Chapter 75 : Secret (10)

I told Daisy everything without leaving anything out.

Actually, I thought Ayla didn’t need to get involved in such matters.

Because I would protect Ayla no matter what.

If necessary, I would even borrow the power of the Marquis family.

That was also why I had brought the servants here.

But I know Ayla’s personality.

No matter what, she wouldn’t want to avoid responsibility entirely.

“Is that so?”

Ayla murmured, lost in thought for a moment.

“So, in the end, the goal is to make sure that no one is able to give up on this land. At least, not in our generation.”

“That’s correct.”

At the very least, we must hold on until Seila can manage on her own.

What happens after Seila becomes an adult is still too far in the future.

In fact, I haven’t even decided on a course of action yet.

Should we find a suitable place for Seila to marry into?

Or should we bring in a husband to live with us so that Seila can effectively act as the Count?

Either way, the risks are high.

Seila’s partner will be a noble, after all.

“I want to push Seila’s education a bit harder.”

After saying that, Ayla’s expression turned somewhat dazed.

That’s right.

We had already shown such behavior in front of Seila.

If I were to think lightly of it, I’d say we hadn’t gone so far as to display anything too scandalous.

We… in other words, we hadn’t engaged in ‘sexual acts.’

At most, it was just Ayla feeding me meat, and Ayla using her fingers to wipe the sauce off my lips before putting it into her own mouth.

I know that this situation is very easy to misunderstand.

At the very least, the misunderstanding that Ayla treats me ‘like a dog’ must have deepened even further.

For the record, I don’t particularly mind.

Even if she really does treat me like a dog.

“Be honest with me. What do you think of Seila?”

“Lady Seila is… somewhat naive.”

“That’s right. For a noble, at least.”

No one now would be able to truly understand what the Count was thinking.

He’s already dead, and he never really had deep interactions with anyone.

In his lifetime, he lived solely for power—nothing but power.

As a hobby, he collected beautiful women.

In fact, rather than me or Ayla, perhaps the Count would have made a more fitting protagonist for one of those kinds of novels.

Or maybe that’s exactly why he collected such books in the first place.

Did he think of it as part of a noble’s refinement?

Did he gain women as a result of his pursuit of power, or did he seek power in order to gain women?

Either way, he wasn’t the kind of person I would ever like.

“If there is someone among the servants who can teach Seila how to survive as a noble, I will entrust them with the task.

Of course, I’ll have to speak with them first.”

“Why are you making that face?”

I wasn’t making any expression at all.

Though, of course, I did feel a bit pleased when I looked at Ayla.

When I first arrived here, I didn’t care about Seila at all.

She is, after all, ‘that’ Count’s daughter.

To me, she was essentially no different from the daughter of my sworn enemy.

I wouldn’t say I harbored hatred, but I also didn’t particularly care what happened to her.

The only reason I started paying attention to Seila was that Ayla was concerned about her.

Ayla really is different from me.

Even in a world where nobles think only of themselves, Ayla couldn’t be completely changed.

But had Ayla somehow read my thoughts just now?

How?

“Come here.”

As if unwilling to accept that I only saw her in a positive light, Ayla gestured toward me.

“Sit down.”

Ayla said.

The place she pointed to was not the sofa, but the floor beside it.

I obediently knelt down, and Ayla’s hand touched my hair.

Not quite like petting a puppy, but—

Her slender fingers moved through my hair.

“Really, no matter what I do, you never resist.”

“Of course, Lady Ayla.”

“What if I were to take your life?”

It wouldn’t be that I wouldn’t regret it.

I wouldn’t say I wouldn’t care, either.

But still, I would accept it as inevitable.

Because, from the very beginning, this life was a gift from Ayla.

Instead of answering, I lowered my head, and Ayla simply continued stroking my hair in silence.

Evening time.

Unlike at breakfast, Ayla did not feed me meat by hand.

As if to say that showing it once was enough, I remained at a slight distance behind Ayla, waiting quietly.

“Hmm, I see.”

