TRHK Chapter 12

If she meant have we gotten close……I honestly wasn't sure.

Kahron still blew cold as ever toward me, an icy wind that never let up, and often ignored what I said outright. If it weren't for our deal, he wouldn't have come to the forest with me at all. He'd even choked me once, just for bringing up his madness.

But at the same time, we'd shared two "strange" kisses. And he'd "strangely" kept groping at my thigh, my ass, all of it, over and over, and because of it my feelings had "strangely" started changing too.

Feeling like my head might fill up entirely with strangeness again, I blurted it out to Eifel like I was being chased.

"I don't know. It's strange."

"Strange how?"

"If it's the red-haired knight, is that the one from the rumor?"

"Who is it! Is this someone Maylin's actually seeing?"

The other maids leaned into the conversation too, curious.

"I just……. I don't even know if we've gotten close, but when I'm around him my feelings keep going strange……."

"Have you two slept together?"

One of them asked, blunt. Another elbows her in the side and hisses, "Hey!"—a warning, but her eyes were still sparkling with curiosity all the same. I got a little flustered.

"Slept? No…….”

"Come on. You can't really know a man until you've slept with him."

"True enough. What happens in bed really does matter."

At first I genuinely thought they meant sleep, literally. It took me a moment to realize that wasn't it at all. That the "sleep" they were talking about meant something else entirely.

Of course, Kahron and I hadn't done either kind of sleeping. Just imagining it made my face feel like it might burst.

"I—I'll get going now."

"You're running away because you're embarrassed, aren't you?"

"No I'm not! Tell the housekeeper I've finished all my work!"

"Got it. Take your time."

Eifel told me to take my time, but I bolted from that room like an arrow. Behind me I heard them all burst into laughter, but staying there any longer felt like it would finish off what was left of my heart. We weren't even lovers, Kahron and I—why were they even asking things like that…….

……But then, would you kiss someone like that if you weren't lovers? Clutch their ass like that?

The question I'd stumbled into kept following me the whole way, until my feet had carried me, on their own, toward the hill. My head was spinning, and thinking of Kahron only made it spin worse, but I couldn't avoid him either. We still had herbs to find, after all. I felt like I was the only one showing any real motivation, and figured I ought to give Kahron a bit of encouragement.

"Not here."

I'd assumed he'd be up on the hill, taking his usual nap, but Kahron was nowhere in sight. On my way toward the training yard, I ran straight into Knight Commander Landale. I tried to duck behind the storage shed, worried I might get scolded again, but he said, firm,

"I saw all of that."

"……Hello, Sir Landale."

"Indeed."

He was an enormous man, no matter how many times I saw him. He was probably one of the biggest men in the whole Order—probably the whole territory. Even his square jaw suited his gruff bearing perfectly. I asked, careful.

"I was looking for Kahron……."

"That whelp's being punished right now."

"Punished?"

Punished for what, all of a sudden? My eyes went wide, and Landale gave a brief explanation.

"Broke a merchant's arm, in town, apparently."

The moment I heard it, what had happened a few days ago came rushing back. After we'd returned from the forest, in the square, Kahron had thoroughly taught a lesson to the merchant who'd been harassing me.

I still didn't know for certain whether he'd done it because of me. But hearing that Kahron was being punished for it now made something in me deeply uncomfortable, regardless.

"That merchant picked a fight with me, that's why he did it. Kahron only helped me……."

Probably……?

"If someone has to take the punishment, let it be me."

I said it, thoroughly resolved.

"Like hell."

Landale answered the instant I finished, no room left for reconsideration, quick and firm.

I let my head droop, dejected. If I just asked what kind of punishment it was, would he tell me? While I was thinking that over, Landale passed by me and said,

"He's running laps around the training yard. If you want……you may go in and wait."

I lifted my head sharply at that. I'm allowed to go in and wait?

"Really? I can go into the training yard?"

"I'm only permitting it because he's the only one in there right now."

"Thank you!"

I blurted my thanks too forcefully and scrambled into the training yard—and behind me, I thought I caught the sound of a dry, exasperated laugh.

There was no need to even look around—Kahron running laps around the yard was already in plain view. He didn't look especially exhausted, and his expression wasn't dark either. That much, at least, was a relief.

I crouched down in a corner, out of the way, so as not to disturb him, and waited for his punishment to end.

……Why isn't this over yet?

Landale had said a certain number of laps, but Kahron showed no sign of stopping even after what looked like dozens, let alone that number. He didn't seem to have noticed me yet—he never once glanced this way.

