CH 22

Translated by EunEun

Edited by Zil

“…?”

Beatty, who tilted her head at an unexpected response, stopped walking.

“Uhm. I thought you were in distress, too.”

“….”

“Oh, I’m not a dangerous person.”

Somehow, Beatty appealed to the suspicious boy that she was not a suspicious person and thought.

‘If he was also of my age, he might have been surprised to see someone he didn’t know suddenly appear.’

Beatty considered the opponent’s situation in her own way, and said with a considerate and serious look.

“But, I won’t approach you if you’re scared.”

Pfft.

Beatty seemed to hear a small burst of laughter under the robe and she had an odd look.

“?”

“….”

Beatty stared at the robe with the sword that was slowly being lifted as if she asked when he had made such a sound, and she firstly left her words like that and tried to turn around her body.

“Anyway, then since I have to find my way—”

Drop.

Drops of water fell over her nose bridge.

“Huh?”

She wondered if it was a dewdrop that mistakenly dropped, but it was not.

Pitter-patter.

At the rain that was suddenly pouring, Beatty looked up at the sky with a puzzled look.

‘F-first, where should I go to avoid it.’

She was looking around for shade of trees to avoid the rain, but.

The boy who left his place for her caught her eyes.

“Ah.”

It happened to be the place where the largest leaf was blocking the raindrops.

‘So he wasn’t trying to avoid me?’

After hesitating for a while and at the raindrops that gradually thickened, Beatty ran into the spot that the boy had emptied for her.

***

Whoooosh.

Only the sound of a sudden shower of rain rang around.

Beatty, who escaped the rain by staying in one place in silence with an unknown boy, wriggled his fingers in awkwardness.

“Wait.”

“Huh?”

The boy saw Beatty’s bag and his face hardened.

As she followed his gaze, she saw a Snowstorm Squirrel that was inside the bag.

‘When did he get in here….’

“Stay still. I’ll get rid of it right away.”

While Beatty was puzzled, the boy was faster and reached out his hand in a calm voice.

Squeak!

Feeling an overflowing dangerous energy from the boy, the Snowstorm Squirrel’s fur stood up and he made a threatening sound.

“D-don’t!”

“That’s not a squirrel, it’s a magical beast.”

“I know!”

“Huh?”

With a face of disbelief, Beatty picked it up and put the words that came to her mind in a hurry.

“Even if it’s a magical beast, it’s a squirrel that’s just like my friend.”

“…What?”

As the boy seemed to be absurd, for a moment, Beatty’s face became blushed, but she had decided to go out shamelessly, just like her future merchant aspiration.

‘Since I need him so that I can see the Constellation again. Although he was surely a strange Constellation….’

The boy nodded at Beatty’s repeated emphasis saying that the magical beast isn’t a dangerous friend and he shouldn’t be harmed.

“Okay.”

Phew.

The relieved Beatty didn’t know.

‘If it looks dangerous, I can take care of it when she doesn’t look.’

As the boy thought like that inside, he hid his finished-off murderous look.

It rained for a long time after that. After talking about the magical beast, there was nothing much to be said.

The silence that fell between the two was broken again.

“Achoo!”

It was because of the sound of Beatty’s small sneeze.

“Sniff.”

Feeling embarrassed by her own sound in the middle of being quiet, Beatty quietly covered her mouth.

Achoo! Achoo!

The sound of failing attempts to stop her sneezing that keeps on popping out.

Hee— Ah— Choo—!

It leaked out of the hand which was covering her small mouth.

Whenever she sneezed, her small body that was exposed to the cold air flinched, and the boy’s mouth which had looked down anxiously without realizing it himself moved slightly.

Then, in the end.

“Hoo.”

As if he couldn’t help it, the boy exhaled and reached out his hand.

“Here.”

“…?”

Beatty looked puzzled at the hand which was in front of her.

“In this rain, it looks like you’re going to be out of breath if you keep on like this.”

The boy, who broke the silence, spoke in a light tone as if he was acting.

“I’ll attend to you, Lady.”

“Lady…?”

Beatty became puzzled by the title that she heard for the first time, and this time, she stepped back as much as the boy approached her.

“Huh?”

She stared at the lips that drew the crescent-shaped line that was exposed under the robe, and Beatty spoke.

“Y-Y-You’re suspicious.”

As her body temperature had dropped considerably before she knew it, a trembling voice came out when she opened my mouth.

“Huh? I’m suspicious?”

The boy tilted his head as if it were unexpected.

“But the Lady also looks suspicious?”

“W-What?”

While her teeth were grinding, Beatty asked back as if saying that it was absurd, and looked back at herself.

Deep in the mountains. A young girl wandering alone in the forest without any equipment or anything, and wearing a dress that clearly does not match the harsh surroundings.

‘… It is suspicious.’

Looking back, it was suspicious that they would have nothing to say even if it was misunderstood as a ghost.

Tuk.

