Chapter 138

‘Even if they gave me permission, I wouldn’t let him go alone…’

They would surely send maids and knights one after another. But she didn’t want to go there so loudly. She didn’t want to spread rumors that Yurina Carthia and sponsored Reynard were looking for his hometown.

Now that Raynard is attracting the attention of not only the nobility, but also the people of the Empire, if his movements are made public, someone will want to approach him, someone with evil intentions.

Yurina sipped black tea because she felt like her throat was burning, but the Marquis, who seemed to be thinking about it for a while, nodded.

“Well, even if he didn’t say it, it’s the place where he lived before he came here, so there’s no way I wouldn’t miss it. I was so careless I didn’t ask Reynard about his past because you told me not to, but I was too indifferent. Reynard might think I wasn’t interested in him.”

“No. Please don’t think this way. He thanked you for caring so much.”

“Even if you say that, I would have been disappointed.”

A slightly bitter smile crossed the Marquis’s face. Perhaps it was because he had seen Reynard since he was a child, or perhaps because of his affectionate nature, the Marquis considered Reynard more than just a sponsored person and more like the family.

Even now, he was worried that he might be lonely.

“Well, maybe that would be good. If your brothers knew, they would definitely say no.”

The face of the Marquis, who had been agonizing with his arms crossed, was now smiling mischievously like a child.

“I had a good idea.”

* * *

“Do you really need to go?”

Edwin took Yurina’s hand and asked sullenly. Next to him stood Justin, with the same sad face. The faces of the two twins looked like they were about to burst into tears if Yurina answered yes.

Yurina quietly removed Edwin’s hand.

“Yes. I want to get some rest.”

“If you rest at the mansion…”

“The mansion is crowded with many people, isn’t it? I want to make myself feel comfortable in a quiet place.”

Inside the carriage, Marchioness Carthia added her words. Only then did Edwin and Justin help Yurina climb into the carriage with a displeased expression.

‘I’m sorry I seem to be cheating…’

Yurina waved to her two older brothers and winked at Reynard, who was standing in front of the mansion. He nodded his head as if he understood.

This was all the opinion of Marquis Carthia. The plan is that Yurina and Reynard can move freely there if they go on a trip to a clean and quiet place to recuperate Yurina, who has suffered and is weak.

Even now, the people of Carthia House knew that only Yurina and Marchioness Carthia were going on a trip. Reynard will soon follow with magic.

Yurina continued waving to her older brothers until the carriage started. But her eyes were always on Reynard behind them.

Marchioness Carthia, who had been watching him quietly, smiled while covering her mouth with a fan.

“You look very good.”

“Yes?”

The Marchioness muttered as she straightened the hair ornament on Yurina’s head, who was looking back at her with a puzzled face.

“Mom is glad that you are happy.”

“Ah…”

“I always said, but live your life doing what you want to do to your heart’s content.”

Yurina touched the hair ornament that the Marchioness had given her as if it were awkward, then smiled and nodded.

* * *

Contrary to what he said earlier, Reynard couldn’t quite remember his hometown. He said that he had left his hometown for nearly 10 years, and that he had been living in the village all the time before he went to the orphanage, so he didn’t know the geography of the surroundings.

When asked if he remembered his name, he shook his head.

“The villagers called our village Riverside Village and the neighboring village Goat Village, but that doesn’t sound like the official name.”

Riverside village, goat village. Even listening to it, it seemed like a simple name based on regional characteristics.

“Can’t you even remember which territory you are in?”

“Yeah. All I remember is that there was a river in town.”

River. It was a really vague clue.

There were so many rivers in the vast Genosian Empire that it was impossible to count them with two hands. However, in her head, Yurina calmly combined the words she had with the clues Reynard had given her.

“The orphanage where I found you was in Jinon Duchy. Did you know it?

Reynard nodded in surprise.

“Did you remember that? Eight years have already passed.”

“Of course. I remember everything about you.”

After kissing the bridge of her frowning nose, Reynard smiled as if he would cry at any moment and wrapped his arms around Yurina’s waist. Yurina continued, sitting face to face on his thigh.

“How many hours did you say it took a carriage ride from the village to the orphanage?”

“Hm. I left in the morning and arrived after lunch.”

“It might be a carriage for aristocratic families, but the common people’s wage carriages aren’t that fast. Even considering that it was a few hours of travel, your village wouldn’t be far from the Jinon territory. It must be in Jinon Manor or in the neighboring manor. There is a river near it. Would you like to check it?”

Yurina reached out to the table where the map lay. When she tried to get off Raynard’s leg, he hugged her tighter and snapped his fingers.

The rolled-up map floated up and flew away, then unfolded itself in the air as if someone was holding it.

Yurina kissed him loudly to thank him and pointed to the upper left corner of the map.

“You told me that the river in your village was narrow and shallow enough to swim in. Then it must be upstream.”

Yurina’s white finger circled a part of the map.

“Then I guess it’s somewhere around here… The range is wider than I thought, but wouldn’t it be enough to search for it one by one?”

