Chapter 9: 9

Episode 9: Love Comes True

It was not a match between humans, but one that played against brutally tamed monsters.

Although the death match itself was terrifying, only nobles could attend the tournament, on top of that the committee, which was formed to identify foul acts and prevent accidents, was composed of all priests.

Right, Cesare was coming to join the tournament as an excuse to check on me. Damn it.

“Don’t you have any appetite?”

Ellenia, who sat with a cold and indifferent face as always and listened to conversations, suddenly asked me.

Did she observe that I was just sipping my drink?

“I just enjoy the taste of alcohol.”

“It’s not good to drink on an empty stomach.”

Ah, right. I put down my half-drink and began to pretend nibbling on the lemon pie from the plate before me.

Then, by the time everyone left to join the dance group, I made excuses to slip for the bathroom.

I didn’t mean to puke the pie crumbs.

There was a serious risk of strange rumors spreading around if anyone saw vomiting in a place like this, thus I was thinking of getting some air on the balcony for a while.

Certainly, I felt a little dizzy because I only drank alcohol on an empty stomach.

“Ugh…!”

“Oh, excuse me.”

As I was leaving the banquet hall and trying to enter the closest balcony, I bumped into someone’s shoulder who came out of the opposite side.

This guy’s shoulders seem to be in an age of suffering today.

As I was about to fall, the other person grabbed my hand and hurriedly supported me.

“Are you okay?”

It was a pretty young voice.

When I raised my head with a slight frown to endure the pain of my shoulder, I faced purple eyes that seemed familiar.

He was tall, but he had a youthful face. He seemed to be about fifteen years old.

The pale blonde hair that covered his nape and the pretty face line looked a lot like someone else.

“It’s all right, but…….”

“Oh, I’m Lorenzo van Furiana. You were with my sister just a moment ago, right?”

As expected, he was Freya’s younger brother. That’s why he looks alike. No, but…….

“Are you sure you’re okay? May I help you to the banquet hall?”

“It’s really all right. I was just coming out to get some fresh air. Are you a paladin?”

“Sir Isaac will laugh when he hears this. I’m just an apprentice. But are you bored with the party?”

Banquets are always boring. But why is he hostile towards me?

The boy who was smiling in front of my eyes might look quite friendly and cheerful, but the hostility he unleashed throughout his body was so vivid that it was suffocating.

I was sensitive to that kind of airflow, but the disgust in his eyes was too obvious. Maybe it’s because he’s young.

Look at this bastard. Just because you bumped into me you act like this when you’re the worst person I’ve ever met here.

My husband wasn’t this bad either.

In regards to Ellenia, it was a God-given poker face that made it difficult to read, and Freya was a bit vague as we had just met, but it was difficult to tell she’s hostile towards me.

But why isFreya’s younger brother acting all venomous all alone?

I smiled quietly and looked at him as he stared at me for a moment.

Then he scratched his head as if embarrassed.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I can’t believe I’m seeing you in person.….”

“It sounds like I’m famous here.”

“Who in the world does not know the dignity of milady? You are the daughter of the Holy Father.”

“Really? I’m not very famous, unlike my older brothers, I don’t know, it’s just a bit surprising.”

A brief silence passed by.

Lorenzo, who pretended to be thinking while scratching his temple, laughed and confessed.

“Actually, you were popular lately…… There is a famous song about milady sung by a certain bard[1].”

“Oh my, really?”

“You must have never heard of it. Do you want to listen to it?”

“I’m curious, if you don’t mind.”

“Well, this is roughly what it is.”

Ahem, ahem

The song hummed by the guy who exaggeratedly cleared his throat was as follows.

“Sistine’s lark said she couldn’t find a man to suit her taste, and she thinks her half-brothers will be fine…….”

Whatever the reaction Lorenzo expected from me was, it was left as an eternal unknown by the majestic blast that echoed in the next moment.

Slap!

“Argh!”

“You crazy bastard! Did I not tell you not to act like a rascal, huh?”

“Wait a minute. Argh!”

I opened my eyes wide.

It was none other than Sir Ivan who came out of the next hallway like a basilisk and mercilessly slapped Lorenzo’s head and pulled his ear out as well.

That pretty foul-mouthed saint.

“Before I rip your mouth, apologize right now!”

“Ha, but…….”

“Fuck, the Isaac to whom you scream and you respect him, is there. Should I bring him here? The bastard will tear off your pretty bitch-like mouth if he hears what you just sung. Now you’ll apologize to Madam  Omerta with that bitch shaped torn mouth.”

