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ADWTG Chapter 76

ADWTG Chapter 76

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Kyle Villard, who liked to pretend to be a gentleman, always escorted me to my room when he visited the Dalton mansion. I had promised Brianna that we would play cards before bed, so I should have taken the left hallway on the second floor, but I had left something in my room, so I turned right. When Brianna and I went in opposite directions at the crossroads, Kyle paused for a moment, then sent his servant to Bree and followed me. 

“Why are you going this way?”

“Why ask when you already know?”

Kyle scratched the bridge of his nose, annoyed. After glancing at him for a moment, I gestured inside the open door.

“Come in. I have something for you.”

There was an option to bring it out and give it to him here in the hallway, but that didn’t seem like a good idea. My parents began to pay more attention to my friendships this year, and the recently hired servants were all keen-eared and well-versed in gossip.

Now that I think about it, it has been a long time since I let Kyle into my room. Kyle, who was looking around hesitantly like little Benji, seemed to share the same sentiment.

“It feels nostalgic.”

He said.

“It’s been what, ten years?”

“It’s so much more, for me… Wow, you still have this?”

Kyle made a deflating sound and picked up the knitted doll that was lying next to the pillow. It was a teddy bear that my maternal grandmother, Helen, gave to Ari, who was asking for a younger sibling like Cynthia or Benjamin. His name was Tam. 

The part where Tam’s ears sprouted from his head was sewn with black thread that did not match its soft off-white color at all. The crybaby master of Villard Mansion couldn’t accept the fact that his childhood friend had a fluffy younger brother—because all younger siblings had to be humans, not teddy bears—and committed horrific violence against Tam.

“He’s my little brother, so why would I throw him away?”

When I snapped back sharply, Kyle, seemingly recalling his past, looked slightly embarrassed. I took Tam from him and held it up to his face.

“Perfect timing. Apologize to him.”

When I stubbornly insisted, Kyle surprisingly complied.

“I’m sorry, Tam.”

But in the next moment, he raised one corner of his mouth and wore a mischievous expression.

“But you are at fault too.”

“Oh, come on.”

“It’s because of you that Ari stopped playing with me.”

The thick index finger tickled Tam’s stomach. I flinched as if what he was tickling was my stomach. When I hugged the knitted doll tightly to my chest, its fluffy texture overflowed against my chest.

Words suddenly burst out of me like a sneeze.

“Hey, why do you like me?”

“What?”

“When did you start liking me?”

I took a step back and sat on the edge of the bed. When I patted the spot about a hand’s width away, Kyle, flustered, turned red at the ears and neck. He then carefully sat at a somewhat ambiguous distance from where I indicated.

“So suddenly?”

“I’m just curious. Can’t I be?”

“There’s no reason you can’t. Alright. Sophomore year, when you told me you were dating Walsh.”

“Ugh. That was truly the worst choice of my life.”

I frowned as if there was shit in my mouth, and Kyle laughed briefly.

“Anyway. I was really angry back then. You probably didn’t know.”

“How could I not? You were overreacting with veins popping on your forehead. I just didn’t know why you were angry.”

I just assumed it was because I had a boyfriend before he had a girlfriend. His pride was hurt.

As it turns out, Kyle had originally thought the same thing. But after dinner, washing up, and laying down to sleep, he said he suddenly felt really bad about it. Upon reflection, he realized he wasn’t angry because I had a boyfriend. It was because I was dating Adam Walsh.

“Not Kyle Villard.”

He muttered bitterly. It was only then that I realized that my 16-year-old childhood friend’s insincere congratulatory words contained something more than just petty jealousy. My cheeks burned intensely.

“And then I realized you looked so pretty.”

“Let’s stop here. This is no fun at all.”

“I’m having fun. And you’re the one who asked.”

“You already answered!”

“Not yet. Where did I leave off? You asked why I like you? Because you’re pretty. You’re very pretty. Your hair looks like the trunk of a walnut tree or a squirrel’s tail touched by sunlight, and your eyes are like sapphires dropped into the deepest part of Lake Fraswell.”

Kyle kept adding flowery phrases to make fun of me, who turns into a grilled squid when she hears compliments repeatedly. When I cringed and covered my ears, he grabbed my wrist and smiled slyly.

“Ari.”

How long has it been? Suddenly, Kyle’s voice calling me by my familiar nickname seemed somewhat lower. I lifted my head at the peculiar tone and was immediately met by his gaze. If my eyes were sapphires dropped into Lake Fraswell, his eyes were like emeralds burning in the sacred fire of the Temple of Stia.

“I really want to kiss you right now.”

Soon, a palm touched my lips. It was preparation for the ‘friend kiss’ that my childhood friend and I had shared before. ‘Can I do it?’ The question was so earnest that I inadvertently nodded.

