TIRS 66

CHAPTER 66……………..

. Klaus, Who Does Not Know the Beauty of Love“……You’re saying it’s showing properly?”

“Yes!”

But what I saw reflected was… my own face.

‘Maybe what I see and what Maria sees are different.’

I was just about to convince myself of that when—

“My ideal type is you, Lord Luibel!”

Maria pressed her hands together in reverence, as if in prayer, and exclaimed.

“Hiccup!”

I let out a hiccup before I even realized it.

“N-no!”

“Pardon…?”

“Think again, Maria. Your ideal type must be distorted somehow!”

I grabbed Maria, who tilted her head in confusion, and shook her hard.

“Your ideal type isn’t me!”

In the original story, Maria’s ideal man was a handsome figure with gleaming blond hair, fresh green eyes, and a gentle appearance.

“My ideal has always been someone with a spring-flower look and a lovely aura.”

Maria declared firmly and clearly.

“Ah…”

A soundless sigh escaped me.

The ominous feeling that had been hanging over me since arriving in Luenhart now drenched my whole body.

‘Am I… destined to take Hezen’s place… and become Maria’s lover?’

At that moment, Illei stepped forward to the tray.

The small Illei tiptoed to peek in.

The clear water rippled lightly, and once again, my face appeared in the reflection.

“See, look! It’s my face again!”

I immediately pointed at it and shouted.

“It must be broken! Definitely!”

“I want to see too!”

Curious, Piyaa nudged Illei aside and stood before the tray.

Shorter than Illei, Piyaa had to hop up, flapping his arms like wings instinctively, though of course, he couldn’t fly.

Seeing this, Anselot grabbed him by the scruff with little interest and lifted him up.

From Piyaa’s elevated view, a large, dignified male eagle appeared in the water’s surface.

“What, an eagle?”

The priest tending the tray muttered in surprise.

“Maybe it really is broken.”

“I knew it seemed strange!”

The priest stammered, fussing over the tray, while Klaus added that it was clearly malfunctioning.

But when I saw Piyaa’s ideal type reflected as that majestic eagle, I knew.

‘…Oh no. Maybe it isn’t broken.’

I didn’t know why Illei’s ideal had shown my face, but Maria’s ideal really was me.

“Oh, so even the pig-bird has an ideal type.”

“Let me go, Anselot!”

Anselot teased with a wicked grin, and Piyaa kicked at his shin with short legs.

“Ugh.”

Anselot let go of Piyaa with a groan.

“You little pig-bird…”

His eyes gleamed sharply as he glared, but Piyaa stuck his tongue out and fled.

“Lord Luibel, why don’t you try as well?”

Maria suggested with a gentle laugh.

Still shaken from learning she truly saw me as her ideal, I weakly approached the tray.

‘My ideal type would be…’

Probably still Hezen.

Though the “player” had ruined my memory of him, the original “real Hezen” was also my favorite character in the novel…

‘Huh?’

The moment I saw the reflection, I jolted in shock.

‘Why… Anselot?!’

I quickly glanced around.

Luckily, Anselot was too busy wrestling with Piyaa to notice.

But Klaus and Maria, standing beside me, must have seen his face reflected.

They didn’t seem to find it strange, though.

“As expected, Lord Luibel has high standards.”

Maria even looked pleased.

‘Well, they think I’m Anselot’s lover…’

My heart pounded.

It felt as though my secret feelings had been exposed.

‘Why Anselot…?’

I glanced back. Anselot was dragging Piyaa over this way.

‘I’ve never thought of Anselot that way…’

Then our eyes met. Heat rushed to my face, and I felt it turn scarlet.

“Your Highness?”

Anselot called to me with a puzzled tone.

“Don’t drag Piyaa like that!”

Words tumbled out of me before I knew it, and I quickly stepped aside before he reached me.

The water that had reflected his face turned clear again.

“Your Highness, didn’t you see? This pig-bird started—”

“Who are you calling pig-bird! Let me go!”

