Chapter 23: Fake Cinderella (3)

Having had only a simple breakfast, Ilesha finished preparing to leave the Solenas mansion. A return that was somewhat faster than scheduled.

The atmosphere wasn’t much different from yesterday.

Yukomis was silent, and Ilesha didn’t bother to provoke her this time.

‘I’ve thought about it again, but I can’t accept your resignation.’

‘Yukomis, I don’t care that your strength isn’t the same as before. That position still suits you best.’

‘…Okay.’

Yukomis accepted Ilesha’s words more dryly than I thought.

It was as if her answer itself was more important than her approval.

‘Aren’t you angry at me?’

‘Don’t get the wrong idea, Ilesha. I still hate that title.’

Yukomis said quietly, avoiding her gaze a little.

‘…But it seems like I complained enough yesterday.’

‘Yukomis…’

Ilesha noticed that it was her own small apology.

Yes. She was always the type to speak this way. Always indirectly. Going far around.

If her personality had really been as rough as her mouth, no one would have trusted her.

I knew that too… Why was I so sad yesterday?

Ilesha’s stiff expression softened slightly.

‘Yukomis. Please take care of yourself. I mean it.’

‘You too.’

And Ilesha’s heart, who was riding in the carriage and returning to the Wyvern runway, was much lighter.

In her hands, she was holding the small shoe she had picked up in the garden last night.

An adorable size that only a girl around ten years old would wear.

Ilesha, who had come into contact with countless luxury goods supplied to the Imperial family, could tell that it was expensive at a glance. Moreover, preparing such an expensive item for a child who would grow quickly was not something that just anyone could do.

‘Good leather. Good skill. Finished with oil-based abrasives and treated with beeswax on top…’

And thanks to that beeswax coating, there was a lightly folded mark left on the heel.

Just by looking at that, Ilesha felt like she could tell what kind of personality the owner of the shoe had.

I guess she wore it carelessly, roughly pressing it on.

‘She’s outgoing… and playful. Like a spirit…’

In the end, she didn’t find out anything, but Ilesha sat in the carriage and briefly enjoyed the positive feeling that the item brought.

She decided to forget the bad things and the depressing things that had happened at the mansion for a while.

A terrible sense of self-reproach was still coiling in one corner of her heart, but…

‘Just for now. At least for now…’

Unlike Ilesha, who had finally cheered up a bit,

Yukomis, who had seen her off at the mansion, was not feeling well at all.

She had been barely controlling the emotions that were raging throughout the last conversation with Ilesha.

After confirming that the carriage had disappeared beyond the road, Yukomis opened her mouth in a heavy atmosphere.

“…Shar.”

“Yes, Lady.”

“…Where is that bastard now?”

Strictly speaking, it was a b*tch now, but Parnen didn’t bother to argue about that.

“She’s in the underground prison, Lady.”

“Is she being guarded tightly?”

“Of course.”

“Thank you. You did a very good job.”

“Are you going there now?”

“Yes.”

A brief and bloody conversation took place between the two, and Yukomis turned around and started walking quickly.

Parnen hurriedly followed her.

The underground prison of the Solenas mansion was a place that hadn’t been used for a long time.

At one time, it was used to imprison people who had rebelled against the family or employees who had committed major crimes, but

Because such scandalous things hadn’t happened at least recently.

Above all, Parnen, who currently managed the mansion, was too good a person to actively use the prison.

So… this prison was now practically being used like an underground warehouse.

As with any other mansion.

And that prison was now being used for its original purpose for the first time in a really long time.

Tap. Tap. Taptap.

Yukomis headed to the multipurpose building behind the main building. The underground prison was located in the basement of that building.

Calm but fast steps with a lot of strength in the heels.

As soon as Karat, who was guarding the entrance, saw Yukomis and Parnen, he reflexively took a salute position.

“Ah. Have you come, Maste…”

“You come in too.”

“Ah, yes!”

Squeak. Clang.

The roughly opened door made a loud noise.

“Tell them to change the hinges.”

“Yes.”

Karat could tell that the master was already losing her temper.

As they went down the spiral staircase…

Aisha, who was already waiting in front of a prison cell, bowed her head deeply to the three of them.

“Have you come.”

“Yeah.”

Yukomis, who had been walking without slowing down until the end, finally stopped in front of the bars.

