A Heart's Voyage
Kyle's brighter smile only meant he was angrier.
If the one who broke the Oath of Mana hadn't been Beth, Kyle wasn't the sort of person who would have waited for her to return on her own.
In moments like this, the only option was to feign quick remorse.
But I'm not repenting today.
Beth was terrified of an enraged Kyle, yet she stood her ground.
On the way back to the detached palace, she had heard everything from Ivetta.
Kyle had apparently already known that Lina and Everett Rohas were lovers.
So why did he still put Everett Rohas forward as a candidate for national consort?
In Beth's eyes, a thick layer of defiance surfaced—she was clearly favoring a colleague she had only recently grown close to over a superior she had known for years.
It was the kind of look that would have earned her a scolding for insolence if Kyle had seen it.
However, Kyle's attention was elsewhere.
"Lina didn't come with you?"
The way he asked while pretending to worry, peering past Beth's shoulder, was infuriating.
It seemed he cared more about Lina's safe return than about punishing Beth for breaking the oath.
"She said she was going to a friend's house."
Beth answered in a sulky voice.
By now, Lina was probably plotting her revenge against Everett Rohas.
Beth needed to buy her enough time to think.
If Kyle found out right away that Lina had discovered Everett was two-timing, he would surely interfere with her revenge.
"Is that so?"
Kyle stared at Beth with suspicious eyes.
But Beth met his gaze without so much as blinking.
"The knights?"
As if he had never expected a proper answer from Beth in the first place, Kyle turned his attention to the escort knights who had accompanied her.
"There was some distance between us, so we didn't catch the destination."
Morgan, the highest-ranking among the knights, replied.
"You simply let her go?"
Kyle pressed Morgan with a voice far sharper than before.
"No, sir. Knight Helen and the others followed her."
Only after Morgan's answer did Kyle's expression soften slightly.
"As soon as the knights who went with her return, tell them to report to me."
Morgan bowed.
After confirming Lina's whereabouts, Kyle turned back to interrogate Beth without missing a beat.
"Beth, it seems you still haven't answered why you broke the oath."
Kyle was as tenacious as one would expect from the head of the intelligence guild.
If she didn't answer, he wouldn't give up.
Beth, having used her head far too much all day, gave a half-hearted reply.
"I badmouthed His Majesty."
At the insincere answer, Kyle's expression turned icy.
Even Kyle wouldn't believe that Beth, who had nowhere to go without the Blue Hawk, had truly betrayed the Emperor.
He would probably think it was nothing more than idle gossip.
Rather than suspecting some other scheme, he seemed simply irritated by her insincere attitude.
Just as Kyle was about to truly unleash his anger on Beth, the knights who had stayed with Lina returned.
Helen glanced at the three people and the knights gathered in front of the detached palace, then saluted Kyle.
Having sensed the tense atmosphere, Helen's expression grew serious as well.
"Where is Lina?"
Kyle accepted the greeting with only his eyes and asked about Lina's whereabouts first.
"We escorted her to her friend's residence."
Helen answered with perfect military bearing.
Beth's hastily made excuse had hit the mark perfectly.
When both sides gave the same answer, Kyle's gaze softened a little.
Timing it perfectly, Ivetta stepped forward.
"I'm a bit tired. May I go inside?"
Kyle could scold Beth, but he couldn't scold the Saintess.
"Beth, let's talk tomorrow."
"Yes."
Meeting tomorrow didn't scare her at all.
Beth had accomplished her goal of buying time for Lina.
* * *
I just need to pass the message to the Crown Princess…
I was thinking of leaving for a while.
If I had to be precise, the Crown Princess was the bigger victim in this incident than I was.
Everett and I had only held hands and shared a few kisses, while the other side had already conceived a child and was preparing for nothing less than a royal marriage.
I had merely dated, but they had been preparing for marriage—practically a national wedding.
Even if it looked like I was passing the buck, the one who truly held the sword of revenge was, without a doubt, the Crown Princess rather than me.
Fortunately, today was a holiday.
If I had to go to work feeling like this, it would have been truly awful.
Moving carefully so as not to wake Connie, who had fallen asleep late, I headed straight to the post office first.
