I Hoped You Weren't Alive At Times ✓

Ch 145

21.5 The Emperor And The Empress
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The excursion was finished only after the sun had set slanted. Karloi prepared to go straight from Delfinan to Purtu. Saying a reluctant farewell, Karloi lightly hugged Lilian and let her go.

"I'll be back soon."

Lilian hesitated, and gently grabbed his collar. Lilian, who had been fiddling with his clothes for a while, raised her head.

"...Go home safely."

This wasn't what Lilian originally intended to say, he could tell just by looking at her hand that was still holding his collar. Karloi was happy that Lilian also wanted him to be by her side, but on the other hand, he was saddened to have to leave her behind. He just couldn't get away.

As Karloi stood motionless as if he had no intention of going, Lilian slowly let go of her hand. No, she tried to let it go.

"I'll be right back."

Karloi grabbed her hand as if snatching it and said a little urgently. Lilian nodded her head. Even so, Karloi got on the horse only after Asher became annoyed.

Asher was a little sensitive. For some reason, Karloi and Lilian did not disobey him.

Lilian looked at Karloi's back until he became a dot and disappeared.

"You have to go in."

"Yes, I should."

She said yes, but Lilian's eyes were still on the empty spot.

Beyond the place where Karloi disappeared, she could see the Delfinan River and the surrounding villages. It was a more beautiful landscape as the sun went down. It was beautiful and sad. Before that, even if she was alone in this landscape, it was not regretful at all and it was just full, but now the river seems so wide that it overflows without end.

Lilian stared at the setting sky for a long time.

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Karloi has been back and forth three more times since then, while Lilian has been reunited with Madame Madeleine Velvet.

Madeline Velvet was a woman as old as Olivia Donata, and she was also the handmaiden of her predecessor, the Great Empress. Contrary to her harsh and timid impression, she was a very kind and elegant person. But she just didn't laugh a lot.

"I don't have much to tell you."

For several days, after endlessly teaching Lilian everything the Empress of Purtu needed to know, Madeleine spoke with praise.

"I told you too much about that. I still have a long way to go."

"Even so, that's what I mean."

When Madeleine responded, laughter came from Olivia's side.

"Hey, Madeleine. If you say it like that, Her Majesty will misunderstand that your words are lies."

Madeleine smiled for the first time at the remark, a smile that would be hard to spot unless you looked closely.

"Sometimes you need lies. But what I just said is true. If I tell you one thing, the Empress understands many things."

The more she knew, the more Purtu became different from Lilian's idea. She didn't have any good ideas about it, but after hearing Madeleine's story, it was easy to understand why so many Continental people wanted to come and see Purtu.

Of course, Olivia Donata, who has Sorta and Lasortio at her best, did not quite agree, so the two old ladies would often argue about that. Listening to it, Lilian wondered for the first time about Purtu and Croysen.