Chapter 77
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She was sighing to herself when Perry knocked and entered.
“Edie, what are you doing over there?”
“Ah, nothing.”
She stood up, dusted herself off, and smiled awkwardly.
Perry seemed to have something to tell her. His expression was hesitant. He fumbled for words before finally speaking.
“His Highness is holding a small tea gathering tomorrow with the consort candidates. He has invited you as well, Edie.”
“A gathering? Ah!”
He was going to clear up the misunderstanding there. Edith immediately agreed to attend.
Perry’s expression troubled her slightly, but she was genuinely touched that Kazan had thought to invite her.
Just then, an uninvited guest appeared.
“Hello, Miss Edie.”
The visitor was Tisha—the same woman Edith had locked eyes with through the window moments ago.
Tisha had never once come to see her. Edith’s head was already spinning, certain that the very thing she had feared was about to unfold.
“Miss Tisha… what brings you here…?”
“I came to have a word with you. Sir Perry, could you give us a moment?”
She looked at Perry, standing at Edith’s side.
“I am here as Edie’s guard. I cannot step aside.”
“A guard… There’s no need to worry. I’m not here to harm her. So please, step away.”
“Hmm… Edie, are you alright with this?”
Trapped in an awkward situation, Perry deferred to Edith.
Edith studied Tisha. She carried nothing. She didn’t seem to intend any harm. Edith gave a small nod.
“…Then I’ll wait just outside the door. Call me if anything happens.”
Perry murmured quietly near her ear before exiting. Without even a word of invitation, Tisha walked to a chair in the room and sat down.
‘I thought this one was so proper with her manners. Was I mistaken?’
Edith was perplexed. Tisha, who had always seemed the embodiment of grace and etiquette, was suddenly acting out of character.
“Why haven’t you left?”
“I’m not the kind of person who leaves just because you tell me to, Miss Tisha. And besides, the desert isn’t safe to travel right now.”
“Is that so… The sandstorms and heat waves. Still, they should subside by tomorrow.”
Unlike Edith, who bristled at her tone, Tisha fell silent at those words. Her eyes lowered, as if lost in thought. Then she asked a question Edith never expected.
“Miss Edie… do you have feelings for Prince Kazaniel?”
“No. Not at all. None.”
“Then leave the moment you’re able. Tomorrow at the latest. If you don’t… something you’ll truly regret may happen.”
“Can you at least tell me why?”
Edith pressed her, sensing the weight behind the warning. But Tisha only sealed her lips, refusing to speak.
Perry. Now even Tisha. Ever since she’d arrived in this kingdom, everyone kept speaking to her in riddles.
Vaguely, she sensed that the reason pointed toward what Perry had said before—the truth about Kazan. But from everything she had seen of him so far, she couldn’t believe it.
“I’ve shown you favor until now because you remind me of someone I know. But after tomorrow, that will no longer be the case.”
Edith was inwardly shocked. Favor? She had never once felt any such thing from Tisha.
But come to think of it—on that first day, Tisha had only warned her to leave. She had never directly harmed or harassed her.
A woman practically confirmed as the next princess consort had no reason to concern herself with a mere foreigner like Edith. And yet that warning had clearly been a threat.
And yet, there had been no harassment… Perhaps it really had been favor.
“I understand what you’re saying. But I think I should decide my own path. I appreciate the advice.”
“I don’t think you understand what I’m saying at all… You Imperials really are… Haa. I’ve said what I needed to say. I’ll go now.”
‘Still, I hope you’ll think it over once more.’
With those quietly weighty warnings, Tisha left.
Perry entered cautiously immediately after, checking on Edith’s well-being.
“I’m fine. We really only talked.”
“That’s a relief. Miss Tisha seemed strangely agitated today. I was worried something might happen.”
“Ah…”
So that’s why she seemed so unlike herself. Agitation. Edith finally understood Tisha’s behavior today.
* * *
On her way to Kazan’s tea gathering with Perry, Edith tried to ignore Tisha’s warning from yesterday. But it kept nagging at her.
‘There’s no way Kazan is like that.’
When she thought of Kazan, her first impression was still that silent, stoic man. That night, someone easily flustered yet utterly beastly in his actions. And after that…
‘He took care of me so much… He caught me when I almost fell, and after I got stuck in the sand, he carried me that entire distance just so I wouldn’t trip again. Even if he did tease me sometimes.’
Until she arrived at the gathering, she wanted to believe he couldn’t have simply stood by and let her situation unfold.
And surely, he couldn’t be the one orchestrating all of this.
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