Episode 54
Translator : Missme  Editor : Aru

If he had known, I wouldn’t have been so brave to enter the garden alone without any attendants.

But, thanks to it, he was found lost in the garden by her.

‘I knew it at a glance.’

Was it that obvious?

No one knew about it except for a few. Just thinking about that time, Iggret still groaned.

But it interests him since he didn’t know how and why she knows it.

As a result, it was a turning point for him.

‘Don’t worry. I won’t go around and tell people about this matter. Even if I had a knife in my throat.’

Where did he feel good?

Was it because she said so in a bold tone as if she was reassuring after she noticed his weakness?

Or on the way out of the garden, she didn’t necessarily deny that he was bad with directions, but instead, she was saying anything to make him look good?

Whatever it was, it was good.

The day remained quite a strong memory for Iggret.

The opponent he saw that day was different in many ways from their first meeting.

From the appearance until the impression, she looked like a different person.

However, the attraction of the human being itself may have been shown thanks to it.

And to reach his hand, Iggret was much more fond of the latter.

At first, he thought it was good to see her appearance and to think she was ostensibly pretty, but now he just likes everything about her.

It was a moment when feelings that were close to simple curiosity turned into undeniable interests.

‘But, talking about that.’

He thought it was a pleasant change. He wondered if the prophecy of “Meeting her fate within this year” that he heard in the temple would come true.

“But there was a stronger enemy than I thought.”

The woman, who was standing close to him mumbled words as if she were talking to herself, listened quickly and answered back.

“If you get it easily, you get tired easily.”

“Is she an object? Talking about getting her.”

Iggret struck back. The woman clapped her hands as if she had been waiting.

“That’s it. Don’t lose that mind and keep pushing on. Then Your Highness will be able to defeat the strong enemy.”

“What is it?”

Iggret raised his eyes. The woman looked calm.

“I’m telling you to cherish her. If you respect others and approach them politely, it means that no matter how much he packs his sister, the younger brother will admit you one day and step down.”

“You really.”

With a bland look, Iggret looked down.

Even if she didn’t say that, he didn’t have a hobby of being forced on someone he liked.

He even didn’t think of treating her as a beautiful contemplating painting.

Such a thing was only for idiots.

Iggret’s blonde hair shattered brilliantly in the light shining inside the parlour.

The woman thought inside, watching the picturesque scene that the artist did his best to capture in the canvas.

‘But if they are really siblings.’

The woman recalled a person who had just disappeared after boasting his presence as much as the Crown Prince in the parlour room.

The person was like a moving sculpture in many ways.

‘Brother and sister…’

A family that really cherishes his sister.

That act of him?

She doesn’t know anything about the family’s birth.

However, such a thing could be hidden as long as it was intended and tried to hide it.

‘I feel like I know something I shouldn’t know.’

The woman frowns her nose in a position not visible from Iggret’s sight.

This is why it was a problem even if he had a good sense of wit.

She lowered her eyes slightly and stared at her superior’s round, bright back head.

“Cheer up.”

“What?”

“Cheer up. It’s better to do it anyway than to give up without trying anything.”

“You have a knack for cheering.”

The woman slid her shoulders up and down unseen again.

It was her boss anyway. Whatever the tangible results or prospects may be, it would be her duty to cheer him up.

The woman has done her duty.

“Do your best.”

“……thank you.”

The Crown Prince replied reluctantly to repeated encouragement.

“Here’s the tea– oh, my God.”

And by that time a maid had brought out a car for the guest, but it was already late.

***

I thought it would calm me down if I got some fresh air so I came out.

But after that, I had nowhere to go as I thought.

‘The garden is a little….’

Under the current circumstances, going there would be counterproductive.

And in the midst of all that confusion, going there just will harass me since I remember the past event there.

‘I shouldn’t go there.’

I walked aimlessly. Then, I found a tree near the side door of a dining room where groceries went in and out.

A moderately thick, shaded base seemed suitable for a reclining seat.

I settled under the tree without long contemplation.

Sitting one by one, stretching my legs comfortably, and exhaling for a long time.

