CHAPTER:1.11

Audrey immediately deactivated the tracking spell.

Of course, since she’d made it herself, it was as easy as smashing a Nesco, but since the VIP Collection products were equipped with alarms, she didn’t want to complicate things.

“……Where am I, anyway?”

The pitch blackness around her felt unfamiliar.

While Hans was distracted, Audrey was quickly turned into a dog. There were six thumb-sized glasses on the table.

So many drunken topics to babble about. He looked like a puppy, barking nonstop.

“You little acorn, you don’t know the speed of others, you’re so…….”

“Woah.”

“You idiot.”

Okay, it wasn’t Audrey, but her cowardly self.

His big hands were in his pockets out of habit. It had been there several times already today. Each time the long fingers moved, a small rustling sound like paper leaked out, but when she hesitated, she always came out with the same empty hand she’d gone in with.

Meanwhile, Claude, who had been away for a long time, entered the dining room.

“Audrey, have you been drinking?”

“…….”

He was stunned to see her in such a mess.

“Who’s to blame for all this?

Hans couldn’t help but feel angry. He was tired of his brother brutally pushing this stupid, blind girl away and then acting like nothing had happened.

Did he think he could walk up to him with such an innocent face and not recognize him? How long was he going to hide this from Hans?

“You need to stop. you can’t even drink…….”

“…….”

“Oh, no. Let’s get her home before he gets any drunker. Audrey, get herself up.

I’ll carry her.”

“…….”

“Hans?”

Hans gripped Audrey’s shoulders as she slumped over the table. His gaze, which had followed my brother relentlessly since they’d entered the dinner hall, was wary.

“Why?”

“What?”

“Why is he carrying her?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, you are drunk, you need a lift”

The lighthearted banter didn’t lighten the mood.

Hans stared at his brother like he was looking at someone else. I didn’t like everything about him.

The grabbing and shaking of a dear friend, the meaningless gesture of confusing people with no intention of accepting it, the puffy face of a kid whose only face is his own. He hated the way she tried to be the only good person in the room without thinking about the dumped person.

Hans spat out the thorny words in his gut.

“Don’t worry about Audrey, I’ll carry her.”

Only a fool would care about a good friend, he thought to himself.

The brightly lit hallways were nowhere to be seen. Unlike the other places, there were no windows or wall lights, and it was pitch black in every direction.

It felt like I was standing in the middle of hell.

“Ugh.”

Shivering, Audrey groped her way along the wall, following the tiniest sliver of light.

Just as the darkness was coming to an end, a familiar voice spoke from a beautiful patch of light.

“The moon is beautiful.”

“……!”

It was Claude.

She looked back at him, leaning against the large window, staring up at the moon alone. The moon was unusually blue tonight, and its light shimmered around him like a beam of light. The mysterious sight took her breath away.

Audrey clutched the letter tightly in her pocket.

Yes, this might be our chance. I’ll tell him now.

“Huh.”

Leaning against the wall to catch her breath, Audrey gathered her courage and stepped forward.

She was about to call after him,

“Brother-”

─Tap, tap, tap.

“Mercedes!”

“……!”

she was interrupted by the sound of a beak pecking at the window.

“Aah!

My half-flung body scrambled back into place, and the large window flew open.

Pow!

With a powerful flap of its wings, it descended the hallway.

“Wait a minute, right.”

Claude was as excited as a child who had just received a birthday present. He rubbed the bird’s face as if in praise, and patted it affectionately on the back, but his hands were uncharacteristically impatient as he untied the letter from his ankle.

‘I’ve never seen Hans` brother look like that…….’

An unexplained uneasiness filled me. Claude read the letter, smiling slightly, blushing, and fiddling with his ears. Audrey hid behind the wall and watched him from afar.

“No, no, no, no.

I wanted to believe I was mistaken.

But she knew that face, that expression, that gesture too well. It was the same face that had kept me awake at night thinking about Claude.

“I love you.”

“……!”

“If I tell you I love you, you’ll…… away, won’t you?”

Claude sighed and buried his face in his palms.

“Oh, my ……..

Audrey clamped her mouth shut, knowing that if she didn’t, she would burst into tears at any moment.

But her big eyes were already filling with tears.

＊ ＊ ＊ ＊

“You said it was confession day. It’s all a lie!”

Audrey glared at the air with puffy eyes.

Yes, it’s all because of that weird magazine article. If it weren’t for that article, I wouldn’t have decided to confess, and I wouldn’t have had to witness this scene. Then I wouldn’t have been hurt.

