Chapter 65. Cherry Blossom Rain
2023.11.04.
But the bold enthusiasm from the beginning did not last long.
By the time they passed the middle of the stairs, Blair began to show signs of fatigue. Her breathing had grown labored long ago, and her feet in dress shoes throbbed.
Herdin, who had initially followed behind Blair, was now climbing ahead of her.
With the same unhurried pace as the start, without even a trace of disrupted breathing.
Noticing Blair falling behind, Herdin looked back at her.
"Who was it again that confidently declared she could make it?"
How infuriating.
Blair looked at him with dissatisfied eyes as he teased her, then bit her lip and stubbornly climbed the stairs. Her competitive spirit flared up.
Herdin watched Blair pass by him and remarked casually.
"If you ask me to carry you, I'll carry you all the way to the top."
"……I can go by myself."
Herdin chuckled at the sight of Blair taking the lead. Her refusal to be defeated reminded him of when he first met her as a child.
After that arduous time, the two finally reached the top.
The cool wind at the height swept across Blair's sweat-beaded forehead.
As she opened her eyes, which she had briefly closed against the sudden gust of wind, the full view of the capital spread before her.
Blair exclaimed in admiration without realizing it.
"Wow……"
The late afternoon sky was dyed in the golden light just before sunset.
Below it, fully bloomed cherry trees and five-colored flags symbolizing the festival fluttered in the spring breeze, and between them, a blue river flowed, winding around the heart of the capital.
In the middle of that landscape, she could see the imperial palace where Blair had spent her entire life, and the temple where she had stayed until just a while ago.
Seeing it like this, she truly realized how small the world she had known her whole life was. And how vast the world she would step into was.
Blair gazed at the landscape blankly, taking it all in.
It was the scenery she had desperately wanted to see.
Her fine hair fluttered in the blowing wind. Beneath it, her sweat-dampened white nape glistened.
Herdin, who had been watching her quietly, took off his outer garment and wrapped it around Blair's body.
At that, Blair turned to look at him.
Only then did he exist within her violet world.
"Thank you, Herdin. I really wanted to come here at least once."
Blair smiled brightly. Her smile directed at him was a rare occurrence.
Herdin stood beside her as she gazed at the distant world rather than him, quietly taking in the sight.
The woman looked as picturesque as the full-bloomed cherry blossoms, as the golden afternoon sunlight streaming down.
Only then did this dreadful season when those insufferable flowers bloomed seem a little more bearable.
* * *
The two watched the sunset before finally descending the stairs.
Herdin, who went down first, noticed something strange and looked back.
"Blair?"
Blair was holding onto the wall, descending the stairs one step at a time on trembling legs. She had pushed herself too hard climbing up, and now her strength had given out.
She looked just like a newborn fawn.
He knew she was weak, but to be this weak.
Herdin watched Blair with a somewhat dumbfounded expression before bursting into laughter.
"……Don't laugh."
His face, laughing with that cool graceful arc, was strikingly handsome once again. And just as infuriating.
Blair clenched her teeth and descended the stairs on her own. Then, the moment she grew a little greedy and picked up speed.
"Ah!"
Her body swayed and she pitched forward. Herdin quickly approached and grabbed her waist to support her.
"Careful."
"Ah, than—"
Before Blair could even straighten up, Herdin scooped her up in his arms. Blair barely suppressed a scream that nearly burst out.
"P-put me down."
"I don't think that's a very wise approach. With those legs, it seems like it would take until tomorrow morning to get down."
"……"
Given the current situation, it was a highly plausible statement, so she had no retort.
Blair eventually embraced his neck obediently.
"……Am I not heavy?"
"Hmm, my arms do feel like they might fall off."
"……"
At his playful answer, Blair pressed her lips together in dissatisfaction.
Even so, he could at least pretend to be considerate of a lady.
Seeing that, Herdin laughed.
"I served the madam, so please grant me one wish."
"A wish?"
"Yes, a wish."
Blair, seeing his mischievous expression, quickly preempted him.
"As long as it's not a strange wish."
"If such a restriction is attached, I'm not inclined to comply."
"……You were going to make a strange wish after all, weren't you?"
"Why don't you explain what the standard for 'strange' is first."
"Vulgar—"
Whatever Blair was about to say, she realized a beat too late that she had been caught in his sly wordplay and clamped her mouth shut.
