Volume 18 Chapter 4 (1/2)
Father, he actually said that
“You should not have said that you wanted to postpone the wedding cereize to the Earl”
As one would expect, Lydia felt depressed
But Lydia ca ad which she was not forced into and had decided upon together with Edgar, there were many matters which cannot simply be resolved between just the two of thear was an aristocrat while Lydia wasn’t, things had to proceed with prudence
It can’t be helped that Edgar was infuriated
Edgar had tried to avoid getting into a direct confrontation, so no ht about it, Lydia was the one at fault
As she recalled what had happened, Lydia sighed in the carriage
But if a postponement was out of the question, then Lydia must find some way to fend off the fairy’s obstruction
Lydia, who had that in mind, headed towards theof the sixth fairy
The fairy had said that
“What the Goddess sees can all be seen The disappearance of the hateful archangel’s monastery was also witnessed”
The land were entirely dissolved by Henry VIII in the sixteenth century when he established the Church of England The Catholics were then banished What the old lady had seen should have been froh there were many monastery ruins, in any case, Lydia headed out towards the suburbs with the word ‘archangel’ as the clue
Alighting fro the narrow path as the driver had told her, Lydia’s field of vision suddenly widened
The cru exposed its corpse-like appearance through the gaps in the greenery
As she proceeded deeper where it was deserted, Lydia feltby herself
Under the slightly cloudy skies and being surrounded by the ruins of buildings, it even felt as though she had lost her way into the Middle Ages
As she looked at the pillars and arches which were barely standing, she could el’s Monastery This was probably where the sixth fairy had referred to
Lydia proceeded further in
Based on Lydia’s knowledge, there was only one way to know the names of the spinstress fairies
That was, to peek into the fairy’s dwelling If one were to observe quietly, there were times when fairies would h this was a dodgy saying that depended veryto itself at the sa, Lydia could not think of any other way
In any case, the only clue that Lydia had about the fairy’s dwelling were the words concerning the Goddess which the fairy had unwittingly mentioned
“But I wonder if there will be a statue of a Goddess in a monastery”
From what the fairy had said about a Goddess, it was probably referring to one of the ancient Gods But there was no way that a Catholic monastery would worshi+p the statue of a Goddess
No, we can’t be entirely certain of that
At that ht of a child, standing by itself in the shadows of the stone wall
One could barely make out the facial features on that statue which appears to be older than the rest of theat the form of its body, there was no in Mary? The statue was holding a cross in its right hand
But Lydia was focused on the statue’s other hand
“This… isn’t this a spindle?”
Since the past, spindles had been small items used by Goddesses
Co associated with the ancient Goddess as one and the same when Christianity first came to this island country If that were the case, then this statue would not be a statue of Virgin Mary, but it could be a statue of a Goddess froinal appearance of the spinstress fairies’ ancestors, or of the fairies the would be nearby
But, even if Lydia knew that it was nearby, where and how should she go about searching?
As Lydia fell into deep thought, she heard the sound of footsteps on grass As she felt taken aback and turned around, she saw that the other party also looked at her in shock
“…Claire?”
“Ah…, Miss Lydia…”
Although Claire looked troubled at this unexpected encounter, at the sahtful eyes, she was also wary of as behind her
“Is soers”
Hearing that, Lydia also beca happened at such a deserted place, they would not be able to call for help
“Let’s go together”
Lydia thought that they should leave this place and head towards the street quickly
“Er, Lydia started to walk briskly
She had indeed felt that there was so, she felt the presence of a person in the shadows of the trees That person was probably observing the up behind theled with their own As Lydia walked quickly, the footsteps also quickened
When she glanced at Claire, she saw that her expression was frozen, and when their eyes met, Claire averted her eyes uneasily
“Hey, is there a reason why you are being followed?”
She only shook her head to the sides even as she turned pale She hastened her footsteps so ht had left Lydia behind
When they went through the ivy arch hurriedly, a huure appeared in front of them and Lydia nearly let out a scream in shock
“Lydia!”
At the same time as her naar?”
