The Escape of Layla

"Sister, read this book next!

"Uh, sloppy. I'm just being taught the letters right now!

"Sister, look, look. I picked flowers!

Under a bright blue clear sky, I was surrounded by city children in a monastic courtyard. Every child is dressed in thin dirty clothes somewhere, and I don't think he's growing up in a wealthy family. The first day here is a surprise that you treat me so open-minded for it. I guess that means the nuns here have been treating their children with a warm heart.

I thought that, uh, as I glanced up at the big monastery behind the children rushing over.

I went into the monastery and it's already been about five days. Time passes fast. I feel a lot more familiar with white monastic clothes and veils that I wasn't used to at first.

"Heh heh, I'll take a look at it in order, so wait a minute. I'll read your book in front of you later."

"Yay! Well, look at this first!

"Sister, the flower crown doesn't work."

Respond to each and every child rushing over with us as we sit on the lawn. It was a busy but very peaceful time. Every kid has a personality, and talking makes it so much more fun.

"Hey guys! You can't get too caught up in Leila! There's only one Leila."

From the convent, a fellow nun appeared to have finished cleaning in the garden. She is a nun my age named Helena. To be precise, Mr. Helena is one and older than I am, and he is sometimes very kind to me because he is close in age.

Ms. Helena walks over to the children as she wraps her grey white hair in the veil with her hands.

"Ah! Sister Helena, it's late!

"I have a lot of work to do too! Look, I'll lend you that crown. I'll help you."

"Thank you, Sister Helena!

A girl with colorful flowers in her hand rushes towards Mr. Helena. Looks like you'll be feeling brighter this way.

"If Leila's in trouble, don't hesitate."

"Yes, thank you. Mr. Helena."

I smiled at Helena, who started knitting her floral crown handily, and I turned to the boy who wanted me to teach her the letters.

Spending time in this sunny place makes me almost forget that the day to discuss it with His Highness is approaching. As much as that, this place was different from that tower where the moonlight plunged in I was locked up.

Five days ago, leaving the Duke's house, I had Mr. Leanhardt escort me to this monastery. It was also a time when the moon set and the morning burn filled the sky with signs of dyeing.

Mr. Leanhardt was transferring me to the balcony of the monastery. It's hard for people to see here. Don't worry, I can talk to Mr. Leanhardt.

As the metastatic magic gathered, Mr. Leanhardt grabbed the ring as he took it out of the silver box, trying to wrap it in with both hands. Eventually, the light of gold and silver leaks from between the fingers. In love with that fantastic sight, Mr. Leanhardt took off my pendant and put it through with the stone on which the ring was based.

"It takes a little while to trace Leila's whereabouts with just the magic she put on her pendant. But if I wear this ring, I'll know where Leila is soon enough... and I hate it when she's kind of tied up, but I hope she never takes it off this past week"

Besides the pendant's stone magic of knowing if I get hurt, it would be quite reassuring if a ring had been added to tell me where I am. In the unlikely event that something happens, I can get Mr. Leanhardt to notice.

"I'd be happy to have a restraint from Mr. Leanhardt. I won't take it off at any time, as promised."

"You say that, you don't know what happens later, do you?

Mr. Leanhardt put his hand on my cheek and smiled somewhere pranky. Slip your cheeks against those warm hands and gently close your eyes.

"Heh heh... I know Mr. Leenhardt is not the kind of person who would hurt me. There's nothing to be afraid of."

I just reunited with Mr. Leanhardt at the corner, but the loneliness came in when I thought I was leaving for another week. But that sentiment is also smashed by the next spinning of Mr. Leanhardt's words.

"... I'll be here every night, at midnight. If anything happens to Layla, it's gonna be tough."

"That's... I'm so glad to hear it, but wouldn't it be a burden on Mr. Leanhardt?

Even though I decided to let you stay here for the past week at my mercy, it's not sneaky to ask Mr. Leanhardt to do that. But he made me laugh like it was nothing.

