IDIBC Chapter 56

Walter, the Gentleman Sent from Heaven (2)

It took only a moment for the quiet silence of the assembled guests to transform into murmuring commotion, as if on cue. Exaggerated and contrived, like a scene from a third-rate opera. I willingly thrust myself into that lowbrow situation.

The atmosphere only ripened after the royal family arrived at the banquet hall. At first, I moved with Ricardo with a tense heart, greeting people. However, after repeating the same words about forty times, I became completely exhausted.

Ricardo maintained a consistently expressionless demeanor that bordered on cold, but he perfectly observed the courtesy needed to avoid criticism. Whenever I saw his aristocratic side, I felt anew the disparity with his childhood.

Even in the midst of greeting people who approached with identical expressions to congratulate our engagement, Ricardo glanced at my feet several times, as if stealing looks. Each time I felt that gaze, strength entered the fingertips holding his arm.

Sabrina truly must have hidden somewhere out of people’s sight, as she wasn’t visible throughout the entire banquet. It was a bit suspicious that Julian had also disappeared along with her, but in this vast hall, it seemed more difficult to accidentally spot someone.

When the dance music began in earnest, those who had been coming to greet us became sparse. Taking advantage of that gap to catch my breath for a moment, just as I brought a sip of alcohol to my lips, a servant approached Ricardo and discreetly conveyed a message.

“It seems I need to step away for a moment… Rest a bit.”

“I should. Do you happen to know where the least popular balcony is?”

He laughed carelessly and continued with a kind explanation.

“There’s no such place. But there is a balcony with little foot traffic. If you go to the opposite end from the third-floor lounge where we stayed earlier, you’ll find it easily. Wait there. I’ll come get you right away.”

“Understood.”

Though I answered firmly, like all directionally challenged people in the world, pioneering a new route to a destination was impossible.

As soon as Ricardo left my side, avoiding the gentlemen who came to request dances, I moved with the intention of going to the lounge along the path I’d come. Going from there to find the opposite side was certainly the long way around, but it was much better than wandering lost.

After exiting through the door I’d passed through for entry and emerging into the long corridor, I felt my breathing ease somewhat.

As Ricardo had said, the number of people decreased the closer I got to the opposite side of the third-floor lounge.

If I was lucky, I might be able to enter without encountering anyone in front of the balcony. After receiving a champagne glass from the last servant I encountered, I succeeded in entering without meeting anyone.

“Wow.”

An exclamation burst out naturally at the beautiful sight visible from the balcony.

Opposite where I stood was a massive dome-shaped entrance. Beyond it, a tall, slender conical minaret of the type only seen in Resotia’s temples jutted up abruptly toward the sky.

They said you could see the essence of Resotian architecture in Dermeier’s buildings, and this beautiful scene seemed to be exactly what they meant.

True to its reputation as an earthly lighthouse, the moon in the dark night sky hung at its peak as if perfectly painted there.

The galleries extending from both sides of the entrance dome connected to the building where I stood. If the lounge faced the banquet hall, this balcony faced the back of the building.

In the center of the courtyard naturally formed by buildings surrounding it on all sides stood a modest-sized fountain. The foam pouring from the fountain sparkled beautifully in the moonlight without any special illumination.

“I finally feel like I can breathe.”

Grasping the balcony railing and taking a long breath in and out, my chest rose greatly and fell as my heels touched the ground completely. The moment I drew another long breath, I realized there was another presence in this space besides myself.

With my breath fully drawn in, I slowly turned my head to see Walter Shaw Chaplin standing at the farthest edge from where I was.

“Ah…”

Even in the dark balcony, his vivid blue-green eyes glowed densely with light.

Our eyes met and, without either of us initiating it, laughter burst out.

“You really do pop up everywhere unexpectedly. Very befitting the heir of the Chaplin family.”

“That’s what I’d like to say to you as well.”

A trace of laughter remained in his answering voice. Smiling in response, I lifted my skirt and curtsied.

“It seems I’m the uninvited guest this time, so I’ll vacate the spot. Though this quiet balcony is a bit regrettable.”

