Volume 3 Chapter 5: Everything Ends (1/2)

We remained in the room as Rufus was taken away. Lana – or rather Lahna – remained in the room as well.

“Um, Lahna-sama. Thank you very much for saving me. And for treating me so well,” I thank her again.

To think that Lana, who I had thought to be a mere maid, was actually someone from the Ministry of Magic – and fairly high up in the Ministry to boot. I was surprised.

“No no, I had always wanted to sit down and have a long conversation with you, so it was pretty fun for me,” she says, flashing a smile.

“What? Always?”

Huh? Then maybe she knew about me beforehand?

“She is the superior I mentioned during the school festival,” Rafael explains, noticing my confusion.

Ah, so she’s the one who had apparently taken a shine to me… so then we may have already met in the past?

“Um, so then have we met before?”

Had I just forgotten again?

“Yes, we’ve met before, but since I’ve never met you with this appearance, you probably can’t tell who I am,” says Lahna, flashing another smile.

“With that appearance?”

What does she mean?

“She’s a master of disguise, so she has many different appearances. By the way, she’s the one who taught me how to disguise myself.”

What?! She was that master of disguise he mentioned before?! That’s amazing!

But in that case, no wonder I don’t recognize her. Actually, if that’s the case then no matter how many times I met her, I wouldn’t be able to remember her. I wonder what she looked like the last time we met.

“Um, what did you look like when we met before?” I ask Lahna.

“When we met before, I was wearing my public face,” she says, giving me a somehow meaningful smile.

“Public face?”

As I was standing there confused, for some reason, Lahna suddenly embraces me.

“Huh? Um…”

“Ha ha, you’re really cute. I told you that I’d embrace you when we met next, didn’t I?” says Lahna, narrowing her blue eyes like a cat as she laughs.

She said that she’d embrace me when we met next?

And those eyes… I’ve seen them before somewhere…

“Hurry up and give back Katarina already,” says Jared, stepping in just when it seemed like I was about to remember. He drags me away from Lahna’s chest.

“Such a short-tempered prince,” says Lahna, snickering.

Ugh, and I was just about to remember…

“Katarina, are you alright?” asks Jared, looking at me with a serious expression.

“Yes, nothing happened to m – oh right! Selena-sama, Selena-sama had magic cast on her…”

I hadn’t seen Selena since last night. Rufus said that she was just sleeping, but I was worried how she was doing right now.

“Some others are heading to her location along with Ian-sama, so no need to worry,” Lahna responds.

“Ian-sama came as well?”

“Yes, after hearing the news, he jumped in with a deathly pale face. I’ve never seen Ian-sama look like that. He must be really worried about Selena.”

“Is that so! That’s good.”

Like I thought, you can’t really tell what someone is thinking unless you talk with them. It looks like Selena’s not hated like she thought.

“But really, it’s a relief that nothing happened to you,” says Jared, sighing deeply.

Everyone else said they were relieved that I was safe too.

“Be more careful from now on, okay?” Keith says.

“I understand,” I reply meekly.

“But considering that you were kidnapped… Katarina, isn’t your skin unusually smooth?” says Jared, looking at me intently.

I tense up.

It’s a bit tough for me to say that I was treated even better than usual after being kidnapped, considering how much I must’ve worried everyone.

“Is – is that so?

“Yes. I also feel like your hair is glossier too… wait, what’s this?” says Jared, voice rising. He holds my hair up as he looks at my neck.

“Huh, what is it?”

“This mark on your neck. What in the world happened?”

“A mark on my neck?”

What does he mean, a mark on my neck? Oh right, it must’ve happened then!

“Ah, it seems like I was bitten by a bug or something.”

“You were bitten by a bug?”

“Yes. When Rufus pushed me down on the bed…”

“Pushed down on a bed?!”

Huh? For some reason, Jared looks very scary. What was the matter?

“What do you mean by that? By Rufus, you mean the man that was just taken away, correct?”

“Ah, yes. Well, last night, he suddenly pushed me down on the bed, and that’s when I was bitten by a bug or something. I think that Rufus was trying to put me to sleep with his magic, but…”

For some reason, Jared looks even scarier than before. I want someone to come save me. Thinking that, I turn my gaze towards my friends standing behind me, but their faces are just as dark.

Huh, why? Everyone was all smiles a moment ago – what happened?

“It looks like we can’t trust Katarina’s definition of ‘okay’… so, did anything else happen other than getting pushed down and being bitten by a bug?”

