APIBAGS Chapter 68

"...Someone said you were looking for me, so I brought you in. Was that not right?"

No idea. I'd better just brazen my way through this. Lady Toten is soaked through from riding hard through heavy rain—she's clearly still disoriented and confused, so I'll just pretend I don't know anything about Jelly's teleportation and move on.

Lady Toten clutched her head and looked around, bewildered.

"Yes... that's right. I came to find you."

Good. She really did have business with me. Could she be here to serve as my chaperone?

"Please, come to the carriage. You're very wet."

"Well.... I was afraid you might have already left for the palace without me, so I had to ride hard to get here."

So she came through the rain worrying I'd already left and would scold her for it. How thoroughly villainous does she think I am?

Daisy put more wood in the fireplace out of consideration for the soaked lady. Henna came back from outside in the meantime and handed Lady Toten a towel. It seemed meant for drying off her soaked body, but Lady Toten only wiped her eyes.

Oh, come on. You'll catch cold like that.

But Lady Toten really didn't look in any state to attend a social event. She must have ridden through enough rain that water dripped from her hair down her face—she looked exactly like someone who'd been sobbing. Eyes all red and everything. Could it be she hadn't come to serve as my chaperone at all, but to cancel?

She'd been unreachable this whole time. She may have felt a pang of guilt and come all this way at the last moment to let me down in person.

"Either way, you've come rather late to be making a decision."

Whether to cancel or agree—a little advance notice would have been so much nicer. Oh. I hadn't meant to complain, but it came out sounding sharp without my meaning it to.

"You're right. I've been terribly late...."

Lady Toten pressed her lips together at my words, her face crumpling, tears glittering at the corners of her eyes. She seemed enormously remorseful and sorry. Ah—I'd misspoken. Anyone can run late.

I took the towel from her hands and dried her face myself.

"I was waiting."

Lady Toten's eyes went wide with surprise at the sudden contact. I shouldn't be feeling this with someone looking like a drowned rat in front of me, but—perhaps because I'd just narrowly escaped the prospect of Bishop Marik as my chaperone—Lady Toten felt like a knight arriving on a white horse. Although the horse she'd actually ridden here on was just a plain brown one.

"You'll be my chaperone, won't you?"

Now that things had come to this, even if Lady Toten refused, I was ready to grovel and beg. If she'd just agree, I'd never have to cower in fear in front of an exorcist again.

"I need someone who will look after me sincerely, even after seeing me exactly as I am."

"Yes, anything. Anything at all."

It seemed my point had landed—that Lady Toten was the only one suited to take responsibility for me. She agreed without a moment's hesitation.

Yes!! I wanted to jump.

It was a good thing I hadn't followed the count out and instead waited at home. With Lady Toten here, I now had grounds to turn down Bishop Marik.

The thought of having avoided a dangerous partnership with an exorcist—and an exorcism ending—made me feel light enough to float. This romance fantasy nearly turned into an exorcism story. Unbelievable right? I'd put on a brave face in front of Raphaela about it, but honestly? I'd been a little scared. Though when you think about what medieval torture looked like, being scared is the only reasonable reaction. I mean, isn't being unphased the weird part?

"Did you know I would come?"

"No. I'm not a prophet. There's no way I could have known."

"I suppose not...."

Honestly, I hadn't expected it. Raphaela should have been here to see this! What a shame he missed the feeling of a reverse bet paying off.

"I thought... surely, if it was you, you'd know I would end up coming."

Lady Toten's shoulders drooped slightly. Oh. She seems hurt that I didn't believe in her. But—she went quiet for weeks and now expects me to have believed in her the whole time? That's the logic of a thief.

"Ryder has been ill."

Of course—if her son had been so sick she couldn't even think straight, she's innocent. Not a thief after all. A Robin Hood.

"His fever climbed so high, and you only came to mind today. I've come much too late, but.... Lady Rohanson, do you remember what you said to me?"

"What did I say?"

What did I say? The only thing I could clearly remember was complimenting her butler. Lady Toten hesitated, then lifted her bowed head and met my eyes.

"You told me I could lean on you."

"I did?"

I said that?

"You definitely said it. That it was all right to lean on you."

Lady Toten was certain. Her eyes were blazing—it was impossible to think she was making it up.

Apparently so. It must have been something I said while trying to comfort her. I must have said all manner of things trying to make a good impression on her back then. This is exactly why a person should be careful even with pleasantries.

"If those words still hold, then please. Please help me."

Lady Toten leaned toward me, bringing her face suddenly close. Uncomfortable, I subtly leaned back and lifted my chin—which unfortunately made me look like I was tilting my nose up at her. Could you move back just a little?

Well... seeing as Lady Toten has agreed to be my chaperone, I can hear her out. But shouldn't I hear what she's actually asking before I agree? I do have limits on the resources I can deploy.

"Is this about Ryder?"

"Yes. You're the only one who can bring him back."

