Chapter 17: 16

***

After the dance with Usher was over, Sophie approached as if she had been waiting for me to leave the dance floor with thumbs up.

“Duchess, you danced so well! It’s been a long time since you danced, so I was really worried.”

Sophie was the only person who had been staring at me and Usher from the moment I was escorted by Usher. I smiled brightly at Sophie.

“Did I do well?”

“Yes. You danced so well, I thought you learned to dance without me knowing.”

Sophie came closer and whispered to me.

“Dancing with Prince Usher was such a beautiful scene. Do you know that everyone is still staring at you? It’s the same with Lady Daphne.”

Indeed, as Sophie said, when I looked around, everyone’s eyes were on me.

I looked at Daphne. She glared at me, then turned her head away when our eyes met.

I smiled at Sophie.

“I’m going to get some fresh air. I danced for quite a long time, so I feel a little hot.”

“Ah. Yes. Let’s go together.”

“No, it’s okay. We’re in the Imperial Palace. I’ll be back soon. I just want to calm myself down a bit.”

I left Sophie and went out alone. My heart was beating non-stop.

I left the garden where the banquet was in full swing, and when I reached a place where there were no people, I exclaimed.

“I danced…”

After dancing freely like that, I realized that I could walk.

“I can dance and walk… !”

I quickly got used to the duties of the Duke, which I inherited after my parents died, but I didn’t get used to the sense of walking at all. Every time I realized that I could use my legs, I felt an indescribable thrill.

It was truly a great sense of achievement. My heart was beating happily. It was a moment to calm myself down.

“You look happy.”

A voice came from somewhere.

As soon as I heard the voice, my heart pounded and vibrated. All emotions that had just been delighted with my own achievements were dismissed. My brain became white. I just stiffened.

It was a familiar voice. A voice I couldn’t help but recognize. The voice I heard in the mansion every day for 5 years.

I looked back. Sebastian Hughes stood in front of me with arms crossed.

“…”

I looked around. This place where I was standing was in a sparsely populated corner of the garden. Unless someone deliberately came to find me, it was a place where no one would see me. I came to this place on purpose.

But Sebastian was standing in front of me. The only explanation was that he followed me.

A feeling of bewilderment rushed in. I ran into him, but I thought that would be all.

I had never expected him to appear in front of me and talk to me.

Didn’t he hate me greatly? I couldn’t understand the situation in which he, who was tired of my obsession in the past, appeared in front of me and clearly talked to me.

But then I straightened my posture and looked at him with a firm gaze.

There was no need for me to panic. My feelings for Sebastian had long since been cleared up.

Sebastian was just… Maybe he wanted to say hello to me, whom he hadn’t seen in a long time. Yes, it was possible.

It was then. He strode towards me. His large physique and his elongated legs approached me in an instant.

I was speechless and blocked. I unknowingly took a step back. Every time he took one step closer, the feeling of bewilderment doubled. A garden vine touched my back. A shadow fell over my head. Like a mouse in a corner, I looked up at him.

If someone passing by from afar sees it, we will look like lovers having a secret meeting.

But he wasn’t looking at my face. He lowered his head and stared openly at my legs. It was as if he was checking my moving legs with his own eyes several times. 

Then his gaze looked at me as if in disbelief. That gaze was sharp.

“Your leg.”

“….”

“What happened?”

It sounded like he couldn’t believe it. It looked as if he was spitting out a question he had been holding down tightly. I looked up at him quietly and answered.

“If you meet someone, don’t you think it’s polite to say hello first?”

Sebastian furrowed his eyebrows. As if my answer was not very satisfactory.

Then he took a step back and bowed to me.

“I see Duchess Aileen Lowell. Have you been well?”

“…”

He made a formal greeting but it also sounded sarcastic. 

“What happened to your leg?”

After a brief greeting, he asked again.

His appearance began to annoy me. But I decided to give an honest answer. I thought even Sebastian would react like this after seeing my legs moving.

