After Putting the Slayer of the Night to Sleep, I Ran Away - Chapter 43

“It’s nice to be able to walk around without feeling burdened at this hour.”

The mansion’s night was still quiet. Isla went out to the garden without encountering anyone.

She then sat on a bench and rummaged through the bread she had brought from the kitchen.

The sky was dark, but the lights made it bright enough to move around without difficulty.

“Come to think of it, the garden seems brighter… or is it just me?”

After tilting her head for a moment, Isla took a bite of the bread.

The rough texture of the bread filled her mouth with a savory aroma.

Isla’s lips slightly curved at the familiar taste.

She had grabbed the bread in the basket from the kitchen, and it seemed to be rye bread.

“It’s been a while. I used to eat it often when I was young.”

During her days as the black sheep in the west annex of the Saint-Ryung mansion, the food the maids brought her was mostly cold soup and rye bread.

Back then, she wished she could eat something else.

Enough to make her drool over the red apples displayed on the street stalls long ago.

‘A lot has changed since that day…’

She remembered the day she got on the carriage with her father, who had come to find her, instead of the boy who had asked if she would follow him.

That day, alone with her father in the carriage, Isla couldn’t help but ask.

“Do you hate me because I’m illegitimate?”

Looking back now, her father seemed a little surprised that she knew about her birth.

“Who told you that?”

“I overheard the maids talking.”

“Nonsense. You are a duchess of the Everett family.”

“Then why am I different from my sister?”

“What do you mean different?”

“My sister studies, eats delicious food, and goes to the capital often, but I’m always alone.”

“…”

“I want to be like my sister too, Father.”

It must have been a word she uttered with as much courage as she could muster in her young heart.

How much meaning was contained in that one phrase, wanting to be like her sister.

Her father didn’t answer, but from that day on, Isla began to receive proper education.

She even got a nanny who took care of her for the first time. She still mostly stayed in the west annex of Saint, but she was meticulously cared for by many servants in a proper room for the first time.

She was free to enter the main building and occasionally had meals with her family when they returned to the duchy.

That alone made Isla’s world more colorful.

It wasn’t that she wasn’t lonely in her solitary moments, but she could bear it well enough.

Because she had hope that she would be recognized if she worked hard.

Because she believed she would be loved.

‘It was a futile act…’

As she grew up, she naturally realized.

That day, her father’s words that it was nonsense were a lie, and no matter how hard she tried, she could not be anything but illegitimate.

Tired of the repetition of vain hope and disappointment, Isla was notified of her marriage.

“Here’s a marriage proposal that came for you. Let’s start with the engagement first, and the wedding will be held in half a year, so be aware. It’s not a position I particularly like, but what can you do? The age difference between you isn’t that great, he’s the heir to a count family, and he’s handsome, so he meets the minimum requirements.”

The ‘minimum requirements’ in her father’s words were like a mirage found while wandering through the desert.

So you do love me after all.

She ran in vain, sweetly intoxicated by the very small oasis in front of her.

She could only stop after realizing that it was a non-existent mirage.

Only after realizing that none of those she believed to be family wanted her happiness.

‘If only I had just followed that boy back then…’

Could she have grown up to be more confident and brighter?

Recently, with the emergence of friends named Vivian and Bella, Isla was also reflecting on herself and working hard.

She wanted to learn from Bella the inner strength to not easily fall no matter what adversity came, and from Vivian how to spread her brightness and cheerful energy around her.

“Can I do it well…?”

It was when she was tearing off a piece of rye bread and muttering to herself as a habit.

“What is it that you want to do so well?”

Turning her head at the sound of someone approaching from inside the garden, she saw Lucas standing under the moonlight.

She hurriedly stood up and bowed her head.

“Lord.”

“I was wondering why I didn’t see you at dinner. Did you come out because you were hungry?”

“Ah… yes. I woke up and it was this hour…”

“Will that piece of bread fill you up?”

“It’s enough. It’s late, and…”

“Is that so? Well, if you say so, then that’s that.”

Lucas didn’t say anything more and looked up at the sky with his hands behind his back.

Following his gaze, she saw an unusually bright and large full moon.

“…It’s a super moon.”

“You recognize a super moon?”

“Of course. It’s the moon that shines brighter than usual once a month, right?”

“Theoretically, yes. But the dates are different each time, so I was asking because you recognized it right away. Most people don’t notice.”

Isla smiled awkwardly at Lucas’s words and nodded.

“I like the night…”

“You like the night?”

“Yes. I often take walks at night like this, so I guess I recognize it. The stars are also brighter when a super moon is out.”

“…I see. You like the night, huh… Miss. May I sit next to you for a moment? I can’t keep you standing.”

“Of course, Lord. Please sit.”

“I won’t refuse and will be rude for a moment.”

As Lucas sat down, Isla followed suit.

A silence flowed between the two, who were looking up at the sky for a moment.

It was Lucas who broke the silence first.

“How much do you know about why we hate the Everett family?”

“…I don’t know much. Just that the First Prince was sent to the distant north because he wasn’t the Empress’s biological son. That must have been to make the Second Prince, the Empress’s son, the Crown Prince, and I only know that the entity that made that happen was the Everett family, the Empress’s family, that is, my father’s doing.”

“You say you don’t know much, but you know it in relatively detail.”

Isla gave a bitter smile at Lucas’s admiration.

Occasionally, she would read the newspaper and wonder about the First Prince’s actions.

Why was he in the north when he was a prince, and the eldest son who could easily become the Crown Prince?

Once she had a doubt, she began to worry about the Emperor, who didn’t look for the First Prince, and his actions, who didn’t return from the north.

So she began to find out the reason, and in the process, she vaguely learned that the Everett family was behind it. What a sense of guilt at that time.

After that, she stopped looking into it, but whenever she heard about Leo’s actions, her mouth always felt prickly as if thorns had grown in it.

She wondered what would have happened if she had looked into it in more detail at that time.

Would she have been able to come here with a more determined resolve to be hated?

Wouldn’t she have been able to properly bow her head in front of the sharp eyes of the people here…?

Lucas’s lonely voice fell into Isla’s ears, who was lost in thought for a moment.

“Leo is a lonely child.”

“…”

“Especially on nights like tonight when the moon is bright.”

Isla tilted her head at the faint resentment in his tone.

The way he looked up at the sky made her feel like he was resenting the moon.

She didn’t have anything to add, so she remained silent, and Lucas opened his mouth with empty eyes.

“Do you know the background of that child’s birth?”

“Yes… I know that he was born to the Emperor’s first wife.”

“To be exact, she was the Emperor’s first consort, married when the current Emperor was still a prince.”

Isla’s curiosity was piqued by the story of Friedrich’s past, who became Emperor before she was even born.

Next to her, Lucas slowly continued.

“She was Dorothea Eisen, the last princess of the Eisenfelt Duchy before it was subordinated to the Empire’s northern territory. Leo is her son.”

“Ah… so that’s why he went to the north?”

“To be exact, he was sent, but that would be correct. The superficial reason for sending Leo… that guy to the north was to be at the forefront of defending his mother Dorothea’s land, Eisenfelt.”

“Defending the front line…?”

“It was a time when monsters appeared almost every day. Sometimes they appeared in swarms.”

“But as far as I know, when the Prince went to the north…”

“Twelve years old.”

“…”

“He gave a sword to a mere twelve-year-old and threw him in front of monsters.”

“That’s…”

Isla’s lips repeatedly opened and closed on their own.

Her heart was squeezed, and she felt breathless.

“That’s just telling him to die…”

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