I'll Protect You
"Edward."
"..."
There were any number of reasons Charlotte remained alone in the room like this.
Worry for me was certainly among them, but so was the way I had suddenly started calling her "Your Highness," or how I had roughly brushed her arm aside.
It was because of this abrupt change in my attitude.
Until evening, though Charlotte had been the one mostly expressing it, the two of us had been sharing affection. Now the distance between us had clearly widened, and she could not help but feel it.
That was why she was anxious, and why she still refused to leave my room.
I understood her feelings. But right now... I simply wanted to be alone for a while.
And so...
"Your Highness... let's set aside some time later. For now..."
I was asking Charlotte, who had yet to leave the room, to go.
"Edward."
She cut me off.
"I know full well that the shock from Lady Lirith must be enormous."
Yes.
I needed time to think about that unidentifiable voice as well, but more important still was the matter of my sister Lirith.
I had never imagined it.
That Lirith saw me not as family, but as a man.
And that the look in her eyes when she gazed at me was the same as Lee Hye-yeong's.
No—to be precise, that it resembled hers...
Even her confessing her love for me...
Well, I could accept that much. Considering the affection she had always shown me, it was not entirely beyond the realm of possibility.
But.
Of course I could never accept her confession.
I could not abandon my marriage to Charlotte because of her.
In the end I would have no choice but to leave her side.
Yet she refused to acknowledge that and tried to bind me—without even considering my opinion, my feelings—unilaterally forcing her own heart upon me.
How was that any different from those bitches who had drowned me in my previous life?
That was why I had no idea how to act toward Lirith, how to view her from now on. I was at a complete loss, and I needed time to sort things out.
That was why I had asked Charlotte to leave. But she showed no intention of granting the request.
Yet this was not like those others who thought only of themselves.
"It's not just that. I know you're struggling terribly because of so many other things as well. I'm sorry, Edward... I want to leave you alone as you asked, but if I walk away and leave you like this, you'll just be trembling by yourself, won't you?"
"Th-that's..."
She was worried about me being left alone in the room, and that was why she stayed by my side, refusing to leave. And instead, she apologized to me.
"I'm truly sorry I couldn't foresee something like this, Edward..."
"There's no need for Your Highness to apologize."
Charlotte had nothing to apologize for.
She seemed to have known to some extent that Lirith harbored feelings for me, but she could never have predicted that Lirith would cause such a violent scene.
Even so...
"No... the greater fault is mine for allowing you to end up trembling like this."
Charlotte blamed herself instead as she continued.
"So even though it hurts deeply that you're calling me 'Your Highness' again now..."
Her expression looked so sorrowful that...
"Ah... Your Highness, no, Char..."
I tried to call her by her nickname again so she would not feel any more hurt, but—
Tap.
Her index finger pressed against my lips, stopping me.
"You don't have to force yourself to call me that again..."
"..."
"As long as you don't say you want to break up..."
"That will never happen."
Lirith's confession had been shocking, and I was terribly worried about what my sister might do next, but because of that I had absolutely no intention of giving up on marrying her.
No—rather, I needed to marry her.
More than the feeling of loving her, I found myself utterly disgusting for having such selfish thoughts of using her. But with not only Lee Hye-yeong but now Lirith as well becoming extremely dangerous existences in this life of mine, I would rely on her so that I would not be killed.
Charlotte probably did not know my thoughts exactly the same way, but she would know that it was not purely out of love for her that I refused to abandon the marriage.
Even so...
"Hehe... that's enough for now. I think I was being too greedy. I should have proceeded while talking things over with Lady Lirith and the other two as well, and keeping an eye on the surroundings... but to think Lady Lirith loved you this much... no, even though I knew, I just left it alone, didn't I?"
Charlotte was satisfied with my answer and once again blamed herself.
And then...
"Edward... the Hero... and Lady Lirith... no matter who it is, just as I told you before... I won't let a single finger touch you. I'll protect you..."
She reminded me of her promise from before—that she would protect me so I would not be afraid and tremble in fear.
"So after we get married later, you have to tell me all the things you can't say right now, okay?"
"Yes, I will definitely tell you..."
Of course.
In truth I wanted to tell her right this moment. But I was hesitating because of what that unidentifiable voice had said.
Yet after we were married, it should be fine to speak of it, right? Once she became my partner, I intended to tell her everything.
"And..."
Hearing my answer, Charlotte nodded and continued.
"When that time comes, please call me Charlotte again."
Looking at Charlotte's face as she smiled with a sad expression, for the first time then—including my previous life, across all the years I had lived—I felt an emotion I had never experienced before.
A warm something that tickled deep in my chest, blooming within me.
At the far end of a long corridor inside the Frigid Grand Ducal Castle, a mother and daughter stood facing each other.
Camilla had said it was fine, but from Amelia's position, her daughter Emma already had a prior offense of harming Young Master Allen. She could not simply let it go.
Just now she had brought her daughter to a secluded corner to confirm exactly what Emma had done to Edward as well.
"Amelia—truly, you did nothing to His Lordship. Is that the truth?"
"Mother... I understand why you can't trust me, but at the very least I would never do that to Young Master!"
Naturally Emma insisted on her innocence again and cried that it was unfair.
Amelia knew it too. Emma would never do anything to harm Edward.
But Lady Lirith, who likewise loved Edward, had just shown such sudden, extreme behavior. Amelia could not help worrying that her own daughter might do something similar, and so she had to make certain.
After hearing her daughter's answer, Amelia could only sigh.
"Haa... not only Young Master, but every person of the Frigid household... and as a woman toward a man—you must never do such things."
"..."
It was painfully obvious that Emma felt not the slightest guilt over having harmed Allen together with Lady Lirith, over tormenting a man who was not even a woman. Even though she clearly understood what was being said, she showed no intention of answering, so Amelia decided to set that matter aside for later.
