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Chapter 61
“Don’t go telling people if you find out something strange, alright?”
“I told you not to touch me!”
Gray immediately slapped her hand away.
Startled, Riana clutched her wrist and shouted back.
“How is this touching you?! I was grabbing your collar!”
Her eyes, filled with injustice, turned on him. Gray rubbed his face with one hand, looking away.
Even at a time like this, why do her eyes have to look so annoyingly pretty?
“And you—don’t even look at me anymore!”
“…What?”
Riana froze in shock.
She had been certain she could pull Gray into her plan sooner or later. She thought it was only a matter of time.
They had never been on particularly friendly terms anyway, so she didn’t think a little bickering would matter.
But now—don’t touch him, don’t even look at him?
Wasn’t that basically cutting her off completely?
She stammered without realizing it.
“S-so, what—you mean we shouldn’t meet or talk anymore either?”
“That’s not it! We can still meet, but without looking, without touching, and still talk, right?”
“What kind of nonsense is that?!”
“Stop yelling!”
The louder Gray shouted, the louder Riana shot back.
“You started yelling first!!”
The horses in the stable neighed in fright at their screaming match.
Embarrassed, Riana bit her lip and forced herself to calm down. Of course, the only thing she could breathe in was the stench of horse dung.
“…Fine. I lose. Sorry for raising my voice.”
Gray admitted defeat in their shouting contest. But instead of being a gracious winner, Riana started to mock him.
“Sure, you’ll lose at the auction too. Buying like you don’t even know the value of three gold coins? You think you’ll manage?”
“…What’s with the auction talk? Why three gold all of a sudden?”
All of a sudden? She had been talking about that from the start—the request she made, offering him three gold to run an errand.
Was it really supposed to be this hard to get an answer to such a simple deal? Annoyed, Riana muttered:
“If you turn down my offer, you’ll regret it later. Just imagine losing to me at the auction by six gold. Then you’ll be like—”
She suddenly lowered her voice and put on a delinquent’s expression.
“—‘Damn it! If I’d only accepted her offer, I would’ve won!’ And you’ll cry tears of blood!”
Gray realized she was imitating him. Despite himself, a smile crept onto his face.
Annoying as she was—raising her voice, lowering her voice—she was still painfully beautiful.
But when it came to auctions, he couldn’t let beauty cloud his mind.
He straightened his expression and fired back.
“Don’t you be the one crying when you lose. From what I saw, you cry pretty easily.”
Riana’s face cracked in embarrassment.
“That time I cried because I was scared…! Normally I use my fists first. You should know that—you’ve been on the receiving end!”
Gray grimaced at the memory of being knocked down by her. Both of them fell silent, avoiding each other’s eyes.
‘Wow… I completely screwed that up, didn’t I?’
Riana wanted to smack her own mouth.
Instead of flattering him or persuading him, she’d ended up provoking, mocking, and threatening him. Brilliant job.
Finally, hesitating, she mumbled:
“Forget it for today. I’ll bring it up again later. For now, I’ll do what you want—keep my distance and act like we’re strangers.”
“…Store?”
Gray blinked, then muttered, “Ah, right, it’s time to sleep,” as he ruffled his hair.
Just as Riana reached for the stable door handle, he grabbed her sleeve.
“What now?”
Gray pulled a handkerchief from his pocket, folded it into a strip like a bandage, and wrapped it neatly around her wrist.
“…Well, well.”
So he had noticed he’d hurt her earlier.
“There. Now go.”
He had managed to do the whole thing without letting their skin touch. For someone who’d freaked out so violently about “don’t touch me,” he sure lived up to his words.
After bathing, Gray rubbed the water from his hair with a towel, then threw it aside.
“Ah, damn it!”
He couldn’t stop thinking about Riana. Not just their words, but every moment they’d spent together played back in his head.
At first she had smiled sweetly, but the longer she was with him, the more her expression twisted. And he was the one who caused it.
And worse—he’d hurt her.
“Idiot. Stupid bastard!”
He smacked both his cheeks hard with his own hands.
Why couldn’t he keep control of himself around her? In front of other people, he could act like a respectable new knight just fine.
But in front of her, he lost his mind. His mouth ran wild. His head and heart went in different directions.
Why?
Instead of honoring her as the savior he owed so much to, he was making a mess of everything.
“Rookie! What the hell are you doing? Are you crazy?”
The vice-captain had walked into the changing room and froze at the sight of him. Gray’s cheeks were already red and swollen.
“…I’m not crazy. Not yet.”
Gray’s voice was calm now, nothing like the man hitting himself a moment earlier. He wasn’t about to show weakness to anyone else.
He picked up the towel from the floor with fake composure and started to walk out. But then he turned back.
“Can I ask you something?”
“…What is it?”
Normally, Gray would never ask for advice. But right now, he was desperate.
“There’s someone I want to keep watching… for a long time.”
His voice dropped low, careful.
“How should I treat that kind of person?”
The vice-captain blinked in surprise, then narrowed his eyes.
“Tell you what—answer me and I’ll arm wrestle you without taking a fee.”
“Fine.”
“It’s a woman, right?”
Gray muttered defensively, almost to himself, “Does it matter?”
“It matters a lot.”
“…Biologically, yes, she’s a woman.”
In his mind, he saw slender arms, soft hands, and a voice like birdsong. He ruffled his damp bangs roughly to shake off the thoughts.
“What’s your relationship with her?”
“…Not sure.”
“Fiancée?”
“……”
“Lover?”
“……”
“…Friend?”
“……”
Gray remembered when someone else had asked him to define his relationship with Riana. Back then, he had called her a rival. Not even a friend.
Even though he personally saw her as his savior, the truth was that was all they were—nothing more.
Noticing the silence, the vice-captain clapped him on the shoulder.
“Start with being friends. Only then can it turn into something else.”
“How do you even do that?”
Gray remembered the day at the Isolation Tower when he’d already tried—and failed—to suggest being friends.
“Well, try acting friendly. Remember small things about her, take interest, ask questions, pay attention. That’s how you get closer.”
“And then?”
“If you’re lucky, you’ll become friends.”
“And after that?”
Gray’s eyes gleamed with persistence.
Riana had a lot of people around her. She’d deny it, but to Gray it seemed like she did.
But friends wouldn’t stay by her side forever. He wanted to be more than that.
So he needed to know what came after.
“After that… once you’ve earned the right to be by her side as a friend—make the most of it.”
“Make the most of it?”
“Like steady rain soaking clothes—just keep wooing her until she gives in.”
Gray frowned. Something about this conversation was going in the wrong direction.
“And after that, marry her. Then even if you get sick of each other, you’ll be stuck for life.”
The vice-captain gazed into the distance.
“That’s how I ended up tied down to my wife…”
“…That’s not the ending I wanted.”
The vice-captain looked at Gray’s dark expression, then chuckled dryly.
“Then your wish won’t come true.”
“…Why not?”
“You said you want to watch her for a long time. But what man would let someone like you hang around his wife forever?”
“…Wife?”
Riana. As someone else’s wife.
Just picturing it made him sick.
The vice-captain patted his shoulder.
“Love isn’t easy, kid. It’s the hardest trial you’ll face at your age.”
Love?
The word made Gray so sick he felt like throwing up.
That was forbidden.
The vow was the only chain his savior had given him—and he would never break it. Least of all for her.
Disgusted, he shoved the vice-captain’s hand away and snapped:
“I don’t do love. Or marriage. This was a pointless talk.”
He stormed out of the changing room, gritting his teeth.
‘She’ll never get married anyway.’
