Chapter 21
"Baraha."
"Arse Sebatiel. Yes, Commander."
"Baron is looking for you. Go see him."
"Understood. Eki, finish the grooming and go back. I'll do the rest next time. Ah, Commander, were you here to use Silfide?"
After he started teaching Eki, Baraha began calling her by her nickname at her request. As he spoke to Eki, he raised his head to ask Yuriene if he was going to use her. There was no way he would have come all the way to the stable just to tell a Squire something.
"Yes. Was she in Squire pre-training?"
Yuriene's gaze, answering calmly, lingered between them, standing close together. Baraha instinctively took a step back. Then he felt puzzled by his own actions. Why did I step back?
"Yes, that's right. We were just grooming, so it's okay to stop. Eki, finish up and go back."
"...Yes, Senior."
Eki answered reflexively. From the moment Yuriene appeared in this completely unprepared situation, her mind was half-gone. Just as Baraha was about to say something more because she looked strange, Yuriene spoke.
"Baraha. I told you to go see Baron."
"Ah... Yes, thank you."
Baraha answered with a bow and walked out of the stable.
Eki wanted to get out of this place, so she quickly put the brush and hoof pick back into the container. Her movements were clumsy because she was in a hurry. The brush, hitting the edge of the container, rolled out.
Yuriene picked it up. Eki blankly looked at the brush he held out. Blue eyes quietly looked into her. He asked quietly.
"Am I making you uncomfortable?"
"Pardon?"
"If you felt pressured by the sparring request... you can forget it."
She felt like a fool. She had thought so hard about his actions and what he might be thinking, but when she stood before him at an unexpected moment, she couldn't remember any of it.
Only after hearing the word sparring did she finally recall what she had been deducing about him. Eki barely managed to move her hand and take the brush.
"No, Commander."
"No, what?"
"It's not that sparring is a burden, it's just too much for me. I'll let you know when I'm ready. And, um, thank you for the cloak before. I'll return it soon."
Eki quickly rattled off the words and threw the brush into the container. Yuriene's words caught her as she turned to run away.
"So it's true that you're uncomfortable."
"..."
She didn't want to lie to him if she could help it. So she closed her mouth.
Eki was naturally uncomfortable with Yuriene. When she was in front of him, her entire mind was focused on him, and all sorts of speculations occupied her mind.
Does he hate me, does he have his memories, is he watching me now, is he testing me to see if I'm the Demon Sword's demon?
And now, the possibility that the Demon Sword's origin might be the Imperial Family, his family, had been added.
Full of questions. Tension. Nevertheless, the joy she felt every time she saw him alive. Happiness, guilt, and the shards of broken emotions that still remained.
She felt his gaze on her turned back. It wasn't a stinging gaze. Soon she heard the sound of a saddle being put on and reins being pulled. Yuriene was taking out Silfide.
"You will soon be my Squire, so I hope you won't feel uncomfortable with me."
It was a light, almost casual remark, as if he didn't want to put pressure on her, doing something else. Eki took a deep breath and turned around. He was approaching, holding Silfide's reins. The golden-tinged white horse suited his silver hair very well.
"Just one thing... may I ask you something, Commander?"
Yuriene didn't answer. But his blue eyes turned to her.
Eki swallowed hard and rolled the words around in her mouth a few times. She had thought that the next time she met him, she would definitely ask this. It was an answer that she couldn't find in her memories. She barely managed to ask the question.
"You said you saw me at the birthday banquet last year. I've never even spoken to you, Commander, so how did you know me? Did I... do something rude?"
Yuriene, who had come right next to her, stopped walking. Silfide neighed and pawed the ground. His gaze always felt like it was piercing through to her soul. Eki resisted the urge to clench her right palm. He answered quietly.
"Nothing like that happened. It's just that, you stood out."
"Stood out? Is it because of my hair?"
Pink hair was even rarer than silver hair. It was a hair color inherited from her mother's side, but it was rare even on her mother's side, so there were quite a few people who remembered her as the pink-haired young lady. Her family, Count Roaz, was too unremarkable to be more impressive than her hair color. If that was the case, it was understandable.
But Yuriene shook his head.
"...No, it was personal interest."
It was a completely unexpected answer. Eki asked back, dazed.
"Personal interest, what do you mean..."
