SALP Chapter 6

The man resembling Vigo found her room without wandering and entered. He laid her back on the bed and pressed down lightly on her shoulder.

"Stay put."

His expression and tone were stiff, like a command. A voice as unfamiliar as his large, changed body. The chubby cheeks were also gone, making her suddenly uncertain if it was really him. The young boy from her memory who seemed to chirp like a chick—there was no trace of him in this man.

"Don't wander around on your own, stay here."

Right, now that she looked, this man was even taller and more solidly built than the knight who had struck Lanthe.

Could small, lovable Vigo really change this much just by aging ten years?

"Are you listening to me?"

The fierce man's body cast a dark shadow over her. Looking more Penmarkian than anyone, he stared down at her, speaking intimidatingly.

"Yes."

Lanthe answered without thinking. Just like Vigo used to do long ago. She unconsciously nodded obediently. His large hand gripping her shoulder burned hot. A strange heat was also spreading from her chest where his piercing, sharp gaze touched.

"I'll come back."

"Yes."

"Don't come outside."

He left the room after only receiving one-sided promises. He strode away without looking back at her.

Left alone, she stared at the ceiling with a bewitched feeling.

"Stay put."

Such an arrogant way of speaking. Had he mistaken her for someone else?

'Lanthe. Are you all right?'

No. It wasn't a mistake. He knew my name. It really was Vigo.

She hobbled down from the bed. She started to look for him, then stopped and turned toward the tightly shut window instead.

The window was small and high for looking outside. Still, she unlocked it and pushed up the leather-covered shutter.

Orange skylight spread into the room, casting a hazy sunset over her face. Whoosh—icy wind rushed in, so Lanthe quietly hugged her shoulders.

"Where on earth are we, Vigo..."

A fierce wind she'd never felt before was blowing. A wind carried by the season of water, faintly carrying the scent of snow.

Nina returned with another servant. It was an older woman servant who set down a tray containing food and water for washing, then left, and only Nina stayed behind in the room to be Lanthe's companion.

"Can I call you 'Lanthe sis'? I like to call people I like 'sister' even if they're not my real sister."

"What does that mean?"

"You don't even know what 'sister' means?"

Hehe, she was a child who laughed well. Like young Lanthe used to be, she seemed to enjoy teasing others too. Perhaps because of that, they quickly began talking familiarly after just a few words.

"But where is this?"

"Eltzweig Castle. It's the castle where the lord who rules Hermea lives. Hermea is a really good place."

"Eltzweig? Hermea?"

She didn't know where that was even after hearing it. She had learned a bit about Penmark's geography in Newbella, but all she'd learned was the major fortresses and Newbella's location.

"Our lord discovered you drowning in the water and rescued you. He's the 7th Lord of Hermea."

Nina spoke as if proud, puffing out her chest.

"The lord?"

"Yes. Didn't you meet the lord earlier too, Lanthe sis? When I went to his office to find him, only Lord Werner was there. He said the lord had gone to see you."

The lord came to see me?

Lanthe only blinked in confusion.

"The only one who came here was Vigo..."

At her muttered words like a soliloquy, Nina grinned.

"Oh my. You even know our lord's name?"

"Vigo is... your lord?"

"So you two do know each other. I thought so—the lord kept calling your name while carrying you here like this."

Vigo is the lord of this place.

And by what means had he rescued her from drowning in Newbella's lake? It was riddled with questions.

"How did you and the lord meet, Lanthe sis?"

Nina asked, covering her lips with both hands, unable to hide her amusement.

"Are you lovers by any chance?"

Her bright hazel eyes sparkled with curiosity.

Despite her confusion, Lanthe's heart softened at Nina's charming gestures, and she managed a bitter smile.

"It's not like that."

"Hey. It's bad to lie. Lanthe sis is as pretty as a princess and our lord is incredibly handsome, so you must have met long ago and fallen for each other. I'm right, aren't I?"

"No. You're wrong."

"Then how did you two know each other?"

"We played together when we were little and parted ways a long time ago. I knew him when I was a tiny kid, even smaller than you are now, Nina."

She felt somewhat cautious about saying they were actually best friends from her hometown, her favorite friend.

Because Vigo seemed completely different from back then. His status and position, his body, and perhaps even his personality a little...

"Ah-ha. So like first love?"

Nina persisted in her speculation, grinning. The way she giggled knowingly despite being so small was cute.

"Who knows? You must have someone you like, Nina. You seem very interested in that kind of relationship."

"N-no I don't! I don't have anyone I like!"

Her face turned red as she flustered excessively, clearly having been hit on a sore spot.

