CHAPTER 043
"······ Then, just for a moment."
Having been urged twice, Lewis roughly decided to lean against her.
Or more accurately, to pretend to lean against her and then get up.
Selina's shoulder, where his head was resting, was so slender that he wondered if it was okay to lean on it. Not just her shoulder, but her entire frame felt delicate.
Lewis recalled Selina’s twisted ankle from earlier.
It was a miracle it hadn’t broken, given how frail she seemed.
Should he make sure she eats better?
Lewis pondered this even though Selina was already receiving plenty of food from the twins and the Duke at the Duke's estate.
The noise had long since disappeared.
It vanished the moment they touched.
Still, being close to her, who gave him such a sense of security, made him feel much more at ease.
Or perhaps, having her all to himself for a brief moment relaxed his otherwise tense mind.
Lewis, leaning on Selina, unknowingly fell asleep.
* * *
Phillip contacted me shortly after the harvest festival ended.
When we met again at our previous rendezvous, Phillip handed me a pass to the archives.
"Thanks to the Lady's help."
I suppose I did help.
I had, after all, helped him prepare a handkerchief for his business, though it was more for personal reasons.
His ambition to give the honor of victory to Charlotte was thwarted by Lewis’s participation.
Nonetheless, he presented his game to Charlotte.
"I hope the Viscountess of Yanils realizes my feelings through this."
I also hope so. Unfortunately, it seemed Charlotte hadn't noticed Phillip's feelings yet.
'Did she think he gave her the game because he promised to share the honor upon his return?'
Charlotte merely saw the gift as Phillip keeping his promise, as a return for the handkerchief she had given him.
Why else would he present the game!
After all, Charlotte wasn’t the only one who had given Phillip a handkerchief!
In any case, I couldn’t disappoint Phillip.
So I smiled at Phillip's hope that his feelings would be conveyed to Charlotte.
* * *
With the pass to the archives, it was time to start seriously searching for information.
Charlotte, who had accompanied me to the palace last time, joined me again.
"Did Lady Elsner also receive a pass?"
"Yes."
"I knew it! I’m not the only one receiving it."
"What?"
Perplexed, I looked at Charlotte.
"Anyone who asks can receive one, right? His Highness the Crown Prince isn’t so heartless."
Ah... that's not the reason.
Could they ever end up together? I wondered seriously for a moment.
Searching for rare books in the palace library was the same as last time.
‘I will find a case of hearing noise in one's head!’
If Lewis wasn’t the only one hearing noise, there could be someone else with the same symptoms.
I diligently searched for anything that might be helpful.
But it wasn’t easy to go through all the books.
If there was nothing here, I’d have to look elsewhere. Who knows how long that would take.
This was a moment when the internet would be sorely missed.
Having read so many characters, my head was foggy.
Thankfully, it was almost lunchtime. As the clock struck noon, I spoke up as if I had been waiting for this moment.
"Lady Yanils!"
"Yes?"
"It's time to eat."
Let’s eat first! I closed the book I was reading without any hesitation.
"What shall we eat?"
"What would Lady Yanils like to have?"
While excitedly discussing lunch menus on our way out, a small vibration was felt in my bag.
It was a communication from Lewis.
"Marquis?"
- What are you doing?
"I'm at the palace!"
- Why the palace?
"The archives. I was just about to go out for lunch."
Since I mentioned the archives, Lewis would understand. If immediate assistance wasn’t required, he’d end the call saying he understood.
However, contrary to my expectation, Lewis spoke up.
- I’ll join you for lunch.
"Join us?"
Wouldn't Charlotte feel burdened? Also, isn’t he not close to Charlotte?
I turned to look at Charlotte. This wasn’t something I could decide alone.
Unexpectedly, Charlotte nodded readily.
"I'm fine with it."
"You can tell me if you’re uncomfortable, Lady Yanils."
- I can hear everything, you know?
"Oh."
Charlotte looked at me and smiled faintly.
"Really, it’s fine. Let’s have lunch together today."
And so, we ended up having lunch together.
The meeting place was a restaurant near the palace.
"Hello, Marquis."
"Hi."
When Charlotte greeted him, Lewis nodded curtly from across me.
He had come all the way from the Magic Tower to see us. Couldn’t he be a bit more friendly?
Charlotte, seeming unfazed, naturally opened the menu.
