But all she could remember was that Adrian was so popular that he was always surrounded by a lot of people, and that she was always in the shadows, like she didn’t exist. In other words, she really didn’t know anything, so she had nothing to say to Daisy.
Daisy was taken aback by Hestia’s silence and shouted.
“Do you really know nothing about what Lord Knighton likes?”
“Hmm… I think he mainly enjoyed hunting and chess.”
“Chee, you’re no help.”
Were there any English people who didn’t enjoy hunting or chess? Daisy muttered pointedly and snatched the gossip paper from her hands. Hestia just laughed quietly, as if embarrassed.
The train ran steadily toward their destination.
Daisy complained that her back hurt, the dinner was not tasty and was just all around irritated until she fell asleep, exhausted.
The dedicated maid, who had been waiting on her all day, attending to her irritations, was also dozing off, like a cat, probably from exhaustion.
Hestia was diligently writing a letter from the letter box on her lap. Even the rattling of the train didn’t ruin her elegant handwriting. Most of the recipients of the letters were library directors.
[-I implore you to grant me access to the library, even if only for a single day]
Immediately after Hestia had arrived at the Carlton family, she wrote a list of all the libraries in the empire and sent a letter requesting permission to enter.
She begged to be granted just one day, to find one book. It was to learn about Windsor. She didn’t even know if the library had books about Windsor or not, but she sent letters whenever she could.
This was because she was unable to act on her own, so she had to quietly be a chaperone until she was able to move freely and regained her passport, which was now in the hands of the Count.
Hestia had been making plans about what she would do once she got the passport back in a year, and the first thing she would do, was learn about Windsor.
Windsor was a very secretive and closed off place, as it was a place where only mages lived. Even for a mage, obtaining information about Windsor was as difficult as finding a star in the sky.
Nevertheless, Hestia, who happened to hear there was a book about Windsor somewhere at the academy during her school days, did not hesitate to do reckless things in order to obtain information.
It would take a few weeks at the earliest, or a few months at the latest, to send a letter and receive a reply. The long wait never brought good news.
About a year had passed since she sent the first letter, and so far, Hestia had received only replies rejecting her. Most libraries didn’t even respond at all.
The senders of the rejection letters were always different, but the message they wanted to convey was all the same. To summarize, ‘Why should we trust you who has no money and an uncertain identity, letting you enter into our precious library?’ “Quit your dreaming.’ Though, they always said it in a noble manner.
Hestia was a fallen noblewoman, and her opponents were the heads of libraries who owned all kinds of expensive books. Moreover, if it is a place where magic books were stored, security and management costs would be significant each year. Considering all the costs, she understood why they wouldn’t allow access to someone whose identity was unknown and had no money.
“Ha…”
Hestia sighed quietly enough to not wake Daisy and the maid. It felt like she was hitting a rock with an egg, but she still couldn’t give up.
If she received a rejection again this time, she planned to send letters to foreign libraries as well. She packed away dozens of letters and took out a new piece of parchment. But she didn’t get very far before she had to put her parchment and quills away. She looked out the window and saw the sun would be setting, soon it would be dark and she would be unable to see.
After a short period of time, only the sound of the moving train wheels could be heard, and a silent darkness spread over the cabin. Although all she could see was darkness, Hestia still stared intently out the window. Reflected on the pane was a green-eyed woman full of fatigue.
Daisy, who was snoring and sleeping across from Hestia, was holding the gossip paper dearly, and even in the thick darkness, her gaze persistently fell onto the illustration. She thought she could ignore it, but it was no use.
‘Stay healthy’
In the end, those words from Adrian stabbed her in the chest. Maybe he didn’t even remember, the words she had buried at the edge of her memory. A memory of the day she vowed never to recall until the day she died.
The nightmare. A nightmare, Hestia thought, that she didn’t want to remember. She closed her eyes tightly.
***
Hestia first met Adrian Kingston in the Holy Kingdom. They were classmates who entered the academy in the same year, but they only spoke as classmates and had little contact, and there was a reason for that.
Hestia was a low-ranking noble who barely made it to the bottom of the list of nobles and Adrian, he was a great noble who inherited the blood of the noble Duke of Kingston.
