Chapter 1.6

The next day, the sun shone brightly, as if to tell us that we had arrived in a coastal town with unpredictable weather.

Like everywhere else in this world, conditions were dire in most places. I approached a man who was managing boats near the dock.

“Are you the captain of this ship?”

“And if I am?”

After a night of camping, my appearance was a mess, so the man had no way of knowing I was a high-ranking noble.

“This is the daughter of the Count of Ianster. Show some respect.”

“Oh, please… Cedric.”

I never got used to this kind of thing. It felt like saying, ‘Do you know who I am?’ But here, those words were incredibly useful. The captain bowed low before me and answered all my questions dutifully.

“Do you have a ship leaving after September 15th?”

“Yes, a ship leaves on every odd-numbered day.”

“Could I see the passenger list?”

The passenger list was incredibly shoddy. It only had names and ages, and even the last names were often missing. But after flipping through a few pages, I immediately found the name of the man I was looking for. The ship was set to depart on September 25th.

“I hear the sea is quite rough from mid-September to October…”

“Yes, that’s right. Not a single accident happens all year, but it’s the only time when many ships sink.”

His words suddenly made me curious.

“Well, then, why not just stop sailing in September?”

The captain, who had been polite so far, chuckled as if my question was amusing.

“My Lady, if we did that, everyone who works on this ship would starve to death. It’s the same whether you drown or starve, so we choose the option with a lower chance of dying.”

His words left me speechless. What could I do now? It wasn’t my place to tell them not to leave on September 25th because the ship would sink. And I wasn’t some action movie hero who was going to save this world.

But these cursed lips just wouldn’t stop. Ever since I was a child, my friends at the orphanage used to say that my life would be difficult because of my meddling nature.

“Then I will buy all the tickets for that ship on that day.”

It was the “Golden Bell” moment at the dock.

“Pardon?”

“My condition is this: the ship must not set sail that day. How much would that be?”

He looked me up and down, then looked at my face again.

“One hundred tickets are thirty thousand Sat.”

The price of a single ticket was as expensive as buying a slave. At this point, I felt like I was an action movie hero after all. I was a foreigner who could control time, so what else could I be but “Claire Stranger”? It was the moment half of the money I had saved for my escape disappeared.

***

On the way back from the Eastern Continent, Owen kept staring intently at my face. I knew why he was doing that. How could he not be curious, when a noble girl suddenly wanted to go to the dock and then just “rang the golden bell” on a whim?

“Owen.”

“Yes, My Lady.”

“Stop staring.”

Sally and Cedric were riding a single horse, so they had fallen a little behind since yesterday. The two men rode on either side of me as if to escort me, and the carriage was already far behind and out of sight.

“I’m sorry, but…”

“I know. You’re curious.”

“Yes, very curious.”

Seeing how much he wanted to know, I decided to tell Owen the truth, with a little exaggeration.

“I had a dream. You know Glen Doherty, the Count’s aide, right?”

“Of course.”

“I dreamed he fell into the sea and died. It was a very vivid dream. And then, as if it was a lie, he said he was going to take a boat. So that’s why I did it.”

Owen nodded as if he understood.

‘What? He’s just accepting it?’

“So you bought all the tickets for that ship.”

“But don’t tell him. He’s not the type of person to believe in dreams.”

“Yes, I will remember that.”

After speaking in a solemn voice, I turned my head away from Owen and felt Adrian chuckle.

‘What? Adrian chuckled?’

I was so surprised that I turned my head toward Adrian, but there was no expression on his face, as if I had imagined it.

***

The next day, after returning from the dock to the Eastern Continent, Sally, who always greeted me in the morning, brought me some good news with a fresh expression.

“I heard Hailey is at the training ground?”

“Really? Let’s go. To give her a gift.”

“Yes.”

Now, Sally wasn’t smiling awkwardly anymore, but genuinely smiling brightly at me.

“Are you feeling okay?”

“Pardon?”

“Yesterday, your face was red the whole way to the dock and back.”

“Me? Was it?”

“Yeah. I thought you had a cold, but you seem fine.”

I tilted my head and quickly got up. As I brushed my hand over the gift for Hailey and approached the training ground, she was smiling at me. Her beautifully white teeth were revealed, and it made me feel good, so I quickened my pace.

Thump!

“Ugh!”

When I fell, gasps of surprise came from all around. I looked up and saw a young knight playing innocent, whistling a tune.

Then, several knights came rushing to help me up. The young knight, who had been shrugging his shoulders and looking triumphant, seemed to understand the situation and slowly backed away.

My body was gently pulled up. It had rained the night before, and my face was covered in mud. Honestly, it didn’t hurt, but it was really embarrassing. I subconsciously looked for Adrian with my eyes.

‘Oh, damn it.’

Our eyes met.

“Are you all right, My Lady?”

“Yes, I’m fine. I just tripped over my own feet. Hahahaha. Don’t worry about me, go on with your work… no, your training.”

I looked to the side and saw Cedric dragging the young knight into a corner and shouting something at him.

“Hailey!”

“Are you okay, My Lady?”

“Yeah, this is nothing. But… look, there’s mud on your bag.”

I lifted my already dirty skirt and wiped Hailey’s bag with it.

“See here? This is Hailey’s name. Isn’t it pretty?”

“Yes… Thank you so much, My Lady. But are you really okay? There’s blood on your nose…”

“Huh?”