“Ah, yes. Lana – I mean Lahna – came in shortly after so I got away before he could cast his magic on me.”

Jared let out a deep breath.

“To think that this would happen as I was taking my time, matching your pace… if I’m not careful, you might be stolen before my very eyes. I think I have no choice but to stop waiting,” says Jared, closing into my face for some reason.

“Hm?”

I don’t really understand what’s happening, so I just think absentmindedly that wow, handsome people really are still handsome from up close. But before I knew it, Jared’s face had gotten so close I couldn’t even make out its details… then I feel a soft sensation on my lips…

W – what is this?! C – could this possibly be…?

“I won’t wait any longer. I won’t be able to stand it if someone else steals you away while I’m waiting,” says the black-hearted prince who stole away my first kiss.

Those lips… on my lips…

What’s happening? But why? Jared just uses me as a shield to ward off other women – he should actually love Maria… but then w – why a kiss…?

Everyone was getting pretty noisy around me, but none of their words registered.

My mind is filled with the thoughts of that kiss. Why, but why, I don’t understand.

Even in my previous life, I had no experience with romance – and so, my mind short-circuited. This is how the kidnapping incident ended.

************

“Selena, Selena.”

I wake up to the sound of someone desperately calling out my name. I open my eyes to someone I had never expected to see, gazing at me worriedly.

“Ian-sama?”

“Selena, you’re awake. Thank goodness,” says Ian, embracing me as if I’m something precious to him.

It was almost like a dream, but the warmth I felt from him was definitely real.

“I heard the whole story. I’m so sorry you went through all this for me,” apologizes Ian, looking pained for some reason.

“N – no no, I’m the one who decided to do all this… I apologize deeply for troubling you by acting without thinking.”

After I wake up, my mind feels unbelievably clear. Thinking back, I can’t believe I did everything I did. I really had thought that if I took on all the blame, I would be able to avoid troubling Ian… I’m embarrassed at how foolish I was.

“Don’t worry about it. You were being controlled, it’s not your fault. More importantly, thank goodness you’re alright. I was really worried, you know?”

Controlled? I was wondering what he meant by that, but such questions flew from my mind at his final sentence.

“Um… you were worried about me?”

“Of course. You’re my precious fiancée.”

Ah, I never thought that I would hear Ian say that I’m his precious fiancée… but…

“U – um… Ian-sama, I was under the impression that you disliked me?” I ask, recalling Katarina’s insistence that to know the truth, you need to confirm things with the person in question.

“What in the world are you saying? Of course not,” says Ian, looking surprised for some reason. He didn’t seem like he was lying.

“Um, but you won’t meet with me that often, and you’re always cold to me whenever we do meet…” I ask, gaining the courage from Katarina’s words to ask everything I never could ask before.

“Ah!” exclaims Ian, blushing slightly.

What’s the matter?

“That was because… you’re so adorable that I lose the willpower to hold myself back.”

I’m troubled at his words. They came completely out of left field.

“We’re still just engaged – we’ve not yet been wedded. And so I understand that you do not want me to be overly clingy… but when I see you, I’m overtaken by the desire to touch your lovely self… thus, I’ve been avoiding meeting you and keeping my distance whenever we do meet,” says Ian, his face redder than I’ve ever seen before, “I’m sorry if you’ve misunderstood me because of that. I’ll say it again then, properly. I, Ian Stuart, love Selena Burke.”

Despite his red face, he said those words while looking directly at me.

Ah, it was just like Katarina had said.

The only person who knows what they’re thinking is that person themselves. That’s why you have to talk with them. It was just like she said.

I start to cry at my overwhelming happiness. Ian, his face still red, wipes away my tears in a fluster.

************

With the Katarina Claes kidnapping case safely closed, after making my report to the Ministry of Magic, I head to my partner’s place while holding a written report.

When I say ‘I’m coming in,’ at his door, he says ‘Come in,’ in response.

On entering the room, I see him looking at me with a relaxed gaze.

“Ooh, your disguise is especially plain today, I see.”

“I was disguising myself as an unassuming maid with no relatives, after all. The wig was a bit stuffy though,” I say, taking off my brown-haired wig. My natural black hair flows down my back.

“I always think that your disguises are really amazing, Suzanna Randall,” says Geoffrey with a smirk.

“Your praise is a great honour, Prince Geoffrey,” I respond, purposefully talking like a noblewoman.