When she raised her eyes, she saw Carl’s hardened expression. Fanora hesitated in front of him before revealing the truth.
“…Listen carefully from now on. Carl, the duke must have been around you quite a bit until now, but from now on, don’t even talk to him.”
From what kind of human Aloken was in fact to what he did to her. She told Carl everything.
“Yes?! He’s spying on Lady Fanora!”
Then, as if in response to her words, Carl began to tell what Aloken did to him too. “Besides, he caught up on what you’ve been doing all this time? I-is this why he separates me from Lady Fanora?”
“Separate?”
“That’s… Actually, the reason I said that at our last meeting was because of the duke. He suddenly threatened with hostage and tell me to get away from Lady Fanora.”
Thanks to this, Fanora also noticed that the reason why he kept his distance was because he had been threatened.
“Carl was threatened? By using someone’s life?”
The two were momentarily shocked.
Carl also lost his words and stared blankly in the air. Duke Jalier, I knew you were a bad person, but this is really…
Carl thought the reason why Aloken kept him in check was jealousy. He loved Fanora so much that Carl thought he was just keeping opposite sex away from her, but he never imagined that it would all be an act. In the reality, there was no cush thing as love from the beginning. Aloken’s purpose was simply to isolate Fanora.
“I-I thought your fiancé would love you, Lady Fanora.”
“…”
“Really, really love you. Even if he has an obsessive side, he’ll make Lady Fanora happy…”
He believed it and had no doubt. Carl made a serious face and furrowed his brow. It was rare to see furrows around Carl’s eyes.
“You don’t have to feel guilty. I didn’t even know about it before.”
Fanora was grateful to him for hearing of Aloken’s misdeeds and taking his anger out as if he was the one who had gone through that. But the happy reunion was over. It had been quite a while since she fled, so it wouldn’t be strange if Aloken’s men came to search at any time.
“Carl, you said that Aloken take a hostage. Now, don’t worry anymore.”
“Yes?”
“He won’t hurt anyone dear to you.”
Carl Andras. He always made her determined.
Fanora thought briefly and soon revealed her plan. “Soon I will kill Aloken. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find a place where I can handle it quietly… That’s it. I have prepared to face the consequences for a long time.”
Her eyes returned to normal. To be precise, it turned back just like the few days after her regression.
“Carl, I’ll keep my deal with you now. I’ll tell you how to get Europe, so go to the address I gave you…”
Carl listened to her quietly, sweating coldly from the moment the word consequence came out, and suddenly intervened.
“W-wait a minute! Lady Fanora! Please reconsider!”
“I don’t have time for this. I’m being under surveillance. You never know when Aloken will change his mind and chase after you.”
“But that’s not it. In that case, Lady Fanora.”
When she told there was no time, Carl began to look around. If he sent her away like this, the person in front of his eyes might disappear being executed. So he hurriedly brough out the words that came to his mind.
“Did you say you had a week left? The date you make an appointment with Aloken?”
“Yes.”
Carl had never rolled his head so earnestly. He tried his bet to come up with a better plan in the short time that Fanora was about to leave. Fortunately, his effort didn’t betray him.
“A week. Yes. If it’s about a week…”
He continued to talk to Fanora with a face of determination, measuring the time left.
“Lady Fanora, can you trust me?”
“Pardon?”
“If you give me a few days, I think I can help you.”
“Is there any way to keep my secret?”
“I’ll try something to keep Aloken from revealing strange words. So, I hope you don’t think of anything dangerous, believe in me, and wait for me.”
He was speaking in a confident tone, but Fanora did not expect much. Because Carl had someone precious to him being held as hostage by Aloken, so he couldn’t move carelessly.
“Alright, Carl. Instead, don’t overdo it.”
Nevertheless, Fanora obediently accepted his request. In any case, since she had made up her mind to kill Aloken, she thought it wouldn’t matter if Carl’s plan failed.
Fanora opened her dry lips, hiding her true thoughts. “Still, I don’t know how things will turn out. But let me at least tell you about Europa…”
“No, I don’t want to listen to it. If I knew about it, you might get ready to die without any regrets. I need to keep the deal.”
