Chapter 24

Step by step, making the crunching sound of soil beneath his boots, Alan drew closer to Monique.

Monique half-lifted herself from the bench.

By her side lay torn wrapping paper and a small jeweler’s box.

The indentation where the rings should have rested was entirely empty.

He cast a fleeting glance at the small box, then returned his gaze to Monique.

Within his eyes dwelt a quiet, burning anger.

“Let’s hear it. Why didn’t you pass along the jeweler’s message to me?”

It was a low, composed voice, completely devoid of fury.

That very tone vividly reflected Alan’s state of mind.

Neither flustered nor shaken, he spoke with absolute composure, much like someone interrogating a criminal.

“Ah… ha, haha…”

With an expression that suggested she had surrendered all hope, Monique let out a dry laugh.

She sank back down, lowering her half-raised hips back onto the bench.

Her hands frantically clawed at her own red hair, tearing at her locks.

“So you saw it all…”

That single phrase affirmed every action she had taken.

Intentionally failing to deliver the jeweler’s message to Alan.

Stepping in to collect the rings in Alan’s stead.

And then… discarding those rings.

“What did you do with the rings?”

“Who knows, even I don’t know.”

At Monique’s words, Alan tensed his posture.

Overwhelmed by the sudden surge of killing intent, Monique instinctively raised both hands.

“I truly don’t know. I gave them away to children whose names I don’t even know…”

To Alan, those words were utterly beyond expectation.

He could comprehend neither the meaning behind her actions nor the reasons for them.

“Why would you do such a thing?”

Desperately suppressing the anger welling up within him, he forced his words to remain as calm as possible.

If he didn’t, he felt he might strike her right then and there.

“Without those rings… the wedding might be postponed. The moment I thought that, my body just moved on its own…”

Even upon hearing Monique’s explanation, Alan could not understand it so much as a single grain of sand.

Why on earth would Monique try to obstruct the marriage between himself and Diana?

No matter how hard he tried to reason it out, his mind failed to construct any pathway leading to a logical answer.

“Why…?”

His barely squeezed-out word was met with Monique’s self-deprecating sneer.

“You ask why, as if you have the right. You accept the affections of some little girl like that, yet you never once spare a glance for me—you!”

Monique’s sorrowful voice echoed across the madder-red park.

The sun was dipping low, and the children had likely all gone home for the evening.

In stark contrast to the daytime, the surroundings were wrapped in silence.

“…Why should I? That’s my line.”

The voice spilling from Monique’s lowered head sounded strangely muffled.

“Why… why isn’t it me? Even though I’ve stayed by your side all this time, even though I’ve worked so hard for your sake!!”

At Monique’s outburst, Alan was momentarily dumbfounded, and then he slowly shook his head.

“You’re mistaken, Monique. You haven’t worked this hard for my sake. You serve for the sake of the knighthood, for the country, and ultimately for the citizens.”

“Ha.”

At Alan’s stubbornly earnest words, Monique let out a scoff.

Even now, after all this, Alan still refused to view Monique as a woman.

His attitude and his words alike made it painfully clear that she was nothing more than a work colleague to him.

“That’s not the kind of answer I want to hear. I just──”

“Monique.”

Cutting her off, Alan raised his voice sharply.

The bearing of a true warrior.

A relentless, overwhelming pressure.

When Monique fell silent once more, Alan parted his lips.

“I have never viewed anyone other than Diana as a woman.”

“…”

It was a definitive rejection, refusing to entertain even the feelings behind her words.

“Not in the past, and not in the future. For me, the woman I love is Diana, and Diana alone.”

At Alan’s words, Monique bowed her head once again.

“You won’t even grant me the dignity of heartbreak, will you…?”

He wouldn’t even allow her to confess her feelings.

She was never seen as a woman, never even considered a candidate for romance.

It was a terribly harsh declaration, yet Monique also understood that this was Alan’s own way of being kind, ensuring he gave her no false hope.

A single droplet traced down the chin of Monique’s lowered head.

Wiping it away with the sleeve of her knight’s uniform, Monique stood up from the park bench.

The madder-red park was gradually growing darker, blending into the colors of night.

“I never imagined I would become a thief myself.”

The words slipped out in a murmur.

Monique herself acknowledged the crime she had committed.

It was an act far too impulsive, far too shallow.

Alan could easily surmise just how thoroughly cornered she must have been to resort to this.

That was precisely why he drew a firm, unyielding line between them.

His resolute stance was not lost on Monique.

“I knew from the very beginning that it was wrong. But for just a little while, I allowed myself to dream. I wondered if I might somehow make you turn your gaze toward me… even though such a possibility never existed from the start…”

Her self-deprecating laughter was soaked in tears.

“I’ll take responsibility for what I’ve done myself. Though, I must admit, I have no intention of going out of my way to search for those rings for your precious little girl.”

Leaving behind those cynical words, Monique began to walk.

Her destination was the Third Order headquarters, where she was stationed.

However, she was not heading there as a vice commander, nor as a female knight.

With heavy footsteps, she walked toward the headquarters as a single criminal──.

“Haaaah…”

After Monique departed, Alan sat alone on the bench in the fully darkened park, burying his head in his hands.

Monique, the whereabouts of the rings, and Diana—a whirlwind of various thoughts raced frantically through his mind, yet not a single answer could be found.

He had no time to waste like this.

If he didn’t hurry, the rings might never be found.

Should he simply order a completely new set?

Would that really make it in time for the wedding?

No matter how much he thought it over by himself, a conclusion was bound to elude him.

“There’s no help for it.”

The sun had only just fully set.

If he hurried, he might still be able to ask the jeweler to arrange a new pair of rings.

And if the jeweler said it wouldn’t make it in time──he would either have to choose a different set of rings or search for the lost ones.

Either way, he had to do something.

The date of the wedding was already set; he simply had to make it in time for that.

In the back of Alan’s mind, Diana’s smiling face from the day they chose the rings surfaced.

Even though he wanted nothing more than to keep her from ever clouding her expression─, how would she feel upon learning the truth?

A sharp pang of guilt pierced Alan’s chest.

“I really am… a hopeless man…”

“That is not true at all.”

Echoing through the darkness came the voice of the person he loved most.