Ch.47Under the Flowing Stars (2)

Time is truly a mysterious thing. Sometimes it flows endlessly slow, but when you’re in a hurry, it flows like running water.

In the blink of an eye, several days had passed, and when I blinked again, a week had already gone by.

“Tomorrow is!”

“…the young lady’s birthday.”

After briefly watching Rofena jumping around excitedly, I sighed softly and smiled bitterly.

Yes, tomorrow is Irene’s birthday. Hearing that first thing in the morning made me feel somewhat nervous.

A gift, I had prepared something. But I was worried about how to give it to her.

“Young lady, happy birthday.” Honestly, it sounded too plain.

I wanted to present it in a more special way… but I couldn’t think of anything appropriate, so I’d been worrying about it for a while.

I’d like to give her the gift when the bell rings tonight, but I’m not sure if she’ll have time.

By the way, Rofena seemed quite excited. I had felt that things were a bit awkward between her and Irene lately.

Was it just my imagination? When I carefully asked, Rofena rolled her eyes and opened her mouth hesitantly.

“I need to make up with the young lady on her birthday. I can’t just sit around looking sad.”

“Make up? Did you fight with her… that doesn’t seem likely.”

With Irene’s personality, she wouldn’t fight with Rofena.

It was probably more like Rofena had been scolded one-sidedly.

My guess seemed to be correct as Rofena’s face immediately fell, and she pouted while speaking.

“I don’t really know why the young lady got upset. I just showed her the necklace you gave me as a gift, and suddenly the atmosphere became awkward.”

“Is that so?”

“No, I really didn’t do anything wrong. I was just showing off my birthday gift, but I guess the young lady wasn’t in a good mood then.”

“I see.”

As I gently patted Rofena’s head, she sighed and stared at me.

I wondered if she disliked the head pat. But when Rofena slightly raised her head, she said something a bit different from what I expected.

“Being like this makes me feel reassured. I didn’t like it at first, but I guess I’m getting used to it.”

“That’s because you’re so small.”

“No, I’m not small. I’ve actually grown a bit taller this year.”

She says she’s grown taller, but she still looks small to me.

I chuckled at that, but then noticed the clock ticking, showing it was already afternoon.

It was time for the shift change. Even before my official appointment, we used to change shifts like this,

but after being formally appointed, I needed to be more punctual.

Otherwise, I’d not only get scolded by Sir Chris but also face Irene’s sharp gaze.

“I should go now. You stay put and behave yourself. Or go help Ms. Lize with her work.”

“I was planning to do that anyway. See you later!”

It’s quite a talent to always be so bright.

I smiled bitterly at the familiar scent from Rofena’s retreating figure, then turned around and headed toward where Irene was.

#

The scene I encountered when entering the office was quite different from what I expected.

I thought I’d see a desk piled high with documents, but surprisingly, the desk was neat, and Irene was just staring at me with a haggard expression.

…The strong scent of coffee.

Irene, who always insisted on Darjeeling tea, was drinking coffee. Had she been that focused on work?

I briefly looked at the black liquid swirling in the cup beside her, then looked at Irene and smiled faintly.

“Aren’t you pushing yourself too hard?”

“…I had to. Otherwise, I would have had to work without rest for even a single day.”

As if her eyes were blurry, Irene pressed them gently, then picked up a document with various notes and slowly spoke.

“In a day or two, another pile of documents will accumulate. If I want to rest even for a day… I had no choice but to push myself a little.”

“Wouldn’t it be better if you got some sleep?”

She must have stayed up all night again. The dark shadows under her eyes…

What if she collapsed again like last time? Why was she pushing herself so hard?

I frowned slightly, and seeing this, Irene responded weakly.

“I don’t really feel like sleeping. After drinking this, I find it hard to fall asleep.”

“Drinking too much coffee isn’t good for your health. You already don’t get enough sleep as it is.”

I knew this well from my own experience.

Of course, I knew that coffee in this era was quite different from modern coffee,

but it still contained caffeine all the same. When I expressed my concern, Irene smiled faintly, put down her cup, and stared at me.

“Then would you like to review these documents for me? That way I could get some sleep.”

“I’m not skilled at reviewing documents, so that might be difficult.”

It’s not that I hadn’t tried.

However, when Irene saw me handling the documents, she got quite angry.

After that, she told me not to go near the documents at all. Honestly, it hurt my feelings, but even I thought it was unreasonable for me to directly help with her work.

