Chapter 42
TL-Mechatronic
However, he doesn’t think he heard it wrong no matter how hard he surmised about it.
“Nina La Dell?”
“Yes? Did you call me, young master?” He heard a cheerful voice again. Adrian was dumbfounded and looked toward the roof. He couldn’t see her, but he could imagine her sitting on the roof like a cat.
“How…….”
“You called me. That’s why I’m here. I’ve finished all my tasks before coming. Don’t worry I’ll go back soon.”
Adrian was so astonished that he exhaled briefly, and finally chuckled. Nina curled up on the roof. With her arms raised on her knees, she looked up at the sky.
Her white hair fluttered softly in the wind.
“Nina.”
“Yes.”
“Come here.”
“Hm……. No.”
And as if he couldn’t accept the rejection from her, Adrian’s answer was delayed by one beat.
“Why?”
His honest question made Nina smile.
“I’m not dressed to stand in front of others because came here on impulse.”
Adrian’s short sound of laughter flowed into the night air. Then she jokingly said, “You will have to do with only my voice for now.”
Adrian didn’t want to point out, ‘It’s you who flew in the middle of the night just to see me.’
Because he missed her, too.
However, it was another matter for her to sit on the roof in inappropriate attire.
“Nina La Dell.”
With his voice mixed with a little order, Nina got up from her seat, saying, “Aye.”
Adrian could tell Nina’s movements by the sound of the wooden roof creaking.
“See you soon, Young Master. I’ll dress respectfully then.”
The sound of a blunt and light leap rang from the wooden roof. A cold wind outside the window swiftly blew, and it became quiet all over again. Adrian closed the window after all the sound of the wind passed.
Somehow, it seemed that his sleepiness and fatigue went away all at once. He plunged into bed and closed his eyes.
Somehow, a smile was formed on his lips.
She always behaves spontaneously. Unpredictable like a short spell of rain in the middle of a sunny day.
As radiant and perplexing as raindrops falling under the midday sun, the feeling of looking up at the blue sky while being hit by cold raindrops.
Jean felt the same way as Adrian did in the Black Shield Castle.
Jean, who was sleeping well in his bed, grabbed the dagger under his pillow at the sound of the window opening. “Jean……”
He quickly lowered the dagger when he found out that it was Nina who came through the window with a loud noise without even trying to hide her presence. “Nina? What’s wrong?
“I don’t know. Put me to sleep.”
She dug into his bed and said.
Jean said in embarrassment.
“What? Are you crazy?”
“Oh, it’s really warm. As expected, a bed warmed with someone else’s body temperature is the best.”
Even with the spirit’s protection, it was cold to walk around the streets at night using North Wind and even more so in thin clothes. Her hands and feet were especially cold.
As soon as she returned to her room, she changed into thick clothes and went into the bed, but the cold bed did not warm up. Her bed was cold, so she had no choice but to find a bed that others had already warmed up.
As she stuck her cold limbs to him; Jean, who was disturbed in his sleep, suddenly frowned.
“What? Why are your hands and feet so cold? Even your cheeks are cold? What’s wrong with you?”
He touched her hand then patted her cheek. Soon those caring hands turned rough.
“Ouch, Ouch, Ouch…….”
Then he said as he pinched her cheek. “Where have you been in the middle of the night, huh? How can you be cold when you’re dressed up like this? Let me guess. Someone foolishly walked around in thin clothes and got cold, so they tried to warm up by dressing like this.”
“That’s right.”
Nina was in the position of borrowing body temperature, so she had to be nice.
“But how dare you come into someone else’s bed with a chill?”
Nina clung to him, grumbling.
“We used to sleep in the same sleeping bag.”
“Are you the same as then?”
Jean groaned. Then he put her hand around his neck Nina’s fingertips quickly warmed up.
“What if you catch a cold again? You used to have colds every winter.”
After being poisoned by the Duchess as a child, Nina was ill every winter. So Jean went into protective mode without realizing it.
