SBTMK Chapter 17

“So… that's why you kept your distance from me. You must have been upset. I'm sorry.”

A little while later, Lugaria—her composure recovered—apologized in a small, sheepish voice.

“……Lift your head. I'm not upset. You were only carrying out an order, Lady Lugaria. It makes perfect sense that His Majesty would have me watched.”

She had already paid the price of being deceived, and paid it in full. She'd gotten to see a great deal of that endearing side of her, after all.

“Still… it must be uncomfortable, having me around all the time. I'll have your maid changed starting tomorrow. This is my first time serving as a lady's maid, so I'm sure I've fallen short in a lot of ways—I probably haven't been much help to you, Lady Flora.”

Even so, Lugaria still looked visibly troubled, unable to shake the guilt.

Flora spoke firmly.

“I'm content with things as they are. Lady Lugaria.”

“…….”

“Now that I've already found out, why not stop hiding it and just watch me openly instead?”

Lugaria's eyes went round.

“What? Um... so I'm... not unwelcome to you?”

“I don't. So if it's all right with you, please keep doing it. As for attending me—just the essentials, the way you've been doing, should be fine.”

“But still……!”

“Oh, would it be a burden for you?”

“No!”

Lugaria answered without a single second's hesitation, and this time it was Flora's turn to be caught off guard.

“Actually, I've been finding this whole thing interesting!”

“……What?”

Lugaria clasped both hands together, her eyes shining.

“I realized it last time, when I helped you into that dress. It made me happy—being able to make someone beautiful with my own two hands!”

“…….”

“If you'll keep trusting me with it, I'd like to keep getting better. Not just the essentials—properly, this time!”

She had only wanted to avoid unnecessary attending. That was why she'd needed Lugaria in the first place.

But why did the conversation seem to be drifting somewhere strange……?

“That's not what I—I don't need attending……”

“Actually, I learned how to braid hair nicely just yesterday. If it's all right, could I try it on you after your bath?”

Definitely a strange direction. Flora felt herself being pulled along by the sheer intensity in Lugaria's eyes—the burning wish to try it, just once.

And pulled along she was.

That night, she fell asleep with her hair braided neatly to one side.

When Simen received this report, he laughed so hard he had to hold his stomach.

There had been a surveillance purpose to it, sure—but planting a Dawn Knight was also, not incidentally, a way of testing Flora.

〈This isn't something to laugh off, Your Majesty. This particular disguise had a flaw on Lugaria's part, I'll grant that—but no ordinary knight would have caught it.〉

“……Is that so? Sharp eyes, then.”

Erne was still wary of Flora.

Then again, there was nothing more foolish than opening your heart to someone you knew nothing about.

And yet here he was, walking that exact foolish road on purpose—what did that make him, exactly.

Simen let out a long breath.

〈As I mentioned after the last spar, her movements are specialized for assassination. Quick on her feet, and her attacks strike exclusively for vital points and weaknesses, precisely. At close range, I'd guess she's even better with a dagger.〉

Her small frame lent her agility, and those sharp eyes never stopped hunting for a weakness.

Erne narrowed his eyes for a moment, recalling the spar with her.

If skill alone were the measure, she was exactly the kind of talent an imperial guard commander should covet.

But there was too much left unclear, and until the information was confirmed, she remained an enemy.

A very dangerous one, at that.

Why claim she intended to stay in Haenkan and still refuse to disclose anything.

He needed to know what she was hiding.

〈For now I'm trying to gather information focused on enemy spies, but she likely never operated under her real name, so it'll take some time.〉

“Do you plan on keeping Lady Lugaria there indefinitely?”

〈With her cover already blown, keeping her there is a risk. And it isn't Lugaria's job to begin with.〉

“Even though she wants to?”

〈Yes. That still isn't allowed.〉

“Why? Are you worried Flora might kill Lady Lugaria?”

〈……She's still a woman I can't trust yet.〉

Erne's response was resolute.

Simen exhaled a short breath.

“The Imperial Knight Corps test is coming up soon. If she passes, she'll be moving into the dormitories anyway. Why not just leave things as they are until then? Lady Lugaria wants this too.”

