EEA Chapter 40

Departure

No matter how much she steeled her heart, the capital wedding was something that worried Ailea greatly. She didn't want to encounter Roylin. The night before leaving for the capital, Ailea had been fretting over various concerns and only managed to fall asleep near dawn.

Having fallen asleep so late, it was difficult for her to open her eyes in the morning. Ailea naturally assumed the hand shaking her awake was her maid Mary and acted more petulant than usual.

"Mary, let me sleep just a little longer..."

"..."

"Don't be angry. Just one more minute..."

When Ailea buried her face in the pillow without opening her eyes and acted cute, Clint, who had been trying to wake her, chuckled softly.

He gently stroked Ailea's platinum hair scattered across the bed with his hand. Feeling pleasant from his touch, Ailea remained still like a docile puppy, then suddenly opened her eyes wide. Now that she was thinking normally, the hand was too large to be Mary's. Besides, Mary would never stroke her hair while she was in bed.

When she propped herself up with her hands and raised her upper body, she saw Clint sitting on the edge of the bed, pressing his lips together to suppress his laughter. Ailea's sleepiness vanished instantly and she made a tearful face. Compared to her childish morning tantrum, Clint seemed particularly mature today as he said,

"You're unexpectedly quite the heavy sleeper in the morning."

Ailea had nothing to say and felt embarrassed, so she pulled the blanket over to cover her chest, whose outline was visible through her thin nightgown. Unlike his lazy personality, Clint woke up early and rarely fell into deep sleep to begin with. It was due to his sense of responsibility for Sutton's safety. Conversely, Ailea, who had been active only at night for such a long time to avoid others' gazes, was quite a heavy sleeper in the morning.

Ailea covered her mouth with both hands and yawned. Clint thought even that gesture was like a newborn puppy and smiled gently.

The Clint that entered her moistened eyes from yawning truly had a face so beautiful that she could never get used to it in her lifetime. When his eyes, mixed with sunlight, blinked and his long black eyelashes moved, Ailea's heart beat rapidly.

Moreover, today he was dressed so splendidly from head to toe that he could enter a ball right away. Ailea's heart fluttered from the morning, her face reddening as she gave unnecessary criticism.

"We have a long journey ahead, so dress comfortably."

"This is comfortable."

It doesn't look comfortable at all. When Ailea peeked her head slightly below the bed, she saw he was even wearing shoes made of fine leather.

Ailea became somewhat dejected and fiddled with her hair. Her husband's perfect appearance was uncomfortable today, making her want to stay far away from him.

However, Clint didn't understand her feelings and gestured toward the basket with the cat, saying:

"Say goodbye to Blue. We need to leave right away."

"I haven't prepared anything."

"Prepare when we get to the capital. Travel comfortably."

"You're not being comfortable at all. We have to meet your family members in the capital too..."

"Our family is severely shy. We probably won't be able to see them for long."

Clint said this while taking Ailea's hand and helping her up. Ailea crouched down in front of the basket where Blue was curled up and said goodbye.

"I'll be back soon. You have to listen to what people tell you, okay?"

As if understanding Ailea's words, Blue made a small meowing sound in response. Clint couldn't take his eyes off Ailea as she petted Blue like that. It seemed his wife was particularly cute in the morning, so he should come wake her up often in the future. Or sleep together every day...

When Ailea finished getting ready and came outside, everything was already prepared for the journey to the capital. Really, all that was left was for Ailea to get in the carriage. Ailea felt uncomfortable with Clint, who was inhumanly perfect today, and did her best to stay away from him.

When she kept moving away, Clint grabbed Ailea's arm.

"Where are you going, constantly?"

"Why are you so handsome today?"

"..."

"Uncomfortably so."

What kind of woman is this honest?

Contrary to what he had planned, Clint's ears kept threatening to turn red, so he eventually let her go.

On the day Ailea said she disliked playboys, Clint experienced indigestion for the first time in his life and made a plan.

He had to seduce his wife.

No matter how much Clint had done it to preserve his own life, the fact remained that he had met this woman and that woman. Come to think of it, gaining his wife's trust was an extremely long-term plan.

Thinking this made him anxious. What if she came to like another man during that long-term plan? For example, young and handsome Kaiton. Though he's boring. Or perhaps the somehow plump Shante, whose body seemed to attract women's favor. He wasn't sure what kind of favor that was. He even had a dream last night where Ailea ran away to Yuliana Castle hand in hand with her friend, Young Lady Lanteigne.

So the outcome after he retrieved Ailea was...

He thought it would be better not to tell Ailea about this dream since he felt sorry to her. She would probably get angry even if it was just a dream.

Anyway, Clint's goal today was to become a serious and sexy adult man. He felt Ailea would like that style, so he matched everything from head to toe to that style.

But he crumbled at just one word—"handsome"—which he had heard countless times in his life. His face reddening, Clint awkwardly ran his hand through his neat hair and said:

"Well, I'm always handsome."

"...How can you say that with your own mouth?"

"..."

"Be humble."

"You said I was handsome!"

"Why are you getting angry?"

"No, when did I ever get angry..."

Clint absentmindedly tapped his arm with his crossed fingers. It seemed he had failed at being a serious and sexy adult man. He couldn't stay still after just one word about being handsome.

The carriage that had traveled at top speed from Excalize Castle arrived at the outer castle where Ailea had previously stayed. Ailea looked at the outer castle with a happy face.

How had she endured here alone? Back then, she had been satisfied with the two years she spent completely alone without family or friends, but having lived among others, she felt she could never endure being alone like that again.

When Ailea quietly gazed at the outer castle, Clint asked, "What are you thinking about?"

"Um... The brief time I spent at Excalize was so happy that I'm thinking it would be fine to die now."

