Chapter 30

“…..”

“……”

The next morning was a sea of silence.

Claude was much more speechless than usual with a stiff face, and looked only forward. Ian, who had always been silent from the beginning, climbed onto Bella and walked endlessly on the snow. Logan, with the most relaxed expression among all of them, pulled on his reins to match Ian’s speed.

I wondered where I’d seen that horse.

It was the horse he was riding when he first saw Logan on the terrace.

He remembered seeing it at first glance during the procession, so it seemed familiar. They both seemed to be in a good mood, perhaps because he was friendly with Bella, and their hoofs were stumping side by side. Maybe it was because she knew there would be a black horse, so she ran to the garden yesterday. Whether it’s a human or an animal, if they feel threatened, they will hide in the safest place.

As he continued his thoughts, Claude, who had been silent, finally spoke.

“Do you have anything else to do?”

It was also a limitation to give a summary lecture with the number of words reduced to half. When Claude asked why the Great Duke suddenly appeared there, Logan, who was looking ahead, slowly turned his head.

Claude had a cold expression on his face when he saw Ian, who had suddenly disappeared yesterday morning, and Kyle, who was flirting on the spot. Even when asked where he was, he shrugged his shoulders and said nonsense, so he eventually raised his sword. Time was wasted dealing with 

Kyle, who rushed to him as if he had waited for a while, but the match ended briskly because of Ian, who soon reappeared.

[T/N: Kyle and Claude were probably fighting with each other. And the fight is termed as “match”.]

He kept his mouth shut even when asked where he was, so he didn’t ask anymore….

It was during the class following the previous day. With the sudden appearance of Logan, Claude felt something strange. He knew he wasn’t doing this for no reason, so he asked. Logan, who glanced at Claude, only smiled now.

“Is there a problem?”

That smile was the problem.

Like a glass bottle from which moisture has evaporated*, he usually has no expression on his face, but acts like a completely different person only in front of the Prince of Rox. It was strange from the moment he first met him at the banquet hall, but after that, he didn’t even look at Ian, so Claude dismissed it as just a whim as usual.

[*T/N: It means that Logan was like an empty glass bottle with no feelings or emotions as they have evaporated and so had no expression on his face. But it’s different when he is infront of Ian.]

ㅡ Shall we go home now?

But the Duke stopped the procession.

That day, Claude saw Logan’s face, looking down at Ian as if he had seen something very strange.

[T/N: Claude is thinking about the last procession they had. When Ian was put on the back of the horse with light clothes.]

A few days later, he declared that he would put the prince of the enemy country in the Knights, and decided to take him on an expedition a few weeks later. Logan, however, did not run into Ian strangely. Seeing that he did not appear in the training he participated about twice a week and never walked to where Ian was, Claude noticed that it was intentional.

Most in the mansion noticed it, but today suddenly, they started acting completely differently.

Claude sighed briefly, he didn’t know what the whim was, and Logan, who had stopped paying attention to him, spoke to Ian. Yes, it was all about meaningless weather, good posture and so on. However, Ian seemed satisfied and just nodded.

Fortunately, as it neared noon, Logan left a light goodbye and disappeared.

“…..What happened with the Grand Duke?”

When the suffocating figure disappeared just by his side, Claude spoke cautiously. However, Ian couldn’t figure out what was wrong with him, so he couldn’t give him an accurate answer.

He said, he will see him tomorrow, but he really didn’t expect to see him tomorrow. Logan’s expression saying that was so subtle that Ian thought it was just a second warning to stop.

He found out what he was most curious about, so he had no regrets*. They all spoke only of the title of Grand Duke, and had never mentioned his name, so Ian had only ever referred to him as the man.

[T/N: He was most curious about Logan and he found Logan so he had no regrets.]

Logan.

It was a familiar name.

He murmured and recalled it several times as if it had been sung before and engraved it in his memory. He won’t forget this time. He left his seat, being careful not to spread the name on his wrist. Ian, who quickly transferred it to the paper after the horseback riding lesson, looked at the poorly written name for a long time, unlike Logan.

[T/N: Logan’s handwriting was beautiful unlike Ian’s awful writing (according to him). ಡ ͜ ʖ ಡ]

Why did I kill you?

The conviction that he was the man he had killed had now turned into a question. He thought he was simply a person who was killed by commision, but then there is no reason to feel this way.

[T/N: Ian was Hitman in his previous life and had killed several people on order, so he is thinking if he is one of the people who he killed on order then why does he feels that way (maybe a kind of guilt feeling or sadness).]

