Episode 12
Just having a wound on made me feel like I was much stronger in battle.
“Are we going to go all the way around the house?”
Amoide’s voice sounded like he was about to lose his temper.
But he was stuck with me as far as I was concerned.
“Are you going to see all of the mansion’s gardens?”
He said that the Ifrit Duke’s home was huge and spread out.
There were a number of gardens in the house, such as the central garden that circled the main building and the gardens that were connected to the other buildings.
It was a journey that could not be covered on foot. It was so big that one had to take a carriage to get around the grounds of the house.
“No, I really want to go somewhere else. With you.”
“…Together?”
“Yes, the two of us.”
“Where?”
He scowled.
“The garden in the west.”
I answered right away.
“What?”
I wanted to go there because I knew there was something there.
“They say the western garderm is the most beautiful, right? I wanted to show you that place so much.
I opened and closed my eyes as I spoke.
“…Is it not possible?”
I looked at Amoide’s face, which looked more and more unhappy.
“I can’t.”
I didn’t want to, but I let go of his arm.
Thump.
As the hand with the bandage dropped, so did his eyes.
“Let’s go.”
It sounded like he was grinding his teeth, but I’m sure that was just in my head.
“Really?”
I quickly put my arm back around his. I could feel him sighing.
Oh, he must hate this a lot. He also seemed to breathe a little bit harder.
Please be patient with me for a moment.
I took a look around and thought to myself.
Then I saw faces hiding in the bushes and in the spaces between the trees.
For a brief moment, all of those eyes were full of wonder.
But the question “Could it be?” was still in the back of my mind.So, I had to make sure to keep going.
“Let’s go, Amoide.”
As I led him, I almost grabbed his arm tight.
But after a while, I felt like I was the one being pulled along.
I had to take at least two steps for every step he took to keep up.
‘Why does he have such long legs?’
His legs looked long, but when I tried to walk like he did, I could feel how much longer they were.
Besides that, he was quick. It seemed like he had been going at my speed before.
I finally stopped walking and grabbed onto him.
“Am-Am-Amoide? Huff…hah.”
When I called out to him, my voice was mixed with my rough breathing.
It was hard to figure out who was sick and who was fit.
“We’re going to the western garden.”
He gave a grumpy answer. He didn’t have any trouble breathing at all, unlike me.
“Could you… slow down?”
“You are the slow one.”
“You’re the quick one!”
“I’m not.”
The way he answered was very annoying.
As I tried to catch my breath, I glared at him.
“You said that you grew up in hardship, so why can’t you slow down?”
Oh, come on.
“Wah, that’s pathetic.”
The idea just came out of my mouth.
Over his shoulder, I could finally see where we were going.
The hot walk was worth it.
“Anyway, since it’s hard work, should we take a break before going on?”
I showed him a place that was hidden by a big tree and some bushes.
“…”
He just stood there and looked at the spot I pointed to.
His face looked like it was about to swallow something bitter again.
“What’s that?”
As he looked at it with a mean face, he saw a gazebo made of pure white marble.
It was a very beautiful place because there was a trellis with roses that grew up all the way to the round dome roof.
In fact, it was made with that kind of mood and goal in mind.
It was called ‘Place Where the Moonlight Lingers’ to start with.
People said that the moonlight coming in through the round glass dome on the roof was so beautiful that it was the right place to whisper love.
There were secret places, like secret gardens, hidden in the grounds of the ducal estate.
It was a gazebo that was connected to a small separate building. It was built for the duke’s wife by a man who loved romance and loved his wife very much.
Because it was in a quiet part of the western garden, not many people went to the gazebo.
The gazebo was built on purpose in a low spot on the land.
A big elm tree was also placed in front of the house to block the view.
During a walk, a couple could sneak in and have private, personal moments without anyone knowing.
If it rained, someone could stay there for a long time without being bothered.
The duke and duchess who were supposed to use this place never did.