Still, the empress spoke as if it wasn’t as uncomfortable as the morning.

“So… that means you haven’t been apart from your maid for too long, right?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

But the conversation was about me.

The empress had said she had given up on using me.

Then why was she asking so directly like this?

The empress wasn’t the type to deliberately hide her expressions.

The troubled look she had in the morning was probably more out of surprise that women could act that way with each other, rather than because Ayla had ‘touched’ me.

“But is it really possible to get that close? From what I can tell, you don’t seem like the type to trust people so easily.”

Seila’s gaze landed on Ayla.

She tilted her head in confusion, as if she didn’t understand what the empress was saying.

Seila thought Ayla was just tormenting me.

No, Ayla probably had that intention too.

She was testing me.

Seeing how far I could endure.

Of course, I intended to endure until the end.

To be honest, the things Ayla did to me weren’t things I had any reason to dislike.

“Did you build trust through sparring or something? I’m not the type to put my life on the sword, so I wouldn’t know, but among swordsmen, it seems like there’s a certain bond.”

“No, Your Majesty,” Ayla answered.

There was no reason to hide it now.

Seila already knew.

I had heard that Daisy had told her.

The reason Ayla couldn’t recklessly raise her voice or act carelessly in this setting was because she knew the empress was the empress.

“I still don’t trust my personal maid.”

“Is that so?”

The empress tilted her head.

The shadow and Daisy exchanged glances between the two.

They seemed to find this conversation interesting in their own way.

Of course, they would.

Because I had spoken about this before—

Not just in front of these two, but even in front of the empress, making it three people.

Even though my younger sibling wasn’t here, I had spoken to them as well.

And to those who served me.

About Ayla.

They must be curious.

How I ended up so deeply entangled with Ayla.

But at the same time, they wouldn’t be able to understand.

It wasn’t because of conditions that I fell for her.

Ah, of course, Ayla was beautiful.

Her looks, the texture of her hair, and even her figure—there was no reason to dislike any of it.

But even then, if her personality didn’t match, ‘love’ wouldn’t come so easily.

It wasn’t that I didn’t recognize the difference between the Ayla of now and the Ayla from back then.

‘Time’ is something that can’t be judged easily just by looking.

“I’m sorry. People’s thoughts and actions all differ from person to person.”

“It’s fine. It’s understandable that you’d think that way.”

Ayla spoke without even glancing at me.

“But Luna gave me something.

A spell that forces me to follow any command, no matter what I do, as long as it is a command.

She said so herself.

So why wouldn’t I take advantage of it?

If anything, I’m showing mercy.”

“Mercy?”

“Yes. I’m giving Luna a chance to prove whether or not I can trust her.

Instead of just kicking her out immediately.”

The gazes in the dining hall turned toward me.

I remained still, my expression unchanged.

Yes, I wanted that too.

For Ayla to fully trust me.

So that no matter what happened, she could entrust her life to me.

What I feared wasn’t my own disappearance from this world—

It was Ayla’s.

“I see.”

But despite Ayla’s somewhat strange answer, the empress only smiled slightly and resumed her meal.

The shadow shrugged, and Daisy, standing behind Seila like me, smirked.

Only Seila, who knew nothing, was still glaring at Ayla.

Ayla, on the other hand, looked a little flustered.

She didn’t understand why people had such relaxed expressions after hearing her words.

Ayla didn’t realize that they knew.

That I loved Ayla.

That we shared many memories together.

To everyone here except Seila, Ayla’s words must have sounded like this:

“I’m getting to know her.”

Of course, they knew I’d be happy to hear that.

Ayla glanced at me briefly, her expression slightly irritated.

She had unconsciously given such an answer and was now annoyed by it, but she didn’t know how to deal with that feeling.

That was just how she had always lived.

No, in this place, there was only one person who could fully unravel Ayla’s emotions.

Me.

Only me.

In Ayla’s life, there were only two people with whom she could express her emotions so openly—

The me from her childhood and the me now.

I almost lost control of my expression, but I barely managed to hold it in, keeping my facial muscles in check.