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Chapter 18
It was the first time I had seen this man smile so comfortably in front of me. Of course, I didn’t say it aloud, since he would surely never smile again if I did.
“Is that so?”
“Of course! Normally you just answer with something short and that’s it. You just give reactions like ‘I see. Yes? Huh?’!”
When I listed out the speech patterns I had experienced one by one, Kaien expressed doubt.
“I don’t see the need to say more than that.”
It was a statement befitting a man of absolute power. Fitting for a man who had lived a life where it was the other person’s job to understand what he said.
Of course, rather than nitpicking that, Wendy took the direct approach.
“Still, when you want to convey your intentions clearly, it’s better to say it properly. Especially to the people who are precious to you.”
In fact, the reason Kaien and the maid’s relationship had been so sluggish throughout the original work was partly due to his personality, which was overly stingy with expression.
That was why when I saw the scene in the latter half where Kaien got slapped, it felt so satisfying. Even so, shouldn’t he express himself a bit more to the woman he liked?
“You might end up regretting it when it matters?”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
Seeing his indifferent reply, I thought romance was surely hopeless for him again this time, but instead of giving further advice, Wendy went back to looking at the sky.
Frankly, it wasn’t like I was going to be his lover, so what did it matter? He could go ahead and get slapped on his own.
The sound of their soft conversation scattered across the quiet night. Kaien felt the headache that had been tormenting him had somehow disappeared, but he quietly focused on his conversation with Wendy.
With a feeling that tonight, at least, he would not have any more nightmares.
◇◈◇
Chirp chirp…
The sound of birds chirping tapped against the window of the small hut. Pure white sunlight poured onto the bed, vividly announcing the morning.
The eyelids of the man lying as if dead on the old log bed twitched. Letting out a small groan, he passed through a brief gap and slowly opened his eyes.
And then, he came face to face with a fearsome wooden mask filling his entire field of vision.
An ordinary person would have screamed first, but the man merely stared blankly at the mask. A long silence followed, and then the mask-wearer shuffled backward.
The mask hurriedly brought over a tray placed on the table and held it out to the man. The tray, holding a green liquid, gave off a bitter smell.
Instead of taking the bowl, the man quietly examined the mask. Lightly ignoring the pain beginning to rise from his injured side.
His blue eyes were sharp, as if they would pierce right through the mask.
“This is, medicine…”
And the moment a timid voice came from beyond the mask, the heavily sunken air cleared at once. Sensing the softened atmosphere, the mask chattered softly.
“The wound had opened up so I treated it. The detoxification seems mostly done, but just in case.”
Even after moving him to the hut and examining his condition, the bleeding wouldn’t stop, and now it made sense—the wound had been inflicted by a monster’s poison. Given that it stopped quickly once the spare medicine was used.
When the mask awkwardly pushed the medicine bowl a little closer, the man briefly narrowed his brows, then roughly snatched the bowl and downed the medicine in one go.
Then he reached out his remaining hand, grabbed the slender arm, and pulled the other toward him, and before the other could react, he stripped off the mask in an instant.
“Ah!”
The brown-haired woman’s brown eyes went wide. The man carefully examined the pretty woman held in his arms.
Under his persistent gaze, the woman’s cheeks flushed slightly. She stammered out an explanation.
“I, um, I’m a bit shy around strangers.”
She had tried to play it off, but that was apparently over too.
The woman squeezed her eyes shut. She hadn’t been able to turn away from an injured person, so she had treated him, but there was always a “what if.” Even if the busy Grand Duke had happened to collapse right in front of her house, that too could be coincidence.
No, it’s too early to give up. Her hair color and eye color are different, so he might just think she resembles his dead wife a little…!
“And I thought you might not want to see my face very much…”
“…”
“Um, but could you let me go now? We’re a bit too close.”
The woman kept squirming to escape him, but the thick arm didn’t budge. Crazy, how is he this strong?
Come to think of it, was this man’s embrace always this hot?
