5.
I shrugged.
“It’s a secret.”
“Everything’s a secret with you.”
“You’re getting a little too familiar.”
“I was talking to myself.”
He pointed at my cheek and shamelessly changed the subject.
“There are crumbs on you.”
“Here?”
“No, not there……”
As if frustrated, he reached out himself, then hesitated.
I thought he would get flustered and lower his hand.
“Should I wipe it off for you?”
I hadn’t expected him to stare at me and ask that instead.
“No.”
At my answer, he shrugged as if losing steam.
“Then try brushing it off properly.”
“Is it gone now?”
“……Yes, well. More or less.”
Annoyed, I rubbed my cheek roughly with my palm, and he clicked his tongue.
As long as it came off cleanly, what did it matter?
“Your temper’s a bit different from what I imagined.”
“Why? Did you imagine some tragic heroine?”
“Aren’t you closer to the wicked villainess with a terrible reputation, Baroness?”
“……Fine, you win.”
“Anyway, you’re a little different.”
“I’m not standing here eating cookies so you can evaluate me to your heart’s content, you know?”
“I wasn’t evaluating you. I was just being honest.”
“In society, that’s called evaluating.”
Perhaps he had run out of things to say, because he held out a glass of water to me.
Just when my throat was getting clogged and I’d been about to rinse my mouth with wine.
His timing was uncanny.
“Do you feel like you’re sobering up?”
“No.”
“You’re pretty honest for a drunk person.”
“Do you think there’s anyone as honest as me?”
At that, he stared at me as if he had something to say.
“You have something you want to ask right now, don’t you?”
“No, I don’t.”
“Ask.”
“I said I don’t.”
“Why won’t you ask?”
“……I’m not standing here to ask you something like that, you know.”
He answered in a way similar to my retort from earlier and gave a small laugh.
I knew what he had been curious about just now.
A person who secretly fed someone else a love potion was going on about honesty, so of course he’d have questions.
For example,
he probably wanted to ask something like, “Did you really feed him a love potion?”
But he didn’t ask.
So I didn’t have to answer, either.
I’d already said I hadn’t so many times that I was sick of it.
“But is it all right for you to slack off like this?”
“Who cares?”
After replying curtly, he fell silent for a moment, then added,
“I wasn’t saying that to you, Baroness.”
“Then who were you saying it to?”
“Well, the people who work here?”
“Don’t people usually describe them as their seniors or colleagues? You talk as if you don’t work here.”
“I don’t really want to be lumped together with them.”
“Why?”
“You can’t talk to them.”
“I see. So you can’t talk to them.”
I had to struggle not to laugh right in his face.
Still, I couldn’t help letting it show, and he narrowed his eyes with a frown.
“I’m serious.”
He grumbled in excuse.
“Anyway, you’d better go back now. Nothing good will come of other people seeing you with me.”
“…….”
“I’m saying you might end up in trouble because of me.”
Even though I’d meant it kindly, he seemed offended at being dismissed.
His expression turned frosty, and he glanced at me.
“Does my being here make you uncomfortable?”
“No.”
“Then what’s the problem? Why are you worrying about that? Even I don’t care.”
I quietly kept my mouth shut and smiled.
Now that I thought about it, he was right.
Since when had I become this much of a coward?
“I’m here because I want to be, so even if something happens, I’ll take responsibility for it.”
He looked straight at me.
“Don’t tell me to leave.”
His eyes were so serious they almost seemed desperate.
“Then do you want to come with me?”
“……Pardon?”
“To the terrace.”
When I grinned, his eyes, which had widened in surprise, quickly narrowed.
He searched for an empty terrace with his eyes, then pointed to the far left and said,
“That one has the best view. It’s just about time for sunset, too.”
“Just for the record, I’m not asking you to go there with any strange intentions.”
“I’m not stupid enough not to know that.”
He raised his eyebrows in reply, then turned around and said,
“If you go ahead, I’ll bring some snacks. Ah, don’t take any alcohol with you. You’ve already had plenty.”
Left alone in an instant, I muttered at the strangely familiar feeling.
“He nags just like Julie.”
Then, as he had said, I stepped onto the terrace on the far left.
When I drew back the curtain, sweltering golden sunlight poured down.
As I walked close to the railing, I saw that the weather was fine and the sky was clear without a single cloud.
The sunset would surely be beautiful.
Just then, the fresh flower Julie had put in my hair was swept up by the wind.
It was when I reached out beyond the railing to catch it.
Thud.
Someone pushed me from behind.
My center of gravity tilted.
Goosebumps rose along my spine.
Instinctively, I reached out to grab the railing.
But perhaps because I was drunk, my hand wandered through empty air.
At the very least, I had to see which bastard had pushed me.
As I twisted my body in midair, there was a force that pulled me back into the terrace even faster.
Held in someone’s arms, I crashed against the terrace wall.
