TLFR 03

Chapter 3

They were bright green.

A sigh-like groan escaped between her dry lips.

“Grand Duke…”

The target Genear was even more wary of than Lezan’s emperor.

A knight worthy of being called Lezan’s finest sword, an heir to the throne, and the current master of the northwestern duchy of Eleanor.

The Grand Duke of Eleanor. It was him.

“Very well. I’ll take her from here.”

“Pardon? You personally…?”

“Must I say it twice?”

“N-no!”

The man’s gaze fell away from the knight who hurriedly retreated.

Ines, who had been dazedly looking up at him, found herself meeting her own reflection in his green eyes before she knew it.

Only then did she realize. Their eyes had met.

She had known his name for many years.

The time she had seen his face was just a few months ago, when she was studying the profiles of Lezan’s nobles at the Genear imperial palace.

She had seen this man’s portrait then.

It had been a painting detailed as if real, but she could keenly feel only after facing him that it had captured not even half of the real thing.

“I greet the royal of Genear.”

A man of such refined features bowed at the waist.

His hot lips touched the back of Ines’s hand, which was now held in his. It was a hand on which no one had ever before placed a kiss meant for a lady.

“Ah…”

The man’s lips were like a burning ember.

That ember soon ran through Ines’s entire body, setting her aflame. A stammering greeting tumbled out.

“Th-thank… you.”

“Not at all.”

The Grand Duke answered lightly, released her hand, and straightened.

“I will guide you to your quarters in the imperial palace. Shall we go?”

Ines lowered her eyes, avoiding the green eyes that had not left her from the beginning until now.

Somehow, she felt a little strange.

She cannot say how to express that moment.

Even if Ines mobilized every word she knew at the time, she would not have been able to clearly define what she felt when she first faced Rayeon Eleanor and followed behind him.

“I heard the journey was arduous.”

“It wasn’t enough to warrant your concern. …Thank you.”

“I’m glad. Still, you must be deeply fatigued from the travel, so it would be best to rest well for a few days. You will stay in the imperial palace until the welcome banquet is held.”

The Lezan imperial palace had a completely different atmosphere from Genear, which decorated its interiors with central region tiles and densely embedded jewels. It was less splendid, but its elegance and majestic beauty were several levels above.

The man walking half a step ahead down the corridor blended perfectly with that beauty.

The chandelier hanging above his head, the golden corridor shining reflected in the mirrors set at angles along the walls, the draped rare sculptures and crafted ornaments.

The black uniform jacket draped lightly over his arm, the neatly tied cravat and the ruby brooch fixed at its center…

A person to whom all of that came naturally.

He was a person who shone so beautifully. Far more than she had imagined.

In contrast, she was truly no better than a beggar who had just rolled out of a slum.

Ines’s steps gradually slowed.

When she turned her head to the side, she was reflected in a mirror. In the mirror wrapped in luxurious rose vines, a dirty woman in shabby clothes. It was utterly out of place, and therefore familiar.

Throughout her life, Ines had been the smallest, most insignificant existence in the most splendid and wealthy places.

In Genear, and here in Lezan too, everyone looked at her with the same eyes. It was only natural given her birth, so she felt no particular emotion about it.

But… Ines’s gaze groped after the retreating figure of the man.

For some reason, she felt she would be sad if that man looked at her with the same eyes as the others. Was it because he was the only person she knew in this unfamiliar foreign land?

Or… because he was one of the targets she was supposed to seduce?

“…Your Highness.”

She absolutely loathed the thought of thrusting this shabby body before that perfect person. So she wished he would be cold to her instead. Speak harshly and push her away.

“We…”

But on the other hand, a contradictory longing was mixed in—that he might be favorable toward her. She could grow numb to being hated, but she could not bring herself to like it.

So it was a feeling she truly could not define.

Ines’s small fist clenched pitifully tight.

“We… I feel like we’re meeting after a very long time.”

Rayeon stopped walking at the small voice coming from behind. Instead of turning around, he glanced to the side. In the mirror running along the wall, she was not there.

