Chapter 82
A full half day had passed since they set out. The sun, which had been blazing brightly when they departed, had at some point hidden itself behind the clouds. When Isaac cracked the window open, the damp scent of earth was already tickling his nose. With an unwelcoming expression, Isaac shut the window and muttered, “It will rain soon.”
He settled back into his seat and glanced across from him. Sasha, who had seemed determined to find fault and had been teasingly interrogating him about this and that, had fallen quiet at some point. Isaac looked at her as she dozed, her book resting on her lap.
Her finger, poised on the edge of the book as if she had been about to turn the page, only twitched faintly as though in a spasm. Isaac had been staring for some time at those delicate fingers, which looked as if they had never once done anything rough in their lives, when—
Tap, tap. Raindrops began striking the window.
Only then did Isaac come to his senses and quickly check the clock. It was already five in the afternoon.
Though summer made the days longer, in a rainy season like this, it was gloomy whether it was noon or evening. As soon as the dark clouds filled the sky, it grew dreary at once, and darkness crept into the carriage as well, without exception.
Sasha was fast asleep. Her head was tilted awkwardly onto one shoulder in a way that looked uncomfortable to anyone, yet somehow she was sleeping deeply. Isaac was considering whether to wake her and suggest she lie down more comfortably when, in her sleep, she absentmindedly rubbed one arm as if trying to ward off a sudden chill.
Isaac rose carefully so as not to wake her. Then, bending so he would not smack his head straight into the ceiling, he cautiously stretched out only his arm and groped for the blanket tucked in the corner of the luggage rack above the seat. Isaac spread the blanket to a suitable thickness and draped it over her knees. He could not bring himself to cover her up to the shoulders, so he simply laid the blanket over the book on her lap.
Just as Isaac was about to awkwardly retreat and sit back down, Sasha, who had been sleeping in that uncomfortable posture, let out a small groan and furrowed her brows.
“……Robin…….”
Then she breathed out an unfamiliar name between her lips.
Isaac froze in that position and stared at her. He wondered if she had woken up, but she was still deeply asleep.
She was talking in her sleep.
“……I’m sorry…….”
Still wandering through her dream, Sasha murmured in her sleep.
At the words that followed the unfamiliar name, Isaac stopped moving and stared intently at her.
＊＊＊
“Miss Grayson.”
Her eyes flew open. The moment Sasha woke, she started in surprise and looked at Isaac sitting across from her.
“I apologize for startling you.”
“……No, it’s all right. I was sure I’d been reading…….”
“You must have been tired, having prepared in such a hurry since yesterday. I was going to wait until you woke, but the carriage has arrived at the village.”
Perhaps because of what had happened not long ago, for an instant every nerve in her body seemed to stand on end. Sasha shook her head, trying to forget George Butler’s glossy blue eyes. Then, as if she were simply trying to wake herself up, she lightly patted her own cheeks.
They were the same blue, but Isaac’s eyes were much deeper. It was not limited merely to his features; it was true of the very way his gaze touched Sasha. Though he was sometimes overly cautious about her mood, Isaac’s gaze when he looked at Sasha was, at its core, careful.
Remembering that anew, Sasha felt more than awkward for having mistaken him, however briefly, and was sorry to him. Then, just as Sasha was about to notice the blanket laid over her knees, Isaac naturally pointed toward the window and showed her the small village faintly visible outside.
“……The rain is coming down unbelievably hard.”
But what caught her eye was only the thick sheets of rain that had turned into a downpour at some point, striking the window without pause. Sasha murmured with a dubious expression. Once she noticed it, the sound of rain pounding from every direction as if it might smash the carriage apart at any moment seemed even louder.
‘……It’s a wonder I slept through all that.’
“If we keep going like this, we will only ruin the carriage wheels.”
Sasha nodded in agreement at Isaac’s words.
“You’re right. It would be best to stay at the inn here tonight.”
The carriage carrying the two of them had already passed through the center of the village and continued on toward the outskirts where the inn stood. The inn employee must have been watching the carriage arrive through the window, for as soon as it stopped, he came out to greet them under an umbrella as though he had been waiting.
Charles the coachman climbed down from the carriage and followed the employee into the inn. After they had waited a few minutes, Charles approached with an umbrella and knocked on the carriage door.
“It seems there happens to be exactly one room left, sir. It’s on the very top floor. They say it isn’t an attic, but it’s reasonably cozy. They’ll bring the meal directly to the room, and they’ll bring heated water as well.”
