***

***

When Rosie said that she was leaving Tanatos two days later, Anna made up her mind.

“Are you really going with me, Anna?”

“Yes. I don’t think I can go unless it’s now. And I want to spend more time with you.”

Anna also spent her whole life with the cold, so she wanted to visit a warm country at least once.

She was desperate for a break because she had gone through so much in a year.

There, she also wanted to catch up with Rosie, whom she just met again after a long time.

Just like when they were children, she thought that after spending a relaxing time smiling and having no worries, she would feel more relaxed even in her wretched heart.

But before that, there was work to be done.

Anna paid more attention to her attire than usual and went outside.

She also came out with a bouquet of flowers and apple wine that she specifically asked for from the maid.

Whether or not the imperial blood and wind blew, the city was the same as any other. Rather, more and more people came out because the weather was getting warmer.

People were constantly laughing and chatting about whether the warm sunlight was good or that the downfall of the cruel and incompetent imperial family was good.

Anna got on the approaching carriage and looked up at the sky through the carriage window.

Between the blue sky and the pure white clouds, it was clear and clean.

It was a dazzlingly beautiful sky that made her eyes shiver.

***

With a small bouquet of perennials in full bloom and sweet apple wine, Anna headed for an unnamed cemetery.

Originally, the corpses of the imperial prisoners were not buried separately.

In particular, the bodies from the Sunset family were thoroughly ravaged.

Anna used quite a bit of fortune and bribed the body-disposal man.

At that time, dozens of corpses were found every day, in which she barely found the bodies of Cain and the Duchess and buried them.

[Master of the thorny hedge]

She couldn’t write his name, but it was fine.

(*The time when Gillotti was the emperor, he killed everyone in the Sunset family and their bodies were destroyed. So Anna found Cain’s remains and buried him, but there was no way she could write his real name on the tombstone, because if it was found Anna might be killed too.)

Anna and Roselyn knew Cain’s nickname.

“If I had known that this nickname would stick with me until the day I die, I would have made it more nicely… Right, Cain?”

Anna placed the apple wine on Cain’s tombstone.

The fragrant scent pierced her nose.

“Why is it a thorny hedge?” (Anna)

One day, on a bad day, they stole apple wine and drank it.

Anna, who was eating her favorite fruit cheese with jam and cookies, asked Cain, who had been silent for a while.

Cain looked at Anna quietly and slowly approached her.

Her first kiss was filled with the scent of apples. Was it because she was drunk with sweet alcohol or was she drunk on moist lips?

At that moment when their lips touched, a brief regret passed by, ‘Oh, I shouldn’t eat cheese.’

“Rosie puts up her thorns to protect herself. I also wanted to protect the rose.” (Cain)

Whenever she closed her eyes, the touch of those lips that were full of the scent of apples and the sweet voice came to her mind vividly.

Anna looked at her first love for a long time, buried in the cold ground.“Who asked you to protect me?”

A few days ago, her ex-husband came to see her, and returned all of Anna’s property that he had stolen, revealing his unasked crime.

“My, I’ve been gossiping about you. I’m sorry. I was stupid”

Despite hearing her ex-husband’s grotesque confession, she did not question him. Even without interrogating him, he told the truth she didn’t want to know.

“… I made some money by selling your things. I understand that Count Cainley found out and was caught in Natasha Roanti’s trap.”

He didn’t even dare to look at Anna’s face properly, and only apologized, which Anna couldn’t understand. The ex-husband bowed his head several times, saying he was sorry with a scared face that Anna had never seen before.

Not wanting to see him look like that, Anna rushed him out.

On the way back, he happened to have a carriage accident. His two legs were broken but he didn’t die.

Anna heard the news without emotion.

She wished she didn’t know.

“No, no.”

She actually knew something about Cain that she didn’t know before.

Cain fell into Natasha’s trap.

And that she was the delicious bait set in the trap.

Cain’s firm gaze, which had been looking at her from a certain moment flashed before her eyes.

She looked at her ex-husband and clenched her fists.

