21.
Norma quickly maneuvered his body backward, avoiding the girl’s hand.
‘Not the first time I’ve dodged something like this.’
“….”
I reluctantly reached out and took back my outstretched hand.
“I-I’m sorry! Sir Knight! I didn’t mean to, I’m really sorry!”
Finally, realizing that she had behaved rudely towards someone she had just met, the girl began apologizing loudly, her voice choked with tears.
Norma calmly reassured her, lowering his raised eyebrow. His slightly upturned lips were in their usual shape.
As the girl’s almost-crying voice drew attention, people around started looking, and some openly pointed fingers at us. It seemed better to leave the scene.
“Let’s go.”
I quickly grabbed his forearm, holding onto his cloak. I pulled him along and blended back into the crowd. Of course, it was Norma who allowed himself to be pulled along.
“Lady Aisa, it’s okay now.”
After walking for a while, Norma whispered to me. I reflexively stopped and looked around. We seemed to be far enough from the girl selling Terasa.
Next, I looked up at Norma.
‘Isn’t his face too close?’
Only then did I realize that the distance felt a bit strange? I furrowed my brow slightly and lowered my gaze to see what I was holding onto. My arms were tightly wrapped around Norma’s arms.
So, this is… not exactly a light hold, but more like a proper crossed-arms stance…
‘Am I crazy?’
I frowned and let go of Norma’s arm, releasing it abruptly. His arm flew outwards.
“Yes?”
“No, not something I said to you…”
“Yes, I understand.”
“… What do you understand?”
Norma smiled brightly in response. I couldn’t bring myself to meet his gaze.
‘Ah, this isn’t it.’
“What if your hood had come off? How would things have turned out? Do you usually treat everyone so kindly without any precautions? What if anyone could just say something, and you would laugh it off? It can lead to big trouble these days, even if it didn’t in the past.”
If Norma’s face had been revealed at that moment, he would have been surrounded by the crowd in an instant. His appearance attracts attention in various ways.
So I shot back sternly. Judging by the content, it sounded more like something an experienced old person would say than Norma. It also sounded like scolding a child.
“Yes, I will be careful, Lady Aisa.”
Still, Norma replied gently, saying, “Yes, yes.” By now, I was curious about how far he would agree with everything I said.
“And when did I give you permission to use my name? It’s impolite.”
Since I had already started, I began pointing out every detail.
“But here, I can’t call you Lord.”
Norma said with a helpless look. Of course, what he said was true. In many places, he couldn’t just call me Lady.
“… Then call me Erika.”
This time, Norma responded with a smile. Somehow, I felt that he didn’t want to call me Erika.
“If someone sees us, they might think I have a fondness for the name Lady Aisa.”
“Yes, it’s a nice name. It’s easy to pronounce. Erika is difficult.”
Well, they are quite similar.
“… Do as you please.”
Although it was half-hearted, I let it go. Coming back to life from death, I was in a very forgiving mood.
This time, Norma smiled as if he were very pleased.
“In any case, in public, please address me properly instead of using my name. You should follow the etiquette.”
“Yes, Lady Aisa.”
“….”
The only people who could call me by my name were Archie and my nanny, Mrs. Seymour. Sir Dogman, the commander of the knights, is a person who can call me by my first name, but there was a time when I made a fuss about not mentioning the name of a noble person, so I didn’t say anything more after that.
‘But what did Norma Diazi say about my name…?’
I decided not to dwell on it too much, as I didn’t want to be someone who speaks with a forked tongue. If I thought about it more, something terrible seemed likely to happen. It was like a merchant avoiding a catastrophic loss.
“By the way, do people often rush to you like that?”
So I changed the subject.
“Because my appearance is unique, sometimes these things happen. Don’t worry about it.”
It seems like it’s not just because of the color of my irises.
“… In my opinion, it would be better for you to wear an impression. People don’t tend to approach someone with wrinkles between their eyebrows.”
After thinking for a moment, I added some advice.
“Haha.”
“…?”
Norma’s response to my sincere advice was similar to when he stumbled and fell earlier.
I gave advice, and he laughs?
“Why are you laughing? What’s so funny?”
I asked with a threatening tone, feeling irritated for a moment. Before I finished speaking, Norma quickly forced down the corners of his mouth.
“I’m not good at impressions.”
Before I could say anything, Norma took the lead.
“So, Lady Aisa, will you teach me?”
“Do I have to teach you that?”
“Learn to always be kind to others.”
If he says it like that, I have nothing else to say.
“… I’ll teach you next time.”
I quickly changed my stance.
Tsk, it’s difficult to take my eyes off that cunning Archie. By the way, I hope Archie is doing well. Although I’m more worried about Lady Seymour, who has been acting differently lately.
Lady Seymour was also my nanny. Originally, it would have been natural for one of Lady Seymour’s daughters to become Archie’s nanny. However, they all died, and only Erika Seymour remained, so Lady Seymour continued to play the role of a nanny.
I feel sorry for not allowing her to retire, but no one knew that Archie, who was once a gentle baby, could have such a temperament as he grew up. Until Archie could form sentences, everyone thought he was an angel.
‘I feel sorry for Lady Seymour.’
As I thought of Lady Seymour, I naturally thought of Captain Dogman, who had returned after giving up retirement.
‘Captain Dogman will probably come and hold a sword to my neck as soon as he sees me. Ah, how can I stop that energetic old man?’
