RTGD 29

Chapter 29

“Master, hasn’t your arm mostly healed by now?”

Mark blinked as he watched Killian, who was diligently wrapping a bandage around his arm again this morning.

Water dripped from Killian’s freshly bathed body.

“It hasn’t.”

“But I’m sure you took the bandage off during the early morning training… Wait, no, I must’ve seen wrong. Ahem.”

Killian’s silent pressure seemed to dare him to say it again, and Mark cleared his throat awkwardly.

Yes, the master was definitely acting strange lately.

“By the way, it seems the rear unit is very delayed.”

Helping Killian wrap the bandage without further complaint, Mark glanced out the window.

There was still no sign of carriages arriving today.

Under normal circumstances, the knight order led by Pell should’ve arrived long ago. Yet, two days had passed with no news or explanation.

“Any word from Pell?”

“There was a message that they’d be arriving soon, but it seems something happened along the way.”

Of course. It had been a mistake to entrust command to Pell, that overexcited colt of a man.

Mark’s expression twisted in worry for his trouble-prone younger brother.

“Relax your face, Mark. You’ll scare your wife.”

“…Yes, sir.”

Mark, who had finished tying the bandage tightly, stepped back and stretched his face to soften his grim expression.

Rumble.

Thunder, heavy and thick with moisture, rolled through the dark sky that had been ominous since morning.

At the sound, Mark’s face hardened again, as if it mirrored the thunderclouds outside.

“I think I’ll head out toward the border. If it rains, the ground will get muddy, making it even harder for the carriages to move. We should get them into the north before that happens.”

“…”

Killian, who had been gazing at the sky alongside him, grabbed a towel and roughly dried his hair.

“I’ll go with you.”

“You too, my lord? It looks like rain. I can handle this alone.”

Mark tried to dissuade Killian, who was slipping his arms into a coat.

“The rain probably won’t start until late evening. It’s fine.”

“But, my lord—”

Killian firmly patted Mark’s shoulder as he looked nervously up at the sky.

“I told you, relax your face.”

Having slipped on his other sleeve, Killian widened his stride.

Among the cargo in the supply wagons was a set of paints that Litricia had seemed to like.

She hadn’t said it directly, but she seemed to be looking forward to painting with them. She had been waiting for the carriage every day.

Killian didn’t want to see her disappointed if the rain ruined the paints.

“Seriously… I’ve started doing all sorts of things that are so unlike me.”

Even he found it ridiculous, but Killian didn’t stop walking.

Not until he ran into Litricia in the hallway as she was just stepping out of her room.

“Huh? Killian, are you going out? I was just on my way to the study.”

“I’m sorry, Litricia. I have to head out to the border for a bit. I’ll have to postpone today’s lesson.”

“Oh… I see. That can’t be helped. Please take care.”

Trying to hide her disappointment, she smiled out of habit.

His hair… he dried it.

Though it was still damp, seeing his silver hair no longer dripping gave her a strange sense of emptiness.

She rubbed her fingers together idly and was about to walk past him when Killian grabbed her wrist.

“Litricia!”

“Yes?”

“Will you be here?”

“Here? In the Grand Duke’s castle? I… I suppose so?”

“No, I mean, that’s not what I meant. Damn it.”

Seeing her blankly staring up at him, Killian swore under his breath.

He was about to leave the castle with Litricia still inside, and suddenly a memory flashed through his mind—a moment from the past.

Someone he had left behind in perfect health had completely vanished by the time he returned. That stinging sense of betrayal.

Today, too, he had the inexplicable feeling that Litricia might disappear. So he reached out and stopped her.

The problem was… he had nothing to say after that.

He couldn’t very well demand that someone who knew nothing not disappear on him.

[Idiot.]

‘Why the hell does that damned smoke keep showing up?’

Killian gripped her wrist a little tighter, glaring at the smoky apparition that always seemed to slither into view and dissolve again.

“…I’ll be back, so this evening, I hope we can finish today’s postponed lesson.”

“…”

When she didn’t respond, Killian felt a wave of unease rise up in his chest.

His thoughts tangled in confusion. Why isn’t she answering? Is she planning to leave me behind again? Why? Already?

Desperate to find any excuse to keep her from leaving, his words spilled out faster.

