Episode 5
The sound of horse hooves striking the ground rang out clearly. The surrounding scenery rushing past, too.
Worried the hat I wore might fly away in the fierce wind, I raised my hand and pressed down on it tightly.
Looking through a small window inside a carriage and watching while riding a horse felt undeniably different.
Though I had sat as stiff as a log when the horse first began to run, seeing how I had relaxed before I knew it made me think that humans truly were creatures of adaptation.
Of course, I had noticed it was because Rakein was handling the horse so gently.
‘By the way, this village is quite far.’
Even though it felt like we had ridden quite a distance, the village was still nowhere in sight.
To think I had tried to walk this far with such confidence…….
Just as I was thinking it reckless, far too reckless, Rakein’s voice rang directly in my ear.
Perhaps because he had whispered from so close, his warm breath grazed my earlobe, making me flinch and tense up unwittingly.
“Forgive me for a moment.”
For what?
Puzzled by his sudden request for understanding, I looked ahead and flinched at the sight of a massive fallen tree.
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 firmly around my waist. At the same time, the horse kicked off the ground and leaped.
“……!”
Instantly, I opened my eyes wide. It was only for a brief moment, but it felt as though I were flying through the sky.
Under that intense sensation, even after the horse lightly cleared the log and landed back on the ground, I merely blinked blankly. Then Rakein’s voice reached my ear once more.
“Are you alright?”
“Ah, yes…….”
Only after answering did I realize what state I was in, and I was steeped in bewilderment. Before I knew it, I had ended up nestled in his embrace.
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 intention of escaping 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 doing this would make him realize he was holding my waist and let go.
When I carefully grasped his arm, I couldn’t tell if he recognized my intent, but his arm, which had tensed for an instant, relaxed willingly as if nothing had happened.
Carefully moving my body, I pulled away from him. As the firm sensation against my back disappeared, a sigh of relief escaped me naturally.
Raising my head to look ahead, I saw that the forest was coming to an end. The village I was headed to was right beyond the forest.
As soon as we arrived at the village, Rakein slowed the horse and began to guide it slowly.
“Where to?”
I hesitated for a moment at his question from above my head, then answered in a low voice.
“I heard there’s a place in this village where you can leave items and borrow money. Please take me there.”
“You mean Baker Pawnshop?”
“Ah, is that what it’s called?”
Baker Pawnshop.
Even though I knew the name, I asked back naturally. It was obvious that if someone like me, who had come to the village for the first time, precisely named the shop, it would seem strange.
For now, since I couldn’t tell whether he was my half-sister’s person or not, I had to give him the bare minimum of information.
Fortunately, Rakein seemed to fall for it.
“That is correct. However… no. I shall take you there.”
Rakein, who had seemed about to say something, closed his mouth and steered the horse toward Baker Pawnshop.
As the horse walked steadily, I became immersed in taking in the village.
It wasn’t my first time coming to the village, but I had never had the leisure to look around. I would enter whatever shop the carriage stopped at, purchase necessities, and return to the mansion—that was all.
Biateu, my beautiful and cunning half-sister.
She had always been by my side. No matter which shop we entered, she made all the decisions, and I was never given anything resembling a choice.
“Hereuna, you don’t know any better yet, 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 utterly laughable. Who would dare rip off a Keuroijen?
Not knowing that fact, I had innocently believed my half-sister’s words.
As a result, what I received in return were dresses and accessories that suited me not in the slightest.
As I was recalling the past with a sneer, a familiar sign caught my eye. It was the sign for Baker Pawnshop.
Upon arriving at Baker Pawnshop, Rakein reined in the horse right in front of the door and lightly dismounted.
Standing on the ground, he looked up at me and extended his hand.
Thinking he meant for me to take it and jump down, I tried to grasp his hand, but both of his hands avoided mine and settled on my waist.
“Hekeu……!”
As I, flustered, tried to call his name, my body was already floating into the air, away from the horse.
Just as when he had helped me onto the horse, he lowered my body to the ground carefully and gently, then immediately removed his hands from my waist and said the words I had expected.
“I apologize for the discourtesy.”
“…….”
I fell silent for a moment.
There was no way Rakein, renowned for his propriety, would not know that one must not touch a woman’s body without permission. Yet what did his actions just now signify?
