Chapter 5
Lydia opened the door gently and after making sure that n.o.body was in the corridors, she secretly slipped out of the room.
Now is the time!
“Liz, were you going to head out?”
“Y-yes, I wanted to go for a walk.”
“Just in time. Would you like to head to the countryside now for a change of mood?“
“Uh, but........”
He lowered his eyes as if he felt apologetic from the bottom of his heart.
“Liz” didn’t understand why Edgar would say all this, so she merely listened in silence.
Edgar sorrowfully frowned deeply. Lydia thought that perhaps this was his true feelings, and her chest couldn’t help but feel tight.
The person who stood in front of her was not the Edgar she recognized. Even though he was smiling, there was a cold atmosphere.
Edgar took her hand as if nothing had happened. Unlike last night, he perfectly treated Liz as a lady, and because of this, Lydia understood even less what Edgar was thinking, and was at a complete loss.
Could it be that Edgar wanted to use Liz to replace Lydia now?
Following him like this would be very dangerous.
Perhaps this time, he will discover her. Lydia couldn’t restrain the faint antic.i.p.ation in her heart.
Last night’s downpour had finally stopped in the early morning, and the sunlight occasionally appeared from between the clouds.
Up until yesterday, Lydia desperately wanted to make Edgar discover her true ident.i.ty, but she discovered that the more she did so, the more it brought about a negative influence on each other. Therefore, she was forced to courteously respond to what Edgar said.
The s.h.i.+ny, blonde hair underneath the top hat fluttered in the breeze and glistened under the suns.h.i.+ne. He clearly had an appearance such that one could use a metaphor of purity, yet those ash mauve eyes inexplicably stirred up emotions. If he were to gaze at someone without meaning, then it would make them have the misconception that they were the most important, causing others to believe that perhaps this was his unique expertise.
Did this kind of Edgar really want to apologize to “Liz”? Lydia couldn’t make out what ideas he had in his mind at all.
The more Edgar stared at Lydia, the more she found it hard to believe that he was her fiancé. She even believed that she was “Liz”, who was unable to receive Edgar’s attention no matter what she did, and that “Lydia”, who was very special to him, was another person.
“You don’t seem to be cheerful. Sure enough, is it because you didn’t want to come out with me?”
“But you’re absent-minded, looking up at the sky like that.”
“If you head forward more, there’s a place with very beautiful scenery, have you been there?“
“I see, so you do remember something.”
“Uh, how strange, I feel as if it’s the first time coming here.”
“Liz, I want to understand you more, for instance, what your true ident.i.ty is."
Edgar was seemingly going to pursue Liz and tenderly smiled, gently holding her hand.
His tone was very gentle, but the questions thrown out were actually intense.
“.....Eh, by order you mean.....”
“N-no!”
“I see so you do know Ulysses.”
“Was it Ulysses who took Lydia away? For what reason?”
She only knew that she was suspected by Edgar and was being considered an accomplice of the criminal who took his fiancée away.
Fingers soothingly touched her cheek. If there was a little resistance, then he would probably twist and break her neck.
Lydia desperately shook her head, but Edgar’s expression didn’t change the least bit.
As the underlying small minion?
“No, I don"t know anything at all!“
“No matter who, they will say so at the beginning, but it’s just the start.”
Before she knew it, the carriage had stopped.
“......I beg you, Edgar, please recognize me! You know who I am!”
“Close your eyes and feel with your heart, as long as you do this, you will know. You’ve clearly said this before!”
“I.... won"t run away. I believe you’ll realize, so please close your eyes for a moment.”
I must calm down. Lydia took a deep breath and closed her eyes.
Although Liz wasn’t similar to Lydia at all, that was only in appearances; in fact, regardless of her palms, fingertips, hair, ear, and lips, all of it was Lydia, thus he ought to have taken notice.
Edgar came to his senses and opened his eyes, then with an expression still full of doubt, he turned around.
