Chapter 45 – Episode 45. Doubt and Love (3)
That’s what nobles are originally.
Dinner is over, and now we don’t have anything to see each other, but we drink tea or eat simple refreshments, it’s obviously the same story as before, but if you do it again, it’s obviously the same story you’ve heard before, but you waste time answering it again. .
I endured and endured until the time when I thought this would be rude, and then, now, I get up at the time when I really want to be rude.
“Then, I’ll just let this go in.”
“You can go to bed and go.”
Astrid stood up and followed Leopold.
The sound of a silk dress rubbing against the floor followed.
Leopold’s gaze turned to Astrid for a moment. To be precise, Astrid pointed at his two hands, which were tightly clasped together. White. White long fingers. A fist clenched with those fingers. That fist.
Leopold raised his hand and touched his cheek, feeling that his left cheek suddenly started to hurt again.
“Your Highness, what are you doing? Are you thinking of going to bed?”
“No, no. You should sleep at home.”
‘Hey, why are you paying attention and making a fuss? It happened because Ji was drinking.’
【You’re saying this because you’re worried.】
‘What are you worried about… ‘
When Leopold approached the banquet room door, it opened without a sound. The attendants waiting outside quietly left the open door, passed through the hallway, went down the stairs that wrapped around both sides of the central floor of the second floor, and finally stood in front of the door of the mansion.
“Then, go in. Majesty. My sister here will be sending us off to the garden.”
“Yes, Ashley. It was nice meeting you today.”
“I did too.”
“Haha,” Said Ashley with a friendly smile and bowed her head. Leopold waited for Ashley to end his greeting, then stretched out his right hand as he straightened up.
“I’ll see you at the academy next year. As seniors and juniors.”
“That’s right. I wish you well. And in the meantime, please take care of our immature sister here.”
“Okay. Don’t do that.”
It might be a little hesitating, but it wasn’t. No one knows that both of them are looking for reasons to break up anyway, and that they have agreed to find a worthy spouse for each other. Leopold wasn’t stupid enough to bring up such a story at a place like this.
“Okay, Astrid. Egg plant.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
The front door, much taller than Ashley, swung wide open.
It was a full moon at some point. There was no one in the garden. There was a wide boulevard that ran through the middle of the garden, which was much wider than the mansion, and on both sides stood garden trees trimmed in various shapes, showing off their shapes.
In the fountain, which was turned off because it was night, a carp statue resting, tired from spouting water during the day, and the fountain on the other side did the same.
The two of them were walking side by side on the gravel road. No conversation, just walking. It is about a 5-minute walk to the front gate of the mansion where the carriage will be waiting. It wasn’t a very long distance, but it was also not a short distance to walk without talking like this.
“Asti.”
“Yes?”
Not Astrid, Asti.
Astrid flinched at Leopold’s sudden voice. She had called her Astrid all along, but never dreamed that she would call her Asti. Of course, she already knew that Asti was her own nickname, but the person who called her now was quite far from her nickname.
“Was it very painful?”
“Um, I don’t know. Because I was just asleep.”
“Okay. I asked a strange question. Then, shall we change the question?”
My steps stopped.
Leopold slightly lifted his head and looked up at the sky. A bright, round moon was floating in the night sky, and a black cloud hung in between.
A calm and quiet night with no wind and no clouds moving.
“… Asti, Asti. I don’t know how many years I’ve been calling you by your nickname like this, but I think it’s appropriate to call you Asti now.”
“Your Highness, do as you please.”
Both were their names anyway, but at the same time they weren’t their names either.
【Your Highness gave me my child’s name… 】
‘It’s not a nickname, but a childhood name?’
【That’s it or that.】
‘It’s different… ‘
No, he really has nothing but power. For some reason, Astrid’s eyebrows furrowed involuntarily as her head seemed to hurt.
“Don’t you like being called Astira? You don’t look good.”
“No, no. It’s not like that. As Your Highness wishes.”
“Okay. Hmm… “
A chilly night wind blew between Leopold and Astrid. At the end of the day, the leaves that had fallen in the meantime rustled and rolled over the garden avenue, which had all been swept clean.
“… It was last night.”
“…”
If it was last night, that would be it. It must be referring to the time when Astrid looked a bit ugly.
“I got to see your face right in front of my nose.”
“I see.”
I remember. I remember that scene clearly now. I don’t know what Astrid was thinking, but she remembered clearly how she wrapped her arms around Leopold’s neck and pulled him as hard as she could.
“So… I think I need to make some corrections.”
“What do you mean?”
“At the academy, I looked straight into your face like that time. Do you remember?”
