Chapter 61: No Experience with Kissing
Dinner time.
The dishes served focused on Faustina’s favorites.
The head chef, crying as he set down what he proudly called the best cream soup of the day, said, “My lady, please eat lots of the dishes I made just for you…!”
It was the dish Faustina had asked Citrin to request.
She thanked the head chef with a beaming smile and tasted the cream soup.
The rich milk and vegetables blended into a wonderful flavor.
If only it didn’t have green peas and broccoli, it would have been perfect.
Noticing Elvira eating with a gloomy expression, Faustina leaned over and whispered softly to Cain.
“What did you say to Elvira after that, Brother?”
“I just told her what was obvious. You don’t need to worry about it, Fana.”
“……”
Cain said so, so it must be fine.
Elvira tended to get depressed no matter what she was scolded about, but after some time she would recover and return to normal.
As the main course ended and they moved on to dessert, Elvira, who had been silent, finally spoke.
“…Father.”
“What is it, Elvira?”
“Will you properly hold birthday parties for my brother and me?”
Faustina had been kidnapped on her birthday.
With Cain’s and Elvira’s birthdays coming one and two months later, it wouldn’t be strange if it affected their celebrations.
Citrin wore a troubled expression, but he did not lose his smile.
“Yes… we’ll have to further tighten security and be more selective about which families we invite than usual, but we will properly hold celebrations for both of you.”
“I’m glad…”
Elvira looked sincerely relieved and began eating her dessert.
Cain glanced at Faustina as if checking on her, but she did not mind at all.
“Father. I have something I’d like to ask as well.”
“What is it?”
“This year, will we be properly blessed by the priest?”
“Eh?”
The one who exclaimed was Faustina.
Going to the church to receive a blessing from the priest was an annual tradition, yet she had never realized Cain hadn’t received it.
Surprisingly, Elvira hadn’t either, and both of them had only been blessed by a deacon.
“I was blessed by the priest.”
“T-The priest is a very busy person, so there are days when it’s simply impossible.”
Lyudmila hurriedly explained, but her complexion was poor.
Citrin looked the same.
Faustina recalled her birthday from a year ago, but she immediately stopped herself so as not to ruin the good feelings of this year’s birthday.
She didn’t know what had happened between the priest—Ciel—and her parents, but why were her parents this frightened.
Had there been a time before when they were this afraid of Ciel.
…She couldn’t remember.
Not even vaguely.
After finishing dessert, Faustina headed to the baths with Rinsy rather than returning to her room.
She immediately opened the jar of bath salts Ciel had given her.
A sweet floral scent wafted out, making even Rinsy sigh dreamily.
“Just smelling it makes me feel relaxed.”
“Yeah. Oh, right, Rinsy. After the bath, I’m going to write a letter to the priest, so please deliver it to the church tomorrow.”
“So the stationery earlier was for the priest.”
“That’s right.”
She poured the bath salts into water warmed to a comfortable temperature.
After mixing the water and washing Faustina’s body clean first, she soaked in the tub.
“How is it?”
“Heaven. Oh, right. Hey, Rinsy. Did you know the priest is the king’s younger brother?”
“Yes. That’s fairly well-known.”
“I see. I didn’t know.”
“I’ve heard that His Highness the king’s brother became a priest eight years ago. The circumstances aren’t widely known, though.”
Eight years ago was the year she was born.
“Fwaa… I like baths because they feel good, but I think I’m going to like them even more.”
“But long baths are forbidden, you know.”
“I know. I’ll get lightheaded. Hmm, haa… I wonder where this bath salt is sold. It feels bad to keep asking the priest to get it for me every time.”
“In that case, why not write about that in your letter as well?”
“That’s a good idea. I will.”
She would ask where to buy the bath salts along with her thanks.
Wrapped in the sweet floral scent, Faustina remained in bliss until the end.
After finishing her bath, Rinsy wiped her body, thoroughly dried her hair, and applied oil.
When they returned to the room, Rinsy left briefly to bring orange juice.
At that time, she strictly told Faustina not to leave the room.
“She really doesn’t trust me…”
But considering how she ran away every time Bernhard visited, it might be unavoidable.
Faustina took out that book she had put away in her desk drawer.
She immediately put it back in the same place.
“…I’ll read the rest in the middle of the night.”
Her instincts told her it would be better not to read any further right now.
When Rinsy returned with a pitcher and glass of orange juice, Faustina sat on the sofa.
“Ah… it’s still the middle of the night.”
After drinking the orange juice and finishing the letters to Ciel and Vered, Faustina fell asleep, only to wake suddenly in the middle of the night.
