Chapter 128
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 129
Chapter Title: No Escape
I didn’t expect this.
I stared intently at the jewelry box on the table.
To think it would end up back in my room.
“…What a mess.”
I flopped onto my bed, burying my face in a cushion.
After hearing Sage’s confession yesterday, I had snatched the jewelry box and fled back to my room like an arrow.
Bringing it back with me doesn’t undo what already happened.
“My lady, you’ve taken your meals in your room and haven’t gone out at all today. Is something wrong?”
“No, it’s nothing like that. I just feel like staying in today.”
It would be a disaster if I wandered around and ran into Sage.
Besides, I hadn’t slept well and had no energy. After checking my condition, Hestia rose from her seat.
“Very well, please get some rest. Oh, and the Gaju has sent a letter for you.”
“Dad did?”
I shot my head up from the cushion. It was the first letter I’d received since coming to the North.
So he finally replies after I told him I wouldn’t acknowledge him when I returned to the South.
“That’s so mean. Why is he only sending me a letter now? Where is it?”
“I received it on your behalf. Here you are.”
It was a letter stamped with the familiar family crest. I opened the envelope and saw a letter written in elegant cursive.
“Also, there are letters from the young masters. I’ll place them on the bookshelf.”
“Okay, thank you, Hestia.”
Hestia left the room.
Lying on the bed, I decided to read Kaide’s letter first.
It was written across two pages.
[Seeing as you’re resorting to threats in your postscript, you seem to be fine. Congratulations on becoming an adult, Aileen.]
The first sentence was so quintessentially Kaide.
His way of speaking was so perfectly embedded in the text that I could almost hear his voice. I let out a small laugh.
[You may have thought I'd let it slide, but I expect a full explanation for why you became an adult when you return, so prepare yourself.]
…Telling me to prepare myself means he’ll let it go if I come up with a decent story, right?
I could never tell him that Sage had been infusing me with his pheromones all night.
But if Kaide didn’t know, did that mean Hestia hadn’t told him what happened yet?
“Hmm, I should ask Hestia about this.”
That way, I could come up with a plausible excuse.
However, I had to revise that thought at the very next line.
[Don't even dream of trying to make something up.]
I decided to pretend I hadn’t seen it, my eyes glazing over. How does he read my mind so well?
[Set and Arban tell me you're doing well in the North, which worries me greatly.]
“…Huh?”
I reread the sentence several times.
It seemed wrong, but no matter how I looked at it, the end was definitely ‘worries me greatly.’
“…What on earth did my brothers tell him to make Dad say something like this?”
Moreover, the script for the phrase ‘doing well’ was heavy with emotion.
The pressure on those words was visibly stronger than the rest.
I set my unease aside and continued reading the letter.
[Don't associate too much with that four-legged beast. You'll lose brain cells. …Omitted… As for Hestia's request for excommunication, I will hear it from her directly. Stay healthy during your time in the North.]
The letter ended there.
I stared at it blankly.
To use the phrase ‘four-legged beast’ in a letter being sent to the Kiraas family.
Fearing someone might see it, I quickly folded the letter, sealed it in its envelope, and hid it deep inside a drawer.
Now that Kaide knew about Hestia’s situation, I could rest easy, right?
A single word from Kaide would be more comforting to her than any consolation I could offer.
I stretched my stiff body and looked toward the window. To think I had to stay cooped up in my room on a day like this.
“The weather is so nice.”
The snow had even stopped in the North.
Maybe I should just go out for a little while.
The chances of running into Sage at this time were low anyway.
Besides, the castle had felt busy lately, as if for an event.
Sage was probably busy too.
“This castle is so big, it would be stranger if we did run into each other.”
Back in the South, even though I was out and about almost every day, I rarely ran into Set and Arban unless I was actively looking for them.
I wrapped a blanket around myself and opened the door.
I was about to close it immediately, but Sage slipped his hand through the gap and entered.
I smiled awkwardly and took a step back.
“Um… What brings you here, Sage?”
“I’m here to pick something up.”
“P-pick what up?”
His gaze shifted to the jewelry box on the table behind me, and he strode toward it.
“Why are you taking that?”
“Who was it that said they’d return it yesterday?”
“And who was it that got angry and gave it back to me!”
*Gasp.* I quickly covered my mouth.
