10.
“……I’ll say it again, I wasn’t crying because of you.”
Unable to hold back at the sight of him whining like a drenched puppy, I said a word, but Jaka showed no sign of improving.
He seemed far too shocked.
Well, there might have been the occasional person who didn’t fall for him after he seduced them with that beauty, but surely no one had ever cried because they disliked him.
……Of course, I hadn’t cried because I disliked him either.
Jaka looked at my swollen eyes, then turned his head away as if he couldn’t bear to look any longer.
And Julie was staring fixedly at the two of us with suspicious eyes.
I jabbed Jaka in the side where she couldn’t see and whispered.
“You said you’d make sure no one found out. Are you going to keep acting like this?”
Jaka, who only flinched for a moment when I poked him, answered in a still-disheartened voice.
“……Anyone who sees your face, Baroness, would think something happened.”
“Is it that bad?”
Of all days, the timing was terrible.
Someone was supposed to come by at lunchtime today.
In this silent estate, where far too few people came and went, there was only one person who could be visiting.
Prien Izanar, the very person who shone as first place in the gossip rag’s beauty survey, was scheduled to visit today.
What if he flinches when he sees my face later?
What if he’s horrified and says he’s going back?
……Then I’ll just have to let him go quietly.
When I sighed, Jaka kept glancing at me from the side.
My head began to throb.
No, was this because of the hangover?
“So when, exactly, will I be allowed to hear an explanation?”
Julie’s patience had finally run out.
I spoke quickly.
I was afraid that Jaka, who was currently out of it, might spill everything without distinguishing what he should and shouldn’t say.
“Last night, I drank.”
“So far, it’s a beginning no different from usual.”
Julie’s voice was chilly.
“R-right? Anyway, Jaka lent me a book.”
“A book?”
“Yes. A novel.”
“…….”
Julie glared between me and Jaka with a conflicted expression, as if wondering whether she should believe this or not.
“It was a romance novel. It was so…… sad that…… I ended up sobbing my eyes out.”
“…….”
“Really.”
Julie stared intently at Jaka.
My voice grew faster and faster.
“I mean it. Jaka tried to take the book out of my hands, but I held on to it and kept, just kept crying…….”
“What was it about?”
The moment I opened my mouth, Jaka said,
“I’ll bring it.”
Jaka rose to his feet and turned his back, then, when Julie wasn’t looking, repeatedly drew the edge of his hand across his throat.
What was that?
Was he telling me to prepare to go die?
Was he running away and leaving me behind?
You traitor!
But to my surprise, Jaka really did return carrying a hardcover romance novel.
In the meantime, Julie grilled me about the contents of the book,
and I ended up understanding Jaka’s intent.
“They all die. I’m telling you, everyone dies at the end…….”
That was the only thing I could say, so after I went on and on about how they died without pause,
Julie took the book from Jaka and quickly flipped through the pages, still looking suspicious.
And sure enough, all the main characters died at the end.
“The book looks a little tear-soaked.”
“I told you I clutched the book and cried. I guess what got on it then didn’t wipe off properly.”
Julie seemed unconvinced, but perhaps unable to find a flaw, she ultimately let it pass in silence.
Relieved, I smiled brightly and made frantic, silent gestures with my eyes, and only then did Jaka smile faintly.
Later, I quietly asked Jaka,
“Where did you get the book?”
“You may not have known, but the only cleaner in this estate is a bookworm.”
“You borrowed it?”
“Then Julie would have noticed right away.”
“Then?”
“I swiped it.”
“…….”
“And I put it right back.”
“Well done.”
When I praised him seriously, Jaka wore an expression as if a thousand emotions had crossed his mind in an instant.
Then he soon shrugged as if resigned,
“I’ll go back to work, then.”
and left to do his job.
I also shut myself in the study right after that.
As I was looking over documents needing approval concerning the orchard, the only source of income for our estate, while thoroughly applying an ice pack over my eyelids,
Julie eventually dragged me out, saying we had to prepare to receive the guest.
While doing my hair, Julie asked,
“Haven’t you gotten close to Jaka too quickly?”
“Why? Do you still not like him?”
“I’m only worried about you, Lady Asha.”
I lightly turned around and hugged Julie around the waist.
“I knew you’re the only one who thinks of me.”
“Even if you say that on purpose, my thoughts won’t change.”
“……What a hurtful thing to say. Of course you come first to me!”
“Really?”
“Of course! It was the luck of my life that you came to my side, Julie.”
“……I also think I was lucky to meet a master like you, Lady Asha.”
Julie answered in a small voice.
I grinned with my head turned.
