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Chapter : 07
The Escape Route
Alferil took the thickest fur coat among the ones I had brought and retraced the same path she had walked yesterday. Outside the manor, snow lay thickly piled.
Because no one had passed through, the snowy path was extremely deep; with every step she took, her ankles sank and grew wet. Hugging her chilled body, she tightened her grip on the wooden basket.
Her destination was a forest not far from the manor, which she had spotted from the window of the room where I had been staying. She was certain she would be able to find several kinds of flavorful winter mushrooms there.
She decided to put off the grand cleaning of the manor for a while and prioritize preparing warm meals every day.
Above all, she was determined to soften the young master’s heart—but it was also true that the gaunt face of Terencio, which refused to leave her mind, kept troubling her.
Alferil herself had often gone without meals for long stretches, whether because she couldn’t sing properly or because she made mistakes during performances. Because of that, she tried to understand the young master’s sensitivity as much as she could.
He must have been very lonely. Seeing someone after such a long time must have felt unfamiliar, and judging by his appearance, it seemed it had been a long while since he’d had a proper meal. Under such circumstances, it was only natural for a person’s temperament to grow rough.
Like it or not, this was the place she would have to live for another year. If so, there was no harm in making an effort to like it. Alferil had endured much of her life so far by thinking that way.
To reach the entrance of the winter forest, she had to push through snow-laden fir branches for quite some time. Surrounded by dense trees untouched by human hands, the place felt somehow secretive.
Not long after stepping inside, she found edible mushrooms growing between large rocks, just as she had expected. It was a quiet place, with no sign of wild animals.
Alferil immediately bent her knees and crouched down, picking the edible mushrooms one by one with fingers reddened from the cold.
It took nearly half a day to fill the basket to a satisfying degree.
The winter sunlight, just on the verge of turning red, was beginning to stretch across the snowfield. Hugging the now considerably heavy basket to her chest, Alferil prepared to descend the slippery slope.
“Ah!”
At that moment, a single misstep made her lose her balance.
When she stepped on a hidden stone buried in the deep snow, her leg slipped at once. Letting out a short scream, Alferil began to tumble down the steep path.
As her vision spun wildly with dull thudding sounds, she desperately searched for something to grab onto—but with bare hands unprotected by gloves, it was impossible from the start, only adding to her speed.
The fear that she might crash into something at any moment was unbearable. Just as Alferil squeezed her eyes shut and gave up on stopping herself, she suddenly felt her slender wrist being yanked hard.
It happened far too fast. Only several seconds later did she realize that she had stopped rolling because someone had grabbed hold of her.
With the sound of snow falling away around her, Alferil opened her eyes.
“Young master?”
She asked as though she were seeing something she couldn’t believe.
It was Terencio Heron.
The tip of his nose was flushed red from the cold, while his pale complexion—unused to sunlight—looked bluish by contrast. Snowflakes resting on his vivid red hair and long eyelashes looked almost like sugar.
Noticing that her lower body was buried in a snowdrift, Terencio pulled hard on the hand he had been holding, freeing Alferil as if he were a farmer pulling a carrot from the ground.
Not fully in her right mind enough to properly process his surprising kindness, Alferil asked haltingly,
“Why are you here?”
Without answering, Terencio stared quietly at her with a slightly stunned expression. Wondering if she looked that disheveled, Alferil hurriedly fixed her messy hair and looked around.
The path that had felt so terrifying as she fell turned out not to be that rough.
Even if she had rolled all the way down, there didn’t seem to be anything that could have caused serious injury. She thought that even if the young master hadn’t appeared in time, it might have just felt like riding a rough sled.
However, the handle of her wide basket was slightly broken, and the mushrooms she had gathered all day were scattered everywhere. Embarrassed by her own carelessness, she gave an awkward smile and said,
“Oh dear, the basket’s unusable now. What should I do?”
The man said nothing and looked at Alferil’s swollen hands. Only then did she notice how lightly dressed Terencio was for a walk—and the sack he was carrying.
“I was…”
He finally spoke. His deep voice sounded as though he were about to recite lines from a grand play, and Alferil held her breath, waiting for what would come next.
“I was… you…”
But as if his head had frozen in the cold, he couldn’t continue and stumbled over his words, unlike yesterday. After waiting for some time, unable to bear it any longer, Alferil leaned toward him and asked,
“Were you going out hunting? You seem to have brought quite a lot.”
