RAMHM Chapter 117

A Burning Reunion

Epero's party arrived at the Grand Ducal estate earlier than expected.

We hadn't heard the approach of so many supply wagons and personnel, even though they'd come right up to the estate's doorstep.

If Yona hadn't quickly knocked on the door to summon us, we might have greeted them in a state too disheveled to look at.

I briefly closed my eyes tight as I recalled Epero bursting into the office without permission, feeling momentarily dizzy.

While they waited in the first-floor lobby, I pushed away the persistently clinging Rhodness and finally managed to pull on my clothes.

Though he insisted on helping me dress, which meant I had no choice but to participate in his little doll-playing game.

Yona prepared a dress for me—one suitable for attending services at the Grand Temple—to cover the flower garden of bruises blooming all over my body.

He'd left marks so relentlessly that I couldn't even put my hair up for the journey, needing to hide the stained nape of my neck.

He even insisted on riding in the carriage I'd planned to share with Yona, invoking the pretext of close personal protection.

"Where's Lord Vincento?"

"I left him to handle the funeral arrangements. He's Bardenaldo's cousin, so he's perfect to leave behind in my place. No one objected to the Winster Marquisate's heir concluding the Crown Prince's funeral."

With those words, Rhodness briefly gazed out the window. Something had clearly happened with Vincento. Since chasing him to the office door on the day of the funeral, Vincento hadn't shown his face again.

Still, he seemed to relay orders through Neil, but whenever Vincento's name came up, Rhodness wore that subtle expression while staring out the window. He looked somewhat lonely.

"Rienne, come here."

Rhodness, who'd been lost in thought, gazed steadily at me before speaking.

Though it was an imperial carriage of the highest quality, Rhodness apparently disliked even the occasional jolt—he patted his thigh and called me over.

"Why?"

"Sit here."

"That seems more uncomfortable."

"...Just try sitting here before you judge."

"The cushion here is appropriately firm and nice. My bottom doesn't hurt at all."

"Your bottom doesn't hurt? That can't be right."

Rhodness tilted his chin up arrogantly and curved his lips.

'...I'll forgive him because he's handsome.'

I bit the inside of my mouth as I stared at his sculpted nose and the lips that had been so busy all night.

Whenever the pouring sunlight illuminated the carriage interior, he glittered like a statue cast in gold.

Though we'd both gotten no sleep all night, unlike me with my darkened under-eyes, he glowed and sparkled like a new bride who'd diligently received massages before her wedding.

"I was all night—"

"Stop! Fine, I get it! I'll sit for exactly 10 seconds. Satisfied? If you bring up 'all night this and that' in broad daylight like this, what happened last night will never happen again."

His mouth snapped shut as if enchanted, the lips twitching slightly as if wanting to protest, but that was all.

His eyes briefly took on a wounded light, like a child who'd had a delicious cookie taken away—but then sparkled again as I stood abruptly and sat on his lap.

"Rienne."

As I naturally wrapped my arms around his thick neck and leaned against him, he immediately encircled my waist and pulled me close.

His warm lips settled naturally on my carefully wrapped nape.

"I love you."

The air inside the carriage instantly heated.

"If you love me, do it in moderation, Rhoan. I'm physically exhausted."

"Mm."

The face that always answered "mm" to requests for moderation while tormenting me all night suddenly surfaced in my mind.

Strangely, rather than anger, the hot sighs of last night and his face flushed around the eyes as he immersed himself in me, whispering love, scattered like afterimages.

"You have to acknowledge this, Rienne. I really held back a lot."

"...That was holding back?"

Perhaps slightly wounded by my request for moderation, he began to open his mouth that he'd been keeping shut.

"Of course. How much I—"

But the mouth about to pour out words soon stopped.

After staring at me for a long moment with an unreadable gaze, Rhodness flushed red, chuckled softly, then simply pulled me into a tight embrace.

"Never mind. You don't need to know."

"Know what?"

That's when it happened.

"Your Highness! Your Highness!!"

Neil, who was handling the escort, knocked urgently on the carriage window.

"What is it?"

"Your Highness! A woman is following our procession very closely."

When Rhodness extended his long arm to open the window, Neil, who'd brought his horse right up close, reported urgently.

"Handle it yourself."

"Well, the thing is... she looks familiar. I think the lady knows her."

Neil quickly added.

"Let me check."

I extracted myself from Rhodness's embrace and leaned my upper body far out the window.

"Rienne!"

Rhodness grabbed my arm in alarm.

The carriage gradually slowed its pace. My hair, left down to cover my nape, whipped violently in the wind.

I shielded my eyes from the excessively bright sun with my hand and strained to see the figure following from a distance.

And the moment I saw the wavy dark brown hair whipping far more wildly than mine, my breath seemed to stop completely.

"Adrienne!"

I recoiled, pale as if I'd seen a ghost. As I clutched my chest and started to collapse, Rhodness immediately pulled me into his arms and examined my complexion.

"Who is it? I'll go out and—"

"No! No, just... just go."

