“I’m truly very sorry, Earl. It’s an honor that you’re willing to be my dance partner, but compared to the splendid and colorful ballroom, I think the starry countryside sky suits a country girl like me better.”
Ye Tang finished speaking and turned toward the Queen. “Your Majesty, please allow me to return home and reunite with my daughter.”
Cunning hid in the depths of her eyes as the Queen deeply glanced at Ulysses, then unfurled her lace fan with exaggeration and let out a long sigh. “If I don’t agree, wouldn’t I become the villain who tears a mother and daughter apart? Mary, I approve your request.”
Ye Tang lifted her skirt hem and bowed her head in thanks. “Thank you, my merciful Your Majesty.”
……
Without Ye Tang at the ball, Ulysses felt utterly dejected. Amid the revelry of song and dance, the Queen left early due to fatigue, and Ulysses was soon summoned to a room.
The Queen’s palace had many secret passages. Because of this, she could reach Ulysses’s room without passing through the corridors.
“Your Majesty.”
“No need for formalities.”
The Queen signaled with her eyes, and the servants attending her immediately withdrew. The room was suddenly left with only the Queen and Ulysses.
She walked up to Ulysses and hugged him as if embracing her grandson. She kissed his forehead and stroked the top of his head.
When she was still a princess, the Queen had once had a reckless romance. That romance had given her a child she could not make public.
When that child grew up and discovered his origins, he harbored terrible, improper desires. The Queen had no choice but to bury her own flesh and blood, leaving only his infant daughter behind.
That daughter, once grown, was married off to Earl Grant under the Queen’s arrangements. Yet she died on the birthing bed along with the child in her womb while bearing Grant’s second son.
The princesses had all been married far away to other countries, and the crown prince, impatient to succeed his mother, attempted to poison the Queen and was placed under house arrest. Now, the only blood relative remaining by the Queen’s side was Ulysses.
How the Queen hoped Ulysses could be happy. For that, she did not hesitate to wield the power she held.
But only Rosemary was beyond her control. Though she could package Rosemary and deliver her into Ulysses’s arms just to make him happy, the Queen knew Ulysses did not yearn for a caged canary. What he admired was a wise woman who could bring hope to countless people with her own intellect.
The Queen wanted other male nobles to pair with Ye Tang not merely to bind her to her own faction, but also to make Ulysses give up on the mismatched Ye Tang.
Unfortunately, she had still failed.
“Falling in love with someone of unequal status is indeed a tragedy.”
“But Ulysses, the real tragedy is that you love someone who will never love you back.”
“Do you really want to turn yourself into the protagonist of that tragedy?”
Ulysses smiled bitterly.
If he was the protagonist of a tragedy, then it had begun the first time he met Mary. He had long noticed whose gaze Mary’s eyes always fell upon; he had merely pretended not to notice.
……
Back in Abe Village, Lang sneezed.
He rubbed his still-unaccustomed human nose while thinking: Tomorrow is the Harvest Festival. Can Mary really make it back?
“Lang, what are you doing standing here alone? Everyone’s dancing by the bonfire in the square. Want to go sing a song too?”
Martina spoke and patted Lang’s butt.
Being able to pat the butt of such a handsome young man made Martina glow with delight, her smile dozens of times brighter than usual.
The youth before Martina had silver-gray long hair and caramel-colored skin. His eyes gleamed like reflected silver under the moonlight and firelight. He was very tall; even when Martina tilted her head up, she barely reached his chest. His limbs were slender, with broad shoulders and a narrow waist. His lean physique made even Martina, who had no idea what the “golden ratio” actually meant, want to shout, “Golden ratio!” His hands were particularly striking, every finger joint distinct. Even if they held only a plow or a bucket, they conveyed an exceptional beauty.
The only flaw… was probably that the youth sprouted wolf ears and a wolf tail whenever he got startled.
Though Martina thought that was precisely what made Lang especially cute.
“—!!”
One hand pressed down the ears that had popped out on his head, the other pinned the tail that was bristling in his pants. Lang shot Martina a reproachful look.
Taking advantage of Lang’s good temper and knowing he wouldn’t truly get angry, Martina burst into laughter. She laughed all the way as she headed toward the small square with the bonfire.
In the small square, Ginny was dancing with Trislock, rehearsing for the Harvest Festival.
