P. 235
In the dimly lit hallway that Edgar and Lydia had just started to walk, there was a shadow that approached them without a sound.
Lydia let out a shrilling scream at the shadow figure that suddenly appeared standing in front of her.
In reflex, she grabbed ahold of a near-by pillar and then heard a monotonous voice say ‘pardon me.’
When she took a look, it was Raven.
“Yo-you scared me….”
“Lydia, you might as well have clung onto me.”
How is it that he could come up with such lines in any kind of situation.
“…..I’m instinctually avoiding!”
She turned her head away but if Raven, who was apparently moving around the ship by himself came back, that would mean this wasn’t a situation for him to be having fun with Lydia. Edgar immediately changed to a serious expression and turned to face Raven.
P. 236
“Lord Edgar, a number of boats have come up aside the ship. I believe in due time, Graham’s men will come aboard.”
“Alright. Let’s hurry.”
“Lady Doris is this way,” guided Raven.
“How do you know?”
“I asked one of Graham’s men who was yelling from the bottom of the ship. There was a commotion inside the ship so they had made her asleep and switched her to a place that wouldn’t be found by someone from outside.”
That must have been the man that Rosalie and she beaten. At that time, after he was done with Doris, Lydia must had come across him just as he was trying to hide Rosalie.
As he was walking, Raven handed Edgar a pistol. It was the one that he had supposedly left behind at Graham’s office. After that, Raven turned towards Lydia.
“Oh, yes, Miss Carlton, I forgot to hand you this.”
The thing Raven held out to her was the tin can from not too long ago.
“Um, that actually doesn’t really belong to me.”
But, Raven must have believed that it was something that she must accept and so he remained holding it out to her.
P. 237
“It might be in the way for Lydia to hold. I’ll keep it.”
After Edgar said that, he finally handed it over like he was convinced.
Again, with a quick pace, the two of them followed after Raven, but all of a sudden, there was the noise of movement and commotion around them.
“Lydia, can you run?”
“Yes.”
At the same time she replied, Edgar pulled her arm. The three of them dashed off in a sprint as the loud sound of voices slowly grew close.
“I found them, this way!” There was a yelling voice of a man.
“Lord Edgar, I will go keep them at bay.”
“All right, I’ll it to you. Where’s the location of Lady Doris?”
“At the end of this passage. There is a door that’s hidden by cargo at the back of the storageroom.”
At the same time when Edgar nodded, Raven turned back behind them.
Lydia followed Edgar further down the corridor. The sound of loud voices had dimmed away probably because they chased after Raven.
She wondered how many men of Graham were on this ship. She worried if Raven was going to be alright.
P. 238
At such a last minute, Lydia finally began to realize that she was trying to do an extremely reckless thing.
She had stormed out of the room declaring that she wasn’t going to abandon Doris and Rosalie, but even before she could rescue them, she was putting Edgar and Raven in danger.
She couldn’t forgive Edgar’s self-centered way of thinking, but she was the one who messed up Edgar’s original plan of rescuing Lydia on top of successfully completing his revenge and safely escaping from the ship into a hit-or-miss, haphazard, by the chance kind of plan.
“What is the matter, Lydia, are you scared?”
But, if she were to abandon the two of them then, she believed she was going to carry an unbearable regret for the rest of her life.
Even if they were able to get off the ship, there could have been a way to rescue the two girls, but she didn’t want to prolong the time in the frightening situation they would have to be in.
She didn’t like how Edgar didn’t feel any remorse at all in leaving behind the two of them.
It wasn’t because of her sense of justice, but she didn’t realize that she was hoping there was a part of Edgar that wasn’t just a simple criminal villain as Lydia shook her head hard.
“I’m not scared, this is the way I chose.”
“Such a positive attitude.”
“No, I’m not, I’m just reckless. ….I know, but I don’t want to live regretting.”
“I’m always in regret. So much that I think my greatest sin is living.”
P. 239
He said it in a way like it was nothing, but Lydia was taken aback at the heavy seriousness of his words.
“There is no such thing.”
“If I didn’t interfere, most of the members of my band would still be alive even now. Ermine too….. And Raven as well, I sometimes think there could have been a way not to put that instinctual killing drive of his in my hands, but find a way to properly control it with his own will.”
“But, weren’t you the one to release everyone free from the control of Prince?”
“Free…. Only Raven remains alive.”
“Do you think your friends wanted to remain alive as slaves? Then, they wouldn’t have gone with you. You gave them their freedom. Didn’t you at least teach them that their hearts could never be chained by anyone?”
