episode_0071

“Doesn’t it suit your taste?”

“It’s not that.”

Usher shook his head at Belka’s words, but he couldn’t really eat properly. The food at the banquet was definitely delicious. It wasn’t bland like the food he ate in the forest, nor was it salty like the food he ate with the merchants. The seasoning and the fragrance sprinkled on top of the food reduced his aversion to the somewhat unfamiliar dishes. He knew he might not be able to eat something this delicious again, but it still felt stuck in his throat, and he couldn’t swallow it at all.

“Then, let’s just eat this and go out.”

The girl pushed a soup with a few kernels of corn in it towards him. He felt like he could eat this much without feeling burdened. Usually, it would be good to soak bread in it, but he didn’t feel like it right now, so he quickly ate the soup and looked around. The others seemed burdened but were forcing themselves to eat, and Donar was talking to that man. No one told him not to go out, but there was a strange atmosphere that made him feel like he shouldn’t.

But Usher didn’t like that even more. If he just sat there like this, he felt like he was being controlled by that man, so he took the girl’s hand next to him and got off the chair. Then, as he lowered his body to hide behind the table, Sif, Shallby, and Odr focused their attention on him.

“Shhh!”

When he raised his finger to ask them to keep it a secret, they each smiled and pretended not to see. Then, he tiptoed towards the door. He occasionally made eye contact with other adults, but they didn’t say anything, and they were able to safely escape the banquet hall while the man was talking to Donar.

“Whew, I feel like I can finally breathe.”

“What are you going to do now?”

“I don’t really know about that.”

He just came out because he was frustrated.

“Should we go and look around the castle at least?”

Still, he didn’t hesitate for too long. This castle was so big. He couldn’t deny feeling burdened, but his curiosity was greater.

“This place is really big. It’s like one hallway is a small road.”

Are all castles this big? With this much space, a small village could be built in place of one castle. The castle itself wasn’t very fancy, but the decorations placed here and there where it felt empty erased that feeling. As he walked around the hallway with the girl, he heard snippets of conversation coming from the end of the hallway’s corner.

“Guest…? Earlier than scheduled…? Ah?”

“That’s… the lord went out for an inspection… and ran into them, so he brought them along…”

He couldn’t hear the details because it was quite far away, but he could still understand roughly what they were saying. Judging by the tone of their voices, they seemed to be women, and Usher felt like he should hide as their voices became clearer and clearer. He hadn’t done anything wrong, but it wasn’t like he had nothing to feel guilty about either. He led Belka and stuck close to the edge of the corner.

“So that’s why we had to work our butts off in the kitchen.”

“Ugh! It’s nice to have a break thanks to that, but I think it would have been better to just rest as scheduled.”

And the voices became even clearer.

“Anyway, since this is considered separate time, why don’t you organize your underwear that’s rolling around in the room?”

“You do it for me.”

“Why would I do yours!”

“We’re roommates~”

“I’m changing rooms!?”

Usher was sweating at the content of the conversation, which was more unrestrained than that of men for some reason. He thought that it was too far from the conversation of women that he had imagined, and he timed the moment to pass by the corner after hearing their footsteps. The moment he heard the footsteps right in front of the corner, Usher quickly ran out.

“Huh?”

“Aah?!”

However, his attempt failed when Belka collided with one of the three women. The woman was fine, but the girl who collided with her was smaller, so she was knocked back and slumped down. He could see why he failed by looking at the way the women were standing. The three women were walking in a way that filled the hallway, standing side by side.

“Children?”

“I’ve never seen these children before?”

The women, who were dressed in the same black and white outfits, perhaps maids of this castle, looked at them with puzzled expressions.

“Could they be the guests’ children?”

“I guess so. First of all, are you hurt anywhere?”

The woman with light brown hair who collided with Belka knelt down and examined the girl she had collided with. At that moment, the woman who saw her face shuddered.

“…Madam?”

It was a voice as if she had seen something unbelievable, but Usher took advantage of the gap and ran with Belka. He thought he heard them calling him from behind, but he didn’t look back. And when he thought he was far enough away, he took a breath and realized that the girl’s mask was gone.

“Belka? The mask?”

“Haa, haa, when we bumped into them just now. Hmph, I think I dropped it.”

In the end, that meant he had to meet them again to get the mask back. He didn’t have the nerve to face them shamelessly after running away like that. He looked for a place for the tired girl to rest, but it didn’t seem like there was a place to sit in a place like this, but the scenery outside the window caught his eye. There was a garden with vibrant red flowers blooming profusely. Without thinking separately about the sight, he took Belka and headed there.

“Here is.”

It seemed to be the back of the castle. The large castle walls blocking the view and the distance from the castle they had come out of were not that far. Nevertheless, this place, which was as wide as a considerable yard, was full of large and small plants. Among them, the most eye-catching was the cluster of vibrant red flowers that he had seen even before coming out here. They weren’t camellias. Camellias, which bloom in late winter before spring comes and fade in early spring, were not in season to bloom now. But the reason he couldn’t take his eyes off them was that they resembled the girl’s color.

“Carnations. I didn’t know they would still be left in a place like this, not a forest.”

“Carnations?”

Usher looked at the flowers again after hearing the name of the flower she mentioned. Now that he looked at them, they seemed to be a slightly different color. Was it just that the girl resembled the flowers? They were pretty flowers, but he didn’t feel like picking them separately. Leaving them as they were would make the flowers bloom longer and allow him to see them for longer. He sat on the stairs leading down to the garden as if intoxicated by the fragrant scent carried by the wind and looked at the scenery.

