CH 19.3

With everything packed, Lila climbed into the carriage with Lucas. The sun had barely risen, but they were in a hurry.

Sitting in the overstuffed chair, Lila murmured in a languid voice.

“We’re finally going home.”

At her murmur, Lucas reached for her hand. He twirled a lock of her comfortably disorganized mauve hair and brought it to his lips.

“Well then Duke, we shall depart.”

Vincent’s voice sounded, and the carriage slowly began to move. Lila drew back the window curtains slightly.

The red sunlight of the day filled her face. After passing through the familiar tree-lined streets, the carriage began to make its way across the busy street.

She could already see the bakeries opening their doors and the shops still closed.

Despite her lack of fondness for the capital, Lila took in the sights.

“Are you saying goodbye, or are you saying you’ll never come back, or something…?”

Lucas’s question was met with a small chuckle.

“I didn’t think of that, but… hmm, that’s kind of weird.”

In the original story, Lila had never left the capital. Now that she’s already travelled to the North, she’s living a different life.

‘Anyway, at the point where I didn’t think I had already regressed, it was completely different from what I had expected.’

The old carriage has a one-person couch facing each other diagonally, but today was different. They sat together on the overstuffed couch, holding hands.

Their fingers intertwined tightly, like twigs intertwining with each other.

Before closing the curtains, Lila murmured softly.

“It’s dirty to meet you, and let’s not see each other again.”

When she returned to the North, she planned to never come to the capital again, though she worried about Michael and her beauty cream business…

‘I must take care of myself until your marriage is finalised.’

She remembered the Crown Prince’s words, and even though she hadn’t had much contact with him since then, it made her even more worried.

‘I would have thought he would have sent me a letter… or come to see me in person…’

The fact that he had only sent Louie and Becky made her suspicious like he was up to something.

The carriage sped through the gates, and Lila was able to close the curtains.

As she let out a small sigh of relief, Lucas spoke.

“My wife has a lot to worry about.”

Lucas wasn’t worried at all. He would protect Lila no matter what, and his plan was already in motion.

“I know, but I’ll be careful until the wedding.”

“Okay. We’ll start planning the wedding as soon as we get to the North. Lila.”

“Yes, Lucas.”

* * *

Lucas and Lila had just exited the gates when a gleaming golden carriage pulled up to the entrance of the Duke’s residence in Montefeltra.

Theobald, sitting gravely in the carriage, dismounted without delay at the chamberlain’s announcement of their arrival.

“The Crown Prince has arrived, all at his service!”

The chamberlain’s booming shout brought the young butler out of hiding and he folded his arms at the waist.

“Greetings, little sun of the Empire, my name is Matt, butler to the Duke of Montefeltra.”

“Call for Lila.”

Theobald urged, unable to hide his impatience any longer. Matt was too embarrassed to answer right away.

“How rude of you! Will you say something!”

The chamberlain’s urging forced Matt to speak up.

“I beg your pardon, Your Highness, but the Duke and Duchess has left early this morning.”

At Matt’s words, Theobald looked dazed for a moment, then indignant.

“Left? Where the hell do you mean they left, Lila!”

Unable to speak English, Matt shuddered at the Crown Prince’s outburst.

“She has returned to the North. She said she could no longer be in the capital to prepare for winter.”

“…Ha!”

A wave of overdue anger flared. He was furious. Lucas had taken her without her permission.

Theobald felt empty. Surely, he thought, if he spoke, Lila would understand him.

He waited for her response, expecting her to say something, to give him an answer, or to ask him for help.

He was tired of waiting and wanted to run, but this time he wanted to win her heart.

He’d told her they were lovers, but he knew better than anyone.

Why Lila had died.

Why she’d left him.

“When did she leave?”

He asked, and Matt hurried to answer.

“She left just after dawn.”

Not long after, then. Theobald ordered his chamberlain.

“Let’s go to the gates.”

Theobald hurriedly climbed into the carriage. He couldn’t miss it now. The north was beyond his reach.

For all his disdain for Lucas and Montefeltra, he had made no arrangements with northerners, nor had he bought or sold any property or land there. He had sent neither an informant nor an entourage, which meant that he had no influence in the North.

In the carriage, as they sped away from the ducal residence, Theobald prayed to Lupus.

