BSRF 07

Chapter 7

After Kiern left, I wandered around the room for a while, lost in thought.

Come to think of it, it wasn’t even that embarrassing.

“We’re both adults, so what’s the big deal? It’s not like I showed him on purpose.”

He was the one who barged into my room without permission in the first place.

Seriously, it’s nothing.

I bent down and picked up the book lying open on the floor. The moment I did, the indecent illustration of a man and woman caught my eye. No matter how I looked at it, it was shamelessly obscene.

I hugged the book to my chest and closed my eyes.

“Damn it….”

Then I immediately threw the book away and started getting ready to leave.

This was a matter tied to my honor as commander. And I couldn’t afford to stay awkward with someone who would be stuck by my side for the next month.

My personal rule was to avoid going out on holidays whenever possible… but this was an unavoidable situation.

I dressed as lightly as possible and left the house.

He hadn’t left long ago, so he couldn’t have gone far yet.

He probably went home, right?

Kiern had once said that as the second son of the Count Dúa family, he wouldn’t inherit the title, so he naturally ended up taking up the sword.

If that was the case, then the place Kiern would go was…

Haah. I let out a short sigh. That was the one place I really didn’t want to go.

I quietly muttered the name that crossed my mind.

“Emilia Dúa….”

The Count Dúa estate I was heading toward was where Kiern’s younger sister lived.

In other words, the female protagonist herself.

If Emilia had already regressed by now, then this would be the period where she was sharpening her claws to find the person who killed her.

Meeting Emilia had been pure coincidence. I had never crossed paths with her before, but a few days ago, when she came to visit Kiern, I happened to run into her.

‘No… rather than meeting her, maybe “caught sight of her” would be more accurate….’

We hadn’t actually exchanged greetings.

Still, our eyes had met for quite a while, and somehow I felt like she had been observing me.

The moment I saw her, it suddenly hit me again that this world was inside a novel, and chills ran down my spine.

Without even speaking to Emilia, I immediately avoided her and fled the scene.

That cold sensation I felt back then had been strangely unpleasant.

Only three days had passed since I swore to avoid running into Emilia whenever possible.

And now, here I was, heading to the Dúa estate of my own accord.

Honestly, there wasn’t really a reason for me to avoid Emilia. Pavel hadn’t done anything wrong yet, and there was no certainty that Emilia had regressed.

But if Emilia really had regressed, then things changed.

I was one of the people whose fate had changed the most compared to the past Emilia experienced. Someone who had died was now alive.

If so, Emilia might currently suspect me more than anyone.

‘Why did Kiern of all people have to be from the Count Dúa family….’

When I arrived at the estate and entered the mansion, the butler greeted me first.

“Sir Shiona, what brings you here today?”

“I apologize for coming without notice. I came to see Kiern. Could you let him know?”

“Young Master went out to see you, Sir Shiona…. Did you happen to miss each other? Perhaps your paths crossed?”

“Kiern didn’t come home?”

“He left this afternoon and hasn’t returned yet.”

Damn… I guessed wrong. After leaving our estate, he must have gone somewhere other than home.

In that case, there was only one obvious place he’d go.

‘He’s such a training addict, he probably went straight to the training grounds.’

I quickly gave my greetings and prepared to leave. Nothing good would come from staying here too long.

I was just about to tell the butler I’d visit another time—

“Sir Shiona?”

The voice from behind instantly stiffened my body.

Slowly turning around, I forced an awkward smile toward the owner of the voice.

“It’s an honor to meet you. I am Emilia Dúa, the third child of the Count Dúa family.”

With a radiant smile, Emilia slightly bent her knees in greeting.

“Ah, I’m Shio—”

“Shiona Rodriz. Of course I know who you are.”

Cutting off my words, Emilia stepped closer.

“I’ve truly wanted to meet you. Surely you’re not planning to leave right after coming all this way? I’d hate to be falsely accused of failing to properly host Sir Shiona.”

“Haha… I’m the rude one for arriving unannounced. I’ll contact you properly and visit another time.”

I had absolutely no intention of ever coming again.

Meeting the female protagonist again made one thing clear: I felt extremely uncomfortable around her.

“As if.”

Emilia’s eyes curved like crescents.

