Chapter : 02
“……”
“……”
Cecilia knew that the other side of the wall connected directly to the neighboring estate, but she had never imagined she would actually encounter someone there.
And for good reason—the owner of the neighboring estate spent almost all his time in the capital, so the place was practically empty.
Caught red-handed trespassing, Cecilia hesitantly parted her lips.
“…Uh, hello?”
Her completely stiffened counterpart silently nodded.
Is he too shocked to even speak?
Jumping to that conclusion, Cecilia hurriedly explained her embarrassing situation.
“It’s just that, I’m not a suspicious person. I live next door. A cat took my bracelet and ran over here, so I followed it and, without thinking, ended up…”
“Oh… I see.”
His voice was so quiet that it sounded almost like he was talking to himself.
Yet despite its softness, the distinctly beautiful quality of his voice made all her embarrassment scatter like dandelion seeds in the wind.
Only then did Cecilia take a proper look at him.
The person she assumed to be a man had a hunched posture, his shoulders drawn inward, yet he was extremely tall and broad.
But that was about it.
His head remained lowered toward the ground, the hem of his robe was stained with dirt, and finally, he was holding a gardening spade in one hand.
He was obviously a shy gardener—in other words, a supporting character.
In romance novels, extraordinary encounters like this usually lead to some kind of miraculous meeting.
Like encountering a crown prince hiding from a political struggle, or coming across a grand duke who had been cursed.
Those kinds of surprise events.
But reality was harsh.
For three whole months, Cecilia hadn’t even had a chance encounter with a man. The only males she’d met were priests devoted to God, servants of the estate, or elderly guests of the marquis.
Her interest and expectations quickly disappeared.
“By any chance, have you seen a white cat? It should have passed through here.”
“I-I did see it heading toward the western garden…”
The man extended a straight finger and pointed toward some distant place where there wasn’t even a proper path.
Cecilia didn’t know where exactly the western garden he mentioned was, but the cat certainly couldn’t have gotten too far.
“Then would it be all right if I looked around for a moment? I’ll leave as soon as I find the cat.”
“If, if it wouldn’t be inconvenient for you, would it be all right if I showed you the way?”
Cecilia decided to revise her first impression of him slightly.
Rather than throwing out a trespasser, he was actually offering to help her.
He really was a shy and extremely kind gardener.
“Then I’d appreciate that.”
When she smiled brightly and nodded, the man flinched and his shoulders trembled.
Then, awkwardly, he began leading the way.
They crossed a patch of grass that was almost embarrassing to call a path, and soon the garden the man had mentioned came into view.
Right in the center of that garden, the very same white cat was sitting proudly.
It was sprawled shamelessly across a flower bed that had clearly been tended with great care, completely ruining it.
“Oh my goodness.”
Horrified by the devastating sight, Cecilia covered her mouth.
Those flowers lying flattened against the ground clearly weren’t going to get back up anytime soon.
“What are we going to do about the cat ruining the garden?”
Although it wasn’t even her cat, seeing the man’s back looking strangely dejected made Cecilia feel guilty.
Is his employer going to scold him badly?
“B-But if it’s a cat raised by the owner of this estate…”
“…It’s a cat I’ve never seen before.”
Oh no.
His broad back seemed to shrink another handspan.
Feeling awkward, Cecilia cleared her throat and, without realizing how inappropriate the timing was, quickly scooped up the cat that was still rolling around on the ground.
“Actually, it isn’t my cat either. Still, I’ll personally apologize to the owner for the damaged garden and—Ah!”
Before she could finish speaking, the little troublemaker in her arms caused yet another accident.
Apparently unhappy with being held, the cat struggled violently before suddenly lunging straight at the man’s face.
The man reflexively caught the cat, but lost his balance and fell backward onto the grass.
His dirt-covered spade rolled across the ground, and the hood he had pulled low over his head fell away.
“Ah.”
The exclamation did not come from the man.
It was Cecilia who let out the gasp.
She froze stiffly as she saw the man’s uncovered face.
I found him. My male lead!
Jet-black hair contrasted beautifully with flawless, translucent white skin.
His facial features were so perfect they seemed to belong in a two-dimensional world, while his violet eyes, like blooming wisteria flowers, captivated her gaze from behind silver-rimmed glasses.
She had read enough novels featuring handsome black-haired men that she still had no idea what kind of book this world belonged to.
But one thing was certain.
Someone with an appearance this dazzling could never be a mere supporting character.
He must be someone hiding his true identity.
Whoever he was, Cecilia decided that the man standing before her would be her male lead.
Even if this wasn’t a romance-fantasy novel, and even if she wasn’t the protagonist, she didn’t care.
From now on, I’m going to contradict every objection.
Firmly resolved, Cecilia immediately reached out her hand toward him.
“Are you all right?”
The man opened his eyes wide as though he were deeply moved simply because she had offered him a hand.
Then his cheeks reddened.
“Th-Thank you.”
What a delicate, beautiful face—and that adorable demeanor, too.