“This place is really beautiful.”
If we spent time here and then left, it would be easy for people to think that something strange was going on between us.
I walked past him and went into the gazebo first, pointing to Amoide as I did so. The hand I waved was, of course, the one with the bandage on it.
“Come sit down.”
He didn’t want to go in, but he did.
“Come this way. There’s sun over there.”
“Before, you told me to get some sunlight.”
“Oh, yes. It’s not good for you to sit in strong sunlight.”
I turned my words around and waved my hand again in a gentle way.
He seemed to come up with a good plan, got up, and came over to me.
As soon as he stood up, it got dark around me, as if there had been an eclipse.
He came over and sat on the seat across from me. His submission surprised me because it was so cute.
I was very fond of the bandage that had helped me control that big dog, no, that man.
“Isn’t this a nice place?”
Open doors and windows with curtains that reach the sky, a clear glass roof that shows the blue sky, and unusual plants that fill the pavilion…
In the middle, there were soft seats, chairs, and a tea table, which made the room feel warm and inviting.
There was even a small lake right next to the tent.
When the water was clear, I could see the fish moving around.
“There are such beautiful fishes.”
I knew that the fish with the different-colored scales and fins had cost a lot to bring in.
“Next time, it would be nice to bring food for the fish.”
“Huh?”
He couldn’t believe it.
“Do you want us to go back to this cursed place?”
“Yes.” Not just the next time, but also the time after that and the time after that.
So that people all over the world would hear stories about us.
Even though I was happy with how the plan was going, his face stayed as cold as a block of stone.
“Tell me right now.”
“What?”
“Why did you have me come here?”
Ah, again.
He kept at it for a long time. Did he think I would agree with the answer he had planned? I had no plans to do that, of course.
“And what’s the point of this boring walk?”
The smile and embarrassment on my face were gone.
When the mood got heavy all of a sudden, I tried hard to think of a way to change the subject.
Then I saw something floating right in front of my nose.
“Look, there are cottonwood seeds in the air.”
As the full spring came, white poplar seeds were flying all around like snowflakes.
The loose seeds stuck together on my dress.
I stomped my feet to try to shake them off, but they just floated around and stuck to my dress again.
He sat on the other side of me and put his head on his hand.
Right, left. As I jumped around, he looked angry and gave me a frown.
As I walked, the willow seeds flew all over the place.
I tried to get rid of the seeds by brushing them away, but that just made them spread more.
The seeds he had been collecting all of a sudden scattered and swarmed around him.
“Cough.”
As the seeds flew all around him, he gave a short, weak cough.
“Are you okay?”
I ran over because I was shocked. I waved my hands to move the floating seeds away from him.
“Is it difficult to breathe? Does your chest hurt?”
Even though I was asked a lot of questions, he did not answer.
“Stop making a fuss.”
I noticed all of a sudden that he was quietly looking at me.
“I just worry about you,” I said.
“Something like this won’t kill me.”
I paused because his tone made me feel a little down.
He stood up and sat down again, and it looked like he had stopped coughing.
“Do you feel sick or have a fever?”
I put my hand on the top of his head. My palm got a body temperature that was about as warm as my own.
“Is he running a fever?”
I tried to compare by putting my other hand on my face, but I couldn’t tell for sure.
“Does it make you feel nauseous?”
As I worriedly watched to see how he was doing, I heard a low growl.
“…What?”
He shook his head, which made me take my hand off his brow. With a scowl, it looked like he was taking something nasty off.
“Huh?”
Cottonwood seeds that we had brushed off earlier were slowly coming back together around us.
I started waving my hands to spread the seeds because I was afraid he might cough again. I was thinking about them so much that I didn’t hear what he said.
“…What?”
“What you said went over my head.”
I couldn’t really hear him because I was too busy getting rid of the flying seeds around us.
“Ah.”
I stopped when someone grabbed my arm.
