You’re asking if I want to send you back? ...No. How could I ever send you away?
The mont he ford that answer in his mind, Tristan realized he was already pulling Dory into his arms.
His mouth was suddenly free.
He could shout if he wanted to—order the coachman to stop at once and return the unexpected guest to the capital.
But right now...
There was sothing far more important he needed to say.
Her na.
"Dory."
"Yes, Your Highness."
"Dory... Dorys Redfield. How did you end up here?"
"Shouldn’t we first discuss how Your Highness ended up leaving in the first place?"
Even that sharp tone of hers was sweet to him.
Tristan answered, letting the feeling that was blooming inside him spill into his words.
"You’re right. I could discuss that for hundreds of hours, Dory."
"Eh? That’s not what I ant!"
"Then, Dory, would you explain it to instead? Even if it takes hundreds of hours, I don’t mind."
"Your Highness!"
Dory answered him—sotis laughing, sotis annoyed—and every second of it slowly filled Tristan’s mind.
He realized, all over again, how reckless it had been to think he could go a whole week without seeing her.
How could he possibly endure an entire week when just hearing her two-syllable na gave him this much joy?
"Dory."
"P-please stop calling that! You’re saying my na on purpose, aren’t you?"
"Exactly. As always, your judgnt is impeccable... But before that, you need to answer my question."
Tristan braced himself again.
He couldn’t stay dazed forever.
He didn’t want to look foolish in front of Dory—and besides, with every mont, they were moving farther from the capital walls.
He had to sort this out before things beca truly irreversible.
"Dory. How... exactly did you end up here?"
Tristan regained his composure faster than I expected and asked .
Yeah. Even if he sotis acts cold or arrogant, it’s this side of him that draws to Tristan.
’If I answer wrong, will he turn the carriage around and drag back to the capital?’
I wasn’t planning to give up so easily, but... I answered his second question first.
"Though I’m usually good at gathering information quickly, I didn’t know about your trip until I read your letter. That led to infer that your departure was arranged hastily and you likely didn’t get permission for road control."
"So you expected there would be delays."
"Exactly. And I figured if I just tried to chase after the carriage from the Redfield estate, you wouldn’t stop for . So I borrowed so help to block the road and create a distraction."
It was a trick I learned from O. Henry’s short story The Gift of the Magi and Cupid’s Intervention.
A wealthy father had bribed police and coachn to block the road so his son could spend enough ti with the girl he loved to confess his feelings. I quickly hired local errand runners and rcenaries to fake an accident outside the city and asked the Crown Princess for a little more ti, too.
Of course, there was a chance Tristan had already left. He could have missed the Princess entirely or taken a back route to avoid the trouble. Even so, I had to do everything I could.
Tristan let out a sigh.
"No wonder the Crown Princess kept with aningless conversations... Wait a second. Were the people blocking the road also your doing?"
"I won’t deny it."
"Haaah... Dory. Why did you go to such dangerous lengths?"
"Dangerous?"
"This carriage is still moving farther from the capital. If we don’t stop soon, you’ll lose your chance to return—and it’ll just be you and , traveling far away together."
"..."
"You know what that would imply, don’t you?"
Of course I do.
In this era, if a man and woman traveled alone together—even under the pretense of official business—it would be seen as irreversible proof that sothing had happened between them.
I answered.
"That’s exactly why I got on."
"...What?"
"To make sure Your Highness couldn’t run away anymore. Anyway, Tristan and Dorys are going to get married—"
I could feel my face flushing, but I stubbornly pushed on.
"Their relationship may have started with a political marriage, but even when left alone, even when no outside force pushed them... they still wanted to be together."
"..."
Tristan’s hands, which had seed ready to push away at any mont, finally stilled.
Slowly, his face turned red.
Even when he ducked his head, his flustered expression only stood out more through his tousled silver hair.
Without lifting his head, he spoke.
"Dory... Are you saying... you want to stay by my side?"
My face burned. I wanted to clamp my mouth shut. But no—this was my chance to say everything, while he was still hiding his face.
"Yes."