Hearing that, Sally took out a handkerchief from her pocket and wiped my nose. Thankfully, it was just a little bit of blood.

“By the way, why did you come today? To visit?”

“No… I want to work again. If you’ll allow me, My Lady.”

I grabbed both of Hailey’s hands.

“Of course. It’s fine. Serve me like you did before. Sally was having a hard time alone.”

Hailey blushed and nodded. For the first time since I came here, I felt a sense of relief, as if I had finally set something right. I happily grabbed Hailey’s arm to take her to my room, but then I heard Owen’s voice.

“You must punish him.”

I was so embarrassed and wanted to leave quickly, but he blocked my path.

“Why go so far as to punish him?”

I awkwardly smiled, gritting my teeth.

“No. He caused his master to bleed, so you must punish him.”

Owen was a man with zero flexibility. I pulled him close and whispered in his ear.

“If we have to punish people for that reason, no one here would be safe. You all hated me, didn’t you? So don’t pick on him. He didn’t know.”

When I whispered, Owen whispered back in my ear.

“But this is a different matter. You must set an example.”

“What do you mean, different? There was a guy who spat in front of me. Anyway, I get it.”

I called the young knight, who had a pale face.

“What’s your name?”

“Chris Curtis, My Lady.”

“Okay, Chris. From now on, you will be my sword training instructor. For one hour every day at the training ground. Before or after your duties.”

“Huh?”

“Why? You don’t want to? Then I’ll just destroy your family line for three generations?”

“Oh, no, My Lady.”

“All right. Is that good enough, Owen?”

Owen nodded. At that moment, Chris looked at me with tears welling up in his eyes.

‘Oh, please don’t cry.’

“Thank you, My Lady. And I am truly sorry!”

I found out later that Chris had been on a long vacation. The knights at the training ground had changed their attitudes toward me a lot recently, and he hadn’t known and had acted out in revenge for the Hailey incident.

In any case, this incident gave me a reason to see Adrian every day. I was getting tired of wandering around the training ground for no reason, so I thought it was a good thing. I subconsciously looked for Adrian, but he was already walking far away.

***

After holding Adrian’s ankle and crying, it became a bit difficult to go and see him. I wasn’t sure if it was right to approach him without any context after having hurt him so badly and giving him trauma.

The Adrian I had seen in the novel didn’t have proper emotions. He couldn’t read his own or others’ hearts, and it was no exaggeration to say that this ultimately led to his downfall.

But at the campsite last night, I saw a glimmer of hope. I thought that maybe Adrian was opening his heart to me and trying to be my friend.

Even while getting sword training from Chris, I was looking for an opportunity to approach Adrian.

“You did well, My Lady.”

“Really? It’s all thanks to Chris.”

Chris, who had tripped me, turned out to be a naive and kind young man. As I answered him, I continued to follow Adrian with my eyes.

But he just sat in a corner of the training ground, organizing and polishing things alone, never once looking my way. It was as if his slightly warmer gaze at the campsite had been my imagination; Adrian was still cold to me, and maybe even a little angry.

I finished my training and returned to my room. Chris was so enthusiastic about the lessons that I could still hear his voice in my ears. After washing up with Sally’s help, I sat at my desk and spread out a large map. The structure of the Count’s territory was well-organized in neat, rectangular Lego-like shapes.

When Han Hyuntaek was brainstorming a new business, he would unbutton the top three buttons of his shirt, roll up his sleeves, and stare at a large world map for a long time. The sight of him pushing his jet-black hair back with both hands and his eyes sparkling… Yes, I loved that. He said something about cultivating a macroscopic perspective.

So I also spread out a map and sat down, but it seemed that I, a commoner, didn’t have any special macroscopic perspective. I thought I should go and check on the typewriter to see if it was being made properly.

But my plan was thwarted again when I was called to the Count’s office.

“The Crown Prince is sending a carriage again tomorrow.”

“Yes…”

After that, my father kept talking, but I listened with one ear and let his words flow out the other, while I organized the top of the desk. It was like my subconscious had ordered me to do it. Organizing someone’s desk was my occupational habit, almost like an obsessive-compulsive disorder.

First, I flipped the documents that were upside down, arranged them neatly in alphabetical order, and inserted separate papers into the parts that were marked as important. And on the very first page, I wrote a brief explanation for each document. It was a kind of filing work.

“What… are you doing?”

“Pardon?”

I was startled and took my hands off the Count’s documents.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Did I offend you? It’s just a habit…”

The Count had stopped talking and had been watching what I was doing, and it seemed he couldn’t hold back his question anymore.

“Please continue what you were saying.”

“Hmm… Right. I heard you asked the Crown Prince to postpone the engagement.”

“What if my sister comes back? That position belongs to her.”

I took this opportunity to choose my words carefully in my mind.

“If my sister returns, won’t the engagement between the Crown Prince and me be broken off anyway? There’s no need for an engagement that would leave a stain.”

I remembered that the Count knew Celine was alive around this time. Of course, like a protagonist, she would be hard to find and it would take more time to find her… I wanted to give him a hint, but I didn’t want to arouse suspicion, so I kept my mouth shut. I would tell him all the secrets when I leave. And Adrian also needed to stay here a little longer to meet Celine.

‘Since Adrian doesn’t have a mark on his face, will Celine fall for him too…’

The Count remained silent.

“Then, I have to go somewhere, so may I leave now?”

“…You may.”