Orencia Festival (2)

The morning of the festival dawned.

Regardless of Alec’s worries, time flowed well, and even if he glared at the eastern mountains in vain, wanting to stop that time, the sun rose without fail, brightly illuminating Cantatien.

Alec was quietly watching Yona change into her nun’s habit while he had his head buried in the pillow.

Yona, seemingly uninterested in what Alec was thinking, put on the nun’s habit from over her head and fastened the buttons lined up from both sides to the armpits, tidying up her attire.

And as Alec was quietly watching this, he suddenly became curious.

Come to think of it, he had never seen Yona wearing anything other than that nun’s habit. She always wore the nun’s habit, and even when she said she bought new clothes, it was always another nun’s habit, so it seems she hasn’t worn anything else since he met her until now.

When she wrapped the seongaepo around her arm and pulled the end tight, the loosely tied seongaepo tightened with a zipping sound.

After pulling the end of the tightened seongaepo and hooking it to the loop on the shoulder of the nun’s habit, Yona’s change of clothes was complete.

“Yona.”

“What.”

Yona answered Alec’s call with an indifferent expression.

She was a bit frustrated that she had already gotten up and finished preparing, while Alec was still rolling around in bed for some reason.

They should hurry and get up to eat breakfast, but he’s still like this, what’s he thinking?

“Don’t you wear anything other than the nun’s habit?”

At Alec’s words, Yona stared at him blankly.

She thought for a moment if she hadn’t told him before, but in fact, she hadn’t.

There was no need to, and since he hadn’t asked, there was no reason to tell him separately.

“Because there’s no need to wear anything else.”

“Why?”

At those words, Yona lifted the skirt of her nun’s habit.

Alec momentarily held his breath as her crotch, barely covered by panties, was revealed, but fortunately or not, the skirt only revealed her thighs while covering her crotch, showing the inside of the nun’s habit.

“Because of this.”

Inside the nun’s habit that Yona showed were patterns that Alec had seen before, drawn all over.

It was the circuit that assists in the circulation of holy power.

At first glance, it looks similar to the symbol of the Cheonsin religion, but unlike that, it’s not disconnected piece by piece, but drawn so that the ends connect with other patterns, filling the inside of the nun’s habit so densely that it’s more than enough.

“This is the holy circuit, isn’t it? The one engraved on this seongaepo too.”

“Ah.”

Each piece of clothing worn by clerics has meaning.

Just as the seongaepo has circuits engraved to aid in the circulation of holy power, patterns are drawn inside the nun’s habit to minimize the vaporization of holy power and help it circulate smoothly. Because of these patterns, the wasteful dissipation of holy power into the air can be minimized.

“I see. But there must be a reason why you only wear that.”

Alec sat up from the bed where he had been lying.

He could have stayed lying down, but — partly because Yona’s lifting of her skirt just now had made it awkward to just lie there, but also because Alec was starting to prepare to go out.

“This is all I need. Why do I need many clothes? One to wear, one to change into, one to wash. Three sets like this are enough.”

“So you’re saying it’s okay to wear other clothes except when fighting?”

“Well, that’s true.”

Alec felt like he had found a way.

The timing is just right, isn’t it?

From today, Cantatien’s festival, namely the Orencia Festival, is starting.

*

Orencia flowers are quite large, and considering the size of the large flower, it only has five petals, making them quite large.

The flower is snow-white, and the flower seeds are also milky white granules with snow-white cotton-like wings attached, creating a spectacular sight as they spread like snowflakes whenever the wind blows.

To the east of this Cantatien is a colony of these Orencia flowers.

Cantatien, which is a very good environment for Orencia flowers to grow, is also famous for holding a festival with these Orencia flowers every winter.

“The flower language of this flower is unrequited love?”

“That’s what they say.”

Alec and Yona were walking down the street after changing clothes.

It wasn’t a lie that the festival was famous; there were so many tourists compared to the size of this city that it seemed excessive.

It was truly a spectacle to see everyone passing by carrying accessories made from these Orencia flowers or small handbags woven from Orencia stems.

“Why is it unrequited love?”

“How should I know…”

Yona sniffed the Orencia flower she had received unexpectedly.