After glancing sideways at the stiff young master, Alferil left him be and took the sack from his hands, opening it herself. The rather large sack lived up to its size in weight.
Unable to contain her curiosity after feeling its heft, she reached inside and checked the items she grabbed at random. Throughout it all, the young master stood perfectly still.
As she identified the unexpectedly random contents, Alferil furrowed her brows again and again.
A bottle of wine, stale bread, cheese, various food items as though the entire pantry had been emptied—and a small pouch that jingled in her hand, which surely contained coins meant for alms.
Was he on his way to make an offering at a nearby church?
When that thought crossed her mind, Alferil suddenly fidgeted with her fingers and gauged the young master’s mood. She grew anxious that she might earn his further displeasure if she had inadvertently obstructed him.
When no one spoke for a long while, an awkward silence settled between them. In the end, Alferil spoke first, letting the words spill out as they came. Her legs, drained of strength, were starting to feel unsteady.
“I’ve lost quite a bit of energy moving around—shall we eat something?”
Fortunately, the young master did not take her suggestion as rude. Instead, he even seemed to consider using the empty sack as a mat, kicking away the snow beneath a tree with his boot.
“Young master, I’ll do that.”
It was a bewildering sight for Alferil, who had expected him to stand still as always, without lifting a finger. She kept glancing at him as he worked.
“It’s fine.”
“Then I’ll get some firewood—”
“No need. Just sit.”
His tone was as cold as the winter wind. Fearing a repeat of yesterday’s incident, Alferil closed her mouth and quietly did as he said.
After clearing the spot, Terencio casually gathered some twigs nearby and lit a fire atop the stacked wood using cigar matches. Watching his skillful movements with fascination, Alferil asked,
“Have you ever served in the military?”
“No.”
Right—he had said he was sick. For an illegitimate child of a noble family, it wasn’t uncommon to voluntarily enlist once they were grown, so she had asked without thinking.
Worried that she might have offended him again, Alferil flinched inwardly and said no more. Soon, they sat side by side in silence before the crackling fire.
As if she’d been waiting for this, she held her twitching hands close to the flames. Just as she was feeling relieved by the warmth slowly seeping in, an unfamiliar sensation suddenly touched her skin.
With an indifferent expression, Terencio grabbed her hand and interlaced their fingers as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Startled, Alferil stared at him wide-eyed, and only then did he speak.
“Bear with it, even if it’s uncomfortable. If you hold your hands too close, a stray spark could burn you.”
As though sharing his warmth instead, he gently wrapped her hand in his. Taken aback by the completely unexpected consideration, Alferil parted her lips for a moment, then gathered her courage and asked,
“Are you really not going to tell me why you came here?”
“Do I have any obligation to report such things to you?”
His tone held no trace of kindness, but it didn’t seem particularly hostile either. Unsure whether she was imagining it, Alferil hesitated, then met his gaze and asked again,
“Did you think I was running away?”
“……”
“You looked startled. When you found me earlier, you couldn’t even finish your sentence.”
Still holding her hand firmly, Terencio turned his head and met her eyes. Feeling awkward under his gaze, Alferil hurriedly changed the subject to ease the tension.
“Well, if you think about it, it wouldn’t be running away so much as being chased out.”
“Why?”
“Because yesterday you told me to leave this manor.”
At the young master’s genuinely puzzled tone, Alferil answered hesitantly,
“It would have been fortunate for me, but if you really thought that, you should’ve had the servants follow me instead of chasing after me yourself… Ah, right. There aren’t any people here.”
“There are still servants staying in the annex at Saint Caléum.”
At the rare earnest reply, she smiled faintly—and then felt even happier upon hearing the content. While she did, Terencio soaked a piece of bread in wine and handed it to her.
“That’s good news. I was worried about how I’d manage such a large manor.”
After a brief hesitation, Alferil accepted it. Warmth gradually spread through her body. Taking a bite of the softened bread, she added,
“If you don’t truly intend to drive me out, there’s no reason for me to run away first, so you can rest easy. I don’t want to meet bandits and suffer something terrible on the road either.”
“If you were guaranteed not to meet bandits, would you run away?”
