Chapter 53
Before she could even finish her third glass, Isabel stumbled and collapsed while trying to stand. Startled, Lottie rushed to support her.
Compared to her great-aunt, Lottie didn't feel the slightest bit tipsy; her cheeks weren't even flushed. Calyx was in the same state.
“Great-aunt, are you alright?”
“I am fine. Just a bit… dizzy.”
“The schedule must have been too taxing. Please, go in and get some sleep.”
“I will show the Madam to her room.”
The guild master jumped up as if he had been waiting for this moment. As Lottie supported Isabel and followed the guild master out, Calyx and the guild master's wife were left alone in the spacious dining room.
“Dating is quite hard work, isn't it?”
The guild master's wife asked Calyx, resting her chin on her hands. When Calyx met the sudden question with silence, the wife let out a knowing laugh. And then—
“Fighting!”
She clenched both fists and whispered the encouragement shyly.
Calyx was still frowning when the guild master and Lottie returned to the dining room. When Lottie tried to end the gathering, saying they had eaten enough, the guild master stopped her.
“No! You've been in our historic Hans Valley for barely a few hours and you're already going to sleep? The young master and his wife haven't even seen a ten-thousandth of our village’s true charms!”
The young master and his wife? Lottie chewed over the unfamiliar phrasing and happened to lock eyes with Calyx. Calyx immediately averted his gaze. This man…
‘Now that I think about it, why did he follow me all the way here? Without even telling me!’
“You know our village is famous for its rare natural hot springs and ancient bathhouse buildings, right? If you wash there before bed, you'll feel remarkably refreshed tomorrow.”
“And is that all? The spring water is excellent for the skin! It makes it so smooth and glowing—just look at my skin.”
For some reason, she felt Calyx’s gaze scanning her at those words. What was it? Was he thinking her skin needed some help from the hot springs too?
“No. Thank you for the offer, but I’ll just wash up simply tonight. I’ll visit the springs tomorrow with my great-aunt….”
“You can’t!”
The guild master shouted, nearly jumping out of his skin. Realizing his words sounded incredibly strange, he hurriedly tried to fix it.
“That is to say, we are scheduled to begin maintenance on the bathhouse tomorrow. Once construction starts, we have to drain all the spring water, and you’ll have to wait at least a fortnight.”
“A fortnight is fine. Our travel itinerary is quite long.”
“I misspoke. It’s not a fortnight, it’s a month.”
At this rate, it seemed like a catastrophe would occur if they didn't go to the hot springs this very night.
Lottie looked at the burning, intense faces of the guild master and his wife in bewilderment before finally nodding.
‘I came here to enjoy the hot springs, so it would be a shame to leave without even dipping my toes in. I feel bad for Great-aunt, enjoying it alone, but….’
“Then I shall dismiss the staff so the two of you may enjoy the springs in peace.”
“Wait, the two of us?”
Ah. Her head turned toward Calyx again. Right, he was here too.
‘If I say I’ll go alone, it’ll only spark unnecessary suspicion….’
But she couldn't exactly enjoy a hot spring alone with this man either. Lottie shot Calyx a frantic look, signaling for him to refuse.
After a moment of deliberation, Calyx slowly opened his lips.
“I have a question.”
“Yes. Please, ask.”
“I heard a rumor that those springs are mixed-gender.”
A brief silence followed Calyx’s serious question.
The guild master and his wife exchanged unreadable looks before eventually bursting into awkward laughter.
“Oh my, wherever did you hear such a rumor? Perhaps in the old days they were operated as mixed baths, but times have changed. If we ran it like that now, we’d be hauled away on charges of running a brothel.”
“Oh, but of course, for the two of you, it’s a time when just locking eyes makes your hearts flutter! This ajumma understands!”
The wife threw out a cheeky joke, eyeing Calyx suggestively. Then, as if she understood a hundred, a thousand times over—though Lottie had no idea what she supposedly understood—she nodded vigorously at Lottie.
‘I’ve been tricked.’
Calyx thought. And quite thoroughly at that.
* * *
“The entrance to the spring is just a bit further up. The path is dark, so be careful not to trip. Yes, indeed.”
The guild master said, leading the way up the slope with a lantern.
The mountain path to the hot springs was thick with trees that could hide anything, but Lottie felt curiosity more strongly than fear.
That curiosity vanished like melting snow the moment her gaze landed on the man walking beside her, acting as if nothing were wrong.
“Just why did you come here?”
Lottie whispered to Calyx, glancing ahead at the guild master and his wife. Calyx, who had been looking straight ahead, gave a curt reply.
“I told you I was allowed to follow.”
“Did you think I meant that seriously? It was to deceive my father's shadows….”
“Watch where you’re going.”
The moment Calyx diverted the conversation, Lottie’s foot slipped. In her heat of annoyance toward Calyx, she had failed to see a protruding rock.
Lottie, who nearly fell face-first, was saved by Calyx catching her by the shoulder.
When the guild master and his wife glanced back at the slight commotion, Lottie gave them an awkward smile as if nothing had happened. Seeing the affectionate display of the young couple, the pair smiled warmly and turned back to the path.
