Chapter 17.5
Chapter 17.5
Nicholas Cabott was getting onto his carriage for the first time in two weeks.
To be precise, he used this carriage frequently, but it was the first time in two weeks that he was using it for unofficial business. Of course, it had been two weeks since he last saw the people he was going to meet with.
If he left at night, then he would be able to meet them in the morning. Nicholas had never visited them in the morning before, but for some reason, he felt that he had to go see them now.
Currently, the country didn’t have any evident political enemies. Even if some thieves ambushed him, Nicholas had two guards who were as strong as ten men, as well as his own swordsmanship, for defence. Nicholas himself believed that his guards had some other things that they would rather protect, like the kingdom, the king, or his brother. However, for some reason, the two guards, who looked on with vacant eyes, had chosen to protect Nicholas instead.
“I wonder if Fii is doing well…. She most likely is. Even without me, she can support herself, no matter where she is.”
Even though he said it himself, Nicholas felt hurt. The two guards beside him didn’t offer any words of comfort.
It was mainly because she didn’t consult with him after breaking off her engagement. Afterwards, she had disappeared without contacting him, only to be found living happily when Nicholas had visited her a month later. Nicholas’s pride of being her brother figure was smashed into pieces.
Of course, Nicholas felt that it was unnatural for her to be living happily, but as her childhood friend and her brother figure, this delighted him. Even so, he couldn’t help but wish for her to pay more attention to herself.
He was thinking such thing because of the words that the king had used when he dismissed Nicholas after deciding on the new decree, which demoted her to a commoner.
Matters about the country, his brother, Liliana, Fii… and himself.
Nicholas believed that it was natural for him to be of the lowest priority, no matter what his father, the king of the country, said to him.
Even if he disregarded the matters concerning himself, each of them fit together like they were the pieces of a puzzle that made up the current situation. He couldn’t please everyone. Such problems would appear in any society as you rose in position.
For some reason, Nicholas recalled the conversation he had with Liliana before heading out.
‘Do you believe that fate can change?’
When she had asked this question, she looked as if she had wanted to cry and needed someone to rely on. It wasn’t an expression that would normally be shown to the brother of your fiancé, but Nicholas didn’t see Liliana as a woman and ignored her, without even giving her any advice.
At that time, he had only coldly answered that he didn’t know, but now, he was curious about that question.
Wasn’t fate something that was decided from the very beginning? If your wishes came true, then you would smile, and you would cry if they didn’t, since it was your fate. Happiness was placed on a pedestal as if it were an enigma, while excuses were made over one’s helplessness in times of sorrow.
Nicholas nodded to his own thoughts.
It was simply arrogance that made you believe in fate, or else…
Nicholas renewed his thoughts.
“Oh, that’s right. Let’s ask Fii, too.”
Nicholas didn’t realize that he hadn’t changed his thought process. The two guards, standing there with vacant eyes, glanced at each other as Nicholas stood between them.
Today, Nicholas had once again run away from the possibility that everyone could be happy.