Our Make-Believe Ends Here - Chapter 73

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Luirene, who’d been stroking Ebony’s nose bridge, faltered.

“…Lately? When?”

“When do you think? Just yesterday she was asking. And the day before, she suddenly showed up at the stables asking more.”

“Miya didn’t go on holiday?”

“Huh? No. From what I heard, Miya didn’t take a holiday this time.”

An ominous instinct stabbed straight through the center of her heart.

“What was she asking about me?”

“What was it again? The location of your room, the name of that bookstore you run in the city, the books you read often… no, was it books you own?”

It felt like being struck over the head. Books. Even as she’d melted into those sweet hours, something had kept prickling at her—a persistent sense of wrongness.

The first night. The book she’d brought to Hitaon’s bedroom: 『The Shadow’s Confession』 When the Nanny had suddenly appeared, Hitaon had panicked and accidentally handed it back to her—and after that, the book was nowhere to be found.

She couldn’t rule out the possibility that it had been returned to the library, so she’d checked—but the one sitting on the shelf wasn’t hers. It was a book she lived with every summer, her essential read, so its corners were worn soft—easily distinguishable from the library’s copy, which gleamed like new.

But going to the Nanny first to ask about it made her uneasy. The woman had been the very first to suspect their relationship four years ago—broaching the subject might only stir up trouble. She’d told Hitaon about the situation, but he said the Nanny’s manner hadn’t changed in any noticeable way. He’d added that he’d look into it himself once he had a moment.

“Thank you for telling me, Sissley. Something urgent’s come up—I have to go.”

A place where fire has once been lit and extinguished catches a new spark more easily than a place where there was nothing at all. Back in her room, Luirene checked every book on her shelf one by one. Her hands, moving with urgency, faltered here and there in their sweep.

‘Different.’

Some of the books were out of order. They’d been on the far ends of rows or low enough to require crouching down to check—she simply hadn’t noticed until now. A cold sweat slid down her back. If someone had gone so far as to enter her room uninvited and rummage through her shelves, was it likely they hadn’t done anything more sinister—like creeping after her footsteps?

Thud! A sound so loud it felt like the world was collapsing rang out at that very moment. The noise that she’d once waited for so desperately—the noise she’d welcomed with all her heart—now rang in her ears like the gates of hell swinging open.

The raised ledge set to mark the boundary between the main garden and the inner garden—only those who bore the name ‘Glair’ could cross it with such unshakable confidence.

Luirene’s face drained cold. She walked to the window. The family carriage, flying its blue-green banner, was rolling in with unhurried ease.

* * *

The one riding in the carriage was the Marchioness Glair. Her unexpected return threw the mansion into confusion.

The Nanny gathered the remaining hands left at the mansion and rushed to prepare for her arrival. She also sent word to some of those who’d gone on holiday, instructing them to return a bit earlier than planned.

‘It rained the entire time I was there after arriving. The humidity made it more unbearable than it is here. My husband, even in the midst of it all, was busy dealing with backlogged work, and with the heavy rain, I couldn’t go anywhere—from my standpoint, it was nothing but a dull, tedious holiday. So I came back a little early.’

The air in the eastern territory had indeed been pleasant, but the heavy rain that had begun falling two weeks prior was the problem. The Marchioness herself explained that she’d been stuck indoors, the tedium dragging on—and that she’d hastened her return to the capital slightly, in case of landslides along the way.

In terms of the official story, that was.

“Luirene.”

The summons came early in the morning.

“My lady is looking for you.”

Luirene followed the Nanny with the face of someone who’d known this was coming. The scene was a reenactment of a past nightmare—down to the fact that she was led to the very same drawing room as that day. Naturally, it wasn’t the guest room where they’d received Lady Tourso.

The moment she stepped inside, she saw Miya standing behind the Marchioness. Her expression and posture were triumphant—as if saying, Let’s see you get what’s coming now. In front of the Marchioness, who sat with Miya stationed at her back, lay the book Luirene had been searching for: 『The Shadow’s Confession』.

“How pitifully pale your face is.”

“…….”

“As if you’d already guessed what would come out of my mouth…”