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| ← Ch.025 | Ch.027 → |
He took the bottle from Sienna then broke off a branch and began to drill the cork in.
"That's all there is to it."
Unlike if he were making a ruckus, the sight of him acting stealthy while opening the bottle made her laugh. Carl, who heard her laugh, told her not to, but his grumpy words made her unable to stop giggling.
"What the hell is so funny? Look at this! I opened it."
Carl handed the bottle of liquor he had opened to Sienna, who held it in both hands and drank from it. It was a very good drink, like he had said. There was a deep flavor of expensive alcohol, followed by a sweet, fruity scent.
Her mouth not only welcomed the wine, but also some of the pieces of the cork. It was disappointing to have such a good drink like that in that state now, but it still tasted good. Sienna handed him the bottle and pulled the pieces of the cork from her tongue. His clumsy actions were pleasing to her.
Carl, who drank next, also took the cork pieces off of his tongue. When Carl and Sienna saw each other holding their tongues with their fingers to remove the cork powder, they burst into laughter. Neither of them had had to say anything first.
"Oh! Look at that."
Sienna pointed at the night sky. The lights started to come into view one by one.
"It's really beautiful, " Sienna and Carl said together. Then, they looked at each other and burst into laughter again.
"This is good."
"Yeah, it is."
They exchanged turns drinking from the bottle while watching the lanterns hovering through the dark night sky. There was no smile on Sienna's face.
It was her first time watching the Lantern Festival with someone else. It was Carl at that too. Sienna turned her head in Carl's direction.
A light from the sky lit up Carl's face, smooth nose and smooth arced lips. Her heart thumped as she looked at his face.
'My eyes are just too weak when I look at his handsome face. '
Sienna worked hard to get those thoughts out of her mind. She stopped looking at him and turned her head to the sky of lights rising to heaven.
'You can't fail this time. Don't let this man ruin your work! The reason I'm here is to make sure it doesn't happen again. '
To do so, she had to push Carl away even now.
'But, at least for today... '
She thought it would be better to let it go today. When she saw him earlier, she was going to tell him her wish, but she wanted to put it off until the next time they met. She knew she shouldn't be doing it, but...
"What... ?! Are you crying? Are you drunk?" Carl asked when he saw her crying out of the blue
Perhaps due to her having conflicting emotions while in a drunken state, tears gathered around Sienna's eyes.
She said, wiping her tears with the back of her arms, "I was overwhelmed by how pretty they are. And when a lady shows tears, it's good manners to pretend that you have not seen them, Your Highness!"
"I don't know about that."
He covered the back of her hand with his hand. That was how Carl comforted someone. Feeling his temperature through the back of her hand, Sienna began to cry again.
'You'd never done this before... '
"You said before... that you would grant any wish of mine, " Sienna said bitingly.
"Yes."
"Please listen to it."
'So that I may not remain greedy... '
"Go ahead and tell me. I'll listen."
"Not today. I'll tell you when I meet you at my debutante banquet. Whatever I say then, please listen to it. And please, keep that promise."
Carl was very curious about what Sienna wanted him to promise her. However, he couldn't ask her to tell him now. He felt like he was going to have to wait until that day came.
As her tears stopped, he said, "You must have a drinking habit since you're drunk. That's a bad habit."
"I don't have that habit. And I don't get drunk from this much. I wouldn't have gotten drunk even if I'd drunk it all by myself."
While Sienna kept insisting that she had not drunk enough to be drunk, she started to lose her balance and senses slowly. Carl was anxious about her falling from the tree. She was insisting that she was fine, but she seemed to be drunk and unaware of the danger of her location.
"Shall we go down?"
"No. When would I be able to see the Lantern Festival again?"
'There won't be another time like this, where we'll watch the Lantern Festival together again. '
"I'll stay here until all those lanterns reach the top of the sky."
"Well, if you're going to be like this... Then..."
Carl pulled Sienna's back down to where he was sitting. Surprised by his sudden action, Sienna dropped the bottle she was carrying on the ground.
"What is this!? I dropped the wine! What a waste!"
"Why do you think it's my fault? I caught you because you seemed drunk. Seeing as how the bottle dropped to the ground, I think it's rather good that I did."
"I didn't drop it because I was drunk, but because Sir Carl suddenly... ! That's what that meant!"
"Why are you protesting so much? You are certainly already drunk. Otherwise, you shouldn't have let me worry and gone down instead. You'll get hurt badly if you fall from here."
As he pressed on furiously, Sienna pouted but remained silent. The night sky was embroidered with more and more lanterns.
"That one! Where do you think all those lanterns are going?"
"Well, aren't they all different? There will be some that'll fall on roofs and some that'll go farther with the wind."
"I hope every one of them goes very far away so that many more people, and not just those in the capital, will be able to see them. A lot of people."
"That's right. I wish for them to go far away."
"I hope everyone is happy today."
As happy as she was. Because she was happy to see him and that beautiful scene, she hoped others were happy too.
'And Carl, I hope you're happy at this moment. So, I hope I can remember this day and smile. I think that's enough for me to remind myself of this you that I was able to see under this beautiful scene together."
The time they had left together was coming to an end, something she didn't want to happen ever. The number of lanterns climbing the sky had diminished visibly. The clamor from the throngs of people that had been coming from beyond the mansion disappeared, and the night became quiet.
"It's over."
There was a sense of regret in Sienna's voice.
"Do you think you can go down?" Carl asked in a worried tone.
"Of course. If I was able to get up here, why would you think I wouldn't be able to get down?"
"Why don't I go down first, you jump for me, and I'll make sure to catch you?"
At Carl's suggestion, Sienna replied loudly, "I can definitely get down on my own! Don't make me crazy. Go down first, and I'll be down in a minute."
He grabbed her by the arm and tried to help her, but she pushed him and said, "It's more dangerous for the two of us to go down together. If you go and wait for me down there, I'll be down in a flash."
Carl went down first because of her stubbornness. Going up had been easy for him, so he took the same path down the branches and got down just as easily. Sienna grabbed the tree and climbed down while Carl looked up, anxious that she might fall.
"That branch there seems weak, so hold the one over there."
Sienna turned her head and looked down, saying, "Stop staring! I'm going down in a skirt."
"The woman who had originally tied her skirt up around her waist and had not noticed it enough to feel embarrassed, now feels some embarrassment?!"
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