She opened her mouth again to deliver the truly important warning.
"I see you as the same as Lady Lirith."
She meant Emma's feelings toward Edward.
In Lirith's case, harboring romantic love for Edward was itself taboo. Emma, however, was permitted to feel love for him—provided she never, under any circumstances, let it show unless her master demanded it.
That was the iron rule of the maid lineage that had served House Frigid for long years.
Amelia needed to keep her daughter from any further recklessness. If Emma were already at Lirith's level, there was no guarantee she would not soon commit the same kind of outburst. So Amelia spoke to her daughter bluntly.
"That is..."
"You don't deny it outright, I see... His Lordship is beautiful and kind, so I can understand well enough. But please—do not let it show on the outside... and never dare try to claim your master for yourself."
Just as Amelia had expected, Emma did not deny her feelings for Edward or that she was in the same state as Lirith. To that daughter, Amelia asked only that she not cross the line the way Lirith had.
"...Yes. That much... our family's iron rule... I of course keep it firmly in mind..."
Fortunately Emma answered that she would not cross the line, that she would not commit the same sudden acts as Lirith, and that she at least understood a maid's iron rule.
Amelia felt inward relief at the reply and spoke one last time.
"Good... If you ever did such a thing, I would not simply lock you in a solitary cell the way the family head would. I would have to use my hands. So please, Emma—I pray nothing of the sort ever happens."
"Yes... Mother."
Having delivered her warning and received the answer, Amelia left Emma there and returned to her own master.
Left alone at the end of the long corridor, Emma opened her mouth.
"That was you, wasn't it?"
One day, suddenly—or more precisely, at the moment Edward had shouted at the Hero to save her—the presence that had entered inside her was the one she now addressed.
"Yes."
The voice answered her question.
"You never even told me who you are, and then you suddenly do something like that to Young Master?"
She had asked the presence that had entered her without warning for its identity countless times, yet it never answered—only spoke to her occasionally.
At first she had wondered whether some race-type ghost monster had possessed her. But she felt neither mana nor any other energy. Even Grace, whose mana sensitivity was extraordinarily high, had noticed nothing.
When Emma had tormented Allen together with Lirith, the voice had only told her to be careful not to kill him, or to watch so she did not do anything strange. Today, without warning, it had acted on its own.
A voice she had thought only she could hear had spoken to Edward—and had even stopped Edward from speaking.
She still did not understand what kind of trick it had used.
"I'm sorry. I had no choice. And I still can't tell you who I am..."
"No—first of all, what was Young Master about to say that made you stop him?!"
Just what had Edward been about to say that the voice had gone so far as to cause him pain in order to interfere? That was why Emma pressed it.
"Really... it was something that must not be said... for his sake... I had no choice. I pushed myself hard too..."
The voice still refused to explain in detail, offering only vague words.
"Pushed yourself... You don't even seem like a race, so why are you clinging to me and making my life difficult?!"
"..."
Emma could not help growing angry at the voice that would not properly answer her.
"I don't care about anyone else, but I never wanted to receive that kind of look from Young Master! I've been barely holding myself back so I wouldn't do something crazy like the princess... I didn't even do anything... so why me too..."
More than anything else, she had been careful in every action so that she would look good in Edward's eyes, so that she would not add to his burdens while he was already suffering. Yet the voice had spoken to him on its own and caused him pain. That was why she was furious now.
Of course Edward had believed it was not her doing. But strictly speaking, the voice dwelling inside her had done it, so she was the one who had hurt him.
Even so...
"I'm sorry. But it really is for his sake..."
The voice still offered only apologies and the claim that it was for him, with no intention of giving a full account.
"If it's for Young Master, then you should tell me! Then I could understand you and do something about it!"
"I truly want to tell you... but because of the restrictions, I can't speak..."
"I cannot accept some completely unknown presence clinging to me and acting however it wants! Get out of my body right now!"
"...Sorry... for his sake, I can't grant even that request..."
"...."
Having given up on hearing a detailed explanation, Emma opened her mouth again because there was one thing she still needed to confirm.
"Then I'll ask just one thing."
"Yes... Because of the restrictions there's almost nothing I can answer, but go ahead..."
"Surely this much isn't under restriction."
If even this were restricted, it would clearly be a lie. Because...
"You really are attached to me for Young Master's sake, right?"
Even if the voice would not explain in detail, it had at least used "for his sake" as its excuse. She needed to confirm whether that much was true.
To that...
"Yes. That much is certain. I can swear it."
This time the voice gave her the answer she wanted, clearly and directly.
Emma still could not feel at ease, since she could not even know the identity of the voice's owner. But she could neither remove it nor do anything about it right now, so she decided to content herself with hearing that the actions were for him.
"...All right. And if you're going to do something like today, at least give me a warning first. Even for me, suddenly having to pretend I know nothing is hard."
"Yes... I'm sorry. I'll be careful from now on."
With that, Emma brought the conversation with the voice to a close.
Then she turned her head toward the direction of Edward's room and quietly spoke his name, making a vow.
"Lord Edward..."
She loved him to the point of madness, just like the princess. But she had not the slightest intention of wounding his heart in the process of trying something.
Even if she wanted to—now more than ever, she must not.
Because the voice had spoken to him.
She did not know what secret he carried. But that there was a secret he could not speak of—one that put him in danger and filled him with fear—was certain.
"Just like that night... I won't make a mistake. I will definitely protect you, Young Master."
It was terribly sad.
It was all right if he never loved her back.
It was all right if she could not remain by his side forever.
As long as he was safe.
As long as he could be happy.
She would do anything.
She could give up anything.
That was what Emma thought.