Chapter 5

The people of Sainsbury loved spring. Located in the north and at a high altitude, Sainsbury belonged to the coldest region in mainland Holdland in terms of average annual temperature. Which meant that in winter, piercing winds as sharp as blades swept through the land.

But in Bukata, even in April, the sunlight was scorching, so Hazel thought it was better to wander around at night. Unlike Sainsbury, where streetlamps were sparse, Bukata was bright as day no matter where one went.

‘I came from the right side of the hotel earlier…… maybe I should try the opposite side this time.’

The route she chose was a little narrower and darker than she had expected. Hazel looked up. Judging by the names written on the signs and the curtained windows, it seemed to be an area packed with inns.

On a street with only scattered streetlamps, the paint on the buildings was peeling away in places. The people who seemed to be innkeepers had their eyes peeled for naive tourists.

A strong perfume smell came from some woman. It was not a particularly refined scent. Hazel deliberately looked away from the man and woman on her left, pressed tightly together and kissing fervently.

‘To think the atmosphere of a neighborhood could change this much in just ten minutes.’

The deeper she went, step by step, the fewer people there were. Even her confident footsteps slowed. She had chosen this route thinking that if she walked just a little farther, she would be able to rejoin the main road, but it seemed it would be better to go back the way she had come.

It was just as the resolute Hazel turned around along the wall. A thick arm wrapped around her waist and yanked her sharply backward.

A scream burst from her mouth by reflex.

“Kyaa!”

Thump, thump, thump, thump, her heart pounded.

All kinds of thoughts began. Who is it? A vagrant? How much money do I have on me?

‘What did Alice say again, turn your body and kick him in the weak spot. Should I really do it?’

Hazel swallowed hard. Despite how she looked, she had grown up helping with farm work in the countryside. Exaggerating a little, if she had a hoe in hand, she felt confident she could split someone’s waist open.

In a situation like this, even if the other person ended up seeing a little blood, the police would be on her side…… though if things came to it, she might have to ask Earl Nett for help.

But at the end of the thoughts that swept through her head, what she heard was a familiar voice.

“I’m curious what your intention was, coming alone into a place like this.”

Whoosh, Hazel’s bangs fluttered in the wind kicked up by a car that sped past without slowing down. The black automobile went farther away without even its lights on.

“……”

Thump, thump, thump, thump, now her heart began pounding for an entirely different reason.

He was too close. It was not enough to say close; he was pressed right against her. This man was hotter than her own breath. Under the streetlamp, where swarms of flying insects buzzed around in the way, veins stood faintly out on the rolled-up forearm wrapped around Hazel’s waist.

She could feel Kyle’s breath above the crown of her head. Her skin flushed from the heat. Because the confusion was driving up her body temperature, both she and the man surrounding her felt even hotter.

Why is he here? 

But apparently Hazel was not the only one holding that question.

Kyle asked,

“Do you know where this is, Hazel Bennett? What are you doing here?”

“……I’m sorry, and thank you.”

Hazel barely managed to force out the greeting. She did not know where this was, but she at least understood that he had saved her from almost being run over by a car.

She was someone who knew gratitude. Hazel promptly answered Kyle’s question.

“I think I took the wrong way, so I was trying to go back to the main road. I didn’t know cars drove around with their lights off.”

“……”

Kyle loosened his hold.

The fullness surrounding her was gone in an instant, leaving emptiness behind. As though she had been waiting for it, the woman pulled herself away from him and turned half a circle toward him, meeting his eyes.

Kyle stared at her.

This was the first time he had seen Hazel Bennett in the dark since Christmas Eve when they were seventeen. She must have been very startled too, because her eyes were moist.

The wheat-colored strand of hair stuck beside her lips bothered him. To a man for whom it was daily life to groom himself with precision so as not to show people the slightest flaw, the hair blown into disarray by the wind was untidy enough to catch his attention.

The man’s neatly lowered hand twitched.

“Your hair.”

“Ah? Ah, uh, thank you.”

Hazel hurriedly brushed the hair stuck to her face aside. She probably thought she had tidied herself up, but to Kyle, it had merely moved from beside her lips to her cheek.

