Chapter 34

He followed her when she ran away, and he followed her again when she ran away once more. After a meaningless chase, Yurina soon hit her shoulder against the wall of a carriage.

While Yurina gently rubbed her sore shoulder, Raynald sat close to her and twisted her hair with his fingers. His fingers were pretty because they were white and long, however, they had calluses that should not have been on a wizard’s hand.

“Calluses?”

Why did he have calluses as a wizard? But without a doubt, Yurina felt strange when she saw her hair curled up on his finger.

It was nothing, but she felt ashamed by the physical contact. She pulled her hair out of his hand and came up with a story that would dispel the embarrassing atmosphere.

“Hey, Ray.”

“Huh?”

“I didn’t ask you yesterday, but how did you get here? What about the Academy?”

That’s what she asked, but the answer was obvious. The academy is in the middle of its semester, and today is a weekday with classes. Nevertheless, his presence here means that he is playing the so-called “hooky.”

“Umm….”

Perhaps he could have told a lie, but Raynald just smiled, blurring his words. It was a pretty smile, but Yurina saw young Raynald talking away whenever there was an unfavorable situation when he was young.

Perhaps because of that, she could forget the awkwardness and play a prank on him.

“Why can’t you tell me the truth that you skipped class? The round trip from the capital to here would last at least a week, so will you continue to skip classes?”

“Are you sure you’re not gonna tell me? Well, it’s not the academy that sent you here. In the letter, I was proud of you because you were studying hard every time and your grades were good, but it was all a lie.”

When she jabbed his side with her elbow lightly so that it didn’t hurt, Raynald rubbed the area where he was hit and sobbed that he was sick. Raynald sobbed as he rubbed the spot where he had been hit.

“It hurts.”

“That’s because it should hurt. So who told you to skip class?”

“……I didn’t.”

“Don’t lie.”

As she jabbed him in the side again, Raynald quickly grabbed Yurina’s arm.

“I worked hard. This is the first time I missed a class.”

“So that means you did skip class.”

“Well, that’s…….”

Looking at Yurina’s eyes while mumbling words, Raynald noticed that her face was playful. He smirked and buried his face on Yurina’s shoulder.

“Seeing you feels like I’m going back to my childhood.”

Unlike him who laughed aloud, the smile disappeared from Yurina’s face, embarrassed by his sudden action. When his warm breath landed on her collarbone, Yurina’s shoulders flinched in surprise.

“Give me a break. It’s been a while. And I’ve never really missed a class before. Even when Aiden asked me to go play, I didn’t miss it.”

“Aiden?”

“You don’t have to know.”

“Is that your friend?”

“Well….”

Muffling his words, he held himself close to Yurina. His hand, which had gotten bigger, hugged Yurina’s waist tightly.

His body was harder than it looked, and unlike the cool air in the carriage, it was hot. Yurina blinked as she couldn’t speak due to the awkward atmosphere hovering over the carriage.

Since their childhood, when Raynald was anxious, he would come up to Yurina and hug her or rub his face on her shoulder. He was like a young cat or a dog that craved affection. It was like a habit of his.

Yurina, who was well aware of his anxiety, always breathed a sigh and comforted him. But now it was different. Her head was blank and she didn’t even know how to react.

Yurina looked at Bessie and Dave sitting across from her and turned her eyes as she hugged him. While Dave was reading without much difference, Bessie was looking out the window with a redder face than Yurina.

Yurina pushed Raynald’s head away who was rubbing his face against her shoulder like a cat.

“Ray, back away from me a little.”

This time, a warm sigh poured over her shoulder. When Yurina tapped her finger on his head, he pretended not to hear and the arms wrapped around her waist became tighter.

“Ray.”

“…….”

“I’m a little uncomfortable…….”

Only then did he reluctantly raise his body. Yurina closed her eyes, pretending not to see his eyes full of regret.

“Yuri, are you tired?”

“Yes, I’m a little tired.”

Yurina pressed her hand on her eyes. She closed her eyes to avoid his hot gaze, but it was true that she was tired.

Her physical strength was already weak from being homeless for a few days and hadn’t slept much because she had been venting her rage with Raynald, who had shown up suddenly the day before.

“Well, you must be tired because you’ve been riding in the carriage. I’ll be free until I get to the next town, so get some sleep.”

Raynald stretched out his long arm and hugged Yurina’s head and made her lean on his shoulder. Perhaps because she didn’t see his face while closing her eyes, she felt less uneasy. Yurina narrowed her forehead while leaning her head against his shoulder, as she often did when she was young.

‘Uncomfortable.’

Unlike five years ago, when he was similar in height and did not feel uncomfortable leaning on each other’s heads. Raynald’s shoulders, which were tall and broadened, were very uncomfortable.

She tried to move around and find a comfortable posture, but Yurina eventually lifted herself without overcoming the discomfort.

“Are there a lot of discomforts?”

Raynald lowered his shoulder height while still hugging Yurina’s shoulder. Yurina closed her eyes again, leaning her head against his shoulder, which was adjusted to her sitting height. It was more comfortable than before.

Raynald smoothed her hair and covered his shoulder with a blanket on her lap.

“Good night.”

Finally, with a sweet voice, Yurina began to doze off. Because she was closing her eyes, she did not notice Bessie and Dave, who were looking at each other from the opposite side and smiling happily.

The carriage stopped a little suddenly at the entrance of the village where Yurina would stay for the evening. Raynald hurriedly hugged Yurina’s body, which was bent forward.