She must be talking about the time she was caught by Akhemilla.
That day when we sat close to each other on a bench behind the academy dorm and looked into each other’s faces but said we couldn’t feel any pounding or anything like that.
“I remember.”
“At that time, I didn’t feel your heart beating at all. In other words, I didn’t feel any attraction or interest in you from the opposite sex.”
【It can’t be!】
‘Joe, be quiet!’
Leopold, unaware of the mess going on in Astrid’s head, continued his speech slowly.
‘Shut up, really! I can’t hear you!’
【… 】
Shut up, shut up. Astrid looked at Leopold, relieved by her now quiet mind.
Leopold was also looking at her like that.
“But last night. Last night… Looking at you from so close, you are truly beautiful.”
【Of course-!】
‘Hey!’
“My heart was pounding.”
“Ah.”
At Leopold’s words, Astrid opened her mouth blankly. Her low sighs flowed out of their own accord. This is what shouldn’t be like this. That shouldn’t be the case. This is a mutual promise, so Leopold shouldn’t see her and make her pound.
“It’s not the first time I’ve seen your face up close, but strangely enough, last night I was thrilled to see your sleeping face.”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“I don’t know why… “
No, it’s difficult. Astrid thought. It is difficult. Shouldn’t this be the case? At this point, it’s difficult. But right now, her heart was beating a little bit for some reason. What is this? I can not know. I don’t know. But it’s thrilling why? Why?
“That, I-“
【Ha, but our promise is as planned… Uh?】
In an instant, my eyes changed like changing a TV channel. It was as if the scene unfolding in front of my eyes was being watched on a television.
“Majesty.”
A chilly voice circulated around the bleak garden.
【Hey, what are you going to do now… ?! Rather, how did you change it!?]
‘Stay still. I have to put on the expression that Her Highness likes the most.’
Astrid’s excited voice came from inside her head.
Ruined.
Astrid was just thinking about that.
If Astrid said, here and now, to let go of her temper and do better, let’s keep her engagement, Leopold would have said yes.
It shouldn’t be. It turns out to be her mess. Walking the wedding road was supposed to be done after the fake Astrid returned to her original world, but it was in danger of becoming nothing.
“Asti, what emotion is this?”
“I don’t know either, Your Highness. One thing is certain.”
“Sure thing? Something, that.”
Astrid’s voice was as cold as frost.
The fake Astrid’s voice and tone were relatively gentle and friendly, but the real Astrid didn’t feel that way at all.
【No, I didn’t even agree to it, so why did it suddenly change?! Why!?】
‘Shut your mouth.’
“Your Highness, do you still not know how you feel?”
“What do you mean, Astrid?”
Leopold’s eyes, which were of a man slowly falling in love, began to grow bitter little by little as he drew an arc gently.
“Didn’t I say I was certain? Wasn’t that about my feelings?”
A title that went back to Astrid, not Asti.
At this point, Astrid should have changed her words or made amends, but Astrid showed no signs of doing so.
Astrid was looking at Leopold like that.
As if to say the obvious, she asserted that.
“There is no way I know the feelings that I don’t even know. Wouldn’t it be right for a man to face his feelings and act according to them?”
【What are you talking about… ?】
‘That’s definitely love! So he’s going to propose now!’
【Are you stupid?!】
“… Hmm.”
【I’m exhausted.】
Honestly, to tell you the truth, this situation is just doomed. Even if you just broke that promise and said that you will change and let’s do better, it was a problem that could be solved.
Astrid was no different than insulting Leopold, saying that he was an idiot who had to ask others about her feelings.
Regardless of whether he did it knowingly or not, it was self-defense for Leopold.
Astrid could understand why she couldn’t get close to Leopold, even though the real Astrid had such a burning love affair.
“Certainly Astrid, you have become strange. Like… You look just like the old you.”
Leopold looked at Astrid for a moment and then turned around.
Just as he turned around, Leopold said.
“… Let’s meet at the academy.”
A banquet order telling them not to come back until they return to the academy.
Leopold left the garden with only those words left, and climbed into the waiting carriage.
As if he didn’t need Astrid to see him off anymore, without looking back.
Astrid standing in the garden in dismay.
Astrid couldn’t stand it any longer and told the real Astrid.
【… Aren’t you lacking?]
‘No, what is it? Wasn’t it the flow of a proposal?! I was sure I did as I was taught by the family commanders… ?!”
Astrid was relieved.
I didn’t know why her consciousness suddenly changed like now, but even if it suddenly changed, Astrid was sure that the real Astrid would never properly attack Leopold.
