A Butterfly Through the Mist - Chapter 135

In that silence, only Victor, nodding earnestly as if agreeing with his wife, finally spoke up.

“Getting four hours of sleep a night was considered plenty. I even dozed off while walking.”

“At least you had a different roommate. I had the study group leader in my room. Tilia was there.”

In front of a silent Tilia, the couple conversed harmoniously.

As if that’s my fault. And you said back then you liked sharing a room with me, Tilia grumbled inwardly, then carefully rebutted,

“It was tough, but… wasn’t it fun too? Studying together and feeling our skills improve for sure…”

“No.”

“Not even a little.”

Her small attempt at protest was swiftly trampled.

Victor Bartlett murmured with his characteristic serious face, “If I had to go back to that time, I’d just drop out.”

“Me too.”

“……”

It wasn’t that bad, Tilia thought.

She tried to search her memory for evidence that they had enjoyed the joy of learning as she had, but the deeper she dug, the more she only recalled herself shaking her roommate’s shoulders like a madwoman to wake her up.

Suppressing her embarrassment, Tilia caught sight of Ilex, who stifled a laugh as he lifted his wine glass and said, “Still, we were lucky that there were fewer mandatory liberal arts courses back then. Starting this year, two more subjects are being added.”

“What? Even more?”

“Yeah. I heard Countess Ford, who was newly appointed, will be in charge of one course.”

Unlike the appalled Judy, Ilex answered nonchalantly.

“It’s the first time a female professor has been appointed at the academy—and in rhetoric, no less. Imagine how passionately she’ll teach. Good thing we graduated early.”

The first female rhetoric professor, huh.

‘…Sounds like it would be fun.’

But it seemed Tilia was the only one who thought so. Judy exhaled deeply, pressing her hand to her chest in an unexaggerated gesture.

“Yeah, good thing. If there had been even one more course, I definitely would have failed. I’m really lucky I graduated before that.”

“If a rhetoric professor was newly appointed, what happened to Professor Raus who was there before? He wasn’t old enough to retire yet.”

“Guess you didn’t hear. Raus was dismissed last year. Over a scandal.”

“A… scandal? Don’t tell me… with a student?”

With the gossip Ilex shared, silence was quickly forgotten around the table. The conversation, centered on memories they all shared, soon blossomed lively.

“See, I told you all along something like that would happen!”

Listening to Judy’s excited voice, Tilia found herself looking at Ilex with a slightly strange expression.

He blended into the table’s atmosphere more naturally than she had expected. The way he listened to others, the timing of his jokes—he seemed surprisingly practiced at it.

It was a far more sociable side of him than she had anticipated.

I guess I was worrying over nothing.

Feeling a little foolish for having been concerned about him, Tilia cut a small piece of food from her plate and popped it into her mouth.

Just then, as Ilex was nodding along to Judy’s words, he slightly turned his head. Without realizing, her gaze met his pale blue-gray eyes.

Well?

At the moment their eyes met, Ilex curved his long eyes gently into a smile.

See? I can come along to your friend’s house now, right?

That’s what his rounded gaze seemed to say. Tilia’s eyes narrowed slightly in response.

Here, take this.

As if saying so, she picked up the piece of food she had just cut and aimed to place it roughly onto his plate.

But Ilex’s hand was faster. He lightly caught her hand headed toward his plate, and without hesitation, took the end of her fork into his mouth.

“Oh my.”

Judy, unaware of Tilia’s original intent, covered her mouth with both hands, her eyes sparkling with delight. Even Victor, seated beside her, brought his large hand to his mouth following his wife’s lead.

“Oh my, oh my. What did I just witness? Should we be giving them some privacy?”

In Judy’s unmistakably teasing tone, Tilia yanked her hand back, her face reddening. But the piece of meat that had been dangling from the fork was already melting away inside Ilex’s mouth.

“Thanks. Food tastes even better when you feed me.”

Ilex sealed the deal with that comment.

Believing now that Tilia had cut food and fed it to her lover out of affection, Judy let out an excited squeal as she punched her husband’s shoulder.

This is ridiculous.

Just as Tilia, now accidentally turned into an overly sweet girlfriend, was about to hurriedly deny it—

“Ahem. Is it alright if I ask when the engagement is happening?”

