Chapter 3: The Twilight Promise

After calling Julia and Lilia back to the room, the boys proceeded to explain what had happened.

When we took a detour instead of heading straight home in our carriage, someone sent word to Lord Alan. He came straight away to check on us. Meanwhile, Jean and the other guards began a panicked search of the premises after we suddenly disappeared.

My goodness.

Our faces drew in confusion as the three of us traded glances.

“Oh,” Lord Alan exclaimed with a bitter smile as he pointed out the window. “The prince has come to check on you.”

I peered out the window. The rain had stopped at some point, and it was already dusk. In the dim light that remained, the prince’s bright blond hair shone beautifully as he stepped through the manor’s main gate. He cut across the garden and paused when he noticed us standing in the window. His blue eyes sparkled and a smile lit up his face. “Eli!”

My heart pounded as my chest filled with joy. It was as if the man I’d long been waiting for had finally come home to me.

Prince Christopher was accompanied by Lord Glen and his other bodyguards. They gave him a rundown of the situation as they strode over toward our window. His expression was one of exasperation as he stared up at us.

“Eli,” he said again.

I could already predict what he would say next. “It’s not proper for the prince’s betrothed to be taking detours and giving her bodyguards the slip.” I stiffened as I waited for his reproach.

Julia suddenly pushed her way to the front and said, “P-Prince Christopher, it wasn’t Eli... I mean, I was the one who convinced her to take this side trip. It’s not her fault this happened. I-If you want to scold anyone, it should be me!” In her haste to explain, she nearly tripped over her own words, but Lilia nodded in agreement with her.

Honestly, I was the one who made the final decision, so I still thought I held responsibility here.

A bright smile appeared on the prince’s face. “I’m not going to chastise her over a mere side trip. Though I’m not too happy about her slipping away from her bodyguards, I’d rather punish her than scold her.”

I’m sorry, come again?

He chuckled as he stretched his hand up toward me. “Come, Eli.”

Encouraged by his invitation, I reached toward him before pausing as I realized how unbecoming it was to hop out of a window like this. “No, um...I should meet you at the entrance instead.”

Jean said, “There’s a chain around the front door, so you won’t be gettin’ out through there. We haven’t found any other entrances to the place either. How in the world did you even get in here, m’lady?”

“What?” I stared back at him in disbelief.

“You suddenly disappeared, so we assumed you had to be inside,” Lord Alan explained. “Is there some other entrance besides this window?”

“What are you saying?” Julia furrowed her brows. “This is the Twilight Manor where the nobles are holding their seances, isn’t it?”

“About that... Those are actually held at the Setting Sun Manor, not this one. People apparently make that mistake occasionally and come here instead, but no one has ever been able to get inside, so they’ve always given up and gone home.”

Blood drained from my cousins’ faces.

In that case, who was the elderly man who invited us in, I wonder?

“Noooo!” Lilia began swinging her hands through the air as if to wave off the fear threatening to consume her. “I’ve had it! I knew this would happen. The ghost here thought Miss Eli was one of them—that’s why it appeared! We never had any intention of attending an actual seance, you know!”

As Lilia wailed, Julia turned deathly pale. “Eli, I do love you dearly, b-but I’m not fond of getting cozy with spirits...” She retreated several steps, putting some distance between us.

Excuse me, but I have to ask, do you two truly think all of the ghosts in this world only appear because of me?

After the ensuing fuss died down, we began descending the window one by one until all of us were safely inside the garden, where the evening air was fresh and clean in the wake of the rain. To be more precise, we were carried down because the overgrown grass was slick with water and too dangerous for us to navigate. Lord Glen and his subordinates took care of Julia and Lilia. The latter was in high spirits since she rarely got to experience a gentleman’s arms wrapped around her like this.

I, of course, was carried down by Prince Christopher. He lifted me up by my knees, keeping me practically perched on his shoulder where I could stare down at him. It was a bit of an embarrassing pose.

“I’m not heavy, am I?” I asked.

“Of course not.” His cheerful answer coaxed a smile out of me.