Edgar, who remained looking straight forward, must have already thought of what Lydia could think up long ago, a number of times over.
The two of them went to the back of the storage room that had piles of cargo and packaged goods stacked up and he opened his mouth to speak like he was talking to himself.
“At one time I tried to think of it that way. But, sometimes, I felt like that was just my ego wanting to believe that….”
At the end of the open pathway between the stacks of piled cargo on each side, there indeed was a door that Raven had told them.
“This must be it. It’s locked.”
P. 240
Because Edgar centered his focus onto that, it seemed like their discussion ended and so Lydia nodded back at him.
He took out a pin from his inner pocket and easily opened the lock with it.
It was an unimaginable special skill if one were to grow up in a respectable noble family.
Peering through the crack of the open door, in a small space more like a closet than a room, they immediately could see that Doris had been locked inside.
“Miss Doris, please wake up.”
Lydia knelt down and tried to shake her awake, but it didn’t look like she was going to wake up at all.
“They must have used drugs to make her asleep. I’ll carry her.”
“Oi, Lydia, we have a problem!”
Just then, the one to come running in was a panicked Nico.
“Nico! Where have you been?”
“Who cares, just hurry and run. There’s a big problem that arised.”
On the floor by Lydia’s feet, Nico kept on ranting on.
“It’s all right, we know. Graham’s men are approaching, right?”
“Huhh? It’s something more troublesome than that! The bogey beast has come back, and it’s now controlling Rosalie with its master to kill the earl!”
P. 241
Oh, no, that's right.
Lydia finally remembered.
“Edgar, I’d forgot! The fogman is after you!”
“Fogman?”
He turned around from where he was kneeling down next to Doris to give her a confused look. Of course, he would be. For him, it was a name out of a storybook, and being suddenly told he was being targeted by one, he was sure to not be able to grasp the danger of the situation.
“I have no memory of how something like that would hold a grudge against me.”
“Oi, Lydia, it’s a fogman?!”
Now, even Nico was in a panic.
“The bogey beast had said so. Nico, do you know what the fogman is weak against?”
“A demon like that doesn’t have a weakness, even if it did, there’s nothing that we could do about it, right? Now that I remember, it said something like it had a nemesis, and the bogey beast was saying something like it was trapped in somewhere with leaves.”
“Whose their nemesis? What leaves?”
“How would I know. No, wait, I think I heard something like that before…..”
“Lydia, why would I be targeted after?”
There were voices coming from both directions, making Lydia on the verge of a breakdown.
P. 242
“Uhhh, so in other words, the fogman bears a grudge against the Blue Knight Earl. It was sealed inside the ‘fairy egg’ by one of the ancestors in the earl family. Since you inherited the title of Blue Knight Earl, it plans to devour you to revive itself.”
“Wait just a moment, there’s a fogman inside the ‘fairy egg’?”
“You’re from a family with a long bloodline, right? That’s why while it was at your family’s house, the blood of your family didn’t allow the fogman inside the agate to get outside even a little bit. But after it was transferred into the hands of Rosalie, I think the power that had been sealing had weakened, and so it called the bogey beast, and had been searching for the Blue Knight Earl for so many years for its revival.”
“…..So, by me meeting Rosalie,”
“Yes, it found out that you had appeared as Blue Knight Earl and had been targeting you.”
“Then, what do you do when you’re attacked by a fogman?”
Lydia held her hand in her hands. Even Lydia didn’t know of what to do. She only knew that the only rule to follow for fairies who were a ball of ill will were not to see them, touch them, or approach them, and she only knew that because she was an amateur and inexperienced.
Even if I call myself a fairy doctor, I’m useless, she angrily thought as she scrambled to think up of something.
“Tsk!, what a useless human. If it was the Blue Knight Earl, then he’d be sure to fight with the same power as the fogman,” mumbled Nico, displeased.
P. 243
“But, Edgar isn’t the real heir. How would be have such a power.”
“I wonder if I’ll still be attacked even though I’m not the real one. Don’t you think that the fogman wouldn’t be able to revive even if it ate me?”
“Well, its life is depending on that, so it’s just going to give it a try and eat you regardless.”
“I see.”
“And, more than the power of the Blue Knight Earl, there could be more value in that it’s someone who carries the same name as him.”
Suffered from being bottled up by the bogey beast, and becoming furious at being made a bait by Edgar, and her mind desperately trying to think of a way to rescue Rosalie and Doris as she was shaken off her feet by the real face of Edgar, and it was Lydia’s fault for completely forgetting to think up of a plan to get rid of the fogman as she was going through all of that.
