Chapter 37

The boy, who had suddenly fallen silent, parted his lips as though he had lost what he ought to say. Tilting her head, Yvonne only then took a proper look at the boy’s appearance and inwardly marveled.

The boy seemed like someone from a world entirely different from any child Yvonne had seen so far. His hair, dark as the night sky, was neatly swept back, making his clear eyes and handsome features stand out all the more.

His pale skin was as clean as the fragrant handkerchief he was holding now, while his hair was black and glossy, like charcoal gliding smoothly across paper.

Though young, his sharp gaze had a quality that made people flinch like an adult’s would, and the straight posture with his chin slightly drawn in gave off the air of a rich young master.

Moreover, the clothes he wore were made of silk, something absolutely impossible to see around here. The dresses of the noble ladies in the mansions she had often visited as a child had shone with that same gloss.

It was the kind of appearance she had sometimes seen in noble houses when she followed her mother there to sell paintings.

And even that gleaming silver gun. Everything about the extraordinary boy proved that he was a noble.

Didn’t they say nobles had hunting grounds at home and enjoyed shooting.

The way he had fired the gun a little while ago was also completely different from the boss, who shot clumsily. Thinking that far, Yvonne opened her mouth.

“You, you’re a noble, right?”

“If I’m a noble, does that mean I’m not allowed to come to a commoner district?”

She had only asked one question, yet the boy replied even more sharply in return. He looked as splendid as a prince living in a palace, but his tone was as curt as the boss’s.

The eyes of the boy she had thought kind only a moment ago had gone cold again. He had seemed frightening while holding the gun, then gentle when he gave her the handkerchief, and now he looked like an angry person.

“It’s not that, but this place is even more dangerous for a noble like you.”

Perhaps at that point the boy realized something, because he asked no more. Instead, he looked at Yvonne’s face and disheveled clothes and frowned.

“You live in Operen. Is that why you go around like that?”

“What?”

Not understanding what he meant, she asked back, and the boy let out a sigh and pointed at her with his hand.

“I’m asking if you dress like a boy on purpose. It looks like you’ve got something smeared on your face too.”

“Ah…. Yeah. I didn’t think it showed that I was a girl.”

Thinking that a boy she had never seen in her life had seen through everything, Yvonne touched her cheek awkwardly. Just as she felt strangely embarrassed, the boy’s long finger came close right in front of her face.

“It all shows. Especially your eyes.”

The boy pointed exactly at Yvonne’s eyes with his index finger.

“They’re exactly a girl’s eyes.”

Though she did not particularly agree with that, Yvonne somehow felt strange and changed the subject at once.

“I don’t really know about that. Come on, since you’re lost, I’ll take you.”

“That place from before is fine, but do you know the way to Valley Lane?”

“Yeah. The entrance to Operen connects to Valley Lane, so if you go right beside that alley from before, you’ll get there.”

As she boldly took the lead, telling him not to worry, the boy looked as if he were about to say something, then closed his mouth again.

On the way back, the boy kept his mouth shut like someone angry, but every so often he asked questions. Most of them were about whether it was really true that she lived in Operen, and when she said it was, he would fall silent again. Even when she told him she washed dishes in the kitchen of a tavern, he only closed his mouth again with a sour look. After hearing that she had no home and was secretly living in a collapsing building, the conversation stopped entirely.

Fortunately, the man who had attacked Yvonne was not in that alley anymore. She had worried he might come running back for revenge, or that the constables, who very occasionally entered Operen, might be wandering around looking for the culprit, but it was quiet.

‘You’re going to work right now? Then take me there.’

When they reached the entrance to Valley Lane, the boy suddenly said he had changed his mind and wanted to go to the tavern where Yvonne worked. Only after he saw Yvonne go inside did he leave for somewhere else.

And then, the boy she had thought she would never meet again appeared before her once more two days later.

* * *

Whether by some strange coincidence or not, the boy often caught Yvonne’s eye. Whenever it was time for her to return after work, she would always see him standing nearby.

Part of it was naturally because his appearance was impossible not to notice, but whenever he wandered through alleys as though he had gotten lost while doing something, she had no choice but to guide him out to the main road.

After that, the number of times they ran into each other oddly increased, so they began with simple nods of greeting, and once even that repeated enough times, she started ignoring him.

Then from one day on, the boy approached her first.

“What’s your name?”

“I’m Rene.”

“I’m Carlisle.”

After they exchanged names, Yvonne learned that he was fifteen years old, and that the reason he often came to Valley Lane was because he was looking for the house of someone who often came there. He did not answer when she asked whose house it was, but it did not seem to be someone he thought fondly of.

