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Chapter 10 : Freedom (2)
*****
Gravena was a small but well-developed city. That meant everything was there.
Regina, who got out off the carriage and headed to her inn, looked around at the exotic scenery. It was amazing how there were so many differences even though it was a country right next to it.
Duchess Haynes rented a room under the name of the guild and gave one of them to Regina.
"You don't have to do this..."
Frustrated Regina opened her pocket to give her money, but she refused.
"Rather than that, go and rest quickly. I'll call you when it's time to eat."
Before Regina could say anything more, Iria stormed her into the room.
As she was pushed into the room like that, a bed that looked a little wide to use alone greeted her.
Her heart filled with earnestness because her relaxed body was melting as if it were about to stick to the floor. A few steps to get there felt like a year.
'Let's get up and think about the Duchess. Yeah, it's not too late to think about it then.'
The only thing that filled her mind was that now she could finally lie down comfortably.
Regina, who fell on the bed without taking a bath and took off her cloak, fell asleep.
She stood still where there was nothing. She seemed to hold onto her anxious heart and look around with a shaky gaze.
But she couldn't see anything. Nothing. As if that's her way.
When she hesitated, not knowing what to do, someone suddenly appeared in front of her eyes.
Her whole body instinctively guarded her. She had no choice but to know who he was.
"Arsene ....."
He had his eyebrows drooping and bandaged up like the last time she saw him.
"Are you leaving me?"
Seeing him with a sorrowful expression made her feel guilty as if she had become a piece of trash that would never exist again in the world.
Regina moved her steps to avoid it.
She turned away from him and ran forward without a destination.
"Where are you going, Regina?"
But she had to be stopped by Arsene repeatedly. Wherever she went, he followed her.
She constantly ran away and was caught again and again.
She ran and even flew, but she was sucked back like an ant hell that she couldn't get out of.
"Haa... Ha–"
Realizing that she couldn't escape in the end, she sat down and Arsene slowly approached her and embraced her kindly and warmly.
He whispered softly in her ear. It was that sweet voice that always seduced her.
"I'll finish it now. This is your ending."
And–
Knock knock.
The knock broke everything.
After swimming in her dreams for a long time, she rose out of her unconscious mind as if she was being thrown out.
Her pink eyes twinkled open.
'Ah, it's a dream.'
*****
Regina stood up from her seat, clutching her dazed head, thinking for a moment.
'I'm sure someone knocked on the door.'
So it seemed that she had woken up from a dream.
As she approached the door with her heavy body, she felt a subtle presence as if someone was there.
Trying to open the door without thinking, she paused and talked to the other side.
"..... Who is there?"
Regina thought she had escaped from Arsene as she entered the Misbrunn Alliance, but she still had the thought of just in case.
Because he is a villain of the original novel. He has the ability of a fraudulent character.
"It's dinner time, so I'm here to inform you."
However, her alertness, which had been on high alert, subsided by a word heard outside.
"Ah."
Regina, who breathed a sigh of relief without realizing it, opened the door after checking whether her hair was messy.
There was a real waitress standing outside.
The waitress left to tell the others, and she went down the stairs alone.
She seemed unnecessarily nervous because of her dream.
Yeah, no matter how much he does, he won't go in and out of hostile countries recklessly. It was not known how big the diplomatic problem would be if he were caught doing so.
'It's all right. There is still time. He won't be able to chase me right away.'
She didn't have to be nervous because they were going further east anyway.
Regina shook off Arsene's face floating in her head by closing her eyes and stepped on the stairs.
When she went down to the restaurant on the first floor, many people from the guild and knights were already sitting and eating.
Regina looked around and saw a rather unique sight.
"Welcome, Regina. You must be hungry, so hurry up and eat."
It was the image of the Duchess of Haynes sitting among them.
However, none of them seemed to be uncomfortable with the Duchess, probably because they often dine together like that.
'It's unique for a lady.'
She had not eaten yet, as if she had been waiting for Regina. As Regina entered the restaurant, Iria, who stood up, led her to an empty table.
"Looking at it, I think beef stew is the most delicious. Do you like it?"
Regina, who followed her steps and sat at one table, looked at the next table. She've eaten stew before, but it looked good and smelled good, so it looked delicious.
"Yes I like it."
"That's a relief."
When she saw the Duchess asking for two beef stews from the waitress, she suddenly had an unanswered question.