Because of the light that illuminated from the back of his face, Lydia couldn’t clearly see who the man that said this sentence was. Edgar then left her, quickly getting off the carriage.
After walking outside, Lydia realized that the man was Patrick. However, she simply didn’t have the time to think about why he would be here.
Although it was the outskirts, it seemed that they arrived at a very distant location. After the carriage proceeded to leave, there wasn’t anyone else apart from Edgar and Patrick. She could only see hills surrounded by ancient stone walls.
Along the river, there was a complete row of layered rocks that continued on; this was a rampart, which was practically covered by earth and weeds. Patrick overlooked the rampart from a fairly high place.
It was a thread woven by fairies, which ordinary people couldn’t see. Moreover, those threads appeared to be intertwined like a net; in other words, it was a trap used to capture fairies.
Lydia hastily looked around. Hopefully Kelpie didn’t come. Although she hoped for this, she didn’t know whether or not she truly wanted this.
Patrick pulled Lydia’s hand roughly.
The shaking stone steps on that rampart was like a steep cliff. With regards to Lydia, whose legs were constantly trembling, climbing up was really too difficult.
“What are you doing? Hurry up and stand.”
“It’s you who was being too rough to her.”
“Earl, this is for Miss Lydia, I have no choice but to be ruthless.”
Edgar sighed, and looked at Liz.
Although Edgar spoke with concern, she knew that he wasn’t worried about Liz at all. His gaze still seemed indifferent, like looking at a criminal.
“In this case, making her suffer senseless injuries is useless. If humans flinch due to small injuries, then the blood won’t flow out as easily.”
Patrick began to walk towards the steps ahead.
At that moment, Lydia heard Kelpie’s voice.
After Edgar helped Liz up, he immediately released her hand. He probably didn’t believe that Liz would run away.
Presently, Liz was still considered a spy of Ulysses’ faction, and although running away was equivalent to needing to leave Edgar misunderstood, at least she wouldn’t encounter a b.l.o.o.d.y end.
However Lydia, whose whole body was tense, was suddenly grabbed by Edgar.
She didn’t know what she was doing, and blurted this out.
Patrick anxiously shouted out, because Edgar used his hand to embrace Liz’s shoulder, as if to protect her.
“Liz, haven’t I said this before? If you speak of what you know, you will be saved.”
These arms won’t protect her again.
Even if she knew that the changeling magic would be lifted as a result, she wanted to tell him that she was Lydia. But now, perhaps Edgar wouldn’t believe her.
Not only has the situation already become like this, if I were to speak the truth now, wouldn’t it hurt Edgar?
“Earl, if we don’t hurry, the trap will weaken.”
“No! Edgar……”
However, she was forcibly pulled.
Despite this, Lydia still desperately struggled, wanting to flee from Patrick’s side.
She recklessly resisted, completely forgetting that the ground by her feet wasn’t steady at all.
At this moment, Edgar spoke.
As soon as she glanced at the river below, her feet had already left the stone steps.
Kelpie’s voice?
Lydia immediately grabbed the long gra.s.s between the rock walls, but it was simply unable to support her weight.
It’s already…… no good.
As Lydia mumbled, she allowed her body to fall straight down towards the river.
*
The sound of underground shaking resonated in the rock cavern.
“What’s that noise?”
A fed up voice came from the corner of the cave.
“I can sleep anywhere.”
“How strange. Why are you here?”
“What! Then what about Lydia? Was Lydia also captured?”
“She…… she was kidnapped by a dreadful fairy, it would be good if she wasn’t eaten.”
“That completely black aquatic horse must be a Kelpie…… I don’t know why a Kelpie would appear in a place like this now……”
Lota leaned her back on the rock walls and heaved a sigh of relief. If that was the case, Lydia should be safe and sound.
“Even if she’s a fairy doctor, the enemy was a Kelpie! That, is an unseelie court; granted that they’re in the human world, there’s a way to handle them, but if we’re completely unprepared and come across a Kelpie in the fairy realm, it wouldn’t be strange if we were suddenly eaten!”
