Chapter 43
43. Predestined Partner
I wanted to kiss him. But somehow, I felt shy. I had even initiated it once before. I think I was able to do it back then because I didn't know anything. Now I know what kissing this man is like… That's why I can't do it even more.
“I’m not good at this sort of thing.”
Black opened his mouth, watching Liene's fingertips cautiously graze just below his neck.
“What……sort of thing?”
“This.”
Black took Liene's hand and pressed it against his cheek. He had somehow bent his knees to match her height.
“I don’t know women very well. I don’t have much experience in that area. I’m not good at reading signals, so I might be wrong, but,”
This time, it was the other hand. Black, pausing briefly, placed her other hand on his cheek as well. Now Liene was holding Black's face with both hands.
“Does the expression you’re making right now mean you want to kiss me?”
“……”
…What do you mean you don't know? You know everything. What do you mean you're not good at it?
“Tell me if I’m wrong. Otherwise, I’ll just assume what I want.”
Liar. This man might be very good at lying.
“You’re not wrong……”
Black smiled faintly at Liene, who answered in a voice as small as a mosquito.
“Do you want me to kiss you?”
Why are you asking when you already know…?
“Then I will, so give me something.”
…Wait a minute. Something feels a little strange. This man is setting conditions for kissing me.
“You don’t have to if you don’t want to……”
“What was that about something being good? What you said to yourself earlier.”
Black quickly spoke before Liene could refuse.
“You said it would be good to meet at the temple, didn’t you?”
“That’s…… Well…… If we go and meet there…… we’ll come back together too……”
“And?”
“It’s better than going alone……”
“You prefer having me with you than being alone?”
Liene's eyes darted around, searching for a place to land.
“Answer me. Do you like me?”
“……You, you know.”
“I still want to hear it.”
Black lowered his head towards Liene.
“Close your eyes. I’m going to kiss you.”
“……”
For some reason, he seemed a bit annoying, so I was thinking of keeping my eyes slightly open, but the moment I heard those words, they closed on their own.
“Give me your lips……”
Black whispered just before their lips met. This man is asking for a lot today. Liene opened her lips, thinking that. What if he keeps doing this? But her heart already knew that it didn't matter. The things Black asked for were very easy. Just like now, opening her mouth to show that she welcomed him. * * * I have to tell him today. Beyond a door, faint sounds of water came from the bathroom. It was the sound of Black washing up before bed. Liene, who had used the bathroom before him and changed into her pajamas, sat in front of the mirror, brushing her hair, and kept resolving herself. That I'm not pregnant. That I was just lying back then because I was thinking of rejecting the proposal. That I'm sorry for deceiving him. That the child I will have in the future will be your child and no one else's. I have to say that. As she thought that, she unconsciously felt the tips of her fingers trembling slightly as she brushed her hair. It should be nothing much, but she was so nervous that her mouth felt dry. …Will I end up telling him that I don't have any experience either? That was also a concern.
If she revealed that she had never slept with Laffite, the conversation would naturally lead there, and Liene was endlessly embarrassed by that. …That man must have experience, right? What he said during the day came to mind.
-I don’t know women very well. I don’t have much experience in that area.
Having no experience and not having much experience were completely different things. And that man was so… skilled at everything. There's no way he has no experience. Thinking that made her feel strange. It felt like her emotions were uneven, like bumps. With other women, he… …did he do it? The way he does with me. Did he look at them so intensely and, even after the kiss ended, brush his lips over theirs as if he wasn't satisfied? Did he suddenly pull them into his arms and shower them with passionate kisses, and when they asked why, did he answer that it was because they were so beautiful? ……. Suddenly, her mood plummeted. It didn't make sense, but Liene felt a little angry for some reason. I'm all that man's first. But he's not mine. But I can't even feel wronged about this. Because that man doesn't know that I'm his first… Maybe that man might feel more wronged. I guess I have to tell him. I have to tell him that I'm your first and also ask him how many women he's brushed past in the past. It wouldn't change anything, but I felt like I had to hear it. Yes. Today. I'm going to tell him. Knock knock. Just then, a small sound of knocking echoed on the bedroom door.
“Who is it?”
The faint sound of water still came from the bathroom. So that meant it was someone other than Black. Liene glanced at the bathroom once and approached the bedroom door.
“Who is it?”
“It’s me, Princess.”
It was Madam Flambard. Liene opened the door with a delighted expression.
“Welcome, Madam. You’ve worked hard late into the night.”
The Madam's face looked weary. She must have been, since she had been out of the castle all day.
“I suppose you were about to go to sleep. …But could I talk to you for a moment?”
“Of course. Come in.”
“Yes, Princess.”
The Madam stepped into the bedroom. Then, hearing the sound of water coming from the bathroom, she stopped in surprise.
“Is that man here?”
Her voice was suspiciously small.
“Yes. You know that he’s decided to use the room next door now.”
“Then we must move the location.”
“Pardon?”
The Madam urgently pulled Liene's hand.
“This is a story that must not be heard.”
