I’d been so busy today that I hadn’t had a chance to take my usual morning walk, so instead, I decided to take a stroll in the garden now that the sun was setting. When I started my walk, it’d still been bright, but it was starting to get dark. It really felt like the sunset so quickly this time of year.
I gazed at the sky, feeling the cool autumn breeze against my face. The sky was painted a vibrant, dark red, and the fluffy cloudlets glowed from the setting sun. In the increasingly dim light, the white of the hanakurama flowers seemed like they were floating in the thin veil of darkness. It was a very fantastical sight.
I couldn’t help but giggle at how enjoyable nighttime strolls were. I felt a bit less weighed down by my worry for Sir Gino. After walking for a little while, I came across the former crown prince in the garden. He was sitting by himself at a table under the open sky, blankly staring up at it. Though there was a cup on the table beside him, he didn’t seem to be enjoying the tea so much as he was lost in thought.
I greeted him so as not to be rude, but I decided to leave him alone to his thoughts. After all, he’d just been through a very terrible experience. Just as I was about to continue on, he called out to me.
“I’d like to ask you something,” he said. “When I ask everyone around me what I did wrong, they tell me that I didn’t do anything wrong. They keep telling me that I’m a victim from being deceived. I’m sure everyone close to me will say the same, but there must’ve been something I did... Or something I could’ve done better. I can’t help but think about that lately, and tonight as well, but...I’m no closer to an answer than I was yesterday.”
Even without any context, I knew he was referring to the attack on him and his mother. I could only imagine how much it’d been weighing on him.
“I’m of the same opinion. I don’t think you did anything wrong.”
“That’s not what I want to hear! In your position, you should be able to speak your mind freely to me without having to hold your tongue! You’re the same as me, falling for someone beneath your status. I’m sure you’ve spotted somewhere I went wrong! I don’t care if you’re rude or say something hurtful—just tell me what you really think! I was the one closest to her. I should’ve been able to do something!”
His words gripped my heart, making me want to cry. Despite being deceived and almost killed by her, he still couldn’t stop loving her. Though this will come out quite harshly, I should answer him truthfully.
“I truly don’t think you did anything wrong. However, I believe that if you had been able to deeply enter her heart...there might have been a different outcome. Entering someone’s heart requires a great deal of courage and is quite difficult. Even though you couldn’t do that, I still don’t believe you’re at fault.”
“What do you mean by entering her heart?”
“If you’d like...I can show you what information we have about Lady Mariott.”
“Yes, please!”
Since the sun had set, I took him to the sixty-third drawing room, called the Windflower.
“Here you are,” I said as I passed the former crown prince a stack of documents.
In terms of politics, Lady Mariott had been a key figure, so our family had thoroughly looked into her. I saw his eyes fill with a deadly anger as he read the documents about her mission to steal his heart. I could tell from his strained expression how badly he wanted the truth.
“Is this true?!”
“Yes...” I said apologetically in a soft voice.
He was currently looking through a collection of testimonies about Lady Mariott. There were clear citations of who had said what and when, so the credibility of the file was high. Many of these statements claimed that at a certain point in time, the people of House Mariott had undergone a dramatic change. There were witness reports from people close to them, others who’d courted members of the household, and others still who did business with them. The range was extensive. Associates of Baron Mariott would claim to have had inherited status from him, but there was never any notification of such status being reported to the royal palace.
“Lily was thirty-seven years old?! That’s not... That’s not possible!” he exclaimed after reaching a certain point on the report.
I completely understood how he felt. It must have been a great shock to him since she’d been in the same class as him as well.
“It might be easier if you see for yourself. Bridgette? Could you bring someone who’s skilled at the disguise techniques?” Bridgette then brought Azlate, a forty-year-old man. “I apologize for this sudden request, but could you demonstrate the disguise technique? Simply making yourself look younger is good enough.”
“Understood. I will make myself about as young as the woman in the documents. Nothing else about my appearance will be changed, is that correct?”
“Yes, that is—”
“You can transform?! Then try transforming into her!” the prince exclaimed, overriding my order.
I could only imagine that seeing someone who looked like Lady Mariott would be painful for him right now, which is why I only asked for Azlate to only change his age. Though I could understand his desire to see even a similar resemblance to her, I wasn’t sure if this was going to turn out okay.
“No...way...” His eyes widened as he saw the full transformation.
Azlate had become shorter, his body had changed into a woman’s, and his brown hair and eyes had turned to pink just like Lady Mariott’s. Since he’d used the documents as a reference, he transformed into the version of her that she’d been in school, so he was a little younger than she would’ve currently been. Azlate was truly skilled with how perfectly he transformed. Most people wouldn’t be able to change their height or the color of their eyes, and would at most be able to make their skin look younger, but those from House Kaerey had a special bloodline and underwent very intense training. Azlate had long since completed this training, which was why he was so skilled.
“L-Lily...”
The former crown prince stood up, tears streaming down his face. Azlate was currently the spitting image of Lady Mariott.
“It’s been a while since I’ve transformed for you, young madam,” Azlate said in his usual voice.
Though he could have changed his voice, he chose to keep his low, male voice, most likely to signal to the former crown prince, who was shakily approaching him, that he wasn’t the real Lady Mariott. As expected, his voice snapped the prince out of his trance and made him collapse back into his seat.
“You’re right. It was a lot of fun to see you transform when I was younger,” I said.
As a child, whenever I’d come back crying for how I’d looked due to my curse, he’d transform for me. The surprise of seeing him become a completely different person always pulled me out of my sorrow. Though I hadn’t fully understood back then, I knew now that there were people that could change their appearances, so I shouldn’t worry about mine too much. I believed that was what he was trying to teach me.
“So everything in this report is true? Your covert operatives live up to their reputation. They really did a thorough investigation,” the former crown prince said, crying while gripping the report.
I wasn’t able to offer him any words of consolation. The emotions I saw on his face and in his eyes were so intense, I wasn’t sure what to say. For the record, our family technically specialized in civil officials, but we were more commonly known for our covert operatives because we were touted as the house with the best ones in the country.
“I really knew nothing about her, did I? Now I finally understand what you said earlier. I never really was able to go into her heart. If I had, I would have seen through the illusion and seen her not as a noble lady, but covert operative. Maybe, if I had...things would have ended differently.”
I’d hoped that learning the truth about Lady Mariott might have helped him become disillusioned with her and move on, but even after learning the truth, it didn’t seem that his feelings for her had changed. Despite her name, her status, and even her age being a lie, he still cared for her deeply. He was tragically pure of heart.
“What do you think? I’d like to hear your opinion as a covert operative. Do you think anything would have changed if I’d gotten into her heart? Feel free to speak your mind. There will be no repercussions. I want to hear what you truly have to say.”
Azlate had transformed back into his original self and began to answer the former crown prince. “Normal covert operatives live a different life than those who work in this house. Though we live good lives here as nobles, most covert operatives grew up in terrible conditions, especially flower operatives. They’re brought up as playthings for men, never to know what love is. Many of them have deep wounds in their hearts from what they’ve been through. That’s why it’s very dangerous for they themselves to be showered with love rather than the persona they created for the mission. If you found out who she truly was and had truly loved her...I think there’s an extremely high chance that she would have had a change of heart.”
“I see...”
Oh, what a big failure on my part. When I’d summoned Azlate here, I hadn’t told him about any of the circumstances. I should have told him to gloss over this topic. Though there was a need to be honest, there was a better way to say things without inflicting wounds onto his heart. Hearing that “there’s an extremely high chance that she would have had a change of heart” was too much.