“It doesn’t matter even if it’s a man-eating horse, since that Kelpie is Lydia’s friend.”
“I understand your feelings, but that Kelpie is a little strange. That said, you really know a lot about fairies.”
“What……? This is only logical since the island that we reside on is a land where numerous fairies live as well. In addition, one must understand them in order to become the clan head.”
“...... I’m sorry.”
“How the giant treats you is your own fault, but you gave Lydia a huge inconvenience. She was going to celebrate a day of happiness later on, yet you came and spoiled it.”
Apart from the point of seeing fairies, regardless of what Lydia could see, she was an ordinary girl. However, Edgar fell for her and involved her within disputes. In some aspects, Lota completely sympathized with her.
“You said it quite clearly…… but you’re not wrong. Before coming to London, I didn’t know that she had a fiancé at all. But also, just because I wanted to see her since long ago, I was really looking forward to it, and I really wanted to find her sooner and bring her back.”
“Yes, but as a child, I heard my relatives speak about the matter of Aurora eloping with someone, and knew that if Aurora had a daughter, then she would become my fiancée, so I was curious.”
If Lydia’s mother got married to a man on the island, then the daughter that she’d give birth to wouldn’t be Lydia. This kind of thought was quite common.
“So you thought her daughter would surely be a beauty?”
“But now, you ought to have another fiancée, isn’t that right?”
In other words, this guy’s first love was Aurora, or perhaps Lydia, both of whom he had never met before?
First, Lydia was caught in cajolement by a philanderer, and now an innocent gentleman appeared, who would merely fall in love by using his imagination. Even a man-eating horse was fond of her.
“Hey, Trow’s snoring stopped.”
Lota strained to listen immediately afterwards, and at this time, another sound echoed.
This was really like the sound of bow-string vibrations.
“Hey, your ring is extremely noisy, think of something to stop it.”
The sound was indeed coming from the ring. The groaning-like sound seemed to be a warning of danger.
But Lota didn’t know how to handle the fairy ring at all. She gave Fergus a glance, but he opened his eyes wide in surprise.
The Trow was fidgety, leaning forward and glaring at Lota.
This is bad. Lota hastily grasped the ring.
“No, it should have listened to your words.”
He picked up the ring, carefully examining the Moonstone, then lifted his staff high and said:
In order to stop the giant, Lota jumped towards him, but in a flash, she was bounced off by the flash of light from the wooden staff.
It seemed that Lydia just happened to be falling from above the stone wall of the rampart.
*
“Lydia!”
He was about to jump down to the river.
Patrick grabbed his hand and stopped him.
His mind understood that quite well, but the depths of his heart was urging him to act immediately.
“Lydia can"t swim.”
The river water was extremely muddy, and Liz’s presence already couldn’t be seen from the surface. In order to try and find her, Edgar dived into the water, but nothing was practically visible in the water.
For this reason, he felt even more uneasy.
No, I promised to protect Lydia.
At this time, once again not knowing where the voice came from, he acted in accordance to that voice, whether or not he wanted to.
Edgar desperately stretched his arms and grabbed the dress, then pulled her body over.
The river currents were unexpectedly rapid, so he was unable to approach the sh.o.r.e.
The size of the rock could only manage to fit the upper half of one person on top.
“Hang in there, Lydia!”
Edgar was relieved, brus.h.i.+ng the drenched beautiful brown hair, touching her cheek.
“Do you recognise me?”
Even if her hair color and features weren’t the same, Edgar no longer doubted her.
As a confirmation, he kissed Lydia. Although she practically didn’t have the strength to respond, Edgar truly felt that it was Lydia.
“Lydia.”
“Earl, get out of the way!”
After Edgar turned around, he saw the driftwood rus.h.i.+ng towards him along with the momentum of the turbulent water.
