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Chapter 20
The large palm touched my skin as carefully as if it were handling glass. Startled by the ice-cold sensation, I grabbed his hand firmly.
“Goodness, your hands are freezing!”
No, how long had he been outside for someone with such a high body temperature to become this cold?
A light drizzle was still falling outside. The moment I realized that, I pulled Kaien’s wrist toward me.
“Come inside, quickly!”
“I’m fine.”
“Fine? It takes ages to get from the hill down to the village! What if you catch a cold?”
You may not remember, but you’re the commander-in-chief responsible for the front lines against monsters! For the sake of the empire’s defense, you have to stay healthy.
They say health is everything, but just in case.
“Are you worrying about me?”
“Of course. I’d worry even if a passing cat was soaked in the rain.”
I pulled the arm of the man who had suddenly clamped his mouth shut a little harder.
“Hurry!”
“…Excuse me.”
Leaving the man carefully stepping inside behind me, I put a few more logs into the fireplace. The embers that had been burning moderately clung to the wood and crackled.
Then, I took out clean clothes and a cloth from the bottom drawer and held them out to Kaien, who was standing there dripping water.
“Change into these. Tell me when you’re done.”
But instead of taking them, Kaien asked with a sharp look in his eyes.
“Why do you have men’s clothes in your house?”
“What?”
“Didn’t you say you lived alone?”
I let out a soft laugh and replied.
“Men’s clothes? They’re just a large dress, really. It’s pretty big on me too, so I thought at least this might fit you.”
“…”
“If you have complaints, there’s nothing I can do. There’s no other clothing here you could wear.”
I was a little worried about whether the shoulders would fit, but there was no other choice. It was the middle of the night, so I couldn’t go buy clothes right now.
Once dawn broke, I’d have to take Kaien out to buy clothes and supplies. His memories might return quickly, but just in case.
I turned my back to him and finished stoking the fire, then placed the pot of leftover stew from yesterday on it. As I watched the stew beginning to simmer, a dignified voice came from behind.
“I’m done.”
“The clothes should be… pfft. Ahahaha!”
The moment I turned around, I burst out laughing.
Indeed, even if the clothes were a bit loose on me, they were apparently no match for this large man.
Not only were the shoulders tight and stretched, but it was a sleeveless garment, so his fully exposed arms flaunted his lean muscles, and the hem barely covered above his knees.
The pants, too, were short enough to expose his ankles completely, and they clung so tightly to his legs that they looked like they’d tear at any moment. They had been so loose on me that I’d had to tie the waist with a string just to wear them.
The sight of him looking like he’d been stuffed into a burlap sack was so ridiculous. Kaien, who had been watching me giggle with a peculiar look, let out a sigh.
“I appreciate the kindness, but may I take off the top? It feels like it’s going to tear.”
“Please do, heh, I think you’d better.”
The man, who had been quietly watching me as I couldn’t stop laughing, threw off the top as if frustrated. Thanks to that, his well-trained upper body was fully revealed.
Thick pectorals and broad shoulders, a firm-looking chest and split abs. It was a body that made it unmistakably clear he was a knight.
Not to mention the scars scattered across his upper body.
Instead of turning my head away, I stared openly at him, and Kaien, who had been rubbing his hair dry with the cloth, furrowed his brow.
“What are you doing?”
“Nothing, just admiring.”
Come to think of it, we had lived as a married couple, yet this was the first time I had seen Kaien with his bare skin exposed like this.
I had guessed, but his body really was nice. Well, even when he was all covered up, his good physique had been obvious.
“…Aren’t you staring a bit too much?”
“Oh, I’m sorry if I was rude.”
“I’m not saying you can’t look.”
If you say it like that, it makes it awkward to keep looking. I set aside my curiosity and tapped the chair.
“Sit here. If you haven’t had dinner, how about some stew?”
“I’ll eat well, whatever it is.”
“That’s a relief. I only have this and bread.”
Cooking every day was fine for a day or two, but having food like stew that you could just throw ingredients into and reboil was a blessing. Especially when living alone.
The man, seated obediently at the table, turned his gaze to the lamp shining brightly on the table.
“What an unusual lamp.”
“A peddler passing by was selling it. It looked useful, so I got one.”