〈…….〉

“What's wrong with letting her watch openly, when that's exactly what she's asking for?”

〈……Your Majesty. Simply letting that woman into the palace has already meant taking on quite enough risk. There's nothing to be gained by adding to it.〉

“If you're that worried about your subordinate, why don't you handle it yourself. Assigning yet another maid at this point would only make things more unsettled. Out there the nobles have their eyes bloodshot trying to figure out why I brought Flora here, who she even is—if even a scrap of information reaches them before it reaches me… that would be no fun at all. Considering the risk I'm taking on, the concessions I'm making, the effort I'm pouring into this.”

〈…….〉

“Have you found out where this mage-tool came from? You don't know. I don't know. Nobody knows.”

Simen held up the small, transparent square patch and gave it a shake.

It was the one that had been found attached to the bodies of the unidentified attackers, the day he first met Flora.

Had it not been discolored with blood, they might never have found it at all.

This was what had disrupted the barrier. A genuinely cunning little thing.

“Even Neira doesn't know. But Flora will. Where it was made. We need to find out. And to do that, we can't let her slip through so much as a mouse hole. So come on, Erne—loosen up a little.”

〈…….〉

“Do you still not trust Lady Lugaria, even now? She's been with the Dawn Knights for years already.”

〈What are you saying. I don't take on subordinates I don't trust.〉

“Is that right? Then why does it look to me like you still think of her as a child you can't let out of your sight near water?”

〈…….〉

“She's spent more time with Flora than anyone. She's seen and felt things, and made her own judgment to stay. Trust her, just this once.”

Erne fell silent at Simen's coaxing tone.

Watching a storm cloud gather over Erne's expression, Simen quietly let one corner of his mouth curve up.

Ever since her honest conversation with Lugaria, being around her had gotten a good deal easier.

Lugaria, too, seemed to talk more freely now that she had nothing left to hide.

She'd said she wanted to properly serve as a lady's maid rather than just handling the essentials, and she meant it—she was thoroughly serious about it now.

She worked at trying a new hairstyle on Flora every single day, and it had become common for her to attend to things even when Flora insisted she didn't need to, ignoring the protest entirely.

With that Lugaria, it was always Flora who ended up pulled along.

Today, too, she'd come trailing into the bath, insisting she had to "watch openly."

Every time they bathed, Lugaria never knew where to look and fidgeted the whole time.

And whenever she ran the soft brush over Flora's skin, she always asked whether it hurt.

Flora knew perfectly well that her careful manner had to do with her skin.

“Why don't you ask?”

“……What?”

“The scars. Why I have them. You always look like you're dying of curiosity, and yet you never once ask.”

“That's just… because they're surely bad memories for you, Lady Flora. It would be rude.”

“…….”

“I have bad memories too. If someone pointed straight at one and asked me about it, my stomach would turn and I'd feel awful.”

“…….”

“Did I guess wrong? Would you tell me, if I asked?”

“No.”

“Pff. See, told you. You wouldn't have told me anyway.”

Lugaria pouted for a moment before turning her attention back to running the brush over Flora's arm.

She didn't have to look to see them; they caught the eye all the same.

Past the smoothly curving line of her neck, the rest of her body was one long field of scars, and even knowing it was rude, Lugaria never knew where to put her gaze.

And every time she saw them, she wondered. What had done this to her.

Flora's body looked as though it had been stitched together, piece by piece, out of raw flesh.

Probably worse than the body of someone who had spent ten straight years crossing battlefields without rest—worse, if anything, not better.

They weren't simply cuts and stabs from a blade, either. Not just cuts and stabs—one wound had been torn open on purpose, deep, running clean from her chest down past her navel.

Even with her still-limited skill, she knew what a sword-cut scar looked like.

The scars alone made it obvious there had been something else in her past—something dark, and not a battlefield. So she couldn't ask.

Their commander had drilled it into her ears not to get close to this woman, calling her dangerous, someone hiding her own identity—but experiencing her directly told a different story.

