Chapter 25
Chapter 25: Live To Sienna Pt.25
During the day, she sat down in the garden, drank tea and ate the cookies that the maid brought her. She was bored because she was alone, but she thought it was quite the luxurious picnic she was having. It was almost impossible to eat outdoors like that in Heidel because of how cold the area was.
“I would’ve enjoyed it more if someone was with me at least…’
Darkness sank in the garden as the sun went down. When darkness fell and the Lantern Festival began, she became disappointed that she wouldn’t be able to enjoy it properly.
“That would’ve been great.”
Sienna’s eyes caught the big tree in the garden then. The tree was taller than the third floor of the mansion, appearing to have been raised diligently. Because of its large limbs, it did not seem like it would be too difficult to climb it.
She looked around and back and forth. Fortunately, there were few people in the mansion that day, so no one was likely to see her climb the tree.
Sienna picked up her skirt and tied it to her waist, revealing her pantaloons, which looked similar to a pumpkin. She thought that others would probably say they were ugly, but no one had seen her.
“A tree like this would’ve burned fast.”
Sienna sometimes climbed trees like that one in Heidel. It was hard on cold days with blizzards, but when summer came, she used to climb the largest tree in the land and watch the knights train from afar. Even in the summer, the amount of snow and ice on the tree was the same, but it did not matter to her.
She calmly climbed the tree and sat down where she could see the lights.
“It’s a first for me to witness the Lantern Festival, so I’m excited. No, that’s not right. This isn’t technically my first time, to be precise.”
In the past, Sienna had watched the Lantern Festival every year, all alone in a remote part of the palace.
Though she had stood alone in that dark and deadly place, she had felt even greater loneliness when she had thought that those who had flown those countless lanterns had done so with their loved ones. Nonetheless, the colored paper and the flame lights covering the black night sky made for a spectacular scene. It was a waste to see it alone.
“But now that I think of it, I’m alone this time as well.”
‘Is this my destiny? Is it my destiny to stay alone all the time?’
Sienna felt lonely, so she shook her head to send those thoughts away.
‘Me fated to be all alone? As if! I’m not an adolescent to mope like that.’
Currently, she was eighteen years old, so she was in fact a teenager, but she had spent more time and had lived way past that age to be exact. Rather, she was at an age in which she was more comfortable being alone. What’s more, she thought she was lucky to see that beautiful sight come to fruition.
“I should have prepared for it and brought a bottle of wine with me.”
Sienna wanted to drink.
“Now that I think about it, I haven’t touched a drink since coming here. In cold Heidel, I drank a lot to heat up my body.”
Rustle, rustle.
She could feel someone climbing up the tree, so Sienna looked down, startled.
People who knew how to climb trees used the momentum of their arms to climb up more easily. She was too afraid to keep looking. Grabbing on to the branch, Sienna wondered if it was a thief. Who else would climb up a tree in a mansion in the middle of the night?
‘If need be, should I stretch out my foot and kick the person?’
But just before kicking out, she figured out who had come up.
“Sir Carl?”
“It’s been a long time.”
After Sienna called his name, he climbed to her level and beckoned her to move sideways. She gave him room to seat, but he sat close to her, as if it was obvious.
“What brings you here…?”
“Rather than me, what did you come all the way up here for? And in that kind of outfit.”
Carl pointed to Sienna’s skirt with the tip of his chin. Sienna had her skirt up and tied to her waist to make her comfortable while climbing, so her pantaloons were exposed.
She didn’t know if it was because she was usually alone that she had not felt embarrassed before, but when he pointed it out, her face immediately turned bright red. She hurriedly untied the hem of her skirt and put it back down.
“Your ladyship is quite unconventional.”
“I thought no one was around…”
“So, you’re only mannered in the presence of people, but when there are no others around, you walk around in that kind of outfit?”
“It’s not like that.”
He squinted at her denial and made a face of incredulity.
“More than that, what is your reason for coming all the way out here?”
“I came to see you and I saw you sitting on this tree. But why are you up here?”
“I wanted to see the Lantern Festival. They told me it was dangerous to go out and didn’t let me.”
“It seems more dangerous to climb such a tall tree. Well, I’m glad I brought this with me.”
He took a bottle out of his coat. She didn’t know much about alcohol, but the bottle he brought out seemed to be quite fancy by how luxurious the label was.
“It looks like a very expensive drink.”
“That’s right, it’s Carbonic, a drink that the emperor himself drinks only sparingly.”
“Is it OK to bring something so precious?”
“Well, we still have twenty-five bottles left.”
His words sounded as if he was saying that there were only twenty-five bottles left in the world. Sienna wanted to ask how he could drink such a precious thing, but she did not do so. If it was really that precious, she wanted to try tasting it.
“You didn’t bring a glass?” Sienna asked quickly. He gave her a look that told her not to expect the impossible, so she added with a shrug, “If there aren’t any, so be it.”
Then, she took the bottle of liquor from him. She tried to open the bottle, but the bottle was corked, and the cork was sealed with candle wax.
“Did you bring the opener?” Carl gave her an obstinate look, and she asked, “What is it? Is this your first time stealing alcohol to drink?”
“What do you mean steal?! I just brought it with me.”
Carl’s face turned red, and Sienna felt a tingling sensation from seeing him like that. It occurred to her that Carl wasn’t everything she knew him to be.
The Carl she knew had been a tough guy, overwhelmingly beautiful and cold. In the past, he had not been the kind of person who could smile that softly in front of her, but rather, he had seemed more fit to reign alone over everyone.
‘Isn’t that because, maybe, I just saw what I wanted to see?’
It was she who had ignored Carl’s pain and hurt while she had argued about why he hadn’t given her any love. She had forgotten about the very fact that he, too, was a person who had been hurt and also wanted a person from whom to receive affection. She thought it was her fault, and not his, that he had not accepted her twisted love.
‘How could I have only paid attention to him as prince and emperor, but not as a person? Did I only see the things I wanted to see and then define that as love…?’
She questioned the feelings she had had for him.
‘Did I say I loved him only because of his appearance?’
“What is it? Are you making that look because I didn’t bring the opener? It looked like you were extremely shocked about something.”
Sienna said with disgruntled look, “… It’s something worth being shocked about. I was very pleased to hear you had brought a drink along with you, but what use is it now? We can’t even drink it now. It’s not like I’m fantasizing about some imaginary bottle of alcohol.”
“Give it to me,” he said.