It was also because she was relaxed and imagined that the bogey beast wouldn’t be reappearing this quick.
Anyways, this was the greatest mistake as a fairy doctor.
Ah! Cried Nico in a gasp.
“It’s rosemary’s, Lydia!”
“What are you talking about?”
“The leaves were Rosemary’s…..ahh, how could I not of thought of that.”
P. 244
She had no idea what he was talking about and tilted her head. But, they had no more time to spare in hearing Nico’s confusing explanation in this situation.
“Anyhow, it looks like our problem is only that.”
There was the pounding, stomping sound of approaching footsteps.
They came pouring in from the entrance of the storage room and circled around Lydia and the two.
From the men who stood as a barricade, Graham stepped out to them.
“My lord, it looks like the tables have turned.”
Graham returned his consciousness and had apparently recovered his confident with the number of his men behind him and grinned at them.
“You may have wanted to make me fall into the trap you methodically planned out, but it looks like you overlooked this opening at the last part.”
“I wonder if you’re right about that.”
“What is there you can do all alone. We threw that walking man of a weapon of yours to the bottom of the ship.”
Sure enough, the plump, oily man who was suppose to be locked up by Lydia at the bottom of the ship was in the group of men.
“I’d like you not to underestimate my friend,” replied Edgar, in an unexpected unaffected manner.
The ship suddenly swayed enormously to the side.
No, the ship didn’t sway, the cargo and packaged goods that were piled up in the storage room had fallen down. Just when they thought one of the piled towers of wooden crates leaned to the side, they came crashing down on top of Graham and his men.
P. 246
A black figure of a man glided down on top of that.
Raven jumped down onto Graham, who had barely managed to dodge the wooden crates and barrels, and held him down.
Once he held a knife to his throat, the rest of Graham’s standing men couldn’t move.
But they had no time to relax.
“Lydia, they’re here!” yelled Nico who was crawling up onto the fallen piles of wooden crates.
Out of breath, Rosalie came running in.
The bogey beast on top of her shoulder gave them a grin.
“Rosalie, stop, you’re just being manipulated by that!”
But Lydia’s voice didn’t reach her ears.
The dark evil presence that was trapped inside the agate used it power that seeped out to wrap around Rosalie.
Even with a small bit of magic, it linked with Rosalie’s feeling of love and hate towards Edgar and now had complete control over her will.
Rosalie must not even know what she was doing right now.
(There’s the Earl, get him!)
After the bogey beast shouted out, Rosalie didn’t give a moment’s hesitation and threw the water-sealed agate stone that she had kept so precious and pounded it onto the floor.
P. 246
There was a small, tiny crack.
However, the holy water that had been trapped inside it for hundreds of years had finally been released into the air. It evaporated in an instant and faded away.
At the same time, a foul smelling fog bubbled and spilled out and instantly filled the inside of the ship.
There were the sound of the screaming voices of Graham’s men, but the fog was so thick that you couldn’t even see two steps ahead of you.
Lydia could only see the faint outline of Edgar who stood next to her.
“Lydia, get away from the earl!” came Nico’s shouting voice from afar.
The fogman’s target was Edgar.
“Hurry and go,” said Edgar as he had his eyes on something moving in the far depths of the fog.
“Lord Edgar, where are you!” shouted Raven.
“Raven, don’t come!”
It’s the fogman.
Lydia’s eyes were fastened onto it.
P. 247
A black, thick shadow stirred up and fused together in the fog.
It wasn’t just one.
A number of creatures created from the fog emerged; they were demon dogs that the fogman took along with it. They all circled around them as they growled.
The biggest shape created from the fog was the fogman and she felt its attention focus onto Edgar as it swayed its large body to the sides back and forth.
Then, its body swelled up like a balloon and lunged towards them in attack.
“Lydia, hurry, run.”
“……No!”
Fighting back against Edgar who was trying to push her away, Lydia didn’t think as she clung onto him.
At the same time, the two of them were enveloped by a clinging, viscous darkness all around them. It pressed down so hard that is was suffocating.
They must have been attacked, or perhaps swallowed, as there was no sensation of the floor below their feet. They would suddenly feel the temperature drop, like they were thrown into the middle of the outdoor winter freezing air.
“Is this….., inside the fogman’s belly?”
Lydia didn’t know that either. It was too dark to see anything, and her fingertips were numb from the cold.
She felt her strength leave her, like her life source was slowly being sucked out of her.
“I’m so sorry…..” whispered Lydia, as she was beaten down with self-disappointment and regret.