I didn’t think that Isaac would tear off Freya’s brother’s mouth just because I heard the song, but Lorenzo murmured an apology-like remark, with his head still in Ivan’s grasp, perhaps because he was scared at the mention of Isaac or because he finally gave in to pain.

“Say it loudly! Why don’t you bark louder?”

“Well, I’m fine, just let him go.”

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I don’t really want to hear an apology and I didn’t get angry in the first place.

Sir Ivan, who once looked at me with a mournful smile, soon let go his hoold which followed with a whimper. Lorenzo immediately ran away. Tsk, tsk.

Sir Ivan shook his hand and finally spoke low curses, and looked back at me with a beautiful smile as if pollen were flying everywhere.

“I’m sorry that you have to see such a mess.”

“It’s all right.”

“Don’t get me wrong. He…… just lost his mind because he was in a weird delusion. Such an unholy song, none of us in the Knights of Longinus…….”

“Sir Ivan, it’s really all right. There’s a rumor like that. It’s not my first time hearing it.”

There was a moment of silence.

I was opening the dam again while Sir Ivan looked at me with a slightly perplexed look. 

Sniffle sniffle.

“M-ma’am?”

“I’m sorry. I just…… I suddenly thought of that. I thought my husband might believe that rumor, so…….”

“That’s ridiculous. He’s not interested in other people’s words in the first place. Even if you need some attention.”

“Sniffle. Really?”

“Of course. He is not such a nice person who would leave the person who bothers him alone. Hence why I was a bit surprised earlier. I mean, I’m trying to say that the madam isn’t a bother….”

Should I take that as an honor? Huh

“Then, as in your opinion, Sir Isaac doesn’t hate me or despise me, right?”

“Absolutely not! How dare that bastard hate a woman like you? He has just been living his own life, but now that he has someone for the first time, he’s just panicking and shaking.”

“Then he won’t hate me even if I like him as much as I want, right?”

“Of course. No, if you do, it is the greatest honor for that bastard.”

Sir Ivan, who was nodding his head hard and cheered but as I didn’t follow his cue, his face soon became wet with a sense of shame about what he was doing and started coughing awkwardly.

It’s okay, I understand.

“Well, I’ll take you to the banquet hall for now.”

“It’s okay. I came out because I wanted to get some fresh air.”

“But if you’re alone……. All right. If he shows up again, you must tell me.”

Are you worried that the youngster will chase me back and make me cry?

He has a foul mouth, but he still has that chivalry.

When I came out to the balcony alone, even though it was evening time, the scenery was bright like daylight due to the bright night.

At the end of the winding stairs outside the balcony, a beautifully decorated courtyard and a quiet pond surrounded by artistic sculptures were seen.

My mind was perplexed, so I went down the stairs to take a look.

I was walking along a trail filled with Drummondii and Poplar and approaching the pond.

Next to the statue of a pair of swans with their heads in the shape of a heart, the reddish-brown hair that had not been seen up there, jerked up.

“Princess Arien……?”

Arien, who was hiding behind the swan’s tail, stuck out her head. She was holding a bunch of yellow summer flowers in her hands.

Was she playing here alone? Where did the nanny go?

“Oh, don’t tell M-Mama.”

Oh, yes. She sneaked out. Surprisingly, she’s a rebel.

I nodded my head and smiled brightly.

“I won’t tell. What are you making?”

Instead of answering, the little princess only looked at me intently with her peering eyes. My words seemed to be untrustworthy.

I turned my head and approached the pond, conveying that I wouldn’t interrupt.

A bridge stood out gracefully in the middle of a fairly large pond.

“……You shouldn’t be there alone.”

“What?”

“It is said that love only becomes true when the two of you are standing together there.”

Arien who faltered, then completely pulled herself behind the statue.

‘Love comes true’

To have a pond like this in a palace was surprisingly romantic. As expected from a romantic king.

“Does love come true?”

“I don’t know…… it’s what the nanny said. There’s a fairy who makes love in the pond.”

I bent over and glanced at Arien and smiled.

Now that I see, the little princess was staring at my hair, nothing else.

Was it because my hair was similar to yours?

“Is that a flower bouquet?”

“…Is it pretty?”

“Yes, it’s really pretty. Who did you make this for?”

The princess, who had been rolling her big eyes for a moment, nodded her head and whispered in a tone that was hard to hear.

“I’ll give it to you.”

“What?”

“If you let me touch your hair, I’ll give it to milady.”

Huh? I tilted my head to one side and smiled again.

“Now?”

“Not now, but later.”

So you wanted to play with my hair like a doll’s head.

I’m old enough, but to this kid, I look like a giant doll from the South.

***

[1] a poet, traditionally one reciting epics and associated with a particular oral tradition.

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