When I raised my head, dazzling strands spilled down.
The silver hair of the man with his back to the terrace wall had come loose, flowing long in the wind.
The face visible between it was sacred, as if sculpted by a god.
So much so that I felt solemn for having suspected, even for a moment, that he might have been the one who pushed me.
Beneath delicate silver lashes, transparent red eyes were examining me.
I barely managed to straighten myself.
“Are you all right?”
“Are you all right?”
The words came out almost simultaneously.
I may have hit the wall with him between it and me, but he must have taken the impact fully with his back.
Yet he was waiting for my answer with an anxious expression, as if worried I might say I was not all right.
“Ah, I’m fine. I almost fell. You saved me.”
He let out a trembling breath.
“I’m glad.”
“Are you all right?”
“……Yes, I’m fine.”
Surely there should have been nothing left but to feel relieved now, but the arms and hands wrapped around me instead began to tremble faintly.
For some reason, his embrace felt hot.
“What’s wrong?”
“…….”
“Your hands are trembling. Were you hurt somewhe—”
“N-no, no, I’m not.”
As if only then coming to his senses, he hurriedly let go of me and stepped back.
Then he stood with his back pressed flat against the wall.
As though even he found his own reaction terribly bewildering.
“Your back doesn’t hurt?”
In the end, unable to trust his demeanor, I asked once more.
“Yes. I’m perfectly fine.”
He shook his head.
Even so, he kept sliding the tips of his fingers against the wall.
As if he were holding something back.
I was suspicious, but I had no choice but to nod.
“Then I’m relieved too. In any case, thank you for helping me.”
“……Anyone who witnessed such a situation would have helped you, Baron.”
“I wonder. I’d be grateful if they didn’t shove me along with him.”
Seeing his face flush with bewilderment at my reply, I turned my gaze away.
Someone was barely clinging to the railing.
“Is it this bastard?”
“Yes.”
Perhaps because he was dead drunk and had no strength in his hands, the man was trembling, unable to climb back up.
It was the very same man who had stormed off earlier, saying I’d regret it.
“Well, thanks to this, I’ll remember exactly who you are.”
“…….”
“As the idiot bastard who tried to shove someone else, only to tumble off the terrace himself.”
“I’ll tell everyone! That you tried to kill someone!”
“How would I have done that? You’re the one hanging there.”
“Hurry up and pull me up!”
I had just let out a breath in disbelief.
Before I knew it, the long-haired man had approached and reached out toward him.
Only then did I properly take in what he was wearing.
It was a pure white priest’s robe.
With a faint exclamation, I was just beginning to feel deflated at the thought of having to watch him save that bastard.
The man seized him by the collar and lifted him up close.
The man flailed and shouted.
“Priest! Hurry, hurry and pull me up!”
“Is it not also God’s will that a sinner receive the punishment befitting his sin?”
His eyes were cold as he said it.
“Look carefully. See who it is that punishes you.”
“What! What do you—!”
The man fell straight down beneath the terrace.
“Aaaagh!”
With a final scream.
I stepped closer to the railing and looked down.
Perhaps he had fainted; I could see him caught on a tree branch, hanging limp.
It would be a lie to say I wasn’t surprised, honestly.
It wasn’t that high a floor, so unless his luck was truly terrible, he probably wouldn’t die, but…….
It seemed the priest with the long silver hair had seen the large zelkova tree directly below.
The priest slowly turned toward me and studied my face, as if gauging my reaction.
“Did it displease you that I intervened?”
“No. Not particularly.”
“…….”
“I’m perfectly fine, and if anything, you’re the one who got hurt.”
Besides, I had also gotten to see an unexpected side of the man before me, who had seemed nothing but devout.
“……I’m not exactly hurt.”
I jerked my chin toward his hand as he shook his head.
Perhaps it had been scraped by the railing; a few drops of blood had gathered there.
“Ah.”
When he absentmindedly lifted his sleeve, I caught his wrist without thinking.
The blood was about to run into his sleeve.
And almost at the same time, the man roughly shook off my hand.
As if he had been burned, he recoiled in shock and even sprang away from me.
He’d been holding me just a moment ago. Was this really something to react to so strongly?
In any case, I quickly apologized.
“I’m sorry. I apologize.”
“No.”
“Being touched without warning is more than enough reason to dislike it.”
“I’m the one who should apologize. I was simply a little startled.”
“No. I won’t do it again, so don’t worry.”
He, who had been unable to lift his head the entire time, flinched as if he had heard something unexpected.
The man softly bit his lip, as though hesitating over something.
“For a moment, I thought your priest’s robe was going to get stained. In any case, be sure to get it treated when you go back.”
He did not leave.
Instead, he took a step closer to me and held out his hand.
“……You may touch me.”
“Pardon?”
“Earlier, I really was simply startled. You may hold on to me as much as you like.”