Sage turned to look at me, then gestured with his eyes as if to say, *go on.*
Is this what they call digging your own grave? As I awkwardly avoided his gaze, I felt a careful touch on my forehead, and a pleasant coolness began to spread gently through my body.
Sage was infusing me with his pheromones. He opened the box and clicked his tongue.
“You didn’t use it yesterday.”
“…How did you know that?”
“Based on a daily calculation, there’s one extra.”
“You calculated it all out when you gave it to me?”
So he really had no intention of seeing me for a whole week. I felt a slight twist in my gut.
Contrary to my discomfort, the steady flow of pheromones gradually eased the fatigue that had built up overnight. After a while, I peeked up at him.
Sage opened his mouth.
“Yesterday.”
“……”
I flinched. He was finally getting to the point.
I stubbornly kept my mouth shut.
If he was going to talk about yesterday, my only option was to play dumb.
A voice laced with amusement tickled my ear.
“Are you going to keep pretending you didn’t hear me?”
“…Why are you asking about yesterday?”
A petulant tone escaped me. Sage’s hand left my forehead.
“There was something I needed to say to you, but I couldn’t.”
“Something to say to me?”
“The head of the Artban family is scheduled to arrive at the castle within two days.”
Artban. The word made my breath catch. That man was coming to the North?
My mind went blank with confusion. I thought it would take more time to sort out the situation in the East…
This was too fast. Far too fast.
I had never imagined I would face Diel Artban like this.
…Perhaps returning to the South would be the better choice.
As I was lost in serious contemplation, I felt a hand gently rubbing my brow.
Sage was looking down at me, his head tilted.
“What are you thinking about that’s so serious?”
“…Um, just a little surprised by the news of an unexpected guest?”
“Your expression is a bit extreme for that.”
Of course it is. What could be more of an emergency than this?
I felt like gathering everyone for a strategy meeting right this instant.
“The Artban Gaju will be leaving soon. If he finishes his business, he might even be gone within a day.”
So he’s just visiting briefly for an agreement?
Now that the power in the East had completely shifted, a new pact would be necessary.
But even so, the timing was unbelievably fast.
Surely he wasn’t visiting just because he knew I was in the North, was he?
If that were the case…
…Wait a minute.
Why was Sage telling me that the Artban Gaju was visiting?
He was visiting as a guest of the Kiraas family, so he was a man who had nothing to do with me.
“Well, I think I’ve told you everything I needed to.”
Sage took another step closer to me. As if to say, *now we begin.*
“Shall we get to the main point now?”
“The m-main point?”
There was another main point? I was already stressed to death over the news about the Artban Gaju.
“Yesterday.”
Ah.
“You must have thought I’d just let it go if you ran away like that.”
I held my breath, bracing for what he would say next, and swallowed dryly.
“Not a chance, Aileen. I’m never letting you go now. I got my answer, so there’s nothing holding me back anymore.”
“What… are you talking about? I don’t remember giving you an answer yesterday.”
“Your reaction was too intense for that. There’s no way I could have missed it.”
Sage smiled sweetly. The vivid memory of yesterday flashed in my mind, and my face flushed red.
*Thump, thump.*
“How could I not know?”
“……You, you.”
“And for an interruption to appear at such an important time is highly unpleasant.”
“I want to ask what happened with the Artban family, but I doubt you’d answer me.”
Just how much did Sage know? Did he run a background check on me?
Or maybe the North also collected information on other families.
Either way, the fact that he had looked into my past didn’t sit well with me.
Seeing my expression harden, Sage readily confessed his fault.
“I was wrong, Aileen.”
But there was one thing he wouldn’t say, no matter what.
“Why aren’t you saying it won’t happen again?”
“Because I don’t think I can keep that promise.”
“You could just ask me if you’re curious.”
“And would you actually give me a straight answer if I asked?”
Of course… I wouldn’t.
I couldn’t let Sage get entangled in something like this. Nothing good would come from his involvement.
When I failed to answer, Sage nodded as if he had expected it.
“It’s the same for me. I can’t compromise when it comes to your safety. So I’m sorry, Aileen. I’m going to keep doing this.”
“I’ll say I was wrong every time, so can’t you forgive me every time?”
It was an utterly shameless request. The ironic thing was, his words didn’t make me particularly angry.