Episode 25
Isaac turned to look at him with a terribly flustered expression. He seemed to have been standing there the entire time. Probably for well over ten minutes.
Sasha was startled for a moment, but soon greeted him with a composed face and stared at him openly. Fortunately—and perhaps a little disappointingly—he was not dressed as excessively as he had been then.
Still, it was clear he had done his best to make himself presentable. His tangled curls were the same as ever, but unlike when she had run into him at the barracks, he was wearing a much neater dress uniform.
Sasha was not particularly interested in that. She simply thought, He’s less dressed up than he was then.
The two exchanged awkward greetings, and silence flowed between them for a moment. Sasha pointed toward the back of the major’s residence.
“The shrubs behind here are quite pretty. Would you like to take a walk together?”
Strictly speaking, she too was merely a guest staying in this house, so it felt awkward to invite him inside as if it were only natural. Even if Matilda desperately wanted her to.
“No. Not somewhere like that. There’s somewhere else I’d like to go.”
Isaac shook his head as he spoke. Sasha looked at him as though surprised, but soon managed her expression with her usual swiftness and asked,
“Where are we going? If it’s a restaurant nearby……”
She had been about to say she had been to a few, but before she could answer, Isaac mounted his horse. Then he held out his hand to her.
……Come to think of it, when was the last time she had ridden a horse instead of a carriage? It had probably been before the lady of the house took to her sickbed. Back then, at least so long as the lady was able to move about, Sasha had also been guaranteed a certain degree of freedom to travel.
Sasha recalled Baron Will’s estate, where green fields spread out like paintings everywhere she followed the lady. She remembered the all-white horse she had ridden there, and how the baron had promised to gift it to her as soon as it bore a foal.
“……I couldn’t borrow a carriage.”
When Sasha did not take his hand, Isaac, who had been waiting for quite some time, muttered in a low voice.
Sasha belatedly came to her senses and answered honestly, “Ah, that’s not it. It’s just been a long time since I rode a horse.” Then she took his hand.
It was only for an instant, but Isaac seemed to flinch slightly. Feeling her soft palm touch his large, firm hand, he had to force down the impulse to fling it away and brush himself off.
In any case, he seated Sasha in front of him with relative smoothness. The brown horse leisurely began to run at a moderate pace along the fairly well-maintained road, guided by Isaac.
Sasha recalled the last time she had learned to ride, relaxed her body to an appropriate degree, and let herself follow the upward bounce in rhythm. It had truly been a long time since she had ridden. Somehow, she had a premonition that when she woke up tomorrow morning, the insides of her thighs would ache terribly.
Regardless of whether Sasha was thinking such things or not, Isaac continued to ride. She wondered where on earth they were going, but he passed straight through the town and reached the road lined with the shrubs Sasha had mentioned earlier. Yet he passed that place as well and kept moving onward.
Beyond Sasha’s back, his broad chest brushed against her. Each time the horse stepped lightly, their bodies bounced with a moderate recoil as well, and thanks to that, Sasha could feel his broad chest and shoulders tapping against her back, thump, thump, along with the sensation of being held as his arms lay on either side of her to grip the reins.
“Where are we going?”
“There is water nearby.”
As Sasha watched them grow farther and farther from the road and could no longer suppress her curiosity, Isaac abruptly answered like that.
“Water?”
Sasha asked back in a murmur. It was a question she had asked expecting some sort of answer, but Isaac behind her did not reply. Holding the reins, he answered only after quite some time had passed, “Yes.”
Sasha soon found herself going deep into the forest she had only ever looked at with interest since coming to Lance Field.
As the days passed, it was no exaggeration to say the season was now almost midsummer. Wherever they went, the vegetation grew thick and lush. The sounds of grass insects crying out, loud enough to sting the ears a little, filled the air as well. It felt richly like summer.
The muggy humidity of summer touched her skin in full. Since it had rained the day before, the soil was damp to just the right degree, and the grass held droplets of water on every blade, glittering here and there.
Isaac still omitted any explanation as he rode into the depths of the forest. Then, at a certain point, he stopped.
“From here, we have to walk.”
Isaac dismounted first, then held out his hand to her. With a puzzled expression, Sasha took his hand and obediently got down from the horse.
Isaac soon tied the horse to a nearby tree and came back over to Sasha. The two of them now walked even deeper into the forest.
It was the moment she understood why they had suddenly gotten off the horse. Everywhere they stepped was mud. The earth was soaked full of water. The ground was far more slushy here than elsewhere.
Soon her question was completely answered. As they rounded a large tree that stood like a corner marker, a mysterious little lake appeared. Sasha stared blankly at the scenery before her eyes.
“It’s a fishing spot.”
Isaac answered in a mumble and walked ahead. Sasha followed him, looking in turn at the pretty lake with its glittering surface, the deck set up along the edge of the lake, and the fishermen’s resting shelter built over it in a shape that looked as though it might collapse.
Isaac seemed to have come here quite a few times. With practiced ease, he brought over one of the rowboats tied up nearby.
This time as well, he climbed into the rowboat first. Then he held out his hand to Sasha. When Sasha placed her hand on his palm, this time she felt a warm dampness.
Before she had the chance to ask, Why are you nervous? Isaac helped Sasha into the boat, then untied the rope securing it. Soon he picked up the oars and began to row.
If it could be called a lake, it was not frightening at all—rather, it was a modestly sized lake. No, should this truly be called a lake? It was bigger than the pond she had seen at the restaurant back then, but still.
“……”
With an expression of sudden realization, Sasha looked at Isaac sitting across from her, rowing diligently.
Surely he didn’t bring me here because I liked seeing that back then. Surely this man couldn’t have had such a delicate thought.
As she found herself thinking such rude thoughts, she realized Isaac had been staring intently at her.
Their gazes collided somewhat awkwardly in midair. Sasha remembered the warm dampness she had felt in his palm earlier and found herself growing embarrassed as well.
“Do you come here often?”
“Sometimes.”
The man answered bluntly. Before she knew it, the boat was moving toward the middle of the lake. All around them was nothing but green.
The lake lay in the middle of the forest, surrounded by trees along every edge. Sasha lifted her head and looked upward. The only open place was the sky, and because it was the day after rain, she could see a brilliantly clear blue sky.
The blue of the sky and the gathered clouds were reflected just as they were on the surface of the water. It felt mysterious, as if they were floating atop a large mirror. And this was quite…
“……Beautiful.”
It truly was beautiful. Far more beautiful than what she had seen at the restaurant back then.
It was a splendid and beautiful scene, one that could stand shoulder to shoulder with the handful of most beautiful sights she had seen while accompanying Lady Rosalyn.