P. 248
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, this happened because of my inexperience. I’m so sorry for being such a useless fairy doctor. I’m so sorry for always saying such self-conceited things and not be able to rescue you.”
“I don’t feel all that bad. I never imagined you would initiatively embrace me. And, you didn’t easily smile in front of me, but it is a luxury to have you cry for me.”
She finally realized she was handing onto him and being cradled by him as he stroked her hair kindly, but it was frightening to let go in this complete blackness, so she remained still
She didn’t care right now if Edgar was a dangerous person or a frivolous rake. Since, she was going to share the same fate as him.
“I know it’s improper at a time like this, but I want you to tell me. Is it your responsibility as a fairy doctor that made you stay with me to the end? Or, are you letting me romanticize just a little?”
“Is that the only thing you think about in that head of yours?”
Tears were rolling down as she was amazed at his continuing frivolous behavior, but Lydia was slightly amused.
She couldn’t understand herself why she had grabbed onto him without thinking about it. Only that, she didn’t want to leave him by himself.
He had many comrades and friends with him if he were to look behind, but needed to look ahead and lead the way to guide them, which made him stand alone. Because in the leader’s vision, there was no one else.
P. 249
Even though he opened the way for the ones behind him, when he realized it, only Raven remained.
There was only the remaining doubt if he was able to be the hope for his comrades and friends, or if he was able to save them even a little, it was a feeling he wanted to believe but didn’t know how.
The only thing he could sense was the heavy pressure on his shoulders that he was the only one who survived after their sacrifices.
She had the feeling like she was shown a glimpse of that heart of his, but that could just be her imagination, and she could just be tricked again, but she knew she didn’t want to leave him alone.
“……It’s because you looked lonely.”
“Hmmm, so is that pity?”
“Don’t think so high of yourself.”
Even if they pressed their bodies together, it was so terribly cold, they could freeze to death.
“You’re so warm.”
“Huh, you’re not cold?”
“Oh, no, that’s not what I meant. Ah, but, this thing here has been keeping me warm.”
“What is?”
The thing Edgar took out of his inner pocket was the tin can from some days ago.
Looking at it close, they could see that it was faintly glowing.
Although barely, it was pushing back the darkness of the fogman’s domain.
P. 250
“What is this…..”
“It’s a tin can.”
“I know that, but…..”
“Now that I remember, Raven had said something like this had been wanting to meet the fairy doctor.”
“Are you saying that a tin can talked?”
“Well, since he was the blood of a mystical sprite running in his blood, he has a mysterious part about him.”
Perhaps, that was why Raven, had been saying from the beginning that this tin can was Lydia’s weapon.
Could he have realized that there was something fae inside it?
A tin can, or, really, the thing inside the tin can that was calling for Lydia.
The herb cooked fish? No, that couldn’t be the power that was pushing back the fogman.
It was something that was sealed in a can, so it didn’t have that strong a power. But, if it could fight against the fogman adequately, then could it the element of nature that this thing possessed?
…….The only elemental being who had the natural element to drive away a fogman could be a..
The answer suddenly occurred to Lydia.
The Rosemary leaves that Nico had been talking about! The thing that was inside this who was tricked by the bogey beast and trapped in the tin can of herbs was their nemesis!
It was a fairy who when it appeared, brought along the pleasant smell of the spring green, grass.
P. 251
“Edgar, I think we can be saved! If we can open this can.”
“I don’t carry tools that open tin cans with me.”
“Oh, yes, you’re right.”
Lydia was immediately disappointed.
In order for situations like this to not happen, she should have paid attention around her for any signs of warning and think ahead and prepared, so that she could have maybe driven away the fogman. She had that chance, but because of Lydia’s inexperience, she let that slip through.
“Ahh, dear lord, I’m such an idiot. I’m so hopeless.”
“So, you do need to open this up in order to eat what’s inside?”
“Oh, no, at least if we can open a hole in it. I don’t think that’s fish inside.”
“It might explode, but how’s this?” he said, and took out a pistol.
P. 254
Finally, the vision around them cleared up to reveal the area of the ship’s bottom.
She looked for Nico as the wind was still blowing, and saw Rosalie and Doris, as well as Raven and was relieved to see that he was showing them away from the hungry grasp of the fog and leading them toward the safe area of the winds.
The winds grew strong and violent once again, making Lydia unable to keep her eyes open and nearly fell over.
She was steadied by Edgar, and felt herself embraced in his arms, and heard the curses and damning words of the bogey beast as it was swept up by the wind and blown away out of sight.
When she was allowed to lift up her head, she was able to see a faint glimpse of the blue sky.
