🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 9
As several days passed, Arsen pretended to search as diligently as possible.
Since Rowengreen had disappeared, his knight order temporarily became Arsen’s.
Arsen walked around smiling every day, convinced that in just three months, he would become the Crown Prince.
Of course, since his older brother was missing, he put on a serious face outside—or acted sorrowful.
“Your Highness, where shall we search today?”
“Just somewhere appropriate. Do I really have to spell it out for you?”
“My, my apologies!”
The man speaking was newly appointed, replacing Phillips, the former captain of the knights, who had disappeared without a trace.
At Arsen’s dismissive gesture, the captain bowed politely and left the room.
“Tsk, at least the previous captain had some sense.”
While it was nice that the new one was obedient and listened well, his lack of awareness was a flaw.
For now, Arsen decided to keep watching him a little longer.
If Rowengreen’s corpse were found, Arsen would naturally rise to Crown Prince. Until then, he decided to show a bit of generosity.
Arsen didn’t extend the search beyond the capital.
If Rowengreen had run away, he would have surely left the capital—but since he was already dead, it didn’t matter.
After about a month of searching, expanding the search outside the capital would be sufficient.
Meanwhile, the atmosphere in Rowengreen’s knights’ quarters was grim.
“Damn it!”
Rian, one of Rowengreen’s knights, stomped his foot.
“Your Highness… where on earth have you gone?”
It made no sense that he had vanished so completely, and yet no one noticed on the day he went missing.
They had questioned the palace maids, but all they got was the same answer: Rowengreen had told them not to let anyone in.
On top of that, Arsen didn’t seem to be searching properly.
“This won’t do.”
“Huh? Hey! Where are you going, Rian!”
As Rian ran out of the quarters, he thought to himself:
This is exactly why I saved up all my leave.
Since joining the knights, Rian had never taken a single day off.
Without knocking, he burst into the captain’s office.
“…What is it?”
“Captain, I’d like to take leave.”
“What? Leave? Now? Are you out of your mind?”
“I’ll find His Highness myself, even if I have to do it alone.”
“…Ha.”
Rian’s eyes burned with determination.
The captain knew there was no point in trying to stop him.
If he refused permission, Rian might desert.
There was a difference between taking leave and desertion.
If he deserted, he could be expelled from the knights—and would never be able to apply to the imperial knight order again.
But Rian was the kind of person who would do it anyway.
“…Sit down first.”
The captain decided to try persuading him.
“What do you think you can do alone? If that’s the case, why not just join the search parties?”
“Captain, to be honest… are we even searching properly right now?”
“…That…”
The captain let out a deep sigh at Rian’s words.
Since there had been no orders to search outside the capital, they had no choice but to stay within it.
No matter how many times he requested permission, Arsen gave no response.
“I’ll find His Highness.”
“How?”
“You search every corner of the capital. I’ll go outside it.”
“…Haa…”
Perhaps that was the better option.
After groaning for a moment, the captain spoke.
“If you gather all your leave, how long would that be?”
“About two months.”
“Two and a half months. No more than that.”
“Thank you, Captain!”
Rian immediately filled out his leave request, handed it over, and dashed out of the room in an instant.
Rain poured down heavily.
Because of the bad weather, Juhee and Rowen stayed inside the house and couldn’t go out.
“I want pajeon…”
Juhee muttered, holding her hand out the window to feel the falling rain.
Back when she lived at the orphanage, Jisuk would often make pajeon whenever it rained.
To Juhee, that pajeon had been the most delicious.
She stared blankly, lost in thought about it.
Meanwhile, Rowen didn’t know what she was thinking and only vaguely assumed she felt gloomy because of the rain.
He wanted to lift her mood.
Maybe going for a walk together would help.
So he waited for the rain to stop.
Fortunately, it didn’t last long.
“Juhee, the rain has stopped.”
“It has.”
Rowen glanced at her and asked,
“Since it stopped… would you like to go for a walk?”
