We Lost Our Engagement

April stared at the man standing in front of her.

Her emotions were chaotic……… She just nodded slowly, feeling miserable and unable to ask any questions for the life of her.

At the same time, the sound of cello playing could be heard from the hall. It was a warm tune to comfort those who had finished greeting the dead.

April closed her eyes for a moment and listened to the sound. She wondered how many people have given their hearts to that song by now. Embrace the ardent emotions that were forever unreachable. ……… 

Lochlan soon passed by her. He was about to leave alone again.

“…… Prince Lochlan.”

Even at April’s cautious call, he did not stop walking.

****

When she returned from the memorial service, April’s maid softly informed her, “Lady Charlotte fell asleep while waiting.”

April changed into a white nightgown and quickly climbed into bed, flapping her cold feet.

As she sank into the thick blanket, the warmth of Charlotte’s sleeping body quickly warmed her frozen body.

“Hmmm…”

Charlotte yawned and slowly lifted her heavy eyelids as she woke up to the presence of someone.

“…sister?”

“I’m sorry, I woke you up.”

“No.”

Charlotte was trying to force open her eyes, which were constantly trying to close.

“Don’t rub your eyes.”

April grabbed the child’s hand and spoke sternly, and Charlotte pursed her lips softly.

“I’ve been waiting to talk to you, sister.”

“We can do it tomorrow….”

April immediately sensed the awkwardness of her words. Speaking of which, she had been spending a lot less time with Charlotte lately.

It was partly because of her mother’s behavior, but it was actually more about April’s personal problems.

She couldn’t pay attention to Charlotte because she was paying attention to Lochlan’s problem.

“…I’m sorry to keep you waiting.”

When April changed her attitude, Charlotte finally smiled.

“Yes, I’m glad you said that, sister. You know, actually……”

“What did the second son of the Duke of Allen say to you again?”

Even though they had been estranged lately, April was always on the lookout for Charlotte’s movements.

The Duke of Allen’s young son was an eleven year old like Charlotte, and was frustrated not be able to tease her when he occasionally ran into Charlotte.

“Yeah, there’s that.”

Charlotte puffed out both cheeks.

“Mother took me to the Duke of Allen’s party yesterday.”

“Yes?”

“The young Master was polite enough to give me one hand while he took me to the nursery.”

“That’s quite an accomplishment for a troublemaker like the young Master.”

April recalled a few days ago when he pinched Charlotte’s arm for no reason in the hallway.

Charlotte held back the first few times. However, when he didn’t stop his mischief no matter how much time passed, Charlotte hit him firmly with her chestnut fist in the middle of the hallway.

This made Charlotte’s mother very angry, “How dare you be so rude to the young Master!” And Charlotte was even banned from eating snacks for a while.

But it was really wrong. Charlotte didn’t pick a fight in the first place.

Anyway, for that reason, Charlotte and April were fed up with the second son of the Duke of Allen.

“Yes, but when we got to the children’s room, he was mean again.”

The Young Master didn’t seem to disappoint their expectations this time either.

“There was a boy I had never met before in the children’s room, so I just greeted him and made conversation, but the young Master suddenly got angry.”

“He got angry? In what way?

“I don’t even want to say. He’s hopeless.”

Charlotte shook her head lightly, imitating a noblewoman at a tea party. April giggled at how cute she looked.

“Well, he said he brought me there, so it’s rude to play with other children. But I’ve never even heard of such courtesy.”

 “So, did you fight again this time?”

“I’m not a child anymore, I don’t get involved in such childish quarrels.”

Charlotte chuckled and proudly talked about her behavior.

“I went back to the adults’ place, proudly on my own. Then he said ‘I brought you there, but you don’t play with me anymore!’”

April could easily imagine a terribly mean boy going after Charlotte with a bright red face.

“I don’t think the young Master would be still.”

 “Yes, he was childish.”

“Childish?

“He would yell at the other children, ‘You’re not going to play with the illegitimate child, are you?”

“What?!”