The storage room’s ceiling had been broken through. The wind swirled around the fog carrying further up into the vast skies.
She saw a faint glimpse of a pair of sky-colored winds that were as thin and transparent as the air.
“Sylph…..” whispered Lydia.
Once the forerunner that was trapped inside the can, burst out into the skies, a swarm of the wind fairies, Sylphs came in huge numbers.
It was the coming of the spring winds.
They joined to become a blasting squall and blasted down from the upper skies across the top of the river waters that sat next to the city at once.
Feeling the heavy roll and sway but sensing that they were being protected by the sylphs, Lydia felt like she was inside a plesant cradle.
When the last of the fogman’s presence was dispersed by the wind, the wind fairies kept going and flew away into the far skies.
P. 255
“Edgar, we’re all right, now! We managed to escape from being swallowed up by the fogman!”
Her heart was filled with the relief and happiness of coming back to this world from the darkness inside the fogman that made Lydia let out an overjoyed shrill.
“Yes, it looks like it.”
Edgar was safely here.
I’m so glad I didn’t leave him alone.
Even if it was reckless or a hit-or-miss thing to do, she optimistically thought that when you had the feeling of wanting to help another, the miraculous power of the fairies would bless you.
It was Edgar’s arms that were steadying Lydia who nearly slumped to the floor from relief.
She realized that she had been grabbing ahold of him all this time, but even if his hand touched her cheek, she didn’t feel any danger that would normally make her think she had to escape.
Perhaps, it was because he was unusually smiling at her with a peaceful look.
When the sunlight shined through, she gazed up close at his golden hair that was sparkling like pure solid gold and then her eyes were captured by his heart-melting, lascivious ash mauve eyes.
This distance and atmosphere seems, a little, dangerous.
Even though she thought that, she couldn’t even hit him, but let him raise her head up as his fingers on her cheek guided her.
No, no, it’s all right, Raven had said that Edgar wasn’t that kind of person.
P. 256
But.
Wait, hold on a minute.
I was told nothing would happen, Raven was such a…liar….?
His lips softly touched Lydia’s forehead. And then he smiled at her happily.
“I guess I really do like caramel more. So much that I want to save it eat later.”
The winds that blasted through London, blew away the smog that had been taking residence in the town, making the refreshing morning sun spread the spring air all around.
There were many sorts of rumors that flew about in regards to the disappearance of Lord Graham and the ones who had a hand in his criminal acts, but the truth remained unsolved, lost in the fog, so to speak.
It was unimaginable to Lydia what happened to those men who disappeared to the land of the dark along with the fogman.
The fogman as a fairy was unable to revive itself and disappeared from the human domain. There might once again be a time when it regains its power, but that would take a very long time.
P. 257
With Graham’s disappearance, Edgar had lost his chance to declare war against Prince, but unexpectingly, he appeared like that didn’t matter any more.
Lydia couldn’t tell if he had decided to give up his revenge, but after seeing Graham’s outcome, perhaps he felt like he got his revenge.
Only, the one that Edgar wanted to exact his revenge on for the sake of his comrades, should have not been Graham, who was one of Prince’s men but only the tip of the iceberg.
That’s why, Lydia wanted to believe that he felt that revenge wasn’t what he should been doing for the sake of his friends who died.
Anyways, the countermeasures and dealings that came afterwards were swiftly taken care of by Edgar, and the only thing that was made public was the news that Graham was the one who used up the Worpole baron family assets and confided Lady Doris who had found that out and tried to make it appear like Rosalie was behind all of that.
In regards to Lydia and the beaten-up state of the interior of the ship, was explained that while Lydia was looking for the where-about of Doris who was her friend, and figured out that Graham’s ship was suspicious. Edgar came along after she told him her story and tried to pay a visit to Graham’s ship, but ended up creating a fight with the sailors on board…., or something like that.
The ones that came out alive were the hired sailors who weren’t aware of the hidden details, and even if they knew they couldn’t reveal about the smuggling, the ones left could only keep their mouths shut forever, said Edgar.
P. 258
Hearing and seeing this part of him, she was reminded that he really was indeed a true scoundrel.
However, Lydia took Edgar’s recommendation of taking three days off work for the sake of recovering from the horrifying case, but after that, she commuted to the earl’s house in the usual state of no work waiting for her.
On that day, Rosalie and Doris had come to pay Lydia a visit.
Doris, who was put to sleep, of course didn’t know about the rampage of the fogman, and Rosalie was manipulated so she didn’t remember anything.
After the fogman and bogey beast disappeared, Rosalie woke up and found Doris who was unconscious and ran over, balling and crying.
