The moment my voice passed over the air, Ricardo stood up.
"Because it would be better for you to hide behind your father's shadow like that."
His head slanted to look at me.
Ricardo's face was stiff and distorted.
He seemed to feel humiliation and anger at the same time as he was betrayed in front of Gabriel.
It must have been a scene in Ricardo's life that he had never even imagined.
But he couldn't make a loud voice in front of me as before.
"Well, yes, brother."
At that time, Gabriel, who couldn't do this or that, came out from a distance and looked at Ricardo and quickly approached, as if she had hardened her mind.
"Quickly go back inside. Don't bother sister Hillise while she's resting."
Gabriel even pushed Ricardo's back firmly as if to go ahead.
Somehow, yesterday, there was something that she swore by herself in front of me, and it seemed to me that she was doing this to show me how to keep it.
"Gabriel, youㆍㆍㆍ."
Ricardo looked down at Gabriel and couldn't speak.
There was even a slight sense of betrayal in his eyes.
Gabriel was startled.
She whispered to Ricardo.
But her voice was louder than I thought, so I heard everything.
For Gabriel, she may have said it was for Ricardo, but in the end, it was just like asking him to look at my eyes.
Ricardo's mouth clenched.
I drank tea and admired the ridiculous sight in front of me.
Ricardo looked at Gabriel and me with his swaying eyes and finally withdrew quietly.
But turning back and crossing the garden, his fists were painfully clenched.
"Sister! I removed brother from your sight! Now, let's relaxㆍㆍㆍ Oh!"
Not to Ricardo, Gabriel ran to me, shining her eyes, asking for praise.
Then she folded her feet and fell on the grass.
It didn't seem to have been taken deliberately, but Gabriel's figure, who fell in the green grass, was just as pitiful as an actor on the stage.
In a way, that was also a skill.
She didn't get up right away, she groaned a little, pulling her sloppy hair off with her hand.
Her face was revealed by her words with a sad expression among her golden hair shimmering in the sun.
"Sister Hiliseㆍㆍㆍ I think I sprained my ankle."
Gabriel's moist eyes stared at me as if expecting something.
I looked at Gabriel like that and got up in her seat.
"Oh, my sister."
As I walked in front of her fallen Gabriel, she stopped her tone and she looked up at me.
I leaned slightly and reached out my hand.
Then Gabriel made a touching expression.
"Sister, thank youㆍㆍㆍㆍ"
But instead of grabbing Gabriel's shy hand, I picked up the envelope that had fallen in front of her.
Gabriel, who had been smacking in vain, made a stupid look.
"Isn't this coming in front of me?"
It was a letter that had been in her hand from when Gabriel rushed into my garden.
So, just in case, when she fell a while ago, when I saw the envelope that fell in front of her, there was also my name written on it.
"Well, ah, yesㆍㆍㆍㆍ that's right."
Gabriel seemed to have misunderstood that I had reached out to raise her hand.
She then realized that it was her misunderstanding, she and she stuttered embarrassingly.
Her face was a little bit red.
"Why are you carrying this?"
"I wanted to pass it on to my sister, so I brought it from the maid."
No matter how long she waited, when I did not reach out again, Gabriel eventually faltered and woke up alone.
I looked at the employees waiting in the corner of the garden.
"Lady, did you call?"
Then, May, the most noticeable among them, came to me with a quick step.
"Putting an important letter coming to me to someone else's hand is a mess of my employees. If this happens one more time, I'll fire all the employees in the mansion. Tell that to everyone."
May replied that ran quickly to tell the other employees.
"Hey, sister, are you mad at me?"
Gabrielle also heard me and her complexion became pale.
"No."
"Thenㆍㆍㆍ"
"I don't like you."
Gabriel suddenly froze.
I walked past her with the letter.
In the past, there was a time when I felt guilty toward her for choosing her fiance, Christian.
However, it also became increasingly diluted over time, and it was completely gone now, through the last seventh life.
As I crossed the garden, I looked down and saw what I had in my hand.
The luxurious indigo envelope, sealed with a seal, had Bergett's crest engraved on it.
Axion must have sent it because of the conversation we had in the drawing-room yesterday.
"Hey, Sister Hillise, wait a minute! Sisterㆍㆍㆍ!"
A fairly desperate call came from behind me walking towards the mansion.
Soon there followed the limping footsteps.
She indeed sprained her leg when she fell a while ago, so she couldn't follow me properly.
There was a new thought in my mind about the letter from Axion Bergett.
So there was no place for Gabriel to intervene.
Thinking that I should go inside and check the contents of the letter, I headed to the room.
* * *
A few days later, I was ready to go out.
Until this morning, the house had been noisy because of my father.
It was because he heard about the celebration at the King's Palace.
My father, knowing that I had decided to hold a banquet at will, flipped his eyes and ran out of the room.
However, he was not able to take a few steps in front of his visit because he was not fully recovered.
So I was told that Ricardo had been in his father's room since then.
"My ladyㆍㆍㆍ, No, my master you have fair and beautiful skin so everything looks good on you!"
May showed off flattery and listened to me.
I thought she would change my clothes and do my hair, but I was thinking about something else for a while and saw that she started to take jewellery alternately, so I stopped her hand.
"Stop. That's it."
I wasn't going to a banquet, but I didn't even need to elaborately dress up.
May seemed to be sorry, but she backed out without saying a word.
I was thinking about removing the messy big head ornament and even the earrings, but I just woke up when I knew it was time for the appointment.
* * *
Hwioo!
After a while, I arrived at the king's palace.
"Good afternoon, the head of Inoaden."
As soon as the wind had subsided to some extent, a quiet voice broke through the eardrum.
When I opened my eyes, I saw the man who had promised to meet with me today.
It arrived just at the promised time, but Axion had already arrived.
His appearance stood out against the backdrop of a pure white palace.
I could see the black hair still fluttering shallowly by the wind I caused.
The blue eyes that were revealed in the meantime we're holding me without shaking.
Even today, the royal palace was filled with divine energy.
I looked back at the Axion Bergett melted in that without any discomfort.
"You came early."
"I've just arrived, too."
With such a short reply, Axion approached me.
Suddenly, I recognized that my eye level with him was different from before.
Unlike Axion, who was completely on the level above the stairs, I stood a few steps down.
"Taakk"
Realizing the reason, I took a step and climbed the stairs.
Axion watched me still like that.
Come to think of it, the current situation was the opposite of the last scene in my last life.
At that time, I was looking down at Axión from the stairs.
Chrip. Chrip.
Above my head, there was a clear chirping sound.
It was quite new to see him face to face again in such a peaceful scene.
When I finally stepped on the last step and climbed completely upward, for some reason, Axion frowned subtly.
"Last time I felt it vaguely, but the scent..."
Scent?
It was a murmur sounding like a self-talk, but it was enough to reach my ears.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Proofread by Countiecount
Mtled by amaryllis0
In dire need of proofreaders, please apply and join us on discord! Links are on the announcements.
5 chapters to be uploaded tomorrow if our dear proofreaders atm can do it >o<