“I found a way to fix it, and I fixed it. That’s it. I don’t need to tell you the whole process.”

“…”

“Have you started working for the Imperial Knights now? You’ve been on a trip, and you’re settled down in the capital?”

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“What is your relationship with the Crown Prince?”

“What?”

“You were good at dancing. And even laughed.”

“…”

That was the kind of question that came out instead of an answer.

I was speechless. Why was he asking such a question? The fact that he was watching me closely today gave me goosebumps, but what scared me even more was the fact that he came up to me and asked these questions.

“Whatever I have to do with the Crown Prince, why do you care?”

I thought it was reasonable to ask about my legs. Because he was the one who silently pushed my wheelchair for the past five years and was the one who had seen my immobile legs up close. Then I suddenly declared a divorce, and after breaking up with him, I suddenly appeared with my leg fixed. Of course, the country will also be curious.

But asking about my relationship with Usher didn’t make sense. Why did he suddenly approach me and show interest?

“Honestly, I don’t think we’re close enough talking face to face like this.”

“…”

“I don’t care whether you return to the Empire or not. But if it’s possible, let’s pretend we don’t know each other. Our relationship 

is better that way, don’t you think?”

After saying that, I turned back and walked away.

Sebastian’s gaze seemed to reach behind my back, but I didn’t look back until the end.

***

On the way back to the mansion. I was in deep thought. The good feeling was gone.

“Given the reaction of people today, it seems that the banquet was successful. It seems like you did a good job deciding to dance. It looks like it will be a bit noisy for a while.”

Sophie was chattering the whole time, as if she was very satisfied with today’s banquet.

“Besides, did you know that the dress you wore also drew people’s attention? I think dresses like this will become popular sooner or later.”

Sophie was talking, but I couldn’t hear it. Sophie tilted her head.

“Your Excellency?”

“Sophie….”

“Yes.”

“Sebastian was at the banquet today.”

“Oh, Sebastian…what? What did you just say?”

Sophie asked as if she heard it wrong. I looked at her and said,

“After returning from his trip, it seems that he has started working for the Imperial Knights again. Sebastian is a capable knight, so there must have been no reason why the Knights wouldn’t accept him. It is a great loss to the Empire to lose such a wonderful knight.”

I looked back on my last meeting with Sebastian. First, my carriage almost hit Bianca. Sebastian approached Bianca with a hot dog. Then I met him again and he was working in the Imperial Palace.

It was strange. The reunion with Sebastian kept bothering me. All these encounters were so fateful.

Fate…

Suddenly my eyes widened. No way.

I remembered what the sorceress who healed my leg had said six months ago.

“The three tragedies will come at any time and without notice from the moment the princess leaves this hut. I wish you all the best.”

I felt like I had been hit in the head.

My intuition was telling me. Reuniting with him may be the second tragedy. Sophie sensed that my expression was strange and tilted her head. I said.

“… Wouldn’t Sebastian be my second tragedy?”

“A second tragedy? … … Ah.”

Sophie had a look on her face as if she just remembered what she had forgotten at the words ‘second tragedy’. After thinking for a moment, she shook her head.

“No. Maybe.”

“Maybe?”

“Yeah. It is true that Master Sebastian can be your tragedy, but nothing has happened yet. He hasn’t shown much interest in the Princess. 

I pondered for a moment about whether I should tell Sophie what happened to Sebastian earlier in the garden.

But soon I nodded.

“Yes. like that. That’s it.”

As Sophie said, nothing happened yet.

We just met twice, right?

Compared to the death of my parents, the scale was still too small to be called a tragedy. However, the uneasy feeling did not go away.

I bit my lips and turned my head.

I stared at the scenery outside the carriage, which seemed to be shaking precariously, and fell into my thoughts for a while. 

Sebastian Hughes.

What kind of impact will my reunion with you really bring to my life?

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What does it mean for me to meet you again?

Are you really my second tragedy? I wondered.

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