She kept apologizing so much that it was getting annoying, and Doris didn’t witness the sight of Rosalie clinging onto her, but there was no doubt that the two of them reconciled after that.
“Doris and I decided to spend some time in the countryside for a while,” said Rosalie in her previously usual straight face.
“Since London is quite the boisterous face,” said Doris, with a pleasant smile.
“Yes, I think that’s best.”
“I didn’t agree to the countryside at first, since I hate being bored, but since Doris keeps saying that it’ll be too lonely. She never grows out of acting like a child….”
P. 259
Rosalie was her usual self, but when Doris edged her with her elbow, she whispered back “I know, I know,” and changed her face to a serious one.
“Uh, I’m sorry for all the things. And, thank you for saving us. …I just came to say this.”
Unexpectingly, it seemed like Doris was the mature one of the two.
“I wasn’t able to save you on my own. But, Miss Rosalie Worpole, I think it’s best you don’t get yourself involved with fairies anymore.”
“I know. ….Sine that fairy egg and that fairy never protected me at all. I’ve learned that fairies are not to be trusted.”
Oh, well, thought Lydia. The reason Rosalie came in contact with the bogey beast was because she got her hands on the ‘fairy egg.’ Since she wasn’t born with the power to see fairies, there should be no more worry that she would be caught by evil-spirited fairies like that bogey beast.
“More importantly, Miss Carlton, would you like to come with us?”
“Huh?”
“I think we could become friends. If it was you, I wouldn’t mind if you got along with Doris. There may be nothing in the countryside, but I think we wouldn’t get bored if there were three friends together.”
P. 260
It seemed Rosalie was serious, as her eyes were twinkling.
“But, I still have something that I must do… But, of course, I think we could become friends.”
“Hey, what is the real truth? Are you being threatened by Edgar? If you’re being forced to work for him, then we were thinking that we need you rescue you out of here.”
She lowered her head and hushed her voice to a whisper like she was taking about something secret.
“N-No, I’m fine. Nothing like that is happening.”
“You can tell us the truth. We won’t tell anyone.”
“Uh, I really am not being threatened, so you don’t have to worry.”
“Rosalie, it isn’t nice to prood.”
When Doris said that, she looked like she wasn’t satisfied, but she backed down.
“Then, would you come pay us a visit soon?”
“Yes, of course.”
“My, my, you’re not going to invite me?”
At the voice coming from the doorway, Rosalie and Doris went rigid.
“Oh, welcome back, Edgar. These two had just arrived to see me.”
“Welcome, ladies. Please take your time.”
At Edgar’s happily smiling face, Rosalie’s face went even more hard and tense.
P. 261
“Oh, no, we’ll take our leave now!”
“Oh, but you just came.”
“I’m sorry, Miss Carlton But we don’t have that much time. We’ll send you a letter in due time!”
Rosalie was practically dragging along Doris and headed to the door, taking an excessfully long way around Edgar.
Once she passed through the door, they dashed off without looking back.
“They didn’t have to be that scared of me,” mumbled Edgar in a displeased way.
“That’s because they’re scared.”
“I understand Rosalie, but why would Lady Doris run away?”
“Of course, she must have gotten a good lecture from Doris just how much of an evil criminal you are.”
He shrugged his shoulders a little, but didn’t seemed like he was bothered by the fact that he was loathed and dreaded by the ladies. More than that, he stared at Lydia like he was looking at some mysterious creature.
“You don’t act scared. Didn’t you hear from Rosalie?”
Her heart skipped a beat probably because he pinpointed what she herself was questioning over.
Of course, it wasn’t like she heard the details, but if a man with a warm, friendly demeanor suddenly changed his attitude completely, then it was natural not to want to go near him. Depending on the situation, even Lydia might be put through the same experience. But now..
P. 262
“As if that was news to me. I long knew that you were a criminal.”
“However, you cried and dived into the arms of that criminal.”
“That was, only because I was taken aback!”
“Oh, now, you don’t have to dismiss the possibility so hard like that. Since that time, I’ve been thinking up something about you.”
“What about me.”
“Yes, about the mysterious part about you. Didn’t everyone come out safe and alive thanks to you in the end. I used you with only my revenge in mind. And, yet, you still helped me, and even saved Doris and Rosalie who were nearly made into the victims of Grahams’s crooked scheme. In the long run, with those two coming out safe, I felt like I was twice saved by you. I think you indeed are my fairy of good fortune.”
It wasn’t something so glamorized as that. They were saved thanks to the sylphs and even that was a coincidence.
Good fortune….was unlikely. Lydia was a helpless fledgling.
