Louis confirmed that his thoughts had been excessive, but rather than feeling relieved, he was left with a strange uneasiness.
He wondered if there might be another reason why she was still drawing a line.
Louis was quick to pick up on things.
He had an intuition that after today, there wouldn’t be another chance to talk about this matter.
“…Did something else happen that day, by any chance?”
Margaret, who thought the conversation was over and was about to relax, stiffened her shoulders.
“…Pardon?”
“It seems like you’re hiding something.”
“…”
Margaret swallowed hard at Louis’s sharp question.
Although he wanted to let it go, Louis pressed for an answer as if he had no intention of glossing over it.
“Miss Margaret, that day…”
“Fine. It was me.”
Louis was taken aback by the voice that cut him off, sounding like a sharp retort.
“…What?”
By now they had completely left the capital, and the road was not fully paved, making the carriage shake more noticeably than before.
But there was no time to pay attention to that.
“I was the one who came onto you. Do I really have to say this with my own mouth?”
When Louis asked again, not understanding Margaret’s words, she raised her voice and confessed the starting point of that day.
“What?”
It was at that moment. The carriage shook violently as if the wheel had caught on a large stone. Startled, the two hands holding the reins loosened.
Neigh-!
The horse, seemingly frightened, began to run quickly.
“Whoa, whoa!”
Neigh!
He barely managed to grab the reins with one hand, but there was a world of difference between driving a carriage in a stable state and trying to stop a rampaging horse with just one rein.
“No!”
Snap!
To make matters worse, the reins broke completely.
The horse struggled free from the carriage, and the carriage, unable to stay upright on the sloped road, toppled over.
Louis instinctively twisted his body with all his might to change the direction of the carriage that was heading straight for the water.
As a result, the driver’s seat tipped sideways and Louis was thrown from it, but at least the carriage didn’t fall completely into the water.
As his face hit the water, perhaps thanks to Margaret’s words, a moment from that day came back to him.
[Do you know the easiest way to forget someone you like?]
Louis shook his head at Margaret’s provocative question.
[If I knew, I would have tried it already.]
[It’s a simpler method than you think. Want me to tell you?]
[…What is it?]
Margaret’s long fingers touched the area around Louis’s neck.
[Just fill your mind with other thoughts. So much that you don’t even have time to think about the person you like.]
After that, his memory cut off again. But he could guess what had happened next without asking.
Margaret’s words were right.
Louis thought, squeezing his eyes shut, that it was indeed an effective method. After all, he had been thinking about Margaret the whole time.
Did she just want to help him because she saw how frustrated he was?
‘Such assumptions are meaningless now.’
It seemed clear that for her, it was an insignificant night that she just wanted to treat as if it never happened.
He needed to get up immediately and check if Margaret was alright, but remembering his own disgraceful behavior, Louis felt for a brief moment like he wanted to die with his nose buried in the water.
Carol hurriedly approached the carriage. Despite the loud noise, the situation didn’t look too bad.
Whether due to good carriage materials or not, the carriage remained intact with only its front part submerged in the lake.
The problem was the person who had been on the driver’s seat. The driver’s seat was completely submerged, and the man had his face planted in the lake.
Carol, who had run over, pulled on the man’s arm.
“Oh my. Are you alright?”
She tugged at his arm with effort, but it was too much due to the difference in size.
The Duke, frowning, grabbed the back of the man’s back collar and pulled hard.
The man, lifted effortlessly, kept his eyes tightly shut, seemingly embarrassed.
Carol hesitated at the sudden appearance of a familiar face.
“Louis?”
Hearing his name called, Louis finally opened his eyes and looked at Carol.
“…Carol?”
“What are you doing here?”
At Carol’s question, Louis quickly turned the same question back to her.
“What about you? Why are you here?”
“It’s my birthday, so the Duke brought me here.”
“Ah… Right, it was your birthday.”
Only then did Louis realize that the man holding the back of his neck was the Duke. As he slowly turned his gaze, he felt the Duke’s cold stare on him.
“It seems you can stand up now.”
The Duke released his grip on Louis’s back collar without hesitation. Louis landed on the ground and wiped his wet face with his hand.
