💕 💕 💕
CLASSES had just ended for the day, and I was searching for an empty room to kill time in while I waited for a chance to talk with Elizabeth again. I had been using the classroom at the end of the second-floor hall of the central building, but Edward and Lady Yulisse sniffed me out, so I’d taken to using a different room every day. Harold was under orders to find me should anything pressing arise, but I hated the thought of dealing with those two fools myself. Mulling over their every word for ulterior motives had already gotten old.
As soon as I set foot in the third-year geography classroom, I realized I’d made a mistake. The room was already occupied. A single young lady was seated at a desk along the wall, such that she was invisible from the corridor. Her dense black bangs shielded her face and hid her expression. When she noticed me, she looked up wide-eyed.
“Hm? Aaaaaaaugh?!”
She let out a puzzled scream and fell sideways out of her chair. The papers she was bending over flew across the room. Her seat clattered nearly loud enough to cover her strained grunt. The young lady looked up at me again, her face frozen in shock and terror.
What…? Under these circumstances, I should be the more surprised one.
I had never laid eyes on her before, but something was clearly afoot. I picked up one of the papers that had fallen by my feet and skimmed it. This time, it was my turn to shout.
“What’s this?!”
“N-No! Please, don’t read that!!”
She waved her arms in protest, but it was too late. Every last line was packed with text, and the names “Vincent” and “Elizabeth” were repeated time and time again.
I narrowed my eyes at her. “Perhaps you would care to explain yourself?”
“O-O-Oh, no…!” She trembled in terror, but she made no effort to flee. Her legs must have given out.
Upon examination, that paper was a page from a novel of sorts. In it, Vincent and Elizabeth were walking through town. Accompanied by the bare minimum of bodyguards, they shopped, ate from sweets booths on the roadside, and held hands as they strolled through the park. Then, when the wind picked up, Vincent graciously offered his coat to Elizabeth.
This…This is the date in town I’ve always envisioned for us!
I shot the lady another look. “Before you explain, I need the rest of this. Right now.”
She was pale as she waited for her punishment with folded hands, but confusion had now crept onto her face. “U-Um… Okay…?”
An hour later, I’d gathered and ordered the scattered manuscript, and after reading through it, I arrived at two separate conclusions. The first was that the girl—Lady Selena Haven was her name—was writing about my and Elizabeth’s lovey-dovey life together as an engaged couple should be. Moreover, it was a work in progress, not even a quarter of the way finished. I didn’t know whether I should encourage her to finish it or have her executed for the unauthorized portrayal of a royal, but my second conclusion was far more pressing.
She was, without a doubt, Star Maiden’s author. I had only realized that since the novel was fresh in my mind, but the style of the manuscript in my hands was familiar to the most minute detail. Looking at Lady Selena now, she knew the gravity of this, and her countenance was that of a terrified criminal on death’s row. I wasn’t as chivalrous as Edward, but seeing her in such a state filled me with guilt.
I softened my expression and wore my usual princely smile. “I’d love to know what’s going on, if you don’t mind.”
“O-Of course! J-Just please, have mercy…!”
She stammered out her circumstances. House Haven was a mere viscount’s line, and they often struggled with finances. Lady Selena herself had been adding to the family coffers as a scribe since her youth. She had read several novels in that time and eventually became an author herself, using the income to support her family. When she enrolled in the Royal Academy, she was dazzled by the elegance and poise with which the higher nobles lived, and from that she conceived the novel—Even the Stars Cry for the Star Maiden.
“I-I’m so, sooooo sorry, Your Royal Highness… I only used you and your fiancée in my novel because you were both so amazing, like stars in the sky. As soon as I enrolled and saw you two acting so distantly, though, I knew it had to be my fault… I’m so, so sorry for everything!”
Based on the way she spoke, she was convinced I’d have her killed. Her eyes brimmed with tears, yet not even one fell. Countryside noble she may be, but she knew that crying was beneath her.
“All I’ve ever been good at is writing, s-so I thought I’d write a new novel, this time h-hoping you two will be happy together. Oh, and don’t worry, I’m not planning on selling it!”
“You do realize the contents of Star Maiden could constitute treason, don’t you?”
She held in a sigh. “Y-Yes… As soon as I saw the illustrations, I realized how bad it looked. I tried to stop the publisher, but they wouldn’t listen… They said I’d be fine, since there were so many other stories like it…”
From the sound of it, she wasn’t expecting it to be so popular, either. She knew that she had sinned, and she regretted every bit of it—the impact on my and Elizabeth’s relationship included.
“I understand now,” I finally said. “I need to ask you one more thing, however—Lady Yulisse had nothing to do with the novel, correct?”
“No, not a thing! I-I’m embarrassed to admit it, but I based the protagonist off myself…”
“Hmm… I can see that, yes.”
At second glance, she also had midnight blue hair and eyes, and despite being one rank below baron, the titles were indeed quite similar. No one would associate her with the protagonist because she was a third-year at the Academy, and even fewer would guess that she was the author. I knew now how her impoverished roots led her to pen the novel and that she had no intention of slander. She deeply regretted the entire affair.
“I’m not sure I can let you go so easily…” I said.
“I-I’m really, truly sorry for everything I’ve done, but I’m ready to accept whatever punishment you give me. I did interfere with your love for each other on a whim, after all…”
“Love…for each other?”
Lady Selena blinked the tears out of her eyes and looked at me in surprise. “You don’t love each other?” she seemed to be saying, in a gaze so sharp it pierced my soul.
I’m afraid my love is purely one-sided.
“You look at Lady la Montlivere a lot, don’t you?”
Oh no… I haven’t been staring at her that much, have I? Harold did mention I shoot a hundred glances a minute at her whenever we’re together. Authors are far too perceptive of this sort of thing, aren’t they?
Life wasn’t a novel, however, and I knew Elizabeth would never return my affections so readily. Just as I was starting to droop in dejection, Lady Selena cut in again.
“Lady la Montlivere spends a lot of time looking at you too, you know. I’m sure she feels strongly about you.”
“…Really?”
“Really. Although, to be fair, if we say you glance at her a hundred times a minute, she looks at you only about fifteen times. Still, I can tell she likes you from the way she does it!”
That’s it, Lady Selena is innocent. End of story.
Fifteen compared to my hundred wasn’t a bad score. It was enough to give me hope.
I beamed at her, and Lady Selena flushed and became flustered.
“Thank you for your invaluable insight,” I said. “Don’t worry, I won’t breathe a word about your writing endeavors, past or present.”
“R-Really?! I’m, um…I’m so happy to hear that!”
Drat. My princely smile at full blast was a tad strong. She looks ready to faint, poor thing. I wish it worked even a tenth as well on Elizabeth…
Either way, I had a new ally, and one that could formally testify against Lady Yulisse should it come to that. Besides, even if I punished her now, it wouldn’t undo the damage already done. No, she had an important task to fulfill.
“I do have one condition for my secrecy, however.”
“What is it? I’ll do anything!”
I pointed at the manuscript cradled in her arms. “I need you to finish that.”
She looked baffled, but explaining myself would only further damage my pride.
“You’re the only one who can do it,” I pressed. “Will you?”
“Of course. Leave it to me!” She clenched her fists in determination.
I nodded firmly at her. Yes!
While I mopped up the Star Maiden mess, Lady Selena would chronicle Elizabeth and my love story as it should be. There was no point in troubling her with trifles like my pride when so much was at stake.