Ch. 248
“That’s right. And since he was raised so carefully, long hair probably feels natural to him. Noble ladies usually do… I thought there was a rule that they couldn’t cut their hair. Guess not?”
“There’s no way a rule like that exists.”
…Though unless they were disowned by their family, they almost never cut it short.
Should that count as a rule?
At Enk’s question, I briefly wondered whether my parents would be upset if I cut my hair.
“I haven’t seen a salon, but I did see a scissor shop.”
“A scissor shop? Those two have nothing to do with each other.”
Gale was the most brainy of the three, yet he was the one suggesting a scissor shop instead of a salon.
“Wouldn’t they know if you asked?”
“You need to make sense. What’s wrong with you? It’s like you’ve never been to a salon.”
“I haven’t.”
“Not even once?”
“When we think it’s too long, we just use our swords… schwing.”
That was when I realized I’d been looking in the wrong place.
I scanned the three men’s unkempt hair in turn and reflected for a moment.
To think I’d expected these shaggy-haired guys to go to salons. I really had been raised too carefully—and misunderstood something basic.
Drike Academy had a salon on campus. It also had a dressmaker and a perfume shop. That kind of life was simply normal for noble ladies.
“Why don’t you ask Akia? She said it was part of her job to cut the younger kids’ hair at the orphanage. She even said, smiling, that she would’ve become a hairdresser if she hadn’t become a doctor… ahem. Anyway, ask her. She said she’d trim mine anytime I needed it.”
“Yeah. Tell her to do it soon. Looking at your hair is making me think mine isn’t a problem.”
“Hey! What’s wrong with my hair!”
“It looks like you’ve been cursed.”
It sounded like he meant it looked like it had been struck by lightning.
What a peaceful morning—chatting about hair.
—
I went back to my room and started getting ready to go out, but everything annoyed me, so I flopped back down.
[Master, it seems Ash is back.]
“Now?”
[Yes. He’s passing through the lobby on the first floor and coming up the stairs.]
“Come to think of it, Rai, you… can barely sense Rovenin, but you can sense Ash just fine? Is there really that big a difference in their levels?”
I sat up and looked down at Rai sprawled on the floor.
Rai was far better than me at sensing presences—to the point that he could easily deflect incoming arrows.
And even so, Rovenin was someone he could barely detect.
[It’s the same with Ash. I can’t sense his presence either. But the aura of his necklace is unique. That’s how I recognize him.]
“Aha?”
[How could I not know when he’s wearing magically enchanted metal? I could at least tell where Rovenin was when he wore Tenebra….]
“You knew, and you still ate it?”
I climbed straight onto Rai’s back from the bed. I locked my knees around his neck and yanked his ears, and Rai pretended to be offended—while chattering nonstop.
You sly old fox.
[Actually, now that I confess… I wanted to stop you from fighting Rovenin, but I also wanted to eat that. I thought you might let me eat it someday…?]
“So it’s all your fault!”
[I’ve wanted it for a while! There’s not much I haven’t eaten now! You have to eat rare things when they’re available!]
“What are you going to do! You made me eat someone else’s family treasure! Now I have to pay for it!”
[How is that my fault! It’s because you’re weak!]
“Shut up! It’s your fault!”
[Ah! My whiskers! Those are my precious whiskers!]
After tumbling around with Rai on the floor for a bit, I jumped up before I started sweating.
I smoothed my disheveled clothes, opened the door like nothing had happened, and peeked into the hallway.
In the distance, Ash was coming up the stairs.
“Geenie?”
“Come here.”
Beyond my room, at the far end of the hallway, was the men’s dormitory. I crooked a finger and beckoned him over.
As he got closer, his face shifted from blank to faintly smiling, and that alone put me in a good mood.
“I’m glad. It seems you rested well.”
“Yeah.”
“You look much better.”
“You look haggard.”
Ash, who stopped obediently in front of me, looked far more tired than he had yesterday.
What happened while I was asleep?
“I heard you didn’t come back last night. What were you doing? The others were worried.”
“…There wasn’t anything in particular to tell you.”
Oh, really.
He even dared to avoid my gaze.
He was at his most admirable when he was happy just because I looked at him.
I grabbed his wrist—he was obviously trying to dodge—and dragged him into the room.
“Wait, Geenie….”
Even though he couldn’t possibly lose to me in strength, Ash let himself be pulled along as I swung him around. I backed him into a corner and whispered low.
Once you’re close enough that the tips of your shoes touch, you suddenly feel the other person’s body heat.
“Our Ash.”
“Please… you’re too close.”
“What are you hiding from me? You look like you’ve been up to something bad.”
As I spoke, I parted my lips and subtly reached out to take his large hand—so familiar to my touch.
It was a trick to read his mind, but no matter how badly he wanted to hide it, the truth hovered just out of reach.
