.
May was saying he wouldn’t be back for at least three days—but that was the minimum.
If things became more difficult, it could take a week, or maybe even longer.
“…He’s not going to be gone for months, right?”
“T-that rarely happens, so I don’t think it will this time.”
So that meant it had happened before.
Feeling like the world had gone dark before my eyes, I ran a hand over my face and muttered,
“Then when His Grace returns, let me know right away.”
“Yes, of course. I’ll do that.”
Getting that much of a promise from May, I picked up my spoon again—but even the savory smell of the soup no longer made me hungry.
I couldn’t even finish half the soup before I set my spoon down.
Calier had left without a single word to me, and there was nothing I could do about it.
It wasn’t like I could go all the way to Villeron Hill, where he was investigating, and demand to know why.
“Fenrir is a wolf-type monster that lives in areas where Remstone is mined. With silver fur and golden eyes, its body is much larger than an adult man’s height, and its nature is persistent and ferocious.”
So, in the end, I chose the library.
At the very least, if I could find out what kind of monster Fenrir was, and why its numbers had suddenly increased, maybe I could help him even a little when he returned to the castle.
“Fenrir sleeps deeply inside dark caves during the day and appears at night. It hunts in packs and doesn’t attack first unless something enters its territory.”
After finishing breakfast, I went straight to the library and read about Fenrir until the sun was setting.
I must have read at least ten books, but none of them contained anything particularly special.
Looking at the gradually darkening sky, I stretched.
“Well, if the answer was in the library, he wouldn’t have gone in person to investigate.”
As the frustration and irritation faded over time, reality became clear.
In truth, the fact that he had left to investigate Fenrir wasn’t such a bad thing for me.
That meant the person watching over me in this castle was gone.
“…Does this mean, if I want to run away, I should run now?”
Leaning back in the chair and blinking slowly, I shook my head.
“How would I escape just because Calier’s not here? I have no money, and getting out of the territory would be a problem.”
Trying to clear my messy thoughts, I straightened up and picked up another book.
“…Hm?”
Just as I thought the title looked familiar, a note from Shion fluttered out from between the pages.
“Could there be some connection between Fenrir and Remstone?”
“Oh, this is the book I saw before.”
I remembered wandering the library like a treasure hunt, looking for Shion’s notes when I had nowhere else to go.
Holding the note, I read it over and over, something catching in my mind.
“Fenrir, Remstone, production… Fenrir, Remstone, production… Could the recent increase in Remstone production be related to the rise in Fenrir numbers?”
The sudden thought made me frown, then shake my head.
If Remstone production really had increased and that caused the Fenrir numbers to rise, then Villeron Hill, where they appeared, would be far more dangerous than usual.
“And Calier went to investigate such a place.”
Ah—was this just an excuse not to let me contact Laperre?
“If that’s the case, he could’ve just said so! Why go somewhere dangerous…”
“Who went?”
The voice came from right beside me, and I quickly turned my head.
It had been so long since I’d seen him—Laperre.
“Sir Laperre!”
“It’s been a while, my lady. Have you been well?”
His casual attitude, as if nothing had happened, left me both speechless and amazed.
Still, my happiness at seeing him came first, so I asked,
“Did His Grace call for you?”
“Did Calier look for me?”
“You didn’t come after hearing from him?”
“Unfortunately, no.”
“….”
“I just felt like seeing you, so I came.”
His reply sounded exactly like something a flirt would say, and I narrowed my eyes.
As he spoke playfully, he tilted his head slightly and leaned against the desk beside me, looking down at me in my chair.
“Then why would Calier be looking for me?”
“I asked His Grace if there was a way to contact you.”
“You were looking for me?”
“I had something I wanted to ask.”
For a moment, Laperre looked a bit surprised.
When I tilted my head to check his expression, I almost thought I heard him mutter, ‘Now I feel a bit bad.’
“Sir Laperre?”
“Ah, no, it’s nothing. So, what did you want to ask?”
“It’s nothing big.”
“Nothing big, but something you could only ask me?”
Laperre was always playful and never seemed entirely serious, but he was sharp.
Smiling leisurely, he asked me again,
“Go ahead, ask. I’ll answer.”
“Well… I’m curious about the situation in Zeros. It feels strangely quieter than I expected.”
“What do you mean?”
“The Crown Prince I know wouldn’t just ignore it if Heidi had been kidnapped. So I wondered if maybe he hasn’t come because he realized the kidnapped person wasn’t Heidi. But if that’s the case, then it’s strange that His Grace is quiet, too.”
At my careful words, Laperre raised his eyebrows, looking surprised.
With a faintly strange smile, he asked,
“That’s a pretty scary thing to say, my lady. Are you saying it’s strange you’re still alive?”
Though his tone was light, his expression was extremely serious.
It seemed he had caught on to what I was implying, so I added,
“That’s the situation. At least one of the two should’ve reacted, but they’re both too quiet.”
Laperre stayed silent for a while, his eyes shifting as if deciding how to answer.
Finally, in a lower voice, he said,
“Remember when I told you there’d been a change in your plan, so Delphian Zeros wouldn’t be able to come on time?”
How could I forget?
I had never felt my heart drop like it had that time.
“I remember.”
Trying to calm the uneasy pounding in my chest, I answered, and Laperre said, in an even lower voice,
“That might actually be the answer to your question.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s not that there was some unavoidable situation that disrupted your plan and stopped Delphian from moving. It’s just that someone deliberately created the circumstances so he couldn’t act.”
His words left me speechless.
In my plan—where even I didn’t fully know how things would turn out—the idea that someone else was manipulating events didn’t make sense.
If that were possible, it would mean fooling not just Delphian and Calier, but Heidi, and even my father, Crokan.
Such a person couldn’t possibly exist…
“Heidi Elliana.”
“…W–what did you just say…?”
Looking directly at my shocked face, Laperre repeated firmly,
“Heidi Elliana—that woman wants you to die here as Heidi Elliana.”