“What…… What do you mean it mustn’t be heard? By Lord Tiwakan?”
“Yes.”
The Madam nodded firmly. Now that she looked at her, she seemed not only weary but also terrified.
“……”
Liene glanced at the bathroom once. What could be a story that Black mustn't hear? Could it be something bad? Then I don't want to hear it. …But I have to hear it. I can't not know about things concerning that man. Liene bit her lip and nodded.
“Then let’s go out.”
Liene and Madam Flambard walked quietly out of the bedroom, careful not to let any sound reach the bathroom. * * * The place where the two moved was the audience chamber at the end of the south tower. It was certainly a place where no one would come looking at this hour. Madam Flambard's bedroom was also dangerous. The room opposite the Madam's, which Black had previously used, was frequently visited by Fermos and used like another office.
“Now tell me. What’s going on?”
“As you ordered, I looked for that old man. Yes, I did.”
The Madam's story was not short. Just meeting the old man was difficult. The area in front of the temple was currently under construction for the stairs, so it was always busy. There was no place for the beggar old man to sit comfortably as before. Because of that, she had to ask around and search through alleyways here and there. In the midst of that, the Madam witnessed a strange sight. The temple acolyte was handing out Water bread to the begging old man and being beaten with a cane.
“Another incident like that……”
Liene frowned.
“Did you see it too, Princess? Anyway, I couldn't bear to watch, so I tried to stop him. But the acolyte stopped me instead. He said he had to be beaten more.”
The old man stopped hitting him only after striking him several more times.
“The old man seemed so eccentric that I was hesitant to talk to him. But how could I not fulfill your request, Princess? I told the old man that it was by your command and ordered him to speak about that man. Then the old man……”
The old man said something similar to what Liene had heard. The sin of Nauk has returned. The Daughter of Arsak will bleed.
“I couldn't understand at all. Why was a beggar old man using difficult words like the priests? So I asked him to explain it in a way that I could understand, and first of all, to tell me who that man was. The old man said something, but as you know, Princess, it's quite difficult to understand what he says, isn't it? So I asked him to write it down. The old man was struggling to write on the ground with his injured hand……”
It was when he had barely managed to write down a couple of letters. Tiwakan's mercenaries, led by Fermos, burst in. They said they had been looking for the acolyte Klima from the temple. The acolyte Klima had run away, and Tiwakan took the old man away, saying he was asking about the acolyte's whereabouts.
“But I really…… The reason seems forced to me. He ran away right in front of them, so there's no way the old man would know his whereabouts.”
The Madam did not forget that she had kept Liene's request to find the old man a secret. If she had continued to protest there, she would have aroused suspicion, so she had no choice but to tell them to stop. The problem was what happened after that. After Tiwakan took the old man away, the Madam saw traces where the ground had been smeared with shoes. Coincidentally, it was the place where the old man had been writing Black's name.
“Ah……”
Liene let out a small sigh.
“I didn’t even realize he was smudging the floor. He spoke so quickly and fluently that I was too busy listening to him. But the fact that he smudged the exact spot where the name was written is very strange, isn't it?”
“……”
Strange indeed. Liene knew how clever Fermos was. There was no chance he would do something meaningless by accident. But why? The timing was also very coincidental. Liene had told Black about the old man, and Black had insisted that he wouldn't recognize him. Fermos went to the temple to find his cousin Klima and detained the old man in his place. It was as if… that man had secretly ordered Lord Fermos to spirit the old man away.
“What could 'The sin of Nauk' possibly mean? The old man definitely seemed to know something. That's why he was trying to write the name.”
“Sin……”
The old man said Black would take revenge. Revenge required a grudge. The death of a blood relative was a good enough reason for a grudge, but Black said it happened a long time ago and he had forgotten all about it. He said the Daughter of Arsak would bleed. Black said he only came to retrieve the Daughter of Arsak. Because he didn't want to lose his childhood betrothed. Which one was right?
“So you couldn't make out the name at all?”
“No, Princess. The old man's hand was shaking when he wrote, so it didn't look like proper letters. I think there might have been the character 'O', and I think I saw the character 'p'.”
“Is that all?”
“I'm sorry, Princess. Tiwakan appeared so suddenly.”
The suspicion grew. But the desire to believe what Black had said was still too strong.
“Madam. Did you perhaps… know that there might have been talk of an engagement when I was young?”
“Yes? When was that?”
“About… twenty years ago from now.”
“You were only four or five years old then, Princess. An engagement at that age?”
“That's true… but what if the other person was young too?”
“Then it would have been a political marriage between families.”
“Yes. It must have been. Do you remember anything?”
“I haven't been in the palace serving you for sixteen years yet. Do you remember? The first time I saw you was on your ninth birthday. You were already so dignified then. Even though the Queen Consort was ill and bedridden, you never acted spoiled.”
“That's… right. I saw you when I was nine. So the engagement would have been before that.”
“Yes. I've never heard of you being engaged, Princess, so it must have been called off a long time ago, or it wasn't formally discussed.”