I barely managed to get the words out, like someone being strangled.

My nose stung as if tears would pour out any moment.

"Just, just let's go."

Not yet ready to face Bianca, I simply closed my eyes tight and buried my face in Rhodness's embrace.

He said nothing more, just gripped my shoulder firmly and held me close.

The carriage clearly picked up speed, yet incongruously the sound of hoofbeats grew closer.

"...Rienne!"

"!"

When Bianca's shrill voice pierced my ears, I flinched.

"Adrienne! Please! Please stop!"

The sound of hoofbeats drew closer, closer, then finally began to fade slowly away.

But the more that sound receded, the more those desperate hoofbeats and anguished cries seemed to crush my heart.

Bang bang—!

"Stop the carriage!"

I finally jumped up and pounded the carriage wall.

Hee-hee-hinny—! Along with the sound of urgently stopping the carriage, before Rhodness could catch me, I flung the carriage door open.

A few wagons back, in the distance, I could see Bianca dismounting from a foam-flecked horse as if falling off.

She swayed precariously as if about to collapse, yet the moment she saw me, with eyes gone bloodshot, she ran toward me.

As the guards hesitated, uncertain whether to stop her, I too walked through them toward her.

And soon.

Bianca, who'd reached close range, burst into tears and pulled me into a fierce embrace.

In the end, Rhodness was expelled from the carriage.

After wordlessly seating Bianca in the carriage, I summoned Yona, who'd been following in another carriage with some servants.

Bianca never once uttered the name "Bliea."

As if there were no other possibility except that I was Adrienne—regardless of who I was with or where I'd come from—she simply stared at me with determined eyes and repeatedly shed tears.

After barely soothing her as she refused to release her embrace, I seated Bianca and Yona side by side and started the carriage.

When I closed the half-open window tight and drew the curtains, the carriage quickly filled with darkness.

Yona's eyes wavered for a moment in confusion, seeing both Bianca's sudden change in attitude and my calm expression, then she clasped her hands neatly and waited for me to speak.

I too had shed tears once upon being held by Bianca, so I hastily composed my face with a handkerchief.

"My lady, are you unwell?"

"Yona, and Bianca. Will you believe me, no matter what I say from now on?"

Inside the swaying carriage.

Bianca's trembling eyes and Yona's bewildered expression turned toward me.

"I am not Bliea Acacia right now."

Screams and exclamations dimly leaked from inside the slowed carriage.

Rhodness drove his horse, increasing the distance between the following supply wagons and Epero's party ahead.

A woman's sharp curses and cries penetrated the well-insulated carriage and rang in his ears.

When Neil stared at him from a distance with anxious eyes, Rhodness shook his head and gestured with his chin to send him ahead.

He'd already heard that Duke Pirreta—Adrienne's father—had also played a part in this tragedy.

So the commotion inside the carriage was likely connected to him.

Even though I'd explained very briefly from the point where I first thought I'd stopped breathing until now, I couldn't stop Bianca's fury.

Halfway through, Bianca writhed as if it would be better to block her ears and faint, but when Yona held her, she barely grasped her thread of reason.

"Rienne, Rienne. How did you endure this absurd farce alone? My frail child who collapsed at every turn, seeing all those horrible things!"

She finally stood abruptly and held me, crying hard for a long while before her voice finally calmed enough to repeat, 'But I'm glad you're alive.'

As I was held by her, I gave my attention to Yona, who'd gone rigid.

Yona's lips only trembled and twitched, then as she examined my face carefully, her eyes reddened.

"Ah—. That I couldn't recognize Lady Bliea!"

"Yona, it's not your fault. I'm sorry. If I'd known sooner how close you and Bliea were, I might have been able to tell you more quickly."

When I apologized, the confused Yona dabbed under her eyes with a handkerchief.

"At first, I too... was so confused. I couldn't tell anyone about this. Who would believe such a thing? No matter what novel you read, there wouldn't be a situation this utterly absurd. I once thought it would be easier to believe I'd gone mad."

"...You don't need to make excuses, my lady."

Yona answered in a deeply subdued voice.

I'd finished my mental preparation.

Since Yona was originally Bliea's person, even if she didn't follow me—someone who'd pushed Bliea into a coffin and was still impersonating her—I was ready to let her go.

What Yona followed wasn't me, but Bliea, her benefactor.

"I want to help you, my lady."

Yona's small, white hand came down on top of my fist, clenched tight with tension.

Her somewhat rough palm was so warm it nearly brought me to tears.

"Helping you is also helping our Lady Bliea, isn't it?"

"Yona..."

"You were always kind to me, even when we first met. Lady Bliea was like that too, even while pretending not to be."

I was momentarily at a loss for words and closed my mouth.

If she'd demanded to know how I could impersonate her benefactor and order her around, I'd have had no answer. But Yona's face remained the same as before, even after learning I wasn't Bliea.

"That Lady Bliea is my benefactor won't change, but the fact that you're the person I serve won't change either. My lady, I like you."