Hah, in the end he let out a short sigh and moved his hand himself.

Her cheek was soft. And warm. Since the weather was gradually getting hotter and she had been energetically walking around, it made sense that heat had risen to her skin. As Kyle tucked her hair behind her ear strand by strand, he told her what this street really was.

“This is a hotbed of illegal prostitution.”

She looked genuinely shocked. Well, if she had known what kind of place this was, there was no way she would have walked in so boldly.

“I thought it was just an ordinary inn district……”

“They only pretend to be ordinary inns. Do you think they would write openly that they’re illegal?”

“……”

“If you have eyes, look around you. They’re all covering their faces. That car just now too. They don’t drive around with the lights off for no reason.”

“I really had no idea. It was close to the square, so……”

“This isn’t Sainsbury, Hazel. This is a place full of people far more dangerous than wild beasts.”

And perhaps Kyle Strauss himself could also be included among those dangerous people. Kyle wound the neatly arranged hair around his hand.

The wheat-colored hair he touched for the first time was far softer than he had imagined.

Hazel Bennett was pretty. If the lady who had appeared, having grown far more beautiful than he had expected, had only been of slightly higher status, countless gentlemen would have competed to throw flowers at her feet.

Kyle let go of the long hair. His now-empty hand slipped into his trouser pocket before it could do something pointless.

“I’ll take you to the main road. You do know the address of Alice’s house, right?”

“Um, Kyle……”

“……”

His gaze traveled from the hand clutching his forearm, up along the slender wrist. She seemed to have something to say, unable to keep her fidgeting fingers still for even a moment.

Kyle jerked his chin.

“What, say it.”

“We haven’t seen each other in so long, so do you want to go somewhere and talk?”

“……”

“My treat. Because I’m grateful.”

Kyle forced up the corner of his mouth that had been trying to rise.

‘A woman saying she wants to treat a young man financially……’

And at midnight too, of all places, here.

The woman who had spoken did not seem to understand what the issue was. Kyle settled his expression and asked,

“What exactly are you planning to buy?”

“Um, whatever you want to eat?”

Good heavens, he felt like someday he needed to set aside a day and tell Alice to keep a better watch on Hazel’s mouth. Of course, he knew the problem was not Hazel, but his own trashy brain that twisted the meaning of her words however it pleased. Still, for now, he wanted to tease her a little more.

“And if there’s something I want, are you willing to give it?”

“You helped me out, so……?”

Really…… she was a woman who could get herself into trouble. Kyle lowered his gaze to the wrist his arm was being held by. The fingers that had been twitching anxiously froze completely, then sprang away in shock.

“If you were hot, I’m sorry!”

“……Right.”

The teasing ended here. Kyle signaled with his eyes for her to follow him.

“Come on. You said you’d buy me something tasty.”

* * *

The moment they reached the main road, Kyle hailed a taxi. Without even understanding what was happening, Hazel rode in an automobile for the first time in her life. Contrary to her expectation that they would settle it at one of the many restaurants around the square, things somehow seemed to be getting bigger and bigger.

The destination Kyle gave to the driver was also somewhere she had never heard of before.

“Take us to 68 Harrington Street.”

“Kyle, where are we going……?”

“My house.”

That was all. Hazel, who had suddenly found herself about to go to her first love’s house in the middle of the night, tore at her hair inwardly. She did not even have the leisure to enjoy riding in an automobile for the first time.

‘I’m done for. What have I gotten myself into? I’m going to the house of a man who lives alone in the middle of the night? If Father finds out, he’ll smack my back to pieces!’

But her lips would not part carelessly. Unlike a carriage, the means of transport called a taxi had the driver present in the same enclosed space, and somehow it felt like she should not open her mouth recklessly. After all, the other party was Kyle Strauss. The driver might recognize him.

The moment that thought came to her, Hazel lowered her head as much as possible and pressed herself toward the window.

‘I just need to stay as quiet as possible. I’ll greet him and leave. If anyone asks, I can just say I met a friend. That’s true.’

But perhaps she was the only one nervous, because Kyle, sitting there with his legs crossed as though it were his own house and looking out the opposite window, appeared perfectly at ease.