“No, I…”

It was when Walter placed the glass he’d been holding on the railing and moved as if to approach me. Suddenly the balcony doors swung wide open on both sides and a group of ladies entered.

My eyes squeezed shut in dismay.

In the Dermeier Empire, a man and woman alone together on a balcony could be good fodder for gossipmongers.

Unable to give any excuse to the ladies who’d entered like intruders, I desperately gathered my skirt together. Then I hid in a corner as much as possible.

One, two, three, and four. There were no fewer than four lavishly adorned ladies.

‘Please…’

Having noticed my attempt to hide, Walter also stepped to one side, pressing against opposite ends of the balcony. Through the gap created by the open door, I could see Walter’s uncomfortable face.

At this point, I thought I should revise my assessment of him a bit. In fact, he had no reason to avoid women so desperately, yet as if he’d encountered a beast about to tear out his throat, he did his utmost to squeeze himself into the darkness.

‘Perhaps he really is quite upright, as rumored.’

I felt a bit sorry for comparing someone who tried so hard to smooth over another’s discomfort to Julian, who was said to be a notorious womanizer.

“Can propriety really fall this low?”

Suddenly, a sharp woman’s voice rang through the balcony.

“Exactly. No matter what, a woman of that caliber.”

“She’s a woman from the Eastern Kingdom, so what’s there to say?”

Ah, they’re talking about me. I realized it easily without much effort.

Such whispers had continued in the hall as well. The malicious criticism was even cunning.

During the intervals when Ricardo went to greet others briefly, the unprovoked personal attacks were directed solely at me.

To think I’d have to listen to blatant gossip about me on the balcony I’d fled to in order to avoid hearing the women’s jealousy, envy, and somewhat sincere reproach.

And with someone else present, no less.

“In my view, she’s quite beautiful and her posture is proper.”

Fortunately, one person in the group seemed to have a different opinion from them.

“Don’t talk nonsense. That dress and those accessories all came from the ducal house. With such magnificent items on her, she’s only that much? And you call her pretty?”

The voice of the one who’d spoken sensibly fell silent at the women’s fierce anger.

An eternity-like time continued. Long and tedious enough that it was useless to gaze at the distant, soaring spire and enjoy the exotic courtyard scenery.

Walter’s pitiful gaze visible through the gap in the door also added to the tedious time.

“Everyone knows Young Duke Rochester has powers. But not a saintess, but a daughter from a fallen noble house of the Eastern Kingdom?”

“Right, and she’s the daughter of the family that kidnapped His Grace. To take such a woman as his fiancée—there’s something wrong.”

“The fact that she helped his manifestation is also unbelievable, isn’t it? She could be a con artist. After all, His Grace must have lost his childhood memories.”

Though I didn’t want to hear it, it wasn’t entirely wrong either.

When I heard I was the catalyst for the saintess’s second coming, I was briefly impressed by that poetic expression.

Rochester’s mistake, Ricardo’s blemish, an omen of national ruin.

The ladies thoroughly tore me apart, threw me to the ground, trampled me, and as if even that wasn’t satisfying enough, they viciously spat me out before suddenly withdrawing from the balcony just as they’d come.

Only ruins remained where the typhoon had passed.

Walter slowly approached where I was. It would be fine if he just left.

“Are you all right?”

At the well-mannered man’s serious question, I smiled with a haggard face.

“I’m fine.”

“Just because I heard it…”

“You’re saying I shouldn’t feel miserable?”

Instead of answering, he nodded slightly.

“I’m… not miserable.”

It wasn’t something I said to put on a brave front. I genuinely didn’t feel miserable. If it were Ricardo, he’d immediately know I was telling the truth. Walter seemed not to believe it, though.

“Weren’t you hiding here, having fled from these terrible words?”

I’m human too, so naturally I was angry at the blind criticism and insults. To some extent, I wanted to avoid such words. But I swear I wasn’t hiding.

“Hmm… no.”

What I’d experienced was a matter of pride, not my self-esteem being wounded.

Even though I’d never once been properly loved by anyone.

“That degree of thing can’t make me hide. I’m not hurt by things I didn’t do wrong. Because I’m not a con artist.”

“Then why do you have that expression?”