8.
‘Yes, I’ll show you the way! Let’s go now, the two of us! So please come down now.’
Jaka looked up at Asha with desperate eyes and stretched out both hands.
His heart pounded like mad, afraid that Asha might fall.
For the first time, his fingertips trembled.
‘Hmm.’
Asha seemed to ponder Jaka’s words for a moment, then soon nodded.
‘Really? All right.’
Just as Jaka let out the breath he had been holding and was about to feel the slightest bit relieved.
Asha, who had been hanging from that high place, simply let go and leapt down.
Jaka, horrified, put strength into his outstretched arms.
And when that instant, which felt like an eternity, came to an end.
Asha was in his arms.
The breath Jaka barely managed to let out faltered and trembled.
As if even that did not reassure him, Jaka adjusted his hold again and again.
Asha burst into laughter.
Jaka looked up at Asha, who was nestled in his arms, with reproachful eyes.
Right now, for the first time in his life, his legs felt as if they might give out…….
Then his thoughts stopped.
Asha’s face was too close.
He could see her cheeks, flushed red as if painted over ivory skin.
Her breathing, rough from the exertion just moments before, was as vivid as if it were sounding right beside his ear.
Her lashes, cradling those golden eyes, seemed close enough that he could count them if asked.
His blood raced madly, and his heart pounded.
‘You’re stronger than you look, aren’t you?’
After saying that, Asha laughed again.
Jaka realized, dazed.
This woman laughs when she’s drunk.
No wonder she’s been looking at me and smiling since earlier.
‘……Do you think strength is all I have?’
Asha did not seem to understand what he meant by that.
She tilted her head, then smiled brightly, like someone who had come up with a good idea.
‘Then do you want to come to our estate?’
‘Pardon?’
‘Julie said we don’t have anyone for heavy work, so we’ll probably have to hire one more person soon.’
‘…….’
‘We can’t pay as much as the imperial palace, though.’
Jaka was so dumbfounded that he simply laughed without answering.
You’re in my arms right now, and the most you can do is offer me a job?
‘I’ll treat you well.’
At that calm, untroubled voice, his gaze turned to her of its own accord.
‘How will you treat me well?’
‘You and I can talk to each other so well, can’t we?’
Asha said proudly.
A crooked smile escaped Jaka.
He truly felt that he could not win against her.
‘That’s true. We communicate very well.’
‘Exactly.’
‘If you like it that much…… why don’t you really take me with you?’
‘Here, promise.’
Asha wriggled a little, then took Jaka’s hand and hooked her little finger around his.
Jaka stared quietly at the little finger that was a good bit smaller than his own.
‘Put me down now.’
Perhaps fortunately, she had not forgotten that she had been in someone’s arms all this time, for Asha fidgeted.
Jaka obediently set Asha down.
‘Are we going somewhere high now?’
Why would I take you there now, only to see what sort of state you end up in again?
Instead of answering that way, Jaka found his gaze stolen by Asha’s hair as it slipped loose.
He wanted to quietly sweep it back and tuck it behind her ear.
But he did not.
He felt unfamiliar to himself, his heart trembling so much that he was afraid to touch her carelessly.
‘Next time. I promise.’
‘All right.’
Asha, who accepted it readily, ended up nodding off toward the end.
After coaxing and coaxing her and finally sending her off in the carriage…….
What had he thought then?
Jaka looked around his room, where moonlight seeped in.
It was bleak and silent.
To be honest, he was not unaware that she had said it under the influence of alcohol.
He probably knew she would not remember it, either.
Even so…….
Jaka stared quietly at his little finger, then silently drew up the corners of his mouth.
He wanted to keep that promise.
Even if it had become a promise that belonged to him alone.
When he closed his eyes, he could still see that day.
The face of someone who had been in his arms, dyed in the sunset.
At that moment.
A small note dropped through the slightly open window.
Jaka’s sharp gaze turned toward the sky above the estate.
A black bird that had hovered in the air for a moment, circling several times, flew off and vanished into a dot.
Jaka picked up the note.
In the darkness, Jaka’s gray eyes flashed deeply.
* * *
It was when Julie and I were, as usual, fiercely racking our brains over a tight budget.
I saw someone running across the yard again.
This time, too, it was the coachman.
“What if he trips, running like that?”
At my sighing murmur, Julie pressed a hand to her forehead as if to say, Exactly.
“Huh? But…….”
“Lady Asha?”
I felt a sense of déjà vu.
In the hand of the coachman, who was running over in a frenzy…… was a single letter.
“Another letter came?”
“Has a demand letter finally arrived this time?”
Julie truly was cold-hearted.
But I murmured, a little full of anticipation.
“Maybe…… it’s a challenge to a duel.”
Because Julie started making a fuss, tapping my arm and saying that words could become seeds.
The first one to take the letter from the coachman’s hand was Jaka.
The coachman staggered over beneath the shade of a tree and lay down.
It seemed there was no separate message he had been asked to deliver this time.
The shadows of three people fell over the envelope in Jaka’s hand.
“Who sent it?”
Jaka raised an eyebrow.
“Why are you so anxious, like someone who’s never received a letter before?”
“It’s already been ten days since you came here. Have you seen any letters arrive in that time?”
“Ah.”
When Jaka understood at once, I somehow felt offended.
I’ll have you know, back in my day, I received my fair share of letters.
“Frien Izanar, is it…….”