“If you had told me we were climbing a mountain path, I would have changed out of these heels.”
Lottie whispered grumpily, just loud enough for Calyx to hear. As if suddenly remembering something from the past, Calyx let out a low chuckle.
“Why are you laughing?”
“I was thinking of the time at Grand Park when you walked until your feet were swollen and then collapsed.”
“You must have me confused with someone else. I have no memory of such a thing.”
“Perhaps your memory would return if I carried you in my arms like I did then.”
“When did you ever carry me?!”
“So you do remember.”
When Calyx smirked, Lottie bit her lip. I shouldn't even bother talking to him, I really shouldn't.
“If you wish, I’ll carry you. I’ll do my best to make up for what I couldn't do back then.”
“No. I do not wish for that. Please respect your fiancée's dignity.”
Calyx gave a crooked smile as if that were a great shame.
Even while exchanging light jokes, his hands remained firmly on Lottie’s shoulders, as if worried she might fall again.
When is he going to let go? I’m really fine.
Lottie was dazed by a strange sensation when Calyx finally let go and held out a single hand.
“Would holding hands also be seen as an act of disregarding my fiancée's dignity by those two?”
Calyx asked playfully, gesturing with his chin toward the guild master and his wife walking ahead.
They were so interested in every move of the landlord’s daughter and her husband that they kept stealing glances back while pretending not to.
“No. It would just make you look like a doting gentleman who thinks his fiancée is a fairy who might blow away in the wind.”
“That’s not bad. Even a doting fool is still a gentleman.”
At Calyx’s remarkably serious answer, Lottie had no choice but to burst into laughter, defeated.
Lottie placed her hand atop Calyx’s large, firm palm.
Following the guild master's wife, who was poking her husband in the ribs and telling him to watch and learn, the two soon arrived at the famous Hans Valley hot spring.
“The facilities are quite humble since construction is due soon. It may look like this on the outside, but you’ll be surprised once you step inside. Ho ho.”
“The ladies go this way, my lady.”
The guild master's wife took Lottie’s arm affectionately and pulled her along.
As she followed the woman into the entrance of the spring, a subtle heat and the panoramic view of the bath came into sight.
Surrounded by stone walls on all sides, the spring water was pooled in an oval shape. It wasn't as massive as the ancient bathhouses she had read about in books, but it was large enough for five or six people to soak comfortably.
Instead of a roof, the pitch-black night sky sat atop the open ceiling. Lottie’s eyes brightened with wonder as she looked up at the stars that seemed ready to spill down.
“I’ll come to fetch you tomorrow morning, so please, my lady, enjoy yourself to your heart's content.”
The wife, certain that the young lady had fallen for the village’s pride and joy, said proudly. Lottie nodded, her gaze fixed on the night sky.
“Together with your beloved husband.”
The wife whispered softly, looking at Lottie with a meaningful expression. Lottie, lost in the beautiful scenery, didn't quite catch it.
After the woman disappeared, Lottie stood still, looking down at the spring water, and slowly took off her shoes. She even carefully removed her stockings before stepping onto the floor with bare feet.
The ache in her feet began to dissolve in the cool touch of the floor.
She dipped one foot lightly into the spring water and pulled it out. It was warm.
Lottie looked around to make sure she was truly alone, then began to undo the buttons at her back one by one.
Once she shed even her chemise, she stood completely naked.
Her heart raced, yet for some reason, she didn't dislike the feeling. She even felt a strange sense of liberation.
After pushing her discarded clothes aside with her toe like a shed skin, Lottie dipped her toes into the spring once more. The chill coming through the open ceiling met the warmth at her feet, creating a peculiar sensation.
As the pleasant warmth softly enveloped her entire body, a flushed smile appeared on her youthful face.
“…….”
At that same moment.
A hand, which had been hidden behind a pillar for who knows how long, slowly reached out.
The hand picked up the clothes the young lady had cast aside one by one and quickly vanished behind the pillar again.
Even after the owner of the hand had disappeared along with the clothes, Lottie, absorbed in the hot spring, did not realize what had happened.
* * *
—There is a saying that doing nothing for fear of losing something is ultimately the same as losing it.
As Sasha’s words came to mind, Calyx raised his eyes and slowly surveyed the bath. Standing alone, the place felt lonely and empty, reflecting the trajectory of his past life.
‘Pointless sentimentality.’
Calyx let out a small laugh and wiped his wet hair with a white cotton cloth. Water droplets falling from his hair passed over his strong brow bone, hung from his eyelashes for a moment, then dropped onto the floor, tracing the line of his angular jaw.
“…….”
She was likely just beyond that wall.
Tracing back the events that had led him here, he couldn't help but let out a dry laugh. He couldn't understand how things had reached this point, but what was even more ridiculous was his own shamelessly honest body. The moment he imagined her beyond the wall, heat pooled within him.
“Ha.”
Calyx let out a self-mocking laugh and tilted his head back. He closed his eyes, but it didn't help.
It was when he opened his eyes and discovered a small side door at the far left end of the bath—one he hadn't noticed before—that a sharp scream rang out.
“……!”
It was Lottie.
