The moist summer scent brushed her nose. The two were very close. So close that Julie’s knee touched the side of Kale’s thigh.

“And yet…… Yes, I like you. I don’t know if it’s the same weight, but I thought you…… liked me too. I want to believe that. You’re the kind of person who’s impossible not to like. You’re kind, tall, and—you can also take care of yourself. That’s why my eyes were drawn to you. I couldn’t stop—and I didn’t want to try to stop.”

If they turned their heads just a little, they could see each other. Julie fiddled with her loosened ribbon and smiled slightly. Her thin lips curved like a fingernail moon.

“I will probably, definitely, leave this place tomorrow. Actually, I’ve wanted to go somewhere else for a while, but I didn’t have the courage. I thought I couldn’t leave my family and friends behind. But today I realized. I can leave.”

“Is there a reason you’re leaving so suddenly?”

“Because if not now, I think I’ll weaken again. And, um, ……actually, I’m sick of taking care of people.”

Both younger siblings and the Miss, soothing and caring for others is exhausting—Julie added quietly.

“I’m telling you in advance. Because, well, because—”

“Do you want me to come with you?”

His gentle eyes contorted slightly. His short eyelashes trembled. She looked like someone caught by a stranger who didn’t know the curses she had written on the ground.

“……Yes.”

“You’re asking me to turn my back on my profession, residence, and friends, and wander with you without a destination?”

“That’s right. Quite shameless, isn’t it?”

Only after preparing to abandon everything could Julie reveal her true feelings. A confession too embarrassing and selfish to laugh off with feigned innocence.

Reflected in those hazel eyes was an awkwardly smiling young woman. An ordinary woman who was neither pretty nor slender nor lovely.

Her neatly braided hair had many flyaways, and her dress with delicate embroidery was stained with flower dye.

Even her carefully delivered sincerity was a mess. There wasn’t a trace of flawless, fantastic appearance.

A brief silence passed between them, and by the time the peach-scented wind blew again, Kale opened his mouth.

“I am a kind person, but—I’m not that meddlesome.”

The unsightly appearance of him pulling at his hair was nowhere to be seen. With a completely knightly face, he explained seriously.

“I mean I didn’t treat you with pure, human kindness. It wasn’t because I’m a kind person, but because I’ve been making advances, wanting to look good to you. All this time.”

“So you gave me the ribbon because you had ulterior motives?”

“What other reason could there be?”

“And you kept talking to me whenever you came to the viscountal residence?”

“The same.”

“And asking me to dance at the Miss’s coming-of-age ceremony?”

“Is there a more blatant appeal than a gentleman extending his hand to a lady?”

“What about the apple jam?”

“Ah, that was simply camaraderie.”

Night duty requires a late-night snack, doesn’t it—a deflated laugh followed his glib excuse.

His large fingers wiggled. Julie thought about tapping those scarred hands, then about holding them with both of her hands, then about stroking their surface.

Kale’s hands, marked with scars and burn marks, resembled a well-honed sword, and his tightly woven muscles resembled a blacksmith’s hammer.

“You said you like me because I’m kind, handsome, and so on.”

“I didn’t say you were handsome.”

“That’s beside the point.”

“Ahem, well. Anyway! While your love has reasons, my beginning—has no reason.”

A relatively small hand moved slowly. When just their fingertips touched, his hazel eyes widened as if burned.

Kale continued speaking with the face of the world’s greatest fool. Despite starting boldly, his sentences were neither eloquent nor skillful.

“So, the reason I came to like you, I, really, I swear……”

Awkward, naive, rough,

“I don’t know. I had thought of thousands of reasons you might find acceptable, but suddenly none come to mind.”

And only truthful…….

The brown head drooped down. His broad chest and shoulders trembled with a deep breath. Julie felt the warmth under her palm. Rough and lukewarm, the knight’s hand.

“I couldn’t resist it.”

His already low voice sounded even lower as he spoke with his head bowed. Still looking pathetic with his head deeply lowered, Kale continued.

