Chapter 5.1

Hearing the huge bear-like man saying as much quite stimulated her guilt.

But Anna endured it. Besides, hadn’t he said himself that he had no emotions?

“Yes, I won’t eat it.”

“I understand.”

Without hesitating, Bertram concentrated on his meal alone.

Due to that, Anna was able to stare at him peacefully.

When she’d first seen Bertram in front of the restaurant, he had just been a starving wanderer with a huge build.

But across the campfire, as he expertly dealt with well-worn camping tools with an expression that was much less tired than before, he didn’t seem like just any old wanderer anymore. Was he a man familiar with travel?

However, what really bothered her lay in another place entirely.

“Isn’t it hot? Don’t tell me you can’t feel that sensation either?”

It was that he was immediately scooping up and eating the contents of a boiling hot pot without cooling it off at all.

Bertram glanced at Anna cautiously, and only then poured out a ladleful of the pot contents onto his dish, making a “hoo” sound with his mouth. Anna sighed.

“Never mind. Please eat however you’d like. Since it’s you, Mr. Bertram, I thought you might just rip right into raw meat, but it seems you cook what you eat.”

“At times, I eat my food raw as well.”

“Oh, I see.”

“However, the villagers I met earlier recommended boiling the food. Though we may not be eating together, it is important to accept the favor of others so that there is nothing uncomfortable the next time you meet them.”

“…..and here I thought you only knew how to say troubling things.”

“I am doing my best in my own way. I should not hurt other people’s emotions just because I cannot feel any myself.”

“Then why didn’t you do that for me? You could’ve told me that it tasted good, even if you didn’t mean it.”

“Hmm.”

“Instead of saying ‘Sorry’ from the get-go like that, you know.”

“I will correct myself.”

He really was a sigh-inducing person.

How in the world did Father come to be acquainted with a person like this. Besides, this person, too, didn’t look like someone who would carelessly indebt himself to others…..

While thinking that, Anna suddenly felt something out of place.

“Mr. Bertram. You’re full right now, aren’t you?”

“……No.”

“Liar. Like I can’t see your eating speed slowing?”

Anna seized Bertram’s ladle.

Though his stomach was already bursting, he had been forcefully eating the onion porridge.

‘Please don’t act considerate in an entirely useless manner like this! Though of course people who don’t leave leftovers are good people!’

Her private score of Bertram in her heart rose marginally. Anna spoke with a slightly relaxed voice.

“It was also my fault for giving all those onions to you in my excitement, so I’ll also have some of what’s left.”

“Thank you.”

They simply could not throw away what could be eaten. Anna threw back the onion-porridge-turned-mixture filled with other ingredients swallow after swallow.

Its texture was awful since it had been over-boiled, but surprisingly the taste wasn’t too bad.

More than anything, it was quite nice how something popped on her tongue a bit spicily. Even with Anna’s weak sinuses, she could feel a unique smell spreading.

“It’s surprisingly good. Thank you for the good meal!”

“Thank you for the compliment. I will return the pot back to you washed.”

“Though I’m happy you’re being considerate, do you have a place to stay today? Where did you sleep last night?”

“I am used to camping out.”

“It doesn’t look like you have a tent either.”

“…I am used to sleeping outside. And according to the villagers I met earlier, they mentioned an abandoned building I could stay the night in up from here.”

An abandoned building?

Anna scrunched her face up.

There was only one abandoned building up there, and that was not a place one would tell you out of kindness. After all, it was largely rumored to be ‘cursed.’

But there were no alternatives to offer for her to tell him not to go there just based off those rumors.

Deep in thought, Anna decided she should at least inform him of the curse and raised her head.

Her eyes met with Bertram’s, who seemed to have been pondering something similarly to Anna.

“Will you be returning back home, Miss Anna?”

“…..Yes, my mom should be waiting.”

As she answered, Anna put her guard up against Bertram.

There were people out there who, once they received some form of kindness, didn’t know when to stop asking for more. If he asked her to lead him to the abandoned building from here, or asked her about another place to stay, how might she get a blow in somehow?

However, he brought out something that Anna did not expect.

“I was forgetting my regards to you because of my own worries. Will you allow me to escort you back to your home, lady?”

Anna looked behind her.

But no, there wasn’t anyone like a lady around?

“I am speaking of you, Lady Anna.”

It seemed Bertram had seen right through her. Anna shivered as she shook her head.

“Um, a lady is that thing, right? A woman with a parasol, wearing a dress.”

“Though normally it is indeed a term used for noblewomen, I have judged that it can also be used as a respectful manner of address to women in private occasions.”

“J– j-j-j-just call me Miss Anna! Don’t scare me like this!”

“Was it scary? Oh my. It appears I still have much to learn about emotions.”

Struck by a realization all by himself, Bertram stood right next to Anna. It felt like he was saying he wouldn’t concede on escorting Anna back no matter what.

Goodness, what sort of man like this existed?

Her face, inflamed at the sound of the word ‘lady,’ did not return to its original coloration anytime soon. It was a word that tickled her entire body. And though it honestly wasn’t that bad of a feeling…

If by any chance he called her Lady in front of the village people, it was sure to become something they’d make fun of for the next 50 years.