Chapter 2.10
“La―.”
“Yes. Lady Irene is right here.”
I answered and turned my head.
There, with the setting sun behind him, was Aiden, smiling with his violet eyes.
“Lady Irene. Were you perhaps looking for me?”
“…….”
“……Ah, no. It was a vain misunderstanding. I-I absolutely didn’t think you were concerned about me―.”
“I was looking for you.”
Aiden’s eyes widened.
Behind him, I saw the shopkeepers glancing at me. Seeing them grinning, they must be having some wild fantasy. I should quickly give Aiden his ‘gift’ and send him off.
“I came to thank you for helping me, Mr. Aiden. It’ll be over quickly.”
“Thank me! I didn’t help you expecting anything in return.”
“But you’ll be disappointed if you don’t hear it. The thanks I have for you isn’t a thing, it’s a prophecy.”
“Pardon?”
Even if he treats me like a strange person, I wanted to tell him.
I opened my mouth.
“In 988, you will be put in charge of commanding the Scourge Valley. It won’t be a normal promotion. The officer in charge, hearing that the prince is coming for an inspection, will dump the task on you to avoid trouble.”
“You know the royal family’s inspection schedule?”
“Just listen. You clear out the monsters, but the prince will stray from the prepared path, cause a commotion, be chased by monsters, fall, and be seriously injured. You’ll be charged with negligence and fall off the normal path to success. After that, you’ll be sent only to the most dangerous battles. So be careful in 988.”
After finishing the long story, I finally took a breath.
I am someone who dies in 990.
I will never know why Aiden returned to the capital on my execution day, or why he ran to me.
But I told him everything I knew.
That was the best gift I could give him.
For you, who are so good-natured.
For you, the only one who reached out to me, abandoned by the world.
Of course, whether Aiden believes my words is another matter.
His expression shows only bewilderment.
“……Were you a prophet, my Lady?”
“I’m not a prophet. Also, after this day, don’t be involved with me. Even if you see me, don’t call out to me. Act as if you don’t know me.”
“Wh-why? Did I do something wrong?”
“No. If you become involved with me again, the future I prophesied could all become tangled.”
I intend to change my own fate.
But if Aiden, who had no particular relation to me in my past life, becomes entangled in my life, I don’t know what will happen to his future that I went to the trouble of warning him about.
That’s why I said goodbye to Aiden.
“Aiden Freier. Thank you for everything. Especially, learning of your good-natured courage has been the greatest harvest of this life.”
“Lady Irene. Please don’t act as if this is truly the end!”
“It is the end. I don’t want to be involved with the Freier family ever again.”
“……Is it because of my brother?”
To some extent.
Your brother ruined my life.
I, who grew up as an incompetent puppet in my uncle’s house, met an ending like a spent curse doll in your house.
As I was pondering how to answer, the shopkeepers behind Aiden shouted.
“Mr. Aiden. Is that girl coming too? Is she your girlfriend?”
“No!”
“Whoa, that startled me. What are you so……. Oh, oh. Your girlfriend’s running away!”
I seized the moment when Aiden’s attention was diverted to the shopkeepers and ran off.
I didn’t intend to be involved with Aiden any further.
Now I need to go home, sort the things to sell, and inspect the lace. Tomorrow I’ll be busy all day going around the market.
And the next day, September 19th, my twentieth birthday, I will reclaim my father’s inheritance and my freedom.
After that, there’s really so much to do. I have to use the future I know to survive the present.
If I do that…….
Surely, there won’t be any reason to miss Aiden.
While hiding in an alley corner, I saw Aiden pass by.
He’ll wander around here a few times, then soon give up looking for me and go back to the shopkeepers.
Aiden Freier.
My brother-in-law I wasn’t close to in my past life.
In this life too, merely a person I met a few times and received help from.
That’s all, that’s truly all, but…….
His voice keeps circling in my head.
‘Lady Irene.’
At first cautious, then polite, then containing a warmth of welcome toward me—those six syllables.
It was the first time anyone who knew me had called my name so warmly, with a title of respect.
I was even curious how that voice would change the next time we met.
……Thinking I would never hear those words again made a corner of my chest ache.
Of course, this is not love.
It’s just that the first kindness I ever tasted from another person was shaking my heart.
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