A Butterfly Through the Mist - Chapter 70

Carrying the hastily packed suitcase, they stepped outside to find a carriage waiting. The coachman, his face set with a grave determination as if under strict orders, spurred the carriage into motion even before the two passengers had fully closed the door.

Inside the hurriedly moving carriage, her body jolted and rattled with every bump.

“Thankfully, the academy isn’t too far from the station.”

Inside the bumping and swaying carriage, Ilex managed to maintain his balance as he stuffed various items into Tilia’s bag.

“This is a map. It has the address of the house you’ll be living in in Ontaroa. The rent for a year has already been paid in full. Just give them your name when you arrive, and they’ll take care of everything else.”

“What?”

“If you don’t like that place, go to the second house. If that doesn’t suit you, there’s a third. Just give them your name there as well.”

“W-wait…”

“Here’s the money. It’s first-class, so there will be guards, but there might still be pickpockets. Keep this in your handbag.”

Ilex held her steady in the violently swaying carriage, muttering a quiet curse under his breath.

“I didn’t have time to prepare much. It’s not enough…”

He grabbed Tilia’s hand, placing it on the handle of her bag, before quickly rummaging through his jacket to pull out a wallet. Without hesitation, he slipped it into her handbag.

“Use this too. It’s not much.”

Tilia’s gaze, trembling as much as the violently rattling carriage, fixed on him.

Why are you giving me money? Why are you finding me a place to live? Why are you…?

“Let’s go.”

Just as she was about to open her mouth, the carriage screeched to a halt, its wheels grinding against the pavement.

As her body lurched forward, Ilex caught her and held her hand tightly as they jumped out together.

Their joined hands were damp with sweat.

Was it his, hers, or both? There was no way to tell.

One thing was certain: they clung to each other as if the other was a lifeline, unwilling to let go.

Even when their breaths caught from running down the stairs, even when Tilia’s tangled steps nearly caused her to fall—

their entwined hands, like vines rooted together, refused to part.

Racing through the crowded station, they finally reached the platform for the Ontaroa-bound train.

“It’s okay, we’re almost there.”

Panting as if at his limit, he half-carried the gasping woman down the last flight of stairs.

The Ontaroa-bound train had already arrived. Through her blurred vision, she saw him hurriedly hand their tickets to the station staff.

“Tilia, this is your train.”

“Wait…”

When was the last time she had run like this?

Her lungs felt like they were tearing apart with every breath. Her legs trembled, ready to collapse at any moment.

As she bent over, gasping for air, unable to move, the man lifted her with ease. He gently placed her on the train’s gleaming steel steps.

Her worn shoes, which had seemed to float in midair, settled softly onto the metal steps as if she were a fairy tale heroine being whisked away to another world by a magician’s touch.

“The train will depart shortly!”

The station staff’s voice echoed loudly. Finally regaining her breath, Tilia’s eyes met Ilex’s disheveled face just below the steps.

“The necessary documents and your graduation certificate are in the file at the front of your bag. The map with your house address is beside it. Remember that.”

His face was filled with an inexplicable relief as he tidied her hair, seemingly unaware of his own messy state.

In contrast, Tilia’s face was awash with confusion and turmoil.

Why?

Questions churned in her mind like waves lapping at her feet. The polished tips of her shoes, so carefully placed on the steps by him, seemed to glisten with unanswered doubts.

“Once you’re settled, send me a letter.”

Looking at her as if he were bidding farewell to someone dear, he suddenly narrowed his eyes and removed the ring from his finger. It was the butterfly-shaped amethyst ring that had always caught her attention.

“This. If you ever run short, sell it and use the money. It’s a pretty valuable item. Don’t accept too little for it.”

As he pressed the ring into her hands, Tilia’s eyes filled with confusion.

“I-isn’t this… your engagement ring?”

“What?”

His brow furrowed as if he had heard something absurd.

“What are you talking about? I’ve never been engaged.”

“Then… it’s not Cecilia’s?”

