Kisa readily agreed with his reply.
“I suppose so.”
Seyard’s casting of Gabriel for their engagement ceremony was purely coincidental.
He happened to discover Gabriel at a quartet concert held at the Darion ducal residence, and it seems Kisa was deeply impressed by his performance, which led to the casting.
Perhaps Princess Arta, oversensitive about Gabriel’s situation, unfairly directed her resentment towards Seyard, whom she already harbored ill feelings against.
“I was just asking. Ah! Now I understand. Why the Princess reacted so strangely when I gave her the invitation.”
Seyard quickly understood Kisa’s words.
“I see. Now that you mention it, Gabriel’s name was on the invitation.”
‘The up-and-coming musician Gabriel Williams will add to the richness of the banquet.’ It was something like that, a phrase to introduce the banquet.
Kisa and Seyard had put their heads together to decide on it, so she remembered it clearly.
“The Princess would be quite taken aback.”
In the annex, the Princess had said that Gabriel had been in her grasp but had run away to the Hillan ducal residence.
Considering that Gabriel, having nowhere else to go, was already staying at the ducal residence at Seyard’s invitation…
“From her perspective, it would be like seeing her runaway lover’s name unexpectedly on my engagement invitation.”
It was understandable why she had called Kisa aside and pressed her about the intention behind giving her the invitation.
She suspected that Kisa had deliberately cast Gabriel to get back at her and then handed over the invitation.
It was clear that the situation had become quite awkward.
‘But this is truly blaming an innocent person…’
Suddenly, a scene flashed through Kisa’s mind.
[Just hand over the invitation and come right out.]
[And don’t forget. Just give the invitation and come back quickly.]
That’s what Seyard had said to Kisa on the day she went to give the invitation to the Princess.
‘Huh?’
Kisa couldn’t understand why this memory bothered her.
It was her decision to personally hand the invitation to the Princess. Seyard was simply worried about Kisa and advised her to leave the tea party quickly.
Of course, after encountering the Princess’s sharp reaction, she had asked him if he knew anything, but he had firmly said he didn’t.
But what if, just what if Kisa had given the invitation to the Princess as soon as the tea party started, as Seyard had suggested?
The Princess would probably have been flustered and interrupted the tea party, and then Kisa could have left without needing any excuses…
“Anyway, Gabriel, it would be best if he made up his mind quickly.”
“Pardon?”
Kisa’s thoughts scattered at Seyard’s sudden words.
“If he gives up studying abroad because he’s swayed by the Princess’s demands, wouldn’t it be a waste of his talent?”
Hearing that, Kisa felt a cloud of gloom descend on her, thinking it might indeed be the case.
She liked his playing and hoped he would succeed as a musician, but somehow, she couldn’t just leave Gabriel to his own devices, as it felt like her own problem.
While she hadn’t experienced such intense verbal abuse and violence, Kisa had also lived a life where her fate was determined by others. And she had once genuinely loved her oppressor and craved their affection, which was similar to Gabriel’s situation.
In her case, it was Count Vansfelt and Daniel who were those oppressors.
“Still, would he really do that? He was treated so badly earlier; maybe this will make him finally let go of his feelings for the Princess.”
“Well, I hope that’s the case. But love is a truly strange emotion.”
Seyard lowered his gaze and tapped the wooden armrest of the sofa with his index finger.
“It’s hard to predict what Gabriel will do. He seems to genuinely love the Princess, but I wonder if he can truly abandon that love.”
“……”
Kisa could somewhat sympathize with that sentiment.
It was relatively quick with Daniel, but it took her a considerable amount of time to give up on wanting her father’s love.
No, perhaps it wasn’t accurate to say she had completely given up even now. On days when she received the Count’s rare and stingy praise, she felt quite good all day.
“What does Seyard intend to do? If he really decides to give up studying abroad at the Princess’s command?”
“Sadly, there’s nothing I can do. I can’t force him to go if he doesn’t want to.”
It was an obvious thing to say, but if that really happened, Kisa’s heart wouldn’t be at ease for a while.
“I truly hope Gabriel goes through with it to the end.”
As Kisa murmured weakly, Seyard reassured her with a gentle voice.
“It will be alright. Let’s trust him.”
“……Yes.”
