North x Northwest

Previous

Side Story 4 – Liloa’s Chapter 2: Mortu’s Castle

Robero, who had been following Annette’s gaze, shook his head.

“You mean the eldest grandson of the Marquess of Roahn? He is probably not here.”

“Hmm, that is a shame. He is an extremely attractive guy. But no matter how many times I sent him an invitation to the salon, he remained silent, so I thought I could personally invite him myself today.”

“Hahaha, even if you invite him directly, do you think it is enough to break his pride?”

“Why won’t it be broken? I’m Annette.”

“…”

Annette, who was leaning leisurely on the back of the carriage, lifted her arm and rested her chin on her palm.

“As the heir of the Retiro family, his wealth must be overflowing, so why is he serving in the Navy? Do you not think there must be some interesting reason?”

“Well…”

“I want to see that famous face up close, but I have never been given the chance so far.”

“No matter how vibrant they say that man’s face is, you have never seen him yourself, right? So don’t expect too much.”

Liloa wasn’t particularly interested in the navy, and neither of the two men was interested in the eldest grandson of the Marquess of Roahn. As Annette continued to talk about other men, Robero became more and more displeased, wanting to change the topic. But before he could do so, the party arrived in front of the army attaché.

As if they had prepared in advance for the news of the prince’s visit, an awning and a long table were placed on the podium. The empty space in front of them appeared to be the lot used as a training ground.

Seeing the targets placed at regular intervals, Liloa’s hair stood on end.

After Robero completed the brief inspection, training began.

The prince, who was sitting next to her, leaned in and spoke.

“The Karabinae must command their horse while simultaneously supporting their body and accurately hitting their target. Horses are sensitive and can keenly sense when the rider lets go of the reins and holds on with his legs. But there is not a single horse that will remain comfortable in a chaotic environment like a battlefield, that is why shooting must be done as quickly as possible.”

‘Everyone knows that.’

Liloa watched the energetic candidates train. The first rider leans low, steers the horse, picks up the rifle, aims and shoots.

– Bang! Bang! –

One of the two targets was a hit.

Liloa jumped up from her seat, her own confident voice echoing in her mind.

‘I can do better.’

This was the first time her dulled emotions got an impulse at LeBrun.

Realising that she could do better than someone else, Liloa’s heart beat faster and louder than she had ever experienced before. It raced until it reached a strong desire.

‘I want to move… I want to ride a horse and shoot targets… If it were me, I would have hit both.’

A realisation she had long forgotten came back to her. She was a person who could ‘move’ wonderfully.

‘There was a time when I was praised for moving brilliantly. A time when the rays of the sun shone through the fruit-bearing leaves*…’

Liloa tried to recall a little harder. Memories of Henrietta’s death crossed her mind, memories she had deeply buried.

‘Before the cold winter came, there was summer… On a hot day, I moved brilliantly… How did I feel at that time? It was exactly like today… This overwhelming feeling, like I’m going to explode…’

Annette, sitting next to her, patted Liloa’s shoulder.

“Are you all right?”

Liloa nodded and took her seat again. Robero and Mireille also said something, but she couldn’t hear them properly.

‘It has to be the Karabinae.’

That was what her gut told her, also probably because she didn’t know how to do anything else.

‘I was never happy with all the compliments I received while I sat like a doll. Whenever I’m still like that, my legs and my arms are rotting away, those praises only meant my body’s rotting so beautifully.’

For the first time in her life, Liloa made a clear decision.

‘I can’t live this rotten life any longer. It doesn’t matter if I stay indecisive for the next hundred days or even a thousand more, it doesn’t matter which man I choose or how big and magnificent his castle is, the fact remains that Mortu will encroach that castle too…’

It was the next officer’s turn to depart. He raised his upper body to aim the rifle.

‘…He’s slow…’

Robero sighed beside Liloa.

“He was slow this time.”

As for the next one…

‘…That officer’s movements are too big…’

“There were a lot of unnecessary gestures.”

However, the next officer’s execution was perfect in both movements and speed.

