Hakushaku to Yousei - Volume 21 - Chapter 8

Chapter 8 ♦ The white wings that hover the wastelands

Lydia was so afraid that she shut her eyes and cried out when she was suddenly embraced.
“Edgar......”
Trembling with fear, she opened her eyes, and saw a pair of ash mauve eyes staring at her and smiling painfully.
“Lydia, luckily I’ve caught up.”
He hurriedly untied the ropes around Lydia’s hands and feet, then embraced her tightly again.
Lydia’s also used her arms to wrap around and embrace him tightly, pressing her face against his shoulders.
“Why did you have to act so recklessly.”
“Honestly, jumping down from the balcony would have been better...... I clearly said that I would come over immediately, in the end I made you wait for so long.”
Despite his tone sounding like he was joking, his arms were sincerely longing for Lydia. He wrapped around Lydia’s back, tightly holding her waist and embracing her whole body, even burying his face into her beautiful hair.
Her ears felt whispers of incessant apologizing.
Edgar was by her side; perhaps it was because she actually sensed his existence that her mood relaxed, and so her tears immediately fell.
He stroked Lydia’s hair to comfort her, who was sobbing. Because Edgar had probably quietly experienced the possibility of not being able to see her again, his fingers trembled slightly.

“Edgar, I want to tell you quickly...... I want to stay by your side, please let me stay by your side forever, although I can’t fulfill all your wishes......”
Lydia was crying as she desperately spoke heartfelt words.
He used both of his hands to hold Lydia’s face and looked at her with a serious expression, which was never seen before.
"My wish is to spend the future with you.”
“I believed this, but I didn’t her want to get close to you. As a result, it was as if I slowly grew more into a horrid girl and seemed to be hated by you, so I couldn’t help but begin to let my emotions affect my decisions.”
“Regardless of what sort of man approaches you, I wouldn’t stand it either. Would you hate me as a result?”
Lydia quickly shook her head.
“If you’re jealous, I would have been quite happy instead.”
After he said that, he kissed Lydia tenderly.
“Thank you for not abandoning me.”
After dropping a kiss again, he smiled in relief. Lydia finally stopped trembling as well, and wiped her tears with her palms.
“That said, Kathleen is actually associated with the Prince’s organization...... I didn’t expect that you would be faced with such a thing, it honestly is humiliating.”
Edgar gently got up in the basket, then pulled Lydia up. The scenery outside immediately came into view.
Looking down, there was an endless plain before them, the lines which looked a lot like roads crossed over, and the roofs of distant homes seemed to resemble peas.
The height of the hot air balloon scared Lydia to the point that her legs felt weak. Edgar held her with one arm while telling her to hold the rope connecting the hot air balloon to the basket tightly.
He said that because the sudden strong gust of wind might make the hot air balloon sway.
“Come to think of it, compared to a naive young lady thinking of a way, Kathleen’s approach was too clever. But I was careless and even sympathized with her, not realizing that you were hurt. This was probably expected by them as well.”
Edgar frowned painfully.
“I didn’t realize that Sylvanford was my weakness.”
“That isn’t a weakness, it’s something that supported you until now, so... only then did I realize that I had to have a proper talk with you, no matter how you feel or how I feel, we should have a sincere discussion, then search for the answer.”
“Lydia, there is only one answer, no matter what happens, we can’t leave each other.”
Although he honestly wished to regain Sylvainford, his affection for Lydia hadn’t changed consequently, and their feelings were the same regardless of the time. 
“......Yes, I knew you would say so, therefore I also want to value your nostalgic feelings of your homeland.”
“Thank you.”
He said, then embraced Lydia from behind, holding her hands that were grabbing onto the ropes tightly.
“Are you cold? Your hands are quite cold.”
“Yes, but if it’s like this, then it’s very warm.”
Lydia was different than usual, and spoke to him frankly.
“Edgar, thank you for coming to rescue me.”
Edgar gently embraced Lydia and kissed her on the ear.
