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Chapter 14
“Ugh!”
Ponia shot up, startled by the familiar sting.
“Get up. The sun’s already high.”
As expected, Sionel was looking down at her. Her cheeks still stung from yesterday, but the pain didn’t fade—it lingered rather sharply…
“Did you pinch me?!”
Ponia grabbed her cheek and scolded him, but Sionel genuinely admired her.
“You can tell the difference?”
“Can’t you wake me up normally?”
“That’s what I mean. Can’t you get up right away when I wake you properly?”
She often heard from family and servants that once she fell asleep, it was hard to wake her. So Ponia couldn’t really offer another excuse.
“…Still, there must be another way.”
“Then, shall I do it like yesterday?”
As if ready to act immediately, Sionel leaned down and reached out his hand.
“No!”
Ponia avoided his hand and stood up quickly. As she stretched, she noticed his face—clearly different from yesterday.
“Why does your face look like that?”
“….”
“Didn’t sleep well yesterday? You’ve got huge dark circles.”
“….”
“Did I snore? I don’t have any bad sleeping habits…”
Though uncertain, Sionel swatted Ponia’s hand away lightly as she reached for his face, replying curtly:
“Isn’t it stranger that you can sleep while there’s an assassin below?”
“I told you, I’m not an assassin.”
“Right, so you answer lazily and just fall asleep.”
“Wow! Nice weather today, huh?”
Ponia pointed at the open ceiling with an obviously unnatural gesture. Sionel’s relentless gaze followed.
‘Using your memory for pointless things…’
“Forget that. Deal with that first.”
“Hm?”
Sionel gestured lazily toward something. Following his hand, she saw a door.
And then came a knock.
Knock knock knock.
Light, yet strangely polite.
“Hello, I’m the repairman who greeted you yesterday.”
“….”
“Are you still asleep?”
Only then did Ponia’s mind flash back to last night.
She remembered the plan: wake up early and send Sionel out before the repairman saw him.
“Get up. The sun’s already high.”
But her oversleeping had completely ruined the plan.
Ponia glanced up at the ceiling, letting the sunlight beam down strongly on her head.
“Crap…”
‘Maybe I should just pretend I’m not here and not answer at all?’
It might seem strange, but claiming she’d been up early patrolling would make a later excuse easier.
As she racked her brain, she heard the repairman muttering to himself.
“That’s odd… I’ve never seen anyone come out this early.”
Damn. He had been awake since dawn.
Knock knock knock.
“Are you in there?”
“….”
Not knowing what else to do, the knock suddenly stopped. Only the faint chirping of birds on the roof remained.
“Gone…?”
Ponia carefully stepped toward the door, pressing her ear against it without making a sound.
Bang bang bang!
A louder knocking than before made her pull back quickly.
My ears!
Earlier, it had been just a light tap with one finger, but now it sounded like the man was pounding the door with his entire fist.
Meanwhile, Sionel stood there, arms crossed, watching the scene like it wasn’t his problem. When their eyes met, he even shrugged.
“Don’t just stand there, help me…”
“Are you okay? Are you hurt or anything?”
Bang bang bang bang!
The man, apparently imagining something, was hitting the door as if he wanted to break it.
“I’m sorry, I’ll have to break the door!”
How did it come to this?
“I’ll fix the door later! Sorry!”
The knocking stopped. Instead, an ominous silence fell over the door.
It felt like he might break it down any moment.
Panicked, Ponia finally spoke.
“W-wait! I’m in here!”
“Oh, there you are!”
The man brightened at the sound of her voice, and Ponia quickly added:
“Yes! So don’t break the door!”
“I thought maybe you couldn’t open it because you were hurt…”
“I don’t wake up easily once I fall asleep. But what is it?”
“Oh! I wanted to check inside first for the cabin repairs. Could you open the door?”
Rattle.
The man pushed to open the door from outside. Ponia blocked the handle.
“No!”
“Excuse me?”
“No, I need to change clothes! Wait a moment!”
“Oh! Of course. Take your time.”
She had bought herself a little time. But it was temporary. The longer it took, the more suspicious the repairman would be.
Ponia quickly scanned the surroundings.
Two windows in the cabin.
One next to the door—if she went out there, he’d immediately see. The other had no support, showing the steep drop below.
If I send Sionel out there, it wouldn’t just be his legs at risk… his life would be in danger too…
Hoping, she glanced at Sionel, but he immediately got serious.
“Don’t even think about sending me there.”
‘Who said anything… I just looked…’
“It’ll be easier to get rid of him than to send me out.”
“Even if that’s true, he came for cabin repairs. How can I not show him inside at least once?”
“That’s your problem to deal with.”
Ah, really!
Ponia ruffled her red hair and spotted something behind Sionel, stopping in her tracks.
“….”
Looking between the weak, old door with its rusted latch and Sionel staring blankly, Ponia made a quick decision.
She looked at him solemnly, and he nodded.
“What are you looking at?”
“Sionel.”
Her first time calling his name since the assassination attempt. Sionel awkwardly responded.
“…Why?”
But Ponia said nothing more and stepped closer.
One step, then another.
She pressed herself against him, and Sionel, rarely flustered, stepped back.
“W-why are you suddenly…?”
With nowhere left to retreat, Ponia looked up at him and spoke.
“Stay like this for a moment…”
Her green eyes were vibrant, like fresh leaves.
Sionel stared without thinking, and then her eyes sparkled.
“Stay here for a moment. Got it?”
“Wha…?”
Clunk!
Something opened.
Before Sionel could react, Ponia pushed him into it. He was crammed inside the wardrobe.
His face scrunched.
“What are you doing…?”
“Quiet! Got it? Shh!”
The wardrobe door closed.
When Ponia opened the door, the repairman smiled brightly.
“Good morning.”
“Yes, come in…”
“Right, excuse me then.”
Unaware of the chaos, he entered cheerfully.
Come to think of it, he’s been this cheerful since we first met…
Suddenly, the man’s face was right in front of her.
“You don’t look well. Are you really okay?”
His large glasses moved around, inspecting every part of her face. Her eyes weren’t visible behind them even this close.
Ponia smiled awkwardly and stepped back.
“I-I’m fine.”
She was basically locking up a wild animal that wouldn’t listen.
Glancing nervously toward the wardrobe, she realized the makeshift strap was only temporary.
“Please repair this roof.”
Following Ponia’s instructions, the repairman looked at the empty roof.
“Wow, it looks pretty bad.”
“…Thunderstorm. Just bad luck.”
Jerome had said it was because of the thunder, but who knows? Maybe some aggressive bird monster tore it apart.
“Hm… it’s worse than I thought. I’ll have to tear off the whole roof and replace it.”
“Will it take long?”
Even today had been chaotic. If the repair took too long, they’d be noticed. The repair needed to finish in a week, maybe two at most.
That’s the maximum patience Sionel can handle.
“It won’t take long. About a week?”
Lucky—it was within expectations. But the repairman wasn’t done speaking.
“And if we include the storage repairs, about three months? I saw it yesterday, and it’s so old that if I touch it wrong, it might collapse immediately.”
“…The storage doesn’t need repairs.”
“No, as a technician I can’t ignore safety!”
“I’m fine.”
“But Jerome asked me to fix the whole cabin while I was at it.”
“….”
“Oh! I’ll fix that door as a service. Consider it my goodwill.”
“….”
“You don’t need to thank me. Haha.”
No thanks needed—she definitely didn’t need his “goodwill.”
