She didn't know how she had escaped. Before leaving, she briefly watched the queen, left alone in the reception room, trembling as she clutched her tension-released body, then soon realized that the trembling wasn't the queen's alone. Esperanza's body was shaking just the sa.
"Are you hurt sowhere?"
Prince Louis, who had seen nothing, tilted his head. With a child's hearing, he probably couldn't have heard the conversation going on through the wiretap either. That was fortunate.
"Let's go back now."
"What? So now you're going to tell ? Where did you learn to fly around like that?"
She didn't have the energy to make up a new lie, so she answered roughly.
"It's a martial art passed down from a mysticism sect in Paolun."
"Woooow. That kind of thing really exists?"
The discriminatory fantasies of this country's people sotis helped Esperanza.
"That's cool. Could I learn it too?"
"Who would teach Your Highness such a thing?"
"But it's cool though. I want to whoosh around flying too."
For the first ti, in the grumbling appearance of a young child, she saw the still-innocent twenty-three-year-old Prince Louis. That naive and kind face that had said he respected the strength of hunters who threw themselves fearlessly toward force and danger. Esperanza spoke in a slightly kinder voice than before.
"Taking an airship would be much better than flying around directly."
Whether the word airship stimulated the child's romanticism, Prince Louis imdiately began nodding and chattering about where he wanted to go on an airship.
After safely sending Prince Louis back to his room and retrieving the wiretap, Esperanza left the palace alone instead of going to find the duchess. A hollow wind blew in the empty space left by the little prince who had been chattering excitedly.
Why was Cyrus there?
She could have thought it was soone else with a similar face. If it had been soone she glimpsed in passing, she might have been mistaken. But it was a face she had seen at least once or twice a month for nearly five years. Esperanza knew she wasn't wrong.
Why was Cyrus there.
She returned to the original question again. The 'enemies in the labyrinth' who were supposedly threatening by holding the lifelines of the prince and princess. But the Cyrus that Esperanza knew was soone who subdued even ga characters made of 0s and 1s without killing them.
'Even though it seems so real, how do people kill so easily like that?'
Yet he was part of a gang demanding wealth using the safety of the royal family and Nine Holder as leverage?
More than that, how was he here? In Nine Holder of an era when there were no hunters or dungeons yet.
'Did he co over like ? Or... wasn't he a player?'
Even for people who would never treat others carelessly in reality, life in gas was light. Esperanza was the sa. But he alone valued human life. If he had been an NPC, for instance, soone from the Hunter Association side, it would make sense. Even so, she didn't understand why or how he pretended to be a player and even dominated the rankings.
No. She just didn't understand anything. She didn't even know if this world and Osdern in the ga were the sa place or different. When the ti ca, would dungeons begin appearing in earnest in this world too, and would hunters appear? Were they players? Would Esperanza beco just an NPC? Before that, was this even a real world?
It had been a shaky logical system from the start. Most of Esperanza's speculation was based on Cider's, but his speculation had different premises from hers. So it was bound to get tangled.
But she couldn't tell him now that this world was the world inside a ga, and that she ca from a completely different world. She couldn't, not like that.
What on earth should she do? She couldn't kill Cyrus. Even if he was just a companion from a ga, a companion was still a companion. They had fought back-to-back for a long ti and destroyed countless dungeons. If the current Cyrus really wasn't soone who had co from the future like Esperanza but was a person of this ti period, he probably wouldn't even be a match for the current Esperanza, but still, she couldn't kill him.
But it was also true that she had already decided to help the queen. Although she had said she wouldn't kill, in the end Esperanza was in a position where she had to fight against the queen's enemies. In the current situation, the only way to obtain information about the Golden Claw and dungeons was through the queen and duke.
Moreover, since the queen had just rejected their demands, the timing of that fight would be even sooner.
Her mind was panic itself. Until now, even without paving, she had been walking along a beaten path, but suddenly she was thrown into a forest thick only with undergrowth. A path where she couldn't even get her bearings.
What should she do? Cyrus, what was this situation, how should she handle it?
'I want to just collapse...'
People passing by glanced once at the lady walking alone trudgingly without a single maid. The wide road with running carriages and respectable buildings, the streets where gentlen and ladies with automatons passed by.
A carriage smoothly stopped beside the lady who was receiving glances from people pretending not to notice as they passed. Esperanza, lost in thought, didn't look back. Then the gentleman who opened the window tilted his head and asked.
"Miss, are you going to walk?"
Esperanza, who hadn't thought the carriage was looking for her, turned around with wide eyes.
"Cider?"
Under the shadow cast by the silk hat, red lips curved in an arc. A light laugh burst out unconsciously. For a mont, the complicated thoughts lted away.
"How did you know to co?"
"Get in first."
The count in the carriage opened the door and ca out to escort the lady. When Esperanza got into the carriage without being able to hide her bewildered expression, the count also got in and closed the door. As the carriage left the street, the glancing looks also disappeared.