I stared blankly.

As I was doing it, there was a realization that was pushed into my head one step late.

‘I wondered why I didn’t care so much about the opposite sex.’

From a long time ago, I never saw a man as a man.

I wondered if it was because of the stalker I had in my previous life that I was so attached to, but that wasn’t the only reason.

It’s just that there’s no room for anyone else’s because someone’s already firmly in my mind.

That’s why the expression of interest of The Crown Prince, the no.1 bridegroom in The Empire in name and reality, was embarrassing, let alone excited.

It was amazing.

‘You shameless woman.’

I remember I had no interest in men since I was a teenager.

‘Do you even know how old Ash was back then? Are you crazy?”

You’re out of your mind, huh?

I suffered alone and soon leaned back completely against the wooden post.

Unfortunately, after realizing one thing, other things followed up like sweet potato stalks.

‘At that time when I escaped from the mansion garden.’

The day I decided to use the enchanted Cloth and took Ash to the garden fountain at night.

Meanwhile, I ran away from the place by myself.

‘I did it because I was jealous.……’

Besides the speculation that the temporary heartache that comes from the feeling of losing my family.

Because I was really jealous. From an extremely rational point of view, I was not confident that I could see Ash interested in Ari.

It’s in the same vein that I cried when I came back to my room as if I was running away.

‘Ahhh.’

I swallowed a silent scream.

I pulled back my stretched legs and pulled my knees up. Then I buried my head between them.

My heart was pounding. To the point of misery.

‘Oh, my God, a man could be this stupid for these things.’

Who the hell do I care about?

I want to ask. What do I believe?

What the hell do I believe in this situation?

Ash was just nice to me because I was his sister. He thinks I’m a family member, so he treats others differently and distinctly.

I knew it.

It was me who knew it better than anyone else.

No, I believed I was.

But how could I do this? Do you know that? It’s just the same as crawling to the hellish fire voluntarily, what am I doing?

“……”

It’s ridiculous. It’s stuffy and suffocating, all suffocating that I think I could fall down because of it.

I thought so and lowered my gaze by lifting the face that had been buried between my knees.

Whether it got dirty or not, I could see the hem of the dress spread out on the floor and my feet peeped out outside.

Oh, it looks like dirt. What do I say to Bessie later?

It was then.

In the narrow field of view, something other than the hem of the unpatterned dress and the shoe nose came in.

“Noonim.”

……my goodness.

There was no need to raise the stiffened head again as if it were a reflex.

Before that, Ash bent one knee to me and made eye contact.

“Look here.”

There was nowhere else to run away from here.

I raised my eyes very slowly, feeling frustrated by the voice ringing around.

Ash reached out and touched my forehead.

My heart seemed to stop for a moment.

“There is no fever.”

“……”

“Are you all right?”

I barely recognized that the reason Ash asked was that I had just escaped from the parlour room under the pretext of being ill, with a head that didn’t spin as well as a rusty hinge.

The forehead, which had been touched by his whole palm lightly and dropped off while taking the heat, seemed to be burning belatedly.

I’ve passed the dry saliva.

‘No.’

Don’t come near.

‘Don’t think about it.’

Please don’t come to mind and just stay calm damn dream.

“……I’m all right.”

I managed to open my mouth and answer while desperately trying to control myself.

But if my answer did not sound so credible, Ash did not take his gaze away from me.

A persistent glance seemed to tie me to my seat.

“What about you, Ash? Are you all right?

I felt like I had to say something, so I opened my mouth like him.

In fact, I was worried about Ash, who was walking around with a bandage inside his clothes.

He just woke up from his bed.

I couldn’t look straight into Ash’s eyes and stared dully at the corner.

I tried to keep my eyes fixed.

If I lowered my gaze and saw his lips, I feel like I’ve dug my own grave.

“I’m always fine.”

Ash answered so, and soon grabbed my hand and got up.

At a moment’s sudden contact, I managed to press down on my shoulder to shake.

I stood up from my seat with a strong force that was soft but hard to resist.

“Let’s get in. It’s windy at this hour.”