When the carriage door was opened, Charles spoke as if listing off what he had found out inside.
“One room?”
The question came not from Sasha, but from Isaac.
Charles nodded and continued.
“The people here have rented out the entire second floor for a ball. Something about the magistrate’s daughter having come up to town—that was about what I heard. So the only room left is that one on the top floor.”
“……A ball, on a day like this? What a coincidence.”
When Isaac muttered sarcastically with a displeased expression, Charles replied calmly, “How could those people have known it would rain on a day like this?”
“Thank you, Charles. Then where will you be staying tonight?”
Sasha cut in between them with composure and asked Charles.
“An employee here introduced me to a farmhouse. I’ll impose on them for the night and see to the carriage wheels in advance.”
“All right.”
“Then the two of you should get down and go inside for now.”
Isaac seemed about to say something at this natural flow of events, but Sasha took hold of his arm, and he ended up closing his mouth again.
After handing the umbrella to Isaac, Charles headed back toward the driver’s seat. Isaac took the umbrella from him, then held out his hand to Sasha to help her down. As if it were only natural, the umbrella tilted toward Sasha. It was far too small for the two of them. In truth, it was small even for Isaac alone.
“I will sleep in the carriage.”
With one shoulder growing damp, Isaac spoke.
“Didn’t you hear just now? Charles said he’s taking the carriage to see to the wheels.”
Sasha said this as she tried to take out the bag containing their clothes. Isaac quickly pressed the umbrella handle into her hand and lifted the bag down for her instead. When Sasha raised the umbrella high to share it with him, Isaac shook his head and walked toward the inn with the bag in hand.
“Then I will sleep somewhere else.”
“Somewhere else where? Are you planning to make friends with an employee like Charles and have them introduce you to a place where you can sleep right away?”
When Isaac spoke with a troubled expression, Sasha followed him and retorted sharply.
“Then I will ask the innkeeper whether they can spare a corner of the kitchen.”
“Captain Pinscher.”
“……We are not yet married, Miss Grayson.”
Isaac spoke as if to say that if she intended to use that damned sham marriage excuse, he could argue back as well.
“Fine, so please open the door.”
Still holding the umbrella high for him, Sasha said with an expressionless face.
Isaac stopped replying, turned around, and obediently opened the door into the inn.
“I don’t need the umbrella. It is far too small for both of us to use.”
“Yes. And in the meantime, you’ve gotten quite wet. So first you should go upstairs and change. I won’t compromise on this either.”
“Then I will…….”
“No, Captain. I can’t have you sleeping on the kitchen floor.”
While the two stood in the hall arguing, Charles, who had just come in after putting the horses in the stable, spoke to them from behind.
“Is there some problem, you two?”
At Charles, who blinked and asked as if there truly were something wrong, Isaac and Sasha turned at the same time to look at him.
“No, there’s no problem at all, Charles.”
Before Isaac could say anything, Sasha quickly spoke with a perfectly bright smile.
Since Charles was still standing behind them, Isaac had no choice but to climb the stairs to the top-floor room with Sasha. Once they reached the second floor and Charles was no longer in sight, Sasha opened her mouth.
“Once we are married, even if it’s only in form, we will be sharing one bedroom, Captain. As I told you before, I want us to appear like an entirely ordinary couple who married for love.”
“……That and this are different.”
“How are they different? In any case, I think it is far better to look as though we are so in love that we don’t care about propriety, rather than to look strangely awkward with each other even before marriage.”
“…….”
Listening to Sasha refute him yet again from an utterly businesslike standpoint, Isaac found himself with nothing to say.
And he simply felt displeased.
“Very well. Let us do as Miss Grayson wishes.”
“Good. You made the right choice. First, go in and change out of those clothes. Summer doesn’t mean you can’t catch a cold.”
That was why this ambiguous kindness mixed into her attitude irritated him all the more.
Isaac looked down at her with an even more sullen gaze, then abruptly turned his head and continued up the stairs. Then, as though something had suddenly occurred to him, he turned his head and glared at her as he spoke.
“If you truly wish for us to look natural, why not begin by changing how you address me? You call me ‘Captain’ every time.”
Sasha did not even blink.
“All right, Isaac.”
She never let him win.
“…….”
Isaac turned back around and climbed the stairs ahead of her.
“Then from now on, you should call me Sasha as well.”
“I refuse.”