Chapter 83

"Thank you for the bookmark rating m(_ _)m"

"…………"

I am now walking down this long corridor alone.

The corridor, which I walked down before, seemed longer and darker this time as I carried the heavy load in one hand.

"……sigh……"

How many times have I sighed by now?

I wasn't counting from the beginning, but it must be more than I can count on both hands.

But, if not now, when else should I sigh?

"It's my fault, isn't it……"

No matter how you look at it, it's because I arbitrarily decided Lily's feelings that things ended up like this.

If I had been more considerate of Lily, things could have been much better.

"…………sigh……"

In the end, I couldn't help but sigh again—

"……What's this?……"

As I was still walking down the corridor, I suddenly heard a voice.

There was no mistaking it; it was Lily's voice.

"……"

I slowly started walking in the direction of the voice.

"……Isn't this cute?……"

"Yes, it's very cute, Miss Lily."

From the voices I could hear, it seemed she was trying on some clothes.

"……"

I finally reached the room where Lily was.

"Hehehe!"

The voices from the room became much clearer, and now I could hear almost everything.

"……"

I wanted to see Lily one last time and apologize to her, so I reached out for the door.

"……"

But even if I saw her now, what could I possibly do?

Lily chose to return to the demon side of her own will.

Wanting to see her one last time and apologize to her—wasn't that just self-satisfaction?

This time, my rash actions caused everyone trouble, and if I did it again, wouldn't I just cause more problems?

"……I should have learned by now……"

I muttered to myself with a self-deprecating tone, and despite feeling a tug at my heart, I started heading back towards the castle's exit.

"……I'm lost"

Perhaps because I had been walking towards where I could hear Lily's voice, I ended up getting lost.

"Master Anest"

As I was wondering what to do, I suddenly heard a voice from behind.

Thinking it was someone, I turned around to see a maid standing there.

"Master Anest, this way, please."

"……Ah, sorry."

It seemed the maid was going to guide me to the exit.

"……"

As expected, the silence between the maid and me was overwhelming.

After all, from the maid's perspective, I was the one who had been hiding her master's daughter, so she probably didn't want to talk to me at all.

She was probably guiding me to get me out of the castle as quickly as possible.

"……What did you intend to do with Miss Lily, Master Anest……?"

Just as I was thinking this, the maid suddenly asked me a question.

"Eh, what do you mean……?"

I was so surprised by the maid's sudden question that I didn't understand and instinctively asked her to repeat it.

"So, if you had managed to hide Miss Lily, what did you plan to do specifically?"

"……"

I couldn't answer the maid's question.

It was then that I realized I hadn't really thought through what I wanted to do with Lily if I had managed to hide her.

I had thought about living with Lily, but that was too vague.

"Marriage, perhaps?"

"……Huh!?"

As I was silently thinking about how to answer, the maid suddenly said something outrageous.

"Marriage? Lily is still a child!"

I shouted without even lowering my voice.

"Love knows no age."

However, the maid dismissed my words casually.

"……Ugh……"

I didn't know if she was joking, but I knew that wasn't something I could do.

"If not marriage, what was your purpose in hiding her?"

But the maid didn't stop asking and asked me again.

"……"

I thought hard.

Why had I hidden Lily?

Why had I wanted to be with Lily?

And why had I forgotten to listen to Lily's feelings and acted so selfishly?

"……I don't know"

After a while, I finally answered the maid's question.

"……I see"

The maid's voice sounded somewhat disappointed.

"……Yes, I'm sorry, but I don't know the specific reasons for why I went to such lengths to hide Lily."

"……I see……"

"Even if it's vague, if you can accept it, the reason I hid Lily is—"

Interrupting the maid, who seemed a bit annoyed by my repeated answers, I finally gave my true answer.

"——Because I didn't want to let Lily go."

This must be the true reason why I hid Lily.