I was shaken about in the pre-dawn stagecoach for a full three days.
Unlike the luxurious carriages for nobility, it was a crude seat where the thick wooden boards directly hit my rear end, but my heart was surprisingly light.
While listening to the rattling, creaking sound of the wheels, I gazed at the scenery flowing past outside the window.
There was no need to curry favor with anyone.
I didn’t have to be frightened by a summons saying “your younger sister has a fever.”
I wasn’t being chased by documents piled up on the desk waiting for my father’s or Cedric’s signature.
Just that alone was gradually warming the depths of my chest, which had been so tense and stiff.
The last place the carriage stopped was far southwest of the royal capital, a port town spreading out with steep cliffs and rough waves—the gateway to the Valentin territory.
The moment I stepped down from the door onto the ground, a cold, damp sea breeze struck my cheek.
The scent of the tide tickled my nostrils.
Into lungs that had grown used to the smoke and perfume of the royal capital, the coarse sea breeze seeped through.
“…The sea.”
It was the first real sea I had ever seen in my life.
In the Cromwell household, I had never once been permitted to travel outside our territory, for the reason that “travel would be poison for Marianne’s health.”
Something this vast, this blue, this wild—it existed in this world after all.
I readjusted my grip on my trunk and started walking toward the port square.
First, I had to secure a place to sleep.
I had some secret savings, but I couldn’t afford luxury. I found a wooden inn at a corner of the port, its signboard letters faded by the salty wind, and pushed the door open.
“Welcome… oh my, an unfamiliar face.”
The one who poked her face out from the counter was a plump innkeeper’s wife with her sleeves rolled up. Seeing my simple, plain clothes and the bearing that I still couldn’t quite hide, she seemed to sense that there was some kind of circumstance behind it. Her eyes weren’t the type that pried deeply.
“I’d like to rent a room for about a week. Do you have your cheapest room available, with meals included?”
“There’s one attic room open. Five silver coins paid in advance. I’ll serve food downstairs morning and evening, but nothing fancy. It’s just fish and potatoes.”
“That’s plenty. Thank you very much.”
I paid the deposit, received the key, and climbed the creaking narrow staircase into the attic room.
A small bed, and a wobbly round table. A single small round window on the wall.
But from the window, I had a full view of the blue sea.
A heavy fatigue suddenly surged up from the very core of my body.
Along the way, I had woken up at every sound, and had only gotten by on hard bread and water.
I sat down on the bed and took off my worn-out shoes.
It was quiet.
Back when I was at the mansion, I had always kept my nerves on edge over someone’s footsteps, shouting voices, or my sister’s coquettish voice.
None of that existed here.
From downstairs, I could faintly hear the savory smell of grilling fish and the rough laughter of the port’s men.
I poured water from the unglazed earthenware pitcher sitting on the table into a wooden cup, and drank it down in one gulp.
Just plain, cold well water was more delicious than any fine wine I had drunk in my entire life up to now.
“…I’m free.”
I murmured it aloud, quietly.
No tears came. Instead, a small chuckle escaped from the back of my throat.
I wondered what was happening at that mansion right about now.
It had already been three days since I left. They must have long since noticed my absence.
I had left both the ledgers and the documents behind at the mansion.
But which petitions to rush, which payments to press my father about, whose head to bow to in order to get a deadline extended—there was no one left to think about such things in my place.
My father had said before:
“Your job is nothing more than putting together documents, isn’t it?”
Well then, he should be able to do it himself.
“Please, do your best.”
I collapsed onto the bed and pulled the rough linen sheet over my head.
The laughter from downstairs grew distant.
In a room with no voice calling out to summon me, I fell straight into a deep sleep.