'Why are you helping me? Why are you being so nice to me?'
The Duchess said it wasn't a matter for her to think about the aftermath, but she couldn't help it. She calmly said that she would not have helped if she really felt like she would be harmed, but the future was unpredictable. No one could be sure.
Moreover, this relationship now had absolutely nothing to do with Duchess Haynes.
'Really, why are you doing this?'
She must have had a more serious expression than she thought as she gradually fell into a labyrinth. Iria, who finished her order and looked at her again, asked.
"What's wrong?"
If she had been herself, there was a high possibility that she would groan and agonize to herself, saying that it was nothing in response to these questions. But at this moment, Arsene's voice passed by the end of her thoughts.
[If you're curious about something, you can ask me anytime. Let me know whenever you need help.]
"Why did you help me?"
The question popped out without a few more thought.
Realizing it after spitting it out, she rolled her eyes in surprise.
'It was Arsene who tell me to ask anything, and this is the Duchess of Haynes! I said it without thinking.'
His voice suddenly came to mind, and she spat it out impulsively. Was it because the tension was relieved?
Embarrassed, she scanned the grain of the poor table. She glanced at the Duchess in case she might take it unpleasantly.
But the Duchess of Haines spoke with a sullen air, not offended at all.
However, Duchess Haynes spoke plainly, as if not offended at all.
"I would have helped, if it wasn't young lady."
She recalled the moment she saw Regina in Entanto for a moment.
She wasn't particularly trying to save 'Regina Blois'. Perhaps she would have acted the same had there been another young lady who were forced to marry.
"I thought I would help as much as I could help any young ladies who faced such a situation."
Here is the story she told her briefly.
Iria was originally the daughter of a marquis.
As is the case for girls from aristocratic families, she had to have an arranged marriage, and she obediently followed her parents' opinions without rebelling. She thought it was something she could and should do for her family.
But she wasn't really happy. It didn't make her happy that she couldn't choose who she would spend the rest of her life with, no matter how much it was for her family.
What that person likes, what their habits are, what their eating habits are, and whether they are the right person for them. She didn't even have a chance to judge how many decades she could live by looking at this person.
Fortunately, however, Iria was not fiercely opposed because she was not dating anyone. It must have been fortunate for her parents because some even tried to escape with their lover.
That's how she got married and became Duchess of Haynes. Luckily, the Duke of Haynes was a decent man, and she was married and getting along with him very well. However, not all of an arranged marriage were as fortunate as hers.
One day, when Duchess Haynes was attending a party, she suddenly thought of that when she saw the young lady looking like dying.
Iria wonders if she can help, and she does.
Of course, she didn't help anyone. She needed her own standard of judgment to interfere in other people's lives.
"Actually, this is something I should have asked before helping, but since young lady seemed so desperate, I'm only saying it now."
She was momentarily forgetting the standard she had set for herself in that urgent situation.
She asked, straightening her posture and looking straight into Regina pink eyes.
“Do you really think that you could never be able to be happy there?”
Regina felt her heart sink at those words.
An unknown feeling confused her. Before she even felt it, her pupils trembled slightly.
Just in time, the beef stew Duchess ordered came out and the conversation was cut off for a while.
Duchess Haynes was unaware of Regina's brief agitation because of the waitress blocking her view.
In the meantime, Regina looked at the food being placed on her table, and she pondered.
'Could I have been happy?'
The image of Arsene, who treated her kindly as if looking at a kaleidoscope, passed by.
[If it hurts, say it hurts. I won't get angry even if you say it's hard.]
[You just have to do as much as you can.]
[Can I kiss you?]
He acted like he was in love, talked only sweet things, and tried to seduce her somehow and hold her.
However, the eyes, which had been shaken for a while, calmed down again.
She knows it's all a lie.
The soft emotions and soft smiles he showed herself were all made up.
She shouldn't have been fooled.
Taking her eyes off the steaming stew, she raised her head firmly and said.
"Yes. I couldn't have been happy."
If she liked it alone, it would be painful not only to be able to get her feelings back, but she would have died soon after completing her usefulness.
It was fortunate that she escaped before the emotion deepened. If she gave him more heart here, she could have said she would go back with her feet, saying she missed him.
Duchess Haynes nodded her head at her firm speaking manner.
"Alright, if young lady thinks like that."
Her own life is what she chooses. She had no right to interfere.
Iria hoped that Regina would not regret this choice.
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