Jaka, having checked the sender, suddenly murmured.
“That priest from back then?”
“What? A priest sent me a letter?”
I had heard that when I was very ill as a child, someone had come from the temple, but…….
I took the letter from Jaka’s hand and quickly read it through.
And then I learned an unexpected fact.
[To Baron Roxan.
I introduce myself only now.
My name is Frien Izanar.
I am a holy knight who has served at the Central Great Temple for eleven years as of this year.
We met at the previous victory banquet, though I do not know if you still remember me.
I apologize for contacting you so abruptly, but I have something of yours in my possession and wish to return it.
I would like to call on you at your estate in person and offer my thanks, so if you would let me know a convenient day sometime this week, I will come at that time.
May God’s grace be with you until then.
P.S.
Do you remember the handkerchief?
Prien Izanar.]
It wasn’t as if that was some kind of clue. To be honest, I had been unsure until the handkerchief came up.
There weren’t many people I had met at the banquet, but the problem was that I had drunk myself into a blackout.
Fortunately, he was someone I remembered.
I really must not have been in my right mind back then, because I had forgotten to ask his name.
“Prien Izanar. So that was his name.”
“Is he the one you said saved you when you nearly fell off the terrace?”
“Yes.”
“Is he handsome? Is he good-looking?”
Julie asked, brimming with anticipation.
“Why ask that all of a sudden?”
“Why? You said he’s a paladin.”
“And?”
Julie stamped her feet as if frustrated.
“Paladins are free to date or marry, just like ordinary believers!”
Her intentions were so obvious that I wasn’t sure how to respond.
When I only smiled, Julie pressed me again.
“So, is he handsome?”
So I had no choice.
I answered seriously.
“Completely.”
Julie clapped a hand over her mouth.
“The most handsome person you’ve ever seen?”
“Mm. Almost?”
But perhaps my last answer threw cold water on her swelling excitement, because Julie asked back with a slightly cooled expression.
“If you say almost, then who else is there? ……You know you’re supposed to leave that person out, of course!”
From a beautiful boy who had been famous in the capital since childhood to a fine young man, he had successfully grown up—
but I had never once considered Rohwinas Canesion, a man I had once had ties with, as a candidate in the first place.
“If you hadn’t just mentioned him, I wouldn’t even have thought of him.”
“……A-anyway!”
“More importantly, Zaka is handsome too.”
“…….”
At those words, Julie’s expression twisted strangely.
It wasn’t smiling or crying, nor was it angry or sad……. It was all crumpled up into some subtle, indescribable expression.
“And that duke was really handsome too. Why hasn’t there been any talk about how good-looking he is?”
“By the duke, do you mean Duke Gladineer?”
“Yes. People say all sorts of things about him, like he’s scary and creepy and, what was it again, that you can feel murderous intent from him or something. So why does everyone leave that part out?”
Julie, who had never seen the duke before, rolled her eyes as if she couldn’t quite get a sense of it.
“I don’t know. Maybe they were too scared to have the presence of mind to discuss whether he’s handsome or not?”
“Come on, seeing him in person, he didn’t really feel that scary.”
“Really?”
Julie looked at Zaka as if asking whether that was true.
But Zaka, for whatever reason offended, was standing there with his brows drawn together, radiating an icy chill.
“And then there’s Duke Canesion, who was apparently quite the beauty in his youth?”
“Don’t even bring up that damn family!”
At Julie’s roar, I covered my ears, then finally lowered my hands.
“You startled me.”
“……I’m sorry.”
Only after I counted on my fingers and named a few more people famous in the capital for their looks
did Zaka cut in with a sullen voice.
“So what you’re saying is, as long as someone is handsome, they’re all good.”
“Isn’t it obvious that once beauties reach a certain level, it’s impossible to line them up by any absolute standard? Each of them has their own charm.”
In the middle of my speech, Julie, who had disappeared somewhere and returned, held out a rolled-up gossip paper to me.
“Look here!”
There was a ranking titled “Beauty of the Year!” written on it.
Apparently, it was based on a survey in which more than half the capital’s population had participated.
The gossip paper was a hot-off-the-press new issue that had just been distributed yesterday.
“No wonder the name sounded familiar!”
Julie, looking excited enough to burst, pointed with the tip of her finger at the top line—in other words, the first-place slot.
1st. Prien Izanar (65.9%)
It was an overwhelming first place.
When my gaze tried to drift down to second place, Julie reached out at the speed of light and covered it.
Unfortunately, the more she did that, the more I wanted to see.
With a benevolent smile on my face, I used force to peel her palm away.
2nd. Rohwinas Canesion (33.2%)
So it was just as expected.
I wasn’t even surprised.
It wasn’t as though I attached much meaning to the playful competitions these gossip papers held.
But seeing the capital’s longtime popular man get crushed by a new face who had appeared like a comet was honestly satisfying.
If we were still in contact, I could have run to him at once and told him to his face the reality of 33.2%.
“How strange. Why isn’t the duke on here?”
Only after I went quite far down the rankings and even confirmed a single vote from some noblewoman who had staunchly voted for her own husband did I stop searching for him.
“Is that duke what matters right now? What matters is that Sir Izanar is an overwhelmingly beautiful man!”
……Was it to that extent?
Maybe it was.
To be honest, I had been drunk from the early part of the banquet, so I didn’t remember very well.
Should I really cut back on drinking?
But I probably can’t.