Millen only delivered the letter and retreated to a corner to exchange aningless pleasantries with Annie. Esperanza read through the letter as if chewing it thoroughly.
Delaying ti would only give them more ti to prepare. Let's do the opposite. How about finishing it about two days earlier than scheduled? If the reconnaissance ship is ready, we should be able to bring the initiative completely to our side. We'll be busier too, though. Are your preparations sufficient? If there's anything I can help with, contact
through Millen.
P.S.: Don't secretly invade through the window like before. When you do that, I absolutely can't concentrate.>
Esperanza pursed her lips and grumbled. She hadn't been thinking of doing that. If it were the old days when there wasn't this awkwardness, perhaps, but she wasn't reckless enough to attempt such a thing while harboring anxiety about possibly being rejected.
Really, what kind of talk is this? Esperanza, who had been tapping only the postscript section with her pen tip, burst into laughter and grabbed her pen.
My preparations are nothing much. I've checked several tis, and Cyrus doesn't seem to have gone back and forth to that island again. Still, just in case, I'm thinking of going to check once more.>
Seeing Esperanza writing a letter with her cheeks lifted, Cordelia snorted.
"Hmph, so Lord Avondale acts so disagreeably, yet one letter makes everything forgiven?"
"He's never acted disagreeably... well, that's not true, but it's not because of that."
Cider always acted sowhat disagreeably, but that was, well, like a passive skill. Problems didn't arise anew from such things.
All problems basically stemd from Esperanza deceiving Cider, and secondly from unbearable misfortune crashing down like a tsunami. Just as even deeply rooted trees can't withstand a tsunami, he had simply been swept away.
Esperanza's comfort could help shed tears that had been held back, but it couldn't make the anguish disappear. Fortunately, judging from letters alone, he seed much more stable than before. Even when asking Millen, he said there was nothing particular except for his disrupted lifestyle patterns.
That was just returning to how things were before Esperanza ca. It was a good thing, but not entirely welco. Esperanza let out a big sigh.
While lost in thought, she touched the drawing she had scribbled in one corner of the letter with her fingertip. The small character with loosely tied hair was cute. The head was as big as the body, but that small figure was properly dressed in a cravat and jacket.
Esperanza, who had been giggling while giving the tiny hands a cane, suddenly turned her head at a thought that occurred to her.
"Annie!"
"Yes?"
Annie, who had been showing Millen a lace ribbon, roughly threw the ribbon aside and ran over.
"You said you were going to the post office later to see your brother?"
"Actually, it's to see my nephews, not my brother, but yes, I'll go to the post office. Do you have sothing for
to do?"
"Just a mont."
Esperanza, who had taken out another sheet of paper and quickly scrawled sothing, put the paper in an envelope and sealed it. On the envelope, she wrote 'Cyrus' in large letters. She put that envelope into a dark-colored envelope and wrote an address.
"Send this as quickly as possible. By express mail that reaches Nine Holder the sa day. No matter how expensive it is."
Regular express mail took about three or four days to arrive. But if sent by sa-day express, it would arrive by the next morning at the latest. Since ti was tight, it was better to do it that way even if it cost more money.
"It's an important letter, right? I'll ask my brother to slip it into the mail carriage leaving today. Don't worry."
Annie, who had received the letter, put on the coat she had briefly set aside and ran out. The letter arriving safely wouldn't be the end of it. Esperanza didn't know Cyrus's location. The address she had written was the address of The Mage's Pub. So she had to consider the ti for the pub to deliver the letter to Cyrus as well.
It shouldn't be late.
"I'd appreciate it if you could deliver my letter quickly as well."
Esperanza quickly put her letter in an envelope and handed it to Millen. Cordelia muttered from afar, "Master and servant alike," loud enough to be heard again, but Millen didn't even pretend to listen.
After Millen left, Esperanza, who had co up to the room with the others, was rereading the letter she had brought while hanging her head over the desk when she suddenly frowned.
"Where did the drawing go?"
Cider's letter was here.
Cold sweat ran down her spine. Could that doodle have been on different letter paper? Could that have been the letter sent to Cider?
'I must be crazy.'
Thunk. At the sound of her head hitting the desk, Cordelia, who had been glaring at the chess board, looked up in surprise.
"Are you okay? What's wrong?"
No, wait. This isn't right. Let's be calm. It's just a little embarrassing, that's all. I need to do more important things.
"It's nothing! More importantly, Lord Sterling, is there still no news about what I asked you before?"
Alastair, who had been playing chess with Cordelia, took his hand off his piece.
"What request?"
The cousin couple, who weren't related to this matter, showed curiosity, but Alastair pretended not to hear and stood up with his back to them.
"Wow, you left this here, didn't you?"
Taking advantage of the gap, Cordelia devoured his piece, and the handso face recalling the penalty hanging on this chess ga turned dark. But he didn't forget what was important.