As soon as he got permission from me, he pressed his lips against the back of his hand several times. It was still a pious ritual, but this time there was a slight sense of hunger.

 When he finally pulled away, exhaling the breath he had been holding, I shivered at the strange sensation that started at my feet, climbed up my calves and thighs, and eventually pierced through my heart. So, I quickly changed the topic to prevent us from dwelling on the ticklish experience.

“As you know, I have been to Talon.”

On the wall opposite my bed, there was a decoration with my name embroidered on it and tied with twine in a palm-sized frame. There was a small chest of drawers below. After rummaging through it, I turned around with my fists clenched, and Kyle came up to me with a smile on his face.

“Is it a gift?”

“Some unloyal friend went to Chadrock and came back with nothing, but I can’t be that merciless.”

“You said you’d never use the handkerchief I gave you last year.”

“It has ‘I love red hair’ engraved on it. How can I use that?”

“Everything sold at Chadrock during the Red Hair Festival has that slogan. It’s a thing.”

It made sense. ‘I love red hair’ is the slogan of the Red Hair Festival, and during the festival, Chadrock used to sell handkerchiefs, quills, and even food with that phrase engraved on them. (I’ll never forget the taste of the red velvet cupcake with raspberry bits on top. It was one of the best cupcakes I’ve ever had, even if it was surrounded by a squishy love note for red hair.) I nodded moderately and held out the object in my hand to Kyle.

“Pocket watch?”

Kyle’s eyes widened as he asked. I quickly explained, feeling slightly embarrassed.

“Because I have yours right now.”

“But why two?”

“There’s a deep story behind that…”

On the day I went to the Belcana area with Brianna, I first stopped by the watchmaker’s shop, located about 5 minutes away, rather than the Corntho bookstore. Although it may not be able to match the value of Grandpa Damien’s pocket watch, I wanted to give him a watch that was at least good enough to ease my guilt.

Unfortunately, the watches within my budget didn’t look very special. The one that caught my eye was a pocket watch that revealed a translucent unicorn when opened. The price tag didn’t have numbers but words: ‘Inquire for the price.’

So I competed against three leprechauns and lost miserably. In the end, after fulfilling my first-class handmaiden’s wish with the seven gold coins that were left in my hand, I was left with no choice. I bought a clunky silver pocket watch with mismatched parts at that time.

The other pocket watch was, surprisingly, the very one with ‘Inquire for the price’ written on the price tag. The horned horse sticking out between the minute and second hands stamped his feet as if he were unhappy that his owner had changed from a woman to a man.

If you were to ask how it happened, you could say it was entirely thanks to Edgar Ramos. The Jaden Spencer girlfriend contest was a success, and the Spencer family raised enough donations to avoid having to hold a charity banquet for the next few years.

Jaden’s good mother decided to return the gold coins that were not immediately needed to the gift donor. Since more than half of it was paid by the thief wearing a lion mask, a particularly satisfactory reward was given to the ‘Anonymous Vícount’s Daughter.’

“What’s certain is that I bought both with legitimate means.”

“They look really expensive.”

“They’re the fruits of my labor. Just accept them gratefully.”

It was deliberately condescending. That’s because I thought it would be less embarrassing that way. My childhood friend, knowing me well, chose to list ridiculous nicknames for the unicorn instead of thanking me. It was a perfect response.

***

Fraswell Lake was a half-hour’s ride by horse-drawn carriage from the office of the Dalton Merchant Guild. Under the pretense of learning about the guild’s trading operations, I was free from the tedious Baroness Dempsey and enjoyed my first freedom in a long time.

“How can someone who wants to be the head of a merchant guild hate accounting and budgeting so much?”

“You don’t know anything, Brianna Mosley. A true merchant doesn’t do such troublesome things. Can’t you tell from the Dalton Merchant Guild’s head? The head is always traveling, talking about markets and investments. The office workers handle the numbers.”

“Ugh, you’re so annoying.”

“At least I’m pretty friendly with Assistant Manager Coulson, unlike Assistant Manager Dempsey, who always looks like she wants to punch me whenever she sees me.”

Brianna and I were in the middle of Lake Fraswell, enjoying the sensation of rocking with the small ripples while floating in a little rowboat. Bree flicked her fingertips that had been dipped in the lake, causing water to splash at me.

“I completely understand her, you little devil. You switched her quill with one that automatically makes spelling mistakes, didn’t you? Do you know how torturous that is for a perfectionist?”

I suppressed laughter as I remembered Baroness Dempsey gritting her teeth to avoid writing ‘summary’ as ‘samary.’ But she was the one who tried to throw me to the infamous prankster’s graveyard, the Illestia’s seminary, saying that I needed to correct my foolish habits. Compared to the unbearably boring life I could have had, ‘samary’ was nothing.

The devil, huh? Brianna’s unsparing criticism brought back the words I had seen the night before.

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