Yuriene smiled. The way his eyes crinkled slightly when he smiled was so pretty that her gaze went to him involuntarily. While Eki was distracted by his smile, he took a step closer. She stiffened as his approaching hand flinched.
He reached out to her hair, which flowed down below her shoulders. His fingers dug about an inch into the long, wavy pink hair. The hand that moved as if combing her hair soon grabbed a piece of straw and fell away.
Yuriene shook off the straw he had taken from her hair and threw it on the ground, saying.
"Let's answer that question after the sparring."
"...You said I could forget the sparring request if I felt pressured."
Eki unknowingly spoke in a sulky voice. This time, Yuriene laughed out loud. He covered his mouth with his hand and let out a short laugh. Eki was once again mesmerized by that laughter.
No, how can a man's laugh be so pretty? He looks so noble, but why does he laugh so well?
"I can't force you if you don't want to... but it means that I desperately want to spar with you that much."
Yuriene spoke in a quiet voice and moved away as if refusing any further questions. He went out of the stable with Silfide.
Eki couldn't hold him back. Her head throbbed. She felt like she had experienced a storm in a short time, from being nervous to being mesmerized.
[That guy, does he seem to have his memories? Why is he so obsessed with sparring? Is he doing this to confirm your identity, like you said?]
As soon as she was alone, the Demon Sword spoke to her. Eki rubbed her cheeks, which were somehow flushed, with the back of her hand and retorted.
"Don't call Yuriene 'that guy', Bal."
[It's my business. Ugh, frustrating! Master, can't you just let Rangiosa and me clash once? Then I can talk to him and check if he's awake.]
"Are you crazy? Let me take you out?"
[Hey, Master, then let's just ask him directly. Ask him if he remembers being killed by me, huh? If he doesn't understand what you're talking about, say it's a joke, and if he remembers, we can fight!]
"You shouldn't talk as much as possible. It's frustrating."
Eki glared at her right palm irritably. The Demon Sword grumbled as she walked out of the stable.
[Then are you just going to keep watching him in this ambiguous state?]
"The Monster subjugation is soon. I'll be able to be sure if I watch how Senior Baraha acts then. Right now... I really don't know. It would have been a little easier to understand if it weren't for the banquet story. What on earth did he see in me at the banquet?"
[He said it was personal interest, what does that mean? When do humans usually say things like that?]
"That..."
Eki stopped talking as she was about to answer. When do people use that expression? Something suddenly came to mind. But she couldn't imagine Yuriene showing such tender feelings towards her. To be exact, she shouldn't imagine it.
She recalled his last moments. When she thought of him stained with blood and unable to close his eyes, something that had been bubbling up crumbled in an instant. Eki smiled bitterly.
[Why did you stop talking?]
"Someone's coming."
It wasn't an excuse. There was definitely someone coming towards her, heading towards the dormitory.
"Your dress is pretty again today, Ekinesia student! Green suits you too!"
The dark-skinned woman with a beaming smile was about a handbreadth shorter than Eki. With her long black hair braided into a single braid and her small frame typical of western nomads, she had a girlish impression. But she was twenty-two years old, older than Eki, a second-year senior, and the president of a club called Wisdom.
And she was one of the students who didn't care about the rumors about Ekinesia. She even liked her in a dress. In some ways, she was an even more unusual student than Baraha.
"Hello, Senior Fatima."
Eki gave a rough greeting and walked past her. Fatima trotted after her. Her long braided hair dangled like a puppy's tail as she skipped along. She looked up at Eki with her beady black eyes sparkling.
"Ekinesia student, I praised you, so come to our club."
"Senior, I told you I wasn't going to join any club."
"Our club isn't just any club. It's a good place. The name is cool too, Wisdom! Don't you feel the intellectual flair that will lead Ajenka as soon as you hear it?"
Eki sighed.
"...Is there any meaning to intellectuals in a military academy club?"
"Throw away the old-fashioned way of thinking that knights only need to use their bodies! Let's become wise knights! So come to Wisdom!"
"I'm really not joining a club, Senior. Shouldn't you give up now?"
"No, I won't give up! Until you join Wisdom!"
"Why are you trying to recruit me so much? No other clubs are doing that."
"They're fools. Very good, thanks to them being fools, wise me can seduce excellent talent alone!"
"I'm excellent talent?"
"Then, aren't you talent?"