Since the flower itself is quite large, to Alec walking beside her, it looked like half of Yona’s face was buried in the flower.

“The scent is really nice.”

“Isn’t it? The whole village is covered in the flower’s fragrance.”

At those words, Yona looked around and sniffed, flaring her nostrils.

She had thought there was a nice fragrance vibrating since they entered the village, and it seems that was the scent of these Orencia flowers.

“So where are we going now?”

Alec had just told Yona to follow him because there was somewhere to go.

Although Alec had already decided where to go with Yona after coming out together, he didn’t tell Yona in advance.

If he had, she would certainly have made a fuss, asking why she had to do that, and it would have ruined everything, so he did it on purpose.

“You’ll see when we get there. It’s not something that will disadvantage you, so let’s just go.”

He had already asked the innkeeper where the clothing store was.

Alec walked with Yona while mentally retracing the route to the clothing store that the innkeeper had told him about.

The distance itself wasn’t that far.

It might have been about 10 minutes on foot from leaving the inn with Yona, but because there were so many people and so many things to see, they took a lot of time looking at each of them as they walked.

But eventually, the two stood in front of the clothing store, and Yona alternately looked at Alec who had stopped abruptly and the store in front of him, then frowned.

“Don’t tell me you’re trying to buy clothes? There won’t be many clothes that suit a bald guy.”

“What are you saying… Not my clothes, I’m going to buy your clothes.”

“What? My clothes?”

Yona’s eyes widened at Alec’s words.

She had thought they would buy clothes since they came to a clothing store, but she hadn’t thought it would be Yona’s clothes.

“Why my clothes? I have my nun’s habit.”

“You do have your nun’s habit. But that’s all you have, isn’t it? Are you going to look around the festival wearing that?”

“No, I’ve been walking around fine in this until now, so why suddenly buy clothes?”

Yona’s eyes widened and then she frowned.

Honestly, no matter how you think about it, there’s no reason to buy clothes.

She had bought a lot of underwear.

She had bought a lot of panties and cotton cloth to bind her chest.

But women’s clothes are a bit different, aren’t they?

Although the nun’s habit is a skirt, she can understand and wear it if she thinks of it as a professional characteristic.

But women’s clothes are a bit different, aren’t they?

If she wears them, it feels like she’s really accepting and acknowledging that she’s a woman, so Yona couldn’t help but feel quite resistant.

“Besides the nun’s habit, try wearing something else. Wherever you go, people only call you Sister or Healer. Can’t you dress like an ordinary young lady for once?”

“No, why should I? Am I ashamed of being a healer?”

There was a sharp edge to Yona’s voice.

Alec realized then that something was going wrong.

“That’s not what I meant. I mean, besides the nun’s habit, try wearing other clothes for a change of mood. Whether you’re a woman or not, it’s the same for men too. Wearing new clothes makes you feel better. That’s what I mean. You’ve been through a lot of tough times until now, so buy some clothes to change your mood, that’s what I’m saying.”

“So why does it have to be clothes? There are lots of other things, like eating or playing. Why clothes specifically?”

“Calm down and listen to me.”

Alec sighed inwardly.

He hadn’t expected the reaction to be this intense.

But it’s too late to back down now, and if he backs down, all the efforts he’s made so far will be for nothing.

“Sigh…”

Yona let out a long sigh.

Her eyes, which had looked fierce and sharp from being turned up, softened a bit.

“Okay, I’ve calmed down. So tell me. I understand that the reason for buying clothes is for a change of mood. I understand, but it doesn’t seem like it’s purely for my sake. Just be honest.”

“…I want to see you in them.”

“I see.”

With those words, Yona walked briskly into the clothing store.

Confused by her sudden change, Alec stared blankly at her, and this time Yona turned to look at Alec.

“What are you doing? Aren’t you coming in?”

It’s not that Yona’s resistance to wearing women’s clothes suddenly disappeared or anything like that.

It’s not that it was Yona’s whim either.

It was simply an outpouring of emotion that could be called a return of favor towards Alec.

Unless Yona was a fool, she wasn’t unaware of how much great kindness Alec was bestowing upon her.

