IWIAHC Chapter 14

The head maid's destination was the study.

'Assistant Wolfram, Lily Dienta still hasn't returned.'

'So the Lily Dienta written here really is that Lily Dienta.'

Wolfram sighed and set down the document.

Aiden moved behind Wolfram and read the paper. It was a confirmation notice about a travel permit issued from the government office.

It stated that Lily Dienta was taking a short trip with her grandmother.

'This is the most careless escape I've ever seen. I'll send someone to bring her back. Thanks for the confirmation.'

Thus Wolfram dismissed the head maid.

Only then did Aiden realize that the maid who'd promised tomorrow had been planning in her heart to leave forever.

She hadn't honored in the slightest his earnest request to trust him, and he alone had been imagining their future relationship.

What seized him in that moment was a sense of betrayal.

Considering he'd initially regarded her as a convenient communication tool, it was an irrationally violent emotion.

A linen ball caught the edge of his vision. He recalled himself receiving the ball with delight.

How ridiculous he must have looked. Had she laughed at how completely she'd deceived him?

He felt utterly humiliated... and what happened after that, he couldn't remember.

Now Aiden stood in the entrance, looking down.

The carriage opened and the maid descended. It was the face he'd searched for so desperately.

She hurried up the steps and couldn't speak before him. She seemed at a loss, unable even to meet his eyes, looking quite pitiful.

He simply watched her as if observing a spectacle. More precisely, he was waiting.

'Say something. Even a lie, even an excuse. Anything at all.'

Whether logical or utterly fabricated didn't matter. It didn't need to be elaborate.

If she would just say she'd been unavoidably delayed, Aiden would cover up the maid's transgression.

He hadn't thought this from the beginning.

If his power could cross the entrance boundary, he would have hurled the entire carriage when Wolfram's had stopped.

Right up until a few minutes ago, he hadn't wanted to let the traitor off easily.

However, the moment the maid ran straight to him without the slightest hesitation, such thoughts vanished somewhere.

All he could do was wait, hoping she'd make some excuse. It was absurd. She was the guilty one, yet he was the one receiving judgment.

"I'm sorry!"

The maid suddenly bowed her head deeply.

"Your Grace asked me to trust you, but I was afraid the lord Lord Wolfram would unilaterally assassinate me, so I ran away out of fear. I should have just told you honestly what I was worried about..."

Her body bent lower and lower. If left alone, her forehead would touch the ground.

"I didn't know Your Grace would be suffering like this. From now on, I'll believe everything Your Grace says. And I won't leave without telling you. I'm truly sorry."

To him, who'd wanted excuses, Lily offered an apology.

Aiden simply couldn't contend with her—she never did anything as he wanted or expected.

His anger drained away like grains of sand, and now he merely wondered what expression she was making as she spoke.

Lily seemed to have no intention of raising her head anytime soon. Aiden looked down at the round crown of her head, then grew impatient and spoke.

[Look up.]

Lily cautiously straightened. Her eyebrows peaked like mountains and her pressed lips protruded slightly forward. Worry was plastered all over her face.

Aiden easily recognized that her worry wasn't about whether her apology would be accepted, but rather that she pitied Aiden Casimir himself.

But why would she pity him? What preposterous notion was this maid entertaining now? When her own circumstances were similarly wretched.

She'd been assigned beside a ghost terrifying enough to make her scream and had attended him with utmost sincerity, only to receive threats on her life as a result.

Her escape had ended in futility and she now stood alone like a sacrifice before a deranged specter. No one was helping her.

That Lily Dienta would decide on a second escape attempt wasn't particularly surprising.

The environment surrounding her hadn't changed compared to before her escape, and if she'd felt threatened then, she would continue feeling threatened.

Though she was currently pitying his circumstances with guileless sympathy, once she came to her senses even slightly, she would realize this fact.

And she would mock her past self for wondering who was worrying about whom.

In such a situation, what use were words decorated like a peacock or purring like a cat?

Compared to the preciousness of life, even a chest full of gold was nothing but a dull lump of stone.

For the first time, he felt that what he could offer was utterly insignificant.

"Your Grace, are you all right?"

At the lengthening silence, Lily asked cautiously. Her hands clenched and unclenched, twitching as if they might reach toward him.

Aiden stared intently into those compassionate eyes.

In any case, Lily Dienta hadn't yet realized reality. And that would continue as long as she pitied him.

Aiden understood what he needed to do. He had to earn her sympathy. So she couldn't leave him behind, so she would continue pitying him with her whole heart...

He buried his face in both hands and spoke in a crumbling voice.

[No, Lily. I'm not all right. You left me alone.]

"Ohhhh..."

[You abandoned me here. I was happy receiving your gift, but even then you were only thinking of abandoning me.]

"Ab-abandon you?"

The Lily visible through the gaps in his hands floundered helplessly.

Aiden continued his performance.

[It's fine that no one can see me. I didn't even care about that. But I couldn't see you. You'd clearly promised, but no matter how long I waited, no matter how much I wandered, you didn't come.]

He'd intended to act pitiable throughout. However, the more he spoke, the more those emotions revived.

Anxiety, vague dread, and then the fury upon realizing the truth, the terror. Vivid emotions filled his entire body again, as if slashing him to pieces.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know you'd search for me that much. Really."

Aiden lifted his buried face and looked at Lily.

'Right. Why did I search so desperately?'

Why as if the world were collapsing, as if he'd lost something he must never lose, immersed in helplessness and sorrow...

Finding such answers could wait. What mattered was never losing her again.

He moved his insubstantial hand to wrap around her wrist. He felt neither warmth nor texture from the hand. It didn't even feel like touching.

Nevertheless, the visual appearance of their overlap provided a certain reassurance.

"I'll never leave again."

As the silence lengthened, Lily spoke first, unable to settle.

Earning her sympathy had indeed been the right answer.

[Keep the promise you made. Truly, I have only you. Don't leave me alone.]

He glanced down briefly at the carriage where the source of all trouble sat.

[If Wolfram is the problem, I'll drop a chandelier on him or overturn a bookcase so he can't threaten you...]

"Y-Your Grace, I'm sorry, but that kind of death-solves-everything approach is what scares me."

Lily mumbled.

The corner of Aiden's mouth curved up slightly. Her bold answer pleased him. Now everything finally felt like it was moving properly.

"And the Lord Wolfram seems to have genuinely reflected. He apologized again on the way back."

[Still, what if he's secretly plotting something sinister? Can I do as I please then?]

"No? I'll have to remind him of that day's catastrophe. And tell him that Your Grace won't let him off. Then, like a stage effect, just push over a single distant statue."

[I will.]

'By all means I will. Would one statue suffice? Would a chandelier truly not do? Isn't there anything else? Anything would delight me. If only I could.'

Excessively fawning answers bubbled up in his mind. Clearly his relieved heart was too excited. He gripped his reason and swallowed them back.

Lily's lowered eyelids lifted slightly and her bright-colored eyes sparkled.

Lily Dienta looked at him. Directly, without deviation. Aiden stared as if entranced.

"Then I'll tell Grandmother it went well."

[It seems Madam Dienta came along.]

"Did Your Grace already know about the translator applicant?"

Lily's eyes sharpened momentarily.

[On the first day you were gone, I heard Wolfram talking about it.]

"Yes, because of that and being worried about sending me alone, she came along for both reasons."

Though Lily seemed somewhat disgruntled as she said this, she quickly organized her emotions.

"So just wait a moment."

He watched vacantly as her braided hair swayed left and right, and before he knew it she'd reached the carriage. She turned briefly to look at him once, then opened the carriage door fully.

Aiden waited for her to return.