“Hm? Did I say something to depress you?”
“Now that I remember, I also had something I was thinking about since then.”
“What?”
“I realized from this incident. That I’m much too much inexperienced and unprepared.”
P. 263
Hearing her speak with a serious tone of voice, Edgar raised his brows up slightly.
“In this state, I shouldn’t be privately hired by the earl family…”
“Hold on just a moment, Lydia. Are you saying that you’re leaving?”
“I’ll go back to Scotland and study much more.”
“Where am I wrong? If there’s something you don’t like about me, then I’ll fix it. So, please don’t say that you want to end our relationship.”
“Why do you make it sound like a lover’s end.”
“Or, did you find a man you like? If that man is going to take you from me, then I’ll challenge him to a duel. If he isn’t a man who can die for you, then I don’t intend to withdraw.”
“Oh, stop fooling around!”
He must have sensed that he couldn’t sweep this under the carpet by playing fun, so he sat down on the nearby sofa in a tired manner.
“I’m not fooling around. Won’t you understand how much you’re needed to me?”
“But, I don’t make much use here as a fairy doctor.”
“You saved us all from the fogman.”
“That was just coincidence.”
P. 264
“I need your honest and pure side probably more than you as a fairy doctor. If you, who taught me that I don’t have to hate anyone anymore, left me, then who is going to comfort me?”
“I want to become a fully-fledged fairy doctor. Not a lover to comfort you.”
“Lover! That sounds great. If you stay by my side, you’ll change your mind.”
He surely does show you the greatest most, seductive gaze.
However, the biggest flaw of Edgar was that there wasn’t any serious feelings behind those eyes.
As usual, Lydia couldn’t bring herself to believe the flirting way he spoke to her.
His kiss on her forehead, was just his usual play, or perhaps a sign of friendship towards his comrade, or maybe….. At any rate, she remained confused and Lydia ended up accepting.
It seemed childish to be overly conscious so she pretended like she had forgotten, but when she would look up at his face, she was suddenly filled with embarrassment.
She was curious about what his intentions were, but she was also irritated at that part of herself, so she took the liberty and focused on thinking about herself as a fairy doctor.
“Edgar, ….I’m being serious.”
“If you want to study to be able to stand on your feet, then couldn’t you do that here?”
“The number and species of fairies are much too small in London. Even if I was the private hire of the earl family, there hardly isn’t any work. And I didn’t intent to be hired as your playmate, so this is all against my will.”
P. 265
“Do you perhaps want to work?”
He said it like that was completely unexpected, which made Lydia question him.
What was this man thinking of me?
“Well, isn’t becoming independent, meaning that one worked hard and built up experience.”
"Why didn’t you tell me that earlier.”
Eh? In the short while she tilted her head in confusion, Edgar had called for Tomkins.
And he made his butler bring a box that he could barely carry in his arms and set it down in front of Lydia.
“What is this….”
“Petitions.”
Inside the box was an overflowing number of letters.
“To put it simply, as soon as word got out to all of my small private estates that I am the heir to the earl family, letters came from numerous people who had been suffering and enduring from the troublesome relationships they had with fairies during the long absence of their lord writing appeals about the current state of affairs they were in. As might be expected, there surely are many fairy residents still living in the lesser estates of the Blue Knight Earl family instead of the fairylands.”
Fairies are stealing our crops. They are making a ruckus on top of the roof in the middle of the night, they are monopolizing the well water, they are letting our livestock loose, they are planting footmarks on the laundry…..
P. 266
There was a massive pile of letters written about the various kinds of troubles that fairy doctors were involved in from the old days.
“Why hadn’t you shown me this sooner!”
“I was worried that you might get fed up and quit from the mountain of work that waited for you as soon as you started.”
“Doesn’t mean you had to tuck them away for weeks!”
The time she was lecturing him seemed wasteful so Lydia immediately transferred the whole box near the table by the window. Sitting down in the brightly lit area, she concentrated on running her eyes over the letters.
“But, Lydia, I really learned from this incident. When I go by the name of Blue Knight Earl, it means that I will be carrying the hatred towards my ancestors who had magical powers that is distinctly only in this family. According to your story, fairies apparently can live for hundreds of years and it seems like the successors of the earl title have all done things to chastened and punished the bad fae. Which means, it doesn’t matter if a new humans succeeds the name, as there still may be fairies like that fogman who hold grudges against the earl.”
“Sorry, but can you wait till later?”
She wanted to concentrate on the letters. As soon as possible, she needed to gather up ways to deal with all the issues and send out replies. Lydia felt the excitement build up in her from the challenge, making her completely absorbed in the papers.
