Date (1)
The next morning.
As the saying went, when you had something to do, you should do it while the iron was hot, so as soon as dawn broke I went to see Lia’s mother. My purpose, of course, was to ask permission to take Lia out with me.
The reason I needed permission was simple: from Elleves County, where Lia lived, to Reinhardt Barony took more than half a day even by carriage.
If I simply vanished with her to a place that took a full day there and back without asking first, wouldn’t Lia’s parents think I was a kidnapper?
So, to prevent any such misunderstanding, I told Lia’s mother that this outing would take about three days, that it had been arranged entirely at Lia’s request, and that for those three days I would guard her so thoroughly that no one would be able to lay a finger on her.
“Hmm….”
Mary von Elleves, Lia’s mother, let out a sound I couldn’t quite read.
She looked back and forth between me, sitting upright and composed, and Lia, who was fidgeting a little awkwardly. Something about the whole thing seemed to be weighing on her mind.
“Cain Reinhardt.”
“Yes, Lady Mary.”
“Taking Lia to Reinhardt territory and showing her more of the world beyond her county… that much is fine.”
Lia’s mother gave her daughter a sidelong glance.
“But Lia is the precious legitimate daughter of House Elleves. If some unavoidable misfortune were to befall her, then you, as her escorting knight, would not be able to escape responsibility. You understand that, I trust?”
“I do. If anything should happen to Lady Lia, House Reinhardt and I will take full responsibility.”
Nothing would happen, of course, but just in case, I put our family forward as insurance. Since the rightful heir of House Reinhardt wasn’t me but my older brother, he’d clean things up if anything went wrong. My brother was capable enough in every respect, so it would be fine.
If he’d heard that, he’d probably have been furious.
As I was thinking such shameless thoughts, Lia’s mother slowly nodded.
“Very well. If the third son of House Reinhardt, a family famous through the generations for its outstanding martial skill, is making such a firm promise, then it would be worth trusting you with her. I’ll permit you to take our Lia with you.”
“Thank you. Then, Lady Lia, if we could go straight to the carriage….”
“Ah, right. Lia? Come here for a moment.”
Just as I was about to rise from my seat, Lia’s mother beckoned to her.
Lia trotted over, and her mother bent close to whisper something in her ear.
“—, all right?”
“Y-yes, ma’am….”
“……?”
What was that about? The fact that she had gone out of her way to whisper meant it was something I wasn’t supposed to hear. If I hadn’t been able to see it at all, that would have been one thing, but watching them whisper right in front of me only made me more curious.
So, as I led Lia out of the reception room, I casually asked what they had talked about with her mother.
“Lady Lia. What did you and your mother just discuss?”
“……C-Cain doesn’t need to know!”
But Lia only stammered, her face turning red for some reason.
The more she refused to tell me, the more I wanted to know, so I asked a few more times, but she just pressed her lips together and shook her head, looking absolutely determined never to say. After asking about three times, I gave up.
Well, I didn’t really know, but it was probably just a normal conversation between mother and daughter. Something like telling her to be careful on the road.
It nagged at me for a moment, but I soon let it go. We packed our things, then asked a servant to call for the carriage.
The cost of renting a two-horse carriage for a day was about one shilling, and since we were only taking it for half a day, I should have paid only half that. Still, I handed over the full shilling, both as thanks and as a tip.
“Oh, my…! Thank you, sir knight. I’ll do my very best to take you there as quickly and carefully as possible.”
I sent the tearfully grateful coachman on his way, then loaded our luggage into the carriage’s storage compartment myself.
There were only three of us traveling together—me, Lia, and Maria, the maid accompanying Lia—so it took less than a minute.
“Please, get in, Lady Lia.”
“Mm. Thanks, Cain.”
By imperial etiquette, it was rude for a lady to climb into a carriage alone. So when I took Lia’s hand and helped her up, Maria, standing behind her, covered her mouth with her hand and laughed.
“Oh, my! Lady Lia, getting to hold Sir Cain’s hand too. How nice for you.”
“Huh? Ah—ahh. W-well….”
“Please stop saying useless things, Maria, and get in already. We have a long way to go.”
I tugged Maria’s hand up as well, helping her into the carriage, then took the seat opposite the two women, who sat side by side.
Thud. After closing the door and locking it, Maria looked at Lia and said, “Lady Lia, I’m sorry. You probably wanted to go just the two of you with Sir Cain, and I barged in without reading the mood, didn’t I?”
“No, no. I’m actually happier with you here, Maria. And besides, I’m the one who should be sorry. Because of me, you had to come all this way too, so it must be hard for you.”
“Oh, how sweet! How can our Lady Lia have such a gentle heart? But you really don’t need to feel too sorry, Lady Lia. This is my job, after all.”
Listening to the two of them banter like a comedy routine, I tapped on the wall connected to the driver’s seat, as if knocking. It was the signal that everything was ready and we could depart.
“Then, we’re off!”
With the coachman’s booming cry—
The carriage lurched forward and began to move.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Whether or not the coachman had meant it when he said he would go as fast as possible, we reached our destination in just four hours, even though it should have taken half a day.
The carriage had left House Elleves’ manor around eight in the morning, which meant the current time was noon, with the sun high overhead.
