Hand? Was he looking at our hands? I pushed his arm to the side. His gaze followed. What was he doing? I move his hand again and it follows me again.
“Ian?”
Ian raised his face at my call. He looked at me without any expression and suddenly opened his mouth.
“Does your wrist hurt?”
“Wrist?”
What kind of wrist suddenly… Oh, this? I wondered if he was referring to the slight scar on his left side, so he nodded. What was he watching? It’s a nothing special scar… Oh, come to think of it, where did this red scar come from? Suddenly, Ian reached out his hand and grabbed my wrist, squeezing it with his fingers.
“Does it hurt?”
“No. It’s just a scar.”
A scar so insignificant that you don’t even know if it exists or not. It was a very small solid line that I had forgotten about until Ian said it, so at first glance I didn’t even know it was there. By the way, I can’t believe I saw this… You have great insight, as expected.
“I’ve had it since I was little. I’m not sure, but I think I’ve had it since I was about ten years old.”
“You don’t know when it happened?”
“Yes. My grandfather said it was a scar he scratched while playing with a pen, but it was probably my mistake.”
Ever since he was young, he would often spend time in his grandfather’s room. Then, I remember holding in my hands thin and thin writing instruments such as sharp fountain pens or regular pens. Grandpa said it was a pen, but he probably scratched it while playing with something sharp like a paper knife. I said it casually, but Ian just looked at his hand and opened his mouth.
“Did you ever hold a grudge against someone when you were young?”
“No?”
“Have you ever been hated?”
“How many people hate what a child does?”
Unless you’re a tomboy or a brat, most people just laugh it off, that’s how children grow up, so when I thought about it, I thought maybe Ercia hated me back then… Still, I didn’t think he would have tried to make him hurt her. Because they were both young.
“Children of noble families often face threats to their lives due to family succession even at a young age.”
“That is when there are many children or people with a greed for power. As far as we know, the only people we had were Ersia and I who were sick.”
Leaning back in my chair, I bent my elbows and cupped his chin and cheeks in my palms. I felt uncomfortable showing the scar on her wrist for no reason.
“Does Ian really think that someone hated him and hurt him? That’s too much speculation.”
Ian thought about my answer for a moment, then relaxed his expression and smiled slowly. I followed suit and tugged at the corners of my mouth. Anyway, you’re making a serious face over something that’s not that big of a deal… How did I see the scar that I also forgot about, but?
“First of all, I’m running out of time, so let’s recap. Let’s continue the conversation we had earlier…”
“Lawrence.”
“…What now?”
He stops talking a lot. When I answered with a sigh, Ian smiled and opened his mouth.
“Would you like to have a drink?”
What drink? I blinked and Ian pointed to the wines in the cupboard. Most of what was given as a gift at the coming of age ceremony was alcohol, so it was decorated there. Now that she’s an adult, does that mean she should drink alcohol or slush? They were all luxurious drinks. I thought I should try it someday, but I was busy with work and I don’t really like alcohol, so I didn’t drink it and was just maturing. I stayed away from alcohol in the past, so it’s been almost 5 or 6 years since I drank. Anyway, what kind of alcohol? I narrowed my eyes.
“What are you planning?”
Ian spread both her palms towards me. It was a very leisurely gesture, as if there was nothing planned. I looked at him intently. There’s no way you don’t know the dark intentions. I couldn’t help but laugh. Even if he pretended not to be, Ian was also a man.
“Are you good at drinking?”
“I’ve never been drunk.”
“Oh my, that’s that money.”
“Really? When did you first drink it?”
When was it? I don’t remember very well. It happened a long time ago
“Well? I think I drank it once sometime.”
“Oh, you came to the banquet hosted by Berdian and drank alcohol, right? It wasn’t too strong, though.”
Ah, then, remembering what happened with Beralt, his face frowned, but he nodded again. But how do you know I was drunk at the time? I sat in the corner and rolled my eyes, while Ian blended into the crowd and chatted. The first time we had a conversation was when we met in the garden.
Ian chuckled.
“It would be strange if the young lady sitting in the corner, sipping alcohol, like a lone wolf, didn’t catch my eye.”
“Lone wolf… that’s rude.”
“Sorry.”
After glaring at Ian, who was apologizing with a face that didn’t look sorry at all, he stood up. He walked over to the cupboard and thought about it for a moment. There were a variety of wines and several other strong alcohols. Umm, did I drink well? Actually, I’ve never been drunk. I agreed with his words, but I don’t remember ever drinking until I blacked out. I was tired but couldn’t sleep, so I just drank a drink or two as a sleeping pill. Was I drunk at that time? Even though I drank it, there was no real change… so I thought I was strong against alcohol. After staring at the drinks, I reached out and selected a wine made in the southern region. The name on the label was impressive. Sweet Dream is a name that is both childish and cute, but Iwaine lives up to its name. It was named so because it was so strong that it was almost meaningless to call it wine, and it was said that drinking a glass of it would send you straight to dreamland. I was curious about Ian’s drunkenness as he had never looked disheveled. Although he is not usually a serious and serious person, he has never shown himself to have completely let go of himself. Even though I’ve never been drunk, I can’t just drink this and throw it away. Hehe, I laughed to myself, took out two glasses and handed them to him.
