“Shay, can you brush here once?”
“Can I do it as well?”
“Siwoo will prefer your touch because you are his owner.”
“Horses are said to recognize their owners, right?”
I stroked Siwoo’s back gently with a black brush.
Lacius had already finished grooming him, so my contribution was minimal. Even so, Siwoo seemed to enjoy it.
“The weather is lovely.”
“On a day like this, it would be great to continue learning horseback riding; if you’re not too busy, how about taking a stroll around the mansion, Shay?”
“I’d love to, but are you not busy today?”
“Yeah, I’ll be free until tomorrow.”
“What happened?”
My hands moved briskly even as we conversed about trivial matters.
I thought if I focused on more than one thing, I’d forget about Daphne, but that didn’t seem to be the case.
My thoughts keep returning to the chestnut hair in the warm spring sun.
In the end, I found myself returning to the moment I met her.
* * *
I stood there as if time had stopped.
Daphne kept handing out carrots the whole time.
A small bag was also at her feet, and based on its lumpy shape, it appeared to contain carrots as well.
“She must be strong,” I thought, wondering how she managed to bring all of this with her. However, despite her physical strength, Daphne appeared to be in poor health.
“Cough, carrots, buy carrots. These are the carrots I diligently grew. Not a single rotten part. Carrots, cough. Please buy them.” she repeated persistently. The occasional cough that had begun earlier became more severe.
She can’t even say a single word anymore without coughing.
She must have been rained on the way here, judging by the mud water stains on the hem of her skirt.
Feeling somehow choked up, I cleared my throat a couple of times.
Lacius was still talking with the high priest, and there was no sign of them coming out.
Cat looked at Daphne with a puzzled expression, as if it couldn’t figure out why I was acting this way.
Then, at that precise moment.
“You’re pretty, but you’re selling something like this?”
“Where did you come from? Are you from the countryside?” another chimed in.
“Instead of selling this, come with us and we’ll introduce you to a better opportunity.”
As I was about to board the carriage, a gang of ruffians approached her with arrogance. They weren’t commoners, according to their attire, but rather lower-ranking nobles.
They didn’t appear to be the type to say to Daphne, “Oh, how pitiful. Come be our maid. We’ll provide a decent salary and treatment.” They seemed inclined to give her weird tasks.
“Well, I’d like to sell carrots. Cough. Would you like to buy some carrots?”
“You seem a little out of your mind; you have no idea what street this is, do you? If you want to sell carrots, you should have gone to the commoners’ street; this is where the nobles go.”
“Yeah, selling something like this here is a crime, and if caught, you’ll end up in prison.”
The young men laughed, and one of them put his arm around Daphne’s shoulder. Daphne pushed them away, expressing her displeasure.
“I don’t want to, so please leave.”
“Hey, don’t you know how much I’m doing you a favor right now?”
“I don’t care. Please leave. I will not sell you my precious carrots.”
“Oh, this wench!”
One of the men raised his hand, but Daphne didn’t even flinch. Instead, she opened her eyes wide and returned his stare. When I saw this, I quietly took a step forward.
“That’s enough.”
“What, who—!”
“Hey, look.”
“Gasp!”
When the bullies saw my face, they stopped breathing for a moment. Although being stared at was annoying, I was relieved to see them back off from Daphne as a result of it.
I motioned for Daphne to take a step back.
“Heh, there’s a lovely lady here.”
“Are all the women in the capital like this? It appears that I made the right decision to come here.”
“Right, where do you live? You’re pretty; do you have a boyfriend?”
Based on the gibberish they were exchanging, they were most likely the sons of noblemen who grew up in the countryside.
So they don’t know me.
With a sneer, I raised the corners of my mouth.
“I’m not sure where you grew up, struggling and scraping by on some small plot of land, but this is the capital, child.”
“What…!”
“To do such things even in a place where your name is unknown… utterly ridiculous.”
The man flushed at my mockery.
And, as he had done before with Daphne, he raised his fist.
He was probably expecting to see me tremble in fear, hoping that his action would work again.
It was truly hilarious.
“Get that ugly face away from me by the count of three if you don’t want to see this guy jump at you.”
Thump. Cat, who was perched on the carriage’s roof, stretched out when I snapped my finger. Then he jumped very lightly and placed his teeth on the man’s nape of the neck.
“What’s this!”
“Ahhhhhhhhh!”
Why do these idiots only come back to their senses when their lives are directly threatened?
I cast a scornful glance down at the bullies.
Cat’s fangs dripped saliva, which landed on the guy’s neck.
At the same time, the nameless guy passed out.
“W-Witch!”
“Hey, take him away before I decide to kill him.”
“It’s a witch! A witch!”
“Or, should I just kill you all here?”
Would air leak out if I made a hole in their heads?
I gave Cat a serious look as I considered it.
Then Cat sighed deeply and growled, his face irritated.
Cat must be frustrated at being unable to kill but only threaten.
The bullies grabbed the unconscious man and carried him away.
“They’re finally gone. Are you—”
… … ?
Taking my eyes off them, I immediately tried to check Daphne’s condition. She seemed to have a strong personality, but she might have been surprised on the inside.
But Daphne completely dispelled my worries. Her sparkling eyes were fixed on me. It was a very, very burdensome gaze.
“Oh my God….”
“… Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Are you an angel who came down from heaven, unnie?”
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