Chapter 8

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I was frozen in the face of such an unexpected encounter, but a female voice I didn’t recognize suddenly jolted me out of my shock.

“Sir Laertes, who is this?” The woman emerged from the carriage. Her silver hair, shining like lilies in the morning light, fluttered around her softly. She had the pure and innocent face of an angel, and even as she spoke, her lips were as soft as petals.

The moment I laid eyes on her, it was like a bolt of lightning had hit me. Everything fell into place.

“Um, I… I would like to extend my thanks,” she said to me. “I was in a hurry, so I quickly hailed a cab, and in my haste… If it weren’t for you, someone innocent could have been hurt. May I know your name?”

It was her—the game’s main character.

Even though I wore the clothes of a commoner, she spoke to me quite respectfully. Is it because Laertes already acknowledged me, or is it just her nature?

I silently observed her as she gazed at me. She wore a simple cream-colored dress, but the lace trim around the sleeves was obviously of the highest quality. Her eyes were bright green like a lily’s leaves, while her hair was as translucent and silver as drops of morning dew clinging to a spider’s web. Every one of her features, down to her fluttering eyelashes, seemed as if it had been copied and pasted from Ophelia.

I felt a stinging sensation in my cheeks under Laertes’ steady eyes. I glanced at the apple in his hand, then quickly bent down to pick up the rest before straightening up again.

Despite me momentarily ignoring her words, the woman didn’t seem offended. Instead, her face was bright with curiosity.

A wry smile appeared on my lips. She might look like Ophelia, but their personalities were worlds apart, making it impossible for me to see them as the same person.

“My name is Emily, my lady,” I finally responded.

The woman’s eyes widened in surprise, while Laertes continued to watch me silently.

As she tried to make sense of the situation, glancing between Laertes and me, she hesitantly spoke up again. “I see… Thank you so much, Emily. I don’t have much on me right now, but I truly want to offer you something to express my gratitude. I have to leave to attend to an urgent matter, but may I know where I can contact you? If Sir Laertes is acquainted with you, perhaps he could—”

I stopped her quickly. “There’s no need.”

“Oh, please don’t refuse. I truly am grateful. Were it not for you, a child might have been harmed today.”

“I don’t expect anything in return.”

“Please…!”

A hint of anxiety appeared on her face as she clasped my hand in hers. Her fingers were soft and slightly cool. I instinctively flinched, then slowly pried her hand from mine. Her reaction was one of innocent disbelief as if she had never been refused before.

“I’d rather not become involved in anything troublesome,” I said.

“Troublesome…?”

“Elodie, we’re already late,” Laertes cut in.

She flinched when he spoke. Her wide, surprised eyes made it look as if she had been physically struck by his words.

Elodie. I silently rolled the name on my tongue.

Elodie was like a daffodil growing pampered and protected within a glass greenhouse. She was a stark contrast to Ophelia, who had always been more like a water lily laced with hidden poison. Ophelia’s beauty was such that it dared others to draw close to her, only for them to fall into deeper and deeper waters.

Elodie, on the other hand, seemed best described by words like “sorrowful,” “pitiful,” and “endearing.” Perhaps that was why the male love interests in the game had sought her out after losing Ophelia and succumbing to despair, corruption, and their dark desires.

Laertes shifted his attention from me to Elodie. “We’ll cause great inconvenience to the countess if we are delayed any longer.”

“Y-yes, Sir Laertes. Um, Emily, I…”

In an uncharacteristic hurry, Laertes opened the carriage door for her and extended his free hand to help her inside. After a moment’s hesitation, she took it and climbed gracefully into the carriage. Once she was securely seated, he slammed the door closed with a surprising amount of force.

“Why are you here?” he asked quietly, turning to me once again. I thought I picked up a heavy undertone of unease in his voice, though I wondered if I was just imagining it.

My attention was still fixated on the apple in his hand. He frowned slightly, an expression that looked unusual on his face. Looking down at the apple, he tucked it away inside his pocket.

“I’m a free person,” I replied. “I have the right to go wherever I choose.”

“But why here?”

“Windrose Estate isn’t my home, you know.”

After going through all the trouble of hurrying the woman into the carriage and insisting they leave promptly, Laertes now stood silent and still, seemingly at a loss for words.

“Please be on your way, Lord Laertes. It’s impolite to make a lady wait,” I continued.

“You don’t want to ask me anything?”

Laertes Hope was regarded as one of the nation’s most eligible bachelors. Just the sight of him in an unmarked carriage with an unmarried woman was enough to spark rumors. Such sightings were tinder for the gossip magazines that were favored among both affluent commoners and the nobility.

The usual calm in his dark eyes now seemed threatened by a deep anxiety that was hard to make sense of. There was a time when I yearned to feel those eyes fixed on me. I had wanted nothing more than to be the one to stir a storm of emotion within them.

But I had nothing to offer. Just approaching Laertes had always seemed like a perilous endeavor. I feared that my own emotions would pull me under, leaving me lost in that stormy sea instead. I had to turn away from that desire.

As I looked into his eyes, I saw my own reflection. My attire was simple and my hair hung loosely without any accessories to secure it. My bare face looked slightly pale and devoid of expression.

“She’s pretty,” I said. “And she seems kind as well.”

A flicker of confusion, or perhaps a puzzled attempt at discerning some kind of meaning, flitted across Laertes’ face.

This brief lapse in his composure was unexpected. I had always regarded him as unshakably stoic. Maybe he thought I would judge him since his current company bore such a close resemblance to Ophelia, considering how close I had been to her in the past. But he had no reason to feel any guilt toward me now.

I laughed bitterly inside. “Lord Laertes, you’ve never been one to make a lady in your company feel neglected.”

“Emilia…”

“If you’re worried I’m going to criticize you, there’s no need. After all, Ophelia is no longer with us.”

His face tensed. The reality of my words seemed to hit him hard. Our conversation had spiraled in a completely unexpected direction.

The coachman signaled urgently, implying that they would certainly be late at this rate.

Laertes’ expression contorted again for a moment. “Let’s talk again, Lia.” He hurriedly took the coachman’s place, apparently no longer trusting the man to drive the carriage.

I said nothing before he left. As the carriage sped off, stirring up a cloud of dust in its wake, I caught a glimpse of the woman’s clear green eyes watching me through the window.

Turning away, I reflected on Laertes calling me “Lia.” That nickname harkened back to our childhood. “Lia” was part of both Ophelia’s name and my own, and we often referred to each other by the nickname as if we were identically named twins.

To the outside world, however, Ophelia had always been the only Lia. I had never been fond of the name. As we grew older, we naturally ceased calling one another by it.

Laertes calling me by that name now almost seemed like a joke. What was he thinking? Perhaps he just wanted an excuse to say it since the real Lia was gone. He finally had a chance to use the name once more, even if it was toward the lesser Lia.

I made my way home with heavy steps, trying to shrug off my thoughts.