Chapter 27

Chapter 27

The air in the room suddenly felt icy cold. In the manor, just mentioning the crown prince was practically taboo. I remembered his chilling red eyes and the way they sparkled as if to remind me he could slit my throat at any moment. My wound had healed, and I’d removed the bandages long ago, but just thinking of him made my neck throb again. I couldn’t ignore an invitation from the palace without repercussions.

My hands quivered. I clasped them tightly and asked, “What... did Father have to say about it?”

“Well...” the butler, who was usually unfailingly prompt to reply, seemed to hesitate. “The invitation was for you only, my lady... The duke does not know about it yet.”

“Son of a—” I slammed my fist on the table and shot to my feet, unable to contain my emotions any longer.

“M-my lady!”

Both the butler and Emily stared at me, aghast. I wasn’t paying attention to them, however.

He’s out of his mind! He’s worse now than he was in the actual game!

That lunatic hadn’t forgotten about me. In fact, I was certain he’d done this on purpose. I hadn’t visited the palace since the second prince’s birthday party, so now he had decided to drag me out into the open and kill me.

“But the next time we meet, you’ll have to give me a detailed explanation of why, how, and when you started to fall for me.”

I shuddered as his sinister words replayed in my mind.

Nothing like this happened when I played before, you stupid game! I concentrated, trying to recall the game’s original story. However, I couldn’t be sure my recollections were reliable. When I’d been playing the game, I’d never actually managed to get Penelope out of the maze garden alive.

“Wh-what would you like me to do about the invitation, my lady?” asked the butler cautiously, taking note of my expression contorted in rage.

“Ha... What other option do I have?” I exhaled heavily, sweeping my dark pink hair aside.

“I’m ill,” I said. Taking a seat once more, I lounged backward dramatically. Letting my body melt into the chair, I went limp as if I suddenly felt faint.

“I am running a high fever, butler,” I said softly, my eyes falling half shut. The butler was confused for a moment but soon caught on.

“Oh, my lady. You’re so sick. Oh, how terrible. You’ve caught a cold, haven’t you?” he asked, showing the canniness working at Eckhart Manor for decades had taught him.

“I think it best we inform the prince I’m still suffering from iron poisoning caused by my injury.”

“Understood, my lady,” the butler said as he bowed deeply and hurried from the room.

I sighed. Hoping to lessen the pounding in my head, I pressed a hand to my forehead. Emily peered at me worriedly.

“My lady. Are you all right? Shall I inform the duke that you need a doctor?”

“No, that’s not necessary—” I replied reflexively, but then thought better of it. “Actually, yes. Please call a doctor.”

I’d make my illness common knowledge around the manor so I could stay in my room a little longer.

I’m not leaving the manor for a while, much less my bed.

I’d wait until the crown prince had forgotten about me altogether.

* * *

Emily carried out my instructions to perfection as I continued to stay in my room. I was glad the jeweler had finished the cuff links in a timely manner. Because the festival was in full swing, nobody thought it odd that Emily kept leaving the manor on odd errands.

“They all seemed reluctant at first, but they changed their tune when I brought out the gems,” Emily reported.

She had visited the establishments of four information guilds over the past two days. I barely paid attention to most of what she had to say until she mentioned a strange place with no employees besides a single man in a rabbit mask.

Good. He’s taken the bait.

The description matched what I knew of Winter from the game. I raised a hand to stop Emily from continuing to regale me with her findings.

“Good work, Emily. It can’t have been easy, what with the rain. You can go back to your room and rest.”

“Yes. I’ll be back at dinnertime,” Emily said enthusiastically, unbothered by her dripping wet clothes and hair. Luckily, she didn’t seem to have caught a cold while running around outside.

The door clicked shut behind her, and the room was silent again. I turned and stared out the large window. The fair weather of a few days ago was gone, the outside world overlaid in a gloomy gray.

“Why is it raining all day like this?”

Staring out the window with my chin in my hand, watching the drizzling rain, made me feel glum. I hated rainy days because they had always revealed things I had wanted to hide. As a child, I’d envied children who had mothers that would come after school with an umbrella to pick them up. When I’d walked across the playground with no umbrella, one innocent question “Where’s your mother?” had always made me feel miserable and embarrassed.

