Chapter 23
…Doesn’t that mean I did something strange?
I glanced at Cedric’s expression to gauge his mood. But he didn’t seem inclined to tell me what had happened yesterday.
‘The wine was pretty strong yesterday.’
I know well enough that I’m not good with alcohol, so I usually don’t drink that much, but I got caught up in the atmosphere…
“Eddie.”
“Hm?”
Cedric’s call pulled me out of my thoughts. Right after, he lifted his head to look directly at me, and for some reason my heart fluttered. Maybe it’s because his face is too stimulating to look at so defensively first thing in the morning.
“Want to practice dancing together after we finish eating?”
“…Ah. Let’s do that.”
I thought I probably needed some practice anyway. I still had to dance one more time during the ball, and with my current skill level, Cedric’s feet wouldn’t survive.
Since we ended up partnering together, I should do my best until the end.
After finishing our meal, we slowly learned the choreography by matching our steps first without music.
Around early afternoon, the same members as yesterday—or should I call them troublemakers—appeared as expected, so we couldn’t practice much…
Fortunately, on the last day of the ball, I managed not to step on Cedric’s feet.
‘It was fun.’
The quite lengthy ball period had also come to an end.
Now it was time for everyone to return to their respective places.
* * *
While Riette and Gareth were clinging to each other and acting affectionately as if they’d never see each other again, I bid farewell to Castian together with Cedric.
Afterwards, I arranged to say goodbye to Viola separately by myself. Even though we had drunk and enjoyed ourselves together last time, we hadn’t had time for a proper conversation alone.
“It was fun. See you again next time, Miss Viola.”
“Yes. I, I enjoyed it too. Let’s definitely meet again.”
“Oh, and about when you were worrying about the partner issue… I’m sorry for making you wait so long without saying anything then.”
“No, absolutely not! I said that but ended up accepting another person’s partner proposal anyway.”
Viola waved her hands insistently as she spoke. Her appearance was exactly like a shy girl her age, which was quite cute.
Without realizing it, the corners of my mouth turned up into a smile.
“Thank you.”
I was grateful to her for many things. I conveyed my thanks with sincere feeling. Soon a rosy blush bloomed on Viola’s cheeks. Viola, who had been hesitating, moved her lips.
“I… E-Edgar.”
“Yes.”
“If I were to… you…” she said to you, then…”
“Yes?”
Because she mumbled so quietly, I couldn’t clearly hear the words that were only circling in her mouth, so I was tilting my head when—
Suddenly my body swayed to the opposite side, startling me. Someone had grabbed my collar from behind and pulled me back.
“Ugh. What, what is it.”
When I hurriedly turned around, Cedric was glaring at me and Viola with a terrifying expression. His gaze was so sharp that I flinched without realizing it.
Somehow this feels like déjà vu.
“…Eddie. The carriage is leaving now, so get on quickly.”
“Oh, okay. Then Miss Viola, see you next time.”
“…Ah! Yes, yes.”
In the end, I couldn’t fully hear what Viola was trying to say. I turned around once more out of concern, but Viola didn’t seem to intend to bring it up again and was just waving her hand.
“Why is he so frivolous?”
“Hm?”
“Going around with that silly smile.”
Cedric, who was walking a couple steps ahead of me, was muttering in an angry voice as if suppressing something. It was too clear to be talking to himself, so it seemed like he was talking to me.
“…Are you possibly talking about me?”
“You don’t need to know.”
A dagger-like retort immediately flew back.
…It’s obviously about me.
What did I do to make him so angry?
He seemed fine until just now, but his mood looks low again. How worrying. After briefly hesitating while walking to the carriage, I soon moved to stand beside him.
When I grabbed Cedric’s sleeve, only then did Cedric glance at me.
For a moment I felt his pheromones waft out strongly, but like before, it seemed unintentional and was quickly contained.
Maybe it’s because his rut is approaching that this has been happening frequently lately.
“…What.”
Did I look at him from too close compared to usual? Perhaps finding eye contact burdensome, he looked away first and gently shook his arm to remove my hand.
