PDCOO Chapter 8

"Call me when you get the cleaver out. Anna's my daughter too."

"You think our girl would like your son?"

"Dieter works so hard to impress Anna! Just wait, I'll make Anna my daughter-in-law yet."

Collie left laughing. Karlah sighed quietly.

"Her mother's so thick-skinned, but why does Dieter have no backbone?"

If Dieter had just a bit more gumption, she would have married Anna off to him already.

Meanwhile, Anna had no idea her mother's heart was burning with worry as she sorted seasonings with tears and snot streaming down her face.

"Cough, cough! Sniff..."

"Miss Anna, please just give verbal instructions from outside. I will organize them."

"But if I let you do it, who knows how long it will take."

Having Bertram chop onions, garlic, peppers, and various other seasonings had been fine. The problem was that Bertram did not yet know how to store them.

"Watch and learn! Put the minced onions there. The sliced onions go in water."

"I have committed it to memory."

"And the minced garlic... sniff..."

Tears streamed down. She was about to drip tears into the seasoning containers.

But before that, a more immediate threat approached.

His seasoning-covered hands reaching to wipe her tears.

Anna backed away urgently.

"Eek! Are you trying to kill me! If that touches me, I'll actually go blind!"

"Ah, my apologies. I will wash my hands."

"Even after washing, it'll linger for a while. Don't touch me for the time being."

"How long should I not touch you?"

"At least four hours... No, you shouldn't touch me at all! What am I saying!"

Anna swatted away her own nonsense.

Being around this man made her keep saying nonsense.

Since he returned everything with an expressionless face no matter what she said, Anna had no opportunity to reflect on the meaning of her own words.

'Conversation aside, has he ever thought his expression is scary?'

Anna suddenly wondered.

"Say, do you ever look in mirrors?"

"I look every day for shaving. I was once mistaken for a wild beast when I went around unshaven."

"Hahaha! I can see why. Bertram, it's strange how well you listen to people. Having a conversation with you feels like talking to a wall."

"I have practiced extensively. Such exchanges used to be difficult for me."

"Used to be?"

Bertram checked that Karlah was not nearby before speaking.

"...When I was on the battlefield."

"...Bertram. What did you do? Are you a deserter?"

"No. I fought on the battlefield longer than anyone. Now I am merely a debtor."

"What will you do after you repay the debt?"

"Return home, I suppose."

"Where is home?"

"The capital."

"Isn't your family worried that you haven't returned?"

"My immediate family are all dead. My surviving uncle finds me inconvenient."

The conversation she had been forcing along cut off abruptly.

When Anna lost her words, Bertram added.

"You have not been rude, so please do not apologize. I have no emotions."

"...But I can't help feeling I was rude."

"Having no emotions is inconvenient. It is difficult to predict and avoid others' negative feelings."

That "inconvenient" was probably not his emotion either, just a descriptor for the current situation.

His expression remained calm as he organized the last of the seasonings.

Anna sighed and tidied the remaining dishes. What should she talk about now? Keeping her mouth shut did not suit her temperament!

Just then, a village man entered as a customer.

Anna bounced out cheerfully.

"Welcome! What can I get you?"

"My goodness? First time I've seen Anna happy to see me. Give me whatever for lunch. Is that the guy from yesterday's commotion?"

The man glanced sideways at the kitchen and grinned.

"What did you two do last night?"

"We, we just—he was starving so I gave him onion porridge! That's all! It's what I always do, what's strange about it!"

"He's handsome, though."

"...Is he?"

Anna looked back at the kitchen.

Without the cloak, his sharp jawline and shoulders were more visible than before...

Belatedly, Anna realized what the problem was.

"He's too tall for me to see his face properly."

"Kahahaha! My apologies. I tried to match a cicada with an ancient tree. Anyway, since you picked up a handsome one, have fun with him."

"How do you have fun with an ancient tree!"

"And marry someone steady like Dieter."

"What?"

"You need to play around with the pretty-faced ones while you're young so you won't have regrets later. Local boys are always best in the end."

The playfulness had completely drained from the man's expression. Anna forced a smile and turned to take the order. She should have stayed awkwardly in the kitchen with Bertram rather than listen to that marriage talk.

