The Heroines Are After My Fortune

49 – Under the Ash Tree

Renee Este, the Marchioness.

Among the empire’s high nobility, she was the most popular and rose to prominence faster than anyone else.

She didn’t care about rank, gender, or age when it came to choosing talent.

She only looked at ability and employed them accordingly. This was wisdom she had gleaned from her experiences with Aiden. She had witnessed commoners showing extraordinary abilities in their fields and carried that practice over with her, even after becoming the head of her house.

Her stride drew them, those talents once unrecognized, flocking to the Este household like storm clouds gathering. The most prominent example, the Rose Knights, born from the ashes of the Iron Blood Knights; in mere years, they’d become a force, crushing other knightly orders with their overwhelming might.

And lording over them all was Renée, radiating an almost unnerving charisma. She wasn’t a natural swordswoman, no, but in embodying her ‘ideal self,’ she was a genius of the highest order. Eyes that seemed to see everything, a confident stride, movements dripping with grace – each facet of her carefully crafted image gave off an aura that was simply untouchable.

“The way she handled those old hags at the noble council the other day… just breathtaking, not flinching once.”

“Is there even a man in the Empire who could manage Renée Este…?”

Her presence, once that of a mere famed actress, had ballooned into a political juggernaut. And there was only one person in the entire Empire capable of disarming that Renée.

‘It’s been three years since we’ve been alone….’

Renée lay on the bed, clutching a pillow tight.

They had brushed past each other at formal events, exchanging polite greetings, but had intentionally avoided true meetings, lest they dull the edge of their resolve. Their communication had been relegated to periodic letters. They had talked a few times, but the urge to see each other had become so intense that they had abstained of late.

“…I’m going to let myself be completely spoiled.”

Though she bore the mantle of the family head, she was still a girl in her twenties.

She wanted to whine about how hard it had all been, to be showered with affection.

A month from now, Aiden’s final task would be completed, and after, she was certain, they would have a wedding blessed with great fanfare. They would spend their days as newlyweds, sweet and soft, and have children that she could never get enough of. She wondered why he had wanted to meet before all was truly over, but figured it was a pre-celebration of sorts.

‘Surely…it’ll happen today…?’

She had even prepared a special set of underthings.

It was ‘that memory,’ the same thing that had strengthened her resolve, that tormented her, as well.

The day they first kissed, the love they shared, intense and fiery after he carried her to the bed – it had given her a pleasure so strong it felt like her mind had melted.

His firm body pressing close, his tongue moving like a serpent, the sounds that erupted every time they joined, rocking the room – the feeling, even after all these years, was still etched in her mind.

And to have experienced such a thing only once, and then to be separated from Aiden…

If only she had never known it at all. Knowing that taste and having to endure its absence was a pain of another level. To forget the urges that arose from time to time, she had thrown herself even more fervently into family affairs.

The result of all that endurance was this meeting.

But, his reunion was the worst.

“What… what did you just say?”

Rene’s hand trembled, a jittering leaf.

Aiden, kneeling as if shame had weighted him down, spoke again.

“Rene, I am truly sorry. Unintentionally, with the Saintess, that… I committed a one-night error.”

“Ah…”

Her head swam, a dizzying vortex.

She grasped at the threads of reason, barely, and asked.

“So?”

“…Huh?”

“It doesn’t seem like you’ve come simply to apologize. There’s something more you need to say, isn’t there?”

‘A demon…’

Rene knew at once, it wasn’t simply an apology for a mistake. It was due to her sharp insights, yes, but even more so because of her deep understanding of Aiden. He hesitated a moment, then squeezed his eyes shut, and spoke.

“I want to take responsibility for both. For Rene, and for Dimona.”

“………….”

Rene stayed silent, never in her wildest imaginings had she thought such words would fall from the mouth of the man she loved.

“I can’t believe it, not at all.”

“…I am without excuse.”

“How, how could you do this to me? For three years, I have lived only picturing a future with you…!”

“I too, have held on with thoughts of our future. The one I love most hasn’t changed. It’s always been you, Rene…”

“So, you’re telling me that a man like you, not only did you bed the Saintess while I was away, but you’re also going to keep her?”

“……”

Renee felt as though everything she’d built up had come crashing down. She’d believed she and Aiden were fated.

Approaching him for a political marriage at her father’s command, then temporarily cooperating to gain freedom, and finally falling in love after achieving their goals—it all felt like destiny to her.

Because of that, she’d given him her unwavering trust these last few years, not doubting him even once, and wholeheartedly supporting him in any way she could.

The recent dealings with the Papal States were the same. Though there was a touch of unease since his opponent was the Saintess, she trusted him and cheered him on when he said he had to solve it… only to find out he’d been busy getting cozy behind her back. Such great faith had bred an equally great betrayal.

‘…If it’s destiny, it’s a cruel one, indeed.’

Just as the moments they shared together were like scenes from a movie, this moment mirrored the impromptu play she and Aiden had once put on in a tavern. Lulu, the heroine, is deeply disappointed to learn that Eden had approached her for her money, yet realizes her love for him is too great to ignore, and so accepts him.

She’d often thought about it, back then.

Could Renee, herself, forgive a man like Lulu had?

