Chapter 48
48. Dangerous Woman2022.02.13.
“Sir Arthur.”
“…….”
Arthur, who had been asleep on the sofa, opened his eyes. Reina, dressed in a white nightgown, was looking down at him with a startled face. The hair that had been behind her shoulders slipped forward and cascaded down. Reina brushed the fallen hair back over her shoulder and asked, a little flustered.
“Did you sleep here?”
Arthur, who had been blinking up at her quietly, unfolded his arms and sat up.
“…….”
A breath slightly deeper than usual. Eyes half-open, and the hand naturally tidying his disheveled hair made him look more languid than normal. Arthur smiled tiredly, his lips curving up gently.
“You’re up early? Why not sleep a bit more.”
It was the first time Reina had woken up early enough to find Arthur asleep. It was also the first time he had slept in late, though. It felt embarrassing to say she’d woken because the spot beside her felt empty, so Reina awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck.
“I slept plenty. Why sleep here so uncomfortably?”
Arthur chuckled silently.
“Just did.”
It was an odd answer. A suspicion about herself that she hadn’t expected flickered across Reina’s face.
……Did I kick Sir Arthur with my foot or snore or something?
Reina took the sheet he shook off as he stood and asked,
“……Would you like to lie down on the bed for a bit?”
“No, I’m fine. Thanks for waking me. I have morning duties.”
His voice was huskier than usual. Was he tired, or was it just because it was the first time she’d seen him right after waking? Somehow, he exuded a heavier, denser, more languid aura than normal. For some reason, Reina felt restless. While he went behind her to change, she turned away, neatly folding the sheet he’d slept under onto the bed. She couldn’t stop wondering why he’d slept on the sofa, and the moment she heard his footsteps, she turned and asked,
“Sir, did I perhaps have bad sleeping habits…….”
“…….”
Reina froze mid-sentence. It was because he hadn’t finished dressing yet. She gaped blankly, staring at his bare torso.
Broad shoulders and tall stature. Below a chest with a large frame and firm muscles utterly different from her own body, solid abs continued down.
“…….”
In a daze, she took in the sight of the man’s bare body gleaming in the early morning sunlight—then she snapped out of it and whipped around in horror.
“S-s-s-sorry!”
“…….”
After a brief silence, Arthur snickered from behind her.
“……Sorry. I just remembered now that my uniform for today was out there.”
“…….”
She heard footsteps as Arthur went toward the sofa behind her. Then the sound of him picking up the uniform draped over a chair. Rustle, rustle. The sound of fabric brushing skin as he moved away again tickled her ears. Unknowingly, Reina swallowed dryly. Then she flinched, her face flushing at how absurd she found herself. Why swallow? Why? She’d just lifted her head assuming, as always, that Sir Arthur would be in his perfect uniform. She’d only been startled by the sudden sight of his bare chest. ……It was just his upper body anyway. He had pants on. But she’d stared…… stared too long. Reina clutched her head.
“…….”
Mistakes happen. But hadn’t she lost herself afterward, continuing to stare at his body? She felt unfamiliar with herself, her face burning. The sounds of Arthur dressing came from behind.
“……You don’t have any troublesome sleeping habits. I was just worried I might make a mistake.”
Reina pondered for a long time what he meant before finally realizing it was an answer to her question. Worried he might make a mistake? Sleeping habits? There was nothing for him to worry about. Arthur always slept neatly, quietly, in proper posture. Reina replied,
“Y-y-you don’t have sleeping habits either, sir.”
“…….”
What had she just said? Amid the rustling of him dressing, she thought she heard a small laugh. His voice sounded a bit more languid and pleased than usual.
“Sorry. I startled you.”
* * * Tristan looked at Arthur with troubled eyes.
“……Did you really show her everything?”
It was the first question thrown at Arthur when he returned to his office after finishing his morning schedule. Arthur rolled a dart in his hand and answered calmly.
“Yeah. I even handed it over, but she didn’t even open it. Looks like she couldn’t bring herself to touch it.”
Then he chuckled lowly.
“She’s got no guts, that woman. Still, she’ll open it eventually when curiosity gets the better of her.”
“…….”
Tristan tried not to show his dismay as he asked,
“……Are you sure that’s okay?”
Arthur laughed.
“It’s fine. You saw it yesterday.”
“…….”
He had. Last night, Tristan had seen just how perfectly Arthur had memorized the documents. Whoosh. Arthur threw the dart. It flew cleanly and hit the triple 20 on the dartboard mounted on the wall. It was already the fourth triple 20.
“…….”