Hestia was an ordinary noble class, but Adrian possessed tremendous magical power and belonged to the advanced special class.
Hestia was a model student who followed the rules, and Adrian was a troublemaker who was the first to be suspended from school in the history of the academy.
They could not and should not be intertwined. Hestia was well aware of her position, so she stayed away from him, who was unusual enough to approach even low-ranking nobles or commoners without hesitation.
Luckily, her wish reached the Goddess Lillian and she was able to complete the academy course without any special contact from him. Really, she had never wanted to have any kind of relationship with Adrian in her lifetime. If only that incident hadn’t happened that day…
“Mother…? What are you talking about?”
Hestia had to struggle hard to accept the situation that was before her.
She thought she had heard wrong, but her mother kindly dashed her expectations.
“You’re getting married.”
“What do you mean, getting married all of a sudden?”
“Now that you’ve graduated from the academy, there’s nothing wrong with it.”
Hestia was speechless for a moment at the sight of her mother speaking coldly.
Her shoulders were lightly shaking. An unpleasant sensation rose up, as if trying to devour her.
Her mothers voice continued, cruelly, without stopping.
“Is there a better marriage partner for our situation? He’s sweet, rich, everything you could want in a groom.”
“If this is about money, I’ll look for a job.”
“What kind of nonsense is that, a noblewoman working?”
A few years ago, her father had passed away and the title of Baron passed to a relative of her fathers. Because Hestia was their daughter, she was unable to inherit the title.
The person who had inherited the title was an uncle, about her fathers age, who she had never met.
He already had a family and had no intention of taking care of the widow and her daughter himself. He might have if it was a son, but it would not benefit him to adopt a daughter who would need to receive a large dowry later on.
Still, he wasn’t a terrible person, and had given them a modest amount of assets to allow them to live comfortably. But that small fortune was short lived.
Melda was a Baroness in name only, but she did not give up the lifestyle of an ‘aristocrat’.
Every time Hestia came back to her hometown for vacation, their wealth had decreased even more. On the contrary, Melda’s debt continued to increase due to the luxury goods she bought to maintain her noble status.
And this was the result. Hestia was given the position of second wife of Baron Simon, who was rumored to be a rich womanizer 30 years her senior.
“As you know, he is a kind person. His wife passed recently and he would like to take a new wife quickly.”
Had she forgotten that the Baron’s second son was the same age as her? No matter how much it is said that a noblewoman’s marriage is done according to their parents wishes, she couldn’t do this.
Hestia had done her best to endure at the academy in order to live happily with her mother, not to face such a tragic ending.
“Mom, I just graduated from the academy, I would like to stay with you for a while.”
“Children have to leave their parents someday.”
“This is too sudden. You didn’t even tell me…”
“You were so absorbed in the academy that you only came home last week, right?”
Hestia clenched her hands under the table so tightly that they turned white, no color visible.
She had never, not even for a moment, wanted to go to the academy. From the moment it was discovered that she had magic, she has lived under the strict control of the emperor and the magic tower.
The control included mandatory completion of the academy curriculum until just before becoming an adult.
“It wasn’t my will, it was my duty.”
“Do you think marriage is a joke? Are you kidding me? We went over this a long time ago. This discussion is over.”
Hestia continued talking back and eventually Melda became angry.
“Mother-“
“You’re still immature! A rich, loving husband is what a woman needs most!”
Hestia kept her mouth shut in response to Melda’s reprimand. It was what not only her mother, but many of the elders had also told her that.
It was a phrase that had been drummed into her at the academy. There, instead of ‘wealthy’ it was ‘dignified’. Of course, they already assumed everyone there was wealthy.
Is a loving husband really a woman’s lifelong goal?
“You may not understand it now, but one day, you will thank me.”
Melda ended the conversation one sided and left. It meant that she had nothing more to say and she would also hear nothing else. Hestia desperately cried out to her.
“Mother! Please listen to me, please-“
Hestia’s sad voice followed her into the hallway, but Melda just sped up.
The footsteps grew further and further away, disappearing upstairs. Hestia was left alone.
“-Don’t go.”
The words she barely spoke in a whisper disappeared into the air.
