Unexpected Companion, Unexpected Helper

The next day, almost before the sun was up, a carriage was placed in front of Kaintreche Castle, ready to head to the Imperial Palace.

“Heung, heu heung~.”

Sylvia, who confirmed this through the window of her room, hummed a tune while packing her luggage.

She was already excited at the thought of strolling through the Imperial Capital with Kyle alone and experiencing many new things.

Thanks to that, she barely slept a wink last night, so you can roughly guess how much she was looking forward to it.

Knock knock.

– Sylvia, are you ready?

“Yes, Kyle. I’m coming out now.”

Soon after, with the sound of a knock and Kyle’s voice, she brightened her expression, quickly grabbed the luggage in her hand, and left the room.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Ky…le…?”

As she flung open the door, the moment a smile was about to form on her face at the sight of Kyle’s face, which was the first thing she saw.

Hidden behind him, the figure of the person standing behind him was revealed, and Sylvia’s expression changed subtly.

“I will be joining you as well. Please take care of me, Princess Eleanor.”

There stood Vermillian, wearing a seemingly nice smile, bringing news that she didn’t really want to hear.

＊＊＊

Dag-dak. Dag-dak.

Inside the carriage that finally departed for the Imperial Palace, only silence descended.

Only the vigorous sound of horses’ hooves coming from outside scattered like white noise, and then crumbled away. There was no conversation between the three people sitting inside the carriage.

That was the same between Kyle and Sylvia.

And this uncomfortable silence was entirely due to Sylvia’s presence, sitting in front of Kyle and Vermillian.

Surely, until Kyle had talked to her yesterday, she had been constantly jumping around and seemed to be in a very good mood, but for some reason, today she had her arms crossed and was exuding an aura of ‘Don’t touch me.’

Did she not like her breakfast?

Or did she stub her toe on the doorframe on the way out?

Could it be that magical day that only comes to women?

In an instant, all sorts of trivial speculations continued in Kyle’s head. The two men were terrified by Sylvia’s changed appearance in just one day.

In particular, even though Vermillian usually wears a bit of a mask, he is basically good at interpersonal relationships and treats people well, so he would have tried to take the lead in the conversation and ease the atmosphere.

But now, he couldn’t dare to do that.

‘If I step up now, I’m dead.’

Every time his eyes met hers, the intense murderous intent that poured out was busy erasing even the courage to do so.

“…Um, Sylvia. Did I perhaps do something wrong?”

Eventually, Kyle, unable to bear this situation, carefully parted his lips.

From the beginning, asking questions indirectly did not suit his temperament. If he had unintentionally made a mistake and upset her, he just wanted to apologize and cleanly resolve it.

But it seems that even that method is not very easy today.

“Heung, not really?”

“……”

At her cold attitude, which showed that there was no room for conversation, the two men were at a loss for words.

Usually, when they answer like that, they would try to respond without showing any signs of feeling bad, but Sylvia was maintaining an attitude that anyone could see as ‘I’m angry, but I’m not going to tell you,’ so it was absurd.

‘Why is Sylvia acting like this today?’

Moreover, it was quite a question for Kyle, as Sylvia was not originally this kind of woman.

Of course, there were times when she didn’t beat around the bush, but if Kyle stepped up and took a low posture and asked her the details, she would feel sorry for getting angry unilaterally and would tell him the detailed reasons.

But why is communication so impossible today?

Perhaps it meant that she was so angry that she couldn’t even speak, so he anxiously watched Sylvia’s condition.

‘How can I say it! I thought it would be just the two of us, but how can I say that I’m sulking because Drake Gongja is joining us!’

But in fact, Sylvia was not maintaining this attitude because she was so angry.

Of course, she was a little sulky, but it didn’t mean that she was so angry that she was going to build a wall between herself and Kyle.

If I had to put a number on it, I’d say about 40% sulky, and about 60% self-loathing.

First of all, if you ask why she was sulky, it’s simple. An unexpected uninvited guest had joined them.

Sylvia, who had a bad impression of Vermillian from their first meeting, couldn’t help but feel even more sulky.

If only Vermillian had used one seat alone and Kyle and I had sat side by side, I would have felt a little better, but as if they had agreed, they said that it would be right for her, a woman, to use it alone, and gave her unnecessary consideration, so she was left alone.

At that time, she couldn’t express her feelings in words.

‘Yeah, there was no mention of going alone in the first place.’

And the reason for the remaining 60% of self-loathing was also simple.

It was just self-loathing for herself, who was arbitrarily mistaken, arbitrarily expected, and then sulked alone because it didn’t go as she wanted.

When Kyle brought her the good news yesterday, he was only suggesting to go together, but there was no such thing as ‘Let’s go on a date alone.’

From the beginning, the two were not even in a relationship, so it would be strange for Kyle to say such a thing. Anyway.

So Sylvia ended up sulking alone, and when she came to her senses, she was blocked by a dilemma where she couldn’t apologize or list the detailed reasons.

‘Ugh, Drake Gongja. I’m sorry.’

On the other hand, she felt very sorry for Vermillian.

When you think about it, he was just like her, accepting Kyle’s offer and leaving for the Imperial Palace together, but for a moment, she thought of him as ‘A clueless man who interfered in a secret meeting between a man and a woman.’

That was an act that went against Sylvia’s pride, as she hated disparaging others.

In fact, if it weren’t for this point, she would have felt a little less self-loathing.

