Ch.2626. Evan Feiosha (4)

I was utterly shocked by Sione’s words.

No, it was surprising that she would suddenly say such a thing in what had been a pleasant atmosphere.

The fact that it was Sione Sianella, not Evan Feiosha, who first brought up breaking the engagement felt like being hit on the head.

How could she have the nerve to suggest breaking the engagement first?

She hadn’t even written letters like Evan Feiosha did.

Nor had she consistently replied to his letters on time.

Yet she was rejecting a kind-hearted fiancé who had steadily written her letters?

My head was spinning from Sione’s incomprehensible behavior.

Diolia seemed to feel the same way, as she was staring at Sione with a dumbfounded expression.

“Um… it seems Lady Sione is requesting to break off the engagement with Young Master Evan…”

I could immediately understand Diolia’s situation from that bewildered voice.

Sione’s unexpected confession about breaking the engagement.

It probably felt like being hit on the back of the head by an ogre with a club.

Diolia sent a glance my way.

“I’m not seeing or hearing things wrong, am I?”

I quietly nodded at her words.

“It seems she really is requesting to break the engagement.”

“…But why would Lady Sione do that?”

“Lady Sione has mentioned wanting to break the engagement when she’s been with me before, but I never expected it to happen like this…”

“Huh—”

Sione had only whined about breaking the engagement when she was with me.

I should have properly guided her then.

This is all my fault.

Just because her outer appearance changed from a bear to a human didn’t guarantee her inner self would change as well.

It seems the training with mugwort and garlic was insufficient.

I watched Evan’s reaction to Sione’s words.

“Is this the important matter you wanted to discuss in the garden, my lady?”

Oh, this crazy bastard.

It seems he had been setting this up since the reception room.

Sione’s obsession with breaking the engagement was starting to feel frightening.

Soon after, Sione calmly met Evan Feiosha’s cold gaze and nodded.

“Yes, Young Master.”

“…I see.”

Before long, Evan’s shoulders began to shake.

I thought he might slap Sione’s cheek.

Seeing him trying to hold back laughter after receiving a request to break the engagement.

At least in my eyes, this Evan fellow wasn’t normal either.

“Young Master?”

Sione called out to him in response to his laughter.

Evan composed his breathing at Sione’s call and looked at her with deeply sunken eyes.

“I was already certain from our conversation in the reception room that you wanted to break the engagement.”

“……”

“But even so, shouldn’t I be the one in the position to bring up breaking the engagement first, not you?”

At Evan’s words, Sione finally seemed to feel some guilt as she pressed her lips together and nodded.

Indeed, if someone were to speak about breaking the engagement first, it should have been Evan.

Unlike Evan who had tried to get close to Sione, she had locked herself in her room, forgetting and denying her relationship with him.

Then.

Evan looked around at the flowers surrounding them and said.

“…Lady Sione, you were knowledgeable about flowers, weren’t you?”

“Knowledgeable… that’s too much praise.”

“Then… could you tell me which flower and flower language would represent you?”

“A flower that represents me?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Sione showed signs of confusion at Evan’s question as he asked with the corners of his lips turned up.

She seemed bewildered by the sudden shift from discussing breaking the engagement to talking about flowers.

But eventually, after thinking for a long time about which flower resembled her, she carefully opened her mouth to share her thoughts with Evan.

“I think I’m closest to a garden balsam.”

“Garden balsam, you say?”

“Yes, and coincidentally, the blooming season for garden balsams will be coming soon.”

“Hmm… could you also tell me the flower language of the garden balsam?”

“Of course.”

Sione paused for a moment before speaking.

“Garden balsam has… both positive and negative flower languages.”

“Then please tell me the positive one first.”

“The positive flower language is… childlike heart.”

“Childlike heart…”

Evan murmured the flower language while quietly staring at Sione for a moment.

“What’s the negative one?”

“That’s—”

The negative flower language began to come out of Sione’s mouth.

Instinctively, I felt that something unpleasant was about to come out of her mouth.

“Don’t touch me… is what it means.”

No, this crazy bastard, really.

Unable to read the atmosphere, not satisfied with the giraffe flower, she’s doing this flower nonsense again.

Even so, saying “don’t touch me” to someone who is a young master of a marquisate and her fiancé.

Those words delivered in a monotone voice struck my ears forcefully.

Diolia was pressing her temples as if Sione’s eccentric behavior was giving her a headache.

And Evan, who had just been told not to touch her to his face, was simply raising the corners of his mouth, calmly staring at Sione with a composed demeanor.

After a while, when the commotion about the flower language had subsided.

The conversation continued with Evan.

“Actually, if there had been no reply to this letter either, I was planning to send a letter breaking off the engagement next.”

I noticed Sione’s expression darkening slightly at his words.

Of course, it was definitely not because she was sad.

This girl was probably thinking that if a letter breaking the engagement had arrived, she would have just ignored it as usual and stayed in her room.

Reading the expression of Sione, who had fallen into extreme anti-marriage sentiment.

