Episode 49
“What dress will you wear? What about earrings and a necklace? How should I do your hair?”
“Could you ask one thing at a time? And there’s still plenty of time.”
“Lady Rowena, really. We have to start preparing now. It would be one thing if Melissa were here, but I’m on my own.”
Of course, they had brought along two or so more maids to attend to her, but they were mainly in charge of odd jobs. Besides, given Rowena’s personality, she was reluctant to show her body to people she did not know well or entrust them with her hair, so for now, there was only Joanne.
“Let’s eat first. Then we’ll do it. All right?”
“But—”
“You must be hungry too, Joanne. Go eat.”
Rowena cut off Joanne, who was about to say something, and dismissed her. Only after Joanne, her lips merely twitching, left the tent did peace return.
“Haa.”
Rowena rubbed her face and headed to the dining room connected to the bedroom. She had no idea when the servants had come and gone, but a lavish meal was already laid out on the table. Without even taking time to look it over, Rowena dropped into a chair and let out a sigh.
“Why did I have to lash out the same way? I’m not a child.”
It was enough to make her embarrassed by how she had pretended to be composed yesterday. In the past, she would have simply pretended not to hear and let it pass with a smile, but she did not want to just take it anymore. It was a truth she had learned over a long time: the more she endured another person’s rudeness, the less they respected her and the more they looked down on her. That truth did not only apply to five years ago. Living as nothing but kind was not necessarily a good thing.
“What did you do like a child?”
As she rested her chin in her hand with her elbow on the table, someone spoke from behind her.
She knew exactly who it was without turning around. Rowena lifted her head and smiled at Killian, who had somehow approached and sat in the chair across from her.
“When did you arrive?”
“Just now.”
Although he must have been hunting until a little while ago, unlike yesterday, she could not smell blood on him. Moreover, he was not dressed in hunting clothes either. Rowena blinked in puzzlement, and as if he had read her thoughts, Killian picked up a knife and spoke first.
“I washed before coming.”
“I thought your clothes looked like your usual attire. You could have eaten first and washed afterward.”
“You dislike it.”
It was a plain answer. Dumbfounded, Rowena set down the fork she had been holding.
“Do you perhaps have a twin younger brother?”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m sure you said yesterday that you found my displeased expression amusing.”
At the abrupt remark, Killian raised an eyebrow, then gave a small snort at the question that followed. Unperturbed, Rowena continued.
“Who was the man who slept with me last night?”
“You know how to make jokes like that?”
“I’m asking seriously.”
“Rest assured. There’s no such thing as a doppelgänger.”
With a look that said she was asking the most absurd questions, Killian answered and poured wine into his glass. Rowena watched him quietly, then muttered out of the blue.
“You seem to have changed a lot.”
“Am I not allowed to change?”
“No. You’re not.”
He had to be the same as he was back then. He had to be the brazen, arrogant, dreadful man he had been when they reunited.
At her meaningful answer, Killian stopped eating.
“What does that mean?”
“I mean I liked you the way you were in the past, the way you were five years ago.”
“Why?”
The peaceful atmosphere froze over like ice. Rowena avoided the blue eyes staring at her as though interrogating her.
“Just because. There’s no reason.”
He was a man who unexpectedly struck at the heart of things at the most unexpected moments. If she met his eyes any longer, it felt as though he would read even the things she had hidden deep in her heart. As Rowena forced herself to move her utensils in the uncomfortable air, Killian suddenly reached out. She flinched and tried to draw back, but his long fingertips brushed the corner of her mouth. After wiping away red sauce, Killian wiped his hand on a napkin. At the sudden gesture, Rowena touched the spot his fingertips had grazed.
This was the kind of behavior she had meant when she said he had changed. In the past, he would have merely pointed at the corner of his own mouth, but now he wiped it for her himself.
Feeling confused, Rowena lowered her eyes and picked up her fork again, but he opened the conversation.
“You know there’s a banquet tonight.”
“……
Yes.”
“Don’t take off that necklace.”
Without realizing it, Rowena brought a hand to her neck. It was the necklace he had personally fastened for her before coming here.
It was something she could simply obey, but his tone implied that it was only natural for her to wear what he gave her and do as he told her. Irritated, Rowena lifted the eyes she had cast down. Toward this man, whose actions ran contrary to his words, a sudden stubbornness welled up in her.
“I was planning to wear something that matched my dress.”
“What kind of dress are you planning to wear?”
“Well.”
