He went out of his way to bring me here, and I can’t even take a single step forward! Ophelia sensed Claudio suck in a breath somewhere above her head. She cringed, preparing to be shouted at, but Claudio simply sighed.
“I guess it can’t be helped, then. Here, you can hold on to me.”
Claudio held out his left elbow in a gallant, practiced gesture as if he were escorting her to a ball. Ophelia felt her cheeks burn, and an accompanying heat ignited deep in her chest. A moment later, she hesitantly stopped her hand in midair, partway through unconsciously reaching out to accept the offered support.
“Oh, but, um… I… I think it might be inappropriate to take the arm of someone who has a fiancée…”
Claudio just stared at Ophelia for a long moment in confusion, then lowered his arm when he finally realized she was referring to him.
“Then just hold on wherever you like.”
“But…!”
“You can’t walk by yourself, can you?”
Although she wanted to protest, she realized she didn’t have a leg to stand on, so after considering it for a moment, she reluctantly reached out and gripped the belt of his jacket.
“But, I… I might trip and fall at any moment. I don’t want to cause trouble for you, Director…”
“Listen to me. Are you listening?” With his back still to Ophelia, he turned just his head to look back at her. “I do not lie. Don’t listen to any other voices but mine.”
Claudio’s eyes drilled straight into Ophelia. All she could do was gaze up at him with her mouth slightly open. His words echoing in her head drove out all other sounds.
“Got it?”
“…Yes. …The shaking has stopped.”
Claudio’s eyes widened just the tiniest bit as he looked Ophelia over. Once he confirmed for himself that she really wasn’t shaking, he grinned almost victoriously. The second smile she’d ever seen grace his unfairly handsome face set Ophelia’s heart to pounding ferociously.
“I bet it has.”
Claudio started walking, leaving Ophelia to hurry to keep up. The sight of Ophelia desperately trying not to be left behind by the pace Claudio set, with his much longer legs, again drew the attention of those around them.
“…I probably look like I’m escorting a lost child back to their mother,” he muttered.
“Pant… Pant… I-I’m sorry…”
Seeming to finally notice how out of breath Ophelia was, Claudio slowed his pace just a little.
“It’s not the most direct route, but would you like to take a less crowded path?” he asked.
“…Y-Yes, please,” she said between gasps for air.
“All right, then.”
The two made their way around to the rear of the Cathedral, where there was a desolate garden with only a single bench. The majority of the foliage consisted of weeds, but the paths were neatly cleared so people could walk past, and a waist-high fence encircled the entire garden.
“I can see now that the Cathedral is built upon a hill,” Ophelia remarked.
“Yes, it was gradual, so you wouldn’t really notice, but this whole region is hill country.”
“I bet the view from that hill over there is even better than from here.”
“The view is certainly nice, but that area is a graveyard for the royal family and those associated with them.”
“Eek! A graveyard?!” Ophelia let out an undignified shriek that one would be hard-pressed to believe came from a gently bred noblewoman, her face twisted with fright.
Claudio couldn’t help but chuckle at this spectacle. “You really don’t know anything, do you? As the king’s younger brother, I’m starting to become concerned about the future of this country. Come on, you sit here and rest for a moment.”
After sitting Ophelia down on the bench, Claudio plodded off alone in the direction of the fence. It seemed as if a breeze was blowing up from below over by the fence, because Claudio’s pink hair danced gently around his face. Tall as he was, he reminded Ophelia of the flowering trees she’d seen with her mother in full bloom when she was younger.
That was back when their family still consisted of four members. It must’ve been when they’d gone to visit a relative’s vacation home… Her brother, still a child himself, was running around in the sunny garden. Ophelia was clinging tightly to her mother’s hand, craning her head back so far it felt as if her neck would break in order to look up at the trees. The large pink flowers were so beautiful she almost forgot to blink.
I wonder if Mother would be surprised if I told her I’m working at the Ministry of Justice now, all by myself. Ophelia was zoning out when, all of a sudden, her legs began shaking. She cringed and looked about frantically for the cause.
“Oh! Oh, my! Wh-Whyyy?!”
Ophelia’s arms began shaking as well, and a moment later she slid right off the bench, unable to sustain her upright posture. She ended up splayed out on the ground, her arms managing to break her fall but shaking too badly for her to be able to push herself back up. After a moment, the shaking won out over her meager arm strength, and she collapsed entirely, her cheek landing in the dirt.
“Hey, are you okay?”
Ophelia heard a gentle, calm voice close to her ear. The speaker scooped her up in their powerful arms, but far from being a relief, it only made her shake even harder.
“Oh, oh goodness! Ohhh!” she cried from the physical reaction it caused.
“Are you having some kind of attack? Can you hear the sound of my voice? Do you have any medication with you for your condition?”
With how strongly she was shaking, Ophelia couldn’t make out the other person’s face very well, but based on their voice and what she could see of their clothing, they seemed to be a man, likely a nobleman. This man was the source of her uncontrollable shaking; she was sure of it. What she couldn’t figure out was what possible lie he could be telling to make her shake this badly.