Transmigrated Into A Tragic Romance Fantasy - Chapter 36
The Same Sky, Different Night
A perennial snow garden.
It was a vast garden within the northern Grand Palace, named such because the snow never melted there all year round.
A symbol of the Grand Palace, a place of pride and splendor.
Naturally, access to outsiders was strictly prohibited, and only guests who had received the official ‘invitation’ from the Winterfell Grand Family, along with the family’s hereditary lineage, were allowed entry.
To boldly enter without permission into what was considered a sacred space by the Winterfell Grand Family could lead to severe consequences.
Strict security was a matter of course.
Step by step.
Now, I was heading there.
As an invitee of a woman who had waited for me at the annex only to leave with just a note, I was walking comfortably.
Even the escort knights did not accompany me.
There was no need for it.
Swift and resolute.
That was my attitude towards the challenge from the mistress of the house.
“By the way, why is the mistress behaving like this?
Even in the original work, it was said that for those who sincerely repent, freedom would be granted.
That was the case.
I dreamed of letting go of all dreams and quietly leaving.
It was sincere.
Because the character Elden was evil.
“And there was a description that he would not be obsessed with revenge.”
Well.
Although the deviation from the original and the development was understandable due to the abstention of the bystander, it was unacceptable to disrupt my cozy night.
Even if she was a noblewoman, as a formal abstainer who did not violate the rules of the courtship contest and even though she may have declined, as a superior nobleman, the Earl’s son had no right to disturb the night.
Even though I abstained, showing my face at the courtship contest was just a matter of observing the minimum courtesy.
It was just a temporary retreat for a culinary travel during the stay in the Grand Palace.
If it was to interfere with that, there was no reason for me to observe the courtesy either.
Anyway.
Right now, I was just walking to fulfill the minimum courtesy for the challenge.
An invitation of repentance was sent flying to the snow garden known as the “Forbidden Area” by a woman who was ignored after her confession of love.
Wanting to respond appropriately with human decency rather than fueling intense resentment, that’s the attempt I wanted to make.
So.
“Have you arrived?”
I arrived at the entrance of the snow garden.
As if to indicate that it was not a place to be taken lightly, it was densely filled with tall fences.
Nothing could be seen inside.
It was so quiet that even if a person died, no one would notice, giving off a somewhat eerie atmosphere.
Galwood, who was standing at the entrance, nodded in greeting.
Although it was surprising that he was standing there instead of the guards, it was actually a good thing for me.
I approached him with a smile.
“The Grand Lady invited me to the snow garden.”
“Yes, she is waiting.”
“But why would she invite an abstainer like me to the Forbidden Sanctuary?”
In response to the natural question, Galwood cleared his throat and averted his gaze.
He seemed somewhat uneasy about the actions of the main character of the courtship contest.
It was odd as just yesterday he had been cheering me on with a warm smile.
Perhaps it was due to visible anxiety.
Excessive fixation that deviated from the essence could make things go wrong.
He could have tolerated one note, but any further actions could disrupt the sacred festival of the courtship contest.
Particularly, in today’s second evaluation match, he had committed acts that should not have been done to the victor Kyle.
Shattering the emblem of the great Winterfell Grand Family on the ground would have been a grave offense worthy of immediate imprisonment if it had been done by someone other than her.
“Um… I am not sure. I am just here to follow the guide of the Lord.”
“Is that so?”
“Then, after you.”
Galwood entered through the entrance of the garden.
I remained behind, standing still, lost in thought.
Soon, Galwood turned back, wearing a puzzled expression.
“…Are you not coming?”
Instead of answering, I gave him a faint smile.
**
As the dusk settled, and the dim darkness of early night approached.
Standing in the snow garden preparing to spend the long night, Lyumian, wearing a white fox mask, stood there.
“Ha….”
She let out a deep sigh.
Instead of her boiling insides evolving, it spread like a wildfire when meeting the wind.
Unable to bear it, she had rushed into Elden’s abode.
“Your… Your Highness, the Lady awaits you…!”
She had rushed past Galwood’s objection, an act driven by anger.
It was maddening.
Enduring the feeling of propriety, she had even made her confession, but Elden, while calmly eating fruit and descending the mountain path, was clearly indicating a ‘rejection.’
‘How dare… reject a confession from the Lady of the courtly house?’
She considered it an irrefutable temptation; she thought there was no other solution.
Thus, she had confidently promised success.
But an insurmountable feeling of propriety had accumulated.
She had become petulant.
All because Elden alone was causing everything to fall apart, and the unsolvable, ever more convoluted puzzle seemed to have no solution.
She resisted.
She appeared so lacking in her assurance of victory, so pitiful.
She trembled with embarrassment to the extent that her whole body shivered in humiliation.
Her intestines twisted in shame.
She felt her reason deteriorating and her physical body decaying.
For someone who had never given up, wanting to give up was a sign of how deep her despair was.
Rational thinking was difficult.
She found herself swayed by emotions, and impulsive actions, as if her patience had run out.
Eventually.
“””Your Highness… I know you might take this as going beyond the subject, but your actions just now were not appropriate.”””
She heard a scolding remark to Galwood, the aide.
Having committed acts that contradicted the promise to give generous scores to the victor, Cary, she had reproached the act of throwing the emblem brought by him on the ground.
She had a hundred mouths, but there was nothing to say.
It was an improper action.
It was appropriate.
However, she couldn’t be sure whether she could perform better if the same situation repeated.
When she looked at Elden, she felt a surge of anger.
It was an irresistible surge of anger, and if she could turn back time, she felt like she would slap him in the face for his insolence.
‘Annoying. Disgusting. Frustrating-!’
Thud!
Lyumian, standing alone on a wooden bridge, stomped her foot loudly.
Throb.
The snow that had piled up on the handrail began to flow down.
Or could it be that the courtship contest was flawed?
An hypothesis with no visible answer.
Was it possible that the assumption that Elden’s change was an absolute falsehood was wrong?
‘No-!’
That couldn’t be true!
Now was not the time for that kind of assumption!
Throb!
Lyumian rolled her foot nervously again.
She did not want to consider the possibility that the courtship contest was flawed.
All the attempts she had made so far had come to nothing, and all the plans she had to make in the future would be thrown off track.
She hoped, at all costs, that the courtship contest was not wrong.
Or.
‘Does he know my true identity?’
Through what path had he learned that she was Erenthia Velroc, and predicted that a revenge drama would unfold, and then abstained?
While it was a plausible hypothesis, his attitude was too consistently calm.
Too much.
There was no sign of crisis, he seemed to be enjoying his stay in the Grand Palace, almost childishly, and his chances of proving it were not very high.
“Ha…,”
In the end, there was no answer through mere contemplation.
The only way was to rip it out of him, to spit out the truth.
Even if she had to do it by removing the mask.
She felt a long sigh released as a white cloud in the chilly weather.
Then.
Throb!
Throb!
All she could do was tear the letter into shreds.
To make it in pieces that could never be put back together.
Just as she had to tear Elden apart, as it was turning the pieces of the letter into powder.
“Your… Your Highness…?”
Throb!
Throb!
*
At the same time.
Elden, who was leisurely returning to the annex, looked up at the sky.
Shwish-!
At that moment, he saw a shooting star with a long tail flying by.
“Oh-! It’s a shooting star-!”
Excitedly exclaimed Elden, he immediately crossed his hands to make a wish.