I Opened The Birdcage Door - Chapter 18

After tea time with Usher.

 

For several days I lived with a slightly more complicated mind.

 

“What do you think of becoming the Crown Princess?”

 

“I’m not asking you to answer me right now. Because there is still one year left.”

 

“In the meantime, I will work harder. So that you will see me again.”

 

Usher’s sweet voice swept through my head whenever I could think of anything else.

 

Thanks to him, I was in serious trouble for a while.

 

Crown Princess.

 

I don’t know yet.

 

I didn’t make the decision in the first place with remarriage in mind when I divorced Sebastian. Having had so much going on with Sebastian, I didn’t even think I’d ever be able to remarry after I broke up with him.

 

For me the remarriage, and the position of the Crown Princess, was too sudden.

 

Meanwhile, I started to think about Usher’s feelings for me. Usher kept coming and helping me.

 

I vaguely knew that Usher still had feelings for me but I didn’t know if it was friendship or love.

 

I thought it was a little closer to friendship, but to Usher, it must have been love.

 

“Uh, I don’t know… … ”

 

I was exhausted after thinking about it, and I ended up flopping on the bed. The idea was to do whatever my heart wanted and go wherever it went.

 

It was about time for Usher’s words to leave his mind.

 

A few days later.

 

The knights sent by Usher have arrived. From the balcony I watched as the knights from the imperial court lined up and walked into the Duke’s knight Order.

 

Soon, the Knights will be placed in the right place under the command of the Knight Commander and will be active.

 

“I am really glad that the Crown Prince has given us more knights, Your Excellency.”

 

“Yes.”

 

It was at that time when I was answering Sophie’s words. Suddenly, I saw something and frowned. Sophie, who was standing next to me, looked at my expression and tilted her head.

 

“Your Excellency, what’s wrong?”

 

“That person….”

 

Sophie narrowed her eyes to where I was pointing.

 

“Oh my gosh.”

 

Sophie’s eyes widened.

 

Among the knights, the man who caught his eye was none other than Sebastian.

 

He was walking in line in knight armor. Each of his captured movements caught my eye. His expression, as he walked among the knights, was staring hard into the air.

 

“No way.”

 

Sophie walked up to me in disbelief, and stood up against the balcony railing and pulled herself out to look at him more clearly.

 

“It’s really Master Sebastian. I’m sure. No, how did Master Sebastian come here…… ”

 

Sophie, who was whispering in silence, turned her head towards me.

 

“Your Excellency recognized Master Sebastian right away, which is also amazing.”

 

 

“I know. Is there some kind of sense development..… ”

 

Sebastian has been standing out since last time. I was dumbfounded myself, but what can I do when I turn my head and see him right away?

 

Well, I had lived with Sebastian for a few years, it would be strange not to recognize him.

 

Of course, that didn’t matter now. What was important was that Sebastian was in the Duke’s residence.

 

Why Sebastian?

 

How did he come to be chosen and sent here?

 

As I was thinking about it, I suddenly let out a sigh and Sophie turned to me.

 

“Ha….”

 

“Why, Your Excellency?”

 

“… Usher must have sent him.”

 

I exhaled as if talking to myself. I felt Sophie tilting her head.

 

Usher probably didn’t send Sebastian on purpose. However, if it were Usher that I knew, he would have carefully selected and sent the best knights. Sebastian, who was quite talented as a knight, couldn’t help but be included there.

 

Yes. It was possible.

 

“Your Excellency. As far as I know…The Duke will need an escort.”

 

Sophie said as if she was worried about something.

 

“Surely, Master Sebastian wouldn’t be selected as an escort, would it? If the knight commander has common sense.”

 

“Of course.”

 

I nodded.

 

“The dukedom is not small, and there are many places to stand guard, not just to protect the Duke. Don’t worry too much. Unless Sebastian shows up on his own, I don’t think we need to bother.”

 

I answered clearly.

 

There were many places in the Duchy that needed the help of knights, and as Sophie said, if the knight commander should have common sense, he would not put my ex-husband Sebastian next to me.

 

It could not be said that I wasn’t completely unconcerned about Sebastian’s appearance, but I thought ‘what could happen?’.

 

 

But.

 

“Hello.”

 

A few days later, when Sebastian appeared in front of me.

 

“My name is Sebastian, who will be Your Excellency’s escort.”

 

And when he looked at me and let out a relaxed voice.

 

I even ended up finding the situation interesting.