‘……I thought I could, of course.’

If she’d felt his love fully, she thought she could forgive him for such a slight blemish. But now that it was reality, it wasn’t as easy as she’d imagined. The love he muttered echoed hollowly, not stirring anything in her heart.

Tears threatened to spill, but she held them back.

To lose control of her emotions now would be bad for both her and Aiden, she felt.

She just desperately needed time to be alone.

“…I need to rest a bit.”

“Renee, please, just give me a moment to explain…!”

“Please leave. I don’t want to hear anything right now.”

Renee pointed towards the door, giving him the boot.

Aiden felt as if a hard, unyielding wall had been erected between them.

‘If I go on like this…’

Their bond might just slip into a place of no return. That would be a complication. If words couldn’t fix it, he’d have to use his last resort, the one he’d kept ready. From inside his coat, Aiden pulled something out, then ran straight at Rhene.

“…My apologies, just a moment.”

“Wait, what do you think you’re—!?”

Aiden scooped her up, and with a *rip*, he tore the scroll from his grasp.

A blinding light burst forth with it.

And just like that, the two of them vanished from the Este family estate.

####

“Where…is this?”

Coming to, Rhene realized she was in some sort of vehicle.

Sitting next to her was Aiden Roen.

“Are you awake?”

“Huuu……”

The realization that the man before her was responsible made Rhene sigh.

“…I seem to be discovering many new sides to you today, Aiden. Though they’re the unpleasant kind.”

“It was unavoidable.”

“What on earth was so unavoidable?”

“I was afraid. If I let you go like that, I might never see you again.”

“…………Huuu.”

As well as Rhene knew herself, Aiden knew her just as well. If things had continued as they were, there was no denying it could’ve turned out just as he feared.

She turned it over in her head, this thing.

Whether it’d be better to just fly off the handle, leave him be in her anger.

‘…Dunno.’

First, she figured there must be a reason for Aiden pushing himself like this. She decided to watch the situation unfold, then make up her mind. Until she heard all he had to say, she’d hold off her attack, act normal for a bit.

“So, where exactly are you taking me?”

Rene, with some of the heat cooled, asked calmly.

“I want to show you the village I used to live in.”

“A village?”

Aiden today, he was set on showing himself bare.

All the gloomy stories he couldn’t tell before, being ‘Aiden Roen’.

“The stories, we’ll tell them there.”

“…Fine.”

And then, a silence settled between them.

Not long after, the car pulled to a stop in a village on the outskirts, the hour being dawn so almost no one was out and about. Even those that were, because Aiden had used a recognition-dampening scroll he’d prepared, they moved through it all without drawing any eyes.

“This is the house where Elena and I lived.”

The house, which he bought from the owner on the off chance he’d need it later, remained the same.

“How can someone live in a place like this….”

“Most houses on the outskirts are like this. This is actually one of the nicer ones.”

Rene, having a bit of culture shock, looked around the house this way and that. One part of the house particularly stood out in her eyes.

“The floorboards there, they’re broken. Did you leave them that way on purpose?”

“Aye, these are marks from when I was trying to take my own life. Elena barely found me in time and stopped me. I kept them so I wouldn’t forget the feeling of that time.”

“Yes, yes…?”

“Let’s go. You’ve seen enough here.”

“……………”

She couldn’t believe he’d tried to kill himself.

Aiden cut off the topic sharply and led her to the next place. She didn’t bother asking what had happened. She just guessed that living here had been so hard, he’d thought about ending it.

And sights that fitted that guess soon came into her view. Aiden showed her various parts of the village.

“This is where I used to sell my paintings. Now my work’s gotten a bit of a bubble, so they go for tens of thousands of gold, but back then, getting even one silver was hard.”

“This is where those thugs who were after Elena beat you up. You’re lucky to not be crippled somewhere back then.”

“This here is the busy tavern. The owner’s known to be a man-lover, and he’d say, if I wanted my wages, I should drink with him, just the two of us. I remember barely escaping then.”

“……………”

He spoke about those times like they were nothing, so matter-of-fact. But they were stories of a hard world she’d never imagined.

“How did you endure it, you…?”

“I figured, my life’s a novel, right? So these hardships are just something I have to go through. I held on, thinking that someday, somehow, I’d see the light.”

“……………”

She’d thought Aiden was so skilled at so many things, and had such a strong backbone that even nobles couldn’t push him around. She’d thought he’d lived his common life with dignity, never begging. But the past she saw today was deeply bleak.

“Seems like I’ve been telling you too many depressing things. Now, I’ll show you the places I like.”

Aiden led her to the village square.

There, a giant tree stood alone.

“The thing you wanted to show me, is it this tree?”

“Yes, they call it an ash tree. Yulnemann Roen, the man people mistake as my own father, he and I would often take the air here.”

Aiden made up his mind.

He would reveal a secret to her, one he had never voluntarily spoken to anyone.

“What? Mistake? What are you saying? You two are clearly…”

“I am neither Yulnemann’s true son, nor do I carry the Roen family’s bloodline.”

“That means…?”

“Yes, I am, by origin, a pure commoner. Rhene Este.”

“………………!!”

Rhene, truly shaken.

Her eyelids fluttered.