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Long Time No See, Noona
[Stay close to me in the capital city]
“You’ve always been with me, haven’t you? Or I’ll take Anne with me…….”
[No. A forest beast is not enough.]
Kyrie was surprised. MarryAnne is such a talented person that even Nathaniel recognizes her.
I can’t believe she’s not enough.
“Come to think of it, Sir Leshaux told me. Vallabriga’s lab has been discovered.”
[Do you still keep in touch with Leshaux?]
“Dear Sir Legend, that’s not the point.”
In Vallabriga’s lab, there is a magic that can kill Nataniel. In fact, she didn’t know if it could really kill him. But not dying doesn’t mean everything.
“It’s your business, Nathaniel. If they had the power, they would try to kill you.”
When she said that, Nathaniel made a very innocent and blank expression, [Ah]. Then, he stared at her gently.
[Are you worrying about me?]
Kyrie also stared at him equally softly.
“Illusion is not good. I just feel bad for the citizens who will be involved.”
Nathaniel didn’t feel too bad. Rather, he smiled faintly. The fierce momentum when looking at the capital had disappeared.
[Anyway, not with the forest beast. Stay with Leshaux. But don’t stay too close with Leschaux. It’s hard for him to reject your request.]
Kyrie blinked. That was unexpected. Is he worried about Leschaux? However, Nathaniel laughed as if he had guessed what she thought.
[The closer you are to Leschaux, the more uncomfortable I feel and that’s what Leshaux hates the most.] (T/N: Making nathaniel feel uncomfortable)
It was very rare to hear about Leschaux from Nathaniel’s mouth. Kyrie looked at the capital silently and turned to Nathaniel again.
“I thought about it, but again, to Sir Leschaux, you……Is it that kind of thing? Like me, I mean, small, precious, and to protect……?”
As Nathaniel was holding a cane, he moved his head slightly and looked down at Kyrie. He gave her a very strange smile. Perhaps because he lived for a long time, the curve of emotional expression is too gentle. Kyrie became more courageous.
“You don’t want sir Leschaux to do it because you’re worried about Sir Leschaux?”
[Leschaux to me?]
“Sir Leschaux betrayed you once, but you left him alone…… I thought you had feelings left. Even if it’s something like sympathy.”
[Well, who would pity that kid?]
The part that describes the hundred years old Lord Protector as a kid. Sometimes in this regard, the time that Nathaniel had been through permeated. He bent down a little and opened the robe hat over Kyrie’s head.
[Think about it, I’m always worried because you’re weaker than a willow. But what about Leschaux? Does he need to protect me?]
“Even if he wants to protect you, he doesn’t have to…There is no need to, right?
[Yes. So Leschaux doesn’t have to worry about me, and no one can sympathize with Leschaux.]
Seeing Kyrie’s expression, Nathaniel lowered his eyes and straightened his bent back. He looked forward again. The gaze was heavier than before.
“Can I ask you one more question?”
[I can’t guarantee the answer.]
“You don’t want me to be in danger, do you?”
[Yes.]
She opened her mouth after hesitation.
“Then why leave the King alone, in fact, she is the most direct threat to me?”
Nathaniel paused.  Then he turned his head with a swift motion, and stared at Kyrie with a very subtle smile.
As soon as she made eye contact, Kyrie’s whole mind was hooked and sucked into that gaze. At least, Kyrie felt that way. At the same time, Nathaniel’s blue eyes spread out as vast as the night sky, and she felt as if it was slammed right in front of her. It is clear that the unknown world in which he lived appeared briefly, but the inside was so huge that Kyrie couldn’t understand it properly. Just suddenly, Nathaniel felt very unfamiliar.
[Just in case.]
“In case….huh?”
[Yes, but I don’t think I need to say more.]
Kyrie paused.
“……why?”
[It’s better if you don’t know I don’t think you’ll understand even if I say it.]
“That’s something you don’t know. If you tell me-.”
[Kyrie. This is a trick I’ve learned from the past, and I won’t tell you about this unless it’s necessary.]
By saying so, he avoided Kyrie’s gaze. Kyrie’s heart pounded anxiously. Her palms started to sweat. Kyrie managed to open her mouth.
“Maybe something…Are you planning?”
[You don’t have to worry. Let’s move slowly.]
Nathaniel disappeared in a moment after saying so. Black fog, or a sandstorm, flowed into the shadow under Kyrie’s feet. It was a method they had discussed in advance in order to return to the mansion without the knowledge of others.
However, Kyrie, who was left behind, could hardly move. Her anxiety that she had covered up banged and she pushed the door open. Suddenly, she felt like she was left alone in the world. The sense of no one she could trust and everyone distancing themselves from her was something she had already experienced once.
[Not yet. Cry a little more, have more hope, and despair a little more. So that you can’t even think of reaching out your hand even when you’re about to have real hope]
She felt like she was drenched in cold water.
He did.
Nathaniel was a man who said in a friendly voice that he had planned everything. In the meantime, he gave clues one by one, and made Kyrie find the correct answer. He was a man who gave her hope in that way and made her swallow despair.
‘What if everything that I saw from Bund’s house is acting? What if he prepared even the changes I felt to make me despair?’
It seemed like someone banged on her head.
‘Why didn’t I think of that until now? Why did you think he was going to quietly truce with me, and change a little?’
