ALL NOVEL chapter 22
22 – Under the Crystal Palace (6)
“…Evan?”
A voice in my ear returns my spirit that had been lost for a while.
What was that smile I just saw?
I was so confused that I couldn’t tell if she was just a moonlit illusion or if she was really smiling.
-From now on, please take good care of me. Evan.
I was recognized as an escort knight.
From now on, unless she kicks him out first, he will always be her escort knight.
But when I heard it from her mouth, somehow it all felt like a fantasy.
I looked at Irene with a frown, fearing that if I pinched her cheeks, this fantasy would dissipate.
“…So, please take good care of me in the future.”
“That means you will continue my escort work. I will be formally appointed soon.”
When I pinched her thighs at that, I gnashed my teeth at the sharp pain I felt.
This was real. Surprisingly.
Are all the thoughts I had just an illusion? However, she clearly didn’t say that.
She must have been thinking of dumping me until a few days ago.
No matter how hard I tried, and how hard I tried not to hate her, that thought wouldn’t have changed.
What on earth made her change? Her eyes were closed and then opened, and I struggled to open my mouth.
I wanted to ask her. Why did you change your mind?
The escort driver’s question was a bit presumptuous, but Irene looked at me and slowly moved her lips.
“Okay.”
“…Yes?”
“I don’t know either. Why did I change my mind Obviously at first, I thought I didn’t like you.”
Obviously, when I first met Irene, the attitude she showed toward me was very cool.
If I made the slightest mistake, she would send me a grim look, and sometimes if I was confused about her title, she would click her tongue and pass me by indifferently.
I haven’t been like that since I apologized later at the tea party, but even so, my attitude towards me hasn’t changed significantly.
I felt like the mask on her face was crumbling little by little.
The mask, which did not show even the slightest incontinence despite all the hard work, crumbled,
The emotions inside him were slowly poking their heads out. Her blue eyes were no longer cold.
Like calm spring water, it was more like pleasant coolness rather than cold.
Two clear eyes captured the night sky.
Just like the twinkling stars, those eyes that were always blinded were twinkling and their eyes were on me.
Even the expression that was overshadowed now looks much more relaxed,
Sometimes, when the corner of her mouth went up, I involuntarily looked away.
I had never laughed before,
Her appearance seemed to stand out especially when she smiled like this.
The bright red lips that don’t go well with the night draw an arc again.
And when that happens, I involuntarily swallow my breath and turn my head.
That smile shimmered in front of my rice paddy, and even more so than the crooked moon, she seemed to shine even more.
I also wanted to keep asking her because it was like her heart.
I wonder why he changed his mind so much, even though he didn’t do anything.
How did you come to accept the self you tried to throw away? However, it was just meaningless.
She made up her mind, and she was now her escort knight.
Perhaps even the moment she suffered a tragedy later.
As she thought of it, her body felt as if a heavy stone had been placed on her chest.
The tragedy she was going through felt so far away from Irene now, who smiles with her relieved expression.
How could a woman like this come to such an end?
Her chest felt tight for some reason, so she took her eyes off Irene, who was looking at me, and gently closed her eyes.
The awkward silence, and what penetrates the silence is the sound of a waltz coming from the banquet hall.
At that time when the sound of the piano and the violin pierced my ears, there was a voice mixed with the sound of the waltz.
“Your expression is not good. I’ve told you everything I can tell you.”
“…It’s not the lady’s fault. It’s just that her chest is a little stuffy.”
As I said that, I smiled bitterly once.
I can’t bear to tell Irene that she will face her miserable words later.
It was a fact that only I knew in this world.
Only me.
The loneliness conveyed by that word was greater than I thought.
Even though Irene was by her side, it felt like standing alone on this balcony.
Dozens of empty, ownerless wagons under the balcony,
Red colored leaves that sometimes fall in the wind. All of that seemed to make him lonely.
Only me.
She recited those words quietly, then turned her gaze to look at Irene.
Perhaps it was because I didn’t say anything, her face following me blankly staring at the sky shone in the moonlight.
It was still an insensitive expression, but unlike before, it was lively and it was much better than before.
I hope it stays like this forever. In the future, continue.
I rested my chin on her balcony with my arms crossed and looked at Irene, who was staring at her in the air.
What are her eyes pursuing? In this dark night, what is she looking at?
After looking at her like that for a while, her eyes caught on her stars touched mine and shook.
Gazes colliding blankly in the air. We stared blankly at each other, but I was the one who laughed first.
As I covered my mouth at her laughter that erupted without knowing why, Irene looked at me and opened her mouth.
“Are you feeling better?”
“…Well.”
She shrugs. To be honest, it was still complicated in my head.
But what can I do? There’s nothing I can do right now.
“Still, it seems better than before.”
If I couldn’t do it right away, I would think about it later.
Don’t frown like this now, don’t bite her lips.
I still have 5 years left. Could I have a little bit of leeway?
For now, just bless her position as an escort knight.
She let out a light sigh on her now-refreshed chest, then raised her head towards the sky and gently closed her eyes.
The wind hitting my cheeks just felt cool.
#
Unlike when I came to the balcony, I was with Irene when I went.
As she walked along the corridor where not a single candle flickered, she suddenly stopped her steps and I followed her.
“……”
A window in the middle of the hallway,
She just stood still with her eyes on the window, perhaps watching the moonlight faintly leaking through the hole.
