Chapter 26
There was no need for me to visit April since I had no intention of continually healing her with holy power.
“Have you grown close to April?”
“Since there’s no one else to talk to at the villa, she seems to feel quite comfortable around me.”
“Really?”
Well, that’s fortunate.
I let out a faint smile.
“Tell her that if she keeps practicing walking, she’ll improve.”
“……”
“Keep offering her words that can plant hope.”
“Are you not planning to visit her anymore?”
“I won’t be able to come for a while.”
“Then I won’t be able to see you either.”
“That’s likely.”
The only place Alan and I could meet was here.
“Irina.”
As I was about to turn away, having only stopped by to check on April’s condition, Alan grabbed me.
“What is it?”
The tears in his crimson eyes had disappeared, replaced by a hint of hesitation.
“What’s wrong?”
“Where… are you going to be?”
His voice was so soft it was almost inaudible, but I heard it.
“Can’t you tell me where you’re going?”
This was Alan’s first question, one he had never asked before.
The hand holding mine felt as warm as his eyes, and I couldn’t muster a reaction to the expectation I saw in his expression.
“I won’t bring you any harm. Just as you saved me, I want to help you this time, Irina.”
“……”
“If I can’t stay by your side, at least tell me where you’ll be.”
His voice was dripping with desperation.
I suddenly felt that taming an animal out of pity was not something to be done lightly. Perhaps taming meant submitting, after all.
Even after witnessing how blindly devoted Alicia was to her parents, I was making the same mistake.
I scratched my forehead awkwardly.
“Do you think I might harm you?”
As if sensing my discomfort at being looked up to, Alan knelt on one knee, lowering himself to my eye level.
My head, which had been tilted up to look at him, now slowly lowered, meeting his gaze.
His eyes were full of a longing for affection.
“Why don’t you ever ask me anything about myself?”
“……”
“You don’t ask why I turned to drugs or anything like that.”
His tone was subdued, completely different from when we met three months ago.
I licked my dry lips and answered, “It’s the same as how you don’t ask me anything.”
“What?”
“You haven’t asked me what happened between me and Lady April.”
“If I asked, would you tell me?”
The hopeful look on his face made me let out a small, ironic laugh.
“You talk as if you would tell me if I asked.”
“……”
“About what happened in your past, why you were covered in wounds and nearly dead when we first met, why you became an addict.”
“……”
“Who was chasing you, and why.”
There were more questions about Alan than I had fingers to count.
“Where you were running from and why.”
I recalled the first time I met Alan.
At first, I thought he was a corpse.
It wasn’t uncommon for servants to flee noble houses after enduring severe beatings, so I hadn’t been surprised.
Disheveled hair, bare feet, bruises, and bloodstains visible even through his clothes.
“Can you tell me about yourself?”
“If I… If I tell you…”
“……”
“I’m afraid you’ll be in danger…”
In the end, it meant he couldn’t tell me.
I hadn’t expected him to, and even if he had, I would have refused to listen.
“I don’t want to force you to tell me.”
“……”
“Alan, I’m comfortable with things as they are now.”
This relationship, where we don’t ask or expect anything from each other, maintaining a comfortable distance.
After Alicia, Alan might be the person I felt most at ease with.
If the time ever comes when he wants to share his past with me, I’d like to gently decline.
I no longer wish to form deep bonds with anyone in this empire.
“Alan.”
When I called his name in a calm voice, he nodded slightly.
“I want to keep things the way they are.”
He looked hurt for some reason.
“Sooner or later, you’ll find out where I am, even if you don’t want to.”
His face seemed to suggest he wanted something more from me, but I pretended not to notice and turned my head.
What I liked about Alan was that he never demanded something from me that I didn’t want to give.
“I’ll be back.”
* * *
By the time I left the shop and arrived in the capital, it was late at night.
I’m curious about who Perpone is interested in.
Whether she’s the daughter of a family that rivals the duchy.
It wasn’t just about Perpone, the crown prince, or anything else; I wanted to know about the three years I was absent from the royal family.
April hadn’t told her family about the broken engagement, so I couldn’t ask the duke.
“The only people who might know…”
Would be Lervian and Adonis.
Of course, Lervian, who spent every hour of the day with the crown prince, was more likely to know than Adonis.
“Will you keep what you saw a secret?”
I briefly recalled the flushed cheeks and the bloodied lips of Adonis earlier.
“Keep the handkerchief.”
A faint smile touched my lips as I thought about the encounter with Adonis.
“I’ll have to get it back.”
It was a good thing I helped him, even if he didn’t realize it.
Since he refused the handkerchief, I’d need another excuse.
Instead of heading towards the duchy, I made my way to the capital’s temple, which was in the opposite direction.
As I hurried along, I soon arrived at the temple.
Despite the late hour, there were quite a few people at the temple. Some looked exhausted, and others were holding crying children.
The priests wore weary expressions, though they tried to appear calm. I only intended to get some ointment…
“Priest, please see my child first! Strange blisters keep forming on his body!”
“Please, priest, see to my wife.”
Why are there so many sick people?
The priests were moving around busily, responding to the cries of the people.
There weren’t many priests with holy power in the temple, and yet the number of sick people kept growing, leaving the powerless priests to exhaust themselves.
“It’s Lord Tamitarte!”
I tilted my head slightly at the sight of a priest rushing towards me.
I turned slowly to the sound of a carriage approaching the temple entrance.
It was an ornate and large carriage, fit for a high-ranking priest or even the pope.
The carriage, decorated with gold and painted in the pure white that symbolized the temple, was far too lavish for the temple’s usual modesty.
Who could possibly be riding in that?
As the carriage door opened, a man hurriedly stepped out.
I had expected an elderly man of high rank within the temple, but I was wrong.
“Lord Tamitarte! Please hurry!”
He appeared to be in his mid-to-late thirties, with long hair as lengthy as that of Duke Alexis.
His wisteria-colored hair, as long as his waist, shimmered as he moved.
As I followed the man with my gaze, he turned his head towards me, sensing my stare.
“What…?”
My eyes met his, and I found myself staring blankly at him.
Who is this?
The man who had been walking towards the temple entrance stopped in his tracks and stared at me.
He’s a strange one. I should just get my ointment and leave.
As I thought this, preparing to head into the temple, I heard a name that shouldn’t have come from the man’s lips.
“Ber… Bernice?”
…What?
The shock was evident in the pale blue eyes fixed on me.
Did I hear that right? From that man’s mouth?
“Ber… Bernice.”
Why is he saying my mother’s name…?
As the man muttered, the temple knights who stood beside him turned their gaze towards me, prompting me to pull up my hood to hide my face.
“Ber… Bernice…”
The man continued to mutter my name—no, my mother’s name—until he suddenly stopped.
“Lord Tamitarte, now is not the time for this. You must go inside!”
“No, wait…!”
Damn it.
I quickly turned and left the temple.
“Wait, wait…!”
The man, who seemed desperate to catch me, was soon surrounded by the priests and left helpless.
“What… was that?”
Only when I was far from the temple and close to the duchy did I finally lower my hood.
I had to struggle to calm my pounding heart.
I never expected to meet someone who knew my mother, and for that person to be a priest.
“How on earth did he know her…?”
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