Captain Dogman would rush forward in a passionate reunion, begging me to strike his neck with the sword I had handed down. He would hold a piece of the collar, saying that he should die since he couldn’t protect his Lady. The sight of him slumping with a piece of cloth in his hand and a gleam in his eyes made my instincts tingle involuntarily.
Nevertheless, when I thought of the people, a wry smile escaped me.
“Did you have a pleasant thought?”
At that moment, Norma laughed along with me and asked. He, who seemed strangely excited earlier, now openly appeared to be enjoying himself. He didn’t seem to have any intention of hiding it.
“Well, did you enjoy the show, my Lady?”
I couldn’t help but laugh at the voice asking because it was absurd.
“I know this isn’t the right situation, but I…”
Norma slowly opened his mouth in response to my question.
“To my embarrassment, I enjoyed it.”
Norma said with his eyes slightly lowered. His cheeks seemed to be gradually tinged with the excitement of the festival. It was lively.
The next moment, Norma sighed briefly and suddenly extended one hand. In his hand were three Terasa flowers he had bought from the street vendor girl earlier.
“They are similar to Lady Aisa’s eye color.”
“Are you… Are you giving this to me now?”
Norma nodded his head, his eyes filled with anticipation.
Although the Terasa flowers had a color similar to my eye color, does that mean he is offering me this worthless item now…
“Thank you.”
However, unlike my mind, my mouth and hand readily accepted the flowers.
“Since you came with me to the festival today, this is a token of appreciation. I thought you would accept something small.”
“…. Then I should be the one to thank you. My mind was a mess, but it’s better being in this noisy place.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes.”
“I felt the same way.”
“….”
No, my mind started to get complicated again. This time, it was different, as if I had encountered an unknown realm. I felt a slight shiver on my skin. The atmosphere felt unfamiliar.
This is all because of Norma Diazi, that kind-hearted person to anyone. What should I do with this atmosphere? Retreat! Retreat! A loud alarm rang in my head.
“Well, shall we go back now? I think most of the tasks at the top are finished.”
I pointed towards the carriage rental station to break the atmosphere immediately.
“Why are you already going back?”
But Norma, who had been saying “yes, yes” until now, suddenly had a puzzled expression on his face and seemed reluctant.
“… Excuse me?”
There would have been a hundred question marks floating above my head. Wait, did he want to play more?
“It’s about time that the top tasks are almost finished. So it’s okay to start heading back.”
I calmly explained, wondering if he was concerned about the top tasks.
“Madam Stang mentioned that you really enjoy the National Foundation Day fireworks, so she insisted that you be accompanied until that time.”
“Do I enjoy the National Foundation Day fireworks?”
That exhausting labor of gathering all the materials?
The National Foundation Day ‘fireworks’ were an ancient tradition jointly created by the royal family and the great temple to enhance devotion to the Mehera deity in this era without gunpowder. It was a very ceremonial event where selected temple officials released light created by their own power into the sky every night during the long National Foundation Day period.
Temple officials with beautiful colors of light particularly worked hard. Me?
“… Is that so?”
“No, well…”
There was definitely something that made it difficult for Norma to outright say ‘no’ to his superiors.
“So, let’s see it tomorrow. Since the fireworks are held every night during the National Foundation Day period anyway.”
“Will you come out tomorrow as well?”
Tomorrow.
I realized that I unintentionally said ‘tomorrow.’
“Well, the tasks at the top cannot be completed in just one day. As you can see from the scale of the festival, there are more than a few places where hands are needed. So, you understand what I mean, right? We have no choice but to continue going around tomorrow.”
The scouting party sent to Tantaros will arrive at least two days later, so there is still time until tomorrow. In addition, the McFoy Knights coming from McFoy will also take at least two or three days to reach Katam. If I stay stuck in the inn, I will only have unnecessary thoughts… Yes, that’s right. Let’s go out.
‘I have no choice.’
I emphasized once again.
“Yes. Then, let’s definitely watch the fireworks that Lady Aisa likes tomorrow.”
Norma said with a teasing smile.
… Crazy.
“… Well, let’s go for real now.”
I swallowed back the curse that almost slipped out and hastily turned around.
Was I too hasty? Due to my sudden turn, I bumped into someone. At that moment of panic, I even expected to fall, but strangely, I didn’t get pushed back.
I didn’t get pushed back? Then there was a high probability that it was a child.
“Oh, damn.”
Sure enough, I saw a young boy falling backward. I reached out my hand hastily, but my reflexes were not good enough this time either.
“Oh, I messed up–”
My hand which was a beat too slow was overtaken by Norma’s hand. In an instant, Norma, who had approached me unnoticed, wrapped one arm around my abdomen and used the other arm to grab the falling boy’s shoulder. It happened in the blink of an eye.
“It’s okay?”
The child, whose shoulder was firmly held by Norma’s large hand, opened his eyes wide and looked at me. To be precise, it seemed like he was staring behind me. His pupils were shaking as if he was very surprised. Meanwhile, due to Norma’s hand being so big, the boy’s shoulder seemed to be in pain.
“Ple-Please release the child…”
Huh? It was only then that I realized that Norma’s hand, arm, and the trembling body behind me were shaking excessively.
I turned my head. Norma’s face was visible next to me.
Norma had a somewhat pained expression as he looked at the boy.
Hope you enjoy ♥️