"I actually received contact from a private detective this morning. The information isn't certain, though."
Alastair's servant took out a file from his bag. Befitting a famous private detective renowned for his tracking skills from his long career in adultery detection, he had achieved results even in the task of tailing Cyrus. Excluding records of tailing other people mistaken for Cyrus.
Esperanza quickly flipped through the papers and casually asked.
"Was there no ntion of him being with a woman?"
"There was one instance where he was spotted with a woman with strange hair color. What's marked in red ink would be the location where he was witnessed with the woman."
Hunters could freely change their appearance. Though it cost money, that was basically like magic too. She was confident this woman was Daria. If so, the private detective had properly found Cyrus.
Reading the information the private detective had sent, Cyrus seed to be staying in Sterling but didn't appear to be with Daria. They seed to be in contact with each other, though. Esperanza repeatedly read the part describing contact with Daria.
Presud to be an unexpected eting. Lost target from Central Station. Could not confirm if she's an affair partner.>
Affair partner?
"Ah, because he's a detective specializing in adultery...?"
At those words, Alastair averted his eyes with an embarrassed face. Esperanza chuckled and focused on the paper again.
According to the content on the next page, besides this private detective, there seed to be several other people tailing Cyrus at that ti. But despite knowing he was being tailed, there were signs he was leaving it alone...
If even this private detective knew about it, Cyrus must have made it quite obvious. It was probably intended as a warning to the other tailing parties, so the private detective wouldn't be in danger. But investigation results obtained while being caught in the act of tailing—the quality felt severely lacking compared to the quantity.
Still, based on these investigation results, Cyrus seed to be periodically showing himself at pubs near the harbor, as if waiting for the reconnaissance ship's departure.
Esperanza closed the papers and let out a big sigh. Slowly, one by one, the puzzle pieces seed to be coming together. Ti felt terribly slow.
??????°??☆????°??????
Cider's week-long commission was decided to be finished in five days, two days earlier. But though it was said to be five days, since it was already the second day when Esperanza first received Cider's letter, the remaining ti truly passed like an arrow.
Finally, the day before the scheduled date.
Esperanza organized her thoughts while training at the shooting range she had obtained through Alastair's help.
The thin swords in both hands curved with sharp light. Thrust, use the recoil from turning her body to twist a long wound with wrist strength, then land. The series of movents was smooth. Esperanza, who had planted her feet on the ground, jumped once more, considering the weight of wings she wasn't currently wearing.
The situation was unfolding quite coincidentally. The fact that Cider was in Sterling had brought many changes to Esperanza's plans.
Increasing weaknesses was never sothing to welco. But once things had turned out this way, she thought it was rather better to have Cider within her sight, in the sa city. Even though they couldn't see each other's faces despite being only 20 minutes away one way.
But there were letters.
It was much better than when there was no news at all. Cider's letters were honest, and showed almost no resentnt or sense of betrayal. Like cloudy skies clearing, affection that had been covered by forced coldness unexpectedly popped out here and there.
Though today would be the last of that too.
Finishing a week-long commission in five days wasn't easy, but there was no way Cider Claiborne couldn't do sothing he had said with his own mouth he would do. According to schedule, tomorrow would be the day he finished his commissioned work.
That ant eting him again might be as early as tomorrow.
Would the real Cider be affectionate toward the real Esperanza too? Could he easily show affection because they weren't facing each other? Even if it wasn't sincere, being turned away wouldn't be pleasant.
The more her thoughts continued, the more she felt like she was being wounded by the sword she had swung herself. She shook her head to brush away her thoughts and imrsed herself in training again.
Esperanza, who returned from the shooting range around lunchti, discovered Millen waiting on the hotel's first floor. This scene now felt quite familiar.
"You're early. There's no way Cider would be awake at this hour..."
"No. He wrote it at dawn."
"Right. You don't think of waking him early?"
"No. I've gotten used to this too."
Oh my.
What's so good about it? Esperanza clicked her tongue and tore open the letter.
Ah, is that so? Esperanza rested her chin and muttered indifferently as if Cider had said such words to her face. As she always had to his habitual arrogance. However, while reading the following content, a smile spread across her sullen face. Until she read the content added at the very bottom.
'I didn't draw it to give to you.'
She could guess what kind of face he had when writing the postscript. Esperanza let out a deep sigh. Heat rose to her face. At tis like this, she was thankful she didn't have to face Cider imdiately.
"Huh?"
This letter wasn't just one page. Esperanza checked the back page. Unlike the front page that seed to have been written leisurely, the back page had no writing.
Instead, there was a drawing.
On letter paper of a soft color like tea, a woman drawn with quick pen strokes was smiling. The colorless chemise dress swayed above her ankles, and light slid over her dark hair that covered her wrists and hung down to her waist.
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