So I stood a little distance away from him again and said:
“You have to tell me why your mood got bad for me to know.”
“……”
“Do you dislike me smiling?”
“…I dislike it.”
Wow. That’s too much.
I only thought that for a moment.
“I dislike you smiling at just anyone.”
I stopped. Without realizing it, I stopped walking. In the meantime, Cedric quickly strode away with long steps. In that short time, a lot of distance had opened up between us.
“……”
When he first said he disliked my smiling, I thought it was a joke-like insult similar to “you look ugly when you smile,” but his additional comment had a completely different nuance.
…Then what meaning should I take from those words? Cedric had gone too far away for me to ask about his true intentions.
When I belatedly chased after him and arrived at the carriage, Riette was already on board. Soon the carriage carrying three people began to move.
For some reason, Cedric sat across from me instead of beside me, looking as usual and nonchalant as if nothing had happened.
‘Making me worry and then acting so carefree himself…’
It’s a bit frustrating.
“Haah! Finally going home. I’m tired.”
“Get some sleep, Ret.”
“Aren’t you tired, Eddie?”
“Mm-hm, I’m tired too.”
After chatting briefly like that, Riette fell into a deep sleep. She must have been really exhausted.
After letting out a big yawn, I glanced toward Cedric. He was reading a book, apparently not tired.
“Cedy, aren’t you going to sleep?”
“I’ll stay up a little longer.”
“Really? I’m going to sleep a bit.”
It didn’t seem like much time had passed after saying that, but I quickly fell asleep too.
That day the carriage didn’t push itself to travel hard. We stayed at a nearby inn when the sun was setting.
This was so we could pass through the monster-infested area we had passed through on our way to the Imperial Palace in the morning.
So the next morning, we entered that forest.
“Young masters, miss.”
While I was taking an afternoon nap, the porter sitting in the front seat called to us.
By the time I opened my eyes to the sound of light tapping on the carriage wall, he was looking at us and speaking in a low, quiet voice.
“We’re about to enter the dangerous area. The place we passed through last time. We don’t know what might happen, so please stay awake for a while.”
At this, Riette rubbed her eyes and yawned. Cedric must have also slept for a while, as fatigue was evident around his eyes.
I looked out the window. The carriage was just entering the forest that was a monster-infested area.
The carriage ran through the quiet forest. The carriage had been racing up a steep uphill road like that for quite a while.
Since it was still daytime, there were no signs of anything approaching the carriage, and the surroundings were so quiet that I was vaguely thinking we could pass through without incident like last time.
“Huh?”
The moment the coachman driving the horses let out a brief question, everything happened in an instant.
Bang!
The carriage shook violently and a loud crash erupted. The screams of the coachman and porter came chaotically.
“Kyaah!”
“……!”
As the carriage overturned and tilted to one side as if it would fall toward the cliff, Riette was pushed against the wall by the gravity and let out a short scream, which was the last thing I heard before I lost consciousness.
How much time had passed?
When I regained consciousness, my head hurt.
“Ngh.”
I barely managed to support myself with my hands on the ground and sat up, looking around.
There were only some remains of the half-destroyed carriage nearby, and neither Riette nor Cedric… nor the coachman and porter were anywhere to be seen.
“Ret… Cedy!”
There was no answer to my calls either.
I couldn’t raise my voice any louder and held my throbbing head while catching my breath for a moment. I must have hit my head somewhere, as blood was flowing from my forehead.
‘…I hope everyone is okay.’
I’m worried. I hope nothing happened to them.
“Whew.”
After taking a deep breath, I slowly lifted my head.
‘Did we fall from up there?’
Following the traces of where we fell, remnants of the carriage were scattered here and there, so I could confirm the path from where we had rolled down to here. However, it was a steep incline that looked difficult to climb on foot.
‘We almost really died.’
If there hadn’t been many trees and extending branches nearby to act as a cushion, we might have died instantly.
“Haah.”
I pulled myself together despite my trembling body.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
