CH 31

“Arsene!”

Arsene, who was sitting on the bed and dozing off, opened his eyes.

I quickly ran to Arsene’s bed and sat on it.

“Are you okay? Ung? Are you sick—?”

“I’m not sick. I’m okay.”

But Arsene’s face was strange.

Both cheeks were red as if he had a fever. The same was true of both ears.

‘No way, does he have a fever?’

I quickly put my hand on Arsene’s forehead.

“Your face is red, do you have a fever?”

“No, I told you I’m not sick.”

“Are you not lying?”

“Yeah, I really am not sick.”

Arsene opened his eyes in a triangle shape and looked at me. (T/n : triangle shape here has a meaning like straight eyes or eye contact. I think it’s usually used when someone feels angry or uncomfortable.) 

Then I immediately removed my hand from my forehead.

‘Huh?’

Arsene kept avoiding my gaze.

I tried to make eye contact with Arsene, moving my head to see if it was my mistake.

“….”

“….”

It’s not a mistake. 

It’s true that he avoids my eyes. 

“Arsene, are you mad at me?”

“No, I’m not mad—”

“But why don’t you even look at me?”

First, it was almost the first time we met since Arsene collapsed.

So of course I thought he’d be very happy.

Arsene covered himself in a blanket.

I pulled up Arsene’s blanket.

“Arsene—!”

“I told you I’m not mad!”

“They said you’re looking for me, but why don’t you make eye contact with me?”

As I blinked, Arsene made eye contact with me.

“No, I’m just… Thank you for the treatment… Huh?”

Then, Arsene opened his eyes wide.

“Y, you, what’s behind your back?”

“Ah… This…”

I slowly turned my back.

On the back of the white drilled dress, a pair of tiny wheat wings peeped out.

‘Well, it’s Arsene’s first time seeing it.’

I swallowed my saliva.

All the time since the wings popped out, I’ve been told by the servants of the mansion three times a day that ‘Your wings are really nice!’

Still, it may look hideous to Arsene’s eyes.

But Arsene’s eyes suddenly twinkled.

“Is this a wing? Can you fly?”

“Huh? Yeah… Because I’m a bird? But not in these conditions.”

I flapped my wings a couple of times.

The wings were small and the body was too large to fly in this condition.

“Wow, it’s amazing—”

Arsene looked at me with his mouth wide open.

I asked Arsene quietly. 

“Isn’t that weird?”

“About what?”

“…My wings.”

Arsene frowned as if I was talking nonsense.

“…Your wings are cool. What are you talking about?”

When I heard Arsene’s compliment, I suddenly felt hot in my face. 

“Mhm, thank you.”

Arsene turned his head quite shyly to praise me.

I didn’t miss the opportunity to ask.

“Arsene, why are you turning your head? Are you embarrassed~?”

“What are you talking about… It’s not like that…”

Then. 

There was another spot between Arsene’s loose pajama sleeves.

‘That’s right, spots!’

I should have checked with Arsene as soon as I met him, but he was acting strange today and I forgot.

I grabbed Arsene’s arm.

“Arsene, stay still.”

“Huh? Hey, hey, what are you doing!”

I pulled Arsene’s sleeves up.

It opened a little, but there were spots left.

However, the shape was slightly different from the one on my neck.

If the thing on my neck was just a dot— the things on Arsene’s skin were drawn in a cluttered manner, as if it were some kind of pattern.

Arsene’s face flushed and he pulled his arm out.

“Huh?”

“Even I don’t want to look at it. Why are you looking at it however you want?”

The boy groaned, his face blushing.

“I’m sorry for looking at it as I please.” 

I glance at Arsene and politely apologized.

Arsene stared at me for a long time, then quickly turned his head.

I must have done something wrong—.

‘But I don’t know what it is.’

At that moment, Chloe, who was watching the two of us from the side, suddenly intervened.

“Young Master, you said you wanted to see the Lady. so please be kind to the Lady.”

“Is that so?” 

“When did I!” 

Chloe laughed.

“Why don’t you stop being mad at the Lady and talk about your upcoming outing? The Lord allows you to go out.” 

Outing? 

I blinked my eyes.

Hearing Chloe’s words, Arsene’s face brightened in an instant.

“Oh, right! We have a day to go to the temple. We can look around the town on our way back.”

“Looking around the town?”

“Yeah, I’ve never been down to town before. But after going to the temple, he allowed me to visit the village with you. Of course, Betty and Chloe— although we have to take the knights with us.” 

While listening to Arsene’s words, Kendrick’s words suddenly came to mind.

