Chapter 29…
“Are you… okay?”
“Hm?”
Even when I call your name.
I met Clarissa’s gaze as she held her breath and looked only at me, her eyes trembling.
Arjan lightly shook his head as he looked at Clarissa’s face, still wearing a beautiful smile.
“No. Clarissa.”
On his way home after parting with Clarissa, Arjan went over the events of the day again and again.
Though many things had happened, he planned to remember today as the happiest day of his life.
If only someone hadn’t blocked his path.
“It’s been a while, Arjan.”
“Ah….”
He turned around with a small gasp.
A shadow longer than his own stretched over him.
A soft voice—one he had never once found gentle—caught at his ankles.
“You seem to be staying out very late these days.”
“I’m sor—”
Belisa’s cold gaze brushed across Arjan’s cheek.
In front of her, he always felt like a tiny insect.
A small, round bug cowering in fear, never knowing when it might be crushed.
“No, it’s fine.”
Arjan knew better than anyone that the mild curve of her lips was never what it seemed.
Behind Belisa, several servants who had not yet gone to bed could be seen.
Arjan felt a little relieved.
In front of others’ eyes, Belisa never revealed her true self.
“…Yes.”
“So, where did you go today?”
The way Belisa asked, as if she were sincerely concerned about her child’s well-being, made her seem like a truly refined and patient mother.
Arjan didn’t know what to say.
No matter what he did or felt, Belisa had never once been curious about it.
Yet she seemed far too serious for this to be her usual act.
Should he tell the truth? But what truth?
As he remained silent in confusion, the woman’s red, beautiful lips parted again.
“It seems it’s inconvenient to talk here, isn’t it?”
Arjan forced himself to swallow. A chilling sensation ran down his back.
Once more, Belisa beckoned with her thin, pale fingers.
“Come along. It’s been a while—let’s have a quiet talk, just the two of us.”
With those words, Belisa led the way up the stairs.
Click, click—her sharp footsteps tore apart all of Arjan’s joy.
Countless eyes were fixed on the spot where he stood frozen. He was afraid.
But engraving the image of one single person deep into his heart, Arjan finally moved his feet.
Clarissa reviewed everything that had happened that day, one by one.
No matter how she thought about it, she had been terrible today.
“I really got excited too easily. I already knew that bastard had a rotten personality.”
Even as she told herself it couldn’t be helped, a bitter taste lingered in her mouth.
Couldn’t she have handled it better? She shouldn’t have provoked him so carelessly. And worst of all…
What if this makes it impossible for the two of them to ever grow close?
All kinds of thoughts stole Clarissa’s sleep.
Even with her eyes closed, vivid regrets pricked relentlessly at her conscience.
Before a more vicious wave of self-loathing could rise, Clarissa hurriedly shook her head.
Whether it was her heart or her thoughts, it was all a matter of mindset.
“No, this might actually be for the best. That guy doesn’t deserve our Arjan anyway. Exactly.”
Nodding deeply, Clarissa brushed away her lingering regrets and organized her thoughts with the confidence she always wore.
Would I stop writing the next chapter just because of one hateful comment? That’s insane.
She had, quite literally, the “experience” of a previous life.
Something like this was hardly worth calling a failure.
Clarissa clenched her fist, her eyes shining with resolve.
I guess I’ll just have to push myself a little harder and handle things from the ground up.
Gazing at the moon outside the large window—so reminiscent of someone—she began planning what lay ahead.
First, I need to somehow persuade Father and assign the most capable knight to Arjan…
Perhaps her busy mind was finally tiring, because her thoughts began to blur.
Just as she was about to surrender herself to sleep—
“Oh, what do we do?”
“What do you mean, what do we do? We have to tell her right away.”
“But she must be asleep.”
Anxious voices arguing not far away drifted into Clarissa’s ears.
She had almost fallen asleep.
Clarissa snapped irritably,
“Who’s there?”
“C–Clarissa, my lady.”
The familiar voice, sounding as though it hadn’t expected to be heard, quickly cleared its throat and called out to her.
Clarissa sat up and gave an order.
“Come in.”
As expected, Marie stood before Clarissa with hesitant steps.
Clarissa lifted her chin toward Marie’s face, which looked as though it longed for darkness.
Even under Clarissa’s sharp, pressing gaze, Marie unusually didn’t speak right away.
“What is it? Stop dragging it out and say it.”
That hesitation made Clarissa deeply uneasy.
“Th–that is…”
“Hurry!”
Only when Clarissa raised her voice did Marie finally open her mouth, hesitantly.
“Lord Arjan…”
That was enough.
Feeling all sleep flee her body, Clarissa sprang to her feet.
Her whole body tingled as if electrified. Her heart pounded as though it might burst.
When she came to her senses, she was already running somewhere.
Clarissa managed to wake the sleeping coachman and have the carriage prepared, but now she found herself surrounded by a group of maids who had come to stop her.
“Lady Clarissa! Please calm down!”
Do I look like I can calm down?!
“Move!”
“It’s already far too late.”
No matter how sharply she shouted, they showed no sign of backing down.
Of course, they had their reasons.
But Clarissa, too, could not retreat.
“That’s not what matters right now!”
What mattered most to Clarissa was Arjan’s safety.
She knew perfectly well how rude and dangerous it was to drive out in a carriage at a time so close to dawn—especially to visit another noble’s estate.
Even so, there were times when one had to act.
Clarissa prepared herself to push through the maids, all of whom were larger than her.
Just then—
“What is all this commotion?!”
A voice heavy with age rang clearly in Clarissa’s ears.
Vestas approached, looking as though he had rushed out wearing only a thin robe.
His brilliantly shining golden eyes swept between Clarissa’s flushed face and the maids’ pale, frightened ones.
“Marie.”
“Y–Yes, Master.”
“I asked what this commotion is.”
“Th–that is…”
Marie couldn’t bring herself to answer right away.
She herself didn’t know how to explain the situation.
Fortunately, Vestas didn’t give her much time.
“Clarissa, you tell me.”
“Father, Arjan is…”
Clarissa’s lips parted again and again.
Saying it out loud made her feel as though her throat were tightening.
Only after taking three deep breaths in a row was she able to continue.
“Arjan is sick. Very badly. He lost consciousness.”
Vestas was startled by the sight of his daughter—one he had never seen before—but he did not lose his authority as head of the household.
After sweeping his gaze around and confirming the maids’ nods, he spoke slowly, far more gently than before.
“…All right. I understand the situation.”
Clarissa’s eyes shone with joy.
For a very brief moment.
“But it’s far too late now, so you should go back inside.”
“But—!”
“Would anything really change just because you went?”
Despite Clarissa’s outcry, Vestas remained firm.
His words were entirely correct.
If this had been an ordinary situation.
Clutching the secret that only she knew, Clarissa pleaded.
Her emotions surged unevenly; reason lost its strength and sagged.
“You don’t know, Father. Arjan is in danger. While Arjan is unconscious, Belisa—what that woman might do—”
“Clarissa von Lisette!”
A heated voice that had never once been directed at her before—one in which deep anger could be felt.
Clarissa’s eyes flew open as she looked at her father, his face tightly contorted.
“How dare you speak so recklessly!”
Her breath stopped.
Through her thin nightclothes, she felt the chill of the autumn wind.
Her shoulders trembled, and her lips—now pale—slowly parted.
“…You don’t know anything,”
Something clear welled up in Clarissa’s golden eyes.
“You don’t know anything at all!”
