“Where are you rushing off to?”

Escalion moved his long legs and swiftly approached Belladonna.

Though he seemed to have only taken a few steps, he was suddenly standing close before her eyes.

Belladonna flinched and lowered her head. She found it uncomfortable to make eye contact with him.

“Why can’t my wife look me properly in the eyes? Are you trying to do something suspicious behind my back, hmm?”

Escalion bent down to meet her eyes as he asked, his golden irises slightly curved with a mischievous glint.

Belladonna bit her lower lip and frowned.
She felt that if she didn’t, her emotions would somehow be revealed.

“Are you in a bad mood?”

Still bending down towards her, Escalion asked.

Belladonna stepped back slightly with an awkward expression.

“…”

Seemingly a bit shocked by this, Escalion silently looked down at her.

“Where is Bella going?”

Escalion, who had been quietly observing Belladonna, suddenly turned his head to ask the maid who had followed behind.

Caught off guard by the sudden question, Cindy glanced at Belladonna, trying to read her expression.

“W-well…”

As her voice trailed off, one of Escalion’s eyebrows raised crookedly.

Just as the atmosphere was about to become truly strange, Cindy, who had been rapidly blinking, quickly replied.

“She was going out to buy envelope for letters!”

“Envelopes for letters?”

“Yes…! A letter arrived from Astanya this morning. Madam said she wanted to buy new stationery to send a letter to the Pope, so we were thinking of going to the market together.”

Cindy, thank you for making up an excuse…!

Belladonna slightly raised her head to listen to Cindy’s voice as she earnestly made up an excuse on her behalf.

“The market, you say?”

Escalion frowned his dark eyebrows as he slowly looked over Cindy’s face.

At his subtly threatening gaze, not only Cindy but also Belladonna tensed up and swallowed dryly.

“Yes, she seemed curious about the town of Sillenia… so I was going to escort her. I-I’m quite curious too.”

Belladonna nodded slightly, agreeing with Cindy’s opinion.

In truth, she had wanted to go out alone after dismissing Cindy, but now that she had been caught, she felt she must visit the market with Cindy at least.

At Cindy’s desperate excuse, Escalion slowly turned his head to look at Belladonna again.
After staring at his wife with an unreadable expression for a moment, he opened his mouth.

“Shall I join you?”

“Pardon?”

“As it happens, I’ve been curious about what kind of place Sillenia is too.”

Escalion answered, staring intently at Belladonna, towards Cindy who had asked back in surprise.

Belladonna froze as she faced his dangerous, predator-like gaze that she hadn’t seen in a long time.
He wore an expression as if he could see right through her thoughts.

Belladonna, who had been meeting his eyes, firmly shook her head.

“You’re saying no?”

Nod, nod.

At her clear expression, Escalion once again looked shocked.
It was only natural for him to be confused by this sudden, inexplicable refusal.

Ah, maybe that was a bit too much…

Belladonna hesitantly took Escalion’s hand and wrote on it after looking up at him for a moment.

‘Y.o.u’.r.e. b.u.s.y.’

“I’m not busy. Let’s go right away. Would you prepare the carriage?”

Escalion tightly grasped Belladonna’s hand that had been moving across his palm and turned around.

W-wait…!

Caught off guard and pulled along by Escalion, Belladonna almost ran down the stairs to keep up with his stride before finally managing to stop by tightly gripping the handrail.

Noticing her slowed pace, Escalion turned to look at her.
Belladonna wrote on his palm once more.

‘T.o.d.a.y. I. j.u.s.t. w.a.n.t. t.o. g.o. o.u.t. a.l.o.n.e. c.a.s.u.a.l.l.y.’

Escalion raised his gaze slowly after carefully reading her sentence with his head lowered.

“…”

After silently watching Belladonna for a while, he eventually let out a low sigh and released the hand he had been firmly holding.

At the receding warmth of his palm, Belladonna blinked, feeling both relief and disappointment.
Escalion gave her a small smile as he spoke.

“Alright, I understand. You seem to need a change of mood, so have a good time. I hope to see you smiling when you return later.”

Inside the jostling carriage, Cindy, who had been watching Belladonna’s expression, spoke up first.

“Um, Madam…”

As Belladonna turned her gaze from the window, Cindy cautiously continued.

“I know it’s not my place to say, but… did you perhaps have a quarrel with His Excellency? You don’t seem to be in a very good mood.”

Shake, shake. Belladonna forced a smile and shook her head at Cindy’s words.

Although Belladonna indicated she was fine, Cindy continued to look at her with worried eyes.
After observing her for a while, she finally took a deep breath and declared resolutely.

“Then let’s have a proper mood change with me today! Let’s eat delicious food, look at pretty things, and buy everything you like before going back!”

Yes, let’s do that! Belladonna nodded with a bigger smile than before, and Cindy’s face finally relaxed a little.
Although she hadn’t given any clear answers, Belladonna was grateful for Cindy’s efforts on her behalf.