"Th-then, um, your feelings—"
You know without saying, right? I wanted to leave it unsaid, wanted to just let our eyes et and convey everything.
But...
This was my turn to shout it out loud.
Just like Tristan had once confessed to , even at the lowest, most embarrassing point of his pride.
No matter how much I cringed later, better that than a lifeti of regret.
I opened my mouth slowly.
"Tristan Winter Albion."
Let speak words worthy of your na.
"I, Dorys Redfield...
am beautiful, diligent, wise, strong—"
"..."
"—and at the sa ti arrogant, reckless, and foolish. But even so, I want to stay by Your Highness’s side, forever, forever, forever!"
The last sentence burst out almost like a strangled scream. Tristan wore an endlessly complicated expression.
"...Did you say foolish?"
So he admits the first two parts.
But he has to admit the last one, too!
"I-I an, it’s true, isn’t it? Isn’t it foolish? What else do you call soone who keeps pushing soone away all through sumr and only confesses in autumn that he’s been in love the whole ti?"
"..."
Tristan clenched his teeth and let out a long sigh. It seed he had no rebuttal at the mont. I was about to vent even more of my pent-up grievances, but I stopped—
Not because I thought I’d gone too far, but because I was curious about how he would respond.
He ran a hand through his disheveled hair, then spoke with a wry smile.
"Just as you said... maybe I really am a fool. Even now, all I can think about is wanting to kiss you."
"...Huh?"
"And what’s truly hopeless about is..."
With those unexpected words, Tristan’s upper body leaned closer to mine. But sohow, I knew—he wouldn’t touch unless I allowed it. Only a small voice brushed against my ear.
"Greedy as it is, I want to kiss you and keep hearing your voice at the sa ti."
"...Even if what I’m saying is calling you a fool?"
"Exactly. No matter what you say, could you keep talking for ?"
"No."
My inner mischief moved my body.
I clamped my mouth shut.
When I saw Tristan’s eyes fill with a look of injustice, like he was thinking, ’Really? You’re going to do this to ?’, I moved my head just a finger’s width closer to him.
Even though now neither of us could speak aloud, with our breaths caught between us—
I felt like I could still understand exactly what he was trying to say.
Love filled .
When we arrived at the Blue Atrium, I was worried that the territory’s people and the employees of the Count’s estate would be cold toward us.
’They were probably enjoying the peace with their boss gone, and now a new boss suddenly shows up without even sending notice? And a parachute appointnt, no less!’
It had felt so thrilling when I jumped into Tristan’s carriage without a second thought...
But unexpectedly, the staff guarding the estate welcod Tristan more warmly than I expected.
Well—"more warmly than expected," anyway—
"Y-Your Highness Tristan? How did you co without any notice?"
"You’ve been inford about Count Braum’s dismissal, I assu."
"Yes, we have."
"I arrived early to handle the administrative paperwork. Sorry for the suddenness, but I’d appreciate it if you could make ti slowly, at your convenience."
"There’s no need to apologize! It’s actually much better for us to get things in order ahead of ti."
To welco a boss who barges in bringing paperwork—
Wasn’t that basically the treatnt of laying down a red carpet?
’Tristan must have built up a ton of trust on his last visit...’
I followed along, greeting the staff one by one, handing out food gifts from the Crown Princess.
Fortunately, the employees gladly accepted the boxes of treats.
An experienced-looking maid ca to guide us.
"Welco. We’ve prepared the reception room and study for you. The guest rooms may take a little longer to get ready... If you need to rest, we’ll try to prepare them as quickly as possible."
"No rush on the bedroom. First, please take us to the office."
"Understood."
"...Ah, wait. My fiancée must be exhausted from the journey. Has the dining room been—"
The dining room!?
How would the staff see if he started demanding food right away?!
"I’ll go to the office too!"
The maid bowed to .
"Understood, milady. The easternmost guest room will be prepared, so feel free to use it whenever you need to rest."
As we followed her toward the office, a simple but obvious fact hit —
The guest room...
Are we going to be sharing just one room?
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