Chapter44
Once I left the dining room, I didn’t head back to my room but to the garden instead.
Stopping at the entrance I hadn’t properly looked at when we arrived through the front gate, a sharp winter wind blew straight at me.
The cold air helped clear my head. Just then, one of the servants approached.
“Shall I prepare some tea for you?”
“…Please.”
It was a familiar servant’s face, but this time I only nodded lightly instead of making small talk, then turned back toward the garden.
Even though it was only early winter, the flowers in the garden were blooming in full color, their petals pristine, their leaves spread wide.
A perfectly maintained garden—so perfect it felt unnatural.
There was an eerie beauty to it.
Why hadn’t I felt this strangeness before?
Was it because Crowell Castle being warm, beautiful, and safe had always been natural to me?
Since when had Mother and Father become obsessed with the castle’s perfect upkeep?
The truth was… since always.
The fact that such things now felt strange was what felt strange.
“…Ha.”
I sat alone in the resting area built in the middle of the garden, watching the setting sun. The cold winter breeze brushed against my cheek.
The chill that seeped through my short sleeves felt somehow sorrowful.
I repeated quietly to myself: There’s nothing to worry about.
I was the one who overcame the change in my regression point, wasn’t I?
This is the first time something like this has happened, but I can definitely handle it.
It wasn’t the first time something unexpected happened among the hundreds of regressions.
But maybe… because this time it involved my family.
For some reason, my heart felt shaken—very unlike me.
How pathetic, having such obvious weaknesses.
As my mood sank, I stared blankly at the teapot the servant began setting down.
And for some reason… there were two teacups.
“……?”
Lifting my head in confusion, I saw Ethan Behemoth standing behind the servant.
“…Have you finished your meal?”
“Yes. And… I have something to say.”
“…Yes, me too.”
“You first.”
“No, Ethan, you speak first.”
After watching the servant walk off, Ethan waited until the servant was completely out of earshot before pulling out the chair across from me and sitting down.
“Edith, you look like you’re about to cry. Are you okay?”
“…I look like I’m about to cry?”
“You do.”
I raised a hand and touched my cheek.
‘…Ah.’
My face really was stiff, like someone holding back tears.
I hadn’t even known what expression I was making.
It made my face warm in embarrassment—how often I seemed to show forgotten emotions in front of Ethan.
“…It’s embarrassing. But I’m fine.”
“Looks like I said something tactless again.”
“That’s not it.”
I shook my head weakly, smiling. I lifted the teapot and poured tea into his cup. Rose petals drifted into the teacup.
Ethan stared at the cup and spoke slowly.
“…I told you before—I like the way you smile when you think of your family.”
“Yes, you did.”
“But now you’re smiling like you’re about to cry. …Did something happen with the Baron and Baroness? Were they always like that?”
“Well, that’s…”
“Don’t try to hide it. It’s because they’re different from the family you remember, isn’t it?”
“For someone who claims to be tactless, you’re quite sharp.”
I quickly lifted the teapot again. Instead of reaching for his cup, Ethan turned and looked straight at me.
“If you have something to say, say it.”
I looked back at him. As the sun set and only the dim red glow of oil lamps lit the evening garden, our eyes met without anything hidden between us.
I was wondering—
‘How much should I tell Ethan?’
Just bringing him home—was that enough to drag him into this? Could I really?
“…I—”
Just as I gathered my resolve to speak, hurried footsteps approached.
Tap-tap-tap!
A small weight landed on my lap.
“Unnie…!”
It was Diana. Having run over, she buried her face in the skirt of my dress.
After rubbing her face against it a few times, she suddenly looked up.
“…Diana.”
I reached out and gently cupped her tiny, tear-stained cheeks.
Her little face was flushed red, covered in tears.
Diana choked out,
“Help me… I need you, unnie….”
“Your sister seems to have noticed already.”
Ethan said slowly.
“No matter how nervous she was, dropping a fork and then breaking a plate right after wasn’t a mistake—it was intentional.”
“…….”
So Diana had caused a small commotion at the dinner table to make sure I sensed something was wrong with Mother and Father.
Diana wiped her eyes on her sleeve, lips jutting out.
“…Hmph. Unnie! Why… why is the Young Lord here with you?”
“Because he’s my friend.”
She must have run straight here as soon as she learned where I was—and only now realized Ethan was with me, her eyes trembling.
“…Don’t rub your eyes like that.”
I gently caught her hands and lowered them, wiping the tears from her eyes myself.
Seeing her up close, I saw faint shadows beneath her cute eyes, signs of how anxious she’d been all this time.
Diana opened her mouth as if to speak—then hesitated, glancing at me and Ethan in turn.
“…….”
Was she hesitating because of Ethan?
Yes… that made sense. Even earlier at the gate, she hadn’t spoken until she felt safe, because she didn’t recognize him.
Whatever Diana wanted to say, it wasn’t something an outsider should hear lightly.
So how far should I involve Ethan?
I thought for a moment, then made a decision.
“He can listen. He’s my friend.”
He was my friend.
Whatever Ethan meant by ‘friend,’ I didn’t know.
But for the first time in my life, I wanted to resolve something involving my family as quickly as possible.
And in that case—couldn’t I borrow a little help from a friend?
He helped me fight the wolf monster—why not with this? And Ethan, himself—
“…Really?”
Diana looked at Ethan for confirmation. Ethan nodded firmly.
“I am Edith’s friend.”
See. Ethan himself clearly cared about this matter.
I hadn’t known Ethan Behemoth had such a meddlesome side.
Maybe only when it came to “a friend’s problem.”
Reassured, Diana finally began to speak.
“Mom said… if even she suddenly started acting weird like Dad… then I should write a letter to you no matter what.”
…What? Then from the moment she sent that letter—
I gently sat Diana in the empty chair.
“If they changed… how? Tell me everything.”
“A-at first, it was Dad… who started acting weird…”
“…Father?”
“Yeah. I broke one of the ink bottles while playing in his office, and then suddenly Dad got really angry…”
Diana explained that she had never seen him that furious before.
He wasn’t in the middle of writing important documents or anything. It was just a single ink bottle—yet he had exploded with anger unlike himself.
“I was scared…”
Diana shivered—whether from the cold winter wind or the memory of his rage, I wasn’t sure.
Either way, I started to remove my shawl to drape it over her.
“Ah.”
Ethan took off his coat first and placed it over Diana.
Her guarded gaze toward him softened a little.
With a steadier voice, Diana continued.
Father’s anger had been so extreme that even Mother’s attempts to calm him hadn’t worked.
And then, at some point, Father began obsessively waiting for the day I would return from the Academy.
“After that, the maids started acting strange…! They always played along with my pranks before, but suddenly they got scary-busy… and they wouldn’t talk to me at all…”
Servants who kept the castle perfectly immaculate—but refused all personal conversation.
Exactly as I had seen.
“And then Mom started acting weird like Dad too… so I… I… I was scared the butler wouldn’t send it if I wrote the truth… so I sent the letter the way Mom told me to, before she changed…”
Diana finished, and fresh tears streamed down her cheeks as she threw herself into my arms.
…And thanks to that letter, I had made it to Crowell Castle in time.
