Chapter 64

Merry Christmas to all my readers! To celebrate, I’m treating you to extra chapter updates. Please enjoy this special release of four bonus chapters! °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°

(Lurelia’s Christmas Bonus – Update 4/4 🎉)

♡ To all readers who purchased these chapters before Christmas: I can’t express this enough – Thank you for your support. (*ˊᗜˋ*)/ᵗᑋᵃᐢᵏ ᵞᵒᵘ*

 

Wow. What a daring escape.

It was a bold move befitting the mansion’s troublemaker. I looked around at the familiar scene that appeared after the light disappeared.

‘I’m back in my room.’

The rumpled bedding and wide-open window.

The evidence of someone hastily jumping out the window was clearly visible. Tristan, in the middle of closing the open window, noticed marks left on the windowsill.

“Why is this open…?”

After discovering footprints on the windowsill, he turned to look at me. His gaze fell on my injured ankle.

“Your ankle!”

“It’s nothing.”

I couldn’t feel the pain anymore, so I could manage well enough.

Despite my assurance that there was no need to worry, Tristan’s hardened expression didn’t soften. He bit his lip firmly and knelt down.

Tristan’s hand slowly caressed my ankle.

“…Why is it like this?”

“It doesn’t hurt.”

“Don’t tell me you jumped out of that window. Why?”

Well. Because I thought you might be trapped in that warehouse.

I couldn’t tell him the truth as his face looked like he might cry while examining my ankle. After removing his hand from my ankle, he carefully laid me down on the bed.

Even then, his darkened eyes remained fixed on my ankle.

“Tristan?”

I felt uneasy as he remained silent with a face full of unspoken words.

I quietly waited for Tristan to speak first. But after covering my stomach with the blanket, he tried to leave the room without saying anything.

Panicked, I grabbed the hem of his clothes as he was moving away from the bed.

“My injury isn’t your fault! This happened because…”

“You jumped out the window.”

Tristan gestured toward the windowsill with a nod. After closing his eyes tightly and opening them again, he stepped back and leaned against the wall.

His voice, explaining point by point, seemed angry.

“And then you ran all the way to where that warehouse is. How with that ankle—no, you know how to use magic, so I guess it was possible.”

“Are you angry, Tristan?”

“Yes.”

“I just went to check because there was a fire. It has nothing to do with you two.”

“Right, I thought you’d say that.”

He closed his mouth as if he no longer wanted to continue the conversation. Tristan slowly ran his hand over his face before collapsing onto the floor.

With his characteristic playfulness gone, his revealed gaze looked precarious. With an expression that seemed ready to burst into anger at any moment, he spoke in a rather gentle voice.

“Go to sleep now. It’s time for children to go to bed.”

“What about you?”

“I need to resolve the matter I left to my brother alone and call a doctor.”

He probably wanted to call a doctor because of my ankle. His gloomily shining eyes lingered in my mind.

I know that he’s more sensitive than he appears. Not knowing how to apologize or be forgiven, if I let him go like this, he would torment himself.

‘Like when he was in the underground prison.’

If our recently recovered relationship were to falter because of Tristan’s guilt…

“Don’t go, Tristan.”

At my words, Tristan, who was about to climb out the window, stopped abruptly.

“Stay with me.”

Tristan’s fingers gripped the windowsill tightly. I uttered words that might stop him.

“Don’t leave me alone.”

I felt many emotions while looking for him and Lucas today. Among them, the strongest was fear.

“I’m scared. So I’d like you to stay with me.”

Without answering, Tristan disappeared into the darkness like he was sliding away.

This doesn’t work either?

My body, tense from wandering through the fire, began to shiver. Anticipating muscle pain, I lowered my eyes.

‘Was I too reckless?’

I hugged Daebak, which Tristan had placed beside my pillow.

“I don’t understand what’s going on.”

The handling of the half-destroyed warehouse, contrary to the plan, the issue with Heishar, and the Grand Duke’s reaction when he hears about this.

“It’s all so troublesome.”

“You said you were scared, but what’s so troublesome?”

“Just living in general?”

I peeked my face out from under the blanket at the sound of Tristan’s voice. Tristan, who had left the room earlier, was standing there holding a lantern.

“Didn’t you leave?”

“How could I leave when you asked me not to? I brought this.”

Tristan showed me the empty lantern in his hand, swinging it left and right.

“What is that?”

“Something to help you not be afraid.”

Grinning, Tristan made the lantern float in the air.

Then, with a flick of his hand, numerous lanterns appeared in the room. He used magic to light all the lanterns at once.

Whoosh.

Flames larger and warmer than ordinary ones illuminated the room.

“…Wow.”

I was captivated by the scene, like small stars adorning the room.

It was different from the fire I had seen while wandering through the library and warehouse. The flames, somehow retaining warmth, dyed the dark room red.

“What do you think of my magic?”

Sitting on the bed, Tristan patted my stomach covered with the blanket.

His gentle, continuing voice sounded like a lullaby.