"Were you on your way ho?"
Cider raised his eyebrows as if asking what she ant.
"This isn't the way."
"Esperanza. Don't I know you?"
Even though it wasn't a long statent, she could tell what had happened. Esperanza shrugged her shoulders greatly.
"So you deliberately ca this way knowing I had been to the palace?"
Cider was silent for a mont. When she looked at him urging him on, a slow answer finally ca back.
"Sothing like that."
"How did you hit it exactly? Can even that be calculated?"
"Yes, roughly. So, were there any results from going without ?"
The smile lingering at the corners of his mouth disappeared. How should she say this? She couldn't hide it forever.
"...I saw sothing I never expected."
Her shoulders rose and fell greatly. Cider, who had been watching her wavering eyes, extended his arm. The shirt under the thin coat was stiff like new.
"Here."
Was he extending it for her to grab and tear? Looking down unconsciously, her hand was already gripping his sleeve out of habit. Cider answered with a smile. Esperanza released her grip as if throwing it away.
"Just how many of your shirts have I ruined?"
"Ruined, you say."
The count, who raised one eyebrow as if pointing out inappropriate word usage, eventually gave a short laugh.
"At least more than one or two. But well, it's fine."
"Was it bad enough to throw away? No, then you should have told
to stop. Why are you extending your arm again?"
She pushed his arm away bluntly. At least give a hint, why are you extending your arm again?
"I didn't say I threw them away. Millen probably ironed them nicely."
"What? You should have said that from the beginning!"
Esperanza pouted while letting out a sigh of relief. If she had really ruined them, it would have been embarrassing.
"So, aren't you going to tell
what you saw? It'll take at least 30 more minutes until we arrive."
"30 minutes from here to ho?"
What kind of scam was this? It didn't take 30 minutes by carriage from Augustum Palace to Upper Lane. Esperanza had walked out quite a bit and they had been riding for at least 5 more minutes, so 15 to 20 minutes would be enough to arrive. It wasn't like the road was blocked either.
"Really."
Esperanza looked out the window, confird that she could see the edge of Upper Lane beyond the road, and glared at Cider. However, the shaless magical engineer didn't give up his "30-minute theory."
Eventually, Esperanza, who had let out a sigh, opened her mouth. She thought it might be better to end it here.
"I saw an old colleague. Soone called Cyrus."
A man's na? Cider frowned. When Esperanza stopped speaking, he extended his hand. Regardless of her reproachful look. Esperanza hesitated, then gripped his shirt sleeve tightly. Neat fingernails brushed against his skin.
"He wasn't that kind of person. He was more righteous than
and never used force carelessly."
"People don't have just one side."
"Still. I want to believe there's a reason, and I want to ask what he knows. What's certain is that I don't want to kill him."
A deep sigh scattered. And.
"And. Actually."
The touch stroking down her shoulder was affectionate. As if this mont were a dream. Esperanza looked up at Cider and chuckled. When she first saw this man, could she have even imagined she would co to rely on him this much? But now he was the only person in this world to whom she could reveal even half her true feelings.
The only one.
"Actually, I just don't want to et him."
She finally spoke aloud the true feelings she couldn't dare declare even while repeatedly mulling over and organizing the facts she had learned today. She felt both empty and a little relieved.
"You don't want to be disappointed?"
"That could be it. Or it just seems scary."
"Taking a step forward?"
Esperanza just smiled.
Originally, there was nothing in this world that could frighten Esperanza. What lay beneath her feet was just a created world, a sandcastle that would collapse with one step. No one was afraid of such things. But the mont she felt the fact that it was real, the mont she held toy soldiers in both arms and felt their warmth, she was pulled down into this world inside the sandcastle.
"But you'll et him, won't you?"
This man, as he had boasted, really did know Esperanza well. Laughter flowed out. Esperanza answered with her eyes closed.
"Yes."
Fear had never stopped Esperanza. Even when she wasn't a hunter.
After that answer, Esperanza didn't move for a long ti. It was impossible to tell whether she had just closed her eyes or fallen asleep. Cider tucked the disheveled hair on her forehead behind her ear. Seeing that she didn't notice at all, she seed to have fallen asleep in the anti. Even when he tilted her head slightly to lean against his shoulder, she only breathed peacefully without waking up in surprise.
When he first t this woman, he couldn't have even imagined that he would let this woman sleep leaning on his shoulder.
Of all tis, an old colleague now.
Well, it didn't matter. As much as Esperanza herself acknowledged, he knew Esperanza well. He could see the size of her heart as if it were placed in his palm.
"Count, we're back at Upper Lane and the young lady has co too, so shall we return to the mansion now?"
"Three more laps."
"Excuse ? We've already gone around seven tis."
"Think of it as completing ten laps."
Along with Taylor's grumbling sounds, he pulled the lever. The carriage spat steam again and ran down the main road.
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