Unconsciously, Liloa clapped just a split-second before the rest of the audience did when he hit the two targets. Because Liloa’s reaction was one beat faster, Robero turned to look at her.

“Did you know it was a hit?”

Liloa shook her head awkwardly.

“I didn’t.”contemporary romance

“…Is that so?”

The applauded officer bowed from his horse facing the podium. Even though she wasn’t the one who had hit the targets, simply watching the soldiers already prompted a surge of vitality throughout her entire body. It was because she witnessed a greatly executed demonstration. Thinking that if she followed this example, she would be able to hold her posture more precisely.

“You look like you’re in a good mood.”

“..!”

She looked back at Robero in shock. Robero, with a friendly face, smiled happily.

“This outing was the first request you asked of me. I can do anything for you, as long as you keep on telling me.”

“It…”

‘…It may sound strange, but I want to be a carabiner. I want to fight and win on the battlefield, achieve things, develop skills, and gain honour…’

Liloa suppressed her embarrassingly bold sentences so hard that she had to bite her lip painfully. But at the same time, she loved the idea of building herself up and the possibility of gaining honours. As her imagination grew bolder, her heart became filled with satisfaction.

The fire that was ignited that day didn’t subside. As time passed, Liloa desperately hoped that that absurd sentence would become reality and she would be able to achieve it all.

***

In the middle of the night, Annette led Liloa to the fireplace after sending out all the maids. She had taken off her wig and makeup and was wearing light clothing.

As the fireplace was burning fiercely because Annette’s maids just finished stuffing it with grass, Liloa sat down next to Annette, enjoying the warmth.

“Your hair is so beautiful.”

Annette stroked Liloa’s long flowing hair. She, herself, had worn a heavy wig for so long that she started to get bald and only a handful of sluggish black hair was covering her scalp. Liloa noticed that as Annette was looking at her, she was reminiscing about her old self.

The woman spoke in a dreamy voice.

“…Is there anything you want? I’ll help you with anything…”

She spoke as if she was talking to herself in the mirror.

“…What do you mean?”

“You know, Liloa, I have made so many mistakes and missteps… Who could a woman from a fallen noble family marry? The only thing I could do back then was marry an old wealthy man who lived near our territory that was losing everything. It was a terrible life, but fortunately, I at least had found a husband. He passed away early though. When he left behind a huge legacy… I had just started menstruating… The world constantly harassed me, and I had to survive on my own somehow. But it was not easy. Because I did not know how to survive in this tough world as a woman. No one taught me and it felt as if they did not want me to survive in the first place… That is how I wasted away the brilliant prime years of my life… Really… such a waste…”

“…”

“I mean to help you not do that.”

‘I doubt that the Emperor asked her to take care of me to this extent…’

Despite intently listening to Annette, Liloa couldn’t grasp it.

‘So, why?’

Liloa, who was still young, couldn’t understand Annette’s intentions. All she knew was that Annette’s words weren’t lies, so she tried to gauge whether Annette would accept her story if she told her the truth.

‘It’s so unconventional that I don’t even know where to begin. But maybe… maybe with Annette’s advice, I’ll be able to devise a concrete plan…’

“Annette, why are you so nice to me?”

“Sometimes I wonder that, too. Why am I so attached to you even though you are neither amusing nor flattering me…”

“You cannot be more puzzled than me…”

Annette took a sip from a small glass of wine. A sweet smell wafted around the fireplace. As Liloa was unable to find the right words to form her sentence, Annette grabbed her hand as she struggled.

“But I realised something recently… Are you curious what it is?”

“Yes.”

“You have the same look in your eyes as I do. That is why I care about you as much as I care about myself. Shall I guess what that look means?”

Liloa’s heart sank as if her true intentions had been discovered.

‘Did you really notice?’

Liloa carefully faced the other person.

Annette’s lips, pale after she removed her makeup, whispered.

“…Ambition…”

– – – – –

References:

‘There was a time when I was praised for moving brilliantly. A time when the rays of the sun shone through the fruit-bearing leaves*…’ = chapter 260 = Lil is thinking back about the time she went fruit picking with Ed when she was staying in Malus.

done.co