"You just need to use metastatic magic. It's more of a burden not to see Leila."

"... soon when they whisper such sweet words, you'll be in trouble"

Slightly, I felt heat on my cheeks. I also want you to be me who can make me blush every time. I inadvertently divert my gaze from Mr. Leanhardt so as to mislead the pulse, which has only slightly sooner.

"Well, I hope you get used to it. I don't think we're gonna have this much to lose."

Is Mr Lienhardt saying this naturally, or is he enjoying seeing me in trouble, as a matter of fact I have not yet been identified? Maybe you should tell me I can't afford it.

Most importantly, it is basically a gentle Mr. Leanhardt, but I am all too aware that he is not made of kindness alone. Based on that, I somehow felt the latter line was intense and accidentally gave me an ambiguous grin.

"… we will do well"

Mr. Leanhardt laughed somewhere satisfied and put the pendant on my neck again. The weight of the ring is only slightly increased.

"A week from now, when Leila talks to Prince Wang, I wonder if I could stay out of the room.... the guy who loved you but strangled you. I'm really not anxious. 'Cause I don't imitate things like stealing and listening."

"Yes, of course."

Mr Lienhardt's thoughts are natural. Your Highness probably wasn't willing to kill me or anything, but he has no hesitation in hurting me. You mean Mr. Lenhardt, who guides me above all else, so I guess the truth is that I and His Highness are against talking alone. Still, you're trying to do everything you can because I said I wanted to face His Highness's heart.

Honestly, I'm scared too. Face your Highness, there will be moments when the pain and breathlessness of the last two weeks when you are strangled will come back to life and scare you.

But if His Royal Highness likes me, I'm sure he'll listen to my words, and I'm sure he'll be able to put an end to nine years of mistakes. I wanted to believe that the calm I was showing when I was my fiancée was the essence of His Highness, rather than the brutality I had shown the past two weeks.

It's okay, I'm sure I can face His Highness. Because there was a time when we thought of each other, even if it was love that ended without fruit.

I gently touched Mr Lienhardt's hand and thanked him again for the opportunity to face His Highness.

"Thank you, Mr. Leanhardt. You've done so far..."

Mr. Leanhardt won't speak, but he must be quite afraid to keep me in this monastery for a week. I can't help it. This is too similar to the situation in which Princess Amelia was once lost. I was the only reason why I created this situation, and I was always stuck feeling sorry for myself.

That's why I want to reassure him that I'm a little worried. At that heart, I put my feelings into words.

"At that dawn when everything is settled I will never leave Mr. Leanhardt."

When I tell him that by looking straight up into Mr. Leanhardt's purple blue eyes, he goes way out of sight. In an instant, the ends of the ears were slightly red-stained.

"... you were complaining to me scattered earlier, but isn't Layla approximate too? Suddenly it's against the rules to say that."

"Hehe, with all due respect, if you don't get used to this much, you may not have it ahead of you."

"... I'll do it right."

There was another different pleasure when it came to repeating similar exchanges. Me and Mr. Leenhardt may be alike in terms of love.

After such an exchange, I was able to enter the convent safely, but the nuns were somewhere approximate. I've felt that since the good old dean introduced me to all of you.

The Dean introduced me only to "Leila," but apparently some of the nuns noticed that I was a former Crown Princess candidate, and on the first night there was no one left to try to approach me without darkness. The title of former Crown Princess Candidate seemed too influential, although in the monastery he should no longer have any identity or anything to do with it.

... Princess Amelia must have had a hard time.

I thought of Princess Amelia with a blur while I had some qualitative soup on my own. If the princess of one country were to come, the monastery would have made a fuss of it already.

I'm used to being alone originally, so one decides to spend the week without much involvement like this. Do your job and worship properly and do something about it. When I decided so, a gray-white-haired woman with a soup dish sat next to me.