“You said you wanted to see the ocean. You said you imagine the waves. That’s how I feel right now. A feeling of being constantly swept away. No free will, unable to resist……”

“Is that bad?”

“No. It’s not bad. ……I, like it. Enough to be embarrassed.”

Julie wriggled over to the knight who had curled his body. Then she rested her chestnut head on his shoulder. The shoulder, covered with firm muscle, wasn’t comfortable. But only after hearing Kale’s faint pulse could Julie feel somewhat reassured.

Why was that, Julie pondered as she pressed close to Kale’s side. She could feel him flinching, but he didn’t push her away.

“So you’ll come with me?”

“I thought we were just talking about that.”

His affable face was tinged with bewilderment. Julie, lifting her gaze slightly, carefully took in his appearance and asked again.

“You’ll turn your back on your profession, residence, and friends, and wander with me without a destination?”

“If you’ll allow it.”

“I’m not proposing marriage. I, well, I just want to have a companion.”

“Traveling unfamiliar places will be long and arduous. A wise choice.”

“Even if I’m not your wife, ah, that’s not to say I don’t want to marry you! It just feels too early for me. So, um, even without that—will you stay by my side?”

“It would be my greatest honor.”

His heart fluttered as if being stroked by a hundred feathers. Interpreting Julie’s silence in his own way, Kale abruptly stood up and then knelt again on his right knee.

“Do you need an oath?”

“To God?”

“I don’t have any particular religion. What I want to make is a knight’s oath.”

For the first time that day, Julie noticed the sword at his waist. Always kept in its scabbard, the sword appeared meticulously maintained—sharp and clean without a trace of rust.

“Listen.”

The hilt was placed in Julie’s hand. It was somewhat heavy but not impossible to hold. Julie examined the intricately engraved handle before speaking.

“Haven’t you already been knighted?”

“Yes, I have. Right before I began serving His Highness the Prince.”

“A knight pledges loyalty to one person, right?”

“That’s an old saying. I was more of a guard and aide than a knight…… And knights nowadays are different from the past—strictly speaking, we cannot pledge loyalty to the imperial family. Rather, if anything, it would be to the nation. Since my oath was to the nation, there shouldn’t be any problem as long as I don’t go into exile.”

Julie nodded, recalling that the chivalric literature she had read as a child was from over two hundred years ago.

In an era where royalty existed only as symbols and knights were just one of many professions—in such a time, Kale knelt before Julie, saying he would make a knight’s oath.

“Hold the blade flat, yes, that’s right. Lightly touch it to my left shoulder once, then my right shoulder once. And then—”

“No. I don’t want to.”

“……You don’t want to?”

His hazel eyes trembled pitifully. Only then did Julie realize how her words had been interpreted, and she hastily waved her hands.

“No! I don’t mean I hate you, Sir Kale! I mean!”

“If I’m not to your satisfaction—”

“Just listen to me!”

Julie squawked loudly, then gaped in surprise at her own outburst. The birds that had been cheerfully singing fluttered away. The sunlight was hot, the wind was cold, and the piled snow smelled of dense greenery.

“A knight’s oath is about a subordinate relationship, isn’t it? With a monarch or master…… It’s like a loyalty contract, right?”

“Though the concept has blurred nowadays, that’s correct.”

“Even if it’s ceremonial, I don’t want to hear such an oath. I told you earlier. I don’t need a servant or knight, I need a companion. I want someone who can move forward with me, not someone who would die at my command. ……Well, a little dying for me might be okay.”

Her fingertips, stained with flower dye, caressed her lower lip.

“We don’t need oaths. People’s hearts are bound to change someday. I know well that we can’t promise eternity.”

The sharp sword returned to its owner’s possession.

“Then, what do you want?”

The brown-haired knight muttered with a somewhat uncertain tone. Eyes like a June forest blinked rapidly.

“You said you’d stay by my side.”

“Yes.”

“You said you’d turn your back on everything and come with me.”

“That’s right.”

“What more could I want? That’s already enough.”

Julie stood up abruptly and extended both hands to the knight who had been kneeling all this time. The knight took those hands with a slightly excited face and rose powerfully.