After all, I was more likely to read music sheets than such documents.

When I shrugged at her words, Irene quietly rubbed her face and looked out the window.

Now, with the sun at its zenith, the garden sparkling with broken sunlight looked quite pleasant.

Flowers were beginning to bloom from the ground,

and occasionally insects fluttered by, each attaching themselves to a flower.

After staring blankly at the garden for a while, Irene quietly murmured.

“…The weather is nice.”

Today, the wind wasn’t cold, and warm sunlight mixed with the breeze occasionally touched my cheeks.

Although there weren’t many flowers since winter had just ended, if there was a day that perfectly matched the season of spring, it would probably be today.

I nodded at her words, and Irene turned her gaze to me and slowly spoke.

“Shall we go out?”

“…Pardon?”

At the sudden suggestion, I widened my eyes, and Irene narrowed hers and repeated in a low voice.

“I’m saying, let’s go outside.”

#

Neither Rofena nor Sir Chris was there. It was just Irene and me alone,

and the place we came to under the pretext of a walk was the town area we had visited once before.

If there was any difference, it was that Irene was wearing something more modest than her usual dress.

She didn’t want to attract attention.

It took me quite a while to fully come to my senses after this sudden outing that began with her desire to simply enjoy some leisure time.

The tall clock tower, the bell attached to it… I gazed at them briefly.

Then, realizing Irene was beside me, I sighed softly. Her brief respite, with not much time left.

I wanted to tell her to get some sleep, but contrary to her usual self, she was being stubborn, so we had no choice but to come outside like this.

What would we do out here anyway?

There was no festival, nor was it any special occasion, so the square was quite deserted.

At noon, when most people were busy working, it was natural that there wouldn’t be many people in the square, which was usually visited for leisure activities.

However, that didn’t seem to matter to Irene, as I could tell from her expressionless face that she was quite excited.

The wind blew. Flower petals mixed in the wind settled on the ground,

making the cold gray stone floor look as if it had been painted with watercolors.

‘…Not bad.’

As she had first said, it was indeed unusually warm weather.

Since we didn’t know how many days like this we would have in the future, coming out like this once wasn’t so bad.

But we couldn’t just wander around doing nothing, so I looked at Irene and spoke.

“Is there something you’re looking for?”

“No, I just came out for no reason. I’m thinking of walking around a bit and then going back.”

It was awkward. I had no intention of just wandering aimlessly through the quiet streets.

Since we had come all this way, I wanted to show her various things.

It was difficult to enjoy things in the duke’s mansion. Even though there were many things in the duchy,

ultimately, she rarely left the mansion, and all she had seen directly was what she saw at the festival last time.

“If you’re thinking of having a meal, we should go to a restaurant. There’s not much to see just walking around the streets.”

We had left without having lunch. Wondering if she might be hungry, I asked, and Irene nodded carefully and asked back.

“Come to think of it, we did skip a meal. Do you have any recommendations?”

“Of course.”

Before my official appointment, I used to come to town frequently.

Whether to buy equipment for myself or just to clear my head.

During those times, what I found were hidden gems in this town.

There weren’t really any high-end restaurants to begin with. Of course, if I looked, I could find some upscale places,

but if I wanted to find a truly proper place, it would be better to look in the capital.

This was the north, a place with many challenges in procuring fresh ingredients.

However, unlike high-end cuisine, food commonly enjoyed by ordinary people was quite developed.

After all, with other races and monsters just beyond the Verdeng Mountains,

there were many hunters who hunted them, naturally leading to the development of such cuisine.

I was quite worried. Whether it would be appropriate to take Irene to such a place,

and whether it would be unseemly to take someone I serve to a shabby place.

As I was contemplating this while looking at the area where restaurants were gathered, Irene approached and quietly spoke.

“I don’t mind a shabby place. Going to an upscale place would only attract attention anyway.”

Then she pointed to a place, which happened to be the very restaurant I was thinking of, making me smile involuntarily.

When did she notice my gaze? As we approached, Irene checked the interior of the restaurant and let out a small breath.

“It’s funny to say this after what I just said… but is this place okay?”

It was a bit shabby. It wasn’t a famous place to begin with, only known to those who knew about it.

But I was confident about the taste.

Didn’t Sir Chris say that there were hardly any restaurants in this duchy that could match this place?

