He could tell just from the sound of the footsteps. Light footsteps charging toward him like she was ready for battle!
Ren turned his head, stuck out his lower lip, and smiled.
“Coco.”
“Ren! How long has it been since I told you to come? Do you know how long I’ve been waiting?”
Her purple hair streamed behind her. Coco’s clothes had grown much lighter too. It made him feel that winter really was retreating. The biting cold, the chill air that had seemed like it might freeze even his heart, was loosening. So the battlefield probably would not be that cold either.
“Hey! I’m talking to you. What are you thinking about?”
Coco frowned in irritation. But unlike before, she was not blazing with anger. Her tone had softened.
“Nothing. Oh! Let me introduce you. He’s someone who’s been with me since my hometown. Ahem. Old man, this is my friend.”
Now that he was introducing them, his toes curled from awkwardness. He had never imagined a situation where he would introduce people he liked to each other. His chest felt ticklish and embarrassing.
Coco saw Ren tugging at the old man’s clothes. Seeing that face, which she had thought would always be prickly, softened like that, this person must have been quite important to him. If he had introduced some useless bastard, she had been prepared to claw that bastard’s face, but now it seemed she could happily accept the introduction.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Coco Gannion. Ren’s ‘friend.’”
Coco’s voice was full of excitement when she said “friend.” Now it was not awkward at all to introduce each other that way! Ren had introduced her as his “friend” himself, but when Coco accepted the word and repeated it, he shyly pretended to look elsewhere and turned his gaze toward the mansion.
“Hoho.”
The old apothecary, who had been watching the two of them with a pleased smile, opened his mouth.
“My name is Veron. I work as an apothecary.”
The slow voice of the old man carried politeness. Ren was startled by the old man’s formal speech, then seemed to realize Coco was a noble and closed his twitching mouth. Coco was startled too. Her face turned red, and she shouted.
“If you’re Ren’s old man, then you’re something close to that for me too! So please just speak comfortably.”
“My lady.”
Behind her, Hugh tried to stop her with a troubled face. But Coco seemed to have already made up her mind. An ordinary old man one could see anywhere daring to speak casually to a noble lady! If other nobles saw it, she might become a laughingstock. But Ren, who had no such concept, looked delighted.
“Do as I say.”
Could anyone take back their words after seeing that smile?
Coco spoke firmly.
“Now let’s go inside already! Ren, come here! Hugh! Guide him.”
“Yes, my lady. I will show Master Veron around the mansion.”
Coco swiftly linked arms with Ren and headed toward the mansion, with Hugh and Veron following behind them.
***
The first thing Coco did was serve them a lavish dinner. It was no use telling her they had already eaten. The food laid out on the table glittered like jewels. Ren looked sickened as he stared at the overwhelmingly huge crab. Thick meat and all kinds of noodle dishes had been set before him too.
“It’s too much! I can’t eat all this!”
“Eat it with your eyes. Eighty percent of food is eaten with the eyes anyway.”
Even when he complained that he could not eat, all he got was a scolding.
In the end, Ren ate until his stomach felt like it would burst. Unable to move, he began dozing off while eating, and that marked the end of the dinner. After Hugh carefully lifted Ren and carried him to a room, Coco continued the meal with the old apothecary. Hugh, having moved Ren, returned to Coco’s side.
Coco glanced at him and opened her mouth. Her hand continued cutting the steak.
“Did the royal castle put people on him?”
“Yes. They are staying around the mansion.”
“Why are they watching the Hero’s younger brother?”
Coco snapped. She glared at the meat, then lifted her eyes.
“Did you know? That he’s being watched.”
“I suspected it.”
Veron answered slowly. For a moment, his calm attitude made anger flare in her, but Coco managed to swallow it. Thinking about it, Veron was an ordinary person. And old at that! What could an old man do alone?
Seeing him remain calm even though someone had put people on them, it seemed he had not simply aged for nothing. Coco considered that at least a relief.
She let out a deep sigh and set down her knife.
“You said you work as an apothecary, didn’t you?”
“That is correct.”
“Then......”
Her lips felt dry from tension. Her determined eyes stared straight at the old apothecary.
“You must know Ren is sick too.”
“That is correct.”