As she looked up, his ash mauve eyes peered into hers As if he were desperate, he furrowed his brows slightly
“Lydia, that’s great… I rushed over to co out where you were headed from the Professor”
The footsteps and presence of someone she felt behind her had disappeared Lydia took a breath in relief
“I was shocked…”
“Me too Because you caer eainst her hair
Lydia was still perplexed at being treated like this when they were not alone together
“Erar, I happened to run into Claire here”
That’s why Lydia, who escaped fro that because she wanted hireeted hiar suddenly turned to face her with a smile
“Miss Florey, are you by yourself at such a place? What were you doing?”
Hearing that, Lydia also started to find it ar, it seeh I think that the person is already gone”
“Hmmm, is that so? Do you have issues that cause you to be followed?”
“Earl…”
“There is no need to force yourself to speak, Miss Florey But if you are a person ould come to such a place alone and have issues that cause yourself to be followed, I can’t help but be worried if you were to becoive an explanation But Lydia felt that Edgar had deliberately interrupted Claire even though he was speaking sar, about that”
“I heard that Lydia wanted to employ you for a trial period What do you intend to do?”
To think that Edgar was asking for a reply here and now Although Lydia thought that, before she could voice out, Claire replied
“… I was thinking, that I would withdraw I appreciate Miss Lydia’s considerations”
Being overtly treated as a nuisance by Edgar, there was no way Claire would be able to say that she wanted to work
No, either way, Lydia thought that Claire would still have turned down the offer With regards to Lydia, Claire appeared to find it difficult to work hard and get along with Lydia
Earlier, even though she was afraid because she was being followed, she did not appear relieved when she h it could just be that Claire felt that with only girls, it did not matter whether there was one or two of theer they face, Lydia felt that it was inevitable that Claire would turn her down
Even for Lydia herself, rather than saying that she needed Claire, she was thinking about the ribbon
“Is that so? Well, we’ll leave the matter at that I’ll have ar pro towards hi Lydia’s arar appeared to be visibly displeased
That’s to be expected Be it about Claire or her suggestion to postpone the wedding cerear, who had been walking on in silence, suddenly stopped and turned to face Lydia
“I’m sorry, but it just can’t be Claire …As for the reason, I still can’t say anything for now”
When Lydia furrowed her brows out of surprise at these unexpected words, Edgar anxiously added on
“I get it, how about this? In exchange, I’ll listen to anything you say Ahh but I can’t postpone the wedding If it’s anything else…”
“You’re not… angry?”
When Lydia asked that, he tilted his head in surprise
“You were very angry yesterday right?”
Then, seeing as hoas suppressing his feelings, he should have been quite infuriated Lydia realized that after being scolded by her father
“Was my attitude yesterday that horrible?”
“It was different from usual”
“Is that so?”
“…You didn’t … when you left”
“Huh? What?”
Being unable to say “kiss me”, Lydia panicked
I can’t believe myself, what on earth was I about to say?
“Erh there was no e could postpone the wedding That’s why… if there is anything you want to say you can go ahead and say it If you dote on and give in toa willful wife”
Although she had said that in order to erase what she had said earlier, because she still ended up saying things that sounded like she was acting spoilt, Lydia even felt like she wanted to run away
At tiar would look down upon Lydia with a happy face
“With you apologizing to ry I feelyou over”
There’s no one in the ruins of the ar was joking, Lydia nervously tried to walk away
But Edgar placed his arms around her waist so as not to let her do so
“Don’t think that I will dote on and give in to you more than the Professor does I’m much more narrow-ar adopted a serious tone
“I’ spoilt towards you I heard fro to wreck the wedding and you were troubling over that Yet, I just objected to it without hearing your side of the story properly”
As he peered into her eyes and sentle brilliant manner, Lydia wondered when he caht that hethe tiht up in a carefree h any hardshi+ps or known any of the darkness that lurked in this world
And she felt that it eet that he had shown this innocent side of his to her
“I won’t postpone the wedding, even if it’s because of fairies Lydia, if you want towonderful then all the er than this”