Naturally, that was a lie—Sei had sent it, saying I would need it. Right after I sent him a letter saying I had settled in this hut.
After fetching the bread stored in the pantry and placing a bowl of the finished stew for each of us, we quietly began eating.
“By the way, I was a little surprised earlier.”
“About what?”
“When you were wearing those clothes earlier. I thought you’d stop me from laughing.”
“Why would you think that?”
“Well… because I thought you wouldn’t like it very much.”
For the serious Grand Duke, it was undoubtedly frivolous behavior. Besides, he always furrowed his brow whenever I smiled.
“Why on earth would I think that…”
He had opened his mouth as if frustrated, then suddenly went quiet. I asked, puzzled.
“What’s wrong?”
“…It’s nothing.”
His hand, silently eating the stew with his mouth closed, was clean and neat without any excess. Exactly as I remembered him.
At times like this, I could tell he really was the Kaien I knew.
“Anyway, aren’t you anxious about losing your memories? I’ll at least try to ask around.”
“Do you really need to? I might be all alone in the world.”
“Would someone like that have so much money?”
Right now, the pouch Kaien had was full of gold and silver coins. It was absolutely not an amount an ordinary person could possess.
I picked up my wooden spoon and pointed it at Kaien.
“What if you have family waiting for you! They might be looking for you.”
Besides, you can’t possibly be of ordinary status.
“Family…”
The man, who had trailed off and fallen silent, soon asked me back.
“What about you?”
“What?”
“Living alone in a place like this, aren’t you lonely?”
“Not at all!”
I shook my head vigorously and spoke firmly.
“I’m completely satisfied with my life right now.”
“…”
“Being alone means, in other words, I can do as I please, right? No one interferes or holds me back.”
Even in my past life, how happy I had been when I first got my own studio apartment. Having bounced between relatives’ houses after my parents passed away in middle school, living expenses were considerable, but I was very satisfied with the life itself.
“I wanted to live freely. Hmm, a life with strict rules doesn’t suit my constitution.”
The man, having set down his spoon, gazed at me intently without a word.
Being the object of a handsome man’s gaze—one whose face matched my ideal type, no less—was, as expected, far too much for me. I desperately wanted to be freed from this undeserved situation, really.
“Is it too simple for you?”
“No.”
The man seemed to part his lips softly, but it was too quiet for me to hear what he said.
As the night deepened and the rain seemed to have grown heavier, the sound tapping against the window was quite loud.
After finishing the meal, I lay quietly on the bed and looked at the man leaning against the opposite wall with his eyes closed, holding his sword.
After dinner, he had politely asked for my understanding, saying he would stay only until the rain stopped.
Then, when I offered to lay out a mat on the floor for him, he insisted this was enough, and the man fell asleep quickly even in an uncomfortable position. With just his barely dried top thrown on.
His eyes had looked so haggard that I thought he hadn’t been sleeping well, but was I wrong? How did he fall asleep so fast?
“…What am I really supposed to do about this?”
I had thought we would never be entangled again, but I never imagined our lives would intersect in this way.
If I could, I wanted to ask the original Kaien. Why did you come looking for me?
You went to the trouble of handing over a pretext to crush my family, so there’s no reason to seek out a woman who’s already dead, is there?
The thought that it would be better to just run away was still with me. But wouldn’t it be all right to have just one day like this? It’s been so long since I spent such peaceful time with you.
Thinking that the night was long, I pulled the blanket over my head and quietly closed my eyes.
◇◈◇
“Madam, a letter has arrived from the Dermis Ducal House.”
I had been reviewing documents and looked up at Ollen.
With Kaien’s birthday approaching in half a month, I had been very busy trying to oversee everything myself.
Anyway, I had said I would prove my abilities, so I had to do it perfectly.
If I could manage that, then perhaps—not as a married couple, but as employer and employee—we might be able to get along reasonably well.
But for the Ducal House to contact me right now, of all times.
After I had granted them a few favors, they had gone quiet, but here they were starting again. I waved my hand dismissively as if annoyed.
“Leave it there. I’ll check it later.”
“Yes.”
As soon as Ollen left, I immediately opened the envelope and checked the contents of the letter.