She had not decided yet. After hesitating, Rowena quickly thought it over.
“An evening dress with an open back. In black satin.”
“That’s too revealing. We’re in the forest, and it’s still chilly in the evenings.”
“I’ve worn worse before. Don’t you remember?”
“Rowena.”
At her continued retort, Killian’s voice finally dropped low. At the sudden change in his tone, Rowena actually felt relieved.
She wanted him to get angry, to press her down, to act as he pleased. That way, she wanted to deny to herself that he was changing little by little.
With a calm face, she ate her salad and waited for his cold rebuke, but instead, she heard the sound of a chair being pulled back.
Without a word, Killian brushed past her side, left the dining room, then returned. The moment Rowena turned her head at the presence approaching from behind, something thick and soft settled over her shoulders.
“This is……”
It was a shawl made of silver fox fur. It felt soft to the touch and carried a subtle sheen. Rowena, who had been stroking the shawl in a daze for a moment, belatedly came to her senses and opened her mouth.
“I already have a sable scarf.”
“That and this are different.”
“……”
“Wear whatever dress you want. In exchange, you’ll put this shawl over it. And the necklace, as I said.”
Rowena doubted her ears. She had thought he would get angry or ignore her and leave, but given his prickly and domineering personality, this much was a considerable concession.
As she froze at the unexpected response, his hands grasped her shoulders over the shawl. Lowering his head, he asked as if whispering in her ear.
“Or do you want to go out half-naked without even a shawl?”
“N-no, that’s not it.”
Contrary to his cold tone, his hot breath tickled the rim of her ear. Sensing that if she acted any more stubborn, things would become serious, Rowena quietly backed down.
“I’ll do as you say. Thank you for the shawl too.”
“That’s good. I almost buttoned you up to the throat and locked you in the tent.”
The hands gripping her shoulders moved away. Unable to tell whether it was a joke or the truth, Rowena gave no answer and instead drew the shawl closed to hide the gooseflesh on her skin.
Outside the tent, a gaze that had been peering in at the scene with hostility quickly vanished.
* * *
The banquet held outdoors was splendid in a novel way. The weather was only a little chilly, and with not a cloud in the sky and the moon shining brightly, the surroundings were illuminated even without much additional light.
Among the women who had put on heavy makeup and adorned themselves beautifully with some unspoken expectation, two stood out above all: Miss Philone and Lady Taldon.
If Rowena, wearing an alluring black dress with an elegant silver fox shawl over it, was a beauty with a decadent air, then Veronica, in a fresh forsythia-yellow dress like a fairy of the forest, with flowers decorating her braided hair, showed off a pure charm.
The gentlemen stole glances at the two women while pretending not to. Pretending not to notice the gazes that seemed to be subtly comparing and scoring them, Rowena moved among the people.
“You’re so beautiful, Miss Philone!”
“Thank you for saying so. Countess Rachel, you look truly beautiful as well.”
“Hoho, such flattery.”
After exchanging affectionate greetings, Countess Rachel asked warmly.
“And His Highness?”
“He came with me, but he went to speak with some other gentlemen for a moment.”
“My, the duke must not be anxious at all. What will he do if someone steals away his beautiful partner?”
“He must be confident he can win her back even if someone does.”
Rowena smoothly took the countess’s jest and picked up a glass of champagne from the silver tray of a passing waiter. Seeing her drink it down without hesitation, Countess Rachel looked surprised.
“Were you always such a good drinker?”
“When I want to drink well.”
“So five years ago, you were only pretending to be modest?”
“Mm. I suppose back then I didn’t want to drink well.”
Rowena shrugged and handed the empty glass to another waiter.
“Tell me. Did you really become some kind of merchant? How did your way with words improve so much in the meantime?”
“It took me time to realize that acting nice doesn’t get you anything in return.”
Just as Countess Rachel doubted her ears at Rowena’s cynical answer—
“Your Highness!”
Veronica’s cheerful voice rang out above the bustle around them.
“It’s been such a long time.”
At the sudden murmur, the two women looked toward Veronica almost at the same time. Holding both sides of her skirt, Veronica greeted him demurely, then looked up at Killian with sparkling eyes. Killian, who seemed to have been in the middle of talking to someone else, held a glass in one hand and merely turned his head toward her, responding indifferently.
“Lady Taldon. Didn’t we see each other yesterday? Though we didn’t exchange greetings.”
“I don’t mean yesterday.”
Veronica lowered the corners of her mouth as if hurt and asked in a charming voice.