After sending in my leave of absence notice to arrive on the next working day, I also wrote several letters to Ivetta.
I set the delivery dates so they would arrive when needed.
I planned to leave the capital for a while.
It was an impulsive decision, but I simply couldn't bring myself to stay in the imperial palace and act as if nothing had happened.
So the reason Everett Rohas never appeared in the original story was because he went to Bellot.
Right now, I felt disillusioned not just with romance, but with life itself.
Maybe I should enter a convent.
If my judgment of men was this poor, it was a disaster.
Tears fell onto the letter paper I was writing, forcing me to lift my head every so often.
Even without tasting them, I could feel the saltiness in my already swollen eyes.
If my twin siblings saw me like this now, they would probably deny reality, insisting that our sister would never look like that and that I must be some lookalike of Carolina.
The post office staff watched me with concern as I sighed like a woman with a tragic story, wept, wiped my tears, and repeatedly wrote and sent dozens of letters.
"Do you think she has some terminal illness?"
"Maybe she's leaving letters for the people she'll miss after she's gone…"
After drinking half a bottle of champagne and crying my eyes out, I must have looked truly wretched.
Or perhaps the staff here simply had overly vivid imaginations.
Being treated like a terminal patient was unfair, but I didn't have the energy to explain.
After sending only the letters, I turned to leave.
I could feel the post office staff's gazes clinging to my retreating figure.
Ignoring them as best I could, I walked on resolutely and arrived next at the street lined with shipping companies.
I needed to book passage to another continent.
Travel is the best way to mend a broken heart.
Not just within the Empire, but traveling to another continent—even the nearest western continent—would take a full year round trip.
A year was a long time.
But that was probably how long it would take to get over Everett.
Why do I always end up liking men like that?
Whether my tear ducts were broken or not, tears welled up again.
I stopped and looked up at the sky, standing still until the tears dried.
I suppose I'll have to go to the southern continent.
A year probably wouldn't be enough after all.
However, there were only a few shipping companies that operated ships capable of long-distance voyages lasting years.
Even those companies only had three or four sailings a year.
I went from one shipping company to another, asking about the earliest available departure.
At every place, I saw the guides comparing the wanted posters of serious criminals with my face.
Terminal illness and now a wanted criminal, too.
Instead of feeling offended, I almost laughed.
Still, I somehow managed to secure a ticket to the western continent departing in four days.
A passenger who had originally bought the ticket had encountered some problem and requested a refund.
As the guide handed over the ticket, he explained the conditions.
"You must arrive at the port of Raken by the date I've circled. If you're late, the ship will depart without waiting…"
Listening half-heartedly to the refund policies delivered in a rapid voice, I carefully tucked the ticket away.
After returning home, I informed the landlord that I would be away and packed my belongings.
I planned to send most of my things to my family home or simply discard them before leaving.
I only packed the essentials that would fit in a bag.
Small, empty spaces began to appear throughout the house—subtle enough that only I would notice—and even that made me feel hollow.
Before I knew it, evening had arrived.
Which meant Everett would be coming to see me tonight.
Absentmindedly checking the clock, I froze.
I hated myself for unconsciously thinking, I should go out to the terrace.
The air felt heavy.
Heavy enough to make breathing difficult.
I gasped like someone who had just been pulled from the water.
It was suffocating.
My room wasn't sealed, and the air couldn't possibly be thin.
It was simply a problem with my heart.
Even knowing that, I opened the window under the pretext of airing the room.
The lukewarm air that had been heated during the day and cooled at night rushed in.
I drew in a deep breath.
As expected, it had little effect.
Just as I was about to close the window again, my eyes met Everett's.
Why are you here?
The moment our eyes met, I sank down right where I stood.
It felt as if my heart had dropped with a thud.
Soon, the resentment and anger I had barely managed to suppress boiled up inside me.
Why shouldn't I have my share?
Even if I handed the sword of revenge to the Crown Princess, I felt that slapping him across the cheek once would ease this bitter feeling, if only a little.
I pressed the wide-brimmed hat I had bought for dates deep over my head to hide my swollen eyes.
Then I strode down the stairs and ran toward Everett.