Even then, Yurina, who had been sleeping lightly, leaned on his shoulder and woke up suddenly and opened her eyes with surprise. Outside the carriage, she heard the sound of an angry horse neighing and the voice of a horseman soothing the horse.

“What’s going on?”

“It’s okay. It’s not a big deal.”

While Raynald patted Yurina on the back and soothed her, Dave opened a window connected to the horseman to check the situation. The horseman pointed to the front of the carriage with a serious look and muttered something to Dave.

Yurina listened to the horseman, but she couldn’t hear a word because of how quiet he whispered.

“It’s okay, don’t worry.”

When Yurina frowned slightly out of concern, Raynald patted her shoulder. He seemed to be more worried about Yurina than about the situation outside.

At the tender touch, Yurina put her face on his shoulder again and dozed off.

“Lady, I think we should get off here and walk to the accommodation.”

Dave closed the window with a rather stiff look. Looking at him getting ready to get off right away, Raynald asked on behalf of Yurina.

“What’s the matter, sir?”

“That’s….”

Dave saved his words by glancing at Yurina, who was still sleepy and couldn’t even open her eyes properly. As if he had realized something with that attitude, Raynald hardened his face and soon smiled calmly at Yurina.

“Yuri, did you hear that? I think we have to walk to the inn. Let’s get out of here.”

“…Yes.”

Because she was half asleep, Yurina couldn’t sense the strange atmosphere of the two men and rubbed her sleepy eyes.

Dave and Raynald, who packed their bags in the wagon, got off the wagon first, and then Bessie, who was opening Yurina’s collar, got off the wagon with Dave’s escort.

Yurina lifted herself, trying to hold onto her dazed spirit. She held the wagon with one hand and held out her other hand to receive an escort.

Then, instead of Dave, who always escorted her, Raynald reached out his hands to her.

‘Huh? Two hands?’

Yurina sensed his strange behavior even with a blank mind.

The rule is to escort with one hand. It was the same when getting off the wagon. I’m sure Raynald knows that, but why are his hands suddenly two hands when he’s good at escorting?

Did he forget the manners he had learned at the mansion while he was at the academy?

As Yurina hesitated, Raynald came close to her and wrapped her waist with his arm. Yurina instinctively hugged his neck tightly due to the dizzying sensation of her body.

“Ray?”

When she shouted his name in surprise, Raynald smiled lightly as she looked into his eyes. He must have seen her surprised look, but he calmly hugged her and dropped her off the carriage without any explanation.

In the past, when he was about the same height, he would have never thought of it.

Bessie, who was watching the scene from the side, said, “Oh my. Oh my!” and blushed on behalf of Yurina.

“Because it’s dangerous.”

‘No, it’s just going down from the carriage. What’s so dangerous? I wanted to ask bluntly, but when I saw his face smiling, I couldn’t bear to say that.’

Instead, he turned his head away from her eyes and looked around, only then could she feel that her surroundings were chaotic.

“Why are there so many people here?”

It wasn’t just a problem that there were many people. The problem was the strange atmosphere hovering between them. Many of those people were huddling in one place and whispering with serious faces.

Some were stomping their feet with a pale face, and others were praying for a goddess with their mouths closed. A woman who was walking along the street holding the child’s hand quickly held the child in her arms and hurried her steps.

What is it?

As Yurina tried to turn her head toward the place where people’s eyes gathered, Dave quickly blocked her.

“You’d better not look over there, miss.”

Raynald hugged her shoulder after receiving his glance without a chance to ask what was going on.

“Let’s go, Yuri. You must be tired, so let’s go get some rest.”

“I got it.”

Yurina followed Raynald with a nervous expression. She didn’t want to look at the situation out of curiosity when the two of them dissuaded her like that.

But within a few steps, Yurina looked down at Dave’s feet and saw the scene that Dave wanted to hide.

‘…Blood?’

Red blood was flowing through the cracks of the uneven stone floor. Recognizing her surprised face, Raynald quickly covered her eyes with his palm.

However, Yurina, who had turned her head unknowingly before her eyes were blocked, saw someone covered in blood and their white hands and arms lying on the floor.

A person lying dead on the road covered in blood after an accident. It evoked the memory that Yurina wanted to forget so much in a flash. Yurina was out of breath as her hazy mind lifted.

“Don’t look.”

Raynald whispers in Yurina’s ears, who was breathing heavily. His low voice was gentle, but Yurina’s heart began to beat faster, instead of calming down.

It was so fast, that she could hear her heart beating.

“He’s not moving. Oh, my god. Is he dead?”

“Look at the blood. I don’t think I can save him even if the senator comes.”

“That damn aristocrat. Is that all you have to do if you hit a person like that and throw a coin?”

Perhaps because her hearing became sensitive as her vision became dark, she could clearly hear the voices around her, which she had not heard properly until earlier. Listening to a voice of anger and regret, Yurina shook her body like a four-legged tree.

“Yuri, what’s wrong? Yurina, are you okay? Yurina!”

The urgent voice of Raynald had been stabbing painfully into her ears like a sharp needle. Yurina sat on the floor, covering her ears at the sound of a sudden headache, and tinnitus pricking her ear.

She had never been bothered even though she got motion sickness from the carriage, but her stomach was deeply moved by the fishy smell that brushed the tip of her nose.

“No, no, no…….”

Yurina shook her head violently. However, no matter how hard she tried to shake, the image of red blood was still clearly visible in her closed eyes, and it did not disappear.

‘No, I don’t want to.’

Memories of the day five years ago, that she tried to forget, kept flowing into her head like raging waves.