"What should we order? Do you have any preferred dishes?"
"Not really."
"Then can Lady Elsner and I decide?"
"Do as you like."
Really...
From my observations, Lewis often used such disinterested tones with people he didn’t care about.
But Charlotte was a close friend of mine!
If he responded like this, even the most broad-minded person would lose the will to talk.
Marquis, please be a bit more considerate in your answers!
I signaled to Lewis with my eyes.
Charlotte, being genuinely broad-minded, continued to engage Lewis in conversation.
This time, she brought up a topic about me.
"Since when did you and Lady Elsner become so close, Marquis?"
"Not sure. From the first time we met, I guess."
Lies.
The days I spent trying to get closer to Lewis are still fresh in my mind!
"From the first time? So, that's why you two are so close."
Charlotte seemed to believe that unbelievable statement.
For a moment, Lewis's lips curled into a slight smile.
"Do we look that close? You’re more observant than I thought."
"Oh my, that's the first time I've been told that."
Charlotte was pleased, saying it was the first time she had been called observant.
How could it not look that way? If the usually aloof Tower Master suddenly started hanging around someone!
Charlotte, who laughed brightly, continued talking.
"There are frequent rumors about you two in the social circles. People say your relationship with Lady Elsner is unusual."
"Do we seem closer than Bella and me?"
"You all seem so close to Lady Elsner that it's hard to tell..."
Lewis's smile deepened at that. It was a look of satisfaction.
Why was he so happy to hear that we seemed close?
Anyway, it felt like the previously distant atmosphere between the two had become a bit more comfortable.
That wasn’t a bad thing.
Considering how indifferent Lewis seemed to Charlotte’s words, this was a good outcome.
It was better to go with the flow.
* * *
After frequenting the archives like going to work, a month had already passed.
Ridiculously, despite the abundance of rare books, I had found nothing.
"I haven’t found anything useful. How is this possible?"
I lamented, and Lewis looked at me indifferently.
"I told you, I didn’t think it would work. I said I couldn’t find anything. Why would the palace library be any different?"
"How can you be so pessimistic!"
"I take it back. I thought you’d be able to find something."
Seeing my disappointed look, Lewis quickly changed his words.
I haven’t found anything yet...
"Anyway, it's really strange."
I shared my honest thoughts.
"Maybe I haven’t found it yet, but none of the books mention symptoms like yours."
Discussing such profound matters under the bright sun in the garden!
We walked around the palace garden a bit and then settled on a nearby bench.
"I thought I might find something since they said there were rare books. But even the book titled <100 Amazing Events in the Empire> had no mention of noise."
"Was there such a book in the library? Sounds like a dubious title."
Lewis smirked at the idea of the palace storing such a book.
But isn’t it better than <100 Not Amazing Events>? Anyway, that wasn’t the point.
I seriously pondered.
"Your father didn’t have any magic, so I even looked at genetics books. I wondered if it could be hereditary."
"You even looked at genetics books?"
"Yes. I’ve gained a lot of random knowledge over the past month from searching for information."
I almost thought I was becoming a scholar.
Lewis chuckled at my words.
"Learning something is always good."
Such optimism.
But this was truly odd. In the original story, Lewis’s noise was clearly stated to be due to magic.
Was the original story a fake?
"Was your father really not related to magic?"
"Yeah. My father was just an ordinary man. He had nothing to do with magic and worked as a farmer."
"Was he a farmer?"
This was news to me.
When I asked, he gave a more detailed answer.
"It wasn’t his land. My father had no money. He worked on other people's fields for a wage."
"Wow... And that’s how he met your mother?"
A love story between a Duke’s daughter and a common man!
But how did they even meet? Usually, their paths wouldn’t cross due to their different statuses.
Their work and social standing were so different.
"A real-life novel story."
Murmuring in amazement, Lewis responded gruffly.
"Real life is different from novels. We were dirt poor."
"Oh..."
Come to think of it, he mentioned before that life in the countryside was tough.
Yes, working on someone else’s land and earning wages was quite different from owning and farming your own land.
It must have been hard for a Duke’s daughter to live in such conditions.
Lewis added more.
"We were poor, but my father was a good man. A good husband."
"That’s a relief..."
Nodding seriously, I asked.
"Did your father mention anything about it? About the noise in his head."
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