After assuring that her hands were warm, Jean left the bed.
Soon afterward, he put a foot warmer under Nina’s feet, and as she warmed up to her feet, she soon began to doze off.
Jean said, “I won’t give up the bed,” and Nina replied in her sleep, “Yes, yes.”
Jean swept her cheek. Now it was moderately hot.
“Why did you wander around outside for so long.”
Jean sighed.
“Aren’t we eating well and dressing well? We’re doing just fine as long as we’re not struggling to live. Why are you and the Duke being like this all of a sudden?”
It’s fun and happy even just by being together, right?
Jean didn’t like the sudden increase in work and business because it made them not have time to see each other.
When Nina smiled at the words and tried to get up, he pressed her forehead down.
“What are you doing? Lie down to sleep.”
“Jean, you know what? That…….”
Nina yawned and rolled the blanket around her and said,
“I’m trying to dance with the flow until the end……”
“……What?”
“To dance properly until the end……”
Nina tried to keep her drowsy eyes open.
“So that I and Young Master will never lose a single person, until the very end…….”
Jean was speechless for a while. He looked at her for a moment and spoke quietly.
“Okay, okay. Go to bed now.”
“Yes…….”
Nina, with her eyes closed, fell asleep shortly afterward; breathing a nice and steady sound. Jean waved his palm in front of her eyes and realized that she had fallen asleep completely.
‘These little things.’
He had a strong perception that Adrian and Nina were young children. But now Nina is saying something like this.
‘l and Adrian want to protect everyone.’
It was a blatant line, but it was a shock to Jean because it was something he didn’t expect.
‘I am shocked by my complacency.’
As soon as Nina returned, his vision became narrow as if he had returned to the old Dark Knights days.
She was back, and there were no problems in the Castle, so he thought it was enough. His objective in life was just small. His focus was on two years ago when he left Nina and ran away.
“Let’s sharpen our swordsmanship so that it doesn’t happen again.
He doesn’t want to go through running away and leaving Nina behind alone, twice. That’s his only goal.
But unlike him, Nina and Adrian must have seen the big picture.
A bothersome imperial family, a shady temple, or a group of aristocrats that tries to bite their ankles and many other things he can’t see.
“I’m used to the inconvenience, so I forgot.’
Getting used to it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.
You need to be prepared, to survive without being swept away by the storm that will come again someday
Jean ended up staying up all night without a wink of sleep.
Nina woke up satisfied. She opened her eyes slowly under a soft, warm blanket in a refreshing mood.
She soon found Jean’s arm, raised her head, and smiled.
“Are you awake? Huh? Jean?” She wondered if he woke up first because he was leaning on his head, but his face was that of a skeleton who stayed up all night. His sight fell upon her. “Did you not sleep? Because of me?”
Embarrassed; Nina, who a while ago was refreshed, was stabbed in her conscience.
“No, no. Well, kind of? But it’s not because of what you
said.”
Jean shook his head. Nina put on a quilt and raised her body up. She didn’t want to get out of the fluffy blanket,
“What? What’s wrong? Did I kick you? Or took the whole blanket? Did I snore?”
“It’s not that.”
His playfulness, which had always been on his face, disappeared and he was full of unease. Nina was worried. She handed over the blanket that covered her like a hoodie. Even in the dim morning light, her hair shone like a snowy field in the daytime.
“It’s me.” (Jean)
He opened his mouth and shut it up. Nina listened quietly. She often likes to talk about and thinks she is good at it, but she was patient with listening too.
She waited patiently even when she first spoke to Adrian. Not an hour or two, but a day, two days, a week, a month.
When you feel that someone is paying attention to you with all their heart and leaning to hear even a faint breath, you’ll choose to say what your heart wants to say.
Not just a useless conversation, but a meaningful conversation. Even stuttering and disgruntled words sometimes have lots of meaning.
Like he is right now.
“I think I’m too useless.”
Nina blinked at Jean’s words.