Although it was the morning of the start of the holiday, I couldn’t spend it leisurely. Since it takes about six hours to get to Bacorta, Enrico notified me that he would take the train departing at 11 o’clock.

As it takes some time to get from the current house to Desiro Central Station, Emilia had to leave home early.

When Emilia came out to the living room with her travel bag, Zabeta, who was already out, approached quickly.

“Let me take that, young lady.”

“It’s fine.”

“You’re making this difficult for me.”

At Zabeta’s firm voice, Emilia handed over the bag with an awkward expression.

“You can go straight to the carriage. I’ve been informed about the train compartment separately.”

“Alright.”

Since they were going to be away for the entire holiday period, Enrico included Zabeta and his assistant Fabio in the group. It was fortunate that they weren’t taking a large entourage, but on the other hand, she wondered if it was enough to go with just those few people.

‘Well, I’m sure they know what they’re doing.’

Emilia got into the carriage and opened the window, savoring the scent of spring breeze carried by the wind. It felt like just yesterday when it was too cold to open the windows, but now the breeze was pleasantly gentle.

After driving through the streets, the carriage soon arrived in front of the station, and Emilia hurried towards the platform with Zabeta. When Zabeta showed the ticket to the station attendant, he wordlessly guided them towards the end of the train.

They stepped onto the train. The interior that greeted her eyes was so different from the dark train she had ridden alone as a child, determined to go to the art academy. Although it was clearly the same train, it felt like entering a different world, so drastically changed. Emilia inwardly marveled at the luxurious leather-wrapped walls and splendid lighting.

“Young lady, we’re supposed to go further inside.”

Passing through what looked like a bar area, they reached the innermost part where a door was visible. When Zabeta knocked, Fabio opened the door and came out.

“Welcome. May I take your luggage? Zabeta, you’ll be staying with me in this compartment.”

“What? Weren’t you supposed to be with me?”

As Emilia asked in surprise, Fabio pointed to the brown door he had just come out of with a gentle smile.

“Of course, you should rest in a different compartment from us. Miss Emilia, you can enter here.”

“Ah…”

“Young lady, please call us if you need anything.”

“…Alright.”

Yes, it would be better for Zabeta to go to another compartment and rest comfortably. Emilia lowered the corners of her eyebrows as she grasped the handle. Why hadn’t she thought that she would have to be alone with Enrico? Even if she had known in advance, she probably couldn’t have changed his stubborn mind, but she could have at least come up with some other plan. She sighed.

“Miss Emilia?”

“Ah.”

“Shall I open it for you?”

“…I’ll do it. Go ahead and rest.”

She thought they had already entered the compartment, but Zabeta and Fabio were waiting for Emilia to go in. Realizing she couldn’t keep stalling, Emilia slightly pressed her lips and opened the door.

“I thought you’d come in after we arrived at our destination, but you opened it quite quickly.”

Enrico was sitting on the brown sofa in the center. Emilia glanced at his profile as he read a newspaper, then surveyed the interior of the VIP compartment. As expected from the impressive entrance, the last compartment seemed like a whole room had been placed there. Seeing another door beyond Enrico, she guessed there was probably a bedroom there.

“Come and sit down. You look like the ceiling might collapse on you.”

He certainly has a talent for making even the same words sound unpleasant. Emilia barely swallowed a sigh as she sat down across from him.

The sound of the train whistle could be heard faintly. Someone’s shouts from outside the train were audible, but the interior seemed to have decent soundproofing as it wasn’t greatly affected by the noise. If it was this comfortable, taking a train journey later might be a good idea.

‘Come to think of it, I had suggested we all ride together.’

She recalled the train she had taken with her father long ago to go to Desiro. Her mother had wanted to come along too, but due to poor health, only the two of them went on that journey, which was both pleasant and heartbreaking.

They had made a promise to go together, all three of them, next time as they embarked on that long journey, but in the end, it was only herself who rode the train again a few years later.

‘A trip. When my parents’ matter is all resolved, then… But can this even be resolved? They’ve passed away and can never come back to life, so after revealing the truth, what then…? Why am I naturally thinking about what comes after?’

