Jack and her two younger siblings agreed to meet in time for dinner, so Elais and Carol went to a tea house alone.
Inside, there was someone Elais knew well.
Louis, who first spotted the two coming in from outside, stood up abruptly.
“It’s been a while, Lord.”
As Louis greeted him warmly, Elais, who was returning the greeting, opened his eyes wide.
“Louis!”
“I heard you had arrived some time ago, but I’m sorry for greeting you late.”
Elais patted Louis’s shoulder, welcoming him warmly.
“How long has it been?”
“It’s been over three years since we last met. I’m sorry I couldn’t contact you often.”
“No, don’t worry. The beastmen who received help often talked about you.”
As one of the few families in the north supporting beastmen, Louis, like Carol, had known the Elais family for a long time.
After greeting Elais, Louis soon turned his gaze to Carol.
“Carol, I’m sorry. I wanted to attend the inauguration ceremony if possible, but I just couldn’t make time.”
Louis explained that he had to go on a business trip and had just arrived, biting his lip with a dejected face.
“You don’t need to apologize to me. I’m fine.”
“Were Kevin and Dylan very angry?”
“A little?”
At Carol’s words, Louis ran his hand through his hair, saying that if those two get upset, they tend to hold grudges for quite a while.
“This is bad.”
“Didn’t they also refuse when you asked to have a meal together before?”
“…This is really bad.”
Listening to their conversation, Elais’s eyes gradually widened as if he had realized something.
“Miss Carol, don’t tell me the person you’re meeting is…!”
“Ah, no!”
At Carol’s vehement denial, Elais, who seemed to have been secretly hoping, asked again in a dejected tone.
“Isn’t Louis the person you’re introducing?”
“No, it’s not. Before that, I have something I want to tell you two.”
“To us?”
Carol suggested ordering tea first and called a waiter. Seeing Carol’s somewhat tense appearance, the two didn’t rush her and waited.
After taking a sip of warm tea, Carol cleared her throat. Then she placed her hand over her chest.
She could feel her heartbeat, slightly faster than usual, probably due to nervousness.
Elais had realized something over the past few days: Carol’s face lit up when she was about to talk about something she hadn’t written in her letters.
But now, her expression was quite different from usual.
“Phew.”
Carol looked at both of them alternately and opened her mouth.
“They found my parents.”
Even though she had practiced saying this at home several times, her eyes stung when she actually said it.
“What?”
Louis, who had been leaning against the back of his chair, leaned forward, asking in disbelief.
“I heard it from a reliable source, and even confirmed the characteristics.”
Both of them were so stunned by Carol’s news that they didn’t know how to react. Carol wiped her tears with the back of her hand.
She wanted to deliver the good news with a happy face.
“I haven’t been able to meet them yet, though.”
Louis was the first to regain his composure after Carol’s explanation.
“Carol, I’m really glad for you.”
Though he spoke in a composed voice, he couldn’t hide his reddened eyes.
There was a time when Carol had the twisted thought that only she was grieving.
But now she knew. Even if the magnitude of sorrow differed, everyone had been grieving.
They just didn’t show it because they were all being considerate.
“…Yeah.”
“I hope you can go see them soon.”
“Yeah. That’s why I decided to go a bit earlier than Kevin and Dylan.”
“Those two will be disappointed.”
“It can’t be helped, though.”
“Looks like you’re preparing well for the trip.”
“It was a bit overwhelming to do alone, so I decided to get some help.”
With the Duke’s help, she was steadily preparing to return. Things that would have been too much to handle alone were coming to a smooth end, and it seemed she might be able to finish preparations a little earlier than planned.
“I see. Have you found a place to stay there?”
“…Not yet.”
“If you ever need my help, just say the word. I’d be happy to help you.”
It felt like he truly meant it.
“Thank you.”
“It’ll be difficult for me to go to the north for a while, but when I do go next time, introduce me to them.”
“Of course.”
A warm atmosphere enveloped the two. Louis’s lips quivered slightly.
“They were really wonderful people.”
Until now, talking about Carol’s parents in front of her had been taboo.
But now, Carol seemed okay enough to treat it not as a buried past, but as memories to cherish.
Louis naturally mentioned Carol’s parents, and unlike before, Carol nodded with a comfortable expression.
“True. They were caring enough to look after you when you snuck off to the back mountain.”
Carol smiled slightly. The past she thought had faded still sparkled within her. So many joyful memories came to mind that she wondered why she had buried them until now.
“That memory, really, please forget it.”
Louis said, running his palm down his face.
“Haha. There’s no way I could forget that.”
Carol finally burst into laughter, and Louis soon followed.
Their mixed laughter continued, soft and long.
She had worried that when they met again, things might become irreparably awkward.
Even before meeting at the villa, she knew things had become subtly awkward and that Louis was avoiding her.
She vaguely guessed the reason, so she had planned to observe over time.
So she thought things had become even more awkward after meeting at the villa.
Outwardly, things seemed the same as before due to Margaret and the Duke’s presence, but both of them felt the tense air between them.
And that wasn’t all.
The morning after staying at the villa together, both Margaret and Louis left before Carol even woke up.
After that, Louis had a business trip right away, so they hadn’t seen each other until today.
She had considered letting her siblings tell them, but this was about her parents and it involved her friend.
It wasn’t something to be passed on to someone else, nor was it something to be postponed due to awkwardness.
Perhaps calling him here would only confirm the awkwardness.
But the moment she faced Louis today, she realized such worries were unnecessary.
It wasn’t the increasingly unfamiliar Louis, but the Louis she knew who had returned.
“I hope we can meet often before you leave.”
Louis seemed to feel similarly, as he reached out first.
“With Kevin and Dylan too, all of us together.”
“Yes.”
Before the conversation could continue, Elais, who had been keeping his mouth shut, finally spoke.
“My goodness.”
“Lord, are you alright?”
“…Of course I’m alright.”
Elais, who had been in a daze while the two were talking, moved his lips.
His throat was so dry from keeping his mouth open for so long that it was difficult to swallow.
He moistened his mouth with tea with a trembling hand.
“Only now to hear this news…”
Tears welled up in the eyes of the aged Elais. The hand holding the cup trembled slightly.
When the kind couple who had left their children to visit him disappeared in the snow before reaching him, Elais felt an indescribable guilt.
“I’m truly glad.”
He felt pity, sorry, and proud of the poor young children trying so hard to survive.
That’s why he couldn’t refuse when Carol came to ask for help with forging her identity.
‘But I shouldn’t have done that…I need to correct this now.’
If, as his son had said, she had committed a wrongdoing and fled to the capital, and if someone was pursuing her, he needed to tell her.
Though it was somewhat of a leap in thought, it was rare for someone to be pursued by hired individuals.
“Miss Carol.”
“Yes?”
“Can you tell me the reason why you suddenly left the north for the capital?”
Asking first without making assumptions was the best he could do.
“Ah. About that…”
“I heard that someone bought information about the Elais family and Miss Carol for a large sum of money.”
“What? What do you mean…?”
Carol asked back with a confused face at Elais’s sudden revelation. Before Elais could add an explanation, the Duke naturally joined the conversation.
“May I explain?”
Everyone’s gaze turned to the unfamiliar man’s voice that suddenly interjected from behind.
The Duke, meeting Elais’s gaze, sat down naturally next to Carol and spoke.
“I’ve heard a lot about you, Lord.”
“…Pardon? Ah, yes.”
It was a natural use of informal speech.
Who was he again?
The memory quickly came back as he had just seen this face. It was the man sitting at the very front during the inauguration ceremony.
I’m so happy she found her parents 😀