Even though I knew he was not someone who judged others by their outward conditions, the thought crossed my mind that perhaps he was taking me lightly because I was a bastard.
That must have been why. Sharp words had slipped out.
“It seems Sir Hekeuseu has a hobby of touching ladies’ bodies as he pleases.”
Hearing such brazenly sharp words from the very person one had been considerate toward could not feel pleasant.
I thought he would naturally be displeased. 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. I apologize if I offended you.”
“…….”
Hearing his answer, heat flared across my face.
Honestly, I was embarrassed.
He had acted out of consideration for me, yet I had misunderstood him willfully and snapped at him. Even though this was a situation where I had to be careful with everything.
“……I’m sorry, Sir Hekeuseu. I was thoughtless.”
Blaming myself for my lack of caution, I quickly bowed my head and apologized to him.
Right now, whether he was my sister’s person or not wasn’t important. I had made a wrong judgment, and so it was only right to take responsibility.
Fortunately, his voice from above my head held neither a hint of displeasure nor anger.
“Not at all. It seems I acted arbitrarily based only on my own thoughts and caused you discomfort. I apologize.”
Had he always been such a gentle person?
At the warmth conveyed in his voice, I unwittingly raised my head to look up at him. And I was struck dumb.
What had risen to his lips was faint, but unmistakably a smile.
This man…… could he really be Rakein?
Seeing his smile, doubt welled up in me once more.
No matter how much I racked my memory, during the two years he had been by my side, I had never seen him smile, let alone laugh.
I had been wondering why I kept feeling as though he had become a different person when all I had done was go back in time, when I suddenly startled.
It was because I realized I had been staring openly at Rakein.
Embarrassment flooded in, and my cheeks burned once again.
“Thank you for saying that. Then, I have business to attend to……”
Afraid he might think it strange, I quickly turned away.
I opened the pawnshop door and entered as if fleeing, and the bell attached to the door rang out with a clear sound, announcing a customer.
Fortunately, he did not follow me inside. Judging by the shadow cast outside the semi-transparent door, it seemed he was standing in front of it.
If he were acting under my half-sister’s orders, 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 he was my sister’s person or not was something I would naturally learn as time passed.
So, for this moment at least, I had to focus on obtaining what I wanted.
Only after pushing thoughts related to Rakein into a corner of my mind did the interior of the shop finally come into view.
Since it was a place where you left goods and borrowed money, I had expected the atmosphere to be rather unpleasant. However, the interior was so clean and ordinary that such preconceptions felt unwarranted.
There was no one in the shop besides me. The owner too was nowhere to be seen, perhaps having stepped away for a moment.
“Is there no one here……?”
I had spoken as if to myself, yet suddenly a middle-aged man’s voice came from the side.
“Well now. A guest has arrived while I was resting for a moment.
Startled, I looked toward the source of the voice to see a middle-aged man walking out from inside the shop.
His bangs were slicked back neatly with oil, and a monocle perched over one eye; he was a man of impeccably tidy appearance.
Standing behind the counter, he looked at me with a surprised expression and spoke.
“A face I haven’t seen around these parts. Have you come to pawn something?”
“Ah…… yes. I heard I could leave an item here and borrow money. Are you the owner of this shop?”
I spoke in as low a voice as possible so that he couldn’t guess my gender.
Fortunately, it seemed to have worked, for the middle-aged man sat in his chair, looked up at me, and opened his mouth.
“Yes, I am the owner of this pawnshop, Roman Baker. So, pretty boy, what have you come to pawn?”
The word ‘pretty’ he had tacked on grated on me, but without a word I raised my hand and undid the necklace around my neck.
“…….”
I had thought I held no lingering attachment, so why was letting go from my hand so difficult?
Holding the unfastened necklace, I hesitated briefly, then carefully placed it on the glass-topped desk.
Click.
With a faint sound, the platinum necklace and the purple jewel attached to it slipped from my hand and sparkled as they caught the light atop the glass.
I couldn’t say I didn’t feel a pang of guilt, but I deliberately turned away from it. What I needed now was not a necklace, but the money to buy what I wanted.
“……I wish to leave this here. How much can I borrow?”
“Hmm. A necklace, is it? Let me see.”
He opened a drawer, pulled a white glove onto his left hand, and lifted the necklace. After examining the platinum chain and purple jewel meticulously, he looked at me.