“Ahh, even though this is a happy sightseeing trip, I can’t enjoy it properly. Lydia, at this rate, we need to find a way to land.”
The hot air balloon seemed to have flown even higher, and on top of that, it was blown to a distant place by the wind, as the roofs of the houses could no longer be seen.
Although Lydia felt that she was saved only because Edgar came to her side, but she began to feel afraid now.
What would happen if there's no way to land?
“Ye--yes…… what should be do?”
“At least this hot air balloon is for people to ride, so I think there should be a way to go down.”
However, Lydia simply couldn’t imagine the way to control the hot air balloon.
Edgar carefully observed the part above which connected to the balloon, and seemed to have taken note of a rope hanging down from the top.
“What do you think this would be?”
“I don't know.”
“Do you want to pull it and see?”
“What if something really bad happens?”
“Something bad?”
“......Such as the basket falling down and so on.”
“It looks like it isn’t designed like that.”
Edgar said as he pulled the rope. Lydia didn’t even have the time to mentally prepare herself.
“Whoa!”
Lydia immediately screamed and gripped the edge of the basket.
But nothing happened.
“Ah.”
Edgar began to speak.
“I get it, the gas can be released like this. Look, the gas valve on top is open.”
He continued to pull the rope. By clinging onto the edge of the basket and looking down, it could be seen that the scenery on the ground had become slightly bigger than it was a moment ago.
“Then we can land like this?”
Lydia felt a glimmer of hope, but Edgar revealed a rather pained expression. Although he cautiously released the gas in the balloon bit by bit, he finally stopped and solemnly looked towards the sky and ground.
“What’s wrong?”
“Well... the wind has become very strong, and if we go down like this, the hot air balloon might collide with the ground completely, at the very least, we need to wait until the wind is calmer to land slowly.”
Now that he mentioned it, he was absolutely right.
It was the same principle as if you were to jump from a moving train, you will be seriously injured.
However, the hot air balloon was being blown further and further, and even if they went around the overgrown fields of Alder, the flat land might not extend indefinitely regardless of how vast it was. If there were buildings, tall trees or rocky areas, then it would be more dangerous; if they were blown towards the sea, then it would be completely hopeless.
Moreover, sunset was already approaching, as the sky began to turn red.
If the ground and the sky were covered in darkness, then it would be truly impossible to land safely.
“Damn, there isn’t any time to wait for the wind to stop.”
Edgar angrily mumbled to himself. At this time, Lydia saw countless dot-shaped bodies gathering in the northern sky.
“What is that?”
It looked as if it were approaching here.
“Is it a bird?”
“It’s swans!”
As the two looked around, the dot-shaped bodies became increasingly clear, and white wings appeared before their eyes. Countless swans flapped their wings loudly and surrounded the hot air balloon.
They circled around for a while, then dozens of swans took the ropes hanging from the hot-air balloon and began to pull.
“It’s the swan maidens, the swans have come to help us!”
The swans were flying around, as if to protect the hot air balloon.
“It’s you who saved the swans.”
“But where do they want to go?”
They were pulling the hot air balloon and flying against the wind.
The huge white balloon and swans playfully flew over the sky, which was gradually turning red from the setting sun. This sight would have surely been incredible to see from the ground.
The swans were flying in the sky. The only thing that could be heard was the sound of flapping wings, and Lydia felt as if they themselves had become like swans.
“Could it be that you’re going to bring us to where Swan is?”
“Swan isn’t here?”
“Yes, because she isn’t a swan maiden, she disappeared afterwards because she was so shocked.”
Just as the two of them were discussing, Edgar gazed at something intently.
“Lydia, that's...”
Lydia looked in the direction where he was pointing.
The wilderness, which was covered by the withered weeds of winter, extended toward the horizon, and only the lone trees as well as the shadow-like plants that emerged everywhere from the ground could be seen. Apart from that, there was nothing else.
“It’s that.”
She stared carefully under Edgar’s urging.
Lydia held her breath in surprise.
She saw a huge painting looming in the wilderness.
The light shade of the grass, or the ground’s undulations formed faint lines, becoming a picture.
