Chapter 103 - Joyride
A long silence reigned over the carriage cabin as the vehicle set off from the mansion, venturing out into the wide and mostly open spaces of Freybrook’s northern district. Scarlett’s gaze was focused on the small forests that separated many of the estates in this district, mindlessly observing the passing trees. It was ridiculous how large the northern district was, really. The nearest home to the Hartford mansion was a few hundred meters away, so it would be a stretch to even call them a neighbor.
After they had been traveling for a while, Rosa’s voice finally rang out from the seat next to Scarlett. “So, the two of you are acquaintances, I take it? How acquainted are we talking, exactly?”
Scarlett turned to look at the woman, who, in turn, was looking at the seat opposite them where Leon was sitting. The dark-haired man wore the same uniform as yesterday, and he seemed to hesitate before answering. “We’re…betrothed.”
Silence fell upon the cabin again.
Allyssa turned to stare at Scarlett from where she sat to Leon’s left. “You had a fiancé?!”
Rosa also looked at her, an impish grin on the bard’s face. “Oh? I didn’t know the usually cold Baroness had a special someone. Here I thought that prickly exterior of yours would have strangled the very notion of romance in its cradle before it even had the chance to rear its head in your presence.”
Scarlett gave her a pointed look, but Rosa’s smile didn’t disappear. Across from them, Leon frowned at the interaction, but remained quiet. Scarlett shook her head and returned her attention out the window. Rosa had without a doubt already realized that Leon’s and her relationship wasn’t like that.
“The air is stifling with this many people here,” she said after a moment, just as silence was about to descend over the carriage once more. “I find it difficult to think that you did not have your own means of travel, Sir Leon.”
When she’d asked him to join them on their trip to Autumnwell, she hadn’t been expecting him to literally join like this. He was the son of a marquis, as well as the vice-captain of the Imperial Solar Knights. One would expect him to have his own transport. A horse, at the very least.
“You were the one that asked for my help, Scarlett. If you’re regretting it, I can step off right here.”
“That is not what I am saying. I merely find the reasoning behind you having to travel with us puzzling. Did you not arrive in a carriage at the mansion earlier?”
“That belongs to the family of a comrade of mine,” Leon said. “He’s the son of Baron Acton. I can’t use it for a personal trip to Autumnwell.”