“Sniff.”

Audrey snorted and hung her head again, sullenly.

Yeah, I know it’s not anyone’s fault. The two of them couldn’t have made it anyway.

But I couldn’t bear it if I didn’t find someone to blame. It’s too harsh to blame a broken heart on top of a broken heart.

“Ouch, Lee.”

Audrey felt sorry for her, and she was tempted to take out my anger on the innocent wall.

“Who put this carving on the wall, for nothing? It’s convex and hurts my back! This kind of thing belongs on doorways!”

But after a while, Audrey finally stumbled over to the wall and apologized.

“I’m sorry, Black, it’s not your fault, it’s nice to have colorful walls, it’s pretty, it’s good, it’s my fault…….”

Ah, the most miserable heartbreak ever. To be dumped before you’ve even had a chance to tell her how you feel!

“It’s no use, it’s over, there’s no hope…….”

Taking out the letter, Audrey grasped the end of it, shook it, and then dropped it helplessly.

“Hmph…….”

As tears began to well up in her eyes again, she heard familiar footsteps nearby.

“Acorn, is that you?”

“…….”0

A nickname from my childhood that would normally have made me snort. But under the circumstances, it felt unnecessarily sad.

“Why would I be called Acorn? My name is Audrey!

But it’s weird. As soon as I heard a familiar voice, I started to cry, like a person who has a corner to lean on.

‘It’s only at times like this that I know you like a ghost…….’

In contrast to her gaunt face, her slender shoulders began to heave as quickly as if she was starting a car as if she were about to burst into tears.

“Are you there?”

“…Hm….”

Hans’s pace quickened as he sensed a strange energy.

Audrey scrambled to try and save herself, but it was too late; her face was already streaked with tears.

“You, you…….”

“What, what, blah, blah, look.”

“…….”

My vision was blurry and I couldn’t see anything.

But Hans, whom Audrey had expected to laugh and tease her, said nothing. Her puffy face was clearly in shock. But it was Audrey who felt more embarrassed and sad.

“Wow, you’ve never seen someone cry before?”

“……!”

Audrey wiped her tears roughly and then tried her best to look unaffected.

─Palang.

A feathery letter fluttered in her wake, but no one seemed to notice.

“Hey, hey, hey, wait!”

“Go away.”

Hans, impatient, called after her. But the more he tried, the faster Audrey’s steps quickened.

Once drunk on dawn sentimentality, twice drunk on three glasses of wine, she didn’t know where her letter had gone on the wind.

“Hey, Acorn!”

“Don’t follow me!”

“You……!”

The letter’s whereabouts were not what mattered now.

＊ ＊ ＊ ＊

“I’ll drink it and die!”

The heartbroken face was filled with desperation.

Hans watched her uneasily.

“You’re bluffing when you can’t even drink.

Three glasses of wine the size of his fingernails would turn that acorn into a dog who couldn’t talk to people.

Normally, he’d be berating me for not recognizing him as a porter, but not today.

“Yeah. Just drink to your heart’s content, and then go fuck yourself.”

“Throw the jug away!”

“You just drank it? Whatever, it’s only fast when it’s like this. Huh?”

It’s not like he’s going to get away with it anyway like he has always done.

Hans secretly sighed.

＊ ＊ ＊ ＊

An hour ago. Audrey left to use the restroom and didn’t return for a long time.

It was obvious where she was going. Judging by her previous suspicious behavior, she must have gone to confess to her brother, even with all the surveillance.

It wasn’t unexpected, but it made me nervous.

“In case she got lost.

Hans gave himself all sorts of excuses and justifications for her behavior and he set out to find Audrey.

After wandering around the castle, he finally found her. Her pretty face was puffy and swollen from crying so much.

My heart sank and I couldn’t think of anything else. An unknown fear rose in my callused fingertips.

“That’s strange.

Her face was so wet I could see it in the dark, her eyes so puffy I wondered if she could see.

It was clear that a five-year unrequited love had ended in a sad ending.

‘He thought it would be …… cool.’

But Hans’s mood was not as light as he thought. Instead, he felt frustrated, heartbroken, sick, and unnecessarily angry.

I didn’t want to see Audrey get it on with his brother. I just didn’t. But then I realized that I would rather have seen her crying and in pain than to see her with him.

I realized how cowardly and weak I was.

“What’s wrong with you, what’s wrong with you?

Seeing Audrey sobbing just made me feel sick.

＊ ＊ ＊ ＊

“Urrrrrrrrrr. Uhhhhhhh.”

“What are you saying?”