IMHMF 23

Chapter 23

“My lady… the master will likely not be coming in tonight.”

Having said what she needed to say, Dias gave a polite bow and left the room.

Sitting on the bed, I turned over the conversation I had shared with Eden once more. He had clearly said that feeling unpleasant and irritated was something he was experiencing for the first time…

I simply could not understand it.

Was he feeling irritated and unpleasant because of me?

Even as I tried to understand Eden, it would not come to me. In the end I sprang up from the bed and began pacing around the room.

“It is not as though I wanted to be chased. I want to say something too! But what was I supposed to do when he turned out to be the Western Kingdom’s prince! You insufferable Hylus!”

I had dismissed all the maids and had not even changed my clothes. I pulled off the gloves I had been wearing with a touch of irritation and let out a loud shout.

Only after letting out that shout did my agitated feelings settle a little.

True to Dias’s words, Eden did not appear even by dinnertime.

“My lady, the master has not yet come in, so it seems you will need to eat first.”

With Alb’s words, who had come right at dinnertime, I went to the dining room alone, where I had always gone with Eden before. Even without Eden, I ate my meal with composure and finished a walk in the garden as well.

And even into the night when I needed to lie down in bed, Eden did not show himself. Only after resolving that when he came I would simply apologize for moving away without a word and then confront him did I close my eyes.

The eyes I had closed opened again after quite some time had passed. Even so, it was still the dark of early morning, but the moonlight coming into the room was enough.

“…Eden?”

“Eden?”

“……”

There was no answer, but I was certain it was Eden.

He said he would not come back tonight…

The man who had said he would not return was standing in the room filled with nothing but moonlight.

I was reminded of the second time I had collapsed. Back then too, he had simply stood in the darkness just like this. Whether he had not yet realized I was awake, he stood perfectly still.

His hair, shining like moonlight, glowed even brighter in the dark. Seen in the soft incoming moonlight, he looked exactly as he had during the day.

That trembling I could not understand at all. And those eyes that looked as though they had been hurt.

“…Eden.”

It was a name called softly in a husky voice, but he somehow heard it and drew close to me.

“I woke you.”

His first words were composed. Behind his composed reply, I offered a brief apology.

“I am sorry. For my part.”

After seeing his trembling, a small sense of guilt had accumulated. I had wondered whether I had perhaps caused some trouble inside the imperial palace, whether a problem had arisen in the diplomacy with the Western Kingdom because of me, and whether he had come in late because he had been working to resolve those problems.

The trembling I had interpreted.

Was exactly that, no more and no less.

“…Why would you.”

“I moved away without saying a word.”

“I sent Dias.”

“Even so.”

“…That is not something you need to apologize for.”

With his reply, silence came again. In the quiet hours when everyone was asleep, it was an even quieter stillness.

The rustling of the blanket at the slightest movement, and the sound of the floor whenever Eden shifted slightly, were the only sounds in the silence.

Just as that silence began to feel heavy, pressing down on my chest, a voice broke through it.

“But why are you the one who leaves the house?”

“……”

“I am the one who was startled and I am the one who was flustered, so why are you the one who leaves. Even if you fight, you come home and talk it out. Do you not know that a quarrel between a couple is like cutting water with a knife?”

“A cou… a couple’s quarrel?”

At the word ‘couple’s quarrel,’ his calm demeanor shifted in a subtle way.

“Yes, a couple’s quarrel. We are in an engagement relationship, after all.”

“I thought it was a fight on my own, but it seems you were fighting along with me.”

“Being alone made me angry. Not that I was trying to pick a fight, but…”

Having spoken rather passionately, I trailed off feeling needlessly embarrassed.

“I am sorry.”

“I did not know you were someone who could say sorry so easily.”

“…That too, I am sorry for.”

“If you are sorry, then stay here.”

“Right now?”

“Stay until I fall back asleep. And do not leave the moment I fall asleep either…”

Without the slightest hesitation, he lay down on the bed upon hearing my words.

“Go to sleep.”

“Do not leave the moment I fall asleep.”

“……”

“Answer me…”

“I understand.”

“Really, truly…”

“Truly.”

Only after receiving his firm answer was I able to fall back asleep. The visit to the imperial palace alone had been tiring enough, and having a chase with the Western Kingdom’s prince on top of that made it all the more exhausting.

A short while later.

The only thing filling the quiet room was the sound of her breathing.

He stared at Loa, who had fallen asleep with her guard down as though trusting him. She had always recognized him.

The concealment was done by blending magical energy, something most people would not be able to detect, yet she had always met his eyes, both at the count’s residence and here.

Whether the sound of her breathing gave him a sense of calm, his own eyes began to feel heavy before he knew it. He fell asleep like that, and when he woke again, the sun was already high in the sky.

The refreshed sensation he had not felt in a long time made his body feel languid. Squinting against the bright sunlight, the first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was Loa, wearing a clear expression.

“Did you sleep well?”

Eden wore a dazed expression as though he could not quite grasp the situation. It was the first time such an expression had appeared on him, and it made me laugh a little.

“I woke up in the morning and you were here, so I told them not to wake you.”

“I see.”

“Hurry and get changed and come back. I am only letting it go today, lying on the bed in your outside clothes.”

***

When I had opened my eyes, Eden had been lying beside me. He had been lying in what looked like a rather uncomfortable position, so hoping at least his clothes would be comfortable, I had undone a few buttons of his shirt.

Leaving behind the room where the dim light of early dawn still lingered, I quietly stepped out the door.

“Prospective mistress, you are up already?”

A servant passing by the door greeted me warmly.

“I shall have a bath prepared for you.”

“Eden is sleeping in the room, so please arrange it somewhere else.”

The servant seemed a little surprised at my answer but soon smiled lightly and nodded. Even after the bath was finished, with no word that Eden had woken up, I wandered aimlessly around the ducal residence.

It was the first time I had walked around without Dias’s escort or the servants’ attendance. That first time was freer than I had expected, and each movement felt careful.

Alb, who had spotted me and approached, greeted me warmly.

“My lady, did you sleep well?”

“Did you sleep well too, Alb?”

“I heard the master is in your room.”

“Yes.”

“I saw the master come in well past midnight and head straight to your room, but I never imagined he would sleep there. And to sleep this late into the morning at that…”

“Does Eden not usually sleep well?”

“He tends to need quite a lot of sleep by nature, but he cuts it short himself.”

So Eden was someone who needed a lot of sleep.

“Alb, do you know why Eden did not come in yesterday?”

Asking Dias would clearly yield no answer. Even though she guarded me, she was ultimately Eden’s subordinate.

“Yesterday, the master went to conduct an interrogation after discovering the mastermind behind the Meta Forest incident.”

“Meta Forest?”

Meta Forest was the forest where we had been ambushed on the day of the engagement ceremony. And a mastermind at that. Did mastermind mean Marquis Ter Giuo?

“Thank you, Alb.”

“Anything that is of help to you, my lady. Will you be having breakfast?”

“I will eat together with Eden when he wakes up.”

With that, I finished my conversation with Alb and returned to my room. Seeing him lying in my bed gave rise to a strange feeling that stirred within me.

I walked up to the bed and leaned close to his face. I tickled the sleeping Eden’s face for no particular reason.

“You foolish Hylus. You could have just said something and gone.”

There was no chance the sleeping man would answer.

“Idiot.”

At my tickling, Eden’s expression began to change little by little.

Ah, he is going to wake up.

Just as that thought crossed my mind, he opened his eyes.