“…Duke.”
Louis belatedly paid his respects.
“I’ve helped you, now go.”
At the Duke’s urging, Carol glanced at the back of the carriage and asked,
“Louis, did you come alone?”
Louis had managed to prevent the carriage from falling into the lake even as he plunged in, so the carriage was safe. Yet, the fact that she wasn’t coming out likely meant she didn’t want the Duke to see them together.
“Uh… well…”
As Louis hesitated to answer, to make matters worse, a rumble of thunder was heard and it started to rain.
Swoosh.
“It’s raining, let’s go back quickly.”
The Duke wrapped his arm around Carol’s shoulders. He clearly wanted the two of them to leave alone.
“What?”
“They must have come here for a reason too.”
As the Duke blatantly looked at the back of the carriage while speaking, Carol understood his intention.
“Oh, sorry. We’re interrupting, aren’t we? We tried to help, but you seem fine.”
“Wait a moment!”
“…”
“It’s not like that.”
“…”
Louis briefly studied the Duke’s expression.
If he said this here, it was clear that both Margaret in the carriage and the Duke looking at him would disapprove, but he had no other choice.
“I was planning to leave right after a short visit, but now the carriage is like this…”
“Didn’t your aide come with you?”
Fortunately, Carol was by the Duke’s side.
“No. And now it’s too late to go back and get a new carriage, and the horse has run away…”
“Oh no! What should we do!”
Kind-hearted Carol wasn’t the type to turn her back on a friend.
“It doesn’t seem like we can move right away, and now it’s raining.”
The longer Louis spoke, the worse the Duke’s expression became.
Carol also wanted this to be a trip for just the two of them, and didn’t want to spoil the mood from earlier, but she wasn’t cold-blooded enough to leave her friend in the rain.
“Duke, don’t you think it would be better if we all go inside for now?”
“…I suppose so.”
The Duke, though displeased, either understood there was no other option as Louis said, or because of Carol’s presence, nodded without further comment.
“Thank you.”
Louis bowed his head. Then he glanced at the still tightly closed carriage door.
If Louis, who was at the front, wasn’t badly hurt, Margaret inside the carriage should be fine.
But the fact that she still wasn’t coming out…
‘Is she reluctant to come out for fear of causing a misunderstanding with the Duke?’
Louis furrowed his brow. But soon the rain intensified, and as the Duke’s patience seemed to be rapidly wearing thin, he stood in front of the carriage and spoke.
“I already know who’s inside, so just come out.”
Creak.
At the Duke’s words, the water-soaked door opened stiffly.
Contrary to his brusque words, the Duke elegantly extended his hand, and Margaret inside the carriage stepped out, accepting his escort.
“Oh?”
As Margaret came out, Carol, who had no idea someone was in the carriage, flinched.
“I was about to discuss today’s report to His Highness the Crown Prince with the Viscount when this unfortunate incident occurred.”
Margaret explained the situation quickly in a formal tone while paying her respects. Louis, seeing her desperate attempt at explanation, nodded along in agreement.
“…Let’s go inside for now.”
At the Duke’s words, the four of them headed towards the villa side by side.
In the north, the Duke rarely used servants. So this time too, thinking of their time together in the north, he had dismissed all but one servant for the day.
“Keep in mind that there’s only one servant until tomorrow morning.”
It would have been nice to be alone, but with these unexpected guests, having only one servant became quite inconvenient.
Fortunately, all rooms were prepared so that any could be used.
“Then you can use any room.”
The Duke said simply and clearly, followed by Carol’s explanation.
“Since we sent everyone away today, there should be some simple food in the kitchen if you go there.”
“Thank you. Thanks, Carol.”
“Thank you.”
“It’s nothing.”
“Then let’s go.”
The Duke naturally tried to take Carol with him, but Carol couldn’t take his hand.
“…I’ll sleep separately tonight too.”
Originally, the Duke and Carol were planning to share a room, but the Duke’s former fiancée was here, as was her long-time friend.
“It’s fine, though…”
Louis said, watching the Duke’s reaction with a tense face, but Carol had already made up her mind.
In the end, everyone ended up occupying a room each.
