TRHK Chapter 9

I hadn't known Maylin had a father at all. With the same face, the same voice, the same body, I supposed I'd unconsciously started equating her with myself from my past life.

The man calling himself Maylin's father had looked relieved when he first spotted me at the gate, but the moment we reached somewhere with no one else around, his true colors showed at once.

"You ungrateful bitch!"

"……"

"You think you can just laugh at me because you've become a maid at the castle? And whose doing was that, if not mine! Do you think you get to do whatever you please?"

He rattled off abuse in a rapid stream before I could react at all. In the man's graying face I could make out faint traces of my own features, but honestly, we didn't look all that alike. Both my past self and the original Maylin must have taken after our mothers.

……Wait. Could Maylin's mother be alive too, then?

"Do you have any idea how hard I worked raising you, that you'd dare ignore my letters?"

Letters? What letters was he even talking about? I hadn't received a single one since waking up here. Had she received one before that, then?

"Hmph. Fine."

He calmed down somewhat after a good long while. I hadn't managed to get out a single word the whole time. Partly out of fear that speaking might give me away. Partly because I had no idea what to say to a man spewing abuse like this.

Maylin's father held his hand out to me.

"You've brought the money, haven't you? You must have saved up a fair bit by now."

……What money?

I stared blankly down at his hand, and his face twisted uglier again.

"Well? What are you waiting for, hand it over!"

I dug through my pocket. Fortunately, I had a little of the outing money I carried on me. I held it out, and he snatched it away.

"Why is it only this much?"

His sharp eyes darted between the money and me. I hesitated a moment before speaking.

"That's—that's all I brought with me……"

"Stupid little bitch."

Was it the money that had done it? His voice had noticeably softened.

"Ignore my letters again and I won't let it go easy. You think I can't get into that castle? I'll come drag you out, break your legs, and marry you off to whoever'll take you—that'll be the end of it!"

I wondered. Whether this man standing in front of me really was Maylin's father. Whether we'd somehow mistaken each other for someone else entirely.

He carefully tucked the money I'd given him into his pocket and asked.

"No one worth reeling in around here?"

"……What?"

"Ugh, useless thing! Haven't I told you a hundred times! Now that you're in the castle, go land yourself one of these rich men. Hasn't the Count shown any interest in you?"

At the word Count, I remembered the way he'd looked me up and down in the Dowager Countess's room. Gooseflesh crept up the back of my neck. Completely unaware of how horrifying what he'd just said sounded, the man went on, voice full of warning.

"Remember this, Maylin. You will never do well by abandoning me."

The one fortunate thing was that after that, he turned and stormed straight out of the castle grounds.

"……"

He knew my name. He knew I was a maid here. Whatever the content of what he'd said, I found myself privately accepting, deep down, that he really was Maylin's father.

She'd have been better off with no father at all—like me. I felt for the real Maylin. Was it because of a father like that, that she'd wanted so badly to marry Joel Coutner? But in the end, she'd never become part of the Count's household—she'd been killed and left drifting in a river. If I couldn't change the future, I might end up the same way.

I sighed and turned back the way I'd come.

"Lah—lah—Lady."

I ran into Seylon after a while. He came toward me happily, then caught the irregularity in his breathing and hesitated. Perfect timing.

"Would you drink some of this? It should help you relax."

It was water made with one of the herbs I'd gathered from the forest. The moment I found it, I'd thought of him.

"Wh—what is, huff, that?"

"Water mixed with herb powder. Won't hurt you to drink it."

Saying it that way somehow made it sound like it would hurt to drink. Cursing my own way with words, I took a step closer to him. Seylon took a step back.

"……"

I took another step. Seylon, ponytail bouncing, took another step back.

"Don't run away."

"It—It's not... I'm not d—doing this on purpose——gkhk!" he choked out, then turned and bolted as if he'd seen a monster.

Normally I'd have just let him run, but today I needed to get this water into him, so I couldn't. I ran after him.

"Stop right there!"

"Ah! Lady! Why, why are you chasing——!"

Even as he asked, his legs kept moving. Stubbornness crept over me. Today, I was catching this man no matter what.