Victor, who had been quietly enduring his wife’s playful punches, asked in a voice laced with laughter.

“Judging by what I’m seeing today, it wouldn’t be surprising to hear the announcement as soon as tomorrow.”

Hearing that, Tilia forgot all about getting annoyed and froze in place. Ilex, casually scanning her slightly stiffened face, lifted his glass once more and replied leisurely.

“Well… sometime soon.”

“Sometime soon?”

At Ilex’s answer, Judy’s eyebrows shot up. Her excited, honey-brown eyes quickly turned to Tilia.

Tilia, pretending not to notice either her friend’s gaze or Ilex’s subtly expectant attitude, merely kept cutting her meat with reddened cheeks.

“So that’s why.”

It was once again Victor Bartlett who broke the ticklish silence. Lifting his glass following Ilex, he continued cheerfully, “I was wondering why the Dowager Duchess of Davenport was staying so long in Arkansis. Turns out, it was to see her son’s engagement.”

The Dowager Duchess of Davenport? At the unexpected name, Tilia stiffened for an entirely different reason.

Ilex’s mother, Seraphine Davenport, was in Arkansis?

Momentarily hesitating at the unfamiliar news, Tilia slowly turned her head to study the man sitting beside her.

“My mother’s being in Arkansis has nothing to do with me.”

Ilex wore the same calm face he had when joking earlier.

“She probably came for personal reasons. More importantly, does the Royal Knights still provide escort even for unofficial visits from foreign royalty?”

“Ah. There’s a lot of talk within the order about that right now, but officially, the royal stance is…”

The conversation, smoothly shifting away from its original topic, flowed naturally into diplomatic issues and news of the queen’s overseas visits.

The atmosphere at the dinner table remained just as warm and friendly as before.

But for one person—Tilia. She could hardly shake off the topic that had fleetingly passed by and had to pause her smiles now and then with a strange expression.

***

Contrary to her worries, dinner was delightful. Boarding the carriage after receiving an extravagant send-off from the Bartlett couple, Tilia gazed across at the seat facing hers with a slightly flushed face.

The silk-finished edges of the seat were perfectly tailored, even at the corners. Staring blankly at the lavish carriage interior, made luxurious by such minute details, Tilia unconsciously bit her lower lip.

Dinner had been a definite success. Right before boarding, Judy had even shyly whispered that she hoped they could have another dinner like this sometime.

She should have been happy. She should have been delighted.

So why did she keep feeling as though she’d missed something?

The sudden unease seized her and refused to let go. Even as she tried to dismiss it, her mind kept revisiting the discomfort she’d felt during dinner.

When the topic of Ilex’s mother, Seraphine Davenport, had come up, Ilex had clearly, deliberately steered the conversation elsewhere. It had seemed so natural that no one noticed—no one except Tilia.

Ilex had tried to hide his mother’s presence from her.

For someone else, it might have been easy to brush off. She could have simply thought that perhaps he found the topic of his mother uncomfortable or preferred not to discuss her.

But the fact that it was Ilex made all the difference. Tilia felt all the doubts she’d sensed but postponed thinking about suddenly rise up at once.

Back when she had been attacked by thieves at the inn—how had Ilex found and rescued her?

She had never given him the inn’s address. She hadn’t even contacted him about the attack.

Once the question struck her, it led to another, and another.

Thinking back, it was suspicious how conveniently she had been transferred to Arkansis. The diplomatic headquarters was a coveted post with many vying for it, offering more promotion opportunities compared to overseas branches.

There was no way there hadn’t been other applicants. No way the supervisor, who clearly disliked her, had singled her out for recommendation.

Why?

All the strange details she had tried so hard to ignore now poured out like a breached dam.

Tilia couldn’t stop thinking, even forgetting where she was seated. The incidents she had once brushed off now poked sharply at her mind, raising painful questions.

How had Ilex managed to find her even after she moved to a new house in Ontaroa? How had they, after three years apart, just happened to run into each other in that vast royal palace?

As her suspicions deepened like the night itself, a vision blurred Tilia’s sight.

The silhouette of the man she had so often seen over the past three years. The shadow of Ilex she had thought a hallucination born of longing.

Was it really just a hallucination?

As if something had burst out of a forbidden box, Tilia froze.

And just then, something light tapped onto her shoulder.