Ah. Hearing Lady Toten's words, the whole picture fell into place at once. She'd been so preoccupied with her son being desperately ill that she'd forgotten today was my debutante—then realized at the last moment and rushed over. And with Ryder still running a terrible fever, she'd come to me as someone clutching at any handhold she could find.

"...I'm asking you, with all due deference. Please bring Ryder back to me."

The corners of Lady Toten's eyes grew wet again. I'd made a point of telling her clearly before that there was no method—even implying the rumors about me were true—so I hadn't imagined she'd make this request. I'd assumed she was simply avoiding me after that.

"If things continue as they are, it will all go as the butler intends, and Diess will seize the marquessate."

"The butler?"

The butler who'd seemed almost comically loyal?

"As you said, the butler has been deceiving me. Taking advantage of my son's illness to bring in my late husband's younger brother as an heir candidate...."

Wait. I'm not following this. The butler is rotten? And I supposedly told her that? I only said nice things about him.

Lady Toten explained the situation in brief. TL;DR: the butler and her late husband's younger brother had joined forces, intending to wait for Ryder to die and then swallow the marquessate whole.

This is far more serious than I'd thought. It wasn't simply "please cure my sick child"—it was "lend your weight to a succession struggle involving an entire marquessate." So when the butler told me not to raise her hopes, it wasn't consideration on his part—it was to protect his own interests.

Lady Toten seemed to hesitate over something. She pressed her lips together and folded her hands. Her eyes darted to mine as she worked her mouth open and closed.

"Please help me. You're the only one I can turn to."

There was nothing Lady Toten could do on her own right now, and the only way out of this situation was for Ryder to recover and establish his position. She must have concluded I was the only one who could accomplish both. Evangeline had a fearsome reputation, and she had the resources, and she had the precedent of having been gravely ill and recovering completely.

But could I actually do anything? Evangeline's apparent recovery was only because I'd transmigrated into her—there was nothing more to it than that. I hesitated for a moment over Lady Toten watching me with silent tears streaming down her face, then reached a conclusion.

"Henna, how much time do we have?"

"Enough to make a quick stop at the marquessate."

Henna checked the time and played along. You heard her, didn't you? She says there's plenty of time even if we stop briefly on the way.

I couldn't do everything Lady Toten wanted—I was no miracle worker. But at the very least, I wanted to listen and share some of the weight. I couldn't cure the child, but I could use the villainess's reputation to help protect Ryder from a scheming butler and a hungry heir. That much was within reach.

Looking away felt impossible. I couldn't stop thinking about it. Right. This is give-and-take. Lady Toten was someone who had agreed to chaperone Evangeline despite her reputation. She'd gone quiet, yes, but her son had been ill, and she'd ridden here in the rain on the very day so as not to be too late.

"Sir Gabriel mentioned that you are widely regarded as the model of a noblewoman."

Lady Toten looked puzzled at the unexpected preamble.

From riding through the rain, her hair was matted and flattened against her head, her face paint nearly gone, her dress torn in several places. For someone renowned in society as the very model of a perfect noblewoman, the effect was quite disheveled.

"I can't bring my chaperone to the event looking like this. Unfortunately there's nothing here at Rohanson Manor in your size, so we'll need to stop at the Toten marquessate."

Lady Toten's eyes went wide.

"I can't very well send you home alone in this rain. I'll accompany you."

Besides, Lady Toten had ridden here on horseback. We had the event to attend, so stopping at the marquessate first and then heading to the banquet hall together was the only option.

"Thank you. Thank you so much, my lady."

Lady Toten's eyes filled with tears at the emotion of it. The count calling me civilized at lunch earlier, and now Lady Toten—everyone overreacts so much to the slightest bit of kindness from me. Just how terrible a person was the original Evangeline?

"Well then, let's hurry to the estates—oh!"

Lady Toten stepped forward in her joy and stumbled. The heel of her shoe had come clean off. Good heavens, there really isn't a piece of her that isn't wrecked. Just how recklessly did you ride to get here?

Lady Toten's feet probably wouldn't fit my shoes... ah, but there was one pair that looked close to her size.

"Daisy. Would you fetch my mother's shoes? The pair Misha repaired."

"Of course."

Daisy went out and brought back the shoes.

"How is the fit?"

"They fit well. But... is it truly all right for me to wear Lady Rohanson's memento?"

The shoes Lady Toten was now wearing were ones I'd unearthed from the storage room. Most of Evangeline's mother's belongings were neatly organized on the floor below, but just this one pair had been tucked away in the storage room beside my bedroom.

Other than a stain, they were elegant women's shoes—but the size was different from Evangeline's, so I'd known immediately they weren't hers. They'd been a dark brownish-red stain when I found them, so perhaps someone had meant to discard them and simply forgotten.

Throwing out someone else's things felt off, so I'd left them—and Misha had found them, assumed they were mine, and cleaned them up beautifully. She'd said getting the stain out was a real ordeal, but since they didn't fit me, they'd just been sitting there.

"Fine."

So there was no reason Lady Toten couldn't wear them.