Arriving at House Reinhardt’s manor earlier than expected, our group followed my lead, left our luggage in the guest room, and then stepped out into the street where the prosperous town had grown around the carriage route.
“Thank you, sir. And if you need a coachman for the return trip, please call for me anytime…!”
I handed him five pennies for his wages and sent the coachman away. After that, I looked around, and a very familiar townscape came into view.
This place, where Lia, Maria, and I stood, was about thirty minutes from House Reinhardt’s manor. It was the busiest street among the towns belonging to Reinhardt Barony.
“Wow, Cain! There are so many people. All of these are the people your father rules over, right?”
“Yes, that’s right. But if you speak too loudly, you’ll draw attention, so please keep it down.”
“Ah… I see. Sorry, Cain.”
“No need to apologize to me. I just meant that you should lower your voice a little….”
Since we didn’t want to bother the townspeople going about their work, I was in the middle of giving her a proper warning when Maria, who had only been listening, let out a soft laugh.
For some reason, our conversation must have struck her as funny.
“Ahem, ah—right! Oh dear, how silly of me. There was something Lady Mary asked me to do, and I’d completely forgotten about it.”
After laughing under her breath for a while, Maria suddenly put on the tone of someone reading from a school primer and glanced at us.
It was obvious to anyone that she was acting, but Lia apparently didn’t notice and looked startled.
“Huh? Really? Maria, Mother gave you something to do?”
“Yes, she gave me instructions early this morning, but I completely forgot about them. So I think I should go take care of the thing Lady Mary asked me to handle for a bit….”
Maria cast me an openly meaningful glance, then gave one eye a cute little wink.
“I’m sorry, Sir Cain, but while I’m away for a moment, could I ask you to escort Lady Lia?”
“……Yes, of course. That is my job.”
“Ah, really? Thank you. You’re going to be blessed for this, Sir Cain.”
I had no idea what she intended to do in a town that wasn’t even part of Elleves County, but if she was going to step aside on her own, that worked out for me.
I nodded to show I understood, Maria said, “Please take good care of Lady Lia!” and then disappeared somewhere. Left alone with me all of a sudden, Lia looked at my face, then asked cautiously,
“Um, Cain.”
“Yes, Lady Lia.”
“M-Maria is gone too, so… should we get going now? I mean, on our da—da….”
“Yes, our date. Understood.”
I held out my hand to her.
“Shall we go on our date, Lady Lia?”
“……Mm. Let’s go!”
Lia smiled brightly and took my hand.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
My goal was twofold.
First, to dispel the Curse of Misfortune that was surely gnawing away at Lia’s body even now.
Second, to find out who had given Lia that necklace and root the bastard out completely.
Obviously, the first priority was removing the curse. The reason hardly needed explaining. If I left it alone, Lia would be dead in ten months.
And if that happened, not only would I fail to see Lia grow into the most beautiful woman in the Empire with my own eyes, but my mission—to stay close to her and draw out as much information as possible—would fall apart as well. Lia had to live, no matter what, and live a long time.
So first, I would use every method available to me to break the curse on Lia. Then I would find the culprit who had given her the necklace and ask him why.
It wasn’t certain, but judging from the circumstances, the one who had manipulated things through that necklace probably held the answer to Lia von Elleves’s villainess awakening.
After all, at this point in time Lia had made no enemies whatsoever. She was just an innocent ten-year-old child.
For someone like that to be given a cursed necklace meant it couldn’t have been mere personal grudge. The bastard was probably someone who stood to gain something from Lia’s death.
Who, then, could that person be? A relative? Someone who knew Lia? Or perhaps….
“……Um, Cain.”
Someone lightly tapped my shoulder while I was lost in thought. It was Lia.
Standing beside me, she spoke with a rather troubled expression.
“I-I’m asking just in case, but… we really did come here to go on a date, right?”
“Yes, that’s right. Is there a problem?”
“A problem…?”
Lia stared at me intently.
Her expression was strange, as though she had a great many things she wanted to say.
“There is… a problem. There’s definitely a problem, Cain.”
“Yes, Lady Lia.”
“What kind of person goes on a date in a place this gloomy?!”
She jerked her chin, as if telling me to look around. I followed the direction of her gesture.
There stood a huge iron gate, black as pitch and suspicious at a glance. It was the entrance to “Lirintos,” the underground labyrinth mentioned in the original novel and not yet discovered at this point in the story.
Hmm. It was just as the original described. Even the gate looked so dreary it made me feel depressed. I’d been a little uncertain, but yes, this was definitely the right place.
Letting out a satisfied hum, I glanced at Lia. She clearly had no intention of going inside and was looking back at me in open disgust.
“Cain, I don’t want to go in there. Let’s go somewhere else.”
“That won’t do. Lady Lia, there’s something you and I need to do inside.”
“Something we need to do…? Ah, don’t tell me….”
Lia echoed my words, and for some reason her cheeks began to redden little by little.
I took her hand.
“Eek!”
Startled, Lia flinched back.
“Lady Lia, this may be rather sudden, so I’m sure it’s confusing, but do you trust me?”
“Y-yes…? I-I do. I trust you, I mean….”
“Then just one hour. No more, no less. Please say nothing and follow me for just one hour.”
I held her hand firmly.
“You won’t regret it, I promise.”
“……Mm, okay.”
Lia nodded obediently.