He was giving her full support both materially and emotionally, and moreover, when facing Berbaria, Alec, despite being in pain, drew out holy power by breaking the seal to protect her for Yona’s sake.

He said he wanted to enjoy this festival — together with her.

So to enjoy the festival as Alec said, and to enjoy it together with Alec.

Because it was Alec, regardless of her own resistance, since Alec said he wanted to see, that’s why she did it.

If Alec had kept giving incomprehensible reasons about her mood change or whatever until the end, she would have refused until the end as well.

But Yona also knows well about her own beauty, and she also knows well the psychology of men looking at such a beauty.

If a beauty like Yona dresses up prettily and walks beside Alec, Yona knows all too well how other men would look at Alec. She knows it too well, in fact.

As such, because Alec spoke honestly, Yona is accommodating him.

Even so—

‘This is hard.’

Yona sighed inwardly as she changed into her seventh outfit.

The blue dress, perhaps because dyeing technology was less developed, had spots where the dye hadn’t taken evenly, and although it was nice that they had tied knots in the fabric to add points of interest in the dyeing, the color itself wasn’t uniform, so it didn’t look good at all.

Therefore, this blue dress is rejected.

Alec seemed to be of the same opinion as he shook his head, and Yona took off the dress in the changing room and hung it on a hanger, holding it out.

The clerk took the hanger and took the dress out, and Yona retightened her chest cover which had become loose, changed back into her nun’s habit, and came out of the changing room.

In the meantime, Alec had brought a navy skirt along with a white linen shirt from somewhere.

He also brought a padded vest that seemed to be filled with quite thick cotton, and was waiting in front of the changing room.

Not only that, he was holding a headband made by drying and weaving Orencia flower stems.

With clay decorations modeled after Orencia flowers attached here and there, it looked quite nice.

“…You know this is the eighth time, right?”

By this point, it seems like she’s done enough as a return of favor to Alec or whatever—that’s what one might think.

Yona silently took the clothes Alec handed her and went back into the changing room.

To be honest, Alec had liked all the clothes Yona had tried on so far.

The category of women’s clothing was like uncharted territory for Alec, and because he didn’t know anything, it was even more so.

Because Yona’s body was so excellent, everything looked good on her, but Alec was judging whether Yona liked the clothes she was currently wearing or not with his keen observation.

In that sense, all the clothes so far had not been to Yona’s liking.

But when he saw the clothes that were brought when he told the clerk, whose expression was getting worse, to bring the most expensive and best clothes, Yona’s expression was just the one he was looking for.

“This is not bad.”

When Yona came out of the changing room, Alec was momentarily speechless.

A light navy pleated skirt and a thick white linen shirt.

On top of that, a padded vest dyed in dark gray, filled with goose down.

And as the finishing touch, the Orencia flower stem headband placed on her head.

Yona’s expression was also fine, as if she liked it well enough, just as much as Alec thought this was it.

“I’ll take this one.”

Alec was unconsciously telling the clerk without taking his eyes off Yona.

*

Yona knew men’s psychology well.

Walking together with a beauty that’s hard to see twice — although they weren’t linking arms, Yona knew well how the act of walking together itself was viewed among men.

She had thought about wanting to be like that at times, but at least.

‘I never thought I’d want to be the beauty walking alongside someone.’

Yona thought while ignoring the gazes pouring from around her.

The sense of superiority and achievement that she should have felt was probably being felt in full by the baldy walking beside her.

When Yona glanced sideways at Alec, he was twitching the corners of his mouth trying to hold back a beaming smile that seemed about to burst out.

“Hey, are you happy?”

When she poked his side, Alec flinched and tried hard to compose his expression.

But seeing the smile creeping back again, he must really be happy.

‘Of course he would be…’

Has this baldy Alec ever had the experience of walking with such a beauty in his life so far?

Has he ever experienced receiving gazes full of envy and jealousy from countless males?

I can guarantee he hasn’t.

But linking arms is not allowed.

Yona is already walking together with him wearing women’s clothes that she so hated and refused, just to match Alec’s mood, so linking arms would be crossing the line.

This is the best Yona can do for him.