Moonlight streamed through the window, leaving the room dim rather than pitch black.
She had drunk all the orange juice, so there was none left.
She wasn’t thirsty, so she decided not to go to the kitchen tonight.
She got out of bed and approached the window.
The full moon, shining in a cloudless night sky, reigned like a queen.
“It’s beautiful…”
On nights like this, eating delicious sweets while gazing at the full moon would make them taste even better.
“……”
It would look even prettier if she went outside.
There were probably several guards outside the room.
She had been kidnapped in the middle of the night, so Citrin, who had strengthened security, wouldn’t have failed to increase the number of sentries.
The area outside the window would be no exception.
Still, she wanted to go outside.
She unlocked the window.
…………
……
“Better not.”
If she went outside, she would be found and sent right back to her room.
With a sigh of resignation, Faustina returned to bed and went back to sleep.
—Just as Faustina began to breathe softly in her sleep, that person quietly entered through the window.
Slipping past the guards was second nature to him.
After all, he was the very one who had deceived the ducal house for seven years and easily kidnapped Faustina.
“Hah… what a silly face.”
That person—Vered—poked Faustina’s cheek with his index finger as she slept with a slack expression.
She only twitched as if tickled, showing no sign of waking.
“Leaving the window unlocked while sleeping is careless beyond belief.
But thanks to that, I didn’t have to go through the trouble of entering the mansion.”
Vered sat on the bed and stared at Faustina’s sleeping face.
“Ciel really works people hard.
It’s all cleanup work, and I’m the only one doing it, so I’m exhausted.”
Ciel’s request to Vered.
The ducal house and the royal family were still searching for Cain.
Ciel had written in the report that Cain was not there.
Then what to do with Cain.
Late last night, after being forcibly awakened and dragged around, Ciel had told him.
“Fabricate the death of Cain, who served the Vitkenstein ducal house.”
He staged it as a suicide at a bottomless swamp about two hours from the capital.
The butler uniform Cain had worn was disposed of, but the personal shoes he used had been set aside in advance and placed near the swamp.
Nearby, Cain’s suicide note was stabbed into a tree with a cheap knife.
The handwriting was done with his non-dominant hand and scribbled sloppily, so there was no worry of being exposed.
“The king’s obsession with Ciel is endlessly amusing to watch.
It may be unpleasant for Ciel, but it’s entertaining for me.
That’s why… the king will never let you go.”
He didn’t know why Faustina wanted to annul her engagement to the crown prince.
But it sounded interesting, so he would cooperate.
More importantly, if it meant Faustina could return to Ciel’s side, that was even better.
Vered sensed the presence outside.
Several guards.
Now then, how should I escape—
Bathed in moonlight, his coldly beautiful face formed a smile so fierce it could make anyone shudder.
The next morning—
“Hmm…?”
Awakened by the glare of sunlight, Faustina let out a big yawn and sat up.
She looked toward the window and exclaimed softly.
“I forgot to lock it last night…”
She had considered escaping through the window, stopped herself, and forgotten to lock it afterward.
She got out of bed and locked it before anyone noticed.
With a sigh of relief, she slipped back under the covers.
“There’s still time before Rinsy comes to wake me…”
That was when she thought of that book.
The Abandoned Crown Princess and the Crown Prince Driven Mad by Love
“……”
Deciding to read it before Rinsy arrived, Faustina leapt out of bed and went to her desk.
She opened the drawer and took out the book.
She opened it to the page marked by the bookmark.
As she read on, the content grew more intense, and her face quickly flushed bright red.
The detailed descriptions of the protagonist and the crown prince loving each other were too much, and realizing it would continue like this, Faustina gave up on reading further.
She put the book back in the drawer and dove onto the bed.
“N-No way… I don’t think I can read this.”
Even when she got older, she wouldn’t be able to.
Even imagining a kissing scene made her face burn with embarrassment.
“Kissing, huh… I’ve never done that.”
She had never even been kissed.
“Ah… no… this is making me sad…”
A memory from the previous life resurfaced.
Bernhard pressing a kiss to Elvira’s forehead as if to show it to Faustina, his lapis-blue eyes melting with affection.
She had wanted those eyes that would never turn toward her.
She wanted even a tiny fraction of the affection he showed Elvira.
No matter how cruel his words were, no matter how cold his gaze, she could not abandon her feelings for him.
“…If I could have fallen in love with someone else, how much easier it would have been.
No, in the end, having the position of the crown prince’s fiancée meant any love I found would still be unfulfilled.”
Her luck in romance was nonexistent.
She sighed, deciding that the next time she went to church, she would ask for her romantic fortune to improve.