Coco had been glaring at the old man’s moving lips, and when she heard his answer, she released the breath she had been holding.
Sorrow and relief appeared on her face. It was a grief she had not shown at all when facing Ren earlier. Too deep a feeling for a young girl’s face. She smiled faintly.
“That’s a relief. At least there’s one person who knows.”
Coco stared down at her glass for a moment, then lifted her head again.
“How much do you know? About Ren’s illness.”
Her voice trembled as she mentioned his “illness.”
Ren had spoken of his illness as though it were nothing serious, but as time passed, Coco became less and less able to believe those words. It was not only because she had witnessed Ren collapse in a seizure. His thin cheeks and dry body. When she realized that the brother he loved so terribly knew nothing. From then on, she stopped believing Ren’s words.
If it were only a moderate illness, Ren would probably have told his brother and used it to draw his attention.
As Coco gathered mages for Ren, she felt her heart sinking more and more. The closer she came while trying to dig up the truth Ren had hidden, the more she wanted to step backward.
She stared at Veron’s lips and hoped ordinary words would come out of that mouth. Words saying it would be difficult, but that it was not an incurable illness.
“I discovered that child’s illness a little over ten years ago.”
But the words that began from Veron’s mouth broke Coco down.
***
A figure stood on the watchtower. A person with long hair falling loose was staring into the distance. As though something lay beyond that ridge. As though he could see it.
The milky fog blurred even the far-off scenery, leaving nothing visible, but he could imagine the unseen view.
Fog always lifted eventually, so he would have to prepare countermeasures for what came after.
“Lord Giselle.”
As always, Giselle was not startled in the slightest by someone approaching from behind. As if he had already known the man was there, he answered without turning around.
“Speak.”
“Temar’s younger brother has gone to the Gannion ducal residence.”
“......”
“We have people on him. Should we bring him back at once?”
“No.”
The one who had taken the Hero’s authority into his hands and used it as he pleased.
Giselle imagined Temar’s younger brother from the stories he had heard. The fact that that spear of light had obediently settled into human hands was astonishing after all.
“It may be good to give him a little free time. Send a gift to the ducal residence. With His Majesty’s sincerity.”
“A gift? To the ducal residence, you mean?”
At the question, Giselle finally turned his head. His coldly sunken eyes glared at the man who had come to him.
“Do so. He is a boy who will come to play an important role. Shouldn’t we cherish him?”
Giselle covered the mouth of the man who was about to move his lips and added,
“Show sufficient sincerity. So the young lady does not feel slighted.”
“Yes.”
“Tell Salon to prepare a black suit.”
“Why a black suit...... I apologize.”
The man hurriedly apologized. Giselle did not like being questioned.
“There is somewhere I must go wearing it.”
***
The march continued in silence. The soldiers maintained their tension without saying a word, and the formation had not broken even slightly from the moment they set out. The sound of military boots striking the earth regularly awakened their minds. The army wore shadows and cut through the night. In the same way, they would let the enemy’s necks seep into the night and cut them down.
“Hey, Temar. Are you tired already?”
In the dark night, seeing the densely scattered stars brought a certain pair of eyes to mind.
There had been days when he had walked through nights like this. No, perhaps he should say there had been countless such days.
Feeling the dirt crumble beneath his feet, Luman looked back at Temar, who gave no answer.
Ever since the march began, he had been silent. He only walked at the front, his red cape flying. His firmly closed mouth showed no sign of opening.
“If you’re this quiet, the soldiers will get scared.”
Luman narrowed his eyes.
“Luman. Are you scared?”
At Geloman’s voice from beside him, Luman laughed under his breath.
“Who? Me?”
Luman’s voice, as he pointed at himself, was filled with undisguisable disbelief.
Geloman stared at Luman with his vivid blue eyes.
“Are you afraid you won’t be able to return?”
“......”
Looking at those clean eyes, like ice inside a helmet, Luman opened his mouth.
“I’m afraid something might happen.”
Luman admitted it briefly. He tried not to imagine it, but he could not stop thinking about Ren, whom they had left alone in the royal castle.
“Giselle is there. Nothing worth worrying about will happen.”
Looking at eyes full of faith, Luman swallowed his words.
Swallowed the words that what he worried about most was that very Giselle’s true intentions.