Trislock had retired from knighthood—he had apologized to Ulysses without regard for right or wrong, and Ulysses told him the one he needed to apologize to was not himself. With a heart seeking redemption, Trislock went to see Ye Tang and Lang, telling them he was willing to accept any punishment.
“Then stay in the village and cover my share of the work while I’m away. And remember to fix everything you damaged in the village.”
Trislock was a man of knightly honor—stubborn, perhaps, but he kept his vows impeccably.
Seeing Trislock decide to stay in the village, his loyal retainers chose to stay and atone alongside him.
No one with a conscience could swing a blade at the innocent after realizing the lives under their swords were fellow humans. Through contact with the werewolves, Trislock and the knights truly understood the words Ye Tang had spoken.
Trislock thus retired as a knight and became nothing more than an ordinary farmer in Abe Village.
It was just that this farmer had been so clumsy at first that Ginny couldn’t leave him alone.
When a clumsy but sincere farmer met a young and strong-willed female village head, the sparks of love ignited at once. But this time, Ginny had no intention of marrying immediately or stepping behind some man to be a virtuous wife. No feelings could sway her will to personally protect the village.
Under Trislock’s lead, Ginny spun in a circle. But as she seriously reviewed the dance steps, she suddenly stopped and stepped right on Trislock’s foot.
Trislock let out a pained wail, but Ginny didn’t even say “sorry” before hiking up her skirt and running off.
“Mary—!!”
Ye Tang had just set her box steadily on the ground when Ginny pounced into her arms. Holding back tears, she looked Ye Tang up and down several times before mumbling awkwardly, “……I thought you’d come back from the capital all changed. Didn’t expect you’d still look so rustic.”
“I thought I’d go to the capital and you’d fix that mouth of yours, Ginny.”
“None of your business!”
Ginny’s angry shout echoed in the night sky. Angeline, who had been cuddling with Mimi and Kiqi beside Eva and Old William, also ran over.
“Mommy!!”
“Angie!”
Ye Tang opened her arms, and Angeline leaped into them. Mother and daughter hugged tightly.
“Tch, you didn’t hug me like that when I pounced……”
Ginny seemed to mutter that in an extremely low voice from the side.
“Mary!”
“It’s Mary!”
“Mary’s back!”
The villagers of Abe Village all happily crowded around.
Lang had imagined many ways of reuniting with Ye Tang, but when the moment truly came and she returned to Abe Village, he stood there stunned. Only his legs knew to move toward her.
Ye Tang exchanged greetings with villager after villager. She seemed even more beautiful now.
Freed from labor and sun exposure, her soft skin glowed with a fine, watery sheen. Even her fingertips stirred Lang’s heart.
Standing a short distance away, holding his breath to suppress his heartbeat, Lang didn’t dare approach further. He feared sprouting ears and a tail again, revealing his inhuman side.
“Lang?”
Ye Tang spotted him at once. She set down Angeline, who had grown heavier in her arms and looked even sweeter and cuter, and walked straight toward Lang.
“Why are you here alone?”
His heart pounded painfully, as if it might burst the next second.
Suspecting he had already grown wolf ears and a tail, Lang’s throat bobbed. He hallucinated his own voice asking the woman before him, “……Why do you know it’s me?”
Yes, why?
Ye Tang didn’t answer. She just smiled and tapped the silver earring on his ear with her fingertip.
Lang realized in a flash, while Angeline pursed her lips in a smile.
It was so dark at night, and Mommy wasn’t Lang—how could she spot the silver ornament on his ear from so far away?
……Heavenly Father, Angeline is sorry. But the daddy who loves Mommy would surely want to see Mommy’s happy smile, not her pained tears, right?
Angeline wanted more than anyone to see Mommy happy, so even if Daddy saw her as a traitor, it was fine. Angeline would support the one who loved Mommy and bring her happiness.
“Lang.”
The little girl tugged at the tall youth’s pant leg. He bent down to pick her up and tilted his head to listen to the girl who had a secret to share.
“Do you remember the place where you first talked to me? The flowers there have all been picked. But it’s okay. Walk forward, and you’ll see a big oak tree. Crawl through the tree hollow, and you’ll find a huge, huge field of flowers.”
The clever and precocious little girl smiled sweetly, her eyes shining with blessing.
“I’m waiting for you to give Mommy the most beautiful flower crown.”