“No, it’s not like that.”
“Gosh, did you even lie in front of me now?”
She spoke calmly, but does it show? Fanora gently rubbed her forehead with her hand as if embarrassed. Seizing the opportunity, Carl jumped on the top of his horse.
“Carl, wait…!’
“Giddy up!”
She tried to catch up with Carl in a hurry. However, the man in front of her was one of the top five people in the kingdom who handled horses well. He quickly drove his horse away as if there were fire at the top of his foot. In the end, Fanora couldn’t tell him the location of the holy relic.
“Huh.”
He usually listens obediently to her orders, but why did he have to rebel at this moment?
“He’s so fast.”
Fanora, who was left alone, eventually thought, trudging in the direction of her nature. If she gave Carl a few more days, he claimed that he would prevent Aloken from revealing her secret. Carl must be the only place where she could ask for help, but would Marquis Andras’s power alone be enough to resolve this situation? What could possible be resolved by simply waiting?
“…”
She took a deep breath. As Carl’s voice disappeared, the surroundings became quiet. While engrossed in her quite thoughts, she belatedly realized one thing. He really didn’t ask to stop seeing him because he dislike me. Than, her tears had stopped with Carl’s explanation.
After a while, Fanora returned with a messy appearance to the watcher who was waiting for her.
“L-Lady Fanora. Your dress…”
“Will you go and tell Aloken? His fiancée is so sick that she has to go home now.”
At her request, the butler called his master. Of course, all the royals and nobles gathered in the hall focused on the duke couple.
“Oh my, why does Lady Fanora look like that?”
“Where did she fall and roll?”
They could hear the crowd buzzing.
Could it be that the reason she returned with her own feet to damage my reputation? Aloken thought so for a moment, but he didn’t express his displeasure with her action.
“I see. If your body hurts that much, just go back.”
He even took off his coat to Fanora, pretending to be a caring fiancé. It was to maintain his reputation that he had built up so far.
“…”
Knowing that, Fanora showed no sign of gratitude even though she was being cared for.
As they prepared to leave the banquet hall, someone approached. The one who breaking through the noisy crowd was an elderly madam with gray hair as if covered in ashes.
“You’re still here, Countess Maquil.”
Aloken gazed at her with an uncomfortable look, while Iva Maquil appeared composed in contrast.
“If it’s to meet her, it’s not a big deal, Lord.”
“But as you can see, it’s hard for us to talk right now. Could you just send a letter to my mansion?”
“I understand the situation, so I’ll keep it short.” Ivar Maquil stopped them from leaving the banquet hall.
It was thanks to the countess who had contacted the duke in the hall and hovering around him all this time, waiting for her goddaughter, that Fanora could escaped through the window.
Fanora couldn’t believe she’s meeting someone whom she thought had already went back to her estate after the social season in the royal banquet. Her eyes widened.
“Godmother? When did you go to the capital… I couldn’t even see you at the New Year’s Ball…”
“I guess you haven’t heard it. Didn’t you get an invitation in my name about two weeks ago?”
“Two weeks ago? Ah, that, I haven’t checked the letters lately because I have been busy lately.”
If it was two weeks ago, it would be the time when she was in shock as she saw the end of the midnight novel. Fanora recalled the situation at the time when she was out of her mind.
Countess Maquil spread out the fan she was holding and said, “They said you were busy for your upcoming wedding, I guess that must be true.”
“I’m sorry.”
“That’s all right. We finally met here.”
“Yes?”
“Did you even forget the reason why I sent you the invitation? If so, I’d be sad.”
Countess Maquil handed out two invitations to the couple in front of her eyes.
“I plan to hold a banquet on the 21st. I would be grateful if the two of you could attend and brighten up it.”
“If it’s the 21…”
Fanora grasped the contents of the invitation without even opening the letter she handed. When it came to the banquet to be held on the 21st, seven days from now, she just remembered something. It’s Godmother’s birthday. She remembered it in the corner of her heart, thinking that she couldn’t participate as her situation had come to this.
