IDIBC Chapter 115

Robert Visits the Paquin Residence (1)

Ricardo scooped me up and strode toward the carriage I had arrived in.

“What are you doing right now?”

“We need to go meet the gods. I need to let them know that you and I have become one.”

“You mean we’re going to the temple right now?”

“Yes, straight to Rochester.”

Before I could stop him, he walked on without hesitation, then suddenly stopped and looked down at me.

Even as I wrapped my arms around Ricardo’s pulsing neck while held in his solid embrace, I couldn’t believe what he was saying.

“Do you… want a grand wedding ceremony?”

At the unexpected question, I frowned, and his lips curved into a wide arc. His eyes still gleamed that bright green color.

“Even if you don’t want one, we’ll definitely have a grand wedding ceremony. Of course, right now I’m too impatient, so we’ll have a simple ceremony first, but once everything is finished, it’ll be grand enough for the whole world to know.”

“But what does that eye color mean? I’ve never seen it before.”

Ricardo tilted his head slightly. I traced my finger around his eyes. The slightly reddened corners of his eyes trembled faintly following my finger’s movement.

“That vivid… green color.”

At my words, Ricardo’s eyes widened slightly, but the light in them didn’t fade.

“Well, I don’t want to tell you… Why don’t you guess? You’re good at it—figuring out my feelings, I mean.”

“You still have so many things you don’t want to share.”

Ricardo, who had lifted me into the carriage first as I complained softly, immediately settled beside me. After kissing me deeply again, he set the carriage moving in the same direction it had been traveling.

“W-wait a moment. My head is spinning. Do you really mean we’re going straight to Rochester?”

I shook my head, gently pushing him away. He furrowed his brow slightly at being pushed back, but immediately pressed close to me again, peppering me with small kisses while whispering like a chant.

“Yes, right now. We can’t delay even a moment.”

“We can’t. At least I need to send word to Sabrina. Otherwise she’ll worry.”

As his lips wrapped around mine softly, my mind grew hazy, and I could no longer push him away, surrendering my face to him while feebly protesting.

“I’ll send my knight.”

Even as I felt dizzy from this perfect man’s determined seduction, I wondered how to stop him.

When I subtly linked my arm through his and pressed close, his thick arm swelled and then relaxed with a start.

Even the moment when this rock-solid man reacted to my small movement made my heart flutter. I didn’t miss the opportunity and said in a wheedling tone.

“I’m hungry.”

“You’re lying.”

“Don’t think you know everything about my heart. And it’s not me—it’s you, Young Duke, no, Ricardo who must be hungry. Right?”

He frowned, then burst into loud laughter. The sound of his laughter, which seemed to leave marks on my heart with each thump, made my face flush red.

“You’re right, looking at you makes me hungry.”

“You say you’re hungry whenever you look at me. Aren’t you sleepy?”

“That too.”

He shrugged and laughed again. I laughed along with him.

We laughed like that and decided to stay by each other’s side. As long as I lived, I would be his every reason, his only warmth.

No matter what heartbreaking events might occur, it seemed there was nothing we couldn’t overcome as long as we were together.

The carriage turned sharply and began racing back toward the Paquin residence.

On this exceptionally bright sunny day, the shadows of the cypress trees standing in rows embroidered the dirt road neatly beneath them. Our two shadows also stretched long in the same direction.

Sunlight, wind, temperature, humidity, and Ricardo by my side.

It was a perfect day, just like that day on the hill.

****

Sabrina stood by the window, gazing at the Paquin estate’s garden as darkness settled over it.

After Duchess Paquin had died of illness at a relatively young age, the family had no lady of the house. Nevertheless, the estate was kept very neat and tidy. It meant Julian was taking care of things both inside and out.

Sabrina found it difficult to collect herself after everything that had happened when Ricardo burst in during the day.

When she saw Lienne with Ricardo in the garden, her heart pounded for some reason, and she didn’t know what to say first.

Ricardo’s body, looking as if he’d just returned from the battlefield, felt almost ferocious with every muscle sharply defined. The aura of war he hadn’t yet shed rippled from him.

Yet the way he looked at Lienne was nothing but spring breeze. Even ice melting helplessly under hot sunlight would surely be more solid than that.

To hold a wedding ceremony tomorrow…

At Ricardo’s declaration, Lienne blushed and smiled.

