The employees nodded and took off Ciello’s shoes. Ciello put her feet into the fur slippers that the employee brought, but her hands and feet were cold with tension.
“Then please wait a moment.”
The employees took Ciello’s shoes and gloves and disappeared to the back of the store. Her heart pounded. Ciello took a sip of the warm tea on the table.
After a while, the sound of the employees bowing was heard.
“So that person is…”
“Oh my. I didn’t know.”
An employee approached with a strange expression. Ciello put down the teacup with her trembling hand.
“Miss?”
The employees looked at Ciello again. It was a different gaze from before.
“Duke Trepe has made the purchase. Both the shoes and gloves.”
Ciello’s heart sank. The employees looked at Ciello like that and whispered, and occasionally the sound of clicking tongues was heard. They were clearly mocking Ciello.
If she wanted, she could know only this fact and turn back time to avoid the insult. But such a trivial matter was not important to Ciello now.
Ciello blankly stared at the gloves and shoes in front of her. Ines and Pedro, who had suddenly become kind. The gifts that seemed out of proportion. Estribal, who was unusually generous in their meetings compared to his usual temperament. The vague suspicion turned into certainty.
Behind Ines and Pedro, there was Estribal.
“Thank…you.”
Ciello staggered up and left the shop.
****
In the office, the first princess was holding a letter that Estribal had sent in utmost secrecy.
“You’ve worked hard. Go and see.”
The servant who brought the letter backed out of the princess’s office. The princess tore the envelope with a paper knife. Inside was a blank sheet of paper.
The princess looked at the blank paper and pricked her fingertip with a needle, dropping a droplet of blood. Then, concise letters emerge on the empty sheet.
[I have found a string in the palace. They are maids who have started to feel resentment towards the emperor.]
[So, please bring Ciello to the founding ceremony disguised as a maid. Ciello is skilled in disguise, so it will be safer than being with the Liberation Force.]
“Why would he send this to me…”
The princess read the letter with a puzzled expression.
[When this matter is over, the eagle will not leave me alone. So, I will tell you in advance. He is not your brother. You must think so. That’s the only way your brother can survive.]
The princess’s face fell seriously. The princess brushed her silver hair and turned the next page.
[Also, because of that…I will. I don’t know when, but please.]
The princess frowned as if she couldn’t believe it. The ink of the heavily spread period seemed like his hesitation.
[Please look into it deeply.]
****
Knock knock. At the sound of the knock, Estribal, who was in the office, raised his head.
“Who is it?”
“It’s me.”
Estribal stood up and opened the door. Ciello, who rarely had a blank expression, was standing at the door.
“Not coming in through the main door.”
But Ciello just stared at him without answering. Estribal raised his eyebrows. Ciello took off the glove in her hand and threw it at his chest.
“Thank you for the gloves, even though it’s late. Duke.”
The white glove fell to the floor with a thud. Estribal responded without any change in expression.
“…I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Ciello laughed.
“Did I look that stupid?”
Ciello hit his arm with her shoulder and strode across the room. Then, Ciello roughly put down one by one on the table the jewelry that Ines and Pedro, no, Estribal had given her as a gift.
“This is from the Duke, this is from a pseudonymous representative. This is the same pseudonym.”
Earrings, necklaces, and bracelets rolled on the table. Estribal quietly looked at those pieces of jewelry. The jewels that had been shining brilliantly lost their light and looked dull as they fell from Ciello. Ciello muttered.
“I thought it was strange. That they suddenly became kind. But I was really happy with the thought of ‘what if’…”
Ciello choked up, trailing off.
“How could you really do this? Is it fun to make a fool of people?”
Ciello raised her head and glared at him. But Estribal shook his head calmly
“No. Of course not. It’s naturally troublesome.”
“Then why on earth did you go this far?”
“There’s an answer in your words. I did it for your joy.”
“What?”
“You said you were happy. You also said you had a good time.”
Ciello opened her mouth with a dumbfounded face. Estribal calmly continued his words.
“You were so happy then, I can’t understand why you’re raising your voice at me now.”
Ciello held her forehead as if she was dizzy. She thought she would hear an apology. But it was not at all.
“Perhaps I really thought they were my mom and dad, even if they weren’t, I thought they could be, that’s why I liked it. How on earth…”
“Yes. It could have been that way.”
