Chapter 18.1

Time passed and we were now one day away from Noah’s departure.

In the meantime, I didn’t have many encounters with Noah. Even at meals, I only gave him formal greetings.

Noah seemed a bit puzzled by my slightly changed attitude towards him, but he didn’t ask about it in detail.

“I’m going to be taking this off soon, you know.”

In the midst of scribbling on my bandaged arm, Rita raised her head and answered, “They say it’ll get better faster if I do this. And Miss, you’re always so gloomy these days. That’s because you can’t use your arm, isn’t it?”

“Right, yeah.” I nodded mechanically.

With a sympathetic expression, Rita patted my shoulder.

“I’ll ask other people to do this, too. Stay here, milady.”

Soon, my cast was filled with scribbles from everyone, from Rita to the coachman, Thompson.

I was just making my way down the hallway, inspecting all the scribbles on my cast, when…

“Oh, Noah.”

I ran into Noah just as he was returning from the library to his room.

“How was your lunch?”

I was only trying to greet him lightly enough, but Noah was looking down at my bandaged arm keenly.

“Oh, this is because they said you get better quickly if people sign my cast,” I said, laughing awkwardly and lifting my arm to show him.

Pulling out a pen from who-knows-where, Noah asked me carefully, “May I do so too?”

“Huh? Yes, of course.”

I gladly gave up my one arm and fixed my gaze elsewhere.

I could hear the sound of the pen scratching over the bandages.

“Until you get better, remember not to move your arm as much as possible.”

“I won’t.”

Feeling the concern in his voice, I was a little grateful.

When I looked down once he seemed finished, I saw handwriting that was as neat and beautiful as its owner.

Get well soon.

I lowered my arm, taking care not to smear the wet ink.

***

Today was the day that Noah was returning to the Tower of Magic.

Though it had only been a week, a lot had happened.

Now that he was really leaving, I was a little sorry to see him go, and a little hollow, too.

“Here, your luggage.”

When I took the baggage from Rita and held it out, Noah hurriedly snatched the bag from my hands.

“Be careful. You’re hurt.”

It seemed like there would be no use protesting, so I just stayed still.

“Don’t move.” Looking down at my bandage one last time, Noah exhaled lightly. “Please.”

“Mkay.” Lowering my eyes, I nodded.

It felt like Noah was ridden with guilt every time he saw my arm, so I felt even more bad for him now.

His expression relaxed like he was a bit satisfied now and he lightly patted my head.

“I’ll see you at the academy.”

The carriage door closed and the horse huffed.

While I was fiddling with my bangs feeling peculiar, the carriage clip-clopped further and further away.

***

When I entered the library in order to return a book I’d been reading, my entire body stiffened.

Nobody was inside. Other than the curtains fluttering from the wind, I couldn’t see or feel any movement at all. The sound of turning pages that I’d always heard while Noah had been here was no longer there.

That silent scenery felt very strange.

Shelving the book in its place, I closed the window where the wind was coming in.

Once I’d put away the curtains and turned around, there was a book lying open by the windowsill.

I was going to close the book as it was before I noticed something sticking out of its pages.

“This is…”

It was a bookmark. Though it had no name on it, it was clear whose it was.

This was the book Noah had been reading last, and somehow, the bookmark looked like something Noah would own.

The bookmark, which was rather card-like and had no decorations on it, had a hint of Noah’s scent on it.

Feeling a bit flushed for some reason, I lowered my head.

***

I was a healthy person.

In 17 years of my life, I had never been seriously ill, nor broken any bones.

Which meant that an injury from me that warranted bandages like this would come as a pretty substantial surprise to those who knew me.

“And that’s why I say, you shouldn’t have done something you knew you couldn’t do.”

“I knew you would say that.”

Averting Echo’s eyes, I tried to laugh it off.

The brown-haired girl who’d been standing on the side for some time now asked, “Then does that mean you can’t play cricket?”

“Yes, Dolia. Isn’t that horrible?”

I’m a patient, you know.

I understood that there really wasn’t a lawn as spacious as Earl Jenkinson’s here and that Lady Bailey was pretty passionate about cricket, but I was feeling a little bit hurt. I mean, I was injured.

“I can’t today. I can’t take off these bandages yet.”

“You look like you can, though,” grumbled Lady Bailey, grabbing the bat.

I shook my head again. “I can’t. I’m not supposed to move around a lot.”

“Is that what the doctor said? Then I guess we can’t help it.”

“Uh…”

For a split second, I was about to say no. Noah was the one who’d told me not to move.

As soon as I thought that, I looked down at the words written on my bandages and smiled faintly to myself.

I could hear Lady Bailey and Echo whispering to each other on the side.

“Though it’s suspect whether it was her head that was injured and not her arm….”

“I can hear you,” I harrumphed, laying my arm on the table.

I was sitting there with my chin on my hand, feeling dissatisfied when someone placed a glass of water on the table.

“Kate, did you hurt yourself?”

“You’re here, too.”

I turned in the direction Arkhan’s voice was coming from.

That was a given, of course. The daughter of Earl Jenkinson was well-connected, so most nobility in the south would have been invited.