All I could feel was the guilt and self-loathing eating at him right now.
I needed more contact to dig deeper.
I slid my knee between his legs and interlaced our fingers. And unbelievably, I felt it—Ash was tormenting himself over something he’d done to Rovenin.
What on earth…? Even at the limit, all I could grasp was that it was connected to Rovenin.
“What is it? It’s about Rovenin, isn’t it? What did you do? Spill it.”
[Shake him down?]
“There’s nothing I can tell you….”
“If you don’t tell me, I’ll kiss you.”
The ring’s ability was incredible, and I could usually read minds without trouble. But when someone was desperately trying to hide something, they could close their mind and keep the truth buried.
Ash usually opened his heart to me, so he was easy to read—but he was strong-willed by nature. If he truly tried to hide something, I couldn’t help but struggle.
What was it that he wanted to hide this badly?
“I’m going to count to three.”
I pressed my chest to his and threatened him in a ticklish voice. Through my palms and heartbeat, I felt his mind begin to churn. Ash avoided my gaze desperately.
“I tried to send him back to Elan… but I failed.”
“Rovenin? How?”
“……”
“Deep kiss.”
That meant I’d use my tongue.
I looked up at Ash—his face red all the way to the tips of his ears—grabbed his collar, and slowly lifted onto my toes.
I meant it.
It wouldn’t end at a threat.
[Master, you’re enjoying this on the sly.]
[Was I caught?]
[Ugh, pervert!]
Grinning, I blew warm breath under Ash’s chin.
We had a big height difference. If I wanted to kiss him, I had no choice but to cling to him almost completely—and my lips brushed his chin first.
No matter how high I rose on my toes, I couldn’t reach his lips unless he lowered his head, but Ash kept turning away, dodging as much as he could.
He was cute, so I kissed whatever part touched me.
I trailed kisses down his neck, then reached the deepest spot beneath his chin.
I felt Ash inhale sharply against my lips, and I let my tongue peek out—
“I’ll tell you! I’ll tell you, so… please stop!”
“You should’ve done that from the start.”
It was obvious, but it was still my victory.
I stepped back, satisfied—then clicked my tongue in disappointment.
To think I couldn’t steal the lips of a man who looked like he was dying of embarrassment.
Well. If he told the truth, I’d give him a kiss as a reward for being honest. That was only fair.
“After I parted ways with you yesterday, I took the Young Master to the hospital, but there were no vacancies. I could’ve gone to the temple and revealed his identity to get him treated, but I didn’t want to. So I had no choice but to buy simple herbs from an apothecary and treat him myself.”
“You did a good deed. So why do you look like that?”
“…I tricked him into taking sleeping pills, telling him they were stamina boosters.”
Ah.
“……You?”
“……Yes.”
“A crime?”
“Please believe me! It was harmless. And it was a stamina booster—it would just make him sleep soundly for about ten hours… Of course, I tricked him into taking it, but there was no other way to send him back.”
I’d been wondering what could make him feel this guilty, but it was just a plan to drug Rovenin and send him home.
Considering the target was Rovenin, it was like shooting a starving bear with a tranquilizer dart.
Still, it was shocking that Ash had done something like that.
“I have no excuse. Geenie, even if you’re disappointed in me….”
“Forget that. What about Rovenin? Did you send him back?”
“…I failed. He didn’t fall asleep.”
“So the sleeping pills didn’t work?”
“I watched him all night, but he never fell asleep. It was fast-acting, but… I accounted for the fact that he isn’t ordinary and gave him a little more than the proper dose. It still didn’t work.”
Tch. Monster.
I muttered to myself and did my best to comfort Ash, who was crushed over a minor crime that hadn’t even succeeded.
“Next time, give him four times as much. And if you’re going to give him something anyway, why not poison?”
“Geenie… it’s scary how serious you are.”
“So is Rovenin still around here?”
“No. He suddenly disappeared. He must’ve hit his physical limit and hid somewhere. He’s probably napping in a tree right now. He might’ve realized I was trying to put him to sleep. If he doesn’t come near me for a while, it means he noticed and is sulking.”
“Anyone would think you’re raising a wild animal.”
If someone’s physical abilities were high enough, they wouldn’t get sick—and they could even detoxify potent poisons on their own.
Was Rovenin really at that level?
The fact that the sleeping pills hadn’t worked, even when he wasn’t in perfect condition, made me feel like I still had a long way to go.
How am I supposed to kill that guy?
“I’m sorry, Geenie.”
“What for? Why are you apologizing to me?”
“I wanted to separate the two of you somehow… I’m sorry I couldn’t help.”
“So that’s why you did it? For me?”
“I didn’t want you in danger.”
I took Ash’s hand again as he lowered his head and blamed himself.
His large right hand—so big I could barely wrap both of mine around it—remained obedient, as if he didn’t even know how to pull away.