April quickly got up from her seat with an angry face.

It was as if she was about to rush to the Duke’s house, and grabbed the young Master by the chest immediately.

The truth was, April was not one to get angry easily.

However, every once in a while, there were times when she felt blindingly indignant, but that was when someone dared to say something unfair and bad against Charlotte.

Thanks to that, the servants didn’t dare to say anything carelessly about Charlotte.

“No, no… …Sister, please calm down!”

April lay down again as the startled Charlotte quickly grabbed her arm, but her face was still full of anger.

Charlotte decided to tell her the conclusion of the case as soon as possible.

“Fortunately, the Duchess of Allen came to look around the nursery and witnessed the scene.”

After that, the situation was quickly sorted out.

The Duchess of Allen, now a lady-in-waiting to the Grand Queen and once a knight, was a person who respected justice.

The Duchess scolded her son severely, and as a result, the young Master had to apologize politely to Charlotte.

“That’s a relief … .but how do you feel?”

Still, April was worried about Charlotte.

Countess Campbell was now so well integrated into the social scene that she received invitations to tea parties. But still there were those who were unimpressed about the Countess’s background and Charlotte’s birth.

Every time, April worried that the little one would get hurt.

She gently stroked Charlotte’s pretty pink hair with affection.

“I’m fine. Sister.”

Charlotte replied with a smile.

“I’m not afraid of those words at all.”

“That’s good but…”

Still, some part of her heart ached, that was why she came to April like this to wait for her.

 “I just wanted to tell you that I broke the Young Master’s nose. Please praise me, sister.”

April hugged and patted the child slowly on her small back.

“Good job, my little sister.”

“I’d rather hear about sister’s problem now.” 

“……what?”

Charlotte stuck her head out and April stared at her. There was so much worry on her little face.

Finally April realized why Charlotte had come to the bedroom and waited for her.

Instead of telling her what she had been through, she wanted to understand April’s heart.

“I…”

April hesitated.

She couldn’t tell Charlotte everything had been going on. But she couldn’t tell her made up stories either. Because they promised to always be true in their conversation.

“I… still love Prince Lochlan.”

After much deliberation, April spoke the only thought that still remained unchanged.

“I really like him a lot.”

“You’ll be okay, right, sister?”

 “Yes, it can’t be helped.”

April had been in love with him for a very long time. It would be difficult for a heart that has been built up for so long to turn the other way in an instant.

“But I don’t really know what to do with these feelings. It’s still the most important feeling for me, and I can’t do anything about it…….”

April read a book sometime ago that said time would heal everything, but April disagreed.

She loved her dead parents and grandparents as passionately as ever, and time hadn’t changed the way her heart had held strong inside her.

Perhaps it was the same for Lochlan.

“Hmm, you know what? I’ve been thinking about it.”

At that moment, Charlotte, who had been struggling with her lips, opened her eyes and exclaimed.

“Why don’t you just use it?”

“Use my heart…….”

“‘Of course you should. Just like the ink that fills the tube will eventually disappear as you use more and more of it.”

Charlotte went on to talk about other things that disappear or wear out with “use”.

“No matter how strong your heart is, it won’t hold up in the face of someone who uses it hard, and it will wear out and one day disappear completely….”

“Mm-hmm.”

The last part, however, was quickly hushed by April’s scowl.

She sounded sorry to talk about her heart disappearing in her brash voice.

“Thank you, Charlotte.”

“I think it’s okay to live with that heart if you want to but.. that would make it harder for you.….”

April was actually thinking that she should do the same.

To help Lochlan, April should probably forget about him completely.

“Either that or I hope your sister finds someone else. Someone much more handsome than the prince. I’ll find him for you.”

 “What is it?”

April giggled as she ruffled Charlotte’s hair.

It was nonsense.

First of all, April had never seen anyone more handsome than Prince Lochlan.

And even if such a person existed, how could he have any personal feelings for her?

“If you think it’s time to go to bed, or we will talk until morning.”

“I’m fine with that.”