It was difficult to interpret the unfamiliar emotions because he had never felt affectionate towards anyone. But what’s clear is that he didn’t want to see him die this time. It didn’t matter whether it was intentional or arbitrary. If he dies like that, like that, then…

ㅡ Thank you for the flowers.

He heard a faint noise somewhere. It was the voice that asked him what kind of person he would like to be. Only then did Ian realize that it was Logan’s voice. The language used was different, but the low-pitched tone was the same. The soothing words made his head throb again. 

What’s do you mean by that? Did I gave him flowers? Am I the kind of person who can do that?

No matter how much he thought about it, the conclusion was the same, but it was important that he remembered something.

Kyle arrived as if searching for a scattered puzzle piece, and Ian replaced his delight by kicking his knee.

That’s all that happened yesterday.

After that, he struggled with complicated grammar as usual, so there was nothing more to be expected.

There was still silence as he shook his head at Claude, who looked his way. Claude, who was thinking of something, sighed briefly and finished the story.

“Then that’s enough.”

…… So he thought that was it. He might be the type of person who might have to keep his word once said, but if it’s too much, he might have run into them while walking.

[T/N: I don’t know what they are trying to say. (・∀・)]

However, Logan, who appeared at the training ground as if pouring water on the idea, looked no different from the morning.

“Good to see you again.”

Logan, who had not attended a single time since he placed Ian in the Knights, naturally approached the two in a corner in time for training in the afternoon. He knew he had been here all afternoon, but it was as if he just bumped into him. Ian didn’t expect to see him again, so he lowered his pen and blinked.

“Isn’t the weather nice?”

He said the same thing in the morning.

“You have a good grip on the pen.”

It was the same for him.

When Kyle looked at them in wonder at their insincere repertoire, he looked at them alternately, tilting his head. It was true that he sent Ian to the side where the Great Duke was present, but this was a completely different development from what was expected. He thought at least one of them would come back hurt, but Ian, who was waiting for him, looked too clean.

Kyle knew Logan wouldn’t kill Ian, but he didn’t expect him to send him back nicely. Kyle opened his mouth, scratching the tip of his eyebrow with his fingernail. The expedition was just around the corner. He didn’t think he could ride a horse if one of them got injured.

“Since when did you two become so close?”

As far as Kyle knew, they had only met twice. About three times in total until yesterday. Neither Ian nor Logan was inclined to be with others, so today’s Archduke was very strange. You could tell just by the sight of the Knights holding their breath in the distance.

Not paying attention to Kyle’s words, Logan looked down at Ian’s vocabulary book, where the same words were written repeatedly.

“What? What is going on? I’m really worried.”

“Have you memorized my name?””

“Duke, Can’t you hear me?”

Hey? Kyle pretended to knock in the air, feeling like there was a wall in between, but Logan, of course, was not listening. Ian, who noticed that it was a question for him, slowly nodded his head and opened his eyes like a crescent moon.

I don’t know if I should call it abominable or scary.

Kyle, unable to make up his mind, shut his mouth, and the surroundings became silent. Logan didn’t say anything, but Ian, holding the pen loosely, moved his wrist as he glanced at Logan.

The ink slowly spreads over the white paper.

Logan, who had been staring intently at the name Ian had written down without forgetting, opened his mouth only after a bit of simmering.

“….You can’t carry an ink bottle on an expedition.”

Gloved hands slowly scoured the paper. Come to think of it, he was always wearing half gloves like that yesterday and the last time. But when their eyes met, Logan smiled and tapped the pen that Ian was holding.

“I’ll give you something else.”

“……”

He didn’t know what he was going to give him, but there was no reason to refuse. Logan, looking at Ian moderately as he nodded, smiled once more, and Kyle clicked his tongue at the sight of them. It’s hopeless.

And for a few days it was the same thing over and over again.

Despite not being seen throughout the month, Logan showed his face, pretending to be an insincere coincidence, and Ian did not define Logan’s actions.

But it wasn’t unfamiliar to him, and thought something was strange.

“Everyone, stand by!”

At last, it was the day of the expedition.

ㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ

T/N: Sorry for the late update. My school started (even though we were supposed to have a 3 month long break they didn’t even give us a 1 month break ╥﹏╥) and I also became lazy •́ ‿ ,•̀.

Also, some people in the comments of the raw website was saying that Kyle might be trying to hurt Ian because he didn’t want to let Ian go on the expedition, maybe because it’s dangerous or something, I don’t know. What do you guys think? (눈‸눈)