There, Signo was sitting neatly with her hands and feet bound.

“Open it.”

“Yes.”

Karat, who had figured out the atmosphere, quickly opened the door.

Clatter.

As if it was a harbinger of the end, Signo trembled greatly.

Wince.

“Chair.”

“Yes.”

Karat hurriedly brought a chair and placed it in front of Signo.

Thud. The expression of Yukomis, who sat there while crossing her legs, was extremely cold.

“I, I did wrong.”

Signo, who spoke first, looked up at her with frightened eyes.

Wiggle wiggle.

Yukomis’s slender and long legs, which stretched out from between her uniform, lightly it was a tickle in front of Signo’s eyes.

“I won’t do it again.”

“I… I can explain. What happened was…”

“Signo.”

“Y, yes!”

Yukomis’s voice was sharp enough to cut paper.

“I heard that you saved my life.”

“I heard everything from Parnen and Karat about what you did. You heard the treatment method from me before I fainted, and you flew all night with Karat on a Wyvern while enduring the cold. And you conveyed it to Parnen. Even in the midst of serious injuries.”

“…Yes.”

“Honestly, it’s really amazing. No other child would have acted like that if it wasn’t you.”

“So I thought you were really smart, and I thought you were commendable. I even admired myself for having an eye for talent when I chose you.”

“…Thank you…?”

“Of course, I also think that I owe you a debt of gratitude. I’m already thinking about the reward that will go back to your family.”

Signo’s expression, who had been trembling like a prey in front of a beast, brightened a little.

“In other words, I was going to sincerely, very greatly praise you.”

“Then…?”

“Until just yesterday night.”

…Signo’s expression immediately turned into a death face again.

“Parnen, didn’t you tell Signo not to come out of the annex?”

Parnen didn’t answer and bowed her head politely.

“Aisha, did you perhaps say that it was okay to go outside the annex?”

Aisha was the same.

“Ah, no!”

Signo intervened.

“I, I heard everything, but I… I did wrong…”

“That’s right. You know it well. Parnen and Aisha didn’t do anything wrong. The two of them don’t do anything wrong.”

“Euk…”

Yukomis rested her chin on her hand and tapped Signo’s leg with the tip of one foot.

“You’re the one who did wrong. All of it. You know?”

“…Ye…”

“It’s especially very bad that you’re a smart kid, not some other stupid kid. You know very well that you look exactly like my sister, right?”

“Yes…”

“You also know that Princess Ilesha… was a comrade of my sister, right?”

“Yes…”

“Then you can guess how confused the Princess would be to see your face, right? Because you’re ‘smart’.”

Yukomis didn’t bother to say ‘like me and Parnen already were’.

Yukomis knew very well that Ilesha also thought of her sister as special.

No, in fact, everyone in the Wyvern Knights thought of her sister as special.

If she thought about how Signo’s appearance could greatly hurt Ilesha’s mind…

She could never let the two meet.

“I… I do…”

“You committed it knowing everything, right?”

“…Bu, but the mansion is so big, I really didn’t think I would run into her…”

Yukomis’s heel trampled on Signo’s healthy calf.

“Hiyaaaaak!”

“Do you think you did wrong now?”

“I’m sorry…”

The question that was terribly familiar to Signo came flying and planted itself.

Of course, she knew very well that there was no proper answer to this question.

It was because it was a question that was designed so that there was no such thing in the first place.

“Answer me.”

tuk-tuk.

“…I really… I have nothing to say…”

“Knowing that you had disappeared, Aisha became blue and came to find me. Parnen, who dropped everything and ran, even had to lie to Her Highness the Princess to hide you. Do you know how serious this is?”

“Yes…”

Signo could only answer ‘yes’ to the questions that had no way to escape.

“If Her Highness had asked another employee who was not Parnen if they had seen you, I wouldn’t have been able to hide you at all.”

“Or if Parnen had found Her Highness just a little later, she would have definitely seen your pathetic figure, trembling like a rabbit, hiding behind the fountain.”

“Yes.”

“Despite all those dangers, all you wanted to do was bring a book from the study?”

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t something she brought from the study.

It was something she brought from her room, but that was the worst confession that could make the current atmosphere ten times worse.

Signo had just said that she had run into Ilesha from afar in the hallway.

