It’s a note.

I slowly turned my eyes to glance at Sadie, but she didn’t seem to notice anything inside because she had folded the shawl several times.

“Alright, you can leave now.”

“Yes, my lady.”

Sadie left the room with a more cautious attitude than usual. The sound of small steps buried away in the carpet.

One, two, three, four, five.

It wasn’t until I counted up to five in my mind that I unfolded the shawl. As expected, a beautiful note was folded neatly.

When I read it, it was in Alice’s handwriting.

‘Don’t go to the tea party.’

She was telling me what to do.

✴️✴️✴️

Dagh. Dagh….

The sound of a horse regularly running. A clear, platinum-colored sky, the only thing that soared is a small manor.

The mountainous area, which is rich in scale but surrounded by monster, was named Ernhardt—the name of the place no one covets.

Alice was looking out the carriage window when they’re slowly approaching Ernhardt.

Half a year has passed, she thought it would have been a long time before she would come again to this land of love and hatred.

“I didn’t want to come.”

A lot of effort was put into the hands that lifted her hem.

Alice Limorand’s childhood seemed to have embodied the misery of a fairytale.

The hot tempered baroness, who openly abused her, was understandable.

She could also accept the conduct of her two sisters who only gave her their old things and the maids’ clothes.

The bitterness towards them was erased because there had been a deep interlude in the future.

But the man who made her most miserable, she couldn’t forgive him no matter what.

Baron Momont, once known as her father, was the culprit of her misfortunes.

After Alice’s true birth was revealed, the man escaped faster than anyone else, and no one knows his whereabouts.

A father who sometimes saw Alice with loving eyes, sometimes with hateful eyes, and sometimes with greedy eyes.

She used to think it was an eye for illegitimate children, but when she knew the truth, she realized it was the eye for the seed of a woman he loved.

It became more loathsome to know.

It was a fact that everyone knows Alice was an illegitimate child because she had no resemblance to the baron couple, and was not a year apart from her older sister.

The baron was the one who committed adultery, he betrayed the faith of a husband and wife, but all the sins fell upon Alice.

There has never been a happy moment in Alice Momont’s life until at some point.

The main character in the fairytale used to be friendly with mice and wild cats to hide her sadness, but Alice Momont did not.

The mouse got goosebumps just by hearing her footsteps, and it was a rare for a wild cat to stand by a person.

She keeps smiling because only then she can be less hated and people can be more sympathetic of her.

The extremely calculated goodness was rather cunning.

That’s how Alice lived.

Until the day she met Roa.

The day when she got kicked out in the morning because she broke a vase, she went for a walk to forget her hunger.

A carriage stopped next to Alice, as if bewitched by something.

The four horses were unparalleled and imposing compared to the Momont’s horses. The girl who got off the carriage was also different from the people here.

“Is this Ernhardt? It’s better than I thought.”

At first glance, it’s obvious she was not from this area.

The curled hair was flowing with a voracious gloss and the small face was as cute as kitten.

But it wasn’t Roa’s appearance that attracted Alice’s attention.

High quality clothes that are priceless, an unprecedented attitude of someone who had never been bowed to anyone, and the maids also knights who are standing behind the child with confidence.

All those were new to her, but it also looked familiar at the same time.

Alice had seen this sight before.

Not in reality, but in her dream.

Her dreams of Ernhardt have always been grim, perhaps because similiar things always happen. The daily routine of being abused, despised, and giving courteous smile for small favors.

Three days before, as in reality, something new happened in a very dreary dream.

A fancy carriage approaching her who was standing absent-mindedly, the door opens and someone gets off.

She could remember the maids who came down with her and the knight who followed her on a horse, but she couldn’t see the girl’s face or hear her voice. Even when she looked at her and saw what she herself answered.

At some point, Alice realized that there was a particularly vivid dream among her everyday dreams.

And that vivid dream repeats itself in reality.

She avoided some difficulties and made some unexpected gains because of them, but she didn’t think much of them. Nothing big happened.

But this time, Alice was waiting for her dream to come true.

‘I have a chance to be happy!’

At last the desired moment came, but Alice didn’t know what to do.

She didn’t know what this person in her dream said, but she remembered what she herself said. However, the answer didn’t help because it was only foolishly “Yes, no.”.