"Can I join you?

"Yeah..."

I felt the gaze of the other nuns slightly, but the woman sitting next to me seemed as if she didn't care. I stare at the woman who starts eating next to me, even as she naturally does.

"Leila, is that it? I'm Helena. It's been three years since I've been here. Nice to meet you!"

The woman who sat next to me noticed my gaze or gave me a terminal introduction. I bow my head as I sit down and name again.

"Thank you kindly. Again, my name is Leila. I think it's all about not getting to it, thank you very much."

"Oh, good, good. Let's skip the hard part."

Mr. Helena offered me one of them when she drew every cage of bread that was placed in the middle of the table with a slight laugh on. If I receive it reflexively, it pushes me with one more thing, another.

"With such a thin body, it's tough when you deal with kids, huh? We need to eat properly."

"Ah...... thank you. But you can't eat so much."

"Even if you can't, eat it. Look, what about the soup?

Mr. Helena treated me worthwhile. To me, prepared to spend a week alone, is exactly the Savior.

"... thank you. Please be so kind."

"It's okay. I can't leave you looking at a kid like you, can I? I remember my sisters."

Mr. Helena took a soup dish and drank it all at once, making him laugh a bit more clearly once again. From what I've seen, Mr. Helena and I seem the same age, but apparently she sees me as pretty young.

In one way or another, it was just a bad shock until now that I was often told I was "an adult". I think about how my world was narrow.

"Oh, look, do you have any fruit? You want me to peel him off?

Mr. Helena takes the red apple from the fruit that was served in the cage and begins to peel it off before she hears my answer. It was the first time anyone had come to terms with the feeling of eating so far, so I learned what a fresh feeling it was, but someone who seemed to have fun with me. It's a short period of a week, but you could be like a friend. I thought so, and I smiled softly at Helena.

Since then, Helena has coached me on this. He taught me kindly as if he were my educator, from how to clean to the precautions of worship. Maybe the Dean and others are asking me to take care of me, but I was desperately doing my job as a nun, thanking him for the unexpected patrol. I knew I couldn't stay here for a long time, so I was willing to do anything for the monastery this past week at least.

"Look, let me croon there... if I can tie it here and here..."

Mr. Helena seemed to be teaching a young girl how to knit a floral crown. I don't rely on Mr. Helena in this part because I don't have the knowledge to play that way. I didn't even know about hand games or the songs popular in the city, so I would be a boring playmate for the kids.

"Done!

The girl who was knitting the crown so hard raised her gorgeous voice and stood up. Mr. Helena was stroking the girl's head and had a full grin.

"Good for you, you're good"

He said he had a sister, so I'm sure he likes kids. I suppose you're a good sister, I unwittingly loosened my cheeks.

"I'll give this to your sister!

The girl, who accidentally held the crown, rushed in front of me and offered me the crown I had just been able to do.

"Are you sure you want me to have it?

"Yeah! I'll put it on you!

The girl lifted me and I gently removed the veil and drowned my head gently. When I wondered if it smelled fluffy and sweet, the crown could be put on my head.

"Thank you"

If you smile at the girl, the girls have gathered around you all the time. Everyone looks up at me with their eyes shining.

"Clear!

"Like a princess!

Think of it, this was the first time I've had a veil removed in front of the kids. Flax hair, which is often considered plain in in aristocratic society, but may be rare for children.

"Hey hey! Tell me about the princess and the knight!

"Yes, Helena knights!

Soon the boys came together and gave the story to me and Mr. Helena. No, I'm insisting you show me a little play, to be exact.

"I don't have a choice. It's time for worship, isn't it?

When Helena tells her to sigh, the children cheer her up. If I look at that anticipating glance, I lose the option of saying no. I smiled and stared at the children.

"Hey, Leila's lots of radish actors are as delightful as ever."

"... as long as you're ashamed."