Even though she was smiling, her gaze gleamed sharply.

“None of Sir Shiona’s actions could ever be considered rude to us.”

Then she lightly covered her lips and smiled shyly.

“It’s almost time for dinner, so why not stay a little longer? If I let you leave like this, my parents will surely scold me….”

As she lowered her eyes sadly, a lonely air settled over her beautiful face.

Her fair skin contrasted with her bright pink hair that curled all the way to her waist, and her sparkling green eyes looked as though jewels had been embedded inside them.

Wow, she really is the protagonist.

I admired her sincerely.

If I had been the male lead, I probably would’ve handed over my heart and soul to someone that beautiful.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t the protagonist or anything close to it, so Emilia’s beauty had no effect on me.

“I’d like to, but I have something I need to do right now. If anyone scolds you, Lady Emilia, just tell them it was entirely my fault.”

Emilia reached out as if to stop me, but I gently blocked her and continued.

“I really must be going now. Please excuse my rudeness.”

After slightly bowing my head in farewell, I quickly walked away.

The stare piercing into my back until the moment I stepped outside was intense, but I ignored it all.

Only after riding away from the estate did my tension finally ease.

I’d almost forgotten the entire reason I came to the Dúa estate in the first place.

“Kiern, you bastard….”

I immediately turned my horse toward the castle’s training grounds.

Upon arriving at the training grounds, I scanned the faces of the knights in the middle of practice while searching for Kiern.

Then one of them approached and greeted me.

“Commander, what brings you here?”

“Nothing much. Have you seen Kiern?”

“Sir Kiern? He’s at the place where he always trains. Though… I don’t think it’d be wise to go over there right now.”

Curious, I asked,

“Why?”

“Well, today the way he’s swinging his sword is no joke…. It seems like something bad happened.”

‘Something bad…? Is that really serious enough to count as something bad?’

I was dumbfounded.

No, actually, I was speechless.

Was he seriously acting like this over that stupid book?

Any thoughts I’d had about calmly talking things out vanished instantly.

I strode toward the secluded corner of the training grounds where Kiern always trained.

Kiern was fully absorbed in practice, swinging his sword through the air.

I stood there for a moment watching him.

Sure enough, compared to usual, there was much more force in the hand gripping his sword, and his body looked tense.

With a bitter smile, I picked up a practice sword lying nearby.

Then I immediately struck toward Kiern’s back.

Clang!

Kiern spun around, and the sound of our swords colliding rang out.

“What the— huh?”

Frowning at the sudden attack, Kiern’s eyes widened the moment he recognized my face.

“Commander?”

Tch.

Clicking my tongue, I swung my sword again.

Kiern blocked the attack once more, but he couldn’t meet my eyes and turned his head away.

‘Then why are you acting like this?!’

I was the one who actually read the book.

I was the one who should’ve been embarrassed.

Staring at him incredulously, I noticed his ears had already turned bright red.

Well, I could understand it.

Even after joining the knight order, he’d never properly rested and only worked nonstop. And whatever little free time he had, he spent training here.

So he probably had never dated anyone.

And he probably had never even read a novel from this kind of genre before.

But because of that, he was going to treat me like some kind of weirdo and avoid me?

Annoyed, I kicked Kiern hard in the right shin.

“Ugh!”

Kiern clutched his leg and looked up at me resentfully.

“No… why?”

“Kiern, wanna spar for the first time in a while?”

“All of a sudden? Wait… don’t tell me this is because of what happened earlier?”

I pointed my sword at the side of his neck and replied,

“How about you shut up and pick up your sword?”

Kiern stared at the sword aimed at his throat before eventually picking up the sword that had fallen to the ground.

“Well, I’ll always welcome a spar with the commander, but….”

Then he looked down and laughed in disbelief.

“No, this is… I mean, I…”

“You sure talk a lot. What, are you scared? If that’s the case, I can go easy on you.”

At my words, Kiern snorted softly.

“Don’t hold back. I’d prefer that.”

The moment he finished speaking, Kiern fixed his stance and charged at me.

I slightly twisted my body and dodged his blade.

Then, with my free hand, I struck him in the stomach.

Kiern endured it and retaliated immediately.

Our swords clashed again and again.