It was quite difficult to verify the colour from the ground, but if one looked down from a high altitude, there would be a way to identify that it was a beautiful ship covering the vast ground.
“......That’s a ship.”
She tried to lean out, but she was pulled back tightly by Edgar.
“It's dangerous.”
“I'm sorry, but... could that be the Earl family’s ship?”
“Yes, it must be.”
When Edgar replied, he seemed to be very excited.
“At first, it was probably an excavated white limestone layer, and then it was taken to be a line drawing, right? But because a long time had passed, the sandy soil accumulated on top, and the grass had grown...... however, the limestone formation is shallower than other areas, so not much grass had grown on the lines, so the colour will appear in different shades.”
So that was the case. Lydia pondered as the appearance of a ship which was previously made up of white lines and emerged in the wilderness came into her head.
The ship’s bow, which was depicted with a graceful arch, along with the overlapping fine sails seemed to be like a swan that would unfold its wings and soar at any time.
“This ship truly is enormous.”
The hot-air balloon slowly descended in the direction of the ship. The wind had been so strong up until now, but it ceased completely, making the surroundings extraordinarily quiet.
The weight of the swans, who stopped at the edge of the basket, made the basket descend slowly, and the hot-air balloon finally stopped on the grass quietly, it was like landing on the smooth surface of the water.
After they came down from the basket, the swans took off again, and the hot air balloon, whose weight became light, lightly floated up into the sky again. Lydia and Edgar stood on the drawing of the ship and followed this sight with their eyes. By their feet, there was a rock that was half-hidden in the earth.
The position of this rock was almost near the center of the mast, and was engraved with the Earl family’s emblem. 
“This is the rock that Raven found, and surely enough, the ship is here.”
Lydia and Edgar looked at each other and nodded, then she found a girl standing on the flat ground ahead of them.
“Swan!”
Lydia hurriedly ran towards her.
“Where have you been? I was really worried about you.”
She looked at Lydia and Edgar back and forth, and her appearance didn’t seem pitiful, but rather satisfied, completely unlike when she was about to disappear. 
“It was everyone who told me, when the swans were flying in the sky, they noticed the ship, then brought me here. After I touched the emblem, I remembered something very important.”
At that moment, Lydia immediately understood as well.
“Yes, you are… quite similar to the swans.”
“Could it be that…… you are the ship’s maiden?”
Edgar also seemed to have noticed.
“So that's why you were the only one who vaguely remembered the boat.”
Swan nodded.
“Then, as long as the painting is restored to its former appearance, your magic will recover.”
“This painting is very big, and is a very time-consuming task, but because there isn’t anything like the lakeside’s swan drawing that was buried completely, there should be a way.”
“There is still enough time before spring comes.”
“Yes. What will you do until then?”
“I want to rest a bit here.”
When she answered, her figure seemed a little faint.
“Earl, as well as Madam, thank you for finding me.”
After Swan revealed a smile, her presence disappeared, and the gust of wind suddenly blew towards them.
The reason why the hot air balloon was able to land here was probably because she did her best to make the wind stop with weak magic.
Edger grasped Lydia's hand and gazed at her with admiration once more.
“Thank you, my fairy.”
“I didn't do anything…… it was the help of the fairies.”
You truly are modest. Edgar spoke as he laughed.
“The reason why the fairies are willing to help is because you are an amazing fairy doctor. ”
You are my treasure. After he had said it, he embraced Lydia.
“Hey, Lydia, although my homeland is in my heart, but my future is with you in Ibrazel. It would be great if that was the case.”
Lydia also hoped so.
As long as they can finally reach Ibrazel, they will definitely be able to become the true Blue Knight Earl, and if Edgar can defeat the Prince, then Lydia’s fate as the Prophet fiancee's can be forgotten as well.
There was someone on horseback in the distance, galloping towards here.
It's Raven. He must have kept his eye on the hot air balloon and chased it here.
Edgar waved his hands.
Raven nimbly pulled another horse over and then quickly dismounted and knelt before Edgar.