“Fire isn’t just for destroying things.”

“Yes. I think so too.”

“My magic will be used to protect and guard you.”

His slightly cold fingertips touched my cheek. The light he created transformed Tristan’s face into various colors.

The final gaze he showed was as strong as the fire he had made.

“So trust me.”

The firmness in his voice dispelled my worries. Reassured, I closed my eyes, leaning against his palm.

Just before my eyelids closed completely, I glimpsed his face. Tristan’s eyes, containing cold intent, shone with a warm color.

It was the first growth of a boy who had broken the shell surrounding himself.

***

Tristan and Lucas reported this incident to the Grand Duke in a distorted way.

That Tristan was experimenting with a new magical tool in the warehouse. Heishar and I became unfortunate victims caught up in his experiment.

‘Will this really go undetected?’

If Heishar just asked for an investigation into the truth, everything would be revealed. Could there really be someone in the world who would let it go when they almost died?

And Heishar wasn’t just an ordinary person but seemed like a bodhisattva.

The answer to my rude request to cover up the fire incident was affirmative.

“I understand. If the Grand Princess wishes for this matter to be resolved that way, I will comply.”

“Thank you for that.”

“Well, thanks to Young Master Tristan, I wasn’t seriously injured.”

Heishar glanced at Tristan, who was kneeling on the floor. Tristan, catching his gaze, turned pale and broke into a cold sweat.

‘How did things turn out like this?’

Heishar’s cooperation was crucial if what Tristan and Lucas had done because of me was to remain undiscovered. As soon as day broke, I dragged the two of them to Heishar’s room.

If Heishar refused to cooperate, I was prepared to confess the truth.

“In exchange for letting this go, there’s something I’d like to ask of you, Grand Princess.”

“Yes! Tell me anything.”

“May I remain as your teacher even after the ball has passed?”

“That’s not difficult at all!”

It was better than having the two of them face the Grand Duke’s wrath.

I had already told the Grand Duke that I injured my ankle by my own mistake, but his gaze toward Lucas and Tristan wasn’t kind. The Grand Duke had this strange idea that the two of them should protect me.

If the Grand Duke learned the truth about this incident, it seemed likely that his fury would fall on those two rather than on me.

“Anything else? If you need something else, I’ll grant it.”

“That is enough for me.”

Heishar replied gently, his eyes crinkling into a soft smile.

As he lowered his head while holding a teacup, his snow-white neckline was revealed. I gazed in wonder at his sparkling appearance.

‘He’s literally an angel incarnate!’

My resentment toward beautiful people like the Grand Duke who were only decent on the outside was soothed.

“And lastly, I have something to say to Heishar.”

Lucas and Tristan told me not to say it, but that wouldn’t be courteous to someone who had been so understanding.

I spoke on behalf of the two who were silently in repentant postures.

“Actually, I planned this entire fire.”

At my sudden confession, both of their heads shot up.

“Liat?!”

“Little one! We agreed not to talk about that!”

“I asked these two to help me.”

“…May I ask why you did this?”

Despite how shocking this must be, Heishar’s expression remained calm. Considering the threat the deliberately set fire had posed to him, asking for forgiveness seemed rather shameless.

I continued speaking, prepared to accept any criticism.

“I was suspicious of you, teacher.”

“In what way?”

“To be specific, everything? But originally I was going to use a much safer method.”

“I suppose if things had gone well, there would have been no reason for the Grand Princess to come to the scene.”

I took out the map I had used when making the plan from my chest.

The detailed plan that the three of us had devised was written on the map. Heishar unfolded the map, examined it thoroughly, and sighed.

“I see, so that’s how it was.”

“You can scold us. It’s all our fault.”

“Why did you reveal the truth even though I agreed to cooperate? You could have just let it go.”

Given the atmosphere, Heishar probably wouldn’t have pressed for details.

Lucas and Tristan had also warned me not to tell Heishar everything. But for me, this was only natural.

“Because you almost died.”

I presented a gift I had prepared in advance to Heishar.

“This is a token of my apology.”

I had selected the best from dozens of drawings I had made all night. Next to the framed picture of Heishar that I had drawn myself was a jewelry box I had extracted from Tristan and Lucas.

I conveyed the gratitude I should have expressed earlier.

“Thank you for saving me, teacher.”

“……”

“If you ever change your mind, you can tell the Grand Duke the truth.”

“But that would cause more trouble for you than for the two young masters, Grand Princess.”

“I’ll have to accept that. It was something I did because of my misunderstanding.”

Surprise settled in Heishar’s slightly widened pupils.

Well, even when Lucas and Tristan had knelt before him today, he had worn a face that genuinely hadn’t expected it.

The new etiquette teacher might be the type who doesn’t trust humans.

Having finished what needed to be done, I felt confident. After observing my expression for a moment, he took a sip from his teacup with a much softer expression.

“You are quite different.”

Even if Tristan and Lucas opposed, I had intended to tell him the truth. The lies I told the Grand Duke were enough.