Fanora was perplexed, looking alternately at the invitation and Aloken standing beside her. But the next day is the end of my social life.
Aloken threatened to reveal her crime on the 22nd and send her to guillotine if she didn’t reveal the information he wanted by the 21st. It would be better having her godmother to read about her criminals from the newspaper at her birthday, but the timing wouldn’t change.
Aloken won’t allow it. Fanora looked away, thinking that he would reluctantly refuse.
Aloken, who was looking through the invitation given by Iva Maquil, soon answer like this. “Um, it’s your birthday. Then you don’t have to wait for a reply. We will both be present.”
“Pardon?”
“What are you so surprised about? She’s the godmother of my fiancée, so of course I have to make time.”
“But…”
“Isn’t your schedule okay?”
Aloken tapped Fanora’s shoulder, who was distraught. It was an act of coercion to seek her consent.
“Ah, I see. Then, Godmother, I’ll see you on the day of the banquet.”
“Yes. You should leave now.”
What was this man thinking when he accepted Iva Maquil’s invitation?
After that, Fanora was led out of the banquet hall by Aloken hand. She couldn’t help to have a stiff expression. Aloken, who saw this, said a word before getting on the carriage.
“Is there anything to be surprised at to the point you look so stiff?”
“Can I really go to his banquet?”
“Don’t be nervous because I’m not up to anything.”
“…Really?”
“Well, even a death sentence prisoner is allowed to eat whatever they want before they die.”
Aloken, who was escorting Fanora with a nice appearance, raised the corners of his mouth and smiled brightly.
“I’m so considerate, so don’t hesitate. It’s even better if you think about spending times with your godmother and wanting to live a long life.”
When he spoke with kindness, Fanora stopped asking questions.
“Ah, that was your intention.”
Fanora bowed her head and was relieved alone. Still, she was able to go to her godmother’s birthday banquet. If she had known that Aloken was actually thinking these things, she wouldn’t have felt relieved, but her intent to kill would have welled up.
When she raised her eyes, she saw Carl’s hardened expression. Fanora hesitated in front of him before revealing the truth.
“…Listen carefully from now on. Carl, the duke must have been around you quite a bit until now, but from now on, don’t even talk to him.”
From what kind of human Aloken was in fact to what he did to her. She told Carl everything.
“Yes?! He’s spying on Lady Fanora!”
Then, as if in response to her words, Carl began to tell what Aloken did to him too. “Besides, he caught up on what you’ve been doing all this time? I-is this why he separates me from Lady Fanora?”
“Separate?”
“That’s… Actually, the reason I said that at our last meeting was because of the duke. He suddenly threatened with hostage and tell me to get away from Lady Fanora.”
Thanks to this, Fanora also noticed that the reason why he kept his distance was because he had been threatened.
“Carl was threatened? By using someone’s life?”
The two were momentarily shocked.
Carl also lost his words and stared blankly in the air. Duke Jalier, I knew you were a bad person, but this is really…
Carl thought the reason why Aloken kept him in check was jealousy. He loved Fanora so much that Carl thought he was just keeping opposite sex away from her, but he never imagined that it would all be an act. In the reality, there was no cush thing as love from the beginning. Aloken’s purpose was simply to isolate Fanora.
“I-I thought your fiancé would love you, Lady Fanora.”
“…”
“Really, really love you. Even if he has an obsessive side, he’ll make Lady Fanora happy…”
He believed it and had no doubt. Carl made a serious face and furrowed his brow. It was rare to see furrows around Carl’s eyes.
“You don’t have to feel guilty. I didn’t even know about it before.”
Fanora was grateful to him for hearing of Aloken’s misdeeds and taking his anger out as if he was the one who had gone through that. But the happy reunion was over. It had been quite a while since she fled, so it wouldn’t be strange if Aloken’s men came to search at any time.
“Carl, you said that Aloken take a hostage. Now, don’t worry anymore.”
“Yes?”
“He won’t hurt anyone dear to you.”
Carl Andras. He always made her determined.