When she was first consumed by anger, she had even thought it wouldn’t be so bad to risk her life to reveal the truth and then join her parents afterward. But while still crying out against the injustice, she had somehow grown attached to this life.

‘I don’t know. Even if we reveal that my parents’ deaths weren’t a simple accident, would that be enough? Is it right to continue living as a ballerina after erasing all traces of my parents?’

Emilia’s eyes, which had been staring at the window behind Enrico’s back, painfully contorted and fell to the floor.

The train whistle sounded again. The imminent departure signal came at increasingly shorter intervals.

“What were you thinking about?”

Enrico, who had been quietly observing her, blurted out.

“…Just thinking about my parents.”

A slightly hoarse voice came out. Enrico, who seemed like he might pry further, surprisingly said nothing more. He just stared at Emilia’s gloomy face with a strange gaze.

At last, the train could be felt moving. Emilia took a deep breath and raised her head to look out the window. Going back to her hometown after a long time must have brought on homesickness along with excitement.

‘Pull yourself together, focus on what’s right in front of you.’

She didn’t want to keep wearing a face etched with self-pity. After all, they were heading to Bacorta now in hopes of finding some help for the truth she was seeking, so there was no need to keep staring at the ground.

“Crying alone, laughing alone.”

“…I wasn’t crying.”

The smile was just her forcing the corners of her mouth up to try and lift her mood, but she didn’t bother to explain that much. Emilia awkwardly rubbed her cheek and glanced at him.

Enrico was staring at her openly, as if looking at something curious. The sunlight streaming through the window spread behind his back.

“What’s famous in Bacorta?”

“I’m not sure.”

“You don’t know?”

“I only lived there when I was young, so I don’t really know. Oh, there was a sea. When I was little, I often went to the sea with my parents.”

“What did you do there?”

“We just walked around, I think. Sometimes we’d dip our calves in the water.”

“How boring.”

“There probably won’t be much to see. I’m not sure if they’ve built a theater by now.”

Emilia spoke with a gentle smile on her face. Enrico didn’t add anything else to her noticeably softened atmosphere. Feeling the increased speed of the train, both of them turned their gaze to the windows behind each other’s backs. It was a perfect spring day.

As they neared Bacorta, an orange sunset was draping over the distant blue sky. If it had been winter, they would have been driving under a darkened sky, but now they got to see a perfect view just before disembarking.

Emilia stood on the balcony of the VIP compartment, savoring the incoming breeze. Enrico, who saw her from inside as she wore a wide-brimmed hat and pressed it down with her hand as if to calm her windblown hair, approached.

There was enough space for two people to stand, so it wasn’t cramped even with Enrico there. But still, being close was awkward, and the smile that had been on her lips stiffened slightly.

“It really is a wasteland.”

“…This is just on the way there. It’s not quite Bacorta yet.”

Enrico swept back his hair and curved the corner of his mouth.

“Do you remember how far it is from the station to the mansion?”

“I think it took about 30 minutes by carriage.”

Emilia thought about the Bacorta mansion, wondering if it would be overgrown with ivy by now. Giorgio, who wasn’t the type to manage the place, had long since left, and it seemed unlikely there would be any servants remaining to maintain the interior of a mansion without an owner.

He said he bought a townhouse in Desiro as soon as he arrived, so it seemed he had no intention of returning to Bacorta.

“I should have checked in advance. Whether anyone was at the mansion. If no one was there, I could have hired cleaners beforehand…”

The mansion left empty for so long was likely to be in a serious state, and Emilia worried that Zabeta might be suffering unnecessarily by coming along. As Emilia’s brow furrowed slightly, Enrico’s hand approached. He casually brushed her forehead with his finger and muttered indifferently.

“I hired them.”

“What? You did, Your Grace?”

“It’s where I’ll be staying, so of course I had to prepare in advance.”

“…What? Weren’t you going to stay at a hotel?”

“I came in the first place because I didn’t trust you not to run away, so what would be the point of staying somewhere else?”

“If you put it that way, we stay separately in the capital too, so how do you trust that?”

Emilia asked as if dumbfounded. Enrico leaned his waist against the railing, gripping it with both arms, and met her gaze.

“That’s true. When we return to the capital, I should consider bringing you to the duke’s residence.”