So, when the opponent, who looked at Alice with a strange expression, asked her, she had no choice but to stutter as she did in her dream.

Even though she knew it already, she has a big fault.

To Alice, who has low self-esteem, it cannot be easy to deal with a high-ranking noble child, even at a glance. For Alice, it was best to stretch out her crumpled shoulder.

“Are you a nobleman?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Since it’s Ernhardt … there’s only one noble family. Who was the Lord here, Carol?”

“It’s Baron Momont, young lady.”

“I’ve never heard of this family before. Your face looks like someone I used to know, what is your name? I’m Roa Valrose, I came from the capital.”

“Oh, I….! It’s Alice Momont, miss.”

“Alice … Momont?”

Roa Valrose, who frowned as if something was unclear, titled her head and sank in thought.

‘What is it? What’s wrong?’

‘Does she know that I’m an illegitimate child? What if it’s different from my dream?‘

Her heart pounded and Alice’s mind became complicated.

Whether she realized it or not, Roa mumbled in surprise after pondering for a few seconds.

“This is crazy.”

“We have arrived, my lady.”

Alice, who was lost in her thought, came to her senses at the horseman’s words. The carriage door opened and Alice stepped down with the help of the knight.

In front of a platinum-gold wheat field, a cool breeze blowing along the road.

Alice landed on the road where she first met Roa Valrose.

The girl, who looked at the carriage with a stupid face in the past, now steps down from a carriage bigger than it was then.

It was a novelty that she had never expected, but Alice would not laugh bitterly.

She fled from Ernhardt at last, but this place was the first came to mind when she thought she should escape from the Duke’s eyes.

It’s unbelievable.

The wind blew her black hair. It was a wig that was designed to keep others out of sight. In addition, a large, veiled hat covered Alice’s face, and even an artifact that obscured people’s perceptives was hung in her ears.

Even if the runaway Baron Momont came back and saw her, he wouldn’t notice Alice Limorand.

It was true that she had to travel far to avoid being dragged to the tea party by Nocton Edgar, but it was not necessary to be Ernhardt.

Nevertheless, Alice came here.

More than the hatred for the Momonts, more than the rejection of her childhood.

Besides meeting Roa Valrose, she have only one good memory here.

‘I want to meet you, Ed.’

Alice closed her eyes, reminiscent of a young man with black hair.

✴️✴️✴️

Longer time spent with someone means you’ll know a lot about your opponent, whether you want it or not.

As a mere fiancée, I couldn’t get to know Aaron’s innermost thoughts, but his superficial parts were too well known.

He is a very regular man.

Meal time, education time, training time, even wake up and bedtime are set in minutes.

Aaron’s time in ordinary circumstances was always chivalrous, although it changed little by little when a separate exception was made.

So, as far as I know, Aaron is now on his way back to the main building of his mansion after training.

I know it, but I can’t help getting nervous.

I’m waiting for Aaron in the first drawing room of Marquis Claymore’s mansion. My heart has not called down since I read Alice’s note.

For some time, a second flowed like a year, and the door to the drawing room finally opened.

I stood up screaming his name.

“Aaron!”

“Roa? What are you doing here—”

“You haven’t responded yet, have you? You didn’t say you were going, did you? Why aren’t you answering me?”

“If it’s a reply—you mean, the tea party? I haven’t done it yet.”

I breathed a sigh of relief only then.

The people of Claymore were so strict with principles that they didn’t answer my question about whether Edgar was still waiting for a reply. It was only natural, but the silence sounded like a denial, and my heart was no longer can take it.

Finally, I was able to calm down.

I ignored the bewildered servants and greeted him with belated courtesy.

Aaron greeted back with a grim face, then he sent out the servants.

It’s almost time for dinner, so I denied tea and the conversation began immediately.

“If I had not received a reply from you by the end of the day, I would have answered tomorrow … didn’t I write it to you? Did something happen?”

“I’m just worried for no reason.”

Alice’s warning against Nocton was the same in the ballroom, but the weight of the words was different from then and now.

I shouldn’t go to the tea party, which makes me anxious.

It’s even worse because Alice has never said so strongly.

I was swayed by her note for a reason, and as time passed, my doubts about Nocton seemed to grow endlessly.

Even if I don’t find a problem with Nocton in the Memoria Siltarae, I may not even believe him now.