The moment his robe came off, the gloomy aura that had made him look so sinister completely transformed.
It was like magic.
That’s a face that could fill you up even without eating.
Having been confined to this small territory, Cecilia had assumed that her own face was the most attractive one around.
She had been a frog in a well.
Wait. What if the capital is full of faces like this?
But when she thought about the nobles and merchants who occasionally came to visit her father, that didn’t seem to be the case.
Regardless, Cecilia had no intention of letting this perfect opportunity to make Plan D succeed slip away.
“I’m sorry. I should have held onto the cat more carefully.”
“It’s all right.”
The man hurriedly shook his head and carefully held the cat out to her.
Cecilia accepted the cat, whose body stretched like jelly, and casually added another question.
“Thank you for helping me. The neighboring estate has been empty for so long that I thought there was actually no one living there. Did you just move in?”
“Yes. I—no, my master said that life in the capital didn’t suit him, so we came down here.”
“Then you’ll be staying for a long time?”
“If I’m permitted…”
“Hm?”
“Ah, n-no.”
So he’s staying next door for a while, right?
His habit of trailing off strangely made her curious, but the important thing was that she would have plenty of opportunities to meet this man in the future.
Having made her decision quickly, she readily gave the name she’d now grown accustomed to.
“I’m Cecilia Weberdin. And you?”
“…My name is Rien.”
Yep. That’s an alias.
The subtle pause before he answered, combined with the uncomfortable way he avoided her gaze…
She could stake her wrist on the fact that it wasn’t his real name.
But she pretended not to know and extended her hand toward him.
“Then let’s get along. As neighbors.”
Rien hesitantly took her hand.
The warmth of his large hand conveyed his nervousness so clearly that Cecilia couldn’t help but smile once again.
Could a person’s mood really change as completely as flipping over the palm of one’s hand?
Just this morning, she’d been devastated by the failure of all her plans.
But now, she felt as though she could willingly cherish this otherworld—even though it had neither tteokbokki, ramen, nor iced Americanos.
Inside a bedroom where everything from the wallpaper and window frames to the tapestries and furniture was white, Cecilia lay on an equally white bed and quietly raised her hand.
The sapphire bracelet around her wrist sparkled beneath the light.
It was the bracelet the man had found among the wreckage of the flowers and personally fastened around her wrist when she was about to leave after saying goodbye.
[I’m glad you found your bracelet.]
And that faint smile on his face…
He had probably only been considerate because her hands were occupied holding the cat.
Regardless, remembering his careful touch made a smile naturally spread across Cecilia’s face.
Before that cat stole it, it was nothing more than a ridiculously expensive mineral.
Now, it felt as though it might become a symbol of good luck.
No, wait. Is the cat itself the symbol of good luck?
The cat that had led her to such an incredible encounter was curled up on a soft cushion beneath the bed, sitting like a loaf of bread.
Where on earth had this little thing come from?
As soon as she returned to the mansion, Cecilia had asked the butler to find out whether any servant had lost a cat, but there had been no news yet.
“It couldn’t have just fallen out of the sky.”
Until its owner appeared, she intended to take responsibility for the cat and protect it.
While she gently scratched between the ears of the sleeping cat with her newly generous heart, she suddenly heard a knock at the door.
It was her personal maid, Melanie.
“Miss, your bath is ready.”
Melanie had been horrified when her young mistress suddenly disappeared and returned covered in dirt. She hadn’t even had time to question what happened before immediately rushing to prepare the bath.
By now, however, her initial panic had subsided considerably, and she calmly helped Cecilia up from the bed.
“Let’s get your clothes off first. Come on, raise your arms.”
Cecilia obediently raised both arms and soon lowered herself into warm, fragrant water.
For a brief moment, the soothing warmth made her body go limp.
Then, as Melanie rubbed Cecilia’s skin with a soft cloth, she suddenly spoke.
“I was in too much of a hurry to ask earlier, but you’ll obviously explain what happened for you to come back covered in dirt like this, won’t you?”
The corners of her raised lips seemed to be trembling.
Surely that was just Cecilia’s imagination.
“Of, of course.”
She had never intended to hide it in the first place.
She planned to keep going back and forth through that little hole in the wall, after all. There was no way she could keep deceiving Melanie, who stayed by her side all day.
“So, what happened earlier was…”
Cecilia obediently told her maid the story of the strange cat and the man next door.
“I followed the cat and ended up going into the neighboring estate.”
“I see.”
“Yeah. I met a man there, and after talking to him…”
“Wait! A man? You mean you actually met and talked to a complete stranger?”
Melanie, who had been listening rather calmly until that point, shrieked in horror and dropped the soap-covered cloth.
For some reason, her face looked even paler than when Cecilia had returned covered in dirt.
“Uh-huh.”
“What if you’d been kidnapped?!”
Melanie passionately lectured her about the dangers of the world, clearly worried about her young mistress from the bottom of her heart.
It wasn’t an especially excessive reaction.
After all…
Because Cecilia was a saint.