Tristan still couldn’t believe Arthur had lost his sight. But at the same time, he understood how no one had noticed for two months. Just how did he perceive the world? He could guess it was some kind of secret ability, so he hadn’t pried, but Tristan vaguely knew Arthur had something like heightened senses. He’d thought it was just sharper hearing than normal people, not realizing it was precise enough to substitute for vision. Tristan recalled what Arthur had told him last night. It doesn’t interfere with daily life. I use other senses in place of sight. But not being able to read text is a bit inconvenient, and it’d be bad if ‘Christina’ or the marquis found out, so I’ll need your help from now on. After staring at Tristan’s shocked, dumbfounded face for a moment, he’d said that since Tristan had just learned suddenly and must be confused, they’d talk details tomorrow. But before leaving, he’d asked Tristan to verify if the contents of these documents were correct, saying he’d read them aloud and to point out anything wrong or unnatural—and laid out the Marriage Contract along with several important documents related to Arthur’s assets. And Arthur read them flawlessly. So flawlessly that he even pointed to spots here and there, accurately. When Tristan stared at him, unable to speak, Arthur seemed to guess he’d gotten it right and laughed. He said he’d memorized them all. By the thickness of the documents, the paper quality, number of pages, and so on—he remembered exactly where each document had what content.
“…….”
Tristan gazed silently at Arthur. He’d prepared for the possibility of losing his sight. That meant this wasn’t some unexpected accident. He’d known he would go blind. A foreseen misfortune.
“Besides me, who else knows?”
There was no subject, but Arthur answered.
“Crown Prince Kyle knows.”
Whoosh. Arthur threw the dart again. Predictably, it hit triple 20.
“…….”
Tristan asked what he hadn’t yesterday.
“……Was it the final battle?”
Arthur toyed with the dart.
“Not the ‘cause,’ but the timing matches.”
“Then may I ask about the cause?”
Arthur said calmly.
“It’s due to a chronic condition. Pushing too hard leads to loss of sight.”
“How much ‘pushing’?”
Arthur paused briefly before answering.
“The level where I have to push my abilities to the limit. Anything short of a life-or-death situation is fine.”
So it was because of the final battle. Tristan’s face hardened. He tried not to show emotional turmoil, but Arthur chuckled lightly.
“That’s as far as it goes.”
Meaning the issue wasn’t the cause, but the solution. Thunk. Another lightly thrown dart hit triple 20.
“…….”
Tristan gathered himself. He was annoyed that Arthur hadn’t relied on him sooner, but what he needed now wasn’t a sentimental aide-de-camp, but a cool-headed, helpful one.
“Is there a chance of treatment?”
“No.”
At the calm reply, Tristan gritted his teeth. Another dart hit triple 20 cleanly. Tristan composed himself and asked next.
“Is there a risk of it worsening from now?”
Arthur picked up a new dart and replied.
“There’s a chance if I push again, but the war’s over, so it should be fine now.”
Thunk. The eighth dart hit triple 19. Tristan looked away from Arthur to the dartboard, where seven darts stuck in triple 20 and one in triple 19.
“…….”
He still couldn’t believe it. Blind? Even sighted people couldn’t do that.
“…….”
Arthur had long been famous for shooting down birds without looking. But to hit without really seeing…… It was astounding.
“…….”
Arthur picked up another new dart. Tristan sighed, watching the dartboard as he perfectly built toward his target score.
“……You can stop the dart show now. I get it—you’re not impaired.”
Arthur quietly curved his lips and said,
“Since I might get an earful, let me show off a bit more.”
Thunk. The ninth dart hit double 12. Exactly 501 points. A perfect nine.* * *
Arthur changed the mood and asked,
“Any progress on the additional investigation into my wife?”
Tristan paused a beat before answering.
“Lukan and I are looking into it through commoner channels, Sir Kay and Sir Lionel through noble ones. I’ll report if there’s anything.”
Arthur said,
“Good. Focus on whether she has financial difficulties.”
Tristan looked at Arthur.
“Did you get some clue?”
Arthur rubbed his eyes tiredly and smiled.
“No. Just…… thought it might be possible.”
He couldn’t stop thinking about her seeing his asset-related documents again. He understood why Arthur wanted to win her over, but showing her the documents felt risky. Especially since that woman spent quite a bit of time with Sir Arthur. Though he’d tried not to say it, Tristan couldn’t help advising him again.
“Be careful not to let her catch on. She’s no safer than ‘Christina Julius.’ Until we succeed in recruiting her, she’s a spy.”
Arthur said nothing, just laughed. * * *
“…….”
Reina unfolded the new note left by Doctor Lorenson after his morning check-up and stared blankly. 【The two of you were very pleased.】 【The marquis was especially delighted to learn about the ‘picky eating.’】
“……?”
Reina eyed it suspiciously and wrote on the next note. 【—Sir Arthur is picky about anchovies too.】 ――――― *Perfect Nine: The best record in ‘zero-one darts,’ where you reduce 501 points exactly to zero. It refers to making exactly 501 points with just 9 darts, without a single miss. It combines multiple triple 20s—the highest score—with other triples and a double to reach 501.