Herdin looked at her and asked leisurely.
"Vulgar, and then what?"
"……I'm not saying."
"Then it's agreed. You'll grant one wish without conditions."
Blair looked at him with distrustful eyes before reluctantly nodding.
Having finally obtained the answer he wanted, a satisfied smile hung on Herdin's lips.
* * *
Blair placed a picture in a palm-sized frame and set it on the bedside table.
It was a small painting of the clock tower and cherry blossoms blending together, the scenery she had visited with Herdin today.
On the way back from the clock tower to the carriage, she had bought it from a painter selling pictures on the street.
'I think I'll remember today every time I see this painting.'
The blue spring sky, the cherry blossoms in full bloom, and Herdin, who was with her in that beautiful scenery.
His voice reached her just as she was recalling his face.
"Do you like that painting that much?"
Startled by the low voice ringing by her ear, she turned her head to find Herdin standing right behind her.
Without changing that posture, he picked up the frame and examined the painting. The warmth of him approaching from behind, his face so close.
Close enough that if she breathed wrong, she would touch him.
Afraid their eyes might meet, Blair hastily turned her gaze forward. In the silence, she was anxious that the sound of her pounding heart might reach him.
Blair nodded to break the silence and answered his question.
"Yes, I like it. I think I'll remember today every time I see this painting. The cherry blossoms were so pretty, and the little girl selling rings was cute too……"
Herdin recalled Blair's finger wearing that crude ring. Her white, beautiful wife's hand made even such a ring look pretty.
"The cherry blossom-shaped cream puffs were delicious too."
Along with the image of Blair munching on the cream puff, the sweetness of the cream lingering in his mouth came to mind. And her face, eyes round with surprise when her finger was bitten.
"And climbing the clock tower was hard…… but the scenery was incredibly beautiful too."
Before she knew it, Blair had forgotten the sense of distance between them and was completely absorbed in talking about today.
Herdin gazed quietly at Blair, who was talking with an excited face.
Her gentle voice chattering away was pleasant to hear.
Her sparkling violet eyes, as if she were dreaming, were newly beautiful.
"But coming down, thanks to you—"
"Blair."
Herdin couldn't wait for her to finish speaking and called her name.
Not noticing the faint heat lingering in his low voice, Blair casually turned her head to look at him.
Herdin didn't miss that moment and captured her lips. At the same time, he pulled her slender waist into his embrace.
Startled, Blair flinched as if to pull away, but soon closed her eyes as if accepting him.
Herdin laid Blair on the bed and continued the kiss.
The kiss, which at first repeatedly pulled softly and released, gradually grew rough as if to devour her.
"Mmn……"
When Blair moaned, suffocating, and pushed him away, Herdin moved to her white nape.
Wherever his lips passed, flowers bloomed. Like the fully bloomed cherry blossoms they had seen today.
Only after making flowers bloom all over Blair's body did Herdin seem satisfied and raise his upper body.
Then he embraced her trembling body and immediately joined with her. A sensation as sweet as cream enveloped his entire being.
He licked his wet lips and looked down at the woman in his arms.
"Herdin……"
The small body filled with his marks, the lips reddened from repeated biting and sucking, the tear-filled eyes, and……
The spring scenery existing within her sparkling violet eyes.
Blair would call it obscene if she knew, but he felt that every time he looked at the painting in that frame, he would think of her in this very moment.
Herdin gazed quietly at the spring existing within the woman's eyes, then bent down and softly pressed his lips to hers.
Behind the shadow of the two joined as one, cherry blossoms were falling like rain.
* * *
The flowers lost to the spring rain that fell for days.
Herdin walked down the long corridor, looking at the morning scenery of the garden now filled with green, and stepped into the room that had become more familiar to him than his own.
The room's owner was still quiet, seemingly in deep sleep.
Herdin looked around the room, muffling his footsteps.
On the table in front of the fireplace, a scented candle sat instead of the marshmallow bowl. She had been practicing getting accustomed to fire by lighting scented candles for the past few days.
Passing by that scene and approaching the bed, he saw Blair asleep as expected.
Herdin raised his arm and checked his wristwatch. There were about 15 minutes left until the time he had told them to prepare the carriage.
It would be nice to wake her before then.
Of course, he could wake her, but the reason he couldn't was the last shred of conscience of the person responsible for making her sleep until this hour.