The Summer of Evelyn festival had been a resounding success.
Three days later, I was preparing to return to Semme with Lord Theodore. Lord Jackson had been invited to go hunting with an old friend, so Kira had tagged along. Lady Manilas and Karin had already returned to their territory.
Having finished packing my few belongings, I was beside myself with worry.
Should I really go back to Semme with Lord Theodore like this...?
He had proposed to me, after all. I’d yet to give him a response. I couldn’t just keep freeloading off House Manilas while ignoring his feelings.
I asked Kira and he just asked me what I wanted to do...
I hadn’t been able to give a good answer. Any attempts at thinking meant Lord Theodore’s smiling face would flash through my mind. My emotions would start swirling, my heart would grow loud, and...as a result, for the past three days, I hadn’t so much as been able to look at Lord Theodore properly, even when he was standing right there.
Standing right there...?
“Eek!”
I jerked back in surprise. Lord Theodore was, in fact, standing right there.
“My apologies,” he said. “I knocked several times but got no answer.”
“N-No, no, I’m the one who’s sorry!” I stammered, flustered. “I was lost in thought...”
He’d come to check on me since I wasn’t leaving my chambers.
“Would you like to step out onto the balcony?” he asked.
I nodded repeatedly.
Thanks to Prince Oz’s generosity, I’d been staying in a guest room at the royal palace these past few days. The balcony oversaw a magnificent garden, and I leaned against the railing to gaze at the lovely scenery alongside Lord Theodore.
I did my best to pretend I was calmly admiring the flowers, but my composure had left me entirely, and my head was spinning.
Come on, Evelyn! You have to say something!
I wasn’t sure whether I could put my thoughts into words just yet, but I still wanted to convey them.
“Um, Lord Theodor—”
“So, His Highness Prince Alex surprised me last night,” he said with the worst timing ever.
I couldn’t change topics now, so I just nodded. “Yes.”
Last night, Prince Oz had hosted a small feast that doubled as my farewell party and a celebration of Lady Europa’s inauguration as saint. I’d been there, as had Lady Europa, Kira, Lord Theodore, Lord Jackson, Prince Igna, and the priests from the Grand Basilica—it had been truly a gathering for close friends only. Or, well, close “friends,” in some cases.
Since the host was a royal, the feast had been held in the palace’s central hall, with a grand selection of luxurious foods and a band playing elegant music. I wasn’t good with alcohol, so I’d stuck to sipping fruit juice with Kira.
Between trying to avoid getting splattered by Prince Igna’s nosebleeds, trying to stop Lord Jackson from belly dancing, trying to restrain the high priest from performing curse rituals, and trying to escape Lady Europa’s attempts at securing suspicious commitments from me, eighty percent of my night had been...fraught. But the other twenty percent or so had been very enjoyable indeed.
Prince Alex had actually not been invited at all.
“Never in a million years would I have expected him to burst in shouting, ‘Someone please take a photo with me!’” Lord Theodore said.
Apparently, Prince Alex had continued to operate his photo booth even after the festival. But with his enormous princely ego shattered and only the cries of crickets breaking the silence in the booth, he’d taken to wandering the palace in hopes of finding someone to take a photo with. That was how he’d ended up at our lively banquet venue.
But Prince Oz, without even sparing him a glance, had mercilessly ordered the knights to drag him away.
Also, Mary had apparently set out on a “hangnail-healing journey.” Maybe Karin’s stern scolding had gotten through to her?
Maybe Prince Alex will set out on a photo-partner-finding journey...
But at least Prince Oz was extraordinarily competent. Things would probably work out somehow.
“I hope Prince Alex finds someone to take a photo with besides you, someday,” I mused with a wry smile.
“Lady Evelyn,” Lord Theodore said, lowering his voice. When I looked up, he seemed extremely tense. “There’s something I must ask.”
“Y-Yes? What is it?” I asked, straightening my posture.
It hit me that he was probably about to ask for a response to his proposal.
Of course he would, I thought. I should’ve brought it up myself...
Seemingly not noticing my pensiveness, Lord Theodore stared at me intently and silently for several seconds.
Then, “Are you still in love with Prince Alex?”
I stared at him, dumbfounded. I’m sorry, what?
“I thought so...!” he muttered bitterly.
What? What’s he thinking?
“Back during the festival, Lady Evelyn, you wanted to take a photo with him, didn’t you?”
“I... Well, yes.”
It was true that I’d thought it might be fun to take a photo to use as kindling for roasting yams.
“You kept staring at him as well. Upon seeing that, I realized your heart still belongs to that man.”
What is he saying? His incomprehensible deductions were testing my patience. But then I realized something. Oh! This is what he meant when he muttered, like, “Could it be you still...”
He must’ve mistakenly thought that I still had feelings for the prince.
Exasperated, I asked quietly, “Did you share that deduction with anyone else?”
“Huh? Oh, I told Kira and Europa. And the high priest overheard.”
“And what did the three of them say?”
Lord Theodore looked up as though tracing his memory. “Umm, Kira sighed and left with my father. Europa asked, ‘Are you trying to get me to kill you?’ and attempted to attack me. But then the high priest whispered something to her, and she smiled and said, ‘Yes, you’re absolutely correct! Too bad you have not a shred of a chance with her, Lord Theodore! Poor you!’”
“Lord Theodore, you really are a bumbling detective,” I said, meaning it with all my heart.