The Knight Who Broke Off Our Engagement and Told Me to Never Show My Face Again Still Clings to Me Today, Even Though I Was Possessed and Turned Into a Villainess for Ten Years - 8 - Growing Doubts
I never thought I would meet Rufus in a place like this. His long, narrow eyes were also wide open in surprise.
Unlike the last time I saw him, now he was right in front of me, much taller than me, and had become a grown man. Still, there was something familiar about him, and I felt nostalgic.
As I found myself staring at his handsome face, he suddenly looked away from me.
After all, he told me to never show my face again. Even now, he probably just handed me the book without realizing it was me. He definitely didn’t want to see me. He must be holding back his anger. I quickly opened my mouth to speak.
“Um, thank you so much.”
“…What?”
“And even though just saying sorry isn’t enough, I’m really sorry. I won’t bother you or the Marquis family ever again.”
Even though I caused a terrible incident, they didn’t blame my family. And most of all, he had cared about me for a long time. I wanted to thank him for that.
And I wanted to tell him that I would never trouble him or the Marquis family again.
“……”
“……”
The silence between us was painfully awkward. I must have disgusted him, especially after dragging even his important family into the mess. It’s only natural.
I wanted to talk to him, to explain everything just once more. But maybe staying away from me is what’s best for him. I decided to say thank you one last time and walk away, but then—
“…Why are you trying to read that kind of book?”
“Huh? Oh, I’m studying…”
Surprisingly, he was the one who spoke first. His eyes were on the book in my hands.
His unexpected question confused me, but I answered, and he frowned.
“Why are you dressed like that?”
“Um, I just like these kinds of colors.”
He must be talking about this simple, pale sky-blue dress. After I borrowed a dress from my mother, my father bought me many beautiful dresses the next day.
By the way, my makeup was light, and I just let my hair down. I guess I did look different from the me he used to know.
“Does it not look good on me?”
“I never said that.”
“I see. That’s good.”
“…It’s good?”
“Yeah.”
When I said that, he frowned even more.
“Rufus, you haven’t changed at all.”
“What?”
“You always ask so many questions.”
I remembered when we were children—he always asked me things like, “Sadie, what color do you like?”, “What food do you like?”, or “Do you like me?”. I couldn’t help but smile at the memory.
—Really, how did things end up like this? It’s not like Rufus or I did anything wrong…
“…Why…”
As he mumbled, Rufus slowly and hesitantly reached his hand out toward me. That’s when it happened.
“Sadie?”
When I turned at the voice, I saw Gerald walking toward us. It seemed like he finished his business earlier than expected.
When I glanced back at Rufus, his eyes looking at me had turned cold. His hand, which had been reaching out, had already dropped to his side.
“So now it’s him?”
“What?”
“I’m asking if you’re done with Lloyd already.”
He suddenly mentioned a name I didn’t know, and I accidentally said, “What?” again. Who is Lloyd?
Before I could figure out how to answer, Rufus turned his back and walked away.
◇◇◇
“You’re acting really strange today.”
At the corner of a ballroom, I said this to Rufus.
“Even though it’s your day off, you suddenly came to the knights’ station in plain clothes, and then you destroyed a whole training room.”
“…Sorry.”
He said that, but of course I knew the reason. The training room could be fixed quickly with magic, so it wasn’t a big deal.
“You saw Sadie, didn’t you?”
“Yeah.”
Whenever this man acts strangely, it’s always because of her. Even though he just broke off the engagement, I asked him what happened today. He covered his mouth with his left hand and muttered:
“She was cute.”
“…What?”
“I said, she was cute.”
He said that today, she had a soft look, the usual harshness in her appearance was gone, and she looked like a fairy. Then he saw Gerald Findlay come to pick her up and felt so shocked that he went to the training room to release his emotions.
Usually, I would’ve joked that he was hallucinating, but actually, I had an idea.
A few days ago, I went to a café in town with my much younger sister, and I met a woman who looked just like her.
That woman, who looked just like Sadie Arclight, acted worried when my sister started crying. Then she quickly fixed the broken stuffed animal. She acted like she had never met me before.
Even thinking back now, I could only believe she was someone else who just looked like Sadie. Her atmosphere and behavior were totally different.
“…Is she good at sewing?”
“Sewing? I don’t think she could even thread a needle.”
“I thought so.”
It had to be someone else. The way she sewed was clearly from someone with years of experience.
But if that’s true, who exactly was the woman Rufus saw today?
“She picked up a book about water magic at the royal library.”
“That’s strange. She’s not a magician, is she?”
“No, Sadie is a magician.”
“What?”
I never heard that before. And if she was a magician, she should’ve gone to the magic academy. But she wasn’t there.
“I never told anyone, but when she was a child, Sadie definitely used water magic.”
“…What did you say?”
You can’t hide magical power. These days, magicians are rare and valuable, so when children reach a certain age, everyone in the country is tested. Hiding it should be impossible.
Also, I’ve never heard of someone’s magical power just disappearing. But I didn’t think Rufus was lying either. As I was thinking that, a flash of golden light caught my eye.
“Hehe, if the admired Captain and Vice-Captain are hiding in a corner like this, all the ladies will be sad, you know?”
“…Eliza.”
The one who appeared with a flower-like smile was Eliza Haynes, daughter of a baron. She was the exact opposite of that wicked woman, Sadie Arclight.
I had never heard any bad rumors about her. In fact, I had heard she was very popular in high society and admired by many men.
“What were you talking about?”
“About Sadie.”
When Rufus answered, she gave a troubled smile, her eyebrows lowered.
“Actually, I went to the Arclight family’s house the other day.”
“What?”
“Sadie called me, saying she wanted to talk.”
I remembered that Sadie, despite being rude to other noble ladies—calling them “ugly” or “gloomy-faced”—only ever had proper conversations with Eliza, who was good at socializing.
“I don’t like speaking badly about others, but…”
She looked unsure and hesitant, but then her face changed, like she had made up her mind.
“Please be careful around Sadie. She still hasn’t given up on the Langridge family.”
Eliza took Rufus’s hand and said that, her voice trembling as if she might cry at any moment.