Anxious, I chewed at my lower lip, over and over. The thought that he was being punished because of me wouldn't leave my head no matter what. What would I do if his punishment still hadn't ended even after I'd waited this long? Just how many laps had Landale even ordered?

"Ah."

Without meaning to, I bit down too hard and my lower lip started bleeding. I was gloomily running my thumb over the spot when a shadow fell across my face.

Looking up without thinking, I found Kahron standing there—not a single drop of sweat on him, despite having run dozens of laps around the massive yard. I very nearly fell over backward from the shock.

"What are you doing here? Maylin."

Wh—what. Why is he suddenly using my name…… He seemed to have caught how flustered I was, because he added, calm,

"You told me to use your name."

"……Right. N—no. More importantly, weren't you being punished? Are you all right?"

He didn't answer that at all, just looked down at me and asked,

"That mine?"

I nod without thinking and he snatches the water bottle right out of my hand. He never drank it even when I offered it, but apparently running dozens of laps had made him thirsty after all. I thought, glad I'd remembered to bring the herb-water along, and asked,

"How did the Knight Commander find out about that? Don't tell me that man actually came all the way here?"

Thinking about it, that man was a merchant who sold to the Count's household—he could probably come and go from the castle without much trouble at all. Kahron, having finished the water, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Answer me, would you? Come on."

Why won't he say anything. It's worrying, you know!

If it were that he couldn't talk from exhaustion, I could understand, but he'd only taken a few sips of water and looked entirely fine.

"That bastard shows up, you think it ends with laps around the yard?"

Kahron shot back, indifferent, and returned the bottle to me. I trotted along after him as he headed off somewhere.

"So he didn't come, then?"

"If he does come, don't handle it yourself—tell me. I'll break his other arm."

Of course, if I did that, I'd get punished by the housekeeper too. Though it would be nice if she just fired me instead. Then, out of nowhere, Kahron turned back to look at me. The way he stared at me, blank and unreadable, left me flustered.

"Wh—what?"

Had I sounded too harsh and startled him……? But what Kahron said next had nothing to do with that at all.

"How far are you planning to follow me?"

He said it while suddenly yanking off his shirt and tossing it aside. I screamed silently inside and covered my eyes with my fingers.

"Wh—why are you taking your clothes off?"

The glimpse I'd caught of his chest and abdomen had my heart hammering. A lithe, beautiful body. My ears, sharpened from covering my eyes, caught Kahron's voice, dry with disbelief.

"Wants me washing with my clothes on. This little miss."

Wash……? I lowered my fingers, careful. Keeping my eyes off Kahron as much as possible, I looked around and realized the place had changed at some point.

We were standing somewhere that looked like the knights' outdoor bathing area—water barrels and basins scattered here and there. My face flared hot all over again.

"S—sorry. I didn't know it was that kind of place."

I stumbled backward in a panic and my heel slipped out from under me. Some water must have still been sitting on the ground. Before I could catch my footing, Kahron caught my waist. His look said something like I've seen it all now, and I wanted to crawl into a mouse hole and vanish.

"I was only worried……."

"Worry about yourself."

"……."

Did he have to say it like that? While I was grumbling silently to myself, Kahron's face drew closer. By the time I registered it, his soft mouth had already given my lower lip one quick suck and pulled back. I stared at him, blank.

"You're bleeding."

He meant the lower lip I'd bitten earlier, still bleeding. But even so, sucking on it himself was……a little strange too, wasn't it?

"I—I know."

I seemed to be the only one wildly rattled by this; Kahron let go of me without a second thought.

Turned away from me, I stood there opening and closing my mouth, unsure what to say, and then he started undoing his trousers, and I bolted from the place, flapping and flailing like I'd been struck by lightning.

More and more, I felt like my heart wouldn't survive this. Being around Kahron, I mean.

Even with the servitude contract still unresolved and gnawing at me with anxiety, I hadn't had a moment to properly catch my breath since arriving in this world—the human relationships around me had shifted so fast I couldn't keep up.

I think that was why I'd let my guard down. Some part of me must have assumed, without meaning to, that whatever misfortune awaited "Maylin" was still far off in the future.

"Careful with that! The Countess is particular about the decorations!"

"How's the party preparation coming along?"

"Move quickly! We're running out of time before the party."

The housekeeper and the steward hurried through the hall. I worked hard, doing as I was told, but my mind was somewhere else entirely.

Joel Coutner is coming home from the academy soon, for his break.

As someone who knew the original story, that bastard was the one person I needed to avoid with everything I had.