USML 10

Chapter 10

“Ero. How did you end up here…?”

Ah. I let out a sigh and recalled a memory I had buried. There had been exactly one time when I’d told Ero the precise location of the villa. It seemed he had remembered it and come looking for me.

Ero and I always met at the same place, at the same time, without ever setting a clear appointment. When I suddenly stopped showing up, he must have decided to come find me himself. I clenched my fist tightly.

Just as my head began to spin, Ero’s flat, emotionless voice struck me.

“Basil.”

When I lifted my gaze, I saw him filling his blue eyes with nothing but me. His grip tightened around the bouquet in his hands.

“Will you become the master of my soul?”

Under the pressure of his expectant gaze, I opened and closed my mouth like a goldfish before finally lowering my head.

Yes. I should use this chance to tell him. I couldn’t put it off any longer. Slowly, I raised my face. Past the petals scattered at my feet, his face came into view. Each step I took toward him felt as heavy as cotton soaked in water.

“Ero, the truth is, I—”

At that moment, before I could even finish opening my mouth, the lush bouquet was thrust toward my face. Had he anticipated what I was about to say? It was clearly meant to stop me from speaking.

“I tried to reenact a scene from the novel you liked. I suppose it was too much after all.”

Before I knew it, I was holding the bouquet. I staggered under its weight, and Ero stepped closer, gripping my shoulders. Before I realized it, I was in his arms.

Tap.

At that moment, an unfamiliar sound rang in my ears.

Over Ero’s broad shoulder, a hawk was tapping its beak against the window.

Flap!

When Ero fixed the window with a cold gaze, it wasn’t long before the frightened hawk beat its wings and disappeared.

“Ero?”

Startled by the unfamiliar side of him, I leaned back slightly. He stroked my shoulder, soothing me.

“Did I scare you? I’m sorry, Basil.”

Worry tangled into his gentle voice. At that moment, emotion surged up inside me. I was deceiving someone like this. My selfish heart felt darker than ink.

Ero seemed to accept my silence in his own way, curling his lips into a bitter smile. Before I knew it, his hand slid through my hair and cradled the back of my head.

A moment later, soft lips touched my rounded forehead. As his hand pulled away, it lingered at the nape of my neck, filled with regret.

“I came because I wanted to see your face before I leave. So don’t be startled.”

“Leave…?”

Instead of answering, Ero slowly stepped backward. Even as he moved away, he never took his eyes off me.

“Ero, where are you going?”

I reached out desperately to catch him, but couldn’t even brush the hem of his clothes. Half his face was hidden behind the curtain as he smiled lazily.

“Wait for me. I’ll come to see you.”

“Ero, wait—”

“When that time comes, I’ll hear your answer.”

“Please, wait.”

Ero shifted his gaze and looked fondly at my outstretched hand.

“My name is Evan Dustin. Remember it.”

At that moment, a sudden gust of wind swept in. I hunched my shoulders and squeezed my eyes shut.

Ero vanished into the moonlight, leaving behind a single name that should never have come from his lips.

My uncollected hand trembled intermittently. Evan Dustin—why would that name come from his mouth? One thought flashed through my mind.

“That’s impossible.”

A sharp gasp escaped me, my chest aching as I sucked in air. The bouquet slipped from my hands and rolled at my feet.

Everything that had happened felt like a chain of dreams. So this, too, had to be a dream. No—it had to be. Maybe I’d fallen asleep while reading, and because I missed him, I was dreaming of him. Otherwise… if not…

“The man I met was Evan Dustin.”

He was supposed to be in the Kingdom of Neuwart at this point in the story… Damn it. I shut my eyes tightly, my expression stricken.

“The variable was that the original story hadn’t started yet.”

How could I have known I’d meet Evan before the plot even began?

In my previous life, I loved reading romance novels. Among them, Lovely Person was special to me. It was like a lonely child, tucked alone at the edge of a dusty bookshelf, as though it had always belonged there.

But that didn’t mean I possessed some extraordinary intuition that let me recognize the male lead just by his appearance.

I collapsed weakly onto the carpet. My hands and knees were scraped red, and the roses were crushed and ruined in my grip, but I didn’t care.

“Sniff, sniff!”

The sound of sniffing echoed near my ear. I wasn’t sure when it had woken up, but the fairy’s eyes widened as it looked at the crushed roses.

“What a waste! Human, are you crazy?”

“Fairy, are you all right?”

My thoughts were still in chaos, but what I needed to do right now was clear.

“What nonsense? Don’t ask me—ask the one you’re crushing with your own hands.”

The fairy, who had been lifting its eyes primly, panicked when it saw my dazed expression and fluttered into the air.

“H-hey, human, what’s wrong with you?”

“Are you all right?”

“I don’t know—what is!”

“Will you be okay if we leave Cent?”