I followed her and looked out the window, but all I could see were a few bright stars floating in the dark sky.
I had seen the sky to my heart’s content until just now, so what on earth did I stop to look at?
“My lady?”
“…As expected, they look alike.”
What does it resemble?
She looked at her window and then glanced at me.
“Let’s go now. It’s time to go back to the duke’s mansion.”
Has it already been that time?
I thought the time I was on the balcony was short, but it was unexpectedly quite long.
The sound that should have been heard at the end of the dark hallway could no longer be heard.
It’s been a long time since the noise of people talking and the waltz melody has already been silenced.
There was a time when I was worried that I would make a mistake talking to someone again because it was a prom, but I thought that it ended unexpectedly.
I wonder if I was aiming for something like this and seeing it from the balcony.
Those who were so noisy all disappeared before they knew it,
Upon entering the banquet hall, all I could see were empty glasses rolling on the floor and images of maids cleaning them up.
I just felt a little bit futile.
I came here while being so nervous, but I also practiced dancing while being scolded by Rize.
As soon as the prom was over, I felt empty for some reason.
A person may not be able to dance, how could he be so angry?
It was bittersweet that the countless efforts had been scattered like dust.
It won’t happen like this anymore. It was time to shake off the lingering attachments and leave neatly.
Shouldn’t we rather consider it fortunate that there is no one?
If there had been so many people when they came back, it was obvious how Irene and she would have looked at themselves when they came back alone.
Perhaps Irene wasn’t very impressed with this empty space, she just walked in front of her with her usual expressionless expression.
To say the least, since she said that she simply came to show her face, she probably didn’t think much of the prom itself.
As she walked along like that, all of the carriages disappeared before she knew it and only one carriage was left.
The pattern of the thorn shield on top of the wagon.
After a while, the horse that found us was trembling with its white mane, purring and crying, and the carriage door burst open and the coachman walked out.
“Welcome? Let’s get on board. If we leave now, we’ll probably be there before sunrise.”
As if he was tired of waiting for us, the coachman, who looked quite tired, opened his mouth as he grabbed the reins.
I let out a sigh when I heard that they would arrive before sunrise.
To think I had to feel that rattling again. When the hell will I be able to get used to the wagon?
As I climbed into the carriage, Irene, seated across from her, stared at me.
As if she had something to say, she pursed her stretched lips and then struggled to open her mouth.
“…It was a lot of hard work.”
“Say something.”
Is it so difficult to say that one word? But she thought it was worth it.
Even though I always go somewhere, I can count on my hands the number of times Irene said this to me.
However, saying that she had a hard time was a bit contradictory. Wasn’t there anything worth struggling with in the first place?
I smiled lightly, and Irene, who stared at me like that, immediately turned her head and closed her mouth.
Did you worry so much about that one word?
I suddenly remembered that she was 15 years old, and her laughter leaked out.
I was at the height of my shyness. Even though her actions are quite adult, she is still a child after all.
When I turned my head, what came into my field of vision was a crystal palace rising high toward the moon.
Earlier, when I saw her, I shrank from her tension, but now I didn’t think about it.
Because it was just a passing time.
Perhaps, if you remember later, it will be the day Irene fully acknowledged herself as her escort knight.
A princess and an escort knight. The fact that this obvious relationship was properly recognized after three months was funny, but on the other hand, it felt good.
Is it an exaggeration to say that my heart is overflowing?
She tickled her chest that her efforts had not been in vain, and put her hand to the corners of her twitching mouth.
It was only now that I realized that it was the beginning.
She It’s been three months since I met her, and I have such vivid memories of her that I couldn’t even make eye contact with her at first.
She called herself her escort knight, and didn’t she wish her well in the future?
Taking her gaze away from her crystal palace and turning her head, she saw Irene leaning against her carriage with her eyes gently closed.
She heard a new, close breath, and the look on her face with her eyes closed was completely different from the grim look on her face when she got off this carriage.
A face as comfortable and gentle as the smile she smiled at me from her balcony.
Contrary to her always being wary of others in her work, the fact that she puts such a guard in front of herself made me feel very strange.
– I don’t know why I’m like this… It’s just that I feel comfortable when I’m with you.
Does she know? She said that one word she said caused a bigger stir in her than any other word.
She was the only one who knew and mourned her death, and that one word felt more precious than anything else.
Now that she has become her escort herself, she has admitted to this relationship as well.
Whether she wanted it or not, she was now in a position where she had no choice but to blend in with her fate.
The pressure that came when she remembered that thought was quite heavy. As her escort knight, will he be able to protect her?
Looking out of her window, what she sees is the rising dawn.
Her own expression is probably quite complex as she looks at her, her brilliant signal that her life beats begin again.
However, she soon shook her head and brushed off her complicated thoughts.
She just had to think about it.
Now that neither Yeoju nor the crown prince have moved in earnest, she might be able to block everything.
She had no choice but to sympathize with her situation, but now she became her escort knight.
She said that if she wanted to, she could do it.
The sky dyed black, the moon and stars rising in the sky.
But what caught her eye more than that was the faintly visible dawn at the far end.
It was time for the darkness to end and bright lights to color the world again.
Irene, too, I wish it was like that.
She just smiled lightly as she imagined clearing away all the tragedies that lay ahead of her.