Episode 10. The Commotion at Dawn

“Pardon? Your turn, Young Duke Belif?”

“Yes, I also have a request to make of you, Lady Ford.”

Wearing a courteous smile, Hereis calmly looked down at the woman before him.

At the moment he had grabbed Brienne’s wrist on a hunch, he had faintly sensed a trace of mana in her body.

It wasn’t uncommon for a fully grown adult to awaken to magic later in life. However, the mana circuit Hereis sensed in Brienne was clearly thin and crude.

There must have been some external force at work to open such a circuit…

After finishing his thoughts, Hereis took a step closer to Brienne.

“Would you hear me out?”

A brief silence hung over the quiet corridor. The sharp, wary glint in Brienne’s eyes disappeared beneath her long lashes.

Eventually, her slightly parted lips closed firmly again, and she let out a weary sigh.

“…What kind of request is it?”

Brienne’s expression was tense for some reason.

Hereis had intended to immediately ask what had happened after their encounter in the library, but then he changed his mind.

Though he wasn’t one to indulge in guessing people’s thoughts based solely on facial expressions, Brienne’s face, which shifted moment by moment and stirred his curiosity, piqued his interest.

He suddenly wanted to see a slight tremor cross that firm expression.

‘I hadn’t planned to play this kind of shallow game…’

Exhaling lightly, Hereis channeled mana into the ashes. As a blue glow shimmered from his hand, the burnt invitation regained its original form, partially torn.

Just as he expected, Brienne’s eyes widened. With a calm tone, Hereis returned the invitation to its owner.

“It was an invitation, I see.”

Her light green eyes, sparkling with fascination, turned back to Hereis’s face.

“How did you do that?”

“Restoration magic. It’s a basic spell.”

“Magic… It’s truly amazing. This is my first time seeing it up close.”

As Brienne accepted the invitation with a bewitched smile, Hereis couldn’t suppress the impure thoughts that surfaced while looking into her eyes.

How many times had he imagined this moment?

That day on the lake by the Bannon estate, those very same light green eyes had pierced into him. Just that memory sent shivers through his body.

‘I wonder if you know.’

That your eyes only ever looked at Kaiden Bannon.

“Ah, right. You said you had a request? Please go ahead. I needed this anyway.”

Brienne held up the invitation and gazed up at him. Hereis’s hand flinched ever so slightly beneath his calm expression.

He had thought that just getting to meet her once more would be enough. But after hearing of Kaiden’s engagement, he had started dreaming of things he had never dared before. Without realizing it, he had begun to desire more.

And the reasons he gave for these repeated impulses were not just passing whims.

Hereis Belif was not foolish enough to be unaware of his own heart.

“Lady Ford, I would like to become close with you.”

“…What?”

At the sudden, unprompted declaration, Brienne’s eyes wavered slightly. Forcing a smile, Hereis continued in a calm tone.

“I heard there’s a café famous for its cake. Once the weather clears up, how about we start by having tea there together?”

“So, why are you asking me to…?”

Brienne trailed off and closed her lips again. What should have been a simple proposal—she could have just said yes or no—seemed unfamiliar to her.

‘…Why would anyone call this woman cold?’

To him, Brienne seemed more like someone awkward with relationships rather than someone cold as the rumors claimed.

And whatever the reason, that worked in his favor. If she had coldly rejected him, he wouldn’t have had an excuse to approach her again.

“I’m asking you to go on a date with me.”

“…A date?”

As Brienne seemed to process the situation, her cheeks turned red. The unnatural sound of her breathing brushing past his ears, and her small shoulders rising and falling as if startled, appeared large in Hereis’s eyes.

He couldn’t take his eyes off her.

This woman who reacted so strongly to each of his words and actions…

‘…Is truly lovable.’

He couldn’t believe he was feeling what he had only guessed before. How many times had he even seen her to be having such feelings?

‘Am I insane?’

He knew it already, but it seemed his feelings were even more insane than he thought. The moment Brienne left even the smallest opening, his greed kept growing. The feelings he had stored up for so long had started taking steps toward her. He must have been completely under a spell, perhaps a new kind of magic.

“Th-that won’t do.”

And at that moment. A softly trembling voice broke through his thoughts.

“You… are Kaiden’s friend, Young Duke Belif.”

