Episode 5
The sound of horse hooves striking the ground rang out clearly. So too did the surrounding scenery rushing past in a blur.
Fearful that the hat I wore might fly off in the fierce wind, I raised a hand and pressed down on it firmly.
Watching through a small window from inside a carriage and watching while riding a horse were definitely different sensations.
At first, when the horse began to run, I had sat stiff as a log; yet seeing that I had relaxed without realizing it, it seemed the saying that humans are animals of adaptation held true.
Of course, I had noticed that it was because Rakein was gently controlling the horse.
‘By the way, the village is quite far.’
Even though it seemed we had covered quite a distance on horseback, the village was still nowhere in sight.
To think I had tried to walk this far so confidently…….
Just as I was thinking it was reckless, far too reckless, Rakein’s voice rang out right by my ear.
Perhaps because he had whispered so close, his warm breath grazed my earlobe, and I flinched, stiffening before I knew it.
“Please excuse me for a moment.”
For what?
Puzzled by his sudden apology, I looked ahead and was startled to see a large tree fallen across the road.
As if struck by lightning, the tree completely blocked the path.
“Sir Hekeuseu, there’s a tree ahead……!”
Startled, I tried to shout a warning to him when his arm wrapped tightly around my waist. At the same time, the horse kicked off the ground and leaped.
“……!”
In that instant, my eyes went wide. It lasted only a brief moment, but it felt as though I were flying through the sky.
Even after that intense sensation, even after the horse lightly cleared the log and landed, I merely blinked blankly. Then Rakein’s voice came again by my ear.
“Are you alright?”
“Ah, yes…….”
Only after answering did I realize what state I was in, overcome with confusion. Before I knew it, I had ended up nestled in his arms.
Realizing that my back was pressed against his firm chest with only a thin shirt between us, my body stiffened on its own. His arm was still wrapped around my waist.
“Sir Hekeuseu, this arm…….”
I had opened my mouth with the thought that I needed to get out of his embrace, but I swallowed the rest of my words and brought one hand to his arm wrapped around my waist.
The wind was so loud that he likely wouldn’t hear me even if I spoke. Instead, I thought that if I did this, he would realize his arm was around my waist and let go.
When I carefully grasped his arm, I wasn’t sure if he had realized my intention, but his arm, which had tensed for an instant, loosened docilely as if it had never done so.
Carefully moving my body, I separated myself from him. As the firm sensation against my back disappeared, a sigh of relief escaped me on its own.
Raising my head and looking ahead, I could see the forest coming to an end. The village I wanted to reach was right outside the forest.
Upon arriving at the village, Rakein slowed the horse and began walking it slowly.
“Where would you like to go?”
Hesitating briefly at his question from above my head, I answered in a low voice.
“I heard there is a place in this village where you can leave goods and borrow money. Please take me there.”
“You mean Baker Pawnshop?”
“Ah, is that what it’s called?”
Baker Pawnshop.
Even though I already knew the name, I asked back naturally. It was obvious that if I, who had come to the village for the first time, said the shop’s name accurately, it would seem strange.
For now, I could not tell whether he was my half-sister’s person or not, so I had to give only the bare minimum of information.
Fortunately, Rakein seemed to be fooled.
“That’s right. However… no, it’s nothing. I shall take you there.”
Rakein, who had been about to say something, closed his mouth and steered the horse toward Baker Pawnshop.
On the steadily walking horse, I was immersed in sightseeing around the village.
It wasn’t my first time coming to the village, but I had never had the leisure to look around before. I would enter a store where the carriage had stopped, purchase the necessary items, and return to the mansion—that was all.
Biateu, my beautiful and cunning half-sister.
She was always by my side. No matter which store we went to, she decided everything, and I was never given anything like a choice.
“Herna, you still don’t know much, so I’ll choose for you. Merchants are terribly cunning. If you look easy, they’ll try to rip you off right away.”
Thinking back now, it was a laughable thing to say. Who would dare try to rip off a Keuroijen?
Not knowing that fact, I had innocently believed my half-sister’s words.
And so what came to me were dresses and accessories that suited me not at all.
As I sneered at the past for a moment, a familiar sign caught my eye. It was the sign for Baker Pawnshop.
Upon arriving at Baker Pawnshop, Rakein stopped the horse directly in front of the door and lightly jumped down.
Standing on the ground, he looked up at me and reached out his hand.
Thinking he meant for me to grab it and jump down, I tried to take his hand, but his two hands avoided mine and settled on my waist.
“Hekeu……!”
As I flusteredly tried to call his name, my body was already rising into the air, leaving the horse.
Just as when he had helped me onto the horse, he cautiously and gently lowered me to the ground, then immediately removed his hand from my waist and said the words I had expected.
“Excuse me.”
“…….”
I fell silent for a moment.