Those childish emotions had changed little even as I grew older. The children would leave in groups of three or more, attaching themselves to those who had the foresight to bring an umbrella. Then there was my brother...

“Young master! Over here, quickly!”

“Darn it, it wasn’t supposed to rain today. Now I’m all wet. Hurry up and take me home, Secretary Kim.”

“What about your sister?”

“What about her? She’ll find her way home somehow. Hurry up!”

The car had driven away, and I’d been left standing alone on the empty school grounds.

“How unfortunate,” I muttered, the unbidden recollection bringing a scowl to my face. I shook my head, trying to banish my sudden melancholy. “I’m in no position to just sit around and watch the rain.”

I stood abruptly. I should be doing anything I could to get out of this damned game as soon as possible. Umbrella in hand, I snuck out of my room.

The grounds were enveloped in a thick layer of fog and totally silent. The persistent rain meant no one seemed inclined to brave going outside. I slowly made my way through the garden. I’d come outside wanting to busy myself with something, but I couldn’t think of anything to do now that I had left the manor behind.

My feet led me to a secluded part of the grounds, somewhere the duke’s sons were unlikely to find me. My footsteps made a soft splatting sound as I walked along the muddy path, lost in thought. Eventually pulling myself out of my reverie, I took note of my surroundings and realized they were familiar.

“This place...”

I’d found myself on the wooded path that led to the training grounds. I’d scoured the manor’s surroundings for days searching for a gap in the wall, and as a result, I could recognize where I was on the estate with only a glance.

“I might run into Reynold here,” I muttered, hesitating.

I’d already met him once on this path when he had been returning from training. And not just Reynold—there was the possibility of encountering Derrick, too.

“Darn it!”

I’d come too far. Shaking my head, I spun around. I’d wanted to do something productive, but that didn’t mean I wanted to see either of them. They were better left alone, as their affection score seemed to improve only when they didn’t see me.

I was making my way back to the manor when I heard a soft whistling noise. It was the sound of a blade swinging through the air.

Someone is training in this rain?

I’d heard multiple times recently that the knights were being put through much more rigorous training and I felt a little disconcerted by it. The knights were not idiots. They would know that I’d brought home a strange slave to be my personal guard, which in turn had made their lives a whole lot more miserable.

I resumed walking slowly. Frankly, I was curious about what the knights thought of me now.

I wonder if they curse me as they lay in bed every night?

Not that I really cared. It was Penelope they hated, not me.

I guess I should check if Eckles is one of the knights training.

When I arrived at the training grounds, however, there was no one around, save for a single individual swinging a wooden sword off to the side. I failed to see him at first since his drenched gray-brown hair nearly matched the color of the rain clouds in the sky. I moved quietly and slowly so he wouldn’t notice me. I could see him more clearly as I drew nearer.

He’d removed his shirt and was repeatedly sweeping his sword in practice swings both high and low. His back and shoulders were dense with muscles that shifted with each of his movements. They were also covered in deep scars. Rather than elicit pity, they made him look fierce.

He must be cold.

He was so focused on his training that he didn’t notice my approach. I was directly behind him when he finally reacted. With a gust of air, he twisted around lightning quick. I heard the air parting before the blade and I blinked, realizing there was a wooden sword pressed against my neck. Eckles panted as he gazed at me, shoulders heaving.

The hairs on my arm stood on end seeing the hostility that emanated from his gaze. His simple training routine didn’t match his swift reflexes. As he recognized me, the venom in his eyes faded, replaced slowly by confusion. Eckles’ face fell when he registered who it was that he held at sword-point.

“M-mistress.”

He must have been deeply shocked since his voice trembled. I realized I hadn’t taken a breath since he’d turned to me. My lips quivered and I finally let the breath I’d been holding go.

“It’s...” I said, doing my best to look unconcerned and unafraid despite the wooden sword that was still at my neck. “It’s raining, Eckles.”

His storm gray eyes shimmered as he stared at me, and I noticed the letters above his head twinkling.

[Affection Score 23%]