Kendrick said, ‘Don’t worry about Arsene.’

That’s what it meant!

He seems to have persuaded him to take a tour of the town. And Kendrick’s strategy worked quite well. 

“So, all I have to do is go to the temple and say a word that I will argue with you.” (t/n : So in this part, Arsene misspell 결혼 to be 겨론.) 

“It’s not an argument, it’s a marriage.”

“Yeah, I want to say marriage. Anyway— aren’t you excited, Linsy?”

But what do you mean looking around the town? 

It was a little unfamiliar.

‘It’s a wolf territory, so of course there are wolves everywhere—’

The thought of facing the unfamiliar wolves made me swallow my saliva.

However, I couldn’t say such a thing in front of Arsene, who was looking forward to it, so I swallowed it and changed the topic.

“That’s right, Arsene. You know, we’re going to have classes soon.”

Arsene tilted his head.

“Class?”

“Yeah, Kendrick-nim said he would teach us how to use this ability.”

“I don’t know how to use abilities yet.”

“Let’s hear it together in advance, and…I have something to ask you…”

“What?”

Arsene shrugged.

“Can you kiss me?”

I asked with a rather serious face.

“Cough—” 

“Pft.” 

Then, suddenly, laughter erupted from behind.

“…?” 

I slowly turned my head and looked behind my back.

All three of the maids standing behind their backs avoided eye contact.

Well, of course, that would be funny.

It would be funny and cute to see only seven-year-old children getting married.

‘But it’s an important issue for me.’

If something goes wrong in this new journey, I have to be taken to Raniero right away.

I didn’t want to die as much as that, so as a last resort, I was going to try the method Tristan taught me.

‘The parties like each other so much that they want to die, so what can the temple do? If things goes wrong— just kiss the Young Master.’ 

Tristan is a member of the wolf clan, and he is very old, so it’s probably not a joke.

When I asked Arsene seriously, he was hesitant at first, but then he thought seriously. 

“Kiss… How many seconds do I have to kiss?”

“I’m not sure? Maybe one second?”

“I can do it in a second.”

Arsene nodded with a determined look. Every time he nodded, his pale gray hair shook slightly.

“Pft—” 

Without knowing the atmosphere, laughter erupted from behind again.

I turned my head to glance at the three maids, who were pretending not to laugh as much as possible.

“All right, I’ll keep that in mind.”

I nodded and sat down next to Arsene.

So Arsene wouldn’t say something wrong in the temple, I stayed with him and taught him.

From time to time, I could hear the pleasant laughter of the maids behind my back.

* * *

“Okay, open your arms, Lady~.”

The maids of Yeckhart’s mansion have been busy since morning.

Because today is the day to go to the temple.

Great. 

I took a deep breath and clenched my fists a few times.

When I thought about seeing my father, Arthur Raniero, again, it made me nervous, and I started to breathe faster.

‘No, it will be fine.’

Because Kendrick promised to protect me. Besides.

I suddenly thought of Arsene. Arsene seems to be insisting on not wanting to wear a bow tie for some reason.

I followed Arsene for three days and taught him not to make a mistake.

So there won’t be a problem.

Betty bathed me after putting me in a large bathtub.

When I got in and out of the bath smelling like roses, I could smell flowers whenever my hair was a mess. 

When my hair dried up, Betty dressed me in a dress that arrived the other day.

I gently raised my arm, and Betty tucked in the dress from above and tied a ribbon.

It was a pretty ivory-colored dress with lots of frills.

Even for those who didn’t know the dress well, it was pretty enough to fall in love at a glance.

There were a lot of jewelry-like decorations here and there, and it was light and easy to move around.

I fiddled with the hem of my dress. 

Betty carefully combed my hair, tied a part of it with a ribbon and put a cute bonnet over my head.

“Okay, that’s it. Lady.”

“Ung, thank you, Betty!”

I smiled brightly and took Betty’s hand and went out.

Arsene, who had already finished preparing, was jumping into the carriage.

“I don’t like bow ties, so I don’t want to do this.”

“You can’t, Young Master.” 

Ethan decisively cut Arsene’s grunt. The reason was, ‘If you go without a tie in the temple, you will not look neat.’

‘As expected, I was right.’

I got into the carriage with Ethan’s help.

Then I sat down next to Arsene and whispered in Arsene’s ear.

“The bow tie is so cool.”

“…Really?”

When I smiled brightly and nodded my head, Arsene’s expression improved.

Finally, Kendrick Yekhardt got in the carriage and Ethan closed the carriage door.

The carriage with three people started slowly.