Julie was weak to this sort of offensive.
Quickly perking up, Julie chattered with vigor.
“It’s all thanks to me fighting with Father and leaving home. He never once helped me in my life, but that one thing turned out well.”
“By the way, your father is doing well back in your hometown, right?”
“Yes, of course. Even though it was near the battlefield, apparently not a single person in that village so much as tripped over a stone and got hurt.”
“That’s a relief.”
“Even when I told him to come up to the capital just in case, he said that even if he died, he would die on the soil of his hometown. How am I supposed to stop that stubbornness? Father has always been that way…….”
It was then.
A knock sounded on the half-open door.
“A carriage just came into the yard.”
Jaka was leaning against the doorway with his arms crossed.
Julie had a tendency to talk at length whenever old stories came up.
I looked at Jaka a little more warmly than usual for cutting her off at just the right time, then rose from my seat.
Jaka’s gaze followed the appearance Julie had painstakingly completed.
“She’s incredibly beautiful when she’s dressed up, isn’t she?”
Perhaps in a good mood, Julie asked Jaka kindly.
But Jaka replied insolently, curling up the corner of his mouth.
“She’s prettier as she usually is.”
“…….”
Receiving Julie’s silent glare, Jaka turned away calmly.
I also left the room to greet the guest.
“I’ll bring some tea, so please go down to the drawing room first.”
Walking alongside him, I asked,
“But do I really not look good dressed up?”
Jaka glanced at me as if I were being pathetic.
“Do you really think that’s true?”
“Huh?”
“In my eyes, all of it is…….”
Having spoken that far, Jaka suddenly hurried off with quick steps, like someone who had grown embarrassed.
I gave a pointless little cough to myself and continued down the stairs.
I shouldn’t have asked.
Shaking my head, I headed toward the entrance of the mansion.
A man was already standing below the landing in front of the door.
Ah, yes.
He was beautiful, as though drawn by an artist’s hand.
With the wind at his back, the hem of the man’s priestly robe fluttered, revealing the scabbard hidden beneath.
A holy knight who went around hiding a sword beneath his priestly robes.
And even at a glance, it was easily a handspan longer than an ordinary sword.
The only reason it did not drag along the ground seemed to be because he was so tall.
The man gathered the hair that had fallen below his shoulders into one hand and swept it behind his back, then slowly turned to look this way.
It did not seem that he had noticed my presence; it appeared to be nothing more than an idle gesture.
Because of that, his eyes suddenly trembled faintly when they met mine.
A gust of wind cut between us and passed by.
“……I meet you again, Baron.”
“Welcome. Please, come in.”
I personally guided him to the drawing room.
“What should I call you? You weren’t actually a priest.”
“It is entirely my fault for not correcting the misunderstanding. Usually…… I let people believe that.”
He seemed to have personal reasons, so I did not ask further.
To be honest, whether he was a holy knight or a priest was not all that important to me.
I entered the drawing room and was about to sit naturally on the sofa when I noticed the man hesitating by the door.
He had said his name was Prien Izanar.
Then normally…….
“Sir Izanar?”
His shoulders flinched.
“Come here and sit comfortably.”
“……Yes.”
He approached and slowly sat on the sofa across from me.
“I suppose that’s not what I should call you.”
I asked while observing his reaction.
“No. It is not incorrect.”
“Then why…….”
He hesitated at an odd moment.
Then he answered quietly.
“I did not expect you to call me that, Baron, so I think I was a little surprised.”
What did that mean? Did he dislike me calling him that?
Prien Izanar was a man made entirely of question marks.
He had the kind of face that made one want to keep prying, yet even if I asked, it took far too long to get a proper answer.
Perhaps I was expecting too much to begin with from a complicated person who went around wearing a sword under priestly robes.
“Then what should I call you?”
“Anything you call me is fine.”
“Truly?”
“Truly.”
The low voice that flowed out so readily suited him, honestly, very well.
Our eyes met.
Just then, the door opened, and Jaka brought in tea along with some simple refreshments.
Come to think of it, Jaka had appeared the last time the two of us were together as well.
“This young man is the attendant I saw then.”
Perhaps he had recalled that day too, for Prien recognized Jaka as soon as he set the teacup down before him.
Back then, he had passed him by as though he did not exist at all, so I thought he had not seen him.
“Ah, yes. He’s staying at this mansion now.”
“I see……. But you took him in without being more cautious.”
I paused.
It was because of what he said so casually, even though Jaka was standing right there in front of him.
Was he looking down on him because he was an attendant, as he had seemed to do last time?
But…… he hadn’t seemed like that kind of person.
Had I really misjudged him?