Chapter 5

Unaware of the discussion that had taken place,

I continued to sleep soundly and woke up when the sun was quite high.

The feeling of having slept deeply still lingered in my body, so I wondered why I could sleep so soundly in a hard wooden box. I even thought that maybe I wasn't the type to be bothered by where I slept. But as I opened my eyes, thinking that I seemed to be lying on a proper bed, I saw an unfamiliar older man peering at me.

"!! Ah, aahhh! Cough, cough!"

Startled, I screamed, which made me cough and curl up into a ball. As I continued to cough, tears welling up in my eyes, someone patted my back. "Thank you," I said, though I couldn't feel at ease.

"Um, I'm sorry... cough... for the intrusion."

Once I had calmed down a bit, I thanked the person and looked up. It was indeed the same young man from before. The black-haired youth, showing no signs of being shaken by my state, looked at me with eyes like someone observing an experiment.

I couldn't understand what was happening at first, still groggy from just waking up.

But then I realized, "Ah, this isn't inside a carriage," and next, I recognized that I was lying on a bed, not in a box but in some room. I jumped up and immediately prostrated myself.

"Ah, I'm so sorry for the unauthorized ride!"

I thought the only way to get him to forgive me for riding without permission was to apologize profusely. So I bowed deeply and apologized repeatedly.

"I just couldn't resist and got on without permission! I'm so sorry! The moment I saw the carriage, it was like the sound of a goddess's flute in my head! I'll leave right away and won't cause any more trouble! I'll leave the fare! I'll color it with my apologies, so please forgive me!"

In my panic, I took out a gold coin from my pocket and tried to place it on the bed before standing up, but I ended up falling forward off the bed.

"Ah!"

I hit the wooden floor with a loud thud, and the pain and psychological shock made it impossible for me to get up.

Being discovered sleeping without permission, being taken care of, and then falling off the bed was incredibly embarrassing. I wanted to hide somewhere immediately. Moreover, the young man wasn't laughing, which made the situation even more awkward.

Not knowing what to do, I remained in the position where I had fallen, and someone started to laugh.

"Hehe, ahaha! I've never seen a girl fall off a bed before!"

The carefree laughter made me look up.

Until now, the only person in the room was the expressionless young man, but the door had opened at some point, and two boys were standing there. Both were wearing high-quality, well-woven clothes. The black-haired boy in the black uniform of the church school, who must have been the owner of the carriage I had ridden, looked stunned. However, the silver-haired boy next to him was laughing.

His silver hair, tied at the neck, was lustrous, and his face, framed by bangs that fell over his ears, had very fair skin. His deep blue eyes, which were tearing up from laughing, and his navy jacket and white high-collared shirt were of very high quality, but the style of his clothing was that of a servant. The long-tailed jacket had large pockets for carrying letters and such. However, his appearance was so beautiful that it almost made me mistake him for a saint.

"Th... There's an angel," I almost said, but I restrained myself. He was about my age, and I wasn't sure if he would be happy to be called angel-like. But I couldn't look away from his face, which seemed familiar.

After a while, the black-haired boy, who also looked familiar, nudged the silver-haired boy's arm.

"Hey, Regis, you're laughing too much."

"Sorry, Alan. It just hit a funny spot. ...By the way, are you okay? Can you stand?"

Saying this, the silver-haired boy named Regis offered his hand. I absentmindedly reached out to take it, but

"Regis!"

"Lord Regis!"

Two voices called out to stop me from different directions, and I hesitated. I thought, "It's not like he'll bite if I touch him," but then I realized why they were cautious.

Right, I'm an unauthorized rider, a suspicious person. Even as a servant, it made sense for the other two to be worried about him making contact with a suspicious person. So I tried to stand up on my own, but my wrist was grabbed.

"It's fine, Alan, Wentworth. I think this is probably due to the effects of a drug."

I was pulled up and stood up naturally, but

"Huh? Ah, ah!"

My legs couldn't support me, and I sat back down. Could my legs have atrophied from oversleeping? As I was surprised by my own condition, Regis, still holding my hand, spoke to the other two.

"See? I think it's the effect of a drug to prevent her from escaping. I thought it was strange that she would fall off the bed so spectacularly just from being startled."

"Huh? Prevent her from escaping?"

It seemed they had also witnessed my fall from the bed, but there was a word that caught my attention more.

Prevent her from escaping? From whom?

If that was the case, had I been drugged? When and how? Could it be their fault? The black-haired Alan, who had been silent until then, explained.

"You were found sleeping in the carriage."

I understood that. I remembered dozing off.

"You were found in the middle of the night and dragged out of the cargo carriage, but you didn't wake up. That was already unusual, but you didn't wake up even when we spoke to you and shook you. We treated you as a suspicious person and searched your belongings. That's when we found this letter you had, which had been coated with a drug."

Alan showed me the letter from the Countess Patricielle, which announced my marriage.

"Huh... Why... the letter...?"

I was terrified at the thought of going to such lengths. Alan continued.

"Miss Kiara Patricielle. You were supposed to be kept asleep to prevent you from running away from the marriage mentioned in the letter. But you escaped before the drug took effect. The Countess Patricielle must have thought you might run away and took preemptive action."

"Ah..."

Indeed, I had fled immediately after receiving the letter. After all, I was a foster child with no family ties (and my biological family had no affection for me either). I had decided to run away, thinking that a political marriage wouldn't matter if it fell through. At 14, I thought I might be able to survive on my own if I tried hard enough.

But I never imagined that I would be drugged and taken back for a political marriage. ...Wait, was Viscount Credias, who was my age, such a terrible man that he needed to be tied down with drugs to get married?

The moment I thought I had made the right decision to run away, I was overwhelmed by relief and shock, and I slumped down, exhausted.

"Are you okay?"

Regis, still holding my hand, asked kindly.

"...I want to faint. But I don't want to cause more trouble, so I'm enduring it."

An unconscious person would be a hassle to carry. I had already been put to bed once after falling asleep. I didn't want to give a bad impression, so I was trying my best to endure. As I did, Regis laughed again. I thought he really did laugh a lot.