Chapter 51 (1/2)

The gentle wind caressed my cheek.

Flickers of light danced over my eyes, just enough for my consciousness to gradually come to the fore.

“Mn, ….mm.”

I wanted to sleep just a little more.

But the sweet scent carried on the wind beckoned me to wakefulness.

The aroma of baking bread. Someone was making breakfast.

As a guest, I couldn’t be lying in bed like this. I had to at least make it in time for breakfast…

“Hwah–ah. Morning, Leon.”

Lifting my body off the bed, rubbing my eyes, I greeted Leon.

I turned my sleepy eyes toward the wall.

Leon wasn’t there.

“…Huh.”

Missing its master, the chair I’d asked Allie for yesterday sat all by its lonesome next to the wall.

First thing after getting up, I felt a somehow unspeakable loneliness.

The lace curtains swayed in the wind that drifted in through the open windows, rays of morning sunlight dappling the chair.

They were the only things in motion. The freshness of morning, the gentle sunlight — their presence was natural and invigorating. And for that very reason, they served to underline the absence of what should have been there.

“Ah…hmm…”

Just slightly, my throat felt blocked up, and I sighed deeply in an attempt to gloss over it. I scratched my head and gave my cheeks a brisk slap.

And so, doing my best to ignore the chair, I got out of bed. After a round of big stretches, I looked at the open windows.

Drawing closer, I carelessly brushed the swaying curtains aside.

The second floor of the estate.

The view from here was of the white townscape unfurling below. Illuminated by the sun, it seemed to sparkle.

Beyond it stood the castle walls, giving off a strange presence.

Putting together what I’d heard from Leon on the way here, and from Allie after arriving, the city’s strange outer wall predated the founding of the empire. The city had been constructed in what seemed to be a historical ruin.

They weren’t just walls.

Although no one had a clear understanding of what they were, a mysterious power was protecting the entire city. Under its protection, the Empire had ama.s.sed its current territory.

Though I’d frankly just nodded indifferently in the past, now looking at them, I certainly could see that, somehow.

The existence of those walls. The city protected from the world outside.

Just like they were safeguarding the city’s prosperity.

However, just as it was unlikely to know the situation inside from without, it might also be difficult to know the situation outside from within.

It could be rare for people to take the initiative to go outside like Leon had, couldn’t it?

If that was the case, the inhabitants of this city lived in ignorance of the reality outside, in a sense. And maybe, they died that way too.

Is that happiness? Somehow, I had to wonder.

“Huh?”

A sound, just slightly audible over the wind, drew my eyes downward.

Directly below the room was the estate’s courtyard, where Palmira was. And she was wordlessly but wholeheartedly wielding her sword.

a.s.suming a stance that would allow her to aim for the eye, she brought her sword down before her.

That was the posture that Vyde had been teaching her night after night since we left the fortress.

Unlike Rupert, who focused completely on practical combat forms, Vyde’s sword style, which Rupert himself had aptly referred to as ‘the straight sword’, strictly followed some kind of organized system. Even his method of teaching began with bearing.

For having her mentor arbitrarily changed on her without any personal input, Palmira was going along rather obediently. I asked her about it indirectly, but she said, [Rupert decided to leave it in his hands, so there’s probably no mistake], and left it at that. When it came to that stuff, Palmira was awfully deferential.

And even now, she was following through.

Vyde had probably told her it was something she couldn’t slack off on, even for a day.

At any rate, Palmira was earnestly putting in the effort. Since buying the sword, she hadn’t wavered even once.

‘That’s genuinely amazing,’ I thought to myself.

As I absentmindedly looked on, I heard two knocks at the door.

“Yeah?”

For some reason, I was sure it wasn’t Leon, and I answer vaguely.

“Please pardon my intrusion — good morning, my lady.”

It was Allie who opened the door and came inside. Lowering her head deeply, she made a new addition to the end.

“My… lady?”

Who? Me? …Really, me?

Whether I liked it or not, I normally would have been [Lady Chris], like I had been until yesterday. What’s with the change of heart?

“Last night, the Master roughly apprised me of the situation. My lady is an important personage to the Master, I hear. Henceforth, I will address my lady as such instead of ‘Lady Chris’. Once again, I offer you my best regards.”

She was courteous about it, but there was no reluctance or acceptance in her tone. It was a declaration. Completely and utterly set in stone.

…Okay, what’s the deal?

First question on my mind: what has Allie heard from Leon?

What I’m here to do in the first place is to put on an act. Then, if she’s heard, does she know what kind of act it’ll be?

“Just… just checking, but — ”

“Yes.”

“What, uh, am I? To Leon?”

“A special person.”

I’d heard that just now.

I had, but hearing it again, my heart thumped.

No, it’s not like that. It’s not.

“Uh, no, aside from that?”

“Yes. In the near future, he intends for you to meet his parents, so he wants me to teach you etiquette, I was told.”

“I — I see…”

I see.

Cleverly said. Not a single lie.

His goal was to avoid engagement, so sooner or later, I’d have to meet his parents. But Leon probably hadn’t said anything to Allie about whether it was all pretend.

Because of that, when it comes to a ‘special person’ who’s going to ‘meet the parents’, there’s only one conclusion anyone would draw.

Hence, ‘my lady’.

“Uh, so… what about Leon?”

For now, it looked like I still needed to grill him personally.

Steeling my resolve, I asked where he was.

And in a general sense, what he was doing. Since he… wasn’t here this morning.

“Today, the Master was in attendance at the castle to submit his report on the campaign. He had already departed early this morning along with Lord Leopard. I haven’t yet heard whether he will be able to return today.”

Have we — been thrown aside?

…No, well, it’s court service. It’s normal for that to take precedence over keeping us company.

I can understand that. I can, but —

“…That so?”

“For now, please have a change in clothes. Breakfast will be ready momentarily.”

“Ah, okay.”

“Now then.”

My spirits dampened for some reason, I gave her a half-hearted reply. Allie bowed slightly before coming closer.

Absently, I wondered what she was up to, when all of a sudden, her slender hands reached out toward my chest —

“Eh — wait! Wait! I can change by myself! I mean, I can undress by myself, at least!”

I’d gone through the same thing at the Telaberan estate, but undressing — the right to do that by myself was the one thing I would fight to the death to defend.

Truth is, I was planning to dress myself too, but since I didn’t know how, I gave up on that.

In any case, there was no way in h.e.l.l I was going to stand there and let myself by stripped down.

Covering my chest, I put some distance between Allie and myself.

As I did, Allie’s expression grew a bit thoughtful, then turned stern as she stared at me. Under the intensity of her eyes, I quailed slightly.