It no longer felt difficult for me.

“Since I’ve awakened my Divine Power… I wanted to break off the engagement with Lady Sione and start anew, and I even got my mother’s permission.”

“Then…”

“I’ve long since let go of my feelings for you, so if you wish, the engagement will be broken.”

At Evan’s words, Sione’s expression began to brighten.

“But, my lady.”

Evan approached Sione step by step, closing the distance between them.

Sione stiffened at his actions and looked at him.

“This is about marriage with the young master of the Marquisate of Feiosha, not just any family. An opportunity that won’t come twice.”

Evan Feiosha displayed the same emotionless composure on his face as his mother, Yulia Feiosha.

“Are you confident you won’t regret breaking the engagement?”

“…If I thought I would regret it, I wouldn’t have brought it up in the first place.”

“If Lady Sione says so… the engagement will be broken.”

Sione’s expression showed relief.

But soon after, her expression had no choice but to harden again.

“But even if the engagement is broken… you and I might still run into each other quite often in the future.”

“Pardon?”

“Sion Sianella.”

When her younger brother’s name came out of Evan’s mouth, Sione’s expression grew colder than ever.

“The academy I’ll be attending is the same one as his. I’ve heard I’ll be assigned to the same class as him…”

A new color seeped into Evan’s expressionless canvas.

Expectation. However, that expectation didn’t seem to contain only positive emotions.

“It seems my connection with the Sianellas is not yet over.”

Evan extended his hand for a handshake.

“My lady, I look forward to our continued acquaintance.”

Sione simply quietly took his hand with a displeased expression.

* * *

After our conversation with Evan, we were assigned separate guest rooms.

Sione immediately retreated to her room as if tired, and Diolia also went to her room to rest, perhaps shocked by the broken engagement.

I naturally followed Sione, who had escaped to her room.

I took in the sight of Sione, who had already hidden herself under the blanket.

“Are you really breaking the engagement?”

“Didn’t you hear everything?”

Sione nodded nonchalantly as she spoke.

Watching her even yawn as if she didn’t understand the situation made me feel like my heart was collapsing.

“But still, the other party is the young master of the Marquisate of Feiosha. Perhaps reconsidering—”

“Didn’t I already tell the flower language of the garden balsam in front of the young master?”

“But—”

“Moreover, Evan also implied in the reception room that he wanted to break the engagement. He even said he was going to send a letter breaking it off.”

“……”

I shut my mouth tightly.

Indeed, there was no point in asking her to reconsider the broken engagement now.

Why would he want to get engaged again to Sione who had recited the garden balsam’s flower language?

I could only watch her with a sigh.

“May I sit on the chair?”

“Feel free to sit.”

“…Thank you.”

Thud.

As I sat in the chair, I felt the strength drain from my legs due to the fatigue that had built up from standing for so long.

In the garden, I hadn’t noticed it properly because I was focused on watching Sione’s eccentric behavior.

But now that the tension had eased a bit, I felt quite tired.

I observed Sione while sitting in the chair.

Sione was subtly watching me from under the blanket.

She seemed to realize that this broken engagement was quite a big deal even in her own mind.

I just wonder why someone who knows this fact so well would do such a thing.

Looking at Sione, I asked one thing.

“…Could you also tell me which flower and flower language would suit me?”

Baby giraffe flower, garden balsam.

After hearing all sorts of flower languages, I became curious about what flower Sione saw me as.

I wondered what kind of flower Sione thought I was.

When I asked that, Sione peeked her face out from under the blanket and stared at me intently.

Unlike when she was talking with Evan, Sione thought more deeply.

She slowly met my eyes and said.

“Immortal herb and plum blossom would suit you. And…”

Sione completely hid herself under the blanket again.

“…P-poppy might also be g-good, just one…”

I stared intently at Sione who had fallen silent after saying that.

Perhaps because she had completely hidden under the blanket, she couldn’t feel my gaze.

I let out a small sigh.

What good is just telling me the flowers? You should tell me the flower language too.

“Won’t you tell me the flower language as well?”

The blanket containing Sione flinched at my words.

“…Look up the flower language yourself.”

“Me?”

“When we return to the county, I’ll lend you a book on flower language.”

“…I understand.”

After briefly answering her, the conversation ended.

Trying to talk about the broken engagement would only lead to frustratingly inadequate answers, that was obvious.

There were no other particular topics of conversation to share anymore.

After some time had passed like that.

Sione peeked her face out from under the blanket again and said.

“Tomorrow we’ll tour the Marquisate of Feiosha, so keep that in mind.”

“…Tomorrow?”

“Yes. Didn’t you ask? To continue our unfinished conversation at the Marquisate of Feiosha.”

Sione said with a broad smile.

“Aren’t you looking forward to it?”

Looking at Sione, who was excessively cheerful for someone who had just finished discussing breaking an engagement, I finally let out a chuckle.

“…This time I’ll ask Diolia for an escort in advance.”

I’m already worried about what might happen tomorrow with this garden balsam-like master of mine.