“Give it to me. I’ll take it.”
When I handed him the wine bottle, Ian gently opened the cork with an opener. The light smoke disappeared with the sound of wind. Ian elegantly held the bottom of the bottle and poured some wine into two glasses. It’s clear that you took a liberal arts class. Unfortunately, I never learned alcohol-related culture. My grandfather treated me and Ercia like children, so he didn’t teach us these things. I just knew the etiquette, but I didn’t know how to pour and drink. Still, I lifted the glass by the bottom and smelled it like everyone else.
It’s sweet. What is this?…
“Be careful with this.”
Ian expressed concern. She lifted her chin to look at his face.
“I know.”
Even though I was now younger, I was older than him. To demonstrate it, I lifted the glass to my mouth without clinking it. If you eat too much, you might get drunk quickly, so I took a sip and pushed it into my mouth. Wine made from red grapes, the main product of the southern region, had a very strong aroma. It felt like a sweet, sticky liquid was seeping into my mouth. As soon as the forest wetted the inside of my mouth, swept across my tongue, landed briefly in my esophagus, and then sank inside, my eyes widened. I put down my glass and bowed my head for a moment and… What is this? Isn’t this poison? My head throbbed from the heat rising from within in an instant. I suddenly felt out of breath, so I lowered my head and took a short, deep breath.
“Are you okay?”
I just rolled my eyes and saw Ian lowering his head to look at me and ask if I was okay. Do you think this is okay?
“…I’m okay.”
Wow, that’s informal language. But so what? You speak informally too. I am older sister. This expression changed cleverly. no? Can’t I speak informally?
“You should drink it too. It’s delicious.”
Ian glanced at his drink. Drink quickly! As the unspoken pressure poured out, Ian sighed and lifted the glass to his mouth. Yes, put it in quickly! When I tapped the table with the back of my hand as if urging him to do so, Ian rolled his eyes and poured the red liquid into the glass until he could see the bottom and…
“…”
The sight of him wiping his mouth with the back of his hand while making a low breathing sound felt very sexy. The wide-open eyes were different from my usual playful face, so I felt a little different. But…it’s not bad.
“What do you think? Is it delicious?”
“…Lawrence, are you okay?”
“Well! I’m fine. Look, I don’t stutter or talk gibberish. I’m very neat.”
Other than speaking informally, he’s fine.
“Do I look like I’m drunk? Hehe, that’s a big mistake.”
Ssssssss of her fingers, she made a nonsense sound and landed on the table with her palms. Ian hurriedly grabbed the glass on the table that was about to fall. You worry about small things. Even if one or two glasses were broken, I made enough money to build a castle with those glasses. If you put your mind to it, you can dominate this country!
“Developing medicine… Excavating mines… What else…? Ah! Expanding on the military industry. The additional income from that is probably quite significant. Hehe… I have a lot of money, Ian.”
Did I just say that? He covered his mouth with his palm and laughed.
“Did you hear?”
“…”
Ian had a somewhat tired face. Is it reduced? I’m still fresh.
“Come on, Ian, drink more too. What did you say earlier? You said you wanted to drink! Look.”
I picked up the wine bottle and shook it. When illuminated by the light, the liquid flowing inside the bottle was clearly visible. He tapped the bottle with his fingernail and smiled.
“Is there still a lot? We can’t get up from here until we finish drinking this. ah! Are you disappointed because there are no snacks? Hehe, don’t worry. Because I’m good at cutting fruit?”
Where was it… I remembered that there was a basket of fruit in the utility room next to me. He got up from his seat, brought back the whole fruit basket, put it on the table, and rummaged through it. Hmm… what would be better? As expected, there are strawberries in winter, but unfortunately, they are not available here. Umm…
“Ah! Look at this! Isn’t it amazing? This is the fruit my father-in-law bought while on a business trip not long ago. Look… If you cut the inside straight like this…”
If you pick up a fruit and chop the passion fruit…
“I’ll do it. Give it to me.”
“Ugh, no. I’ll do it.”
I tried it like this. I shook my head. Ian looked at me blankly, then rolled her eyes and looked at the round fruit lying on the table. At that moment, a flash of red seemed to pass by and the fruit was cut in half. Wow, what just happened?
“What?”
“I cut it because I thought it was dangerous.”
“How did you do it? Let me know!”
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Translator Note:
Hello there! This is RJR. I hope you liked it <3
If you like my work please support me with Ko-fi or Patreon. Next post will be released on November, 2.
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