The more they spoke, the more Yvonne felt certain that Carlisle belonged to a noble family, and a rather high one at that.

“You’re really friends with a prince? Liar.”

“I’m not lying. We attend the same military academy.”

It was hard to believe, but perhaps because he had a face as splendid as a prince, it sounded a little convincing too.

Carlisle seemed tall and smart for his age, but surprisingly, he had no talent for finding his way. Because he often got lost in the tangled alleys, a route that should have taken ten minutes sometimes took more than thirty as he tried to get his bearings again.

Sometimes, when work ended early, Yvonne would lazily trail after him because she thought he might get lost again somewhere. He looked rather annoyed by it, but he never told her to get lost. Then again, Carlisle did lose his way every single day.

Even when they were together, nothing much happened. They simply walked and walked, chatting about trivial things.

“Are all rich young masters as bad with directions as you? If you don’t have an attendant guiding you, can’t you even find your way?”

“It’s not that. It’s because there’s no need to memorize the way.”

“Tch. You’ve already come to this neighborhood so many times, and that’s your excuse? At that point, shouldn’t you know it all even without trying to memorize it? Nobles are supposed to be smart.”

“Nobles aren’t especially different. They make mistakes too, and they do foolish things.”

Carlisle’s expression darkened suddenly as he said that.

The expression was so serious that she stayed quiet, and then Carlisle abruptly asked,

“Then you do it.”

“What?”

“My attendant. Be my attendant only in Valley Lane. I’ll pay you quite well.”

Carlisle flicked up the money pouch he had taken from inside his coat.

“Deal.”

She reached out quickly, but as though he had anticipated her movement, Carlisle nimbly took the pouch back first. Yvonne narrowed her eyes prettily.

“You may be blind when it comes to directions, but you’re not stupid. I was trying to teach you that you shouldn’t wave money around recklessly in a place like this.”

“As if I could possibly be slower than you.”

“I’m slow? No way. Even so, the boss always—”

“The boss? Who’s that?”

Yvonne, who had been about to say that she had been praised for being quick-witted, at least when it came to keeping watch under the boss, closed her mouth. What was the point of revealing the shameful past that she had once taken part in crime.

Fortunately, Carlisle did not ask any further, as though it were of no importance.

Carlisle came to Valley Lane about once every three days. More precisely, he would appear at the intersection where the tavern Yvonne worked at was located.

The more she saw him, the stranger a child he seemed. She had heard that nobles never went for walks without attendants, but Carlisle always came alone.

“My family has served in the military for generations. My father is a soldier, and I’ve trained since childhood to become one too, so even one adult is no match for me. The gun is only a reserve for urgent situations.”

Carlisle’s expression looked quite arrogant as he said that, so Yvonne only laughed.

She had no idea whom he was looking for, but Carlisle roamed the Valley Lane district connected to Operen quite diligently. But from a certain point on, unlike his early enthusiasm, he seemed to lose interest. It almost looked as if he had given up on finding whoever it was.

At any rate, his face clearly said he did not want to talk about it, so Yvonne did not ask either.

By around a month later, Carlisle would sometimes wait for Yvonne in front of the shop after her work was done.

“I’m hungry, but eating alone is boring.”

As though there could be any other reason, he handed her a sandwich, and together they sat on the stone wall by the canal, from where they could see the brightly glittering cityscape in the distance, and ate.

“The person you’re looking for, should I ask the owner’s wife? This place is fairly well-known around here, so people living nearby all know her.”

“Well. That woman wouldn’t go to a tavern like that. Her tastes are flashy.”

“The person you’re looking for was a woman? Who is she?”

When Yvonne asked who on earth it was that made him like this, the boy turned the conversation aside as he always did. He never said it outright, but every time, his expression carried resentment toward someone.

“It’s none of your business. More importantly, I told you, I’m a noble, so speak formally.”

“A noble?”

Yvonne had never once taken an interest in the lives of nobles. She only asked because she still could not understand why the Earl was still sending people to look for her.

Even if this boy seemed ordinary like this now, would he turn into a prideful adult who only thought of himself when he grew older.

“How does one become a noble?”

“It’s simple. If your father is a noble, then his child is a noble too.”

“My father is a noble too, but since I’m illegitimate, I guess I can’t tell people to speak formally to me, right?”

“…Illegitimate?”

At that moment, the eyes of Carlisle, who had fired a gun so skillfully without even blinking, shook slightly.