They were married, but forget kissing—they had barely even hugged, so everything was just awkward. Honestly, it was closer to embarrassing.
If he found out I was alive, I expected he would demand the reason or try to execute me on the spot.
No, in the first place, Sei had confidently declared not to worry about the aftermath, so how did he even know to come here? Did he actually have a clumsier side than he appeared?
Just as the woman was briefly doubting the abilities of her absent business partner, the man’s lips moved slowly.
“Who are you?”
Oh, did it actually work?
Perhaps because it was right after waking, his voice was somewhat subdued, but it was the same wonderful voice as in her memories. The woman, dazed for a moment, quickly answered before she could miss the chance.
“I’m Rwen! And you?”
“I am…”
The man, who had paused briefly as if organizing his thoughts, had his eyes sink darkly.
“I’m not sure.”
Huh?
“I don’t remember anything. Who I am, where I came from.”
“What?”
You’re joking, right?
The man continued questioning while holding the shocked woman in his arms.
“Was it you who saved me?”
“Uh, yes.”
“I am grateful. When I regain my memories, I will be sure to repay you.”
Just looking at his way of speaking, he doesn’t seem like he’s lost his memories at all, though?
Rwen barely suppressed the urge to point that out. If she did, it would be like confessing that I know your past.
Of course, she latched onto that one thing.
“…You’ll repay me, really?”
Then later, even if your memories return, you won’t go and chop off my head! Right?
“I don’t say things twice. Anyway…”
The man, who had been pondering for a moment, added quietly.
“Did I not have any belongings?”
“Oh, as it happens, I set them aside over here!”
Rwen, having barely escaped the man’s arms, took out a brown pouch she had placed in the drawer and handed it to him. She didn’t forget to point to the sword propped against the wall next to the drawer.
To the man who silently opened the pouch and checked inside, Rwen said as if assuring him.
“I just set it aside so it wouldn’t get soaked in blood, and I absolutely! didn’t touch the contents, so don’t worry.”
“I wasn’t worried about that.”
The man answered quietly, sealed the pouch tightly, and then gazed intently at Rwen. His intense gaze, resembling a wild beast, made her tense involuntarily.
“Rwen.”
“Yes.”
“As I said, I currently remember nothing. Not even my own name.”
“W-well, that’s the state you’re in.”
“In this situation, the only person I can trust is you.”
I have a bad feeling about this.
As if proving Rwen’s premonition right, the man made a bombshell declaration in the calmest tone he had used yet.
“So I would like to impose on you for a while.”
“…Impose, in what way?”
“Please let me stay here.”
“Absolutely not!”
Before the man could say anything, Rwen quickly added.
“Just look at this hut!”
Rwen stretched out her hand and pointed to the interior of her cozy and wonderful hut. A space that consisted entirely of one table, two chairs, a fireplace, a cooking counter, and one bed.
“There are no separate rooms here, you know? If you live here, you’ll have to see my face every single day until you’re sick of it!”
Kaien fundamentally did not welcome encountering her. Though it seemed they had actually seen each other quite often before her death.
That was why she had briefly considered whether to carry out the plan, but it was only for a moment. Because if not then, there would never be another moment when she could naturally exit the original story.
And yet this man had strode right back to her. In the most incomprehensible form possible.
“It seems nice and cozy to me.”
And even brazenly so—was this really the same person as the blunt Grand Duke she knew?
“That’s not the only problem. You may not know, but when unmarried men and women live under the same roof, it’s very easy to invite a lot of misunderstanding, you know?”
“Unmarried.”
For a moment, the man’s eyes seemed to turn cold, but Rwen didn’t notice. It was because the amount of information she had to process right now was enormous.
“Then…”
The man, who had uncharacteristically let his words trail off, smiled with his lips. The utterly ominous smile suited him strangely well.
The man, who gently took hold of Rwen’s hand as she was lost in such thoughts, lightly kissed the area around her ring finger and looked up at her.
“Then I just need to marry you, is that it?”
