Chapter 18 (Part 1)

As she approached the direction of the sound, she saw Herdin vomiting in a corner of the garden.

Blair hurriedly went over to Herdin.

"Are you alr—"

But just as she was about to pat his back, Herdin roughly pushed Blair away.

"Get lost!"

Struck by Herdin's emotional outburst, Blair fell backwards with a thud.

Her buttocks ached from the fall, but the shock of the situation was greater than the pain. It was the first time someone had shown her such clear hostility.

Though this situation was bewildering, worry for Herdin took precedence. Blair, who had been blinking in a daze, sprang to her feet.

"Are you okay?"

Herdin's eyes wavered for a moment upon seeing Blair fall, but soon turned cold again. And he came on even stronger.

"Didn't you hear me say get lost?"

He had long since abandoned any courtesy towards the Imperial Princess.

Herdin took a step closer to Blair threateningly and spat out:

"Get lost if you don't want to die."

A clear killing intent could be felt in Herdin's voice as he spoke.

Blair instinctively shrank back at the killing intent she had never encountered before, but once she saw his eyes, she couldn't run away. No, she didn't want to.

Though he was saying harsh words, for some reason the boy's contorted blue eyes looked terribly lonely.

Suddenly, she recalled what Esmeralda had said yesterday.

'Honestly, Herdin isn't an affectionate child. That child has many emotional wounds, so he's not good at dealing with people.'

Certainly, Herdin was neither affectionate as she said, nor did he seem like a good person as Blair had lied about.

But...

'He's not a bad person either.'

Just a boy who found it difficult to bear the sadness left behind.

"Wait a moment!"

Blair, who had been staring up at Herdin, seemed to recall something and turned to run back into the banquet hall. Then she hurriedly came out with her belongings.

She had been taught that running around clumsily was unladylike, but Blair was in a hurry. Like when she would go to get food for the cat that appeared in the backyard.

"Haa... Haa..."

When she returned to the backyard, Herdin was nowhere to be seen.

Blair, who had been wandering around the garden, found him on the opposite side of the wall where Herdin had first been. Herdin was sitting against the wall with his face buried in his knees.

'Is he in a lot of pain?'

Recalling how Herdin had been retching, Blair approached him wondering if she should have brought medicine instead.

At that moment, a sigh followed by the rough voice characteristic of a pubescent boy came from Herdin, who had his face buried in his knees.

"...Why have you come again, Your Highness."

Though he was clearly annoyed, this time he made an effort to use polite speech.

Before he could push her away again, Blair quickly placed her item in his hand that was stretched out over his knees.

"I'll lend you this."

Only then did Herdin lift his head to look at what was in his hand. It was a pair of fur earmuffs.

"They're rabbit fur earmuffs. You can't hear sounds well when you wear them."

These earmuffs would block out those whispers, at least a little. Since it's winter, no one would think it strange for him to be wearing earmuffs.

"And they're warm, and super soft."

The rabbit fur earmuffs were fluffy. So pleasant to the touch that you'd want to keep feeling them. Touching that fur would often make her feel better.

'Then it should improve the Duke's mood too, right?'

As Herdin looked back and forth between the earmuffs and Blair with her eyes sparkling in bewilderment, just as he was about to say something—

"Imperial Princess! Are you here?"

The voice of a maid looking for Blair was heard.

Hearing the approaching footsteps, Blair jumped to her feet. If Herdin was discovered hiding here, it would undo all his efforts to act normal at the banquet today.

"I'll keep today a secret."

Blair quickly ran around the corner towards the maid, leaving Herdin behind. Her hand that had been holding the earmuffs felt empty, but her heart was light.

That night, before falling asleep, Blair made a wish as always.

Please make Mother love me.

Please let Mother and Her Majesty the Empress become friends.

To the wishes she made every day, she added one more special wish for someone else that day.

Even though she didn't like that person who stole Her Majesty the Empress's attention...

'Still, please make Duke Delmark happy.'

* * *

"So Her Majesty the Dowager Empress arranged your first meeting with the Duke?"

Agnes showed interest and listened attentively to Blair's story, even though it had nothing to do with her.

What Blair told Agnes was only that she had played cards with him the day before the New Year's Festival, and that Herdin had attended the banquet. Just that much. She didn't mention that he had run away from the banquet that day.

It was an old incident, and even if someone were to find out now that he had run away that night, no one could laugh at who he is now.

After all, Herdin is now the Empire's finest knight and a war hero.

But even though the secret of that night no longer held any meaning, she didn't want to throw his wounds out as gossip for others.

"A connection from childhood leading to marriage, it's quite a romantic story."

"Is it?"

"Of course. It's the kind of story every girl dreams of at least once. And to think the other party is the Duke... Of course, what completed that romance was your love, Madam."

Blair looked at Agnes with eyes that asked what she meant.

"Because it's you who kept that memory, Madam. For the New Year's Festival, there must have been plenty of other memories, but you remember it centered around the Duke, don't you?"

Blair's eyes blinked slowly in surprise at Agnes's words. It was a perspective she had never considered before.

Agnes smiled gently and said:

"It seems you love the Duke very much, Madam."

Blair, who had been pondering those words in a daze, smiled palely.

Yes, she 'had loved' him. Perhaps, as Agnes said, she had been drawn to him from that New Year's Festival.

But not anymore.

Search "child" at redcatty [.] com to read ahead up to chap 170.