Saved Him, Now I'm Obsessed - Chapter 31

“Claire!”

As I was pondering, fortunately Ileana appeared from the banquet hall. She was looking for me with a worried expression.

It seemed she had been searching for me, concerned when I didn’t return after saying I’d look around the banquet hall for a moment.

“Ileana!”

This was extremely fortunate for me. At least I wouldn’t have to worry about walking back to the McCain mansion.

Ileana, upon finding me, asked in an agitated voice:

“What on earth happened to make you look like that? Did a monster appear in the garden?”

“Of course not. Nothing special happened, but…”

“How can you end up like that if nothing happened?”

“Just… I fell and landed on my bottom while walking through the dark garden.”

“How exactly did you roll to… end up looking like that?”

Even I thought it was an implausible story. It’s not like there was a slope in the garden, yet my appearance was a mess as if I had tumbled down a hill.

But I didn’t know how to explain. All I could do was give an awkward smile to Ileana as she tried to probe for details.

“Never mind. We’ll talk about it in detail when we get to the mansion. If others notice, who knows what rumors might start.”

She said this while draping the shawl she was holding around me. Ileana took me back to the mansion, avoiding people’s gazes.

Ileana wanted to ask me exactly what had happened in the garden.

But I had been busy preparing for the banquet since dawn, was exhausted from being around so many people, and had also experienced emotional drain from meeting Ian. My energy was depleted, and I started nodding off in the carriage on the way back to the mansion.

Unable to interrogate me as I could barely keep my eyes open, Ileana sighed and sent me to my bedroom, saying rest was the priority for now.

I actually had to sleep like I was unconscious until late the next day.

My already weak body seemed to have taken quite a hit, both mentally and physically. Even though I woke up in the late afternoon, which could hardly be called morning, my eyes felt heavy and my whole body ached.

“Oh my, I’m dying. Attending a banquet is no easy task. I thought it was simple when it was someone else’s affair…”

As I was grumbling, cocooned in my blanket, Ileana appeared. She was looking at me with a face full of concern.

Facing her extremely angry-looking face made me feel like I was being scolded. No, not just feeling like it, but actually being scolded?

I had heard that the dress I wore to the banquet hall was specially tailored for the title bestowal ceremony and was incredibly expensive. She seemed furious that I had ruined it.

I rolled my eyes and got up from the bed. As Ileana sat down at a nearby table with a sigh, I also sat across from her and apologized.

“I’m sorry. The dress was in terrible condition, wasn’t it? I didn’t mean to ruin it… Is it damaged beyond repair?”

In response to my apology, Ileana let out an even deeper sigh than before and said:

“The dress… it’s fine. We couldn’t wear the dress from the bestowal ceremony again anyway.”

I knew how much effort and expense had gone into that dress from what I’d heard from the maids.

When I first learned the price, I nearly had a heart attack, it was such an enormous amount. To think such an expensive dress could only be worn for one day. Though I’m not one to talk, having ruined it.

Anyway, if it wasn’t about the dress, I couldn’t understand why Ileana was so angry, so I just rolled my eyes.

“Then why…”

“Why did you drag the Crown Prince away?”

“Ah…”

I had completely forgotten while sleeping. I had pulled Ian into the garden where many people could see, so dozens must have witnessed it. No, given the high population density of the banquet hall, it might have been hundreds who saw that scene.

It seemed Ileana hadn’t known at the banquet yesterday, but had heard today that I had dragged Ian away.

“Well…”

I couldn’t say, ‘I panicked when I saw Ian’s blue eyes turn red!’ so I hesitated and couldn’t speak.

“Young lady, please just be honest with me. That way I can at least try to manage the situation. If you have feelings for Crown Prince Ian…”

“No!”

My sudden shout made my voice come out a bit metallic. But after being misunderstood about my relationship with Ian when I was Jane yesterday, it was troublesome to be misunderstood about my relationship with Ian as Claire now.

Before, I had grumbled that I was blocking Ian’s marriage prospects, but this time if Ian said the same to me, I’d have nothing to say. At this rate, I might really end up blocking Ian’s marriage prospects.