Estribal responded calmly. Ciello shook her head blankly.
“Do you really not understand the strange thing? I am…Duke, I am.”
She thought that if she pointed out the problem, she would hear an apology and be able to solve it. But she didn’t expect this reaction. Ciello’s stomach churned.
“They will be more faithful than real parents. They won’t hurt your feelings with unnecessary words, and they won’t interfere with our affairs. Soon, they will be given a suitable title…”
“What do you think people’s hearts are, Duke?”
Ciello pressed her eyes tightly with both hands, then spoke.
“People originally say they like or dislike. They can get hurt, and they can interfere. They can fight. And they can like again…”
“No.”
Estribal shook his head firmly.
“No. I don’t want such unstable variables. For that reason, I don’t want to see you wavering, and I don’t want to care about such trivial things. So, I’m trying to create a perfect world for you.”
Ciello looked at him with a face of unbelief.
“Does that make sense? Duke, are you happy if I obediently say I like it every time with a lie?”
Ciello shot back sharply, but Estribal nodded his head.
“Yes.”
“What?”
“I think I would be happy. If the word ‘good’ comes out of your mouth every time.”
The corners of Estribal’s mouth rose in a smile. His golden eyes were out of focus, but he was clearly only looking at Ciello.
“I’m not idle enough to dare to discern truth and falsehood in your words. If you say you like it, I’m happy with that, and if you say you hate it, that’s my despair.”
Estribal took a step closer.
“If you can’t believe it, try being happy now. Come on.”
Estribal reached out to Ciello. Ciello slapped his hand away with a distorted face.
“…I feel bad.”
Ciello huddled and muttered. Estribal looked at his slapped hand and chuckled.
“Look at this. You too, you were happy with my lie, and now you’re running away from my sincerity.”
“No, I’ve never run away!”
“Not at all.”
At Ciello’s rebuttal, Estribal pointed to the fireplace with his chin.
“Haven’t you avoided me, all the time since that day.”
Ciello’s face flushed as she remembered that colored magazine.
“That’s because I needed some time to think!”
“A moment, you say.”
Estribal sighed deeply.
“Ciello. Your moment was an eternal pain for me.”
Estribal turned his gaze and murmured, staring quietly at the bookshelf leading to the library.
“But I understand that too. So, to keep you from being scared, I cut off my heart. And I distributed them appropriately to the characters in your world.”
“Characters…?”
Ciello’s lips trembled. Estribal nodded calmly.
“The employees of the coffee house who were unusually kind to you. The child who gave you flowers at the picnic. The owner of the snack shop you like, who always added a bonus.”
“You’re crazy…”
Ciello’s body trembled as she realized the truth. But Estribal did not deny her words.
“Yes. You’re right. But my madness has been split up and become a favor that makes you happy. I can move everything perfectly, so why would I deliberately make you feel bad?”
He repeated the criticism Ciello had made to him and smiled faintly.
“So stay there. You can’t bear my truth.”
Ciello tightly clenched her teeth.
“Do you think I can’t stand you, Duke?”
Ciello took a big step towards him. Then, Ciello quickly reached out her hand. It seemed like she would slap his cheek, but Ciello’s hand was aimed at his neck, not his face.
“Ciell…ugh.”
Ciello twisted the thorny vine wrapped around his neck. Sparks of magic sprang up from the hand that had been turning back time until it was worn out.
“No, I’ve never given up on you, Duke.”
Ciello glared at him with her eyes bloodshot red. At that sight, Estribal gasped for breath. That gaze, which had overturned his world in an instant and placed it on a new orbit, was staring straight at Estribal.
“So, what you want from me is just such a doll play?”
Ciello laughed scornfully and pulled the hand with thorns closer. Blue flames sprang up between the knuckles on the back of Ciello’s hand.
“You’ve misjudged people, Duke.”
Ciello spoke as if to engrave it, and then let go of his neck. Estribal, who had been staggering, managed to stand up by leaning his hand on a chair.
“Yes, that’s exactly my reason. Why don’t you understand that I did so in case you might get hurt!”
He shouted as if he was suffocating, but Ciello shrugged her shoulders and chuckled.
“Then why don’t you live by locking up a doll that says yes, yes. Why are you bothering to keep me? Ah.”
Ciello, who had been shooting coldly, pulled up the corners of her mouth long.
“Is it to f*ck?”