“……”

At that completely unexpected reason, Hereis’s usual composed face stiffened. The excitement that had soared out of control instantly dropped.

Only then did he realize that he had been so intoxicated by the reward he had never before received, that he had failed to consider Brienne’s feelings.

“A-anyway, I’ll have to refuse your request. But thank you very much for your help.”

Before he could stop her, Brienne turned and left. Hereis stood motionless until her figure completely disappeared, then clenched his fist, replaying the sensation left in his hand.

‘Kaiden’s friend…’

He hadn’t failed to predict how Brienne Ford might perceive him. But still, being labeled so simply as Kaiden’s friend painfully stirred his heart.

When they reunited, Brienne didn’t recognize him at all. Even knowing he was Kaiden’s friend was fortunate.

His thoughts of having acted too hastily were soon drowned by a surge of anger toward Kaiden, who might be anywhere doing who knows what. With a grim gaze, Hereis pulled Kaiden’s invitation from his coat and glared at it.

***

It was a bright summer day rarely seen in the Rontiano Empire.

Brienne fell into a deep sleep the moment she lay down, without even having time to reflect on Hereis’s invitation.

She was standing under the shade of a large tree. She was with a man whose face was somehow blurry.

‘Let’s… do it.’

The man who whispered that held her tightly in his arms. Her head nodded involuntarily, as if she had entered someone else’s body.

‘…Really? Really?’

The man who smiled brightly in disbelief buried his face in the nape of her neck. His dark hair tickled beneath her chin, and hot breath fell over her collarbone.

Then her vision flipped upside down. Brienne was lying on a large bed that could only be found in a palace. She instinctively realized this was the celestial realm she had read about in books.

Just seeing the men sharing the same bed made that fact obvious.

Bang, bang.

At that moment, a loud noise rang out from a large birdcage in one corner of the bedroom. Brienne turned her head to look. A pure white bird was pecking at the cage with its beak, and at the same time, the voice of the man from under the tree echoed.

‘Riela…!’

The scene changed once again.

This time, the man from earlier was kneeling with his head in his hands, sobbing.

“…Arthur?”

Brienne murmured the man’s name as if in a trance. It was the name that had come to mind ever since she saw the beautiful bird trapped in the cage.

‘Riela, I, I truly…’

The man’s sobs grew louder. Then he shouted as if wailing.

‘…mean it.’

Blink.

Suddenly, her eyes flew open.

A dream?

…Was something this vivid really just a dream?

Brienne sat up straight and immediately checked the clock. It felt like she had only just closed her eyes, but the hour hand pointed to four o’clock.

‘No way…’

After dreaming intensely for more than ten hours, she could no longer distinguish what was what. Brienne took a deep breath, trying to calm her pounding heart as she stared at the rain hitting the dark window.

Her head felt like it would split open.

The pain was as sharp as when she heard about Kaiden’s engagement. Brienne frowned and tried to recall the memories.

‘What was that, exactly?’

Riela and Arthur?

Strange scenes floated in her hazy mind. Only after those unfamiliar memories faded away like clouds did her sense of reality slowly return.

Rumble, crash!

Right then, thunder cracked through the sky as if the world was ending. Startled, Brienne clutched her blanket and shuddered. Now that she thought of it, something was strange outside the window.

Brienne got out of bed and walked to the window on trembling legs.

Beyond the rain that made it hard to see, the colorful rooftops that should have been visible below the hill were nowhere in sight.

It was just as she reached to wipe away the fog on the window.

Knock, knock.

“Miss Brienne!”

Marie’s urgent voice called out. As Brienne quickly turned around, a loud knock followed. With a foreboding feeling, Brienne opened the door at once.

“What is it?”

“Th-the master asks that you come down right away. Quickly, please.”

Following Marie down the stairs, she found her father, already dressed to go out, standing at the front door. As she looked around in confusion, she saw her mother’s red eyes and Shiloh sniffling.

“Brienne! I thought I wouldn’t get to see you before I left.”

Damon burst out laughing and opened his arms wide when he saw Brienne.

“…What is going on, Father?”

Instead of embracing him, Brienne furrowed her brow and looked behind him.

Seeing two heavily armed knights by his side, she knew her bad feeling hadn’t been wrong.