“The two of you are unhurt, right?”
“Yes, it's all right, you did well.”
Raven lowered his head solemnly, then looked at Lydia again and said:
“I handed Mr. Nico over to Miss Lota, who caught up afterwards.”
“Thank you, Raven.”
“By the way, Lydia, Raven passed on your words to me.”
Edgar suddenly pulled Lydia over with an indecent attitude. Because he stared at her happily, Lydia had a bad feeling.
“My message?”
“Because you were very lonely by yourself, you wanted to spend the night with me? That’s great, I was thinking the same thing too.”
“What! Th--that sort of thing...”
“Didn't you say it? But I really did hear it from Raven.”
Edgar said deliberately.
Raven silently lowered his head, clearly feeling perplexed. Although it wasn’t too likely that this lie was something that he thought up of himself, it was probably because he was worried about the couple’s relationship recently that he used this kind of desperate measure to actually be able to think of something.
“......Uh, well... I've probably said it…..”
Recently, Lydia also felt that she made Raven and Kelly too worried, and as a result, Edgar lead her by the nose.
“Then it’s decided.”
Lydia could only blush as Edgar cheerfully helped her up the horse.

                                                                                                                                                ***

The next day, in Duke Masefield’s country house, the nobles amused themselves as if nothing had happened.
Kathleen’s lies were already known by everyone, but because the Duchess hated gossiping secretly, this matter couldn’t become a subject of a conversation in the Duchess’ reception room at all. Lydia merely felt that everyone was being gentle and kind to her.
Lord Grandy left early in the morning as if he was escaping, and because Kathleen’s foster father sent a messenger out, informing them that there were urgent matters, she, who left for Alder village, had to be brought back.
The messenger was likely an underling of the Prince’s organization. In fact, Kathleen took Lydia away and tried to kill her, but in the end, because the person involved did not speak up, the truth wasn’t exposed.
As long as Edgar is the Prince’s successor, he certainly wouldn’t make the present issue public. This was already expected by the people of the organization.
In short, everyone thought that the small disputes that occurred in the country house have been resolved, and in order to make use of the remaining time in a significant social gathering, everyone tried to enjoy activities of entertainment.
Edgar politely turned down the invitation to go out hunting, and stayed by Lydia’s side since the early morning.
“Hey, Lydia, the former Blue Knight Earl must have already known that his lineage wouldn’t last for a long time.”
The weather was very clear, as Edgar walked under the warm sunshine and spoke.
The tall plants that surrounded the two of them were walls formed by hedges that were neatly trimmed.
“Whether it’s the magic map that leads to the fairy kingdom or the hidden ship, it feels like one side is testing a person who hardly knows the facts whilst revealing the secrets. If it was passed onto future generations, then it wouldn’t have been necessary to hide it, otherwise, as long as the method is correctly passed down, it can also be solved. Yet now, one has to go through a lot of trouble to solve the riddle.”
“It’s also correct putting it that way.”
The person who instructed the making of the map ought to have been Earl Julius Ashenbert from three hundred years ago. At the time, there should have still been many people in the Earl’s family, because the last Countess passed away two hundred years later.
“It’s like with the Earl family sword, where many traps were set up because it wasn’t known who would hold it, so they carefully concealed it, thinking of ways to give it only to the rightful successor.”
A fork in the narrow passageway between the thickets suddenly appeared, and after a short while, there was an impassable end which made people lose their sense of direction. From the beginning, Lydia felt that they seemed to be going around in the same place, but Edgar didn’t stop in particular, rather he swiftly forged ahead, moving left and right.
“But, I think that the Earl from three hundred years ago didn’t expect that his lineage would have been severed. Apart from the sword, the ‘key to the fairy kingdom’ that you obtained is also considered as a sign that the Earl family bloodline was handed over.”
This place was a maze formed from hedges, which was located in the courtyard of the country house. There were many people entering the maze, but without knowing when, not a single figure was seen in the surroundings, as Lydia and Edgar were now alone.
