I glared at Vin and began to walk back to my quarters.
Footsteps followed.
They were pretty blatant as if he had no intention of hiding them.
But I didn’t even glance up, as if I didn’t care, and continued on my way.
Even so, I couldn’t help but smile.
It was just like a normal couple.
A woman coming home late at night and a man trying to get her home.
Though he’s too far behind me to walk me home.
……If there wasn’t a threat of dying, there was no reason to push him away, Vin would be walking beside me, not behind me.
That night I dreamt that I was holding hands with Vin and walking side by side.
I couldn’t have been happier.
I wasn’t hiding my emotions like I am now, I was letting him see how I felt.
His eyes were so tender, and a smile never left his face.
We were in love.
The kind of love that makes you cry when you wake up and realize it was just a dream.
* * *
“There you are.”
The sudden voice startled Rapel, who had been concealed in a tree in the palace garden.
This was a place she’d been returning to whenever her mind was troubled since she was a little girl.
It’s a garden in the Imperial Palace, but it’s so tucked away in a corner that even the gardeners don’t tend to it because its appearance is unbecoming of an imperial palace, so she’s the only one who knows it.
And now someone has appeared here, even talking to her.
That’s impossible unless she had been followed.
But if she had been followed, she would have sensed it.
Moreover, the other person hadn’t appeared until long after Rapel had settled in.
It’s as if she could see her from a mile away.
“Princess Sienna Houston of Serom.”
Rapel stepped down from the tree and bowed to the young captive she had brought along.
Sienna, who bent slightly to return the greeting, smirked.
“I’m sure you want to ask how I know you’re here, and I’ll give you the answer to that if you’ll answer my question.”
Rapel’s thoughts frequently drifted to the thoughts of everyone else in the world.
She used to have a particularly clear sense of what was coming to her, but that was all in the past now.
Ever since that damned doppelganger had stolen a little bit of her power, she hadn’t been able to feel people’s thoughts the way she used to.
She used to be able to sense my opponent’s hand and what they thought of her.
Now, like a “normal” person, she couldn’t know anything.
She felt hopeless, blind, and unable to see anything.
She didn’t know if what was coming would be good or bad for her.
Human life is so helpless.
“……What is your question?”
“Tell me what His Highness the Crown Prince has commanded you to do with Irillin Heather.”
“He told me to get rid of her.”
From the moment he’d been swayed by an enemy to be destroyed, Rapel had lost interest in the Crown Prince.
He was a man who owed a debt and had to pay it.
If she wanted to get rid of Baek Mo-na, he would stand in the way.
There was no reason for her to keep secrets about a discarded hand, so Rapel answered honestly.
Sienna looked both surprised and pleased at the quick answer.
“Very well, I’ll tell you how I found you, too, and the truth is – I gave you a drink.”
“John Mustang?”
The melon-flavoured fruit wine.
Rapel thought it was a gift, considering she didn’t know her, so she used her magic to detect poison, but it didn’t seem to be there, so she drank it…
What did she do to that drink?
“I didn’t do anything to it, but the tea I drank had a drug in it that made my sense of smell extremely strong, so I just followed the scent of the melon and found this place.”
She couldn’t believe she’d come up with a way to avoid getting caught.
Talk about thinking outside the box.
Rapel was starting to like Sienna.
“So, what was your purpose in going to such lengths to find me?”
“Progress.”
Rapel’s dark eyes curved with interest.
She’d recognized her purpose just by listening to that brief conversation!
This woman is not only brilliant but also perceptive.
Unlike the weak crown prince, who was good for taunting, but who was swayed by his own personal agenda.
This one is real.
* * *
The next day, as soon as training was over, Sienna came to see me again, and she said…
“Dinner…”
And she cried.
“Dinner….”
Another dinner monster, Vin, had asked to join us.
Rapel had also disappeared somewhere for some reason, and I had no schedule or excuse, so I agreed to their request.
And now.
“Would you like a salmon and cheese salad?”
“Yes, and a medium well done.”
Sienna and Vin said in unison.
Sienna looked at Vin, confused.
“……What’s a medium well done?”
