Side Story Episode 6 2024.06.
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2. “What if someone sees?” It was true that he had once teased Claudel like that. The words had been steeped in honest desire, but he had not truly meant to do it. ‘If I’d wanted to do it there, I would have pounced on her long ago.’ If Kaian set his mind to it, could Claudel possibly overcome his strength? It was not that he had no curiosity whatsoever, but when he pestered her, reminiscing about their first kiss and saying he wanted to do it there, Claudel’s solemn expression had been so lovely that he had only wanted to tease her. Spouting lowborn nonsense that she would surely hate was childish, but enjoyable. He had never once imagined that such vulgar words would come out of his own mouth. Even so, he had not the slightest intention of forcing something on her that she would truly refuse and despise. Because he did not want Claudel to hate him. ‘Hate me? I’m already going mad just because we haven’t been able to spend a few proper days together.’ Remembering the way she had once pushed him away, saying she disliked him and hated him, made a faint chill rise along the back of his neck. When he unconsciously rubbed the gooseflesh there with his hand, his fingers brushed against stiff gold-thread embroidery that still carried the newness of the garment. “Hah. Damn it.” Kaian irritably undid the gold buttons, took off the clothes, and tossed them roughly onto the desk. Clink. The dazzling, heavy medals knocked against one another, producing a sound that almost managed to be clear and bright. “Rohan Hindenburg. Why did you have to say such nonsense to me?” I fully funded that fellow so he could spread his dreams. “And did I not practically introduce him to his wife as well?” He had been annoyed by Claudel’s excessive interest in Rohan and invited Hanna to dinner, only to learn, after a child had already come into being between them, that the two had fallen for each other at that very table. At a time when his wife and child might have lost their lives. ‘I am sorry, Your Grace.’ It was not Rohan’s place to be sorry, but the timing had been like that. Still, it had not been Rohan or Hanna’s fault. The greater sin had been his own, for hurting Claudel. He had never blamed Rohan for that or held any lingering grudge. When Rohan, while he was away at war, sent a letter of thanks saying that Hanna had safely given birth, Kaian had even sent someone to the butler with orders to grant them a generous gift of gold coins in celebration. ‘And yet he repays kindness with enmity.’ Rohan’s words kept circling in his head. ‘Perhaps you have entered a period of weariness?’ ‘A period of weariness?’ ‘Is it not true that what becomes familiar quickly grows tiresome?’ A possibility that absolutely should not exist had sprouted from that single sentence. Today was the first time Kaian had ever paid such attention to his clothes because he wanted to look impressive to Claudel. For occasions like the wedding, whose formal attire Kaian had secretly prepared in advance, the preparation of the garments itself held important meaning, so there had been a need to try them against his body beforehand. But otherwise, even before Madame Marcel began coming, he had simply left everything to the castle seamstress and worn whatever she gave him. Valquiter had disparaged the castle seamstress, who had worked there since the time of the previous duke and duchess, saying her sense was rustic and atrocious, but in the past Kaian had not cared even when he heard such things. Who in Rowen would dare evaluate the Duke of Temnes by fashion? When he merely passed by, people were busy bending at the waist and bowing their heads. Besides, though the designs differed from the capital’s trends, the clothes he wore were made of fine fabric and suited the basic dignity of an aristocratic man. Even in the capital, those who were not young nobles dressed as he did and attended balls and court councils without issue. And yet, after making such a fuss like a parrot courting a female, carrying leaves over to stick them in its tail and strutting to its fullest, he had returned without so much as holding Claudel’s hand, let alone spending a pleasant time with her. This was wrong. There was a very, very serious problem. “I got angry there, didn’t I?” The beginning had certainly been good. Seeing Claudel’s cheeks shyly redden when she looked at his dressed-up appearance, Kaian had been certain. ‘See? She isn’t tired of me.’ A period of weariness, my ass. Kaian intended not to forget today. He was determined that if Hanna and Rohan ever had so much as a marital quarrel, he would throw those exact words back at that lucky sailor. It had been a sunny day. The scent of spring flowers and grass mingled together and wrapped around them. On the cozy spread beneath the shade of a tree lay a flower crown that Claudel had surely made with the intention of placing it on his head. The sight of his wife, who still retained something girlish, made him smile of its own accord. ‘These suit you, too.’ When he was with Claudel, she would try placing things blooming everywhere upon his head. ‘Because your hair is black, even the colors of the flowers look pretty, like starlight.’ How sweet and wonderful the kiss he received in return had been, after he indulged her enjoyment. He realized anew that, indeed, after becoming king, he had had no room in his heart. ‘For what reason did I establish a kingdom?’ It had been to build the power to protect Claudel and Julien. When Rowen had been merely one territory of the Kingdom of Oberon, no matter how vast Rowen’s lands were, they had only been a part of the whole kingdom. When Valquiter made a grand proclamation that he would punish Kaian, it was not easy for other territories to raise the banner of revolt. Among the territories now incorporated into the Kingdom of Rowen, there were several that had had soldiers levied by Valquiter. A lord had a duty to protect his territory. Even if it went against one’s wishes, it was not easy to rashly oppose a king’s command. Kaian had no particular intention of pointing fingers at them as traitors or suspecting them. If he had drawn a firm line against Oberon entirely, they might have stood on his side, but without that, when the entire kingdom was facing a single territory, choosing to join the Rowen army would have been difficult. He showed generosity without discriminating between territories that had been friendly to Rowen and those that had participated in the Oberon royal army. After all, if someone had something to feel guilty about and Kaian treated them magnanimously, they could not help but feel comparatively grateful, and that gratitude would lead to loyalty. ‘I thought that once state affairs stabilized, we would get along even better than before.’ That day had not come easily, even as nearly a year passed. Not only that, but how much more of a country did this damned kingdom have to become before there would be fewer things for him to concern himself with? Drawing the channels of exchange that had been concentrated in Oberon’s capital over to Rowen was no simple task. While he was tangled in those thoughts, Claudel quietly untied her overskirt and took off her loose dress. In that time, she had become rather skilled at swimming. ‘At first, she couldn’t even float.’ Feeling proud, he could not take his eyes off Claudel’s graceful movements as she stroked through the water. ‘So she wasn’t swimming completely naked.’ He had wondered what she did when she was alone. Seeing her approach the water wearing both upper and lower undergarments, just as she had when he first taught her to swim, he found her conservative attitude pleasing, whether anyone was present or not. But he soon realized that thought had been a mistaken judgment based on insufficient information. Once the exceedingly thin underclothes were soaked through and clung to her, they revealed her existence as meaninglessly as the skin of an animal shedding its shell. Only then did the old memory come back to him even more vividly. That moment when, though he too had been drenched from head to toe, his throat had burned at the sight of Claudel lying on the surface of the water. That day when water flowed all around him, yet he had been so stifled by thirst it felt like an ascetic ordeal. Splash. Claudel glanced once in his direction, as if telling him to look at her, then swam down into the water. When she repeated the act of diving this way and that, briefly lifting her red, wet hair above the surface before slipping back in, she could hardly be perceived as human. It was an unrealistically beautiful sight. The rear garden of Rowen Castle had been a place filled with many memories for him since childhood. It was one of the places he held especially dear, but never before had it felt so mystical. As she swam toward the water’s edge with a triumphant smile, Kaian felt his throat tighten a little. No words came to mind to express his feelings. The fact that she had learned to swim so diligently on her own only to use it to leave him was saddening, yet the sight of her swimming was that beautiful. As if he were looking at a work into which some nameless artist had poured his entire soul, her figure stirred ripples in his heart like waves upon the lake. Claudel climbed out of the water and asked him, ‘What do you think? I learned well, didn’t I?’ As he replied that she had, Kaian’s eyes narrowed. The clinging fabric was revealing the shading of every place on her body where the color had deepened even slightly. Kaian hurriedly looked for a towel. At the very moment when he could think of nothing but quickly wrapping something around her body to cover her. Slide. He heard the sound of wet cord rubbing. Claudel had pulled on the cord threaded in a zigzag across the front of the sleeveless top she was wearing. Between the parting fabric, the tracks of water running down along a white, smooth curve drew his gaze with indecent force. ‘You may do as you wish.’ He doubted his own ears. If Kaian had not stopped her, Claudel truly seemed ready to take off the rest of her clothes right there. Had the process been so sudden that he had raised his voice too much? Thinking of Claudel, who had looked far too dejected, he had no idea what he ought to do now. Then, suddenly, he remembered something she had once told him. “She definitely said she met Valquiter while swimming alone in the rear garden.” She had said it had seemed strange that there was someone who did not know she was the duchess. ‘Then does that mean that bastard saw her like that?’ In that instant, the sole thread of reason that had been holding Kaian together as a human being snapped. The king, bristling with murderous intent, sprang from his seat and strode out, and those he encountered in the corridor were so startled that they could not even properly offer their greetings before hurriedly lowering their heads. Bang. Kaian roughly flung open Claudel’s door without knocking, then froze in astonishment. The room was filled with the smell of liquor potent enough to seem harsh. Claudel blinked at him, then sprang to her feet in delight. “Kaiaaaaaan!”