 

I looked at Sebastian in front of me. Sebastian, wearing a knight’s armor, with a sword attached to his waist, was looking at me silently.

 

Sophie’s voice, unwittingly speaking, could be heard in my ears.

 

“Crazy…..”

 

I just stared at Sebastian in the meantime and laughed in vain.

 

This… How could this happen?

 

***

 

“No, what is this…… … ”

 

The culprit was called. It was the Knight Commander who made Sebastian my escort.

 

Upon hearing that Sebastian had become my escort, the knight commander came to me with a bewildered face. The atmosphere in the office was serious. Sophie was looking at the Knight Commander with her arms crossed and an angry expression on her face, and I sat at the desk and looked at him silently.

 

Sophie pressed him.

 

“Can you explain how this happened, Commander?”

 

“Sorry, I’m sorry.”

 

We could hear how Sebastian became my escort.

 

The knight commander said that the escort of the Duke should be a person with the best swordsmanship, and as soon as the imperial knights arrived, he told them to first select a person with the best swordsmanship.

 

The vice commander was in charge of all swordsmanship matches and results management under the orders of the knight commander, but the problem was that the vice commander had no idea who Sebastian was because he had recently started working in the duke’s family.

 

Some knights may have noticed Sebastian’s identity, but no one seemed to be able to speak out while looking at the vice commander.

 

So, the vice commander succeeded in making Sebastian my escort.

 

“I’m sorry. I should have paid more attention. It was my fault for not checking because I was busy.”

 

The knight commander bowed his head several times, realizing that he had made a huge mistake.

 

“I will change the escort right away. You can’t have your former husband by your side like this…”

 

“Don’t change it, but send him back to the Imperial Palace. Does this make sense?”

 

“That’s enough.”

 

“…?”

 

Sophie’s bewildered voice was heard as she spoke with her arms crossed.

 

I got up from my seat, looked out the window, pondered, then turned around. Sophie and the Knights Commander were looking at me with their eyes widened.

 

“I’m fine, Knight Commander. A mistake like this could happen because you were busy due to a sudden lack of manpower in the Order.”

 

“Ah…… I’m sorry.”

 

“I don’t care if Sebastian escorts me or not. Now, he and I are separated, and we’re strangers.”

 

“But, Your Excellency.”

 

Sophie seemed to want to say something, but she was speechless as I turned to her with a determined expression on my face.

 

Yes. It didn’t matter if he was my escort or not. Conversely, it would seem odd to change Sebastian. He and I have nothing to do with each other anyway, so why should I care about him so much?

 

… Maybe it was a challenge.

 

It was to test me if I didn’t care about Sebastian anymore.

 

Or maybe I just wanted to test myself.

 

I said with a smile.

 

“Escort, tell him to do it. Because I don’t care.”

 

***

 

A few days later.

 

I was sitting in my office, moving my quill.

 

After becoming a duke, the place where I spent most of my work was none other than the office.

 

Of course, as a duke, I often went out for inspections, but most of the time I just received reports from the territory. Thanks to this, I was able to understand why my father was sitting in the office every day, looking at the documents, when he was alive.

 

There was only an eerie silence all around. An environment in which no birds chirp as if it let me concentrate on my work.

 

swish, swish.

 

A pleasant quill sound echoed in the quiet room.

 

How much time has passed? I closed the quill, put it down on the desk, and closed the papers.

 

“Finally done.”

 

Looking at the documents required quite a deep concentration.

 

I’ve had a lot of work these past few days, so I have a lot of paperwork to do, and I’ve just finished it.

 

After tidying up, the tension was relieved and I felt sleepy. I stretched out, covered my mouth, and yawned.

 

“Ha.”

 

It was then. Suddenly, Sebastian, who was standing in the corner, met my eyes.

 

Ah.

 

I was startled.

 

I closed my mouth and quietly lowered my hand.

 

Come to think of it, Sebastian was by my side.

 

Actually, this wasn’t the only surprise. I was surprised to see him periodically.

 

He was an escort knight who did his part very well. He always stood there silently like an old tree. To the extent that I could see why he was such a great escort knight, he made no presence in front of his master.

 

I wasn’t surprised just because he was standing next to me so silently.

 

Naturally, because he was Sebastian.

 

It was not like I had never experienced the existence of an escort knight before, but it was inevitable.

 

It was when I turned my head away, pretending not to know that our eyes met.

 

His voice was heard.

 

“It’s the first time I’ve seen you work.”

 

A friendly voice.

 

I looked at him without realizing it. What’s up with that tone?