“We still haven’t finished discussing Peter Godwin, have we? And not just that—”

“I understand. I’ll wait for you.”

Her calm response brought his spiraling thoughts back to order.

“…You’ll wait?”

“Yes. I’ll be here. Waiting.”

His whole body relaxed all at once.

Only then did Killian realize just how tightly he had been holding her wrist, and he flinched as if burned, quickly letting go.

“…Sorry. I didn’t mean to grip so hard.”

“It didn’t really hurt, so it’s fine.”

Litricia rubbed her wrist, which had a slight ache, and awkwardly waved her hand.

“W-Well then, be careful out there.”

“…Yes. I’ll be back. See you this evening.”

*

“Why did Killian act like that all of a sudden?”

Litricia, seated in the study scribbling Braille, rubbed her flushed wrist.

The feeling of that large hand gripping her like he wouldn’t let go still lingered vividly.

“He looked really anxious.”

As she mulled over Killian’s expression, she leaned back in her chair.

Sprawled out like that, her eyes caught the landscape outside the window, flipped in her view.

“Come to think of it, I haven’t stepped outside the castle even once since arriving here.”

Gazing at the sky, where clouds were puffed like gray cotton balls, she mumbled to herself.

“Should I go out? I’ve got nothing to do anyway.”

She felt strangely listless now that Killian had left. Maybe it was the weather?

Rubbing her sleepy eyes, Litricia turned the chair—and then suddenly grabbed the desk with a sharp tap.

The spinning chair had stopped, pointing her in one direction, and Litricia leaned forward.

She had seen a very familiar back flinch between two bookshelves.

“Mia?”

Of course—it was that perfectly pressed maid uniform, creased without a flaw.

When Litricia called out, Mia jumped slightly in place, clearly startled.

I feel like I’ve been running into Mia a lot lately. She can’t possibly be following me, right?

Maybe it’s just in my head.

“What are you doing here? Oh, cleaning?”

Just in case, she asked, and Mia wordlessly held up a duster with both hands.

As she did, dust rained down on her head.

Her chin-length hair became tangled in it like cobwebs, and she fumbled to brush it off.

But the more she tried, the more the dust and her hair seemed to stick together.

“…You should probably go wash up.”

Defeated by the dust, Mia trudged out of the study with a sullen face.

Now alone in the quieter room, Litricia spun the chair again a few more times.

“I’m bored. Should I really go outside?”

But then she remembered Killian’s anxious expression as he had gripped her wrist—and shook her head.

If she disappeared without a word, it might really shock Killian.

Besides, it looked like rain was coming soon anyway…

“I’ll just stay in and read.”

Yawning softly, Litricia gathered the Braille papers she’d been scribbling on and got up from her seat.

She had been visiting this study for nearly a week, but it was her first time taking a close look around.

“Wow… I thought there were a lot of books at a glance, but looking closely, it’s even more impressive. No wonder Killian is so proud of his study.”

Though she had never been to the royal library, this was what she imagined it might look like.

Bookshelves lined the walls from floor to ceiling, neatly sorted by color.

Below them, massive mobile bookcases filled the room like a dense labyrinth.

The entire study felt like a small maze.

“My goodness…”

Marveling as she explored the study, Litricia paused when she came upon an oddly out-of-place section.

“Picture books? What are these doing here?”

Tucked away in the deepest corner was a shelf with only a few picture books.

At first, she thought they might’ve belonged to a young Killian, but the crisp pages suggested they were fairly recent.

“They’re all by the same author.”

Almost entranced, Litricia picked up one of the books and settled into a corner.

An adult, long past her coming-of-age, reading picture books… Isis would definitely scold her if she saw this.

But Isis wasn’t here, so whatever.

With a shrug, Litricia curled up comfortably and opened the book.

Outside, the sky had grown dark, and raindrops began to fall one by one.

“All the main characters are pink rabbits. Killian must like cute things more than he lets on.”

Imagining Killian—who was like a silver wolf in human form—reading this kind of book made her laugh.

Nestled cozily, flipping pages, her eyes gradually grew heavy.

She had spent the night tossing and turning again, trying to ease another bout of headache.

Unable to fight the drowsiness any longer, Litricia closed the book and glanced at the clock.

There was still time before Killian returned. A short nap wouldn’t hurt.

“Just a little… I’ll sleep just a little…”