Just as Sylvia was continuing her fight with herself, Kyle, who couldn’t stand it any longer, finally opened his mouth.

“…I think it would be good to take a break. We’ve been running for quite a while.”

It’s only been a little over two hours since they’ve been running for a long time, but everyone in this place nodded as if they understood.

They knew it was his own effort to change the atmosphere even for a short time.

＊＊＊

The place where the carriage stopped for a while was a small village nearby.

Thanks to being buried in nature, the surrounding scenery looked good, so Kyle’s excuse was to take a breather here for a while, go to the bathroom, and then move on.

It wasn’t time to eat yet because they had just finished breakfast and ran straight here, so they weren’t hungry, and because it was such a small village, there weren’t any decent restaurants where they, who were from noble families, could stay.

“……”

“……”

While Kyle was in the bathroom, heavy silence passed between Sylvia and Vermillian, who were left standing outside.

Only then did Vermillian blame himself for not chasing after Kyle and glance at Sylvia. He mustered up the courage to open his mouth, thinking that it would be better to say it now.

“Um, Princess Eleanor. I would like to apologize belatedly.”

“Yes, yes…!? D, Drake Gongja, why are you apologizing to me…?”

At his sudden bow, Sylvia, who had been looking for a chance to apologize, was rather surprised and floated up from the floor for a moment and used levitation.

“You must have wanted to go with Kyle alone, but didn’t I interfere without being considerate?”

“Ah, no. Not really….”

“Kyle isn’t here, so you can be honest.”

“Ugh…. Yes.”

Sylvia, who had been trying to deny it in a hurry at his sharp remark, eventually blushed and nodded at Vermillian’s calm tone.

After all, even if she lied, he seemed to know everything already.

“By the way, Kyle really doesn’t know women’s hearts. He went to you to propose a date, and then he came to me and made such a suggestion, what is he going to do?”

He glanced down at her and said it on purpose for Sylvia to hear.

Then, Sylvia, who had been consistent with her timid attitude until just now, suddenly stomped on the ground with her feet and nodded fiercely.

“That’s right…! Of course, he never said we were going alone, but is it right to raise expectations like that and then call someone else?”

“That’s what I’m saying. I’m amazed that Gongnyeo-nim didn’t pour out a bucket of curses.”

The two started gossiping because Kyle was away, and they continued to criticize Kyle as if they had something in common.

“But do you know what makes me the angriest, Drake Gongja? After all this, he shakes people’s hearts with just one seductive word…!”

“Are you saying he’s good at ambushes?”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I mean…! I guarantee, Kyle must have been a field commander somewhere in his past life. There’s no other explanation!”

I don’t know if it’s a curse or a compliment, but Vermillian couldn’t hide his bitter smile as he watched her stomp her feet and list all the things Kyle had done to her.

It was the opposite of the Kyle he had seen, so the sense of incongruity was no joke.

“Anyway, Kyle must have had his own reasons, so please don’t blame him too much.”

“Yes, I know. I’m sorry instead. I’m sulking about this…. I’m afraid Kyle will be disappointed if he finds out.”

Disappointed? Disappointed, huh.

From Vermillian’s point of view, Kyle seemed to be quite infatuated with Sylvia, so it didn’t seem like his heart would turn away for such a trivial reason.

But there was no fun in saying that fact, so he smiled, deciding to watch the two of them in the future.

At that time, Kyle, who had gone to the bathroom, came back.

“Shall we leave soon? The road to the Imperial Palace is quite long, so we shouldn’t delay too much.”

It was a pity that he couldn’t ask about the knot in Sylvia’s heart, but Kyle suggested moving again because he couldn’t just sit here.

At that, Sylvia hesitated, wondering if she should apologize now or not.

“Ah, there’s something I want to ask you before that. Kyle.”

“What is it?”

Vermillian suddenly raised his hand and asked for the right to speak, then exchanged glances with Sylvia and smiled, then opened his mouth.

“I didn’t get much sleep, so I want to go with my eyes closed. If it’s okay, can I use one seat alone?”

“You can just sit and sleep…. Tsk.”

If it had been Sylvia, he would have made a seat even if there wasn’t one, but when Vermillian made this request, he was so dumbfounded that his expression soured.

Moreover, if that happened, he would have to sit next to Sylvia, which would be a nuisance to her, so he was a little reluctant.

“He says he’s tired, so there’s nothing we can do. Then Kyle will sit with me.”

“Hmm…. If Sylvia is okay with it, let’s do that.”

Sylvia quickly raised her hand at this opportunity and strongly agreed with Vermillian’s words, so in the end, it was 2 to 1, and Kyle had no choice but to give in.

“Thank you for your consideration.”

Vermillian smiled satisfactorily at the situation going according to plan and moved to the carriage first. Sylvia, who was watching him from behind, felt that she needed to reconsider her thoughts about him.

‘Drake Gongja, you were a good person!’

On the other hand, Kyle, who had no idea that the two were plotting together.

‘Sylvia seemed to be in a pretty bad mood. I wonder if she’s okay.’

He was worried that he had unnecessarily touched her, who already seemed to be in a bad mood.

But….

“Kyle, did you see the flock of sparrows sitting on the tree just now? They were so cute…!”

“Yes? Ah, yes. I did see them, but….”

He was dumbfounded as he watched her attitude change as soon as she sat down, and she jumped up and down in her seat, looking very excited.