She herself had made an absurd engagement, but Lienne’s marriage was even more so.

But Lienne, who spoke of coming to Rochester as casually as if going for a walk, looked happy. A warm breeze seemed to blow through Sabrina’s heart as she watched Lienne. That was all that mattered.

Now that Ricardo had returned, things would reach a conclusion one way or another.

Sabrina looked around the room that didn’t feel like her space at all.

Remembering the Demahen Knights standing rigid and out of place in the splendid garden, she sighed involuntarily.

The Demahen Knights do not enter the capital. This was both a courtesy and a promise to the imperial family that had continued for hundreds of years.

For the Demahen to be stationed in the middle of the capital with no intention of hiding, exuding an ominous presence, meant that something—anything—was about to happen in this country.

“It’ll be fine. It will be fine.”

Sabrina nodded and repeated to herself as if making a vow. The oracle hadn’t said Lienne wasn’t the one, and above all, Ricardo’s heart was firm.

Was all that remained now for the Rochester ducal family to become the imperial family of the Dermeier Empire?

Just thinking about it made her feel like she’d committed something tremendous, and she rubbed her arms as she paced around the room. While she pondered various thoughts, darkness had fallen outside the window.

“A guest has come to see you.”

At the head maid’s words, Sabrina tilted her head. The ladies who visited the Paquin residence to see Sabrina mostly came during the day. And they made appointments in advance.

But who would visit at such a late hour without notice?

“Who is it?”

“It is Lord Robert, second son of Count Henson.”

“Who?”

“It is Lord Robert Dioni Henson.”

Sabrina frowned deeply, unable to believe the name she’d heard.

“Are you certain he’s looking for me and not the Young Duke?”

“Yes, that’s correct. Besides, the Young Duke has not yet returned to the estate.”

Julian had left with them when Ricardo departed from the Paquin residence, saying he had things to do.

Sabrina rubbed her forehead with a troubled expression. She sighed involuntarily, but had no justification to refuse a visit from her fiancé’s closest friend.

“Show him to the drawing room.”

After giving the brief order, Sabrina made excuses about needing to prepare herself and dawdled in her room as long as possible, trying to gauge when Julian might return.

After enough time had passed that it would seem rude to the waiting guest, Julian still hadn’t arrived, but Sabrina had no choice but to leave her bedroom.

“I’m sorry to have kept you waiting so long. Ladies have much to prepare when faced with unexpected visits.”

For some reason, Robert didn’t respond to Sabrina’s words and simply looked at her for a moment. He appeared different from usual today.

He was normally somewhat drunk and disheveled, but today he was dressed in perfect formal attire. He looked ready to attend an imperial palace event right now.

“Please sit.”

At Sabrina’s words, Robert paused for a moment before taking a seat. After tea was placed on the table and the servants moved away, he parted his lips.

But all of Sabrina’s attention was fixed on the garden. She hoped for a commotion outside indicating Julian’s arrival as soon as possible.

“I congratulate you… on your engagement.”

Receiving congratulations delivered in an unfamiliarly polite voice, Sabrina clearly felt what had changed Robert’s attitude.

Realizing this, she couldn’t help but let out a small laugh.

‘I’m a count’s daughter now.’

Julian’s words weren’t wrong. The count’s title of the family that Sabrina herself hadn’t given much thought to, considering it a sandcastle built on shaky ground, had definitively changed her position.

She raised one eyebrow and looked at the man before her with dry eyes.

“Thank you. But what should we do? Julian is currently out. He should return soon, so how about waiting alone for a bit?”

“Ah, rather than that, I would be grateful if Lady Fennel would be my companion. I also have something important to tell you.”

Sabrina bit down hard on the soft flesh inside her lip. No matter how much he acted dignified like this, Robert’s base behavior wouldn’t change. In fact, she was much more comfortable dealing with his frivolous true nature.

“If you have something to say, say it. We’re not exactly on terms to exchange pleasantries.”

Judging it would be difficult to escape Robert immediately, Sabrina chose to hear his purpose for visiting as quickly as possible.

“First, let me apologize. About that incident… in Lethon that you mentioned in Pallium last time.”

Sabrina couldn’t ignore Robert’s polite apology, so she nodded and accepted it.