But as Anna headed back to the kitchen, she almost screamed. Bertram was changing his shirt. Karlah must have brought him a dry one.

Below the shirt covering his face, his tightly woven muscles rippled with each simple movement as if alive. Anna tried to turn her flushed face away, but at that moment something caught her gaze.

In the center of his chest, something like a blue jewel was glowing.

The color was like captured ocean. Occasionally, a red glow like lava stirred in its depths...

Then Bertram's head emerged from the shirt, and Anna hastily pretended to be very interested in the kitchen ceiling.

Bertram was a good worker.

He learned immediately after hearing something once, and he was skilled at handling fire. Even Karlah seemed to be considering whether to hire him officially.

That night.

Karlah permitted Bertram to sleep in the restaurant.

Beside the hearth with its lingering warmth, a thick blanket became his bed. The maximum hospitality she could extend to an unidentified guest.

Of course, it was also to prepare for if the uninvited guest had bad intentions. If he tried stealing, the soot that would stick to his shoes would help track him down.

Karlah, praying nothing would happen, fell asleep first.

The moment Anna confirmed her mother was asleep, she slipped out the front door.

'I wonder if Bertram is sleeping.'

A person so inhuman he could be a legendary golem or one of those automatons they sold in the city.

She would not be surprised if he slept with his eyes open.

Anna crept across the yard and peered into the restaurant kitchen.

'He sleeps like a person...'

Bertram lay sleeping in a proper posture.

His face, which she could finally examine without getting a neck ache...

The village man had been right.

'He really is handsome.'

Moonlight on his black hair rippled like night-sea waves with each breath. Beneath it was skin white as beach sand. At first glance, his impression was hard. But the eyelashes extending from his firmly closed lids drew quite elegant curves, which strangely suited his sharp nose.

Most importantly, with his mouth closed, there was nothing to lower his score.

'Just needs to put on some weight.'

Her gaze, which had been circling his face, began creeping downward as soon as she confirmed Bertram showed no signs of waking.

Through the gap where a button had come undone on his shirt.

About half a hand-span below his collarbone, a blue jewel glowed.

'So what I saw during the day was real. But... it seems embedded in his skin?'

It lacked the chain to be a necklace. It truly was half-embedded in Bertram's chest.

The very moment Anna's curiosity made her stroke the jewel's surface.

Suddenly Bertram seized Anna's wrist.

'Eek! Ow, it hurts!'

His grip was tremendous. Anna thought she might be mistaken for a thief and have her bones broken. With the strength that had shattered a wolf, it would be easy enough.

But soon, an unimaginable sentence flowed from Bertram's lips, his eyes still closed, his brow furrowed.

"Please do not... I beg you... I am afraid..."

Anna doubted her own ears.

The pitch was still flat and the voice deep, but it trembled like a boy before kidnappers.

Anna cried out without thinking.

"I'm sorry. But I had no indecent thoughts! Really!"

But Bertram did not answer.

Anna cautiously opened her eyes.

"Bertram?"

"Mmm..."

Soon Bertram released Anna's wrist and rolled onto his side. The jewel embedded in his chest disappeared beneath the shirt's shadow.

His breathing grew peaceful.

"Wh-what was that!"

The person who could answer had already departed for dreamland. Anna looked down at her arm. His handprint remained red on her rough skin.

'I thought my bone would break. Though I was in the wrong first.'

But what was that sleep-talking?

Even without inflection, the sentence had sounded like someone afraid of something.

...An emotion that did not suit Bertram.

Getting that far, Anna shook her head.

Even someone this big and strong would have secret fears. Besides, he was someone who had lived through war.

'What could I do so Bertram doesn't have nightmares?'

Anna looked down at his body, as large as her own bed, and realized his feet stuck out from under the blanket.

'Cold feet might cause nightmares.'

Anna fetched an unused apron and carefully covered his large feet with it.

Looking at the result, it was like he wore red floral boots. Anna grinned, finding the situation amusing somehow.

At least the sleep-talking that sounded like nightmares had stopped. Now Anna had only one thing to say.

"Sweet dreams, Bertram."

Dreams of walking on flower-covered paths.