No matter how long they walked, even the voices of people couldn’t be heard.
So, it was only then that Edgar would continue speaking about the secret.
“Julius Ashenbert did not marry, but had a child with a lover, perhaps this was a desperate measure in order to pass on the Earl family’s abilities to future generations…… I’ve thought things like this once.”
“Which meant that he was expecting a successor to appear from a family that wasn’t a direct descendant.”
That's right. Edgar nodded, then suddenly frowned.
“In fact, Ulysses, a person who possesses formidable strength, really did appear.”
Ulysses was originally the Prince’s confidant, and now leads the organization as a manager, as well as a figure who plans to overthrow the British royal family with Unseelie Court magic. He was the illegitimate child of the Blue Knight Earl, and knew about fairy magic like the back of his hand, but he was unable to obtain the sword, thus he couldn’t call himself the Blue Knight Earl.
It would be reasonable to say that this result was to be expected, because for a long time now, the Blue Knight Earl family strived to make the people of Britain get along peacefully with the fairies, and what Ulysses intended to do violated the Earl family’s philosophy.
“We aren’t the descendants that the former Blue Knight Earl took into consideration, perhaps the Earl, who expected the Earl family to decline, didn’t anticipate this much.”
“Yes, I think that the Earl likely didn’t think that far. I just think that perhaps he wanted to sever the ties between the Earl family and the fairy kingdom and make the future generation grow its roots in the human world.”
Would this be because there were some changes in the fairy kingdom? It might have something to do with the survival and downfall of the Blue Knight Earl’s clan.
“It isn’t known what the fairy kingdom has become of now? Could it be that there isn’t a single human being there?”
“Well, although I can't imagine it, we will know as soon as we take the trip.”
“Yes, at least the Blue Knight Earl is trying to make his descendants in the human world go towards the fairy kingdom, so we can only head over.”
Edger nodded and stopped, suddenly pulling Lydia’s body over.
He faced Lydia and gazed at her with passionate eyes.
“Wha... what's wrong? We must hurry and get out of this maze, otherwise we will lose the competition.”
It was Edgar's idea to hold a competition in the courtyard’s maze. The first person to reach the lion statue at the centre of the maze could give the last person any command. It was a very childish game, but the Duchess, the three sisters and many other men and women participated as well.
“There is too little time for a couple to be alone during a social gathering, it truly is a problem.”
The competition was clearly underway, yet he spoke of blunt topics since the beginning, and was now talking about this.
“That can’t be helped either.”
“But as long as we stay here, we can spend time together without interruptions before the competition ends.”
“What! Was this your goal?”
Edgar kissed her as an answer.
The sun was too bright and made Lydia feel hesitant, but the kiss on the lips made her even more anxious, and so she closed her lips tightly.
“......I can’t?”
Upon hearing his plea-like inquiry, Lydia couldn’t help but relax. Though her face was quite flushed, she did not forget to turn her head and be mindful of the surroundings.
Currently, there were a lot of people in this maze, and they simply didn't know when someone will come over from the other side of the hedge.
“No one will come as it's a dead end, besides, it's a place that’s quite difficult to lose your way and walk into.”
Edgar saw through her and spoke while laughing.
“H--how do you know such things…”
“Mazes like this would deliberately have this kind of place, so that men can be alone with the woman that they fancy.”
It was a maze from someone else’s mansion, yet he understood this area quite well, which was actually quite unusual. Although Lydia frowned, Edgar was smug.
“At the thought of being able to secretly monopolise you, my heart beats faster.”
The two of them clearly weren’t in a relationship that required them to be sneaky. To Lydia, this was a feeling she couldn’t understand.
“But... I feel like we’ve been kissing continuously since yesterday.”
Yesterday, they finally returned to the mansion quite late, and afterwards Edgar didn’t let her sleep up until then, she barely managed to shut her eyes. However, even while dozing off and during the early morning, Edgar looked like he wanted to touch her.
“Even like this, you’re not tired of it, isn’t that so?”
His gentle smile made Lydia’s heart skip a beat.