Once the doubt sprouted, the fear imprinted on the body naturally took over. In the meantime, there was a small voice that refuted saying that it felt too sincere to be called acting, but that voice was so small that it was quickly swallowed by waves of anxiety.
‘No, I don’t think so. I’m not sure. It’s okay, it’ll be okay.….’
Kyrie swallowed her breath and moved her wooden leg.
At that moment, someone’s words stuck in her ears.
“So you mean Kyrie Buchanan is coming back?”
Kyrie stopped walking. On the other side of the street, a group of young aristocrats were chattering and walking.
“It is said she was caught. Soon the Legendary Lord will bring her back, my lady.”
“Why did you run away when she was going to come back? She has a hobby of focusing on fruitless work.”
“She is hungry.”
“Isn’t she trying to raise her ransom?”
“Pfft. She isn’t sold yet?”
(T/N: she is hungry for power, trying to raise her worth in the eyes of Nathaniel, ‘sold’ as in selling her body)
Immediately after that, Nathaniel’s shadow that had hid Kyrie exploded and spread towards them like a wedge. Kyrie let out a roar.
“Stop!”
While the shadow flickered, the nobles passed by her. Only the afterimage of their voices remained in the air.
“She cried bitterly for that. I thought she wasn’t a noble.”
“In a vulgar way…….”
Her face burned up. Shame burned Kyrie’s whole body. People passing through the streets heard the story of a group of young aristocrats, which was the starting point, and began to talk about Kyrie as if they had promised by starting, “Come to think of it.”
“She acted as if she’d voluntarily do it, but she didn’t die. Is she pregnant?”
“Hey, he even paid attention to her moon.”
(T/N: menstrual cycle)
“Oh, that’s right. So they did it?”
(T/N: s*x)
“Is there a problem with Miss Buchanan? There was a problem with the crown prince too.”
(T/N: Infertile)
“I don’t know if it’s true? Then the Legendary Lord might find someone else.”
“But I’m sure he won’t let it slide. Would he notice someone else after having that kind of beauty?
“Then did the Legendary Lord only see the face of Kyrie Buchanan? But I don’t think her face alone could have twisted the Legendary Lord like that…..”
“As expected, she’s talented during the night…….”
The shadows were agitated again.
“Don’t kill me!”
Kyrie began to run with a sense of nausea.
The passers-by avoided Kyrie who was shouting like a crazy person as if they were treating a leprosy patient. Even though her heart was beating so loudly that she could hear it in her ear, the poison of the unspecified number of lips was clearly heard in her ears.
“I didn’t like to please him, but the play was fun.”
(T/N: talking about the village play)
“Actually, I wanted to join, but the play was managed by Old Ciudad and Fort Ducane.….”
“The wealth that the Legendary Lord gave to the people who participated in the play was enormous.”
At that time, someone spoke quietly.
“But the guards died.”
People paused at the same time. However, soon, he began to debate again like a sparrow.
“That’s the royal family’s fault. This country was created with the help of the Legendary Lord and the Lord Protector, but how dare you disobey him?”
“Should I be a little honest? Kyrie Buchanan is so psychotic. Legendary Lord did that, but why is she so stubborn?”
“That’s right. He loves her so much……Sigh, so romantic.”
Someone spoke quietly again.
“But he even encouraged the boy to commit suicide.”
The story of people stopped. But they continued chatting higher as if they wanted to erase the small question.
“The dead were weak. Isn’t it heartbreaking from the beginning?”
“He is a commoner in the first place. Ordinary people are always like that. It’s just like killing in the palace. It’s a relief that the same commoner chef died.”
(T/N: they are pointing out that, royals too kill people)
“Both of them did it?”
(T/N: suicide)
“I guess so”
The giggling continued. Then someone pointed to Kyrie, who wore the robe, and said.
“Look. How did that person come into this district?”
She couldn’t take it anymore. Kyrie changed direction and headed behind the building. And she threw up everything she ate. Nathaniel, who appeared before she knew it, knelt down in front of her. He had a stiff face like a bronze statue.
[…..Kyrie]
Kyrie closed her eyes and her ears. She didn’t want to hear it anymore. She didn’t want to think. With her whole body soaked in sweat, she shook her head vigorously to calm the fear that was overflowing.
However, sweet and cruel whispers have already begun to repeat like broken orgels in her heart.
[Not yet. Cry a little more, have more hope, and despair a little more]
She can’t forget Nataniel who said that. She has never forgotten the cruelty of him playing with her despair. It was just covered up. Still, he denied Kyrie. It won’t be like this time. That can’t be true of Nathaniel.
I didn’t have time, I didn’t have a chance, I called it a truce, and his attitude toward me did changed.….
[That way, you won’t be able to reach out your hand even when you’re about to have real hope]
But what if this is a play too?
“No, no, no! No! No!”
[Kyrie!]
“Argh! Argh!”
The wounds of the mind, which no one had taken care of, finally ate up Kyrie’s intestines and began to rise to the skin. Kyrie screamed as she tore her hair off. Bloody eyes looked at the sky, but the people of the city were only looking down at her.
“No, no…….”
Then her gaze headed toward the end of the alley, and Kyrie no longer screamed and hardened.
There, Aaron, holding Melonie’s neck, stood still and smiled at her.
Aaron said hello.
Long time no see, noona.