Chapter 16.1

“Ow, owie.”

Disinfectant dripped down my wounded area.

When tears formed in my eyes, Dad said in a stern voice, “I made a promise that I wouldn’t hold them accountable even if you got hurt.”

“I know…”

“And that means that you are responsible for your own actions, Kate. Right?”

I nodded quietly.

I couldn’t help but think that I’d only been a burden squeezing myself in there the more I thought about this, which had a way of making me feel even gloomier.

“Then rest.”

Dad looked down at my wounds with a complicated expression on his face before he left with Linus and Aiden.

Only Noah remained standing at my bedside.

“Noah…”

Aren’t you going to rest, too?

Just as I was about to ask that, Noah’s face suddenly came closer to me, and I inhaled sharply.

“Why…”

Behind the glass lens, his golden eyes trembled minutely.

Noah paused for a moment as if to catch his breath, and soon, a low-pitched voice weighed onto my ears.

“Why did you do that?”

Though I may not know a lot, I knew that the emotion held in that face had to be worry.

But I still didn’t have any vain misunderstandings. Because Noah was kind. Because Noah was a good person.

If Noah had gotten hurt because of me, I would also have died from remorse.

With a graceful smile, I lifted up my bandaged arm.

“Getting my arm a little hurt is better than seeing your face get hurt.”

When I said as much, Noah heaved a little sigh.

“You really…”

A wound on the body of a noblewoman meant more than just a simple scar. After all, any scars on your body would only hold you back when you got ready to get married later.

But it wasn’t like I was going to marry into some prestigious family, so this kind of wound was trivial at most. However, I did think that as a high-ranked noble from the capital, Noah might think differently.

Wait, then the amount of guilt he was feeling right now must be no joke. Since an underclassman younger than him had gotten hurt trying to protect him and all.

Curses, then should I have stayed out of the way then? But I couldn’t just leave his face to be hurt like that.

I was in the middle of thinking a thousand thoughts a second and furrowing my brows, when I decided to speak up. “N-Noah.”

“You’re in pain,” Noah said as he wiped the small amount of tears pooling at my eyes.

They must have sprung up when the wound started hurting from the disinfectant.

My heart began to pound relentlessly again.

“That’s just physiological, I mean, it did hurt earlier, but…”

I was so flustered that I was beginning to ramble.

Ahem. With a little cough, I cleared my throat and spoke again. “I’m sorry if I burdened your heart, but I’m really glad that you didn’t get hurt, Noah.” Rubbing the back of my neck, I smiled. “Mr. Norman also said that it’ll heal soon. I’ll probably be able to take off my bandages before the start of the next semester.”

Noah continued standing there in silence. His eyes trembled slightly, laced with some complicated emotions.

I squeezed the bedsheet in my hand in the strangely suffocating atmosphere and only then did Noah turn away.

“… Get some rest.”

I wondered if it was my imagination that Noah’s face looked dark as I caught a glimpse of it through the gap of the closing door.

***

I was banned from going out for a week.

That didn’t matter, but the problem was that today was the last day of the week, and the day the market opened in town.

“Dad, pleeaase… Please?”

“I said no already.”

Processing his paperwork, my dad gave his absolute refusal.

Even though he always said I was the prettiest in the whole world, I still hated him for not letting me go.

“You don’t even have anyone to go with.”

“Why not?! There’s Rita!”

Catching my eyes, Rita shook her head slowly. “I’ve already made plans to go with Lina…”

Are you really going to do this to me?

Dad continued speaking with a stern face. “It’ll be crowded there, so you can’t go alone without a bodyguard.”

“Blegh.”

As I pouted my lips, a thought suddenly occurred to me, and I leaned on my dad’s desk with sparkling eyes.

“Then what about Noah? Can I go with him?”

Noah was an outsider, and he didn’t know there was a market. I could take this opportunity to relieve the uncomfortable atmosphere between us and introduce the fief to him.

“It would be great to go with Sir Linus and Sir Aiden, too, right?”

It wouldn’t be awkward, so that would be really great.

I gathered my hands together, appealing to my dad’s good side.

“…”

Dipping his pen into ink, Dad let out a sigh.

“… Do as you will, then.”

“Really? Yay!”

“Don’t spend too much money.”

I stopped clapping my hands in glee, but then I started to tilt my head to the side.

That’s weird. Did Dad find Noah likable? Or no, maybe it was Linus he so approved.

Humming a tune, I left my father’s office.

***

Noah seemed to like my father’s study, seeing how he spent most of his time there.

Knowing this, Dad also allowed him to use the study.

“Noah.”

As he was not in his room again today, I came looking for him in the study.

Setting the tea and cookies at a nearby table, I smiled.

“Have this before you finish.”

Noah, who’d been reading in his seat, looked rather taken aback.

“Thank you. There wasn’t any need for you to bring those.”

It was something a maid usually did, after all. But you see, I had something I needed to ask him today.

“Are you available right now?”

Seeing his face full of questions, I let my eyes wander as I explained diligently, “The thing is, there’s a market opening in town. Oh, it’s nothing special, just selling stuff like food and knick-knacks.”

“I see.”

“Mm, but, what I mean is….”

I was only going to ask one thing, so why was I so nervous about it?

After faking a cough a couple of times, I opened my mouth. “By any chance… Would you like to go with me?”

After I’d been bandaged up, I hadn’t had many chances to chat with Noah. That was only because we hadn’t had any reason to meet each other recently, but during that time, it felt like we’d gotten more awkward with each other. If we played together today, wouldn’t we be able to solve that?