Edgar saw his own blood spreading across muddy water. At the same time that his body sank into the water, he worried that if he drowned like this, who would go and save Lydia? But even if he wanted to try and swim over, his body wouldn’t budge.
Kelpie, you’re here, right?
Please save Lydia.
Even if something changes, Lydia is still Lydia.
Why didn"t I notice a little sooner?
After his correspondence with Liz, he sensed Lydia’s presence since the beginning, but because the external appearances were unalike, he was confused.
In the carriage, she also said she would not run away, and wanted Edgar to notice her. At that time, Edgar closed his eyes and touched Liz, but because he sensed Lydia, he felt perplexed.
Lydia begged him for help.
However, Edgar merely felt disturbed by Liz’s att.i.tude. Without any reason, he felt that Lydia was crying out for help towards him, yet he was unable to trust his own intuition.
His feelings were different from his cold words. When he held Liz, he was clearly unable to let go.
No, please don’t you ever say goodbye to me.
“Lord Edgar!”
Raven’s body was also wet. Edgar seemed to have been rescued by him and pulled onto land.
“When I left the fairy realm, I heard Lord Edgar’s voice. As I followed the voice and ran over, I arrived at this riverside.”
Nico wiped the sweat off his forehead.
At the same time, he suddenly realized something and sat up.
He looked around, but he didn’t see Lydia. Everywhere from the riverside to the top of the overhanging rock there wasn’t any trace of a person.
After Edgar and Raven, who wasn’t sure of the situation, looked at each other, a s.h.i.+ver ran down his spine.
He wanted to stand up, but because of the burst of pain in his chest, he crouched down.
The blood on his soaked s.h.i.+rt had expanded quite extensively. He was. .h.i.t by the driftwood; thus, he sustained an injury.
“Let me go, Raven, I must go and save Lydia…...”
A man with black curly hair stood in front.
“Yes, although you made out Lydia’s ident.i.ty, it was a step late. The giant, who holds the Moonstone ring, used magic to bring Lydia back.”
He caught a ceramic doll.
“I used changeling’s magic to exchange Lydia with that doll, so Lydia’s appearance was very similar to that doll. This was the only way to enable Lydia, whose ring was stolen by the giant, to return to the human world.”
“I didn’t expect you to go as far as to consider Lydia as Ulysses’ underling.”
“It’s all because you were too careless and was discovered by Patrick. I heard that there was an unseelie court keeping a close watch over Liz, it’s only logical that I would only think of Ulysses……”
Remorseful, Edgar pushed aside his dishevelled and wet blonde hair, trying to calm down.
“Earl, I must advise you first, the Trows aren’t being that ordinary humans can mess around with and find ways to fight against them. Even if it was me, I wouldn’t want to directly fight with a giant.”
“Kelpie, no matter who the opponent is, I will rescue Lydia.”
“Do whatever you want, but I won’t help you. Earl, although I decided to protect Lydia, I can’t stand by your side. You ought to understand, right?”
Kelpie knew about the matter of Edgar and Prince combining into one person. He seemed to want to completely protect Lydia, and would oppose her marriage with Edgar, but he merely chose to respect Lydia’s decision.
With those words, Kelpie’s presence instantly disappeared. Although Edgar saw Patrick running over towards him, he, who had already exhausted his remaining strength, collapsed due to the pain of the wound and the extreme cold.
Amongst the high fever, Edgar was constantly having nightmares.
Edgar found himself within flames several times.
But amongst the flames, he was searching for Lydia. Each of the mansion’s designs were all a part of the Sylvainford manor where he lived in as a child, but he was desperately looking for Lydia.
His body seemed to be burning up.
Ah that’s right, she already said goodbye to me.
However, if I don’t have Lydia, then it’s impossible for me to survive.
Although Edgar thought this, he woke up due to feeling thirsty.
Edgar still felt thirsty, so he reached for the gla.s.s, but the wound on his chest pained him to the point of practically curling up, nearly turning the pitcher over.
He caught the pitcher, refilled the gla.s.s with water once more, and handed it to Edgar.