Fanora thought briefly and soon revealed her plan. “Soon I will kill Aloken. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find a place where I can handle it quietly… That’s it. I have prepared to face the consequences for a long time.”
Her eyes returned to normal. To be precise, it turned back just like the few days after her regression.
“Carl, I’ll keep my deal with you now. I’ll tell you how to get Europe, so go to the address I gave you…”
Carl listened to her quietly, sweating coldly from the moment the word consequence came out, and suddenly intervened.
“W-wait a minute! Lady Fanora! Please reconsider!”
“I don’t have time for this. I’m being under surveillance. You never know when Aloken will change his mind and chase after you.”
“But that’s not it. In that case, Lady Fanora.”
When she told there was no time, Carl began to look around. If he sent her away like this, the person in front of his eyes might disappear being executed. So he hurriedly brough out the words that came to his mind.
“Did you say you had a week left? The date you make an appointment with Aloken?”
“Yes.”
Carl had never rolled his head so earnestly. He tried his bet to come up with a better plan in the short time that Fanora was about to leave. Fortunately, his effort didn’t betray him.
“A week. Yes. If it’s about a week…”
He continued to talk to Fanora with a face of determination, measuring the time left.
“Lady Fanora, can you trust me?”
“Pardon?”
“If you give me a few days, I think I can help you.”
“Is there any way to keep my secret?”
“I’ll try something to keep Aloken from revealing strange words. So, I hope you don’t think of anything dangerous, believe in me, and wait for me.”
He was speaking in a confident tone, but Fanora did not expect much. Because Carl had someone precious to him being held as hostage by Aloken, so he couldn’t move carelessly.
“Alright, Carl. Instead, don’t overdo it.”
Nevertheless, Fanora obediently accepted his request. In any case, since she had made up her mind to kill Aloken, she thought it wouldn’t matter if Carl’s plan failed.
Fanora opened her dry lips, hiding her true thoughts. “Still, I don’t know how things will turn out. But let me at least tell you about Europa…”
“No, I don’t want to listen to it. If I knew about it, you might get ready to die without any regrets. I need to keep the deal.”
“No, it’s not like that.”
“Gosh, did you even lie in front of me now?”
She spoke calmly, but does it show? Fanora gently rubbed her forehead with her hand as if embarrassed. Seizing the opportunity, Carl jumped on the top of his horse.
“Carl, wait…!’
“Giddy up!”
She tried to catch up with Carl in a hurry. However, the man in front of her was one of the top five people in the kingdom who handled horses well. He quickly drove his horse away as if there were fire at the top of his foot. In the end, Fanora couldn’t tell him the location of the holy relic.
“Huh.”
He usually listens obediently to her orders, but why did he have to rebel at this moment?
“He’s so fast.”
Fanora, who was left alone, eventually thought, trudging in the direction of her nature. If she gave Carl a few more days, he claimed that he would prevent Aloken from revealing her secret. Carl must be the only place where she could ask for help, but would Marquis Andras’s power alone be enough to resolve this situation? What could possible be resolved by simply waiting?
“…”
She took a deep breath. As Carl’s voice disappeared, the surroundings became quiet. While engrossed in her quite thoughts, she belatedly realized one thing. He really didn’t ask to stop seeing him because he dislike me. Than, her tears had stopped with Carl’s explanation.
After a while, Fanora returned with a messy appearance to the watcher who was waiting for her.
“L-Lady Fanora. Your dress…”
“Will you go and tell Aloken? His fiancée is so sick that she has to go home now.”
At her request, the butler called his master. Of course, all the royals and nobles gathered in the hall focused on the duke couple.
“Oh my, why does Lady Fanora look like that?”
“Where did she fall and roll?”
They could hear the crowd buzzing.
Could it be that the reason she returned with her own feet to damage my reputation? Aloken thought so for a moment, but he didn’t express his displeasure with her action.
“I see. If your body hurts that much, just go back.”
He even took off his coat to Fanora, pretending to be a caring fiancé. It was to maintain his reputation that he had built up so far.
