MPBGS 58

Chapter : 58

Evangelin gently advised Gabriel to return, saying she was tired from dancing. Since there was no longer any reason for him to remain at the Rohan-son estate, they parted ways after exchanging farewells with a lingering sense of unease. This time, Evangelin did not offer her hand.

It felt as though he were walking over a swamp. His steps were unusually heavy. Every few steps, he would turn back to look at the Rohan-son estate. However, the curtains were firmly drawn, and the interior could not be seen.

“Are you heading back?”

Because he had lingered unusually long, he happened to run into Canna, who had been taking a walk in the garden. In her arms was the same cat he had seen at the orphanage before.

The cat that had once playfully nestled in Gabriel’s arms was nowhere to be seen now, and it didn’t even acknowledge him. Cats were inherently fickle creatures, so Gabriel quickly lost interest.

“Ms. Canna, it’s been a while.”

Gabriel greeted her politely, pretending composure.

No matter how much turmoil he felt inside, presenting a calm exterior had been something he had mastered since childhood.

The red flower that Evangelin Rohan-son alone had plucked and transplanted into a glass container trembled its leaves shyly. Gabriel knew well that the flower could only breathe inside its master’s vessel.

“Did you see it?”

Instead of a greeting, she responded with a sudden question. Even without a subject, he understood what she meant.

“You saw the young lady, didn’t you?”

Canna was the only one in the estate who referred to Evangelin as “the young lady.” If Evangelin of the past had been “everyone’s young lady,” then Canna’s young lady was uniquely her own.

Likewise, only the two “monsters” and Canna could properly see those things in the estate. Hena only occasionally saw the eyes that Pudding had attached, and Daisy was the same. At times, due to whim, even the servants would witness what Canna saw. And every time that happened, everyone would be terrified.

Daisy had been the same. After she had tried to drive a wedge between Hena and Canna at first, Canna had disliked her. Hearing that Daisy had been frightened by something as trivial as a snowball had almost made Canna burst out laughing.

Of course, now that her sister and Daisy had grown close, she could understand it well enough. For someone faint-hearted, such things were naturally unpleasant.

Was this sturdy-looking knight also weak of stomach? His face looked particularly pale, as though he were frightened.

“Sir Gabriel. If you wish to love the young lady, you must endure it. You must even learn to love this.”

Canna was pleased to find an unexpected ally. So she offered her advice generously. The cat in her arms tried to stop her by batting at her arm as if her efforts were pointless, but as a senior, she could at least offer some guidance.

Pudding really did have a nasty personality. In the first place, those things were byproducts of the cat’s attempt to expand its territory. The cat had tested Gabriel, who had begun to take interest in the young lady. Without accepting even the aspects revealed by the cat, one could not possibly handle the young lady. And the result was just as it appeared—Canna was disappointed in him.

“If you endure it, you can be loved. You’re jealous of her, aren’t you?”

“Jealous? Me?”

Gabriel might deny it, but Canna remembered that moment clearly.

On the day he first visited the Great Temple, she had seen the look he gave her while she stood under the young lady’s protection. It was the gaze of someone lacking something—longing. A sign of envy.

To Canna, Gabriel appeared to be someone suffering from thirst. A well could not quench his thirst, and he had passed by even the river without satisfaction—but what if he encountered the sea?

He would likely think plunging into it and drowning was happiness. Even if the saltwater made him cough and stung his eyes, he wouldn’t care at all. He would even believe he was immersed in sugar water.

“You already know from Daisy that the young lady is not an ordinary human, don’t you?”

The documents containing Daisy’s accusations against Evangelin had been entrusted to Canna, so she knew their contents in detail. She had destroyed the documents after reviewing them to prevent anyone from seeing them—but when the young lady later came searching for them, Canna’s heart had nearly leapt out of her chest.

“You’ve seen what you already knew—so why were you so afraid?”

Canna asked, genuinely puzzled. She meant she couldn’t understand Gabriel’s lukewarm reaction. Gabriel avoided her gaze and swallowed his answer. Contrary to Canna’s belief, Gabriel had not been frightened by what the cat had shown him. The world filled with red had made him feel nausea rather than fear.

“Did you think the young lady would turn out to be an angel with wings? And that’s why it was different from what you imagined?”

In truth, Gabriel’s fear stemmed from Evangelin herself. The fact that she did not appear in the mirror made him fear that she might be an illusion that did not truly exist. The low body temperature he felt against his skin, the faint but beating heart—all of it seemed meaningless. It felt as though Evangelin were truly a corpse. It reminded him of his childhood, when he ran while carrying a dead child on his back.

“I suppose that’s right. Even though I already knew, I couldn’t accept it.”

As the priest who had overseen her funeral and Daisy had said, Evangelin Rohan-son was indeed dead. And yet Gabriel wanted to treat her as though she were alive.

Was that why Evangelin had been angry? Because he showed interest in her without even properly recognizing who she was?

“I’m running late, so I’ll take my leave. Thank you for your advice.”

Since there was nothing more to discuss with Canna, Gabriel bowed slightly and left. Unlike before, his steps were now much quicker.

“I suppose it’s good for me if you run away.”

Canna murmured as she watched his departing figure. The cat clicked its tongue as if dissatisfied.

If Gabriel could not overcome this trial, then Canna would be the only human on earth capable of truly loving the young lady. While it would be more than satisfying to have her all to herself, at the same time, she also wished that the things the young lady cherished would continue to increase.

A breeze blew, scattering petals into the air. Canna let the petals fall upon her as if they were snow, enjoying the brilliant scene.

“It’s spring.”

Time had already moved past spring into June. It was a summer night when the cherry blossoms—pride of the Rohan-son Count family, planted by the late countess—still bloomed beautifully without falling.