I didn’t expect to see the person I met at dusk again before the next sun rises.
Although she was not being kicked out, it’s true that she wasn’t happy.
With my face grimaced, I opened the drawing room door.
“Hello, Alice. See you again.”
“Roa—”
“But didn’t I tell you I’d call you? I think you said you would wait?”
Alice’s eyes dropped.
It was clouded, so I thought it wouldn’t be weird to have tears rolling down.
She didn’t cry.
“I’m sorry. I thought I had to tell you as soon as possible.”
I looked at Alice’s clothes.
Like in the ballroom, she was wearing an evening dress with her shoulders and arms exposed.
It was chilly, but there was no shawl, and the material from the neck down to the chest was translucent, making it look very cold.
I’m sure she didn’t mean to come here in such poor clothes.
With every sigh, I loosened the shawl on my shoulder and threw it into Alice’s lap.
“Oh, I’m fine—”
“I was fine, too.”
“Huh?”
“I meant earlier. You asked me to be careful of Nocton.”
It was strange, but it wasn’t much different. The only thing that made Nocton more special than any other day was that he made me more angry.
“Even though you’re not there, it’s not that different—”
“He hugged you from behind, didn’t he?”
“What?”
“Does Aaron Claymore important to you? More than me, who have been with you for ten years?”
‘Does Aaron Claymore important to you?’
‘More than me, who have been with you for ten years?‘
Alice’s words echoed what Nocton had said.
How do you know that?
He hugged me from behind and whispered, so she wouldn’t have heard him in the dark.
My mouth was open as I could hardly believe what was going on.
“Didn’t you leave the terrace?”
“I didn’t hide and eavesdrop. I don’t think I’ll have a chance to talk to you, either. I left the ball. I thought I’d wait for your call, but I’m here because I thought I’d have to talk to you before he gets in the way. Ask the butler and you’ll see if I’m here during the ball.”
“….then how do you know?”
“I told you earlier, Roa.”
I have a foresight dream.
Did you really mean it?
I’m tired of losing my head in embarrassment. I knew Alice is the heroine of the novel, but I didn’t know this ability.
A foresight dream. Is that the setting she had from the beginning?
Or is it not in the original story and Alice changed because of me?
Questions that have become more serious than before have been raised in my head.
I opened my mouth several times because I think I should say something, but I couldn’t say anything.
I forced myself to swallow the tea in front of me, so I could bring out some proper words.
“So you say … you know everything about the future?”
“Not everything. Dreaming is a very fragmentary situation, and I don’t even know about you.”
What are you talking about?
As if my innermost feeling revealed on my face, Alice added an explanation.
“Everyone else acts the way I’ve seen in my dreams. I knew he would hug you and say something like that, but I don’t know what you’re going to say to His Grace. It doesn’t even sound like foggy when you’re talking or acting.”
It was strange of me to be an exception. I was reminded of the thought I had.
In the first place, there was only one Roa Valrose who didn’t act as a given character in the novel, so I wondered if it had something to do with it.
“His Grace embraced you and whispered those words, and the next moment, he’s angry and broke the railing. I asked you to be careful because I can’t see you in my dream, so I don’t know if you’re there or not. If you’re angry with me, I don’t know what to do after my dream is over.”
“Oh my God, Nocton broke the railing? That’s really ridiculous—”
It sounded like a crazy to hear, but I couodn’t hold my tongue firmly.
I cannot be sure in my experience because I have already heard the evidence. But I was not completely convinced.
Nocton broke the railing? In reality, it’s not impossible.
Although it was well-known that he learned a little swordsmanship from abroad, but his focus was on the other side.
I didn’t hear directly from Nocton’s mouth, but the few things I remember obviously included the fact that he was a wizard.
It was not a big setting.
Usually, it’s easy to find that the main character of this genre is outstanding in terms of magic or sword.
But it didn’t make any sense that Nocton had done such a thing after leaving the impossible that was possible.
Even if he was angry, he never openly showed any changes in his emotions.
It was a little different when he was alone with me, but the ballroom terrace was not isolated from the human eye.
In the first place, Nocton would never be so angry.
Because I didn’t do what he wanted? I didn’t acted as he expected? That’s too much nonsense.
To Nocton, Roa Valrose is like a bright doll.
A little better than a toy that doesn’t go so far as a friend.
“Aren’t you mistaken? It’s a little unclear what the original memories are. What’s more, if you’ve ever been in a dream—”
“The ordinary dream would be the same, but I vividly remember what I saw in my foresight dream. I can tell you another story if you want, Roa. He dropped the cuff button you gave him into the lake, did he? He gave the tea you made for him to a servant. Aaron Claymore breaking up the engagement….”