Something was overlaid over Beatty’s head, who fell into self-reflection for a moment.

‘A black cloth?’

The boy took off his suspicious black robe, leaving only the hood covering his face, and used it to block the top of Beatty like an umbrella, then he opened his mouth.

“There’s a cabin I saw on the way coming here.”

Whooosh.

The gradually thickening rain broke through the leaves that prevented the rain and wet the boy’s forehead.

“It doesn’t seem that the rain will stop soon, so will you allow me to escort the Lady until there?”

As he was asking her like that, the boy led Beatty immediately without waiting for an answer.

***

Perhaps it was a cabin built for hunters or shipwrecked survivors.

Creak.

After opening the door, as soon as the boy entered, he took off the cloth which was covered in the chair and dusted it off.

“Please sit down, Lady.”

“… Thanks.”

Beatty turned her head awkwardly at the boy’s behavior of offering the seat as if it was natural.

“Now you can give that to me.”

“Ah.”

The boy naturally took the damply wet robe from Beatty’s hand.

Fortunately, Beatty’s clothes were practically not wet thanks to the robe which almost blocked the rain.

On the other hand, the boy who took off the robe that was covering his body, his clothes were wet enough to show his skin.

Drop. Drop.

Rainwater fell from the hood which was covering the boy’s head and wet the floor.

“Won’t it be better to take that off?”

“Huh?”

Since it seemed like the hoodie, which was dripping with water, seemed to wet the clothes more that was already wet by rain, Beatty said in a worried voice.

“Uhm. If by any chance you have some kind of circumstances, I’ll be turning around and I won’t look at your side.”

She had seen these kinds of things a lot from novels.

A heroine with a secret or a runaway who has to hide its identity.

‘Either way, because it will get me into trouble if I dig into his circumstances, I shouldn’t uselessly dig in.’

Even though she doesn’t know why, she wanted to return it as a favor because he gave her during the first time they met, a favor to avoid the showering rain.

On the other hand, the boy made a strange look as he saw the girl turning her back with a very serious expression.

“…It’ll be okay, right?”

The boy muttered so small that the girl could not hear him and he threw off his hood.

Tok. Tok.

He opened his mouth as he slightly tapped on Beatty’s back as if he was knocking.

“You don’t need to turn away from me.”

‘Huh?’

Beatty tilted at the boy’s word which was somewhat connotative.

“…I’m saying that you can look back, Lady.”

At the words that came out after a short break, Beatty somehow felt as if her shoulder had been held.

‘What was it just now?’

Beatty, who was wondering why she felt like that, turned around.

“!”

She could see the boy’s appearance which she had only guessed his physique over the robe.

‘That’s….’

Beatty’s eyes opened wide when she saw something unexpected.

‘An eye patch…?’

The first thing that came in was an eye patch that uniquely covered across his eyes.

The black eye patch, which hid the boy’s upper face like a masquerade mask, covered his eyes opaquely.

The black cloth that covered up to the middle of his face stood tall and upright on his nose bridge.

‘H-he’s handsome.’

Despite the size of cloth covering one-third of his face, it still could not hide the perfection of the sculpture made up of accurate proportions.

The shadow over his face clearly revealed the three-dimensionality of the perfect sculpture.

Drop.

The raindrops flowed along the sharp jawline and fell straight to the boy’s chest.

Somehow, Beatty’s face turned red and she tried to turn her head.

“Hoo.”

At that time, maybe the hair on his face got in the way.

Ssk.

The boy swept his wet hair over. His straight forehead was frankly revealed.

Something stood out in Beatty’s eyes when she came across his face.

It was reflected under the eye patch cloth, which was slightly raised due to his high nose bridge.

‘A mole near his eye?’

Under the invisible left eye.

The only mark on his flawless skin.

She inadvertently erased her attention to the feature that gave her a unique impression, and Beatty consciously turned her gaze away.

‘I didn’t stare at it too much, right?’

It was because she was ashamed to fix her eyes, as if she was possessed by the appearance that caught her eyes in an instant.

Worried that he might be offended, she glanced and gave attention to him, but.

Suddenly.

Their eyes met.

Quickly—

“…?”

The boy looked at Beatty, who turned her head without realizing it, and had an odd look.

‘Oh my.’

Somehow Beatty felt like holding her head, then she crossed her arms and felt her body under her hands were shivering.

Shiver.

The boy noticed the girl’s shallow trembling body, and walked around the cabin.

Step. Step.

The stove was lit with firewood which he found somewhere. And even after the chair was moved to the front of the stove, he spoke.

“Here.”

“Huh?”

Beatty raised her head at the boy’s voice.

Looking at her who was standing blankly near the doorway where she had entered, the boy hm-ed and opened his mouth.

“It’s not that I’m taking away the chair, but should I just move you by hugging you??”

Smile.

He spread his arms out, while drawing a cool line with his lips that looked unusually red after getting wet.

“Right now?”