The carriage carrying the two of them continued along the quiet country road.
The muffled sound of horse hooves hitting the soft dirt ground rhythmically echoed in their ears.

“Wow, what a peaceful and tranquil scenery.”

Cindy blurted out as she looked out the window.
Instead of replying, Belladonna brought her face closer to the carriage window.

The empty land revealed itself, dyed in a deep brown color.
Although it was much warmer than Gribblata, winter was still winter, and most crops had already been harvested here in Sillenia as well.

‘I suppose this familiar countryside scenery is more comfortable for me than the busy city.’

Belladonna thought quietly.

It was interesting and amusing how the view outside the window was similar yet subtly different from the rural village in Astanya where she had lived in her previous life.

Feeling as if she had returned to her long-unvisited hometown, Belladonna blinked her eyes quietly.

Cindy, who had been looking outside following Belladonna’s gaze, spoke up.

“Hm? But what are those people making?”

The farmers of Sillenia were sitting on the empty harvested land, busily making something.

Looking at them, Belladonna unconsciously smiled slightly.
Every winter in her previous life, she too would sit on the ground like that, making something.

“It doesn’t really look like they’re farming.”

From the front, Cindy continued to mutter.

Belladonna suppressed the urge to turn towards her and explain that they were making fodder for livestock.

‘In winter, there isn’t much grass for animals to eat, so after the harvest, they dry leftover grass in advance!’

Belladonna, who had exclaimed this in her heart instead, quietly sat recalling her previous life.

Every year around this time, she too would carefully trim dried grass and store it in a corner of the barn, just like the farmers visible now.

It was quite laborious work, having to handle and trim the rough grass with bare hands, but it was also subtly satisfying and rewarding when neatly trimmed piles were stacked up.

Back then I really hated doing it, but looking back now, it seems like it was quite fun?

‘Besides, when doing such simple tasks, there would always be…’

Before her thought could finish, the mouth of one of the farmers sitting on the ground opened. At the same time, a familiar tune flowed out.

That’s right! When working, you must sing work songs!

“In the sky…”

Belladonna’s lips curved into a smile as she listened to the farmer’s voice coming through the window.

The song that started with the man’s lead soon became a chorus sung by everyone, ringing out loudly.

“…we pray… for a bountiful year…”

“We pray… for a bountiful year…”

Belladonna carefully raised the corners of her mouth as she listened to their lyrics.

The lyrics were similar to the work songs she used to enjoy singing, but the rhythm and pitch were completely different.
Sillenia and Astanya were quite close, so it seemed the lyrics were similar but had undergone some variation in how they were sung.

‘They say the work songs of the Elinerus Empire vary greatly in their variations from city to city…’

Belladonna slightly moved her body, swaying slowly left and right.
Her body moved involuntarily to the tune she was hearing after a long time.

“Wow, the work song sounds nice.”

Cindy also moved her body along with a small smile, as if she had heard the song somewhere before.

“Beautiful… migratory bird…”

“The hope resting on your… great wings…”

Yes, these were the lyrics.

Belladonna savored the lyrics, somehow immersed in memories.

The familiar and nostalgic song seemed to improve her deeply sunken mood a little.
They sat quietly in the slowly passing carriage for a long time, listening to the farmers’ work song.

“Hmm…? Where are we? Is Si-Sillenia’s downtown usually this busy?”

Cindy, who had been walking ahead, turned to look at Belladonna with a troubled expression.

Y-yeah…?

Belladonna blinked her eyes as she looked at the somehow familiar street. It wasn’t just her imagination.
It seemed they had been going around in circles, passing the same place several times already.

“That’s strange? Didn’t we come down this street earlier too?”

I think so too!

“I’m sure we turned right here before… Hmm, shall we try going left this time?”

As Belladonna nodded, Cindy took a step and turned left.

This should be the right way, right? Just as Belladonna, who had been diligently following her, turned her head to look back at the road for a moment, a cart loaded with milk bottles slowly passed between her and Cindy.

“Excuse me, just passing through!”

Huh?

Belladonna, whose path was suddenly blocked, stared wide-eyed at the back of Cindy’s head as she walked away without looking back.
W-wait a minute…!

“We’ll be passing through too! Be careful not to get your clothes wet, the water might spill over!”

To make matters worse, as soon as the cart loaded with milk bottles passed, men carrying heavy water buckets on both sides once again blocked her path.
Belladonna stomped her feet in place as she looked at the alley where the swift-footed Cindy had disappeared.

Why is she walking so fast! I’m really going to lose her at this rate…!

She felt the urge to shout and call out to her right away, but it was frustrating that she couldn’t.

Hurry, hurry…!

Finally, as the line of men all crossed the street and disappeared, Belladonna quickly moved her feet and turned left.

“…”

Um…

Although she had hurriedly chased after, Cindy was nowhere to be seen.

Belladonna blinked her eyes with a perplexed expression as she looked around the alley where Cindy had vanished.

Cindy, you’re surprisingly quick on your feet…?