After that, the two spent some time in silence. Perhaps it was because her tense mind and body had relaxed, but she felt very languid. She didn’t even want to lift a finger.
Although it was cleaned regularly, it was fundamentally an unused building, so there was visible dust, but she wanted to stay there a little longer.
“Seyard.”
As drowsiness washed over her, Kisa swallowed a yawn and voiced a thought that suddenly occurred to her.
“Don’t worry. It’s not like I’ve fallen for Gabriel.”
At that, he gave her a slightly surprised look.
“When you kept asking me why I came here, was it because you thought I had feelings for him?”
The reply came a beat late.
“That’s correct.”
“Not at all. Gabriel is an attractive person, but he’s not my type.”
“Then what is your type?”
“My type is someone more masculine than Gabriel… No, that’s not what I meant to say.”
Kisa shook her head and returned to the original topic.
“Anyway, I’m sorry. Now that I think about it, Seyard could have misunderstood. I’ve been paying a lot of attention to Gabriel these past few days. It’s all because of my shameful delusion.”
Seyard listened quietly without interrupting her.
“We’re seeing different sides of the same thing, so misunderstandings are bound to happen. Moreover, I abandoned the reception, which is a breach of contract. Even though it’s a contractual marriage, we agreed to fulfill our respective roles… You have every right to be angry and question me.”
Seyard spoke in response to Kisa’s self-reproach.
“That’s not the case. I’m not angry, and it’s not a breach of contract. I also left the reception.”
“Seyard…”
Just as Kisa’s heart was about to be warmed by his gentle consolation, a word that had been mentioned in their conversation earlier strangely bothered her.
Reception. Reception?
In an instant, Kisa’s drowsiness vanished, and she jumped up, shouting.
“Come to think of it, the reception isn’t over!”
Seyard, who glanced at the completely darkened scenery outside the window, replied calmly.
“It would be over by now. We couldn’t keep the guests waiting forever.”
“Even without the hosts?”
“Since you’re here, Gilliam probably took charge of the banquet. He’s a capable person, so he would have finished the banquet well.”
“Still, what will people think? Both parties of the engagement disappearing halfway through!”
“Well… that our relationship is very passionate?”
It took Kisa a few seconds to understand the meaning, and she lightly hit the man’s arm. She had just witnessed the intense kiss between the Princess and Gabriel, making the vivid imagination even more vivid, and her face turned red.
“That’s too much. This isn’t the time for such jokes.”
Seeing his fiancée looking upset, Seyard grabbed her small arm that was hitting him.
“Calm down, Kisa. What can we do about what’s already happened? It’s best to just enjoy this moment.”
He said that and smiled carefree, but Kisa couldn’t bring herself to smile.
Just thinking about the rumors that would circulate in society from tomorrow made her dizzy.
****
That day, when the two returned to the banquet hall, Gilliam had finished the reception, just as Seyard had predicted.
The elderly secretary greeted the two without any particular reaction and reported on how the reception had roughly ended.
As expected, the guests expressed their doubts about Duke Hillan, who had suddenly disappeared, and the duke’s fiancée, who had left to change her dress and hadn’t returned.
Moreover, for some reason, even Princess Arta was nowhere to be seen. Just as the hall was in an uproar, the missing princess returned.
The Princess, for some reason, said with a stiff face that she would be leaving now, and taking that opportunity, Gilliam led the conversation towards ending the event.
For reference, since they couldn’t just offer no excuse, they vaguely said that Seyard and Kisa, who hadn’t returned until then, had a minor health issue.
In other words, the two had an upset stomach from some bad food.
Needless to say, almost no one believed that explanation.
Should she be happy about this or not?
Seyard’s prediction was once again correct, and from the next day, rumors spread in society that Duke Hillan and his fiancée were sickeningly close.
So much so that they had left the reception together because they couldn’t bear to be apart…
Kisa wanted to crawl into a hole.
In any case, the engagement ceremony ended that way, and it was time for those who had stayed for the engagement ceremony to leave.
The day for Gabriel to depart for his studies had arrived.
“Um, there’s something I need to tell you both.”
Two days before the promised departure date, Gabriel spoke with difficulty at a dinner with Kisa and Seyard, which was also a farewell gathering.