“Who are you?”

It was a fragile voice that was cautiously mixed with an inexplicable fear that seemed to break off. When he turned around, all he could see was white reflecting in the sunlight. The amethyst-like eyes that followed met his gaze, shining with curiosity and fear at the same time. There stood a beautiful girl of a similar age to him. Her pure white hands, as if she had never held a proper tool, held a light basket and scissors.

After briefly making eye contact with him, she turned her gaze to Belka, and then she widened her doll-like eyes even more and opened her mouth slightly. The way she looked was similar to that of the woman he had encountered before coming here, and as he wondered, the basket she had dropped as if she had lost strength rolled down the stairs with a thud. He took the basket that had rolled to him without realizing it, but there was nothing inside. As he wondered about it, the girl moved her feet toward him. The problem occurred the next moment.

The girl, who was looking only at the girl after making eye contact, lost her footing. If it was flat ground, it would have ended with just falling over, but this place happened to be stairs. Usher hurriedly approached, as she could be seriously injured if she fell.

“Hey! What are you doing, so dangerous!?”

Fortunately, Usher was able to grab her before she rolled down, but he closed his mouth when he realized she had fainted.

“What’s with her, making a fuss over a kid falling.”

Usher, who had occasionally fallen while climbing trees, couldn’t understand. As he grumbled in bewilderment, the girl said.

“This place is narrow. Let’s take her over there.”

As she said that, Belka pointed to the foot of the tree planted in the corner of the garden. Leaning against it with her, the scent of grass, which was not as strong as that forest, reminded him of the arms of the now-gone zelkova tree. But he was quite dissatisfied with this situation.

“…But do we really have to do that?”

Because the girl who had just fainted was lying on the lap of the girl who was leaning against the tree with him.

“But we can’t just leave her like that.”

“That’s true, but.”

Usher, who usually liked to rest his head on her lap, was displeased with the girl who had taken his place. He thought it couldn’t be helped when he saw her looking distressed as if she was having a nightmare, but he became more and more dissatisfied as he saw her relax every time Belka gently stroked her hair. He couldn’t wake her up by force, so he was just letting time pass by with the wind, when finally, the girl showed signs of waking up and her eyelids fluttered.

The girl, who opened her eyes, first caught the girl in her eyes with dreamy amethyst eyes as if she was lost in a dream. Belka was still stroking the girl’s white hair. As if feeling comfortable with her touch, the girl opened her mouth.

“Mother…?”

Had she mistaken the girl for her mother in her sleep? Those were the words that flowed from the girl’s mouth.

“Who said you could call Belka Mom?”

Usher said bluntly, even more displeased by that, and the girl looked at him for a moment before turning her head back to the girl. Had he been ignored? While he was at a loss for words, she looked at Belka with clear eyes and blushed.

“Belka, is it? What a pretty name!”

“Ha?”

The girl got up abruptly and held Belka’s hands with both hands, her eyes sparkling, as if it were a lie that she had fainted just now.

“Oh, um, you’re too close.”

“Oh, I’m sorry! It’s just that I haven’t seen anyone my age recently!”

As Belka hesitated at her overly enthusiastic appearance, the girl pulled her face away from the girl, as if she were pushing herself against her.

“Hey, can you even see me?”

Usher thought that maybe this girl was sick at this point. Mostly visually.

“Um, Usher is the one who caught you.”

“Then where is that person?”

“…I’m here.”

He was dumbfounded by the fact that she was pretending not to know that the owner of that name was right here, but Usher opened his mouth, more annoyed by being ignored. And the girl, as if hearing a truly unexpected fact, brought her hand to her mouth.

“Yes? You? Really?”

“So, what’s your problem with that?”

“No. It’s not that I have a problem, but…”

He became angry from the inside out at her reaction, which was as surprised as if she had heard an unbelievable fact, and at the gaze that blatantly scanned him from head to toe as if deliberately teasing him. He was wondering if he should get angry, but when he discovered the girl’s excessively white skin and wrists that looked like they would break if he squeezed them, he sighed and released the pressure that had soared up as if it would burst.

“Hmm, a little unexpected.”

“What is.”

The girl stood up, grabbed both sides of her skirt, lifted it slightly, and bent her knees to him, as if teasing him again. Her natural and elegant appearance, as if she had done it more than once or twice, caught his eye.

“Anyway, thank you for saving me. Mr. Usher. My name is Media?”

Her smiling face was definitely cute enough to make him blush for a moment. But that was only for a moment.

“Ugh, so Usher likes that kind of thing.”

The girl grabbed his sleeve and pulled it down, asking with a dissatisfied expression.

“What! Th, that’s not it!”

“Oh, I’m sorry, but I’m not really your type?”

“Hey! Who said I liked you?!”

“Then you don’t?”

“The one I like is Belka…!”

However, he made eye contact with Belka at the same time as he said those words, and they blushed each other. Really, what was this all about? He didn’t know why he was so embarrassed, even though he said it often. But that was only for a moment, and Media, who didn’t like the situation, clapped her hands and broke the atmosphere.

“Oh! Ms. Belka! Do you like flowers? I was on my way to pick flowers.”

“Ugh, it’s not that I dislike them, but.”

He couldn’t help but feel resentful towards Media, who was taking Belka’s hand and walking away. Especially the way she briefly turned around and stuck out her tongue, as the girl was unable to come to her senses amidst the overflowing goodwill.

‘This girl is annoying!’

That was exactly how he felt.