“There's something I'm curious about and I'd like to ask you about it.”
My aunt, who had raised her hand and spoken, looked at me and Dill back and forth curiously.
“Are you two in a relationship with each other?”
I asked, feeling as if my father was interrogating me.
"we……."
What should I say?
My aunt was a member of the Lockhart family, but now she was an outsider.
My grandfather never forgave her for abandoning the family for love, and for erasing her name from the family lineage.
It seems that they did not communicate with each other after that.
I understood what the man said.
He was right about her not being a good host.
She was in a similar situation to me.
“Enya and I are just neighbors.”
“Married.”
Dale's eyes widened at the simultaneous words and he looked at me.
She took his hand on the table and touched it gently.
My aunt covered her mouth, just as surprised as Dale.
“I thought you were going to marry the Emperor?”
“How did you know this news?”
“Not from the news, but from my memory…….”
Auntie blinked and stared at Dale.
Her narrow eyes twitched, as if she were trying to find out something about him.
Her eyes widened in astonishment.
"……!
Are you……?"
Her and Dale's expressions hardened at the same time.
I looked at Dale, and he shook his head briefly.
Did she not love him?
Dale probably made a bad impression when he first met her.
He was a man of few words, so his lack of expression might be a bit misleading.
“Dale is a nice guy, and just like you, I left home to meet him.”
"…… truly?"
I omitted a lot of facts, but it wasn't a lie.
I nodded confidently.
“You're old enough already…….The last time I saw you, you were a very little girl.”
My aunt seemed to be well aware of the time period that I didn't remember.
“Does your brother know about this, and did your parents give you permission to do so?”
"no."
"Good."
My aunt looked at me curiously.
I smiled, as if it was funny that the same thing could happen to two generations side by side.
“You said your name was Dale, right?
I'm sorry, but I don't have a sequel to Enya's Favorite Book because I didn't write it.
Instead, I have…….”
Auntie put the book on the table.
“There is a sequel to ‘Night Lovers’.
“……!”
I want to see him.
The moment I reached for it, my aunt snatched it away.
“No, no.
“I can’t show it to you.”
She smiled and handed the book to Dale.
“I hope it's a good gift.”
Then she looked into Dale's eyes and smiled meaningfully.
“I realized something when I was writing the book: the sooner you get rid of misunderstandings and conflicts, the better...even the things you hide.”
“…….”
Dale took the book and calmly took out a blank check.
But my aunt waved her hand in disbelief.
“I'm not giving it to you to make money.
My niece wants it, and I want to give it to her as a gift.”
“It wouldn't be a gift from me if I didn't pay for it.”
“Oh my…….”
“You deserve a fair price for your work, so take it.”
“He looks like my husband, Enya.
We must have similar tastes.”
The aunt smiled broadly as she picked up the pen.
She looked like she was writing a long sum for something she said she wouldn't take.
The corners of her mouth drooped in satisfaction as she wrote away, hidden from my view and seen only by Dale.
However, it did not seem like an unreasonable amount to me, based on the way Dale accepted it without blushing.
'But is it okay to have a gift like this between us?'
He only does it because I want him to, and I don't feel comfortable letting him spend money.
But it would also be embarrassing for him if I kept refusing.
“Thanks, Dale.”
Dale remained still and smiled.
He was a dignified man.
I took the book from him and held it in my arms.
'I can't believe I found it!'
I was delighted, as if I had made a windfall.
But there was something I wanted to ask my aunt if she were Madame Cosette.
“The book about the girl who fell into the other world one day.
Do you remember it?”
“Mmm…….”
My aunt nodded.
“Was there such a thing?”
“It is a very small book called ‘The Imprisoned Empress’.”
“Really?
That was a long time ago.”
If I had brought it with me, I would have asked her……!
“Does this book remind you of anything, or make you wonder about anything?”
“Interesting?”
“I'm glad you like it, Enya.
Is there anything other than that?”
I shook my head, remembering nothing but enjoying the book.
“In fact, you helped me a lot when I wrote the book.
I was counting on you.”
This book?
The book “Night Lovers” was nothing like me.
It tells about a princess trapped in a tower and the hero who saves her.
It is a very bad story with the hero and heroine and they both get into trouble, and the hero is kidnapped by an evil man and gets hurt a lot.
When my aunt saw me I was a little girl, maybe not even ten years old.
From what I remember hearing, she must have run away from home when I was seven.
“Why?”
"because……."
My aunt smiled at me, then her eyes slowly turned to Dale.
She patted my head.
“Because I would make a lot of money from this and buy Enya something nice when she gets married.”
Her expression was meaningful, so I assumed she meant something else.
“Enya won’t return to the Lockhart Duchy, then?”
I looked at Dale.
We had just over half a year left on our contract, and then he and I would be done.
“What about my aunt?”
“My father still hates me, doesn’t he?”
My grandfather was in good health and in full force.
He still didn't like my aunt because she left the family to marry a commoner.
Can I be honest with her?
“I can tell by the look on Enya's face.”
She patted me on the back and laughed.
“My father didn’t like me writing novels or falling in love with my teacher, hahaha!”
It was also the first time I knew that the other person was a teacher.
“By the way, you and Enya helped my husband that day, didn’t you?”
“We met by chance.”
I answered for Dale.
“I really appreciate it, and I wanted to give you something even if I didn’t……, so Enya, how did you find me?”
“Because the tea leaves my aunt gave me are the same tea leaves my family used to make, which we stopped making a long time ago.”
“That's how you knew?”
“It is not produced in my family anymore, because the tea tree has dried up.”
“Taking care of that tea tree was my specialty.”
Auntie smiled and handed me some tea leaves.
“Take it and drink it whenever you want.
Enya.”
I looked at Dale and whispered to me.
“I abandoned the family name, but I don't want you to.”
My aunt looked into my eyes and said.
“Now that I think about it, that strange story you asked me about was based on a story I heard from you when you were a child, and you knew a lot of mysterious and funny stories.
Don’t you remember?”
I tried to remember, but I don't think I told anyone the story in detail.
I tried to remember more details, but my mind was fuzzy.
……My memory has always been weak.