Under the sun, he was a noble child that was very sincere and seemed quite perfect from every aspect, making people can’t help but think that if the young master of Sylvainford grew up, he ought to have been like this now.
She even suddenly found it unbelievable that this man was actually deeply in love with her. 
“If you give me too much love, it will make me like it’s a waste.”
She said, then Edgar lowered his shoulders and made an overly surprised reaction.
“A waste? It's like saying that my love is quite rare so it’s precious. My goal is to satisfy you with indulgent love whenever and wherever, but do you still feel unsatisfied? Then I have to try harder.”
“Eh, i--is that so?”
It wasn’t known how serious his words were in the end, but Edgar looked quite happy at times like this.
“Then how about doing this now? You hide while I count to ten, if I find you then I win, and you have to promise to let me kiss you as much as I like, is that okay?”
“Bu--but…”
Even though Lydia felt hesitant, he turned around without minding at all, planning to implement this proposal.
“Okay, I’m going to count, if you don’t hurry, you will be caught by me.”
Lydia hurriedly ran along the hedges.
Before long, Edgar’s figure couldn’t be seen, furthermore, after entering through several forks in the road, Lydia couldn’t figure out where she was in the end.
Thinking about it carefully, Edgar knew the layout of the maze quite well, so it should be easy finding Lydia. As a result, Lydia seemed to be in his scheme.
Ugh, forget about it.
Lydia muttered to herself while thinking that it would be a little sad if he couldn't find her.
If one continued to be happy, then they would find it quite luxurious and even fear that something will happen and destroy this moment.
However, whether or not they could forget the anxiety and make every day filled with happiness and love was probably up to themselves.
“You both get along very well.”
The sudden voice that came through startled her and made her turn around. From the other side of the hedge, Darnell appeared.
The red hair underneath the hat swayed with his movements. He stared at Lydia with his usual, unabashed straight gaze.
At the thought of what had just been seen, Lydia had the urge to escape.
“A couple being close with each other is a very wonderful thing, but in my opinion, I feel sorry for you.”
“I am quite happy, no matter what happens, I will overcome it with him.”
Even so, she raised her head resolutely.
“You can't defy fate.”
Darnell responded indifferently without a fraction of doubt in his words.
“You are someone completely unrelated to me. When I went to the sacred land previously, no one was there, so the duty of the Prophet's fiancée is completely meaningless.”
“Even if the person who opened the coffin nineteen years ago was your mother?”
“Mother wanted to put an end to the idea of changelings in the McKeel family. This was all for me in order to severe my relations completely with the McKeel family.”
If her mother didn’t do so, her children and the future generation would still be affected by the changeling practices even if she took back Lydia from the fairies’ grasp.
Lydia thought about how much her mother wanted her daughter to be happy, and calmly said:
“Mother was the last ‘fiancée’.”
“Even if you were there at the time, you believe that?”
Lydia suspected that she had misheard, but it didn’t look like Darnell was joking.
“That kind of thing... it can’t be…”
“What if your mother had carried you into the sacred land not long after you were born?”
This was quite possible, but she didn’t think of it at all.
“Madam Lydia, you are the true ‘fiancée’ that accessed the sacred land and the Prophet’s magic.”
Lydia trembled and made every effort to stand, but Darnell continued on calmly.
“I still haven't fully regained my strength, and this is because my fiancée isn’t by my side, but if you are the true ‘fiancée’, then I can be the true prophet.”
“......It's not me. Mother didn’t hesitate to take on the ‘fiancée’s’ duty and wanted to protect me, there must be some mistake.”
“The truth will be revealed one day.”
He took a step towards Lydia and stared into her eyes.
“From the moment the coffin was opened, the Prophet's fiancée became the Prophet's bride and won’t have the children of other men.”
It took Lydia a bit of time to understand the meaning of those words. The sun was very large, but she felt her surroundings suddenly becoming dark, then felt a burst of dizziness.
Darnell reached out and supported Lydia.
Lydia jumped and shook his hands off, drawing back.
“Don't be ridiculous! Mr. Patrick... never said that.”