“It’s all right, there’s still plenty of time for the two of us. Since as long as I’m earl, I can’t allow you to run away.”
Of course, she wasn’t listening.
P. 267
Raven walked in with tea prepared. Watching the young man set out the tea cups with dutiful, practiced hands, Edgar smiled in a cheerful way.
“It looks like I evaded the talk about ending our relationship.”
“Very well, my lord.”
“By the way, Raven, who won over the bet on the kiss?”
He looked over towards Lydia by the windowsill like he was concerned if she was listening.
“She can’t hear you right now.”
“It was a tie. Because, Lord Edgar had ended it in such a half-hearted way.”
“Are you angry?”
“No. I have the heart to follow any order I am given. Only, I cannot think that it is that difficult for you to win a kiss from Miss Carlton by going through the trouble of making me bring up a bet and lowering her guard.”
“That’s because Lydia overly tenses up when I get too near. I’d feel like I’m doing a terrible, evil thing if I were to break through that wall.”
“It’s plenty evil.”
There was a voice from the doorway. A cat standing on its two hind legs had spoken to them. Or he thought.
P. 268
“Oh? I just wanted to get more closely acquainted with Lydia. Don’t you think a man and a woman can get more intimate with just one kiss than a hundred words?”
“And yet, you let that precious chance slip by?” asked Raven.
It seemed like Raven was indeed a little bit frustrated. He had worked so hard in carrying out the silly order he was given by Edgar and managed to get Lydia to agree to a bet, but that child-like kiss made all of his efforts go down the drain. However, for Raven who couldn’t quite convey his feelings that well, this was a well-welcomed silver lining.
Planting his cheek in his palm, Edgar released a happy smile.
“I do feel sorry for putting you through such trouble in a field you are most weak in. But, how do you say it, Lydia at that time was unusually wide open, it made me feel like it was the bad thing to do to pander into that."
It really was a feeling like he just couldn’t waste something at some casual opportunity. Like the best timing to open your favorite wine was the moment that was just right for it.
“Hmm, so you do have a rational mind. I thought you did anything at anytime you wanted to.”
Nico had approached them and then jumped up onto a chair that sat circled around the table. Looked like he was going to participate in their tea time.
Without hesitation, Raven placed a cup in front of the cat who wore a necktie like it was the natural thing to do.
However absurd it was for a cat to gracefully sip tea, or open its mouth to talk annoyingly back to him, Edgar was gradually loosing his sense of resistance to it.
P. 269
“Nico, don’t treat me like I’m some kind of wild animal.”
“A wild animal doesn’t go into heat all-year-around.”
Raven looked like he faintly laughed.
There were magical and mysterious things that happened every day around Lydia. It wasn’t like Edgar was able to see the sight of the fogman, but he did witness the peculiar fog and wind act in a way that couldn’t be described as a natural phenomenon.
When he was with her, his eyes would be opened to a world he never knew about.
Lydia’s sense of the world was far removed from the savage and inhumane reality Edgar was familiar with, and it blew inside to him like the sylph spring winds. And then, she pulled him out of the fog.
From inside the deep fog that he had lost his way in from eight years ago.
Many others in the same circumstances had died and Edgar remained alive. He had felt tormented by that, but when Lydia had stayed by his side even when he had been swallowed by the fogman, he had been released from that.
Lydia, who was unrelated to Edgar’s past, when the girl who had no obligation to help him, cried and said she was sorry as she held onto him, he felt like the weak part of him was supported by those slender, soft arms of hers.
If there was someone who wouldn’t leave him even till the end, then he thought like it wasn’t a sin to be the only one who survived.
P. 270
It was a warm savior’s hand that was held out to him, who was only hatred and regret.
Even if the peaceful, springtime afternoon wasn’t going to last forever, he wished that a day like this, basking in the spring sunshine, would last just a little while longer.
Glancing over to Raven who quietly placed a teacup at Lydia’s side, Edgar let out a whisper.
“At this rate, it looks like I won’t get any attention for quite a while.”
“Is that why you hid the letters?” said Nico.
With a silver spoon in one paw, the gray-haired cat stirred his tea that was filled with delicious milk.
“Oh, well, as long as she will remain here, I guess I can endure.”
Just then, he lifted up his head to realize that there was one more teacup set out for someone in an open spot next to Nico.
A harmonious spring breeze drifted in from the open window, lifting up and twirling the caramel-colored hair of Lydia and the light blue curtains.
A flower petal that was brought in by the sylph wind floated down to land inside the tea.
End
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