Just then, the water in the tray before him rippled.

My eyes turned toward it unconsciously.

A hazy silhouette surfaced.

‘A shadow…?’

Unlike before, when clear faces had appeared, this time it was only a blurry outline.

And at that very moment—

Crash!

With a loud clatter, the tray tipped over. No wind, no reason. Just sudden.

So I never saw it.

The woman’s face that had been slowly coming into focus.

‘It must be that woman.’

I recalled Anselot, weeping in the arms of a black figure in the Forest of Dreams.

I remembered his resolute vow to protect her, his lonely voice when he said she was no longer here.

Though the shape in the water was blurred…

‘I can’t recall anything anymore. Not her face, nor her name, nor even her end…’

‘Strangely, only her face remains hazy…’

Still, I knew it was her.

For Anselot, she was someone from so long ago that even memory faded.

Yet only she remained in his heart.

‘I shouldn’t feel hurt.’

I tapped the marble floor with the tip of my shoe.

‘He’s always telling me I’m pretty, all those things…’

Perhaps I had expected it.

That maybe my face would appear in his tray.

‘It’s a relief Anselot didn’t see mine.’

The spring-water must have been faulty. Otherwise, how could his face have shown up?

But still, I was glad he hadn’t seen.

“Lord Luibel! Shall we try going over there?”

Maria’s voice snapped me from my thoughts.

She pointed.

“The Heart-Pounding Maze Garden…?”

“They say you can find true love at the end of the maze!”

At the entrance stood giant heart-shaped decorations.

“Lulu! Look! They’re giving temple-made cheese and wine to those who escape the maze!”

Piyaa shouted in excitement.

“Piyaa, you’re too young for wine.”

“Then cheese? I want to taste the temple cheese!”

“Well… cheese might be okay.”

As I hesitated, Klaus spoke with determination.

“If His Highness wishes to enter, I shall guard you.”

His expression said plainly: “A maze is nothing.”

But I could already see the future where he’d bolt out not long after entering.

‘It’s not just any maze, it’s the Heart-Pounding Maze Garden. It’ll be full of things Klaus hates.’

Anselot looked indifferent, and Illei seemed as vacant as usual.

“Then, shall we try?”

Maria and Piyaa cheered in delight.

Once inside, it looked ordinary.

‘Just a normal maze garden?’

The “heart-pounding” and “true love” were clearly just advertising…

“Ha ha ha! Only those who know the beauty of love may pass!”

A huge priest suddenly blocked our path.

“And how do you judge that?” I asked, tilting my head.

“In front of the statue of the goddess Amor, declare it. That love is beautiful.”

That was all? Easy.

“Love is beautiful!”

Maria clasped her hands in prayer before the statue and proclaimed. Looking straight at me, for some reason.

“Love is beautiful.”

“Love is beautiful indeed!”

“Love is beautiful?”

“Love is beautiful, they say.”

Following her lead, I, Piyaa, Illei, and even Anselot declared it.

Only Klaus was left.

“Sir Klaus?”

With a stiff face, his muscles twitched awkwardly.

“…Love is…”

But then he clamped his mouth shut.

And in the end, Klaus was the first to flee.

“Hehehe…”

Maria chuckled darkly as she watched Klaus’s lonely figure leave the maze.

It had been her scheme all along, to lure Luibel and the group here.

One by one, she would separate them, until only she and Luibel remained.

‘And then, at the end of the maze, we will find true love! Ah, Lord Luibel…!’

How lucky, to cast one off right at the entrance.

She had just thought this when—

“Ah! Everyone, watch out!”

Luibel stepped forward and shouted.

A giant whirlwind rushed toward them.

“Danger, Lord Luibel!”

Maria quickly shoved him aside and raised her holy staff.

“Kyah!”

But she was caught in the storm, flung far away, separated from him.

She had planned to get rid of the others and be left with Luibel alone.

Yet in the end, she was the one torn away from him.