Then Kiern swung his sword widely once more.

His form was good, but the arc was too large.

I slipped into the opening, hit the same spot on his stomach again, and slammed my elbow into his jaw.

As his body staggered, I kicked his wrist, sending his sword flying upward.

The sword spun high through the air before stabbing into the ground.

Pointing my sword at Kiern, I said,

“I win.”

Kiern raised both hands and shrugged.

“Well, obviously.”

I bent down and met eyes with the still-seated Kiern.

But Kiern turned his head away again to avoid my gaze.

That annoyed me all over again, so I grabbed his face and turned it back toward me.

“Kiern, why do you keep avoiding my eyes?”

“……”

Kiern blinked silently at me for a long while.

“You, don’t tell me….”

“It’s embarrassing.”

Then Kiern raised a hand and dragged it down his face.

I stared at him in disbelief.

“If anyone should be embarrassed, shouldn’t it be me? Why are you the one acting like this?”

“I just thought the commander would tease me. But honestly, commander, you shouldn’t be acting like this either. Shouldn’t you be trying to persuade and comfort me? You should be trying to stay on my good side.”

The smug way he lifted his chin made me burst out laughing.

“Why would I need to do that?”

Kiern raised one eyebrow.

“You’re pretty shameless, aren’t you?”

“I didn’t do anything wrong, so why should I persuade you or try to get on your good side? Explain that to me.”

“No, you’re right, commander. You didn’t do anything wrong. So there’s no reason for you to try and look good in front of me. Which means you didn’t need to come all the way here for me like this.”

“So what if I read some silly novel? I’m not embarrassed at all. I’m proud.”

No, I was embarrassed.

So embarrassed I nearly died when my most loyal subordinate caught me.

But moments like this were exactly when you had to act confident.

I proudly lifted my chin and continued.

“But do you know why I came looking for you? You said it yourself, didn’t you? That you wanted to become my right hand.”

Kiern tilted his head as if I’d suddenly said something absurd.

“I needed to confirm your capabilities. Kiern… you’ve improved a lot. Compared to our last spar, your reaction speed has gotten faster and your swordsmanship has become more refined.”

It was complete nonsense I made up on the spot.

And yet Kiern listened with absolute seriousness.

“I think I’ve confirmed enough.”

After brushing myself off and standing up, I extended my hand toward the still-seated Kiern.

“You’re more than qualified to stand at my side.”

My head was already full of plans to hand the commander position over to Kiern and leave anyway.

Right side or left side—it didn’t matter. I intended to place him wherever he wanted to stand.

Kiern stared blankly at my hand before lightly taking it.

No, “taking” it wasn’t quite right.

It was more like he merely rested his hand against mine. His movements were stiff.

The aftereffects from when I struck his wrist earlier were probably still lingering.

‘Maybe I overdid it a little….’

Feeling guilty, I grabbed both of Kiern’s arms and helped him to his feet.

Then, brushing the dust off my clothes, I advised him,

“When you fight, use your hands and feet more. A fight is real combat. It’s not all about the sword.”

“How am I supposed to hit the commander?”

Kiern grinned teasingly as he continued,

“You’d obviously get revenge later. That’s terrifying.”

I hadn’t expected some sweet response like, ‘How could I ever hit my commander?’

I let out a small scoff and began gathering the scattered swords.

Walking beside me, Kiern asked,

“Commander, do you remember?”

“Remember what?”

“The day we first met.”

“Wasn’t it two years ago when we first met at the knight order?”

“Ah….”

Kiern let out a short exclamation and rubbed the back of his neck with a faint laugh.

“Is that so?”

Did he ask me because he couldn’t remember our first meeting? What a strange guy.

“Is my first impression really that forgettable? It was still the commander inauguration ceremony. Forgetting that is a little harsh.”

“It’s not forgettable at all. I recognized you the moment I saw you. I thought, ‘So this is Shiona Rodriz….’”

“Then why don’t you remember it?”

Kiern simply laughed quietly without answering.

Even he seemed embarrassed by it.

As if telling him it was fine, I lightly smacked his shoulder once before starting to walk away.

Before leaving the training grounds, I glanced back slightly.

Kiern was still standing there silently, holding the shoulder I had touched.