A walk.
The forest ground would still be muddy, so she had planned to rest anyway.
Juhee looked at Rowen.
He was gazing at her with such hopeful eyes that she couldn’t ignore it.
“…Alright.”
—A walk! A walk!
Mel spun around Juhee happily.
Juhee quickly changed her clothes and went outside with Rowen.
The grass was soaked with moisture.
The lingering scent of rain made Juhee feel at ease.
Looking around, Rowen pointed toward a hill behind the house.
“If you go up that hill, you can see everything below. Let’s go together.”
“Okay.”
Juhee answered briefly and began climbing.
Rowen worried she might get tired, but it was unnecessary.
Though she looked thin, Juhee had good stamina and endurance from years of hard work.
Reaching the top, Rowen took a deep breath and smiled brightly.
“No matter how many times I come up here, it’s always nice.”
Juhee nodded and gazed into the distance.
At that moment, a breeze scattered her hair.
She raised her hand to fix it, but Rowen was faster.
“…?”
As he gently fixed her hair, Juhee paused and looked at him, confused.
Realizing what he’d done, Rowen snapped back to his senses and stammered,
“Ah—uh—I’m sorry! My hand just moved on its own…”
What kind of life had this man lived?
How could someone take care of others so naturally?
It didn’t feel deliberate—it felt like habit.
If it were another woman, she might easily misunderstand.
“Rowen.”
“Y-yes?”
“Be careful.”
“With what…?”
“Someone might misunderstand.”
She didn’t specify who.
At her vague words, question marks filled Rowen’s face.
“Could you explain that more clearly?”
“….”
“…I understand…”
Looking dejected, Rowen fell silent.
Juhee ignored it and looked for a place to sit.
The ground was wet, so sitting wasn’t ideal.
Rowen regretted not bringing something to lay down.
But Juhee didn’t hesitate.
She sat down without a second thought.
“Juhee, the ground is wet…”
“It’s fine. I can just wash my clothes.”
“…Right. You can wash them.”
After hesitating, Rowen carefully sat beside her.
Their clothes quickly became damp, but neither of them got up.
The sound of insects filled the air, and Juhee began to feel strangely drowsy.
Maybe it was the humidity, but her body felt heavy.
Her eyelids slowly drooped.
Rowen, unaware, stared ahead.
“Juhee, what would you like for dinner later?”
“….”
“Juhee?”
As he turned to look at her, her head suddenly rested on his shoulder.
Her soft hair brushed against his cheek.
Rowen froze, only moving his eyes to glance at her.
She had fallen asleep, leaning against him.
“Juhee…?”
He whispered softly, but she didn’t respond.
Afraid of waking her, he didn’t dare move.
After hesitating for a long time, he carefully lifted his other hand.
Making sure not to touch her face, he gently brushed away the hair that had fallen forward.
Her hair was so soft that he almost tightened his grip without realizing.
Staring at her, Rowen found himself thinking—
He wished her memory would never return.
That they could live like this forever.
It hadn’t been long, but he liked being with her.
He even had a fleeting, selfish thought—
Even if her memory came back, maybe he could pretend not to know.
As he gazed at her, his face slowly leaned closer.
Just as he got very close—
Juhee’s eyes snapped open.
“What are you doing?”
“Wah—ugh—ah!”
Startled out of his trance, Rowen let out a strange cry and jumped to his feet.
His face turned bright red.
“S-sorry! I’m sorry, Juhee!”
Stammering, he apologized and immediately turned around and ran away.
Juhee was dumbfounded by his sudden behavior.
—Rowen’s face was totally like a tomato! Did you see that, Juhee?
In truth, Juhee had woken up because of Mel.
She had only been lightly asleep, but Mel kept chattering beside her about how Rowen was staring at her face.
By the time she looked, Rowen had already run down the hill and disappeared into the house.
They’d see each other at home anyway—why run?
Tilting her head in confusion, Juhee stood up and slowly made her way back.