"I said stop!"

Seylon ran straight into the training yard. Following him in on reflex, I froze and looked around too late.

Thankfully, no sign of Knight Commander Landale, or any other knights. There was someone off in the distance, though—wait.

"Oof!"

Seylon, sprinting at full tilt, suddenly pitched forward. I slowed to a stop and looked at the man standing beside him.

"Kahron! You tripped me!"

Seylon protested, face contorted, and Kahron replied with fairly little conviction.

"Sure it wasn't."

"You bastard——!"

Seizing my chance, I closed in on Seylon and pressed the water bottle to his mouth.

Seylon, reflexively trying to bat away the bottle suddenly shoved at him, spotted me and froze in place instead. Which made it much easier to get the water into him. Gulp, gulp. Half of it went down his throat, half ran down his chin. What a waste.

"Drink one or two mouthfuls of this often, all right? You'll feel less on edge than before."

I gave the instructions with a smile, and Seylon, face flushed red, nodded.

Task done, I brushed off my skirt and stood. Kahron watched me the whole time with a cold look.

"……What?"

Had I upset him again? But how? If I'd done anything, it was to Seylon, not to him. I asked, puzzled, and Kahron said nothing back, just turned and walked past me.

"Wait a moment! I'm heading off then."

I hurried to say goodbye to Seylon and followed after Kahron. I had something to discuss with him anyway. I moved in close beside his lean, sturdy frame and murmured.

"When are we going?"

"Why would I go with you?"

The indifferent question stung with betrayal.

"You promised!"

I raised my voice louder than I meant to and quickly caught myself.

"We agreed to go to the forest together……. We need to get the herbs."

"Did we?"

"Don't play dumb."

Kahron seemed to have a talent for turning other people's insides out while wearing a perfectly composed face. Whether he knew perfectly well that just looking at his face left me useless, and was doing this on purpose, or something else entirely.

But this wasn't something his unreasonable looks could paper over. I grabbed his arm with both hands and stopped him in his tracks. Only then did he actually look at me properly, which I resented.

"The herbs might not even be in the forest. If they're not, we'll have to search everywhere else too, so we need to get moving and not waste time."

If the forest turned up nothing, I was willing to try the "shadow auction"—the black market—as a last resort. The black market mentioned in the original novel was a periodic underground auction; regardless of status, anyone who showed up at the right place could take part. I was genuinely grateful I still remembered that part.

"This is for your sake."

His condition was only getting worse by the moment, and I had no idea what he was being so stubborn about. Or maybe he still just didn't trust me.

Kahron lightly peeled my hands off his arm and said.

"Let's get that straight."

"……"

"It's not for my sake. It's for yours."

He smirked as he said it. It was the particular smile of a man who despised and mocked people. Even the way his mouth curled up like that snagged my attention without mercy.

"Isn't that right? Maylin."

He flicked my forehead with his index finger and started walking again.

Did he just say my name?

Being named wiped the rest of the conversation clean out of my head. Maylin. Maylin. Maylin. This wasn't even the first time someone had said my name, but when Kahron said it, it left me far more rattled than it had any right to.

I touched my chest, my heart racing like something had gone wrong with it, then abruptly remembered something and called after him.

"So when are you actually taking me?"

"Huff. Huff."

I really needed to build up this damn stamina of mine. My legs were shaking like they were trying to dance on their own, and every time I glanced at Kahron walking along perfectly fine, it was mortifying all over again.

But I had to hold on. Do you know what it took to drag Kahron out here with me——!

I thought back on all the hours I'd spent chasing him down and pleading with him. Hwirozen had felt sorry enough for me to take pity. If my body couldn't do it, I'd just have to walk on willpower alone.

"This—isn't this the one you meant?"

Kahron, studying the underbrush closely, suddenly pointed with his index finger. I dragged my creaking legs over to check the spot he'd indicated. This jagged leaf shape, this color—it was one of the herbs we'd been looking for!

"That's it!"

Two hours of wandering, and we'd finally found it. I was too pleased not to praise him.

"Well done, Kahron!"

"……"

My praise seemed to leave Kahron oddly affected.