Chapter 16: 16

I was staring at him oddly for a moment when Dad stepped forward to greet him with a loud voice.

“Your Grace, Duke Leopardt. I am Arthur de Closch, the lord of the Closch estate. I’ve heard many things about Your Grace before.”

“…Closch. It must be the estate at the western border.”

“I am grateful that you recognize our humble estate, Your Grace.”

“I heard that it is a place where monsters frequently appear. If you need any assistance, you may write to me at any time.”

“Hearing Your Grace say that makes me feel truly reassured.”

A baron could be berated for coming up to a duke like this and we wouldn’t be able to say anything back, but Ciel was treating Dad with unexpected courtesy. Really, it was so strange.

According to his characterization in the novel, he was a man who carried himself with aristocratic elitism and arrogance. Actually, the novel’s description of him was the same first impression I had of the Ciel I knew in the past.

“Then, I’m quite preoccupied at the moment, so I’ll be off.”

“Yes, Your Grace. May you be blessed by God.”

Dad bowed to the duke politely. Since the event tonight was the coming-of-age ceremony where the saintess had also participated, the mention of god’s blessing was added as courtesy.

I curtsied deeply without saying a word, then stood straight once more. As I turned around, I murmured a small greeting towards him, even as he had already disappeared down the corridor.

“May you be blessed by God.”

It’s just, I don’t think I said farewell properly before…

It was a sudden urge to convey my greetings for the very last time.

I climbed onto the carriage with my family. It’s already planned that we’re to return to the fief early the next morning.

The road back would be rough, but my family would be joyful together, just as much as we had been on the way here to the capital.

 

* * *

 

His steps were haste as he walked away, but when he heard that soft voice from behind him, Ciel stopped in his tracks.

He finally found the voice that he’d been looking for ever since the banquet began.

In addition to keeping an eye on the saintess, Seo-yoon, he also had a duty as a duke to stay at the banquet hall. However, he couldn’t concentrate on this because he kept thinking about that voice. The crown prince also noticed how distracted he was, but Ciel had no choice but to leave.

He walked around the wide banquet hall and listened closely to the voices he heard inside. He approached various groups of young ladies who had gathered. It was very unlike him, but he was the first to approach and greet them.

He was handsome, a duke, and especially an Esper, so he was known by many and was welcomed by the groups of young ladies everywhere.

Knowing nothing about the woman he was finding except her voice, he painstakingly scoured the entire area. He greeted all the nobles he could see in the banquet hall, and yet he could only feel frustrated and impatient because he couldn’t find the owner of the voice anywhere.

He didn’t know why he was doing this, really.

He was thinking about going out into the balconies, but he realized that the people there were praying, as was customary of the coming-of-age ceremony.

To relieve his frustration, he was about to leave for a moment, but then he stopped to check the first family who was about to leave through the double doors first—just in case.

He watched the baron’s family and followed them out quietly. Then, after he talked to them for a while, he soon hid himself in the dark again and floated up with the help of his power over the wind.

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He observed them from up in the air.

The Closch family had the peerage of a baron, but it was nonetheless a household that had a long history going back to the time that the empire was first established.

However, they were the typical kind of provincial nobles who rarely ever came to the capital unless they were compelled to come for a reason.

In spite of being a small territory, their fief was a place where monsters appeared relatively frequently. Apart from that, from the days of their forefathers, the Closh barony’s members were staunchly incorruptible and did not show much interest in politics.

It could be said that they were a knight family through and through.

Although they couldn’t reach the requirement to be bestowed the title of a knighthood, House Closch’s garrison was still rather renowned. Especially among existing knighthoods themselves.

Hiding his presence, Ciel followed after the baron’s daughter.

She definitely had the same voice that muttered the name ‘Seo-yoon’ earlier. How did she know the name of the saintess? How was it possible that she could pronounce a Korean name so naturally?

Back then, Ciel himself had practiced saying the name constantly after first calling Seo-yoon by her name. This was because the accent and the pronunciation needed to say that name properly weren’t usually used when speaking the empire’s language.

But then, she pronounced the name that easily? And truly, how in the world did she know the name?

If Ciel wasn’t a returnee, he might have thought very little of it. However, strong suspicions were forming in his mind with just that one small mention of a name.

To be more precise, he felt a sense of incongruity…

He observed the woman from head to toe until she climbed into the carriage.

The hair color he saw on her exactly resembled the shade of a coral. Beneath her dark apricot hair was a small face with a fair complexion and well-defined features.

A shapely nose bridge, plump lips, and wide, almond-shaped eyes. The gaze beneath her green irises gave off an indifferent atmosphere, but when that gaze was focused elsewhere, the roundness of her eyes gave off a distinct gentle impression.

Besides that, there was a small beauty mark laying right at the middle point below her left eye, and it would naturally draw the attention of anyone who’d see it.

Ciel was certain that it was the first time he had ever seen her, but strangely enough, he found his eyes naturally gravitating towards her. He completely forgot that he should be suspicious of her because of her voice—he could only stare blankly.

Soon, however, he realized exactly why her figure kept pulling his eyes back towards her.

Her posture, from the nape of her neck to her straight back, and down to her upright waist. And, her disciplined strides.

Those were all her habits that had been deeply engraved in his retinas before.

As someone who used to be part of the special forces, Seohyun was such a woman who exuded a sense of restrained discipline, which was unique to soldiers. Even if she was just standing, it could be seen.

That’s why, when he first met her, he hadn’t been happy to see her.

He thought that she was a woman who came to meet him under the orders of the Korean government.

Forgetting his initial purpose, Ciel stood upright in the air and continued to watch the woman relentlessly. The carriage then started to move away, but for a long time after that, he just stared at it.

He was left with only questions and no answers, no matter how much he thought about it. Paralyzed by a strange mood, he could not leave that spot as he remained perplexed.

That woman was a stranger to him, and yet why. Why could he feel Seohyun’s atmosphere from her?

A while ago, when she passed by him with an indifferent expression, why. Why did his heart throb with pain.

He followed after her because of his suspicions, but in the end, nothing had been solved. Instead, only a bigger question settled deep in his heart.

Another stone was added to the confines of his stifled, heavy heart. He let out a long, narrow exhale.

That night, he missed his wife Seohyun terribly so.

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