Chapter 7: CH 7

At Feriel’s desperate apology, I let out a small sigh. Of course, if it was Feriel, she could have thought so. Because she was gullible and easily swayed by other people’s opinions. Probably because of her childhood experiences and her family environment. I got up. I didn’t forgive her, but I got an apology and there was nothing else to do with it, and most of all, I wanted to get out of this situation. It wasn’t like I could know when, where, and who would recognize me.

“I’ll accept the apology. Since I’m going back to town tomorrow, I have a lot of work to do.”

“Co- Cornelia!”

Feriel grabbed my wrist as I was about to turn around, pulled something out of her pocket, and placed it on the table. Three sheets of paper were tied with a red ribbon, something I knew well.

“Scroll?”

“Uhu, that’s right! It’s what you need for travel. I brought some of the best things my family made.”

Magic scrolls, the cheapest one, were expensive enough to match the cost of a month’s living for a commoner’s family; and the scroll Ferriel took out for her pocket just now was the finest one with the seal of the Tevious household. The Tevious County was a family specialized in magic, so the price difference would often be several times higher even if the quality was the same regardless of the presence or absence of the family seal. On top of that, what was on the table right now was possibly the finest, dozens of times more expensive than the cheapest scroll. Feriel, who had placed such an expensive scroll, pushed it toward me as if to hurry and take it. My body shuddered at the unexpected favor, and doubts arose.

“Why are you giving this to me?”

“…It’s a rough road to Yorkben. Monsters could appear. Of course, Debron will take care, sending the Duke’s knights, but just in case, you never know. Take it. It’s self-defense magic! This is attack magic, and it has movement magic engraved on it.”

There was a brief pause before Ferriel answered, but what she said wasn’t wrong. On the way from the capital city to the village of  Yorkben, there were well-maintained and safe roads with lots of people, but there were also forests where goblins and orcs appeared. I looked down at the scroll silently.

“Please take it, mh? Think of it as an apology.”

Knowing that I was shaking, she hurriedly put the scroll in my hand. I nodded eventually, knowing she would never let me go until I nodded.

“Okay. Thanks, I’ll use it well.”

“Yeah! See you when you’re back, Cornelia!”

One last time, I turned around and left the tea house to avoid being caught. Not knowing that Feriel’s gaze was piercing my back.

*     *     *

“Will it be okay?”

Ferriel, who followed Cornelia until she disappeared, collapsed in front of the teahouse. She felt the maid looking at her strangely. Normally, she would have stood up looking around, but now she didn’t care. Her heart was beating like crazy. Should she run and tell Cornelia the truth now? Ferriel bit her lips and blood spread.

“No, I don’t think so.”

Shaking her head and blinking her eyes, she desperately tried to shake something off her mind.

“…There’s no way Lucen would want to kill Cornelia.”

She automatically remembered what had happened yesterday in Marquis Leonif’s drawing-room. A commotion broke out after Cornelia left the Marquisate after refusing to enshrine Hibi in the central temple. Lucen, who had been pulling his hair for a long time, lit up his eyes as if he realized something after talking to Leonif. Because of the creepy eyes that could be seen even from a distance, Feriel unknowingly focused on Lucen. And thanks to that, she could read Lucen’s small mumble.

“If she gets close to the Granden Forest…”

Granden Forest. Wasn’t that a place where monsters often appear? You will have to go into the forest to some extent to meet the monsters, but the cemetery in Yorkben was narrowly bounded by the old town’s trail, where the monsters appeared. Cornelia told her that the cemetery had to be moved frequently because of that.

‘Maybe when Cornelia goes to the cemetery…’

“No!!”

As if in denial of her thoughts, Feriel shouted. Weren’t Lucen and Cornelia comrades? A precious colleague who crossed life and death together. Yeah, Lucen couldn’t have thought of that. The scroll was just in case of any unforeseen danger! It could be dangerous if a monster suddenly appears. Ferriel nodded.

‘Yes, that’s right, I’m not doubtful of Lucen, I just want Cornelia to be safe.’

As she comforted herself and walked to the place where the carriage was parked, Feriel’s feet stopped. Gossips of the trampled Cornelia reached her ears. After that, Cornelia’s pale green eyes, which had lost focus, came to mind. She was always shining brightly when they went on an adventure together.

‘We’re colleagues, aren’t we?’

The tears that had barely stopped started flowing again.

*     *     *

“Fuu… I’m almost done.”