‘I thought she was still following behind.’

She wouldn’t deliberately hide her presence, so she was a woman with a naturally faint presence.

Rayeon turned around. And he saw Ines standing there alone, at a distance that would easily be five of his own paces.

When had the distance grown this wide?

He had thought it a small voice, but she must have been speaking loudly in her own way.

Even so, her original voice was not a strong one either—he could barely make out the sound.

“Am I the only one who remembers?”

“If that’s the case, I won’t… bring it up again.”

While Ines was gnawing at the inside of her lip, he scanned her with dry eyes.

She was, to an unusual degree, out of place here.

Hunched shoulders, a white dress dirty with soil, black hair grown out haphazardly. There was not a single part worth looking at.

The palace maids who had been bowing whispered among themselves.

Their gazes repeatedly touched Ines, standing alone in the middle of the corridor, and fell away.

But Ines herself did not seem to care.

She was simply waiting for his answer with an anxious face. She seemed nervous—he could see her wetting her dry lips with her tongue.

Instead of answering, Rayeon cast his gaze toward the maids lined up in a row.

It was not difficult to assess what effect that woman receiving such looks would have on his own dignity going forward.

A sharp command flew at the crowns of the maids’ heads.

“Bow lower.”

The startled maids, flinching, bowed their waists even deeper.

Ines’s eyes went round at the gazes that had suddenly been withdrawn, and Rayeon took a step.

Exactly five steps.

In that short span of no more than a few seconds, he retraced old memories he had judged not worth reviving.

By the time she was close enough to be right before him, the necessary memories had been perfectly recalled.

“…Someday.”

The uniform jacket that had been folded in half over his left arm unfolded.

The embroidery intricately worked in gold thread and the buttons studded with jewels reflected the chandelier’s light. At last it settled softly over her thin shoulders.

The woman who had been silently looking up at him with clear eyes belatedly realized what had been placed on her shoulders.

Before she could say anything, he first recited the lines from memory.

“Someday, I have a feeling we’ll meet again.”

The clear eyes, shaken with bewilderment, returned to him at once.

Rayeon caught the jacket that was about to slip and pulled it back up, continuing low.

“I believe that’s what I said.”

“Ah…”

“That you looked too small and gentle to be a troublemaker—did I say that too. I.”

Her blue eyes flew wide. His voice, which had shed the polite formal speech that was courteous yet drew a line, held a firmer resolve than before. It was the tone employed only by those born to be rulers.

Rayeon looked down at the wavering woman and moved his lips.

“It’s been a long time. …Ines.”

Vitality began to slowly return to the blue eyes that had been filled with surprise. The woman, not knowing what to do, murmured like an exclamation.

“Y-you remember. I thought you’d surely have forgotten…”

He had thought it a useless memory, but it played quite an important role in lowering her guard.

It was not a bad start.

“I really wanted to tell you I’m sorry for not recognizing you then. I mean, you were wearing a mask, so…”

“No need to apologize.”

Ines’s eyes were clear without a speck of dust, unfitting for her dirty appearance. They were so transparent that her inner thoughts could be read.

But even without looking at her eyes, it was easy to guess the heart of a woman who had likely grown up eating scraps while being treated as no better than a commoner.

An unfamiliar place, a situation where she could not see an inch ahead, and in the midst of it, a brief, brief connection from the past.

She would want to cling to it.

Rayeon looked down at the woman draped in the oversized uniform jacket.

The jacket was too large for her and kept sliding down unless she held it with her hand.

Her hesitant hand gently grasped the edge of the fabric. It was such a thin, frail hand that she could not even grip it firmly for fear of wrinkling the cloth.

“…Well then.”

His stomach felt slightly uncomfortable.

But as always, worthless things are easily forgotten.

More than that, he did not know how many minutes he was wasting standing here. One of the things he hated most was wasting time.

When he gestured toward the far end of the corridor, Ines nodded. Then she took steps that were barely half his stride.

Beneath the beautiful palace, the woman wrapped in the splendid garment was now smiling like sunlight.

…As expected, she was terribly out of place.