When I visited a few times after hearing that, I couldn’t help but realize that Sir Chris’s words were true.

“It’s quite a good place. Although not as good as what you eat at the duke’s mansion, people who know about it have every meal here.”

However, the doubt on Irene’s face didn’t easily disappear.

Well, for someone who had lived her entire life in that duke’s mansion, she might be reluctant to dine in such a place.

After briefly looking at the restaurant and contemplating, Irene eventually nodded and stepped inside.

Creak-

The floorboards that creaked with each step, the wooden tables that looked gloomy at a glance.

And when the bearded restaurant owner approached, Irene’s face stiffened, looking like she had turned into a white dead tree.

“What would you like to order?”

“The meat stew, and some sliced hindquarters would be nice.”

After the restaurant owner took the order and retreated, Irene, whose face had turned pale, looked at me and carefully whispered.

She asked if we had come to the wrong place, and whether it would be better to go to a better place even if it meant pushing herself a bit, which made me chuckle.

“Young lady, don’t worry too much. If it’s not delicious, you can blame me.”

“…I have no intention of blaming you.”

Saying that with narrowed eyes, Irene looked at the restaurant door and sighed softly.

She probably wanted to leave right away. But thinking about how her attitude would change once the food arrived made the corners of my mouth twitch.

Perhaps expecting such reactions was one of the joys of being with Irene.

When the food finally arrived, Irene tilted her head at the surprisingly decent appearance of the food.

The garlic-scented sauce,

as I carefully cut into the steak soaked in an appetizing brown sauce, the crimson flesh was revealed.

The blackened exterior, but unlike that, the crimson flesh that oozed juices when pressed made Irene’s eyes widen slightly.

But it was too early to be impressed.

The true charm of this steak was when it was enjoyed with the asparagus that was grilled alongside it.

As I brought the knife to cut more of the steak, the rich aroma of butter and the greasy meat scent entered my nose.

“How is it? Unlike the restaurant… this dish is considered the best in Yuris.”

I picked up a small piece of the cut meat. The butter coating on the outside glistened in the candlelight.

The clear meat juices flowing beneath it. After admiring it briefly, I carefully put it in my mouth, and a spontaneous exclamation escaped.

As I felt while cutting the meat, this restaurant’s steak was truly exquisite.

The moment it touched my tongue, I could clearly feel the soft texture of the meat enveloping my mouth.

The rich meat juices felt with each bite against my teeth,

and at the same time, the sharp garlic flavor hitting my tongue perfectly masked the unique gamey smell of the meat.

And then the aroma of butter and asparagus that followed,

if I had only felt the butter, I might have thought it was a bit greasy,

but the gentle grassy scent released by the well-grilled asparagus came through before I could even feel that greasiness.

I wondered why a restaurant serving such food was so shabby.

For a moment I was curious, but before that, I noticed Irene staring at me.

“…Is it delicious?”

“To be honest, it’s more delicious than the steak I ate at the duke’s mansion.”

“I don’t believe such exaggeration.”

Having eaten the steak that was given to her, and realizing there was nothing wrong with it, Irene carefully put a piece of cut meat in her mouth.

As I watched her chewing, I couldn’t help but smile at her gradually changing expression.

First doubt, then denial, and slowly turning into admiration.

With sparkling eyes, Irene stared at me and carefully moved her lips.

“It’s delicious?”

“That’s what I said. Didn’t you believe me?”

“Ah, no. It’s not that, it’s just unexpected. I never imagined… that a place like this would have food of this quality.”

Whether she really thought so, Irene’s blue eyes kept flickering as she looked at the steak with wonder.

I think this is the first time I’ve seen her like this.

Watching Irene devour the steak with sparkling eyes made my heart tickle strangely.

I even wanted to feed her a piece myself… but such thoughts were merely fantasies.

“It’s good, right?”

“Good enough that I feel sorry for doubting you.”

At those words, I raised my hand to cover my mouth.

I tried to hold it back, but I kept smiling, and whenever I looked at Irene, a warm smile formed.

The way she cut the meat with those small hands, the way the meat entered her slightly parted lips, and when those sparkling eyes turned to me.

I found it hard to control the involuntary smile.

I was simply happy. This moment, perhaps no different from usual.

This current moment, so ordinary that anyone could easily experience it. Why did it feel so special to me?

It was ordinary.

That’s why it was good.

Looking at Irene still putting steak in her mouth and chewing, I smiled again.