I looked around the room on the east side of the Duke’s mansion where I was staying. The packing was almost over. Bell rolled up her sleeves to help, but I smiled and shook my head. This was my job. From start to finish, I thought that I had to finish everything. So I erased the traces of me and my grandmother one by one on the Duchy. Books and clothes I bought in the capital, presents for Isaac and Adele, a perfume pouch that my grandmother used to hang in her room… Traces were either put in a small bag or thrown away. As time went by, by evening, only a few items were left.

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“Now what about this?”

At the end of my gaze was a necklace and hair accessory that looked expensive at first glance. The sunlight that fell on the necklace studded with huge jewels shattered and pulled out the beauty of the necklace. Both accessories were given to me by Debron for my birthday. On my second birthday after coming to the capital, he sent only presents without a letter of congratulations. I looked silently at the two gifts I had received.

“…”

I touched the necklace with my fingertips, brought it to the mirror, and put it on my neck. The necklace, studded with diamonds, huge rubies, and small jewels, was as splendid and beautiful as the ornaments of a princess in a fairy tale book. And the necklace didn’t suit me. My presence was erased from the necklace shining in the sunset. When I first received this necklace in the past, I was so happy that it brought tears to my eyes. However, it didn’t take long for joy to turn into despair.

“It doesn’t suit me…”

Those words came out of my mouth as soon as I stood in front of the mirror wearing a colorful necklace. The necklace that Debron had sent for me was terrible and didn’t suit me.

‘Why doesn’t it suit me?’

I was frustrated that the necklace didn’t suit me. I put my hair up, put on makeup, tried on new clothes, and tried many things to put on a necklace, but the necklace was too much for me. I wore the necklace almost every day and was disappointed and desperate because it didn’t fit. And the feeling of despair naturally turned into a sense of remorse. Why wasn’t I beautiful enough to match this necklace?

‘I thought it would be okay to stand next to Debron if it fit…’

Because Debron was a person who shined like this jewel. I blinked when I saw myself wearing a plain black mourning dress and a colorful necklace. Obviously, this necklace would suit someone.

‘But not me.’

I put the necklace back on the table. I didn’t even touch the hair ornament. When the two items were settled, all the arrangements were finished. Two medium brown suitcases and one small suitcase. All the traces of my grandmother came out in a total of three bags.

“It reduced a lot.”

When I came up from the village to the capital, it would have been a lot more luggage. Exhausted, I lay on the bed and stared blankly at the ceiling. Maybe because I met Feriel in the morning and I was mentally stricken, and I worked diligently during the day. As soon as I lay down, I fell asleep.

‘I need to wash up… should I wash up tomorrow?’

I still have a lot of work to do, but I slowly blinked at the rushing tiredness.

Okay, let’s go to sleep first.

I was lying on the bed and trying to close my eyes when I heard footsteps. It wasn’t Bell’s. It sounded a little heavier than that.

Who is it? The door burst open before he could fully raise himself, and a man came inside.

“Miss Cornelia.”

It was Steven, Astorf’s butler. As always, he came in with an arrogant face, looked at me, and clicked his tongue slightly. It was like the eyes of the owner looking at a lazy seed.

“It’s still too early to go to bed.”

I frowned. You just walked in without knocking.

“It’s not that I don’t understand how you feel, but I ask you to keep the minimum dignity.”

Saying that the butler stroked his mustache. His neck was up. He looked as if he had mistaken himself to be Debron Astorf.

“Because Miss Cornelia is the guest of the Duke of Astorf.”

Ha! Eventually, I burst into laughter. Are you telling me to keep my manners as a guest? The butler’s eyes twinkled. Without even thinking about hiding my smile, I got up from the bed and walked toward him.

“Sir Butler.”

As if feeling strange, the butler looked at me with suspicious eyes. That’s right. If it were normal, I wouldn’t have said anything and would have taken this rudeness. It was because of Bell and my grandmother’s herbs that I had endured the butler’s disrespect. If I objected, the amount of herbs to be given to my grandmother the next day would be reduced, some impurities were mixed, and some herbs arrived untreated. I could use it, but it was a lot of work. So I got angry and there were several times when Bell was not allowed to come to the Eastern annex. The next day, Bell’s roughened hands showed that he had deliberately made her do hard work. That’s why I held it in.

However, I didn’t have any reason to take it now.

My grandmother was no longer with me, and without me, Bell had no reason to be bullied by the butler.

I pointed to the door with my chin.

“I don’t need to, so get out.”

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