As we all began to head for the carriages, Julia suddenly called over to me. “Hey, Eli. I’m going to summon all my courage to have an honest talk with Lord Rupert, so I want you to make sure you’re honest with the prince as well when it comes to your feelings.”

The prince froze, still carrying me so my dress wouldn’t get wet. “Her feelings?” he repeated, a brow quirked.

I panicked. True, hearing what the old man had to say and learning how the lady of the manor had suffered gave me a lot to think about, but...did I really have to confront all of that today?

The rest of the guards, who were still carrying Julia and Lilia, politely excused themselves and left the two of us alone. Evening twilight spilled over us as we remained in the overgrown garden. I had no place to run, even if I wanted to.

“Eli, please tell me what she was hinting at. What is it you’re feeling?”

I hesitated, inwardly waffling back and forth. Part of me was consumed with intense embarrassment, and part of me wanted to make a run for it.

The prince was so special to me. I wanted to spend forever with him and only him. In order for that to happen, I had to be sincere with my words so misunderstandings didn’t form between us. That meant learning from Julia’s example and plucking up the courage to voice how I felt.

“I love you, Prince Christopher. Please stay with me forever.” My face lit up brighter than the evening sun.

His Highness stumbled. Panicked, I latched onto his shoulder. I didn’t think he would actually drop me, but the sudden movement surprised me.

“Your Highness?”

“Eli, what kind of punishment is this? My hands are preoccupied holding you up, so I can’t do anything else with them. You’re killing me here.”

I had absolutely no idea what he meant by that.

The prince continued holding me in his arms as he groaned to himself. His eyes wandered the area as if looking for some kind of bench or pedestal where he could set me down. Alas, the garden was so overgrown that he couldn’t find anything. He let out a small sigh as he resigned himself. His face fell as he glanced back up at me.

I gulped, and my pulse quickened again. The evening sun was reflected in the blue of his eyes, and in them I found a mix of emotions—pain and a gentle sweetness. His voice was warm as he spoke. “Eli, I love you, too. And I always, always, always want to be with you.”

His confession made my stomach flutter as joy flooded my chest. “Yes, me too!” The two of us exchanged smiles.

“In that case,” he said, “let’s seal this promise.”

“All right.” I nodded without thinking and then froze. Wait, what does he mean by “seal this promise”?

“Unfortunately, both of my hands are preoccupied at the moment. So you’ll have to be the one to seal our promise.” He grinned at me. For as slow as I was, the implication was still immediately clear.

“Y-You mean...”

“Yes.” His Highness continued smiling blithely, fully aware he was backing me into a corner by doing so.

Is this what he meant earlier when he mentioned punishing me?

He chuckled as I hesitated. “Eli?” There was a mischievous note to his voice, but the passion in his eyes was genuine.

After some more intense deliberation and hesitation, I finally plucked up the nerve and bent down toward him. As I drew closer to those beautiful blue eyes, my heart squeezed. I planted a kiss on his cheek. That was the extent of my courage.

The prince let an embarrassed smile slip. In the distance, a pendulum clock chimed, announcing the sun’s final descent.

A few days later, an embarrassed Julia came to report on what happened between her and Lord Rupert. As it turned out, Lord Rupert had been close with his grandmother, and she often chastised him for not understanding a woman’s feelings. Sadly, she passed a few years back, and the reason he began attending these seances to see her once again was because he wanted courting advice. After all, he and Julia hadn’t even been engaged a year yet. If that wasn’t evidence enough of his feelings for her, then her chipper mood was certainly a dead giveaway.

There was one more matter. After the debacle in the Twilight Manor, I was curious about all of the portraits we saw in that room. I discovered who the current owner of the place was and requested an appraisal of the paintings. The painter was anonymous, but an art critic gave the works high praise, drawing great attention to them. In the wake of this newfound fame, restoration efforts began on the Twilight Manor to bring it back to its former glory. It would soon be opened to the public as an art museum. A few paintings depicting stories of the former owner, inspired by A Hundred Tales of Mystery in the Capital, were slated to appear as well.