Flora wasn't dangerous. If there was one suspicious thing about her, it was exactly this—and only this. These scars.

But if what she was hiding turned out to be tied to these scars, then Lugaria almost hoped she wouldn't say anything at all.

Because this, quite literally, was a wound.

Forcing a wound open and dragging it out was as close to hell as anything got.

Once she had the strength to look her own wound in the face, wouldn't she tell her everything then, without even needing to be asked?

Lugaria had been with the Dawn Knights for over a year now, and she still hadn't been able to tell anyone about her own scars.

Being that kind of person herself, she had no right to demand it of someone else.

Even His Majesty Simen didn't push the matter—which suggested he, too, was waiting for her heart to open on its own.

It was a terrible thing to think about their commander, but Lugaria found she agreed with His Majesty Simen on this.

She would wait, patiently. And so, for as long as she remained here, she resolved to look after Flora as best she could.

“Thank you for not asking. Lady Lugaria—you seem like someone with a deep heart.”

After the silence, Flora carefully offered up her own feelings to Lugaria.

Saying something this embarrassing was, for her, its own kind of effort—its own kind of challenge.

Words she had never once said to anyone, in her entire life. That someone was warm. That someone had a deep heart.

Hearing it out loud herself, she thought she understood now. However awkward it felt, how good it made the other person feel just to have it said. So Flora made the effort too.

To become someone who could warm another person's heart. Someone who knew how to be grateful for what deserved gratitude.

“……Well, a proper lady's maid ought to be able to read her lady's heart at least that well!”

Lugaria's playful reply, meant to steer them clear of the heavy mood, drew a low laugh out of Flora.

“Everyone here really is a good person.”

Enough to make her ashamed of the life she'd walked so far.

Flora stretched languidly and closed her eyes. The water gathered in the tub rippled gently with the movement.

“You're a good person too, Lady Flora. That's how I see it.”

Lugaria's words lingered pleasantly in her ears.

Before long, the day of the Knight Corps test arrived.

As Lugaria tied Flora's hair up high, she spoke with evident excitement.

“The palace is so big you might get lost… should I come along with you?”

“I'm fine.”

“I'm supposed to be watching you openly, so I really should——”

“Lady Lugaria.”

“Really not?”

“Bringing along a palace maid would draw every eye in the place. Wonderful.”

Lugaria let out a small sigh.

“Oh—did His Majesty give you the letter of recommendation?”

“I turned the letter down.”

“……What? Why? Are you sure that's all right?”

Surely she didn't think Flora would fail the exam?

Then again, she'd never actually shown her real skill to anyone here, so it was only natural to worry.

“I don't know if it's all right, honestly. But I don't want to be admitted on the strength of a recommendation letter. His Majesty's letter would be far too obvious a shortcut.”

“……If you're not from the Capital Academy, they'll look down on you even if you pass the test. And sometimes they'll fail candidates outright just for their background, if they don't stand well above everyone else.”

'Simen—you never told me any of this.'

She hadn't even considered that possibility, so Lugaria's words caught her briefly off guard.

“And knight-corps hazing of newcomers is worse than you'd believe. You should have used His Majesty's letter right from the start, to knock them down a peg before they even started!”

Flora gave Lugaria an awkward smile.

That kind of hazing didn't worry her in the least.

She'd spent her entire life rolling around in exactly that gutter before climbing out of it.

“Then I suppose you'll just have to protect me, Lady Lugaria. Different corps, granted—but a senior is a senior.”

“……Ah, s—senior?”

Her face went up in flames—red climbing straight to her ears at the word.

Lugaria told her not to say things like that—and then, in the same breath, asked if she wouldn't say it just once more.

When Flora obliged, saying "Senior," a second time, Lugaria's feet started tapping the floor.

Watching that endearing display did something to loosen the tension in her a little.

“I'll definitely protect you! Please, please pass!”

Since it had come to this, she'd better take it seriously—properly, not halfheartedly.

If she wasn't leagues above everyone else, she might fail.

Flora steeled her resolve and took up the sword Simen had given her.

The obsidian set into the sword caught the sunlight and flashed.