“Nosebleed!”

“Nosebleed?”

My brain must have sensed the crisis and urgently came up with an excuse.

“I was looking around the banquet hall when I saw Crown Prince Ian. But the moment our eyes met, blood started gushing from his nose. I was worried he might be embarrassed if left like that, so I urgently took him somewhere else to help him wipe the nosebleed.”

Even with my explanation, Ileana’s stern expression didn’t soften. Was a nosebleed too common an excuse? But I couldn’t think of any other plausible explanation on the spot. I added more to my explanation to Ileana.

“He’s the Crown Prince, you know. If he suddenly had a nosebleed in front of all those people, it would be a huge embarrassment. I guess I have a personality that doesn’t think things through when I see someone in danger or pitiful. My thoughts become short-sighted and my actions quick… That’s why I jumped in front of that wild horse with this frail body, trying to save Prince Daniel when he was about to be trampled.”

“Haah…”

Ileana let out a deep sigh, but she seemed to understand my explanation to some extent.

“I’m sorry. But this time it wasn’t dangerous for me, I just wanted to help the Crown Prince regain his composure away from people’s eyes…”

“Then why did your clothes end up in such a mess?”

“I didn’t realize it, but I think I might be directionally challenged.”

As much as I didn’t want to admit it, I had no choice but to acknowledge that I was directionally challenged. Though I still thought it was ‘limited to the imperial palace’…

“Afterwards, I tried to return to the banquet hall, but I couldn’t remember which room I had come from. It was already dark after sunset, so the garden was dimly lit… As I wandered around the garden, I fell down and got scratched by tree branches… It’s not a big wound, but it does sting.”

Indeed, there were marks on my arms from the tree branches. I pointed to the thinly scabbed wound on my forearm as I spoke.

“Walking around the garden in the dark seems more dangerous than I thought. Anyway, I’m sorry. You must have been worried because of me yesterday, Ileana…”

“No, it’s all my fault. I should have made sure Claire stayed by my side no matter what. As for helping the Crown Prince like that… I can’t say it was the right thing to do, but it’s not something to be scolded for either. Understood.”

“More importantly, what do you mean by ‘manage’? What are you trying to manage?”

“Why did you have to take His Highness to the dark garden of all places…”

At her words, I could only stare with wide eyes, not knowing how to respond. I had only gone to the garden looking for a place without people, was that a problem?

“You don’t seem to know, but usually when a man and woman go to the garden alone, it’s for a secret rendezvous. Normally, people go quietly and discreetly, though.”

She explained what the garden as a location meant among nobles after sunset, and sometimes even in broad daylight.

The conclusion was that it’s a place for secret meetings away from others’ eyes. But I had suddenly taken the Crown Prince’s hand in front of all those people and disappeared into such a place… I understood why it had caused such a shock in high society.

Surprised by Ileana’s explanation, I waved my hands frantically as I spoke:

“This can’t be… I was just looking for a quiet place to talk. Nothing like that happened at all.”

Ileana nodded at my explanation. Knowing about my memory loss and Claire’s usually timid personality, she seemed to believe me. The problem was…

“I understand your circumstances, but other people are probably letting their imaginations run wild at an unbelievable speed right now.”

Good heavens. I recalled the remarkable imagination of the noble ladies I had seen at yesterday’s banquet, especially Lady Monica.

“It would be fortunate if it ended with just imagination, but as it spreads from mouth to mouth, at some point it might become accepted as fact.”

I felt the blood drain from my face. When I saw Ian’s eye color change and urgently pulled him away, I hadn’t thought at all that something like this would happen.

“What should we do?”

“I’ll try my best to explain through people, but not everyone will believe what I say. We’ll have to wait for it to die down over time.”

“Oh my…”

It was terrible to think that this incident of taking Ian to the garden at the banquet would be talked about for a long time, especially when there were already people saying that Claire had been in unrequited love with Prince Daniel for a long time and deliberately caused accidents.

There would probably be people saying that I seduced Ian and enjoyed a secret rendezvous.

What a mess this is. I’m about to become known as a legendary flirt chasing after two brothers.