Fortunately, Ilesha herself didn’t seem to have said anything more to Yukomis.

“What’s wrong with you? Running away from home, getting kidnapped, getting kidnapped, running away from home again? Is that your way of life?”

“But one kidnapping wasn’t my fault…”

Again squuuuuk.

“Ouch, ouch ouch ouch ouch! I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”

“If you talk back one more time, I’ll trample on another place this time.”

“00000…”

Signo fortunately didn’t ask where the ‘other place’ was.

Yukomis sighed and pointed out her forehead.

Until right before coming to the underground prison, she was so angry that she didn’t even think that she would face the ‘sister’s figure’ again.

And Signo, whom she had come to see and reunited with, was so pathetic and low-key that she couldn’t find any common points with that sister.

Of course, the motive and result of the mistake were foolish and reckless to the extreme.

‘She’s smart and sometimes a bit mature, but… she might be a kid at the base.’

Looking at Signo, who seemed like she was about to cry, the three behind Yukomis were thinking similarly.

This girl, in whom the occasional flashing intellect and the childish, foolish, and impulsive side coexist in a bizarre way…

What should I say.

“Untie her.”

“…Yes.”

When Yukomis, who thought that she had scolded her enough, nodded and instructed,

Karat approached and untied the string that had been tying Signo’s hands and feet.

That rope, which had been tied softly and loosely so that the child’s skin wouldn’t be damaged, was Karat’s work.

“Haa…”

Yukomis, who changed her position and knelt in front of Signo, raised her hand and began to examine Signo’s body condition.

She had heard that there was a pretty big injury on her ankle, and she wanted to confirm that directly.

“That’s right. It’s as Parnen said. How are the injuries healing so quickly? Is this also the effect of Manya’s magic?”

Other than turning slightly red, there were no traces left on the ankle that was said to be injured.

‘She still looks like my sister as far as her appearance goes…’

As she calm down and began to slowly examine Signo,

Yukomis couldn’t help but be aware of that fact again, even if she didn’t want to.

‘It’s completely the same.’

Fidget fidget.

But completely different contents.

Yukomis was confused about how to accept that she was doing pathetic things and making pathetic expressions with this beautiful body like now.

There was a small scar left on Signo’s right eye. She said that she had fallen down the stairs and tore it.

Yukomis, who had unconsciously found another small link with her sister in a place like this again, shook her head.

This level of scar was nothing compared to the burn on her sister’s eyes.

‘Apart from that, I’m sorry for her.’

Anyway, she had a scar on a visible place like her eyes. She must have been in a lot of pain when she got hurt.

‘Was it because I was too tired then…? Even though I’m touching her this close, it seems much easier to deal with her than when I first saw her.’

‘No, more than that, is it because I know that I owe her my life…?’

As she thought about that, Yukomis’s heart softened a little.

Yes. She’s good at it, so she’s good at it.

Yukomis soothed her with a voice that was much softer than before.

“I want to use healing magic just in case… but I can’t. I told you the reason before, right?”

“Yes?”

She had an expression that she didn’t remember.

“I told you that your body is very sensitive to magic right now. Healing magic basically blows magic ‘into’ your body. It’s okay if it’s just going around the outside, but I don’t know the result of blowing it directly inside.”

“Ah, that’s right…”

“You’re the one who should remember that best, you know? It’s your body, after all.”

Yukomis, who had been unconsciously stroking Signo’s ankle, finally realized that there was one shoe missing under that ankle.

“…What happened to the shoe?”

“Answer.”

“That. So.”

Signo turned her eyes away.

“That’s… I lost it.”

Aisha and Parnen, who were standing next to her, vowed that they saw a blood vessel standing out on Yukomis’s forehead.

“I, I’ll pay you back. I’ll definitely pay…”

“…Even if I sell your body on the market, it won’t be worth less than that.”

Yukomis, who was speaking with gritted teeth, was forcibly suppressing her anger as anyone could see.

“You’ve already ruined the dress while running around the garden.”

“Yes, that’s…”

“You even lost your shoe?”

“……Yes… That’s why I don’t like dresses… Hiyaak!! Aaaaa! Ouch!!! Hieeeek! I did wrong!!! I’m sorry!!!”

No one in that place stopped Yukomis.