Rakein, known for his courtesy, could not possibly be unaware that one must not touch a woman’s body without permission. Then what did his action just now mean?
Even knowing he was not someone who judged others by external conditions, I had wondered for an instant if he was looking down on me because I was a bastard.
That must have been why. Why such sharply pointed words had slipped out.
“Sir Hekeuseu, it seems you have a hobby of touching ladies’ bodies as you please.”
Hearing such a sharp, ungrateful retort from someone he had shown consideration for could not possibly feel good.
I naturally thought he would be offended. But his expression showed no change whatsoever.
Rather, he answered quietly, as if he had known I would say such a thing.
“Since you are dressed as a boy, I thought it would look strange to escort you by the hand as I would a lady. If I have offended you, I apologize.”
“…….”
Hearing his answer, heat flared up across my face.
Honestly, I was ashamed.
He had acted out of consideration for me, yet I had misunderstood him and snapped at him on my own accord. Even though this was a situation where I should have been careful about everything.
“……I apologize, Sir Hekeuseu. I was short-sighted.”
Blaming myself for my lack of caution, I quickly bowed my head and apologized to him.
At this moment, it didn’t matter whether he was my sister’s person or not. I had made a wrong judgment, and so it was right to take responsibility.
Fortunately, neither unpleasantness nor anger colored his voice from above.
“Not at all. I seem to have inconvenienced you by acting on my own accord. I apologize.”
Had he always been such a gentle person?
At the warmth conveyed in his voice, I unknowingly raised my head and looked up at him. And I was left in a daze.
What had surfaced at the corners of his mouth was faint, but unmistakably a smile.
This person…… could he really be Rakein?
Seeing his smile, doubt arose again.
No matter how much I racked my memory, in the two years he had been by my side, I had never seen him smile, let alone laugh.
I had only traveled back through time; I couldn’t understand why I kept feeling as if he were a changed person, when I suddenly started in surprise.
It was because I had realized I was openly staring at Rakein.
Embarrassment washed over me, and my cheeks burned once more.
“Thank you for telling me. Then, I have business to attend to, so…….”
Worried he might find it strange, I quickly turned away.
Opening the pawnshop door and entering as if fleeing, the bell hanging on the door rang out clearly, as if announcing a customer’s arrival.
Fortunately, he did not follow me in. From the shadow falling on the other side of the translucent door, he seemed to be standing in front of it.
If he had received orders from my half-sister, he would have followed me in to check what I was doing.
I stood blankly for a moment, then flinched and quickly shook my head.
Now was not the time to think about Rakein. Whether or not he was my sister’s person was something I would naturally learn as time passed.
Therefore, at least for this moment, I had to focus on obtaining what I wanted.
After pushing the complicated thoughts related to Rakein into a corner of my mind, only then did the interior of the shop come into view.
Being a place where goods were left to borrow money, I had expected the atmosphere to be rather unpleasant. However, the interior was so clean and ordinary that such thoughts seemed unwarranted.
There was no one in the shop besides me. Even the owner was not to be seen; perhaps he had briefly stepped away.
“Is there no one here…….”
Though I had spoken as if to myself, a middle-aged man’s voice suddenly came from nearby.
“Well now. A customer came while I was taking a short rest.”
Startled, I looked in the direction of the voice to see a middle-aged man walking out from inside the shop.
His bangs were slicked back neatly with oil, and he wore a monocle over one eye—a man of very neat appearance.
Standing at the counter, he saw me and addressed me with a surprised expression.
“A face I haven’t seen around these parts. Have you come to leave something?”
“Ah… yes. I heard you can borrow money by leaving goods here. Are you the owner of this shop?”
I spoke in the lowest voice possible so that he could not guess my gender.
Fortunately, it seemed to have worked; the middle-aged man sat in his chair, looked up at me, and opened his mouth.
“Yes, I’m Roman Baker, the owner of this pawnshop. So, pretty boy, what have you come to leave?”
The word ‘pretty’ he had added grated on me, but without a word, I raised my hand and unfastened the necklace I had been wearing around my neck.
“…….”
I had thought I felt no lingering attachment, so why was it so hard to let go?
Clutching the unfastened necklace, I hesitated for a moment before carefully placing it on the glass-topped desk.
Clink.
With a faint sound, the platinum necklace and the purple gemstone attached to it slipped from my hand, sparkling as they caught the light on the glass.
For an instant, I did not entirely lack a sense of guilt, but I forcibly ignored it. What I needed now was not a necklace, but money with which to buy what I wanted.
“……I’d like to leave this. How much can I borrow?”
“Hmm. A necklace, is it? Let’s have a look.”
He opened a drawer and pulled a white glove onto his left hand before lifting the necklace. After carefully examining the platinum chain and the purple gemstone, he looked at me.