“He hid it from you. In order to find a way to take you to the sacred land, he did not explain the true responsibility of the ‘fiancée’ to you, and told you many lies.”
True responsibility? What is that?
Lydia shook her head forcefully, trying to get rid of the question, as she believed that it wasn’t necessary for her to listen.
The person affected as the ‘fiancée’ might have been her mother, because Lydia didn’t have any younger brothers or sisters, so this was quite possible. 
But what if it was herself?
Would this deprive Edgar of his future as the Blue Knight Earl?
If she couldn't give birth to heirs...

Edgar walked in the maze looking for Lydia, and immediately chose a path even if he was faced with a branched road.  As long one observed the condition of the branched road, they will know the side that the majority of people chose, because the human mind and actions have very standard rules. The maze was also made by humans, therefore, an attempt to make people lose their way or lead them towards the other direction will emerge in the shape of a path that was easy to understand.
This was why Edgar never lost his way.
Upon carefully thinking about it, this knowledge had come in handy while escaping in the past. He thought about the mental state of the pursuers then chose the other direction, which, of course, was useful when chasing the enemy as well.
The Prince, who kidnapped Edgar, was adept at manipulating people, and in order to appoint Edgar as the “vessel” of the next Prince, he instilled this practice into Edgar’s mind, but Edgar already had similar aptitudes as the Prince to begin with.
It was for this reason that he wouldn’t surrender and constantly tried to flee, only tried seeking revenge. Thus, perhaps it was also because of this that he couldn’t escape completely. 
In Edgar’s view, rather than saying he harbored nostalgia for Sylvainford, it should be said that he used improper methods towards people that he faced to take back the things that he was strongly attached to. In fact, he didn’t want to hand over Sylvainford to anyone.
Because the him now couldn’t assert any of his own power, he felt quite fretful.
If Kathleen joined the Prince's organization, it meant that the future of Sylvainford was in their hands. At the thought of that, he increasingly found it unforgivable.
He made a wish in front of Lydia to cut his ties with the past, as there was nothing more important than her. But even if he thought so, his sinful desires became restless, wanting to obtain everything.
Edgar, who had these thoughts, will surely have found Ulysses. 
Thus, he believed that the other person would appear before long.
But he didn't expect it to be so quick.
Edgar stopped alone in the maze, staring at the teenager who had his back to the hedges, standing motionless.
It was Ulysses. In the past, he pursued Edgar under the Prince’s command, expressing direct resentment against him, but at least he now allegedly treated Edgar as a “Prince”.
“I truly was quite disrespectful this time, Your Majesty.”
He turned to this side, took off his hat and placed it to his chest.
“She was a little too reckless, it’s quite regretful that I wasn’t able to stop her, but fortunately you were all right.”
“If anything happened to Lydia, I would have snapped off your neck without hesitation.”
“Is that so?”
“At first, I didn't think you were planning to stop it.”
Ulysses probably felt that Lydia was in the way, and might have viewed Kathleen’s uncontrolled actions with the cold eyes of a bystander.
“If I take that fairy doctor away from you now, you will only abandon yourself to despair, so I asked her to not worry. In any case, you will be tired of her one day.”
“It seems that your authority has wavered as well.”
Ulysses revealed an unpleasant expression, it seemed that he hit the mark.
He could imagine that this wasn’t something that Kathleen arbitrarily decided to do. Even if it was a man was a servant, it would be impossible to obey a little girl who merely a tool despite being a member of the organization.
The organization seemed to have a small group that wanted to get rid of Lydia as soon as possible. At the thought of that, Edgar raised his guard.
“There are those who say that my approach is quite cowardly, but it’s meaningless if you become overwhelmed. Those guys are a bunch of people who don't understand you or the Prince’s power, and that one day you will drive them away with your own judgment.”
Ulysses slightly laughed out loud.
“Lady Kathleen will leave her foster parents because we will educate her once more, and make her keep in line as the future princess.”
“That’s simply meaningless.”