Watching Nina awkwardly feign ignorance made Lanthe laugh as she recalled the distant past. When she and Vigo were as young as Nina.

Vigo had also been a shy child who blushed often.

Kind yet somehow different from others.

An adopted child.

Though Vigo grew up believing Alina, who was over fifty, was his birth mother, everyone in the village including Lanthe knew he was adopted.

Though it was a village where no one oppressed orphans, there were some who secretly avoided Vigo. It was probably because his dark hair was a characteristic Raphlisians didn't have.

A child with outside blood mixed in.

What had happened to his real parents? The witch who supposedly took Vigo... could she actually have been his Penmarkian birth mother?

"By the way, have soldiers from Newbella been snooping around here?"

When Lanthe asked worriedly, having suddenly thought of it, Nina tilted her head.

"Newbella?"

"Yes. They might come here and cause a disturbance because of me."

"Is that the Northern Sea foreigners? Were you tormented by the Northern Sea foreigners too, Lanthe sis?"

"Newbella is in the southern region. Is this place far from Newbella?"

Then Nina frowned as if she'd heard something strange.

"This is the northern tip? Our lord rescued you when you were drowning in the Northern Sea, didn't he?"

"I was drowning where?"

Lanthe asked back, unable to hide her bewilderment.

"The Northern Sea? You mean Oden's Mediterranean Sea?"

She had learned about it. It was one of the things the Newbellan people had taught her especially diligently. Because it was related to what they wanted from her.

"It's the Mediterranean Sea. We just call it the Northern Sea because it's the northern sea to us."

Her heart sank.

The Northern Sea. The Penmarkian name for the Mediterranean Sea that divided the Oden continent into Raphlang in the north and Penmark in the south.

And the name Raphlisians had given it was... Lake Eründel.

"I was... there?"

Lanthe asked, her voice trembling.

Nina carefully nodded, seeming to sense something was amiss.

"That's what the lord said. That Lanthe sis was floating in the Northern Sea. That your body was freezing and you could have died. So I thought you'd been tormented by the Vaikans too. Wicked people who commit banditry and piracy."

Lanthe couldn't say anything and squeezed her eyes shut. Her mouth went dry.

She who had jumped into the southern lake was discovered in the Northern Sea.

Lake Eründel. The lake where an angel sleeps. Having drifted to the lake where Raphlang's guardian angel slumbers...

And she had met Vigo.

"Are you okay, Lanthe sis?"

A small, warm hand touched the back of Lanthe's hand.

"You were scared, weren't you? The pirates threw you into the sea, didn't they? But don't worry. Our lord probably punished them. Those bad people will never come near you again."

At the clumsy words of comfort, Lanthe looked at her with moist eyes.

"You're right. I met bad people and thought everything was ruined..."

"It's okay now. The lord will protect Lanthe sis."

She had heard the exact same words from Fiarelle once.

Of course, hearing it from Nina felt completely different.

"Our lord is incredibly strong—he even saved my dad a long time ago, you know? My dad was crossing the mountain with reindeer when he met Vaikans and almost had a disaster, but the lord happened to find him and saved him, you know?"

Little Nina's words sounded much more reassuring.

"I see. Nina's father too..."

"Yes. It's safe here, so you can relax."

Watching Nina repeatedly emphasize how proud she was of her homeland and lord, Lanthe quietly smiled.

Had the angel really existed? Had they brought her to Vigo?

Actually, she'd been secretly anxious because Vigo's atmosphere seemed completely different from when he was young. When he told her not to go outside, she'd wondered if this place was dangerous too.

He probably just said that because he was worried about me. They say boys change so much when they become adults that you can't recognize them...

"Would you like to take a walk in the garden with me for a change of mood? Then you'll sleep well at night too."

"Hmm. What should I do?"

When she hesitated, remembering his request not to go outside, Nina bent her slender arm to make a muscle.

"Trust me. Our lord entrusted you to me because he believes in my abilities."

"Vigo entrusted me to you?"

A soft laugh escaped her.

"That's right. I know the castle inside and out. You shouldn't overdo it, Lanthe sis, so I'll guide you on a nearby walking path."

"All right. I'm counting on you then."

Lanthe took Nina's small hand and got down from the bed.

The place Vigo ruled. The place the angel had brought her to. A place where a girl as innocently kind as the children of Roas welcomed her.

Thinking this way, a poignant sense of relief surged through her. Nina's bright smile became a source of strength, and for the first time in ages, Lanthe set down the weight on her heart just a little and walked through the garden with lightened steps.

He came to find Lanthe again the following afternoon.