At her cheerful voice, Clint said with an expressionless face, "If you're thinking that, aren't you still not happy enough?"

"Pardon?"

"If you were truly happy, you'd want to live longer. You said you'd live for a long, long time. You said you'd become a grandmother. So why are you thinking such things?"

Clint, who had been well-dressed with his hands in his pockets, took his hands out and stroked Ailea's hair as he said,

"Sometimes you seem more mature than me, but when I see you like this, you're not. You're completely like a child."

The large hand that slipped through her hair and cupped her small head felt somehow sensual unlike the morning, so Ailea bit her lips slightly and closed her eyes. 

Clint murmured, "See more, enjoy more, and then think about it again."

When she opened her eyes again, Clint's face was very close as he bent his waist. He still had an expressionless face as he lightly held Ailea's chin and asked, "Understood?"

When Ailea was about to nod, he said, "Answer out loud, clearly."

When he was expressionless, there was a strange fierceness about him. Even though he spoke in a low voice with such a fierce face, Ailea somehow felt as if he was kneeling and pleading.

Ailea answered aloud, "I will."

Being close, their breaths touched each other. Ailea was quite tired from coming all this way, but somehow she felt like dragging Clint to bed right now. Since they had been a bit awkward with each other for a while and hadn't shared a bed, she thought Clint might want it too.

Should she say it? Ailea, who had been contemplating, carefully opened her mouth.

"Clint."

"Yeah?"

"It's still daytime and you must be tired, but..."

At that moment, Clint began using his cunning brain so hard it made noise, trying to guess what she was going to say next. He somehow became polite, bringing his previously impudent hands together and waiting for her words, when a clanging sound came from inside the castle and a woman in an expensive dress came running.

It was Cathy, the maid who had been by Ailea's side when she lived in a corner of the imperial palace before coming to this outer castle.

"Lady Ailea!"

"Ca-Cathy? What are you doing here?"

Ailea's eyes widened. Clint, who had been dying to know her next words, felt so frustrated he thought he might go crazy.

Looking at Cathy's attire, her circumstances seemed much better than when she worked as a maid in the imperial palace. She said,

"I quit my maid job at the imperial palace and returned to my hometown. I sold the jewel that Lady Ailea gave me when you dismissed me and opened a small shop. And I sold the high-class cooking I learned by watching in the imperial palace, and it was a huge hit!"

"Wh-what?"

"So I brought a jewel as Lady Ailea's share."

Cathy carefully held out a jewel. Seeing the large diamond in her hand, Ailea turned her head to glance at Clint. No matter how she looked at it, it was that diamond she had seen at Clint and Sutton's jewelry store.

"Swindler, how can you make others lie?"

"Just in case you believed it, I wouldn't have to listen to nagging. Well, you do know jewels."

Clint replied cheekily, taking the diamond from Cathy and waving it in front of Ailea's eyes as he said:

"Anyway, this is yours, right? I already bought it, so there's nothing to be done."

"Really..."

When Ailea sighed, Cathy laughed.

"I knew you wouldn't be fooled, but the Tiliph Knights' knight who arrived first gave me the jewel and told me to try it anyway. He said His Majesty ordered it. I'm sorry."

"I'm the one who should be sorry. Then the shop?"

"Oh, that's real. It really succeeded. Even if I can't give you such a diamond, I brought a hefty amount of gold coins."

"Just seeing that Cathy became happy makes me glad. Give the gold coins to people who need them."

"As for happiness... I couldn't even stay with you until the end..."

Cathy muttered, seemingly getting angry as she thought about it.

"Excalize, such a distant place, with such a playboy and our young lady."

"Ca-Cathy..."

Her voice was particularly loud when she said "such a playboy," making Clint's body flinch. After Clint had Shante find Cathy, he realized she was his natural enemy. Cathy, who had been Ailea's maid, was one of the people who knew his romantic history best. This was because Clint had paid her to use Ailea's garden as a place for romance.

What made Clint even more unable to say anything to Cathy was that she had used most of the money she received from Clint for Ailea's living expenses. At that time, Cathy had despaired over her situation, but she was still a very loyal person.

Clint, who wanted to escape for a moment, headed to the stable saying he was checking on his horse's condition, and the two people finished their happy reunion and entered the castle first.

Sitting in the drawing room, Cathy continued speaking to Ailea:

"Really, I was such a fool. I mean, I was by Lady Ailea's side for such a long time, yet I didn't know it wouldn't transfer."

Ailea laughed and replied:

"Cathy was the warmest person I met in the imperial palace. I'm the one who should be truly grateful."

Cathy, who had been looking at her quietly said, "You've changed a lot."

"Huh?"

"How should I put it, you seem to have been loved very much."

At Cathy's words, Ailea looked at the floor in embarrassment, and Cathy asked playfully, "His Majesty must be treating you quite well?"

"Huh? Mm-hmm..."

Ailea nodded with a big smile.

The Ailea that Cathy knew was a pitiful person who was always alone in a corner of the imperial palace. She couldn't meet any men other than the Crown Prince, and yet she couldn't properly meet the Crown Prince either—despite her gentle nature, she didn't smile much back then, but now she smiled so much more.

A moment later, the drawing room door opened and Clint entered with Joachim, the doctor. 

Clint said to Cathy, "Did you hear why I had my subordinate look for you?"

"Yes, Your Majesty. It was because of Lady Ailea's sleepwalking, right?"

Clint nodded and said, "I thought it might help to know Ailea's condition accurately. Do you know anything about sleepwalking?"

"I do."

Cathy answered quickly as if she had been waiting to be asked.

"It's not exact, but it was probably the winter when Lady Ailea was sixteen."

The winter when she was sixteen.

It was when the spots first appeared on Ailea's body.