Raven nodded in silence.
“I don’t need to sleep.”
“A lot of time shouldn’t have pa.s.sed in the fairy realm.”
Edgar smiled wryly for unexpectedly not even understanding this basic knowledge.
Now was not the time to sleep. He had to grasp the situation immediately and decide on countermeasures. Because of the fever, he pa.s.sed the time in a daze, which really was unfortunate.
“Didn’t I sleep for a very long time?”
“That’s already enough, Raven. Doctors always believe that their work is very important, so they over exaggerate.”
Raven got a robe, draped it on Edgar’s shoulders, then explained the pa.s.sing matters.
However, the giant didn’t know who the human girl proficient in fairy magic was, so Raven and Nico made the giant believe for the time being that the person he wanted to grab was Lota.
But the giant used the Moonstone ring to bring Lydia back. He had already discovered that Lydia was the girl that he wanted to find.
Besides, the opponent that had to be dealt with now was only one giant; in their country, there ought to be a large group of giants, so wanting to bring Lydia back would surely be more difficult.
Raven saw the giant, and said that human weapons, with regards to the giant using magic in quick succession, weren’t the least bit effective.
“Yes, I already informed him of Mr. McKeel’s matters, but he said that there was no way to do anything himself.”
“They were originally acquainted with the giants, so he seems to believe that the fairy won’t harm Mr. McKeel…… In addition, there is another matter that is purely speculated. It’s that the McKeel clan originally decided in advance for Lydia to become the Prophet’s fiancée, but the giant wanted to have this kind of girl. So will Fergus and McKeel return back to where their clan head is by their dealings with the giants?
Edgar angrily threw the drinking gla.s.s towards the wall.
The reason why he swallowed back the words that were to follow was because he felt that those words ought to be spoken ruthlessly to Patrick.
But overall, he felt quite concerned. Kelpie deliberately stated that he wasn’t planning on helping Ulysses, could it be that there was a correlation between the giant and Ulysses?
“Raven, do you feel that this time, Ulysses is behind this?”
“Lord Edgar, when I was being pursued by the giant, it was my sister who saved me.”
As he spoke that name out, his mind was unable to control the pain.
It was like this before he met Lydia.
Even though Ermine became an enemy, Raven was certainly still her brother. However, Ermine and Edgar didn’t have any connections anymore.
“In other words, Ermine knew that you were lingering around in the fairy realm.”
“Not let me approach the giant?”
She knew that Lydia was being watched by the giant, and believed that Edgar would surely step forward recklessly.
“What is Ulysses’s goal?”
Ermine then said to not approach the giant.
If it was for Raven, then approaching the giant on behalf of Edgar would perhaps bring about some kind of influence on the Prince’s memories within his body, which would benefit Ulysses.
“Yes.”
He was angry to the point of feeling dizzy.
“May I ask if you need me to go and get the pain killers?”
“Will it also be effective on heartache?”
“You see, Raven, Lydia had been by my side all along. She took the initiative to embrace me, and say that she loves me, but I didn’t notice that she was Lydia. Just thinking of this, it hurts to the point of death.”
He had to rescue Lydia. Even if it was difficult once more, Edgar, who struggled through countless crises to this day, believed that there was surely a way out. But after succeeding in overcoming this crisis, what gaze would Lydia look at him with? This made him more worried than anything else.
Raven appeared to have contemplated for a while, then as if he thought of something, he took a step forward.
Although Edgar didn’t understand how this was related to Lydia, he felt that he seemed to have gained strength, subsequently relaxing the corners of his mouth.
From the perspective of Ulysses, Edgar was merely the Prince’s p.a.w.n, and the people around Edgar were merely stage props urging the p.a.w.n to move.
“Raven, the sky is almost bright.”
“Wake me up after one hour. Also, I have to see Patrick, wake him up and bring him here.”
As Edgar listened to the sound of Raven’s footsteps leaving the room and closed his eyes.