“You did a background check on me? Wait, and that’s not a foresight dream, it’s a thing of the past.”
“….I’ve been having this dreams since I was very young. I’ve dreamt of meeting you. Even then, I couldn’t see you, but I heard you call my name in my dreams … and I knew it was you, Roa. Believe me, I’m not lying.”
Alice desperately held my hand.
It didn’t look like a lie. There’s nothing to be gained by lying like that.
Even if you did a background check, you wouldn’t know it.
Aaron was a great knight, he was sensitive to other’s presence, and he could have known if someone had been listening closely.
Not only Aaron, but Nocton as well.
There was no one near when Nocton openly conducted an indecent act.
Edgar’s direct line, much less his servant, was unable to see his character right away.
So, there was just one exception, Roa Valrose.
I’m not sure either way.
While looking at Alice’s face, I looked down at the teacup, then I closed my eyes and turned my head, even the body acted restlessly.
The hand holding the teacup was trembling.
I took a sip of tea, two sips, but the thirst did not go away even though the cup was bottomed out.
At that point it occurred to me what Alice had said at the ball.
Nocton Edgar is a terrible villain.
That’s what she said. It wasn’t a new thing to me, but Alice’s face was serious when she said it.
So it’s like I’m talking about the devil beyond the level of mischievousness that says Nocton’s personality is great, and that I’m hurting and feeling it.
I bit my lips so hard that it went white, and I managed to scrape the words out of my throat.
“What do you mean Nocton is a villain?”
“His Grace … do you know how can he inherited the title when he became an adult?”
“I think the Duke is sick of power. He appointed Nocton as his successor because of his discrepancy in abilities, and the two other Edgars were forced to accept it and went to the countryside. No, I even heard it myself. They definitely telling me to take care of Nocton—”
“Because he was brainwashed.”
My words were cut off.
I was defending Nocton before I knew it, but Alice was too cold.
“Everyone in Duke Edgar’s household is brainwashed by Nocton Edgar.”
My mouth was frozen.
***
“Why are you so out of your mind, Roa?”
“No, nothing….”
“No, it’s not a big deal. Why didn’t you tell your sister about what happened with Sir Claymore?”
“You seem to have a bad cold, Alroy. Don’t meddle in other people’s love affairs and just care about your own marriage.”
Alroy’s comment had been irritating as usual, but then I raised my head in a rush.
Come to think of it, we weren’t the only ones eating now.
My parents were a marquis couple and a high-ranking official of the Imperial Family, so it was rare to have breakfast together.
In one slip of mind, I managed to catch their attention.
Unsurprisingly, my mother folded the newspaper she had read.
“Roa.”
“Yes, mother.”
I put my hands together and prepared myself.
But the words from my mother’s lips were not about the consequences of my reckless remarks to my sister.
“You’d be better not to attend the Imperial ball for the time being. Nonetheless, it won’t even open.”
“The ball?”
“Well, the terrace railing have collapsed. I think the architecture is wrong.”
It wasn’t a scolding, but I could not welcome it.
My heart shook when I heard that the railing had collapsed.
I held my trembling hands and tried to look calm.
Fortunately, no one seemed to notice that my mood was strange.
“Which reminds me, Roa, I heard you went to the ball yesterday, too. Is everything alright? Did you get hurt?”
“No … I’m fine. Is is true the railing collapsed? Which terrace?”
“I don’t know that. Fortunately, Lord Edgat found it first and informed us. People would have been in the terrace all the time and when it collapsed, it would have been a disaster.”
“Nocton … did?”
Broken railing, discovered by Nocton Edgar.
It’s the same as what Alice said yesterday.
I felt my blood drain out.
I can’t manage my facial expression that I’ve been struggling with for a while. I wonder how my mother interpreted it.
“Yes, Lord Nocton Edgar, the Duke. Your high sovereign friend, who’s about to get engaged to the Limorand’s esteemed-daughter.”
Only
“No, why does it came out of the blue?”
“Why not. I thought he was going to be your mate. You’ve been together for years, and you’ve lost all the precious times and split out.”
“I have Sir Claymore, mother.”
“I know, but I’m upset.”
Father, who didn’t like Nocton Edgar very much, shook his head at me as if he told me not to pay any attention.
Even though I was more concerned about the other side of my mother’s words.
“Roa and him looked so good together.”
However, my mother’s last word were somewhat bitter, and I felt a sigh.
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