Being in such a cramped space made me feel unnecessarily tense. After a while, the Duke murmured,

“Does the window open?”

He reached for the window, but it creaked and resisted opening.

“Let me try!”

I reached for the window on my side. Unlike the Duke’s carriages, this window was incredibly opaque and hard to open.

The Duke reached out to help me. At that moment, the carriage jolted, and his hand touched mine.

‘!’

He quickly withdrew his hand.

Was it because his hand was so large? For a moment, my heart fluttered.

“I apologize, Your Grace.”

“Why won’t this open?”

Slightly annoyed, the Duke tried opening the window again. Suddenly, the window shattered with a loud crash.

The carriage stopped.

The coachman, coming to see the window, was furious.

“What! How can you break the window like this! It’s designed to prevent people from looking in from the outside. My business for today is ruined!”

“Intentionally, you say?”

The Duke asked.

“Ah, yes. This type of window is in vogue nowadays. They call it ‘Carriage Privacy’! It’s very popular among young people, so I paid a hefty sum to have it installed! Now it seems like I won’t even break even!”

‘Carriage Privacy?’

Confused by my expression, the coachman explained.

“Are you foreigners? I thought you hired my carriage because you wanted to be alone together.”

“!”

I looked at the Duke. He was looking at me too. Our eyes met, and we both quickly looked away.

‘Alone together in such a carriage.’

Embarrassment flushed my cheeks. I was the one who hailed this carriage.

‘What if the Duke misunderstands?’

“I, I didn’t know. Honestly!”

“I didn’t either. I’ll pay double for the damage.”

After receiving the money from the Duke, the coachman started driving again with a smile.

The wind came through the broken window but it wasn’t refreshing at all.

“Duke, I’ve been meaning to ask, is the North treating you well?”

The Duke suddenly asked loudly.

“Yes! It’s wonderful!”

I replied loudly too, and then silence followed again.

Trying to avoid the awkwardness, my gaze wandered until it landed on a corner of the carriage.

Before the wind came in, I hadn’t noticed, but there was tissue paper there, along with some oil. The wind coming in through the narrow window was violently shaking the tissue.

‘Could it be?’

But the Duke’s gaze was also fixed on that tissue. Our eyes met again.

Without a word, we both looked out the window.

We got off the carriage after more than an hour. I felt inexplicably tired. The Duke seemed the same.

The shop Hans had mentioned was a large tavern located deep in the alley of fortune-tellers.

Upon entering, everyone’s gaze turned towards us.

I approached the bartender standing by an old wooden table.

“Can I get an eyeball here?”

“What? This isn’t that kind of place.”

“I was referred by Cupid.”

The bartender then looked behind me at the Duke, who was emitting an overwhelming aura of intimidation. I could feel a chill on my back standing in front of him.

“Ah, you must be in a hurry. Please follow me.”

He led us to the back of the bar. After passing through a long, dark corridor, we arrived at a small room.

An old man in tattered clothes, with white hair and his eyes covered by white cloth, sat there.

“I had an unusual dream this morning… I knew someone extraordinary would come.”

“We’re here for the best quality seer stone available in the Empire.”

I said, and the old man responded,

“There’s no such thing as the ‘best’ seer stone. It becomes the best when it matches the energy of its user. Is it for you, miss?”

“Yes.”

“Then let’s examine your energy.”
The old man removed the white cloth covering his eyes and looked up at me. His pupils were naturally white. But after a moment, he lowered his head and began to tremble.

“Are you alright? What’s wrong?” I asked, worried.

I reached out slightly towards the old man, but he recoiled, avoiding my touch. Then, he spoke politely.

“It’s alright, it’s just that living for so long, I get to meet someone like you.”

Someone like me.

What had this old man seen in me?

The Duke spoke up.

“Did you see something in this young lady?”

I looked at the Duke.

Was it something that could be shared in the presence of the Duke of Belpast?

As I tensed up, the old man answered.

“A great force within you has prevented three deaths. I can’t see everything, but I see this much: someone tried to kill you but failed, and as a result, you lost some of your memory.”

“!”

“Don’t worry, it will return in time.”

“Who is the owner here?” the Duke asked, replacing my frozen state.

The old man stood up hurriedly, as if cutting off our conversation.

“Just an ordinary fortune-teller. I was quite successful once, but every human has their rise and fall.”

The old man then went behind a curtain at the back of the room to fetch something.

Left alone in the small room, the Duke and I looked at each other.

“People who cannot see with their eyes can see things others cannot,” the Duke observed quietly.