“If you don’t sleep, you won’t grow taller.” 

“‘I don’t want that!”

Charlotte quickly lay down, afraid of not being able to grow taller.

“If the young Master and I have a wider height gap here, I’ll be at a disadvantage in the fight.”

“Hmmm, that’ll be complicated. Hahaha.”

April laughed and pulled the blanket over Charlotte, covering her up to her chin.

“Good night, Charlotte.”

She gently kissed her cheek and it tickled, and the child let out a small giggle.

****

The next afternoon, an old maid who had been working for Count Campbell for a long time came to April.

“Miss, a reporter has come for you.”

“A reporter…?”

April asked back slowly.

It was not uncommon for reporters to pay a little money to the servants in the nobles’ families to get information.

But Count Campbell’s family wouldn’t have anything that great.

“Yes. I’ve asked my young servants to hold him off.”

“I guess he asked you a bad question.”

“Yes, and so…”

The maid fiddled with her hat, unable to continue, so April nodded.

“I will see to it. Where is he?”

“He’s in the servants’ hall. Shall I bring him into the parlor?”

April shook her head, no reason to bring him upstairs, she didn’t want her parents to ask unnecessary questions.

April walked down the narrow stairs with her servant.

They walked through the kitchen, which was busy preparing lunch, and entered the servants’ hall with its long wooden table, where a young man in an old brown suit was being seized.

Once April had dismissed the other servants, the reporter and the maid remained in their place.

“That’s a lot of loyalty.”

April smiled triumphantly as the reporter glared at the servant. 

“She has been taking care of me since I was a kid. Can I see your business card?”

The reporter chuckled and pulled out a piece of crumpled paper.

 Looking at the business card with the familiar logo engraved on it, April intuitively remembered an article she had read the other day.

 [The tragic words of a cowardly prince.]

“Is that you? You’re the one who wrote the article about the prince without mentioning your name?”

 “Oh. Well, yes, I suppose so. Because I value my life, too. So.”

He pulled up a chair, sat down, and asked.

“Do you know why the dead prince went to Acreton, Young Lady?”

April’s eyes were wide open at the sudden question, and she kept looking at the reporter’s face.

He continued brazenly.

“Don’t you, young lady, hate it when the prince wears the stigma of being a coward? At the very least, he needs to give an explanation.”

Was the most active person that put that stigma to the prince qualified to say such a thing?

“Why are you investigating it?”

 “As a reporter, you ask what everyone wants to know. Everyone is interested in the royal family’s story.”

“….”

“I was curious as to why the once serene Queen didn’t show a single tear in the face of her husband’s death. There was talk that there might have been a serious feud between the couple, and now…”

He gave an insidious grin.

“The question is how many women Prince Dominic dragged into his bed when he came back from the war.”

“You….”

April gathered her hands under the table and held them as they began to tremble involuntarily.

“I understand that you are here on behalf of the extravagant.”

 “‘And yet I am the righteous one, am I not? At least I don’t write such vulgar articles.”

 “Anyway, I have nothing to say.”

“Are you sure? Are you really going to abandon the prince as a cowardly man like this?”

“If you’re really a reporter seeking justice….”

April stood up, leaving his card on the table.

“Why don’t you continue your investigation at the crime scene in Acreton instead of here?”

The reporter smiled lightly, despite April’s scowl.

“I was going to do it, but that place wasn’t moving either.”

“No movements?”

April stopped leaving and asked.

She thought of the story she had heard about Lochlan last night.

[I’m sure something more will come out of Acreton. Report back to me as soon as you find it.]

“The Marquis of Grey, the lord of the estate, has the authority to investigate the scene, but if he doesn’t seem to be paying attention to the other side, only the families of the missing persons.”

The reporter picked up his bag.

“He lost his son too, but why isn’t he investigating it? Anyway…… if Young Lady comes up with anything, please let me know.”

He bowed appropriately, then disappeared down the hall. 

April looked at the reporter’s business card on the table for a long time.