“Your Lordship?”
“No. It’s nothing.”
He roughly scratched the back of his head.
*‘Surely not.’*
He was merely a child born and raised in a remote frontier village. He had probably just never seen an imperial clock before.
*‘It seems I’m the one still wandering the battlefield.’*
A self-mocking smile grazed his previously relaxed face. It was a fleeting instant, too brief for anyone to notice.
* * *
I was bewildered.
“Wh-what?”
Burly maid sisters had suddenly appeared wielding sharp implements. How could I not be bewildered?
“What do you mean? We’re here to tidy up your messy hair,” Hazel said with an innocent smile.
Every time she snipped the scissors, her muscle-packed arms twitched.
Wow, a face as soft as silken tofu, but a body that was anything but….
“You’re going to cut my hair?”
The words popped out before I knew it. When I tugged my hair straight as if to hide it, the maids’ eyebrows drooped.
“O-oh, Lord Rubian. You’ll hurt your scalp.”
Hazel treated me like a straw that would fly away if she breathed on me.
“The back is all uneven, and your bangs are so long they must be uncomfortable. Earlier, when you were eating, they kept falling into your eyes.”
“Mmm….”
The back of my head was in this state because I’d had a bad encounter with a flame-wielding demonic beast. It had burned black and matted together, so I’d hacked at it roughly, resulting in this shape.
“Do you dislike it?”
“It’s not that I dislike it, but….”
For some reason, I wasn’t inclined to agree.
*‘Strange. I’ve never once paid attention to something like hair.’*
I sat on the edge of the bed, pondered for a moment, then answered hesitantly. Hazel met my eyes and waited calmly.
Somehow, making her keep waiting felt wrong.
“Uh… all right.”
Hazel’s face brightened instantly.
“Then would you come this way?”
“Yes!”
Before I knew it, a large, fluffy chair had been prepared by the window where bright sunlight streamed in. As I sat stiffly with my hands neatly folded, a soft cloth was draped over my shoulders.
“Hm? Lord Rubian, are you hot?” Hazel asked, tying a knot at the nape of my neck.
“No?”
“Then why are you sweating so much?”
Her voice sounded puzzled.
*‘Huh, really?’*
I touched the back of my neck with my hand. It was damp with sweat.
*‘Am I hot?’*
If anything, I felt a little cold.
I tilted my head with a puzzled expression. The maids briefly debated whether to open the window for me.
“Rubian! Come to my room to play cards— …what?”
At that moment, Void revealed himself through the crack of the open door.
His eyes quickly scanned the room. When they met mine, he very slightly furrowed his brow.
“What are you doing?”
“Ah, Young Master.”
“Hazel!”
The boy who came running in a clatter glared fiercely at her.
“Why are you bullying my little brother!”
“Pardon? Bullying, Young Master? I was trimming Lord Rubian’s hair….”
“Liar!”
What? What’s with him? I stared blankly at Void standing before me.
At the same time, there was a knocking sound. Dozens of gazes moved.
“I wondered what the commotion was….”
“My lord.”
“Packed to the brim in this tiny room. It’s no different from a marketplace.”
It was the master of the house, leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed.
“Father!”
Void quickly ran toward him. The man looked down at his son and slightly furrowed his brow.
“Void, why are you here at this hour….”
“Rubian is scared!”
“What?”
Gazes collided in midair.
I blinked my eyes, bewildered.
The man’s eyes slowly but thoroughly swept through the room.
Void spun around and pointed at me. Or rather, at Hazel standing behind me.
“It’s the scissors.”
“…….”
Uh… was it?
The room filled with awkward tension.
The one most at a loss was naturally Hazel, standing behind me.
“L-Lord Rubian. Were you frightened of the scissors? Is that why you were breaking out in a cold sweat?”
Hazel quickly hid the scissors in her hand.
Then she approached me and lowered her body. Her face looking up at me was on the verge of tears.
“Oh no. And I had no idea….”
“No, I didn’t know either….”
I shook my head, feeling grim.
*‘Come to think of it, I was nervous.’*
Because a stranger had been standing behind me holding something sharp.
Even though Hazel wasn’t a bad person, I had gotten a little scared.
That must have been why I hadn’t felt like getting my hair cut.
“Put it away.”
The man strode over and commanded with a fearsome face. His voice and expression were coldness itself.
“Y-yes.”
The maids hurriedly moved.