Staring at her with a slight frown, he let out a dry laugh and replied, “Cecilia Clayton? Not even close.”

At the sound of his indifferent tone, it felt as if a wave had crashed. The mysterious sea that had soaked her shoes was now climbing past her calves. Questions wriggled like fish, tickling near her thighs, urging her to speak.

It was the question that had always tickled her throat. Though she had carried it in her heart for a long time, she kept finding excuses to delay asking it. But now, as if a balloon had been blown up to its limit, unable to bear the pressure from her swelling heart, it leapt from her lips.

Just then, the station attendant’s loud voice echoed.

“The train is departing! Passengers, please step inside!”

“Go, Tilia.”

Ilex, with a voice as if soothing her, gently pushed Tilia forward, who looked like she was on the verge of tears and kept trying to step closer.

“Don’t worry about what’s happening here. I won’t let anything harm you. Parliament’s influence won’t reach the Ontaroan consulate.”

“Why?”

Finally, the words she had been holding back shot out like an arrow, unable to resist his tender yet firm touch.

Her arms and legs trembled as if they were broken, and her lips quivered uncontrollably, as though they feared the weight of the question she had finally dared to ask.

“Why are you being so kind to me?”

But the impulse driving her couldn’t be stopped. Her desire to know overtook her body, compelling her to act. Gripping the man trying to send her away, she asked again with tear-filled eyes.

“Why are you doing all this for me?”

She had thought the world would crumble if she asked. That the ground would flip over, and the skies would collapse.

“Answer me. Why?”

But nothing happened. The world remained unshaken. The train didn’t stop, and her steady legs didn’t give way.

Only she felt as though she had crumbled and shattered. Her heart pounded violently, reverberating in her ears, as if someone had removed it and hammered it repeatedly on an anvil.

“I’ve always been curious. I’ve always wanted to ask.”

Hearing the answer terrified her. Learning the truth she had avoided scared her even more. But she couldn’t stop. Her body was overtaken by a powerful conviction: she couldn’t move forward without asking.

“Tell me, why on earth—”

As she clutched Ilex’s jacket so tightly that deep creases formed, her frantic questioning was interrupted.

Suddenly, his lips met hers.

The touch of his lips, sensitive and warm, was even hotter than his hands or the embrace she had once felt. The kiss felt both fleeting and eternal.

Her wide eyes remained open in shock as his lips gently captured her lower lip, sharing a soft heat before pulling away.

As Tilia stared blankly at him, Ilex cupped her cheeks and, with a gaze full of yearning, leaned in to kiss her again, as though he could no longer resist.

“Wait for me.”

His voice murmured against her lips, his breath mingling with hers as he gazed at her with an almost otherworldly intensity.

“You understand, right, Tilia? Until the day I come to find you… you have to wait.”

It felt as though time had stopped. The noise of the bustling platform and the train’s whistle vanished. Their circumstances and the worlds they belonged to seemed to disappear entirely.

Only their joined lips and the precariously intertwined forms of their bodies existed.

Trembling faintly, Tilia found herself overwhelmed by a desire to draw closer. Without realizing it, she began to step off the train’s stairs.

“Ahem! The train must depart now!”

The station attendant’s booming voice broke through her trance. Before she could fully regain her senses, Ilex gently separated himself from her.

Like a child abruptly separated from their mother, Tilia stood motionless, unsure of what to do. Ilex smiled at her.

“You must…”

Before he could finish his sentence, the train doors closed.

She pressed herself close to the window, trying to catch one last glimpse of his face as he was pushed further and further away. But the words he had left unfinished didn’t reach her.

Farther and farther away, the man faded into the distance.

Ilex never answered the question she had asked in a choked voice.

But words aren’t the only way to convey meaning.

Through his eyes, the lingering warmth on his fingertips, and the vibrations of their shared heartbeat, everything had already been said.

Though the station was no longer visible, Tilia pressed her face against the glass, her breath fogging up the window as she gazed beyond it.

For a long, long time, she stared. Until the familiar scenery of the capital where she had lived her entire life disappeared completely from view.