At the end of the evening chapel, after cleaning the chapel, me and Mr. Helena were walking down the communication corridor that came to the courtyard. Looking in the courtyard reminds me of the insanity that I showed on that scene a few hours ago and I feel indescribable.

"Well, I guess it's okay because the kids were happy. I was funny, too."

"... I hope so"

I don't seem to have the talent for acting. I was good at hiding emotions or acting "perfect," but I don't seem to be good at playing the characters in the story. Again, the play is limited to watching.

Rose might have been good at this.

Blurry and remembering my sister, who decided a few days ago, I looked up at the sunset all the time. In the distance you can see the royal castle. Rose is probably still singing songs in that place.

It was me who was showing some sort of calm that information was now available, but on my first day into the monastery, I didn't care about all the concerns. I had a lot to worry about Rose and the Duke's house, Monica, and I spent some restless time during the day, but Mr. Leenhardt showed up at a change of date, as promised, to give me all the information.

First and foremost, I was relieved when I heard that Monica still seems to be doing well in that tower. He said there was no sign that he had been punished and that he was now helping other servants with their work. Really, I'm relieved from the bottom of my heart.

Then Mr. Leanhardt also told me about the Duke's house and Rose's condition. But the news is unexpected, and to be honest, very surprising.

Yes, the news that Mr. Leanhardt told me was that there was nothing unusual about Rose or the Duke's house. I was wondering if things had just not moved on the first day I entered the monastery, but after a few days that had not changed.

Even though it was five days after I left His Highness today, I still didn't hear rumors that the disposition had been made to the Duke of Ashbury's house. It would be more natural to assume that the disposition has not yet been mentioned, as the scandal of the Duke's house, which only exists enough to count in the kingdom, is expected to spread in an instant.

Honestly, I still felt like I was clapping it out somewhere just because I was prepared that it wouldn't be weird if the disposition was handed down to the Duke's house the day after I was gone. Will Your Highness await your disposition?

When I think of His Highness, I get a tingling, burning emotion somewhere. You have two days until the night of your promise to Your Highness. For the past five days, I've been sorting out my mind again and thinking about the feelings I should share with His Highness. Let's be as honest as we can, and let's get my feelings straight. I have to tell you that I can no longer belong to His Highness.

Most of all, it was suspicious if the words would come out in front of the eyes where the obsession had resided. But no matter how scared I was, I decided to face it. You can't just run away from His Highness's feelings like this.

"Hey, no, you don't really care, do you?

"Huh?"

Suddenly Mr. Helena spoke to me and returned it to me all the time. Mr. Helena is peeking into my face worrying somewhere.

"'Cause he looked so dark... did I say too much?

"Yes, no! I don't care about acting. Just figured out it wasn't right for me, but it's a huge gain."

"He said it was too soon to give up. Leila's still small, so she's just immature with a lot of skills, and if she's willing to do that, she might enjoy studying it, right?

I wonder how old the hell Mr. Helena thinks I am. We spent five days somehow trying to figure out the misunderstandings, but I felt more like we were doing each other a favor by keeping it open around here.

"Um... Helena, I'm so sorry..."

"Yeah, what?

"My age is one of Helena's youngest, so she's not that young."

"... you mean 18?

"... Yep"

Mr. Helena was staring at me with incredible eyes, and even though I said I was 18, I'd been asleep for the past two years, reflecting on how young I would have behaved to stand, although my senses were like 16. Most of all, in a narrow aristocratic society, I grew up without knowing the hardships to live, so it seems immature and natural from Mr. Helena's point of view, but this silence was subtly awkward.

"... uh, that, noble lady, you look young!

I'm sorry that I let Helena make such a painful excuse. She continues to smile bitterly.

"Yeah, yeah, it's a good thing you look young! Confident, Leila!

I feel like I was greatly deluded, but I laughed all the time too, not sure how positive Mr. Helena was. An unexpected and delightful friend. I spent so much time with her that I was spared being a short relationship.