‘This time, I’ll make Lila my own. Lupus.’

The carriage sped away in a dizzying tail of dust, as if his words were true.

* * *

In the carriage travelling back north, Lila was on a video call with Michael. Through the device, she admired his outfit.

“See, you look good in that pink shirt.”

—…Really?

“Ugh, it looks so good on you.”

—…Yes, if Lila says so, then I guess.

When Michael came to the ducal residence, Lila had already received some clothes from Kate back up North.

Lila applauded Kate for her quick work on the winter shirts and jackets.

Kate’s clothes were not only practical, but also beautifully designed. Even on screen, Michael looked adorable in the outfit she’d sent him.

“You look so good in it. Are you eating well? You have to eat well, it’s the most important thing when you’re studying, you have to keep your health in mind.”

Michael scowls at Lila, who has been nagging him a lot lately.

—Is that what you’re saying again? I told you not to worry. I’m well fed and well cared for by Henry. Oh, by the way, he wanted me to tell you thanks for the beauty cream.

“Yeah? Tell him to try the new cream and give me a review. I want to know if the cream works.”

—Okay.

“Gosh, we’ve only just met and I already want to see you again. When did you say you were going on winter break?”

At her wistful comment, Michael chuckled through the screen.

—We’re on holiday for a month, it won’t be long now.

“I see… I have to wait a month.”

“…It’s only a month, wife.”

Lucas, who had been listening from the sidelines, could stand it no longer and interjected. Snatching the device from her hand, Lucas informed Michael.

“I’ll call you when we get there. Bye.”

—Uncle!

With a shout, Michael’s form disappeared.

“Lucas!”

Lucas muttered gruffly to Lila, who had turned into a triangle-eyed mess from turning off her communications device.

“Haha, why are my wife and nephew getting along so well, I never wanted you to get this close in the first place.”

“That’s what you get for being an uncle.”

Lila glared at him, letting go of the hand she’d been holding with Lucas and crossing her arms.

“If you were my nephew, and I didn’t want you close to my wife, would you look at me any more strangely?”

“If I told you it was weirder than when you were counting my freckles, would you?”

Lucas chuckled at Lila’s echoing of something he’d said before.

“Haha, at the time I was wondering why your freckles were changing, because mine were in the same place every day and didn’t shrink, but yours were getting bigger and smaller. I thought it was weird, not realising that you must have been wearing ugly make-up.”

The corner of his mouth quirked up, and Lucas rubbed his fingers across her cheeks. Embarrassed by his words, Lila pouted her lips.

“You’re being mean, but it was a matter of survival for me.”

“Why?”

Lucas was intrigued by her answer. If she was telling the truth, she’d been wearing ugly make-up to avoid Theobald, Heinrich, and Alfonso.

Now that he thought about it, it was strange. At the time, he had only vaguely thought it was great that she had come to him, but why should she avoid the three of them?

Avoiding Lucas’s questioning gaze, Lila spoke up.

“But why did you go to see Michael alone, you should have taken me with you then, and I heard from him later how sad he was…”

“Are you changing the subject?”

“No… I’m just asking out of the blue, why did you go to see Michael alone, what did you talk about when you got there, you weren’t just nagging him, were you?”

Lucas couldn’t answer her quick question. How could he tell her that he was planning to do some manipulation of the capital’s prices and that he’d asked Michael in advance.

That’s why he left Lila behind and went to see him in the first place, but if he told her that, it won’t be worth the effort of going to see him alone, will it?

“…”

Lila looked at Lucas suspiciously as he stared at her, speechless and wide-eyed.

Then he remembered something else she’d said. Lila’s words about the price of groceries going up before winter flashed through his mind.

‘Isn’t that… the same thing I was going to do?’

It wasn’t that he didn’t believe her, but it was another thing entirely to associate it with himself.

The sudden thought made Lucas’s eyes widen even more, and he glared at Lila.

“Why do you look at me like that?”

“The… incident that happened before the winter solstice. What else do you know?”

“Well… I can’t remember, but I know that a certain Count was caught in a porcelain scam and the Marquis of Benière got in trouble with him, and… what else?”

After much deliberation, Lila took the secret pouch from her ring. She pulled out her diary and opened it.