Even Natasha’s vulgar jokes that put Cain and her together under the guise of chance and inevitability.

She knew but didn’t know.

Things exploded before she even dispelled her doubts, a shudder of uncertainty. Cain was captured.

“I’m not going to say thank you….”

She covered her reddened eyes with her hands.

“I will live happily ever after. Until I become a crumpled old lady…. I’m going to live very, very happily.”

A few words of resentment came out, but none of them were sharp.

Anna picked up the bottle and poured apple wine around Cain’s grave.

She was hoping that this fragrant wine would seep through and that his death would no longer be bitter.

Ha.

Anna took a deep breath in and exhaled, brushing away her heavy emotions.

“……I will come again.”

‘I’ll be happier and I’ll come back.’

With a smile on her face, Anna turned around.

She trudged through the numerous graves that had not been named.

It was at the entrance of the unknown cemetery that she met an unexpected person.

“Huh?”

A man as big as a mountain spaced around the entrance.

The startled Anna pretended to know him first, and then he approached as if he had been waiting.

“Hello, Miss Anna. How are you?”

“……Ah yes. But what are you doing here?”

She never thought that the Duke would have anything to do with the national cemetery.

Most of the high-ranking nobles’ graves were in a place that was incomparable to this place.

“I happened to see you while passing by.”

“What?”

Perso’s dark green eyes stared intently at Anna.

It was only then that Anna realized that this man had demonstrated another skill.

“…you saw me.”

Anna scratched her cheek involuntarily with a red face.

The two faced each other awkwardly.

It was the first time the two of them had seen each other since that day.Perso had a lot of work to sort out, and Anna was also very busy helping Rosie with the work of the Sunset House.

“I heard that you’re going to Amor with her (Asha).”

Anna opened her eyes wide.

It’s only been a day since she made that decision, and it’s amazing that this man knew it.

“I found out by chance this morning while we were talking to Tamon Krasis.”

“…ah! That’s right. Ah, yes. I decided to go with Rosie.”

“How long do you plan to stay there?”

“Well. I haven’t decided on that yet.”

“I see….”

So the silence fell again.

Anna couldn’t contain her strangely tense and uncomfortable feelings.

No, to be precise, she was choking awkward rather than uncomfortable.

She didn’t know how to look at him or how to treat him.

“Do you remember what you said back then?”

Perso spoke first.

Anna, wanting to know what to do, raised her head.

“Ah! The meal? That’s right. I forgot that. I’m leaving the day after tomorrow…”

Seeing Anna in panic and bewilderment, Perso smiled softly.

“No. Not that.”

“Then, what are you talking about?”

“You said that we can’t be together because you’re Rotrega and I’m Gertium.”

“Ah…”

She couldn’t help but remember.

Anna nodded her head in embarrassment.

“Yes, I remember.”

“The Emperor is now dead.”

Perso came one step closer.

There was something unusual about his momentum.

Anna slowly took a step back with bewildered eyes.

“I don’t think there will be any more treason or family ideology…”

His direct gaze caught her breath.

Anna took a step back without realizing it.

Her heart was beating wildly.

She was so embarrassed and out of breath, she felt like she wanted to run away.

Perso’s deep green eyes wrapped around her like a swamp. Her hair stood up as she felt like he was eating her from head to toes.

As if noticing her mind, Perso reached out his hand toward Anna.

Astonished, Anna stared at his large hand approaching.

Then Perso stopped his hand mid air, without grabbing Anna’s hand.

As if he was biting his teeth, Anna could see the force entering his firm jaw.

With a brief sigh, he lowered his hand, which was still in the air, and asked again in a calm voice.

“But is it still not working between us?”

His droopy appearance was very strange.

It felt scary and pitiful, but at the same time it felt a little strange and cute.

‘This guy is cute? Did dirt get in my eyes?’

Anna shook her head briefly to bring her to light.

“Before that, can I ask you one thing?”

As if to ask him anything, Perso nodded his head as he looked straight at Anna.

“… Why do you like me?”

****

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