“Is that so? The reason why you were able to survive was not so much by depending on your pride as a noble, rather by depending on the pride of the prestigious Duke of Sylvainford’s family. Now, that Duke family's name is in our hands, and if you want, we will present it to you at any time.”
Ulysses said, then left.
Edgar clenched his fist tightly. He sighed deeply, trying to calm his mood.
In the past, he cherished the pride of nobility and continued to live on, pondering over how to seek vengeance against the people who ravaged the name of his parents’ family as well as himself, but now, he was different. He was going to depend the Blue Knight Earl’s pride that Lydia gave to him, and continue to fight against the Prince’s organization.
The Sylvainford bloodline was what made Edgar get closer to the Prince, so when he can get away from Sylvainford, he will definitely obtain freedom from the Prince’s curse.
“Where is Lydia.....?”
Ulysses trespassed into this place quite easily, perhaps a hostile person was also trying to approach her. Edgar immediately grew anxious, and sped up his pace to find Lydia.
He heard a voice, so he hurried around to the other side of the hedge.
"Lydia. ”
She turned around, and Darnell was standing beside her.
Lydia's eyes seemed uneasy, and Edgar rushed to her side as if to protect her.
Then, he did his utmost to look at Darnell as calmly as possible.
“Please don't approach my wife behind my back.”
“It was a coincidence, we just exchanged some greetings.”
Lydia nodded.
“Edgar, let's go.”
Although Edgar heard her say that, he didn’t feel like asking questions, but he couldn’t get an explanation that satisfied him.
Lydia remained silent until Darnell couldn’t be seen, and walked while tightly gripping onto Edgar’s outstretched hand.
“Can the Prophet really see the future?”
She suddenly muttered. Edgar stopped, held her in his arms and stared into her eyes.
Lydia looked straight at him with tears in her eyes, and her expression was so pretty that he couldn’t endure it.
He stroked Lydia's face, buried his fingers into her beautiful hair, and when his lips approached her eyelids, she softly shut her eyes. As he was seemingly tempted and kissed Lydia’s lips to sample that taste, she clumsily responded as well, which was quite rare.
Edgar couldn’t help but kiss her passionately, and although her warm face had already become a captivating red, she still grabbed onto him tightly.
What kind of future did she hear? Was it something that made Lydia so upset?
“Lydia, the Prophet has no meaning at all.”
Edgar slightly let go of her, who was breathing heavily, and spoke.
When Lydia was taken away by Kathleen, it was Edgar that saved her, not Darnell.
Even if one could see the future, then they wouldn’t be able to protect their precious person if they didn’t act. 
“If the prophecy is a road in the wilderness, then it will be fine as long as we walk in the prairies, furthermore, our hearts have wings that can soar, just like the swans.”
As long the heart wishes, no matter what kind of future it is, it can change. This was what Lydia taught him.
“Even if it was different from the future that the Prophet foresaw, we still met. Just because we got to know each other bit by bit, fell in love with each other, and cultivated a bond stronger than fate, we were able to come to this point, isn’t that so? There is nothing to be afraid of.”
“......Um, yes.”
Lydia whispered, then finally revealed a relieved smile and leaned into his embrace.
“In this way, it’s my win.”
“What...?”
“If I catch you, then I can kiss you as much as I like, wasn’t that right?”
“...But just now...” 
“Did you think I would be satisfied with just that?”
Lydia looked perplexed. He kissed her again, but pulled away after a mere gentle touch. She raised her head, finding it unexpected.
“But it mustn’t be overdone, or else I won’t be able to kiss you without doing anything else.”
Edgar showed a slightly complacent attitude, and as a result, it was only natural that Lydia frowned. Despite being a little disappointed, Lydia regained her spirit somewhat, which made him feel relieved.
Her soft body, which used meaningless feeble strength to resist, made him feel affectionate. Edgar pulled the usual Lydia in his arms unyieldingly, trying to appease the satisfaction that was obtained.
Although their heart concealed unpeaceful things, with regards to them, the only light of hope in their hearts now was the mutual touch of each other.