WBWB | Chapter 54

Why had someone from the palace come all this way to personally escort me in a royal carriage, when simply delivering the pardon would have sufficed? 

And why had the Crown Prince, whom I had never met, sent the carriage?

“His Majesty, after the mourning period, has appointed Prince Mael as the new Crown Prince.”

It was because Young Master Mael had become ‘His Royal Highness, the Crown Prince.’

“Therefore… His Royal Highness eagerly awaits the day he can be reunited with you again, Miss Toulouse. Of course, you’ll need time to be reunited with your family first. I shall escort you home today and return for you later.”

And so, I arrived home. It felt like waking up from a long dream. A very long dream.

‘Were the things I experienced there even real?’

The coachman carried my luggage from the carriage to the entrance of our three-story townhouse. I carried my bags up the stairs and stood before our door, hesitating. 

Why was I hesitating after longing to return so desperately? Was it because I didn’t want to wake up from the dream?

But I couldn’t stand there forever. I finally knocked. A moment later, the maid who had remained with us even after our family’s decline opened the door. Her familiar face was filled with surprise at the sight of me.

“Miss Jeanne!”

She cried out, her voice shrill. It was a natural reaction. How could she have imagined it would be me standing at the door?

“Madam! Madam! Miss is here!”

At the maid’s cries, hurried footsteps approached from inside the house. And finally, I was reunited with my mother and sister.

As soon as they saw me, they rushed to hug me tightly, tears streaming down their faces, without a word. I was finally back in my family’s embrace. But instead of the overwhelming joy I had expected, I felt strangely numb. It was probably because the reality of the situation hadn’t sunk in yet. Right?

After a while, I went inside and sat at the dining table, sipping the tea they poured for me, and explained how I had come to be pardoned and returned home.

“Wasn’t there a disease outbreak there?”

My mother and sister already knew about the plague that had swept through the court. My mother recounted the events that had taken place in Franc while I was gone.

“Many people died from the plague. Thankfully, by God’s grace, our family was spared… oh, dear, the streets were piled with corpses, and no one dared to remove them. It was a horrific sight. We were actually relieved that you were exiled, far away from the city.”

As I listened to her words, the exhaustion from the ten-day carriage ride caught up with me.

“Even though we weren’t infected, we almost starved to death, Sister. Even though we had money.”

I started dozing off again as my sister spoke. Despite having slept so much in the carriage, I couldn’t fight off the drowsiness. Seeing my exhaustion, my mother and sister stopped talking and urged me to rest.

I went to my room, collapsed onto my familiar bed, and slept. A long, deep sleep.

When I woke up, I was no longer in the Duke’s mansion.

For the next few days, my mother, my sister, and I talked endlessly, as if trying to make up for lost time. Information poured out like a tidal wave, and I learned about the many things that had happened to them.

The most surprising news… was that my sister had found a job.

“You write novels? And you earn money from it?”

“What? Did you think you were the only one who spent time in Grandfather’s library?”

An de Toulouse had become a writer.

“I started writing short stories while you were working as a tutor. Mother would read my drafted work and point out areas for improvement, and after revising, I would submit it to publishers. Sister, my novels are quite popular. The one I wrote based on the court stories you told me was a huge success. Of course, that alone won’t be enough to make a living for the rest of my life, and I’ll have to write more.”

An spoke confidently.

“So, Sister, you don’t have to struggle alone anymore. We might not be able to live as lavishly as we did when we were young, but… you can do what you want now. Use your money for yourself, not just on us.”

I was speechless. It felt as if my younger sister, whom I had always felt the need to protect, had suddenly grown up in my absence. I looked at her intelligent, bright brown eyes and asked,

“Don’t you want to get married?”

“Married?”

My sister scoffed.

“Marriage? Unlike you, I don’t like children. What I want to do is this, not get married.”

An’s dream was to earn a lot of money from her novels and buy a small house to live peacefully with our mother. So, while I was gone, she had started building her own life. I looked at her with admiration.

“Can I read your novels?”

“Of course! I’d love for you to read them. You inspired me, after all.”

She handed me her books.

I spent most of my time reading them, except for meals and walks. The more I read, the more impressed I became with her talent.

‘How can she write so vividly about things she’s never seen?’

Her novels were so engaging, so it was easy to see why they were popular.

‘Grandfather left an intangible legacy not only to me but also to my sister.’

But even as I read, thoughts of him intruded, wedging themselves between the lines.

‘What is he doing now?’

I felt guilty for thinking about him more than Lady Ana. But once the thought entered my mind, I couldn’t stop. I tried to shake the thoughts away, but it was no use.

‘I think about him this much.’

I had thought that leaving that place would mean leaving him behind too. That being this far away would be enough to free me from these thoughts of him. But I was wrong.

‘Even though he probably doesn’t care about me anymore.’

I thought about him constantly, and each time, I would have to stop reading and take a deep breath.

‘Physical distance is meaningless.’

I was still in love with him. The brief sense of relief and lightness I had felt after confessing my feelings wasn’t because I had stopped loving him, but… because I was no longer burdened by the pressure of hiding them.

During my exile, I had often been tormented by my longing for my mother and sister. But now, reunited with my family in Franc, I was inexplicably tormented by the fact that I would never see him again.

‘It feels like I’ve left a part of my soul behind.’

Thinking about him felt like a tear in my heart.

‘How can I ever escape this feeling?’

Would time heal this wound? Only time would tell.

* * *

A week after I arrived home in Franc, the attendant returned. He brought me an invitation from His Royal Highness, the Crown Prince. And the invitation wasn’t the only thing he brought. He was accompanied by servants carrying numerous pots of white irises and a large gift box.

“These are gifts from His Royal Highness.”

I accepted the large gift box, still feeling bewildered, and thanked him. The servants carrying the flowerpots filed inside and placed them around the house.

Suddenly, the entire house was filled with an overwhelming number of irises. The white iris, its petals resembling the shape of a sword, was the royal emblem, cultivated exclusively in the royal gardens. Its rarity and symbolism made it a highly prized gift from the royal family.

The individual fragrance of the irises was pleasant, but the sheer quantity, filling the house almost to the point of being suffocating, made the scent almost overpowering. My practical sister opened the windows and grumbled,

“What in the world is this? This isn’t a house anymore, it’s a flower shop. What are we supposed to do with all these? If he wanted to send a gift, food would have been better. And what’s in that box, Sister?”

I had received two boxes. They were surprisingly light for their size that I wondered what it contained.

With my mother and sister watching, I opened them one by one. I untied the ribbon of the larger box and lifted the lid. Inside, wrapped in a thin paper, were a dress, gloves, and shoes. They were exquisite, breathtakingly beautiful that left me dumbfounded.