Reynard frowned at the map.

“I think it will take a long time.”

“So what if it takes a long time?”

“I’m afraid it will be hard for you.”

He looked at Yurina and then added a little.

“Or I can check it myself.”

Yurina pressed his lips with the palm of her hand.

“Don’t say anything you don’t want to do.”

Reynard protested something, but his lips were pressed so his pronunciation was strangely muffled. Yurina nodded her head as she heard those incomprehensible words.

“Don’t worry, I’ll go with you no matter what.”

* * *

“Not here either.”

At Reynard’s words, Yurina drew a cross mark on one side of the map she was holding. Even with the crossed out marks drawn on the map, ten of them were already crossed.

It didn’t take long because they were moving with the help of Reynard’s magic, but still, Yurina became mentally exhausted.

Yurina, who was just following along with him, was like this, so how tired would the person concerned be?

‘If I had known it would be like this, I would have asked about his hometown when we met at the orphanage.’

If she had asked then, she would have remembered more information. At the time, she firmly believed that Reynard was Karion, who ran away from his mother and home, so Yurina never thought that he would want to go home.

If she had known he was missing his hometown, she would have searched for his hometown a long time ago.

Reynard looked at her and shrugged his shoulders, as if he had read Yurina’s apologetic mind.

“It’s not easy. If I had a good memory, I would have found it sooner. Right?”

Blaming everything on his memory, Raynard felt it eased the burden on her heart. He gently ruffled her hair and pointed to a steaming bakery in the distance.

“Are you hungry? Let’s have lunch. Wait here”

Reynard sat Yurina on the bench and hurriedly walked toward the bakery in the distance, where smoke was rising. She could have prepared a packed lunch at the villa in advance, but she wanted as few people as possible to know that the two of them were going out, so Yurina decided to buy every meal from the village.

Betsy brought the simple clothes Yurina and Reynard were wearing now.

“Let’s go back now.”

After a while, Reynard returned and handed Yurina the sandwich he bought from the store and whispered in resignation.

“You don’t have to look for something like this.”

Despite his words, there was bitterness in his tone. In other words, it meant that he still had a lingering attachment to his hometown.

Yurina unwrapped the sandwich and shoved it into his mouth. It was an indirect answer, saying don’t say something you don’t even have in your heart.

Reynard, who took a big bite of the sandwich as if he had noticed her meaning, quietly munched it. Yurina also leaned her head on his shoulder and quietly ate her sandwich.

Yurina seemed to know why he wanted to go back.

‘He probably doesn’t want me to suffer.’

However, she didn’t feel that it was difficult at all. She moved with Reynard’s magic, and returned to the villa prepared by Marchioness Carthia in the evening, had a hearty dinner, and took a good rest.

Since he used magic like that, it was theoretically correct that Reynard, not Yurina, was tired. Even so, he always cared only about Yurina’s condition.

It was he who was looking for his hometown.

“You really don’t have to look for it.”

Reynard, who had eaten half of the sandwich before he knew it, shamelessly muttered. Instead of answering this time, Yurina tore open the remaining half of the sandwich and put it in his mouth again.

Reynard leaned his head on Yurina’s head and quietly moved his mouth.

After finishing the sandwich, Yurina wiped her hands and stood up.

“Let’s go now. They say there is a village with a river next to it.”

Reynard sat down and grabbed her skirt. As Yurina lost her balance and staggered away, he quickly took her into his arms. And then Reynard rested his chin on Yurina’s head.

“You really don’t have to look for it.”

“If it’s because of me, don’t worry. I’m not tired at all.”

“I do have concerns about you.”

Raynard’s arms tightly wrapped around Yurina’s waist. Yurina was now completely engulfed in his arms.

“Actually, I don’t even know how I feel.”

Yurina didn’t ask what he was talking about.

‘Is it like Pandora’s box?’

Even when he first set out to find his hometown, he finally opened his mouth after thinking for a long time. For him, his hometown was something like love and hatred.

A place that he would like to visit again, but at the same time didn’t want to see it.

He said that the biggest reason he hadn’t visited his hometown was because it was hard to find, but from Yurina’s point of view, he just seemed to hate remembering the past.

His biological mother who died giving birth to him, his father who didn’t give him proper affection because of that, and the village children who shunned him as a monster. That alone would make him hate his hometown, but it was also the place where his parents died in an accident.

How would Tom feel as he looked helplessly at his parents, covered in blood and waiting for death? Yurina couldn’t even imagine that feeling.

“You don’t have to go if you don’t like it.”

She leaned back against Reynard and closed her eyes.

“If you are not ready mentally, I won’t force you. If you want to go back now and find it again later, you can come back then. Whenever you want to come, I will come too, so if you want to go back now, let’s go.”

Yurina nailed him as he breathed heavily without answering.

“But that’s up to you to decide. It’s cowardly to use me as an excuse.”

“Yes, you are right.”

Reynard got up from his seat with Yurina in his arms.

“Let’s go to the next town.”

“Okay.”

Yurina squeezed his hand tightly.