Je vous aime, Mariette

"Elroy, rest."

Elroy's brother tapped him lightly on the shoulder. Elroy nodded slowly, then complied. He left with feeble steps toward the search team's resting post.

Anatole's hunch was correct. Mariette gone.

After reading the letter from Mariette that day, without further ado, Elroy decided to go see Mariette. The last part of the letter disturbed him greatly. And sure enough, when he got there, Elroy was immediately greeted by Linda's cries.

"Lady Mariette has been missing for two days. We have already reported it to the guard knights and are still looking for her."

Linda added that Mariette didn't say goodbye at all. No messages were left, nor was anyone watching her leave.

Mariette seemed to have run away and had been waiting for this for a long time.

"Where are you, Mariette?" muttered Elroy as he looked into the distance.

"If she did escape, she must have left a clue, right?" said his brother.

"Impossible. Brother doesn't know how Mariette is. She… she's a heartless person who purposely not leaves messages to be searched for."

"You are so pessimistic. There's no harm in trying," sighed his brother. "Come on, let's go back to her house first. I will bring some of my men to search and interrogate the people of her house."

Elroy complied.

Mariette's house was quite lively with neighbors who stopped by and asked how Mariette was doing. Most are mothers. They said their husbands joined the security knights to find Mariette.

Unable to think anymore, Elroy left everything to his brother. It was his brother who asked permission to search her, his brother also conducted the interrogation.

"I don't think there is anything unusual about Lady Mariette. She was active as usual and behaved as usual. Lady Mariette doesn't ask strange things either," said Emmanuele.

"Spotless record," commented Elroy's brother. "No one has a grudge against her, right?"

Emmanuel shook his head. "Indeed, there was an attack on Lady Mariette in the Palace a few months ago. But that problem has been solved. There's no way Lady Mariette was kidnapped," he explained.

"So she did run away, huh? Even so, we can't take it for granted if we don't find out the motive is…"

A knight who was searching Mariette's room then interrupted them. He said if he found a letter, he found it in the pillowcase.

"From the crumpled paper, it seems that Lady Tierney has slept a few times with this letter on her pillow," he added.

Elroy looked at the letter. There was nothing in the envelope except Tierney's wax seal.

Elroy's brother handed the letter to Emmanuele. "If you like, you can open it and tell me."

Emmanuele nodded and opened the letter with slightly trembling hands. Elroy noticed the change in his expression. Emmanuele… looks shocked and confused.

"Th-this is a will…" Emmanuele told him.

It was indeed a will. The will, which was no-nonsense, included only the distribution of Mariette's property: to Linda who had accompanied her, to Emmanuele who had served the Tierney family, and to a convent in the county where she had presided over. At the end of her letter, Mariette said that she had also sent a copy to the court for legalization. Signed, Mariette Tierney.

"N-no way..." asked Linda in shock.

"It's true that we can't say for sure if we haven't found any witnesses." Elroy's brother glanced at him worriedly. "But I think this letter…"

No, Brother. Please don't continue, don't say anything else, Elroy pleaded to himself.

Because with this everything is clear.

Mariette deliberately disappeared.

And that's because of Elroy.

"Elroy?" said her brother slowly. "Sit first. I know this shocked you too. But… could it be that Lady Mariette had said something in her letter? I've asked Mr. Emmanuele to ask the people in Masoullac."

[If I'm not around, please look for me there.]

As if moved by something, as if he knew where it was, Elroy ran towards a certain location. Cliff. The waves. The sunset. Elroy think he had dreamed of that place once too. In the dream, it was he and Mariette. They were holding hands and laughing.

"Mariette. Mariette!" Elroy shouted when he reached the cliff.

Elroy kept climbing. Then he seemed to be thrown into the past.

He found a horse.

Elroy looked around, trying to find a clue. The ground he stepped on was overgrown with fine grass. Some branches and bushes were scattered on the ground, and also…

"Sapphire brooch?" muttered Elroy as he picked up the sapphire brooch he knew so well.

He began to take steps forward, looking for something else. The further forward, the more uncomfortable feeling.

The edge of the cliff looks fragile. There are signs if someone fell.

Elroy started to cry, realizing that Mariette was really dead.

***

After that, the search for Mariette began at sea. After a week, finally, Mariette Tierney was declared dead, even though her body was not found. Funeral ceremonies and sending prayers were also carried out.

In order to avoid unwanted things, the news of Mariette's suicide was hidden. Officers in charge issued an official record if "Mariette Tierney slipped off the edge of a cliff". Of course, only a few people know about the actual events.

"I… had expected this to happen. But I…"

Elroy glanced at Anatole. His eyes looked red and puffy. "The last thing Mariette wants… is for you not to blame yourself," he said quietly.

"Don't say that to me when you feel the same way I do," Anatole retorted.

Elroy's heart felt like it was being squeezed tightly, but he couldn't even let out a tear. The sadness he felt made him unable to do anything.

"Sir Elroy, I'm not telling you to forget her. But walk forward. Mariette is doing this so that we–and especially you–are happy. So… appreciate her sacrifice."

Anatole clapped him once on the shoulder, then walked away.

"How far have you gone, Mariette?" asked Elroy, looking out to sea.

A gust of wind tickled his ear. Elroy looked back and found Anatole still around the cliff. He looks like he's trying to comfort the twins.

And as if telling Elroy to come over to them, a gentle wind blew again. Elroy turned his head toward the sea, where the sun was ready to set. His eyes stared there blankly, and finally after all this time, Elroy shed his first tears for Mariette's passing.

"Je vous aime, Mariette."

Elroy walked away, following the others to share sadness.