“Uh, it’s fine… it would’ve only taken a moment.”
“I’m sorry, Lord Rubian. I should have been more attentive… I startled you.”
Hazel apologized once more. I sat in the large chair, fiddling with my fingertips sheepishly.
I somehow felt like I had become a fussy child.
“I’m really okay. Really. I’m not even sweating anymore.”
“Ruby.”
Then, a large hand dropped on top of my head. When I turned, deep purple eyes were gazing straight at me.
“You don’t have to force yourself to do things you dislike.”
“B-but….”
“No one can force you. Even if it’s me.”
I didn’t know what to say. I just nodded with a dazed expression.
“Cut your hair later. What bothers you?”
“My bangs keep poking my eyes.”
“That doesn’t mean you should pull on them,” someone muttered, having listened quietly.
“It would be nice if there were something like hairpins….”
Then Hazel quickly stepped forward.
“I’ll go out and buy some right away!”
“Wait.”
The man spoke to her retreating figure as she tried to hurry out.
“……The east room.”
“Pardon?”
“There should be something usable. Check, and bring it.”
“……My lord.”
The one who had called out to Mister Leviathan was Butler Adolf, who had been standing quietly behind him.
But the man didn’t seem to mind in the slightest.
“Adolf, hand over the key.”
“……Yes.”
Amidst a subtle tension, Hazel and Adolf—both with tightly pressed lips—disappeared.
*‘What could be in the east room?’*
I racked my brain, trying to recall if there was some setting from the original story that I’d missed. Nothing came to mind, though….
Then Void, who had been standing quietly, approached and pinched my cheek hard. Worry glimmered in his sparkling purple eyes.
“You okay? Your face is like flour dough.”
Come to think of it, Void had noticed first. My condition, which even I hadn’t been aware of.
“Uh… I’m okay.”
Did he have an unexpectedly sharp side?
Anyway, thanks….
“Thank you.”
Void snorted as if to say this much was nothing.
The man, who had been staring at the two of us, opened his mouth as if something had suddenly occurred to him.
“By the way, Void.”
“Yes, Father!”
“What about your sword training?”
“Huh?”
“Training.”
A brief silence. Void began to slowly step backward.
“Riight now….”
“Right now?”
“I’m going!”
A child caught playing hooky fled like the wind. It was practically lightning speed.
“…….”
The man watched the spot where Void had disappeared, then scratched his brow.
“I was just asking. Why is he running away?”
“Wasn’t it because you threatened him with your eyes?”
With that fearsome face, asking in such a low voice, anyone would get scared.
“Ah, I forgot to release my power.”
The man scratched one eyebrow as if troubled.
“This is difficult.”
It was somehow a voice filled with torment.
* * *
“Sigh….”
Hazel, a maid of Count Jebert’s estate, was depressed.
*‘I didn’t know because he looked so unaffected.’*
Dark clouds hung heavily over her face as she chewed over the recent events. There was no energy in her steps as she trudged down the hallway.
*‘You fool.’*
Even though she had thought she was being attentive, this was the result.
She suddenly recalled what the master had said when he gathered the servants.
“Do not touch his body without permission, and do not recklessly bring up the past. He dislikes it.”
Hazel’s eyebrows drooped even more sullenly.
*‘Could something terrible have happened to him?’*
She had heard he was a child rescued from a village ruined by demonic beasts.
He was so small and frail. Just how hard had it been?
*‘I have to do better.’*
Hazel sniffled, her nose stinging.
“To be honest, I was surprised that His Lordship mentioned this room,” said the maid walking beside her.
In her hand was an old, yet unrusted, key.
“His Lordship must cherish Lord Rubian very much.”
“It’s understandable. He’s so lovely. When he greeted me while making eye contact this morning, it was enchanting!”
“I heard from Sir Leon that on the way up north, he gave gifts to each of the knights. Ointments he made himself, apparently.”
“Goodness. And he’s so capable, too.”
“Right?”
Hazel recalled Rubian’s sparkling eyes and mysterious silver hair. His cream-colored skin that looked so soft, his round and adorable features, his small hands and feet that busily moved without rest….
“When he grows up, he’ll surely be a beautiful….”
Hm? Hazel cut herself off without realizing it.
“A fine…? An imposing man…?”
Somehow, it didn’t sit right on her tongue.
But she couldn’t pinpoint exactly what was strange.