“A sirloin steak. 1(sirloin refers to cuts of meat from the upper middle of the animal)”
Vin looked at me with those puppy dog eyes again.
He’d been like that since he’d asked Wendy, and Wendy had explained that my favorite dish was a sirloin steak grilled to medium well done.
I didn’t even know what cut it was, I just ate it because it was delicious, and I’m not particularly fond of steak, I’ll eat just about anything…….
“The Abert empire loves swords so much that they duel instead of dance at parties, I don’t know why it’s so rare here.”
Sienna spoke up after I ordered my meal from the waitress.
I replied, picking up my cutlery with both hands in excitement.
“Because it’s not easy to outwit a male knight.”
“But Sir Heather has already beaten the male knights to the task of escorting the National Foundation Festival, hasn’t she?”
Sienna asked, gracefully arranging her napkin as she fixed her gaze on my hand.
I felt unnecessarily embarrassed and put my cutlery back in its place.
“You’re amazing, you make it look so easy.”
“Wow, you’re flattering me.”
“Do you think I can be like you someday?”
You can’t. I’m the motif of the strongest person in the world, so I have to be strong, but Sienna isn’t, and there’s no indication that she’s gifted with a sword.
When I stammered, unable to answer immediately, Sienna lowered her head sullenly.
“Is it too…much to ask? Because unlike you, I have no talent, and I was never loved by my parents.”
What does that last one have to do with anything?
As I pondered, Vin, who had been silent, spoke up.
“You’re saying something I don’t understand. What does it have to do with not being loved by your parents?”
“Because I’ve been unloved since I was a child, so I have no self-confidence.”
Did Sienna have such a setup?
Hmm, she’s a minor character, so I do not know her past.
But then again, what character doesn’t have a past?
“Confidence, that’s something I didn’t have either.”
I opened my mouth, and Sienna narrowed her eyes.
“Even Sir Heather?”
“Yes. There was a time when I was afraid to pick up a sword, but I eventually got over it.”
“Why did you suddenly have such a – what happened?”
“Well, it just happened.”
I froze, unable to say that I’d been in an incident before the possession.
Luckily, Sienna didn’t ask any more questions, instead burying her chin in her hands and looking thoughtful.
That’s when Vin added another word.
“I think confidence comes from the results you get when you do something ‘good’ for yourself.”
“I know, …but I ‘just’ want to be loved without having to do anything in particular.”
Sienna blinked her eyes and sounded helpless.
Hmm? Does that mean she just wants to be loved without giving any effort?
“Is there anyone in this world who will love me?”
“Of course, there is, because everyone is lovable.”
As he said that, Vin looked at me and smiled meaningfully.
Everyone is lovable.
Those were my words, seven years ago.
Thirteen years old. It was just something that happened at a young age, but the fact that he keeps bringing it up makes me realize that he holds on to the memory quite tightly.
…… I mean, he went to war to find me.
What is it about me that he likes so much?
* * *
“I suppose there is because everyone is lovable.”
Hearing Vin say those words, Sienna felt as if he had stroked her rotten heart.2(oh no)
There was a part of her that she’d always hidden in the back of her mind, trying not to get her hopes up.
To be told that everything was okay, that she hadn’t done anything wrong, that she deserved to be loved.
Of course, that’s not what Vin said, but that’s how it came across.
She knew it was a stretch. Nothing special enough to get her all worked up.
But as if by fate, her frozen heart was thawed by an arrow from the being in front of her, and she broke the ice herself.3(FREEZE IT BACK PLEASE)
The warmth of the arrow made her heart throb like it was going to burst.
Had she ever felt such a tremor before? No. Definitely not.
This was the first time in her twenty-one years that she had ever felt this way, but Sienna was not fazed by her feelings.
She was not too immature to be distracted by her first feelings, which is why she was able to realize it immediately.
‘I have fallen in love with Vin Ortega.’4(NO)
This was why she had no interest in any other man.
“Oh, but please don’t take ‘loveable’ in another way, because it would be unpleasant.” He had said
But Vin’s gaze, which said that everyone was lovely, remained fixed on one person, Irillin.
T/n: …..Did that really have to happen D: ???