“…”
Knowing that, Fanora showed no sign of gratitude even though she was being cared for.
As they prepared to leave the banquet hall, someone approached. The one who breaking through the noisy crowd was an elderly madam with gray hair as if covered in ashes.
“You’re still here, Countess Maquil.”
Aloken gazed at her with an uncomfortable look, while Iva Maquil appeared composed in contrast.
“If it’s to meet her, it’s not a big deal, Lord.”
“But as you can see, it’s hard for us to talk right now. Could you just send a letter to my mansion?”
“I understand the situation, so I’ll keep it short.” Ivar Maquil stopped them from leaving the banquet hall.
It was thanks to the countess who had contacted the duke in the hall and hovering around him all this time, waiting for her goddaughter, that Fanora could escaped through the window.
Fanora couldn’t believe she’s meeting someone whom she thought had already went back to her estate after the social season in the royal banquet. Her eyes widened.
“Godmother? When did you go to the capital… I couldn’t even see you at the New Year’s Ball…”
“I guess you haven’t heard it. Didn’t you get an invitation in my name about two weeks ago?”
“Two weeks ago? Ah, that, I haven’t checked the letters lately because I have been busy lately.”
If it was two weeks ago, it would be the time when she was in shock as she saw the end of the midnight novel. Fanora recalled the situation at the time when she was out of her mind.
Countess Maquil spread out the fan she was holding and said, “They said you were busy for your upcoming wedding, I guess that must be true.”
“I’m sorry.”
“That’s all right. We finally met here.”
“Yes?”
“Did you even forget the reason why I sent you the invitation? If so, I’d be sad.”
Countess Maquil handed out two invitations to the couple in front of her eyes.
“I plan to hold a banquet on the 21st. I would be grateful if the two of you could attend and brighten up it.”
“If it’s the 21…”
Fanora grasped the contents of the invitation without even opening the letter she handed. When it came to the banquet to be held on the 21st, seven days from now, she just remembered something. It’s Godmother’s birthday. She remembered it in the corner of her heart, thinking that she couldn’t participate as her situation had come to this.
Fanora was perplexed, looking alternately at the invitation and Aloken standing beside her. But the next day is the end of my social life.
Aloken threatened to reveal her crime on the 22nd and send her to guillotine if she didn’t reveal the information he wanted by the 21st. It would be better having her godmother to read about her criminals from the newspaper at her birthday, but the timing wouldn’t change.
Aloken won’t allow it. Fanora looked away, thinking that he would reluctantly refuse.
Aloken, who was looking through the invitation given by Iva Maquil, soon answer like this. “Um, it’s your birthday. Then you don’t have to wait for a reply. We will both be present.”
“Pardon?”
“What are you so surprised about? She’s the godmother of my fiancée, so of course I have to make time.”
“But…”
“Isn’t your schedule okay?”
Aloken tapped Fanora’s shoulder, who was distraught. It was an act of coercion to seek her consent.
“Ah, I see. Then, Godmother, I’ll see you on the day of the banquet.”
“Yes. You should leave now.”
What was this man thinking when he accepted Iva Maquil’s invitation?
After that, Fanora was led out of the banquet hall by Aloken hand. She couldn’t help to have a stiff expression. Aloken, who saw this, said a word before getting on the carriage.
“Is there anything to be surprised at to the point you look so stiff?”
“Can I really go to his banquet?”
“Don’t be nervous because I’m not up to anything.”
“…Really?”
“Well, even a death sentence prisoner is allowed to eat whatever they want before they die.”
Aloken, who was escorting Fanora with a nice appearance, raised the corners of his mouth and smiled brightly.
“I’m so considerate, so don’t hesitate. It’s even better if you think about spending times with your godmother and wanting to live a long life.”
When he spoke with kindness, Fanora stopped asking questions.
“Ah, that was your intention.”
Fanora bowed her head and was relieved alone. Still, she was able to go to her godmother’s birthday banquet. If she had known that Aloken was actually thinking these things, she wouldn’t have felt relieved, but her intent to kill would have welled up.