Right now, I had to leave Cent and avoid Evan at all costs.

The drop of blood clinging to the blade’s tip splashed at Evan’s feet. It was the sword that had just severed the neck of a prince of the Kingdom of Neuwart. Evan handed the sword to the sentry knight and entered the tent.

“Evan, you—ugh.”

Dwen stopped short at the tent entrance, hesitating to go inside.

Times like this, it’s better not to get too close.

In the darkness, Evan’s fierce eyes gleamed, filled with killing intent.

When Evan wiped the blood splattered on his face with the back of his hand, a crescent-shaped smear was left behind. Then he sat down in a chair draped with animal fur.

“Dwen.”

Evan jerked his chin at him, meaning: Go on, I’ll listen—make your excuse. Looking like a man headed for the gallows, Dwen followed him into the tent.

“Hoo.”

Dwen raked his fingers through his red hair. Scary. Terrifying. His ruby-like eyes stared into empty space.

“Well, it’s just that…”

Flap.

Just as Dwen was about to speak, a carrier hawk flew into the tent, spotted Evan, and flapped its wings in panic. Moments later, it fled the tent without hesitation.

“Loro!”

Dwen reached out after it plaintively, but the hawk rejected its owner’s hand and escaped.

So you’re throwing away years of friendship like this, Loro?!

Breaking into an awkward smile, Dwen felt sweat trickle down his spine. When he turned his gaze back, his friend—and superior—was there, silently demanding an answer. Waving his hands, Dwen hurried to explain his actions.

“I really wasn’t trying to interrupt your leave. I sent the hawk because I was worried about your safety, not because I was nagging you to come back.”

“So you worried about me twelve times.”

Yeah… even he thought that was a bit much. Dwen lifted the corner of his mouth and replied shamelessly.

“Of course. Worried enough to send twelve notes. Aren’t you glad I didn’t send a knight?”

“……”

“……You have no idea how worried I was—ah, right.”

Still muttering incoherently in a submissive posture, Dwen suddenly seemed to remember something and quickly straightened up. He asked bluntly, without ceremony.

“But a proposal? What’s that supposed to mean, Evan?”

“That’s right. What does that mean?”

A boy burst into the tent, roughly pulling aside the canvas. He had dark brown hair and chestnut eyes, a sweet-looking face. Evan called his name in his usual flat tone, as if accustomed to him.

“Kaian.”

With no family ties, Kaian had been sold into slavery in the Kingdom of Neuwart. As a result, his homeland became a foreign country he’d only stayed in briefly as a child, a place whose name he no longer even remembered.

As a slave in Neuwart, Kaian was often beaten while doing menial work on the battlefield. The one who saved him from that life was Evan.

“P-please, take me with you too! I’ll do anything you ask! I can do anything!”

When Kaian first met Evan, he was a seven-year-old child who still smelled of milk. He had no common sense, no experience, no insight—but Kaian knew one thing. Following Evan was his path. The road Evan walked would be his guidepost, and Evan’s country would be his home.

Even after being driven away and eyed with suspicion by the knights of the Kyros Empire, Kaian never gave up following Evan. Helping with odd jobs and watching Evan from afar was enough for him.

Eventually, Kaian took up a sword, and a few years later, became a loyal knight who guarded Evan’s back.

For Kaian, simply being able to protect Evan was enough. At a single gesture from him, he felt his very existence was acknowledged.

But that man… proposing?

Kaian lifted his eyes, filled with confusion and resentment—directed at Dwen.

“What did I do now?”

Dwen protested, thumping his chest with his fist. Lowering their voices, Dwen and Kaian bared sharp emotions at each other.

“What did I do to earn that glare?”

“You’re the one who sent Lord Evan to Cent.”

“Hah! I told him to take a breather, not to switch on his romance circuits!”

“Then please, Lord Dwen, you try dating for once.”

Flustered, Dwen pointed a finger at Kaian.

“Wow, you ungrateful little—!”

“Ungrateful for what?”

Kaian shrugged, utterly unimpressed.

“Don’t you remember? I gave you your name! I wracked my brain for it when you were sad about not having one until just a few years ago—”

“So I’m planning to change it. Ah, I wanted to receive a new name from Lord Evan.”

“You little—!”

Dwen planted a hand on his hip and tried to look intimidating, but Kaian didn’t even pretend to be scared. At that moment, Evan—who had been lost in deep thought all alone—finally spoke.

“There’s something I want to ask.”

“Yes, please ask.”

Kaian turned toward Evan with a bright smile. During the few seconds he waited for the question, his thoughts raced.

Is he planning to deal with Willian as soon as we return? Since I can’t accompany him for a while as an outsider, does he have some task for me outside?
But before long, Kaian realized his speculations were meaningless.

“Is my face… pretty?”

“…Pardon?”