“You’re different.”

Aila was about to take Tael’s hand but ended up clasping her own hands together.

“You must remember that I treated you well. And please understand that I absolutely don’t think of you that way.”

“……”

“Okay? Even if you hate me, you should forgive me just this once. Even for hitting you.”

Aila suddenly became indignant.

“Actually, isn’t it your fault for stealing food and causing trouble? Isn’t my position of hitting you somewhat understandable? I’ll buy replacements for everything you burned, and I’ll apologize when you cause problems. I also have things to say…”

Tael stared intently at Aila.

“Aila.”

“?”

“Have you always treated me like this?”

“Huh?”

“I’m asking if you treated me like this in the past that I can’t remember.”

Aila’s pupils trembled. Since a lie could be exposed with one wrong word, she kept her answer as brief as possible.

“Maybe…?”

“Then you always came to save me when I seemed in danger?”

“Perhaps…?”

“Then…”

His voice softened gently.

“You’ve always been this kind of person to me, I see.”

Tael was smiling faintly.

“I must have forgotten. Since I lost my memory.”

As Aila was taken aback by this unfamiliar side of Tael, he continued:

“Since I can’t remember, I’ll forgive you for taking advantage of me.”

“That’s not it!”

Aila kicked Tael, turned her back on him, and flopped down.

Kicked, Tael got up nonchalantly, dusted himself off, and lay down at a reasonable distance. With a comfortable smile, he said:

“I think I understand a bit about you now.”

“!”

Though he seemed at peace, Aila was different. Despite lying down first, she couldn’t sleep a wink all night.

By morning, Aila looked haggard. Consumed by worry, she didn’t feel like going down the mountain even as daybreak came. Only one thought kept recurring:

“What exactly does he know?”

With so many things to feel guilty about, as time passed, his statement “I know everything” weighed heavily on her.

At first, she took it lightly, but her thoughts grew heavier, and her hands trembled whenever she looked at Tael.

“It’s okay. It’s probably nothing. He said he’d forgive me for taking advantage of him… No! When did I ever take advantage of him?! What exactly does he claim to know?!”

Aila, ruffling her hair, jumped up.

“Yes! I should hit him once more! Whatever reason he thinks he knows, he’ll forget if I hit him! I’ll hit him hard one more time and start over from the beginning!”

But soon she slumped back down.

“It would take something like a landslide to make him forget.”

Aila decided to change her approach.

“Nothing happened yesterday.”

She decided to deny reality.

“What did I see yesterday? I can’t remember anything. Just his chest and stomach and… that… that…”

Aila collapsed sideways.

“That huge thing too.”

Aila jumped up and picked up a stone. This should cause pain comparable to a landslide. If she couldn’t hit Tael, she would hit herself to forget.

“I’ll hit myself hard with this. Then I’ll be able to forget. Just hard enough to forget. Just enough to forget.”

She raised the stone high, but strangely, it wouldn’t budge. Looking up, she saw Tael holding the stone.

“Aila.”

On one of his shoulders was the wild boar they had caught yesterday. He asked curiously:

“What are you doing?”

“I, I… trying to forget what I saw yesterday…”

He turned his head to the side indifferently and said:

“Forget it.”

Aila’s face brightened at his words.

“You’ll pretend it never happened?!”

“It’s not like you’ve only seen it once or twice.”

“!”

“Even if you forget, you’ll just follow me again when I’m bathing.”

He guarded himself with one arm, eyeing Aila as if she were a pervert.

“Understanding what kind of person you are doesn’t mean I can accept you.”

“……”

“If you follow me again when I’m bathing, I won’t forgive you, remember that.”

Aila’s insides boiled with indignation.

“Ha, this guy. I told you it’s not like that. Fine, then!”

“?”

“Since it’s come to this, let’s be even—nakedness for nakedness. We’ll both see each other and call it square!”

As Aila started to undress, Tael dropped the wild boar. The moment Aila’s shoulder was exposed, Tael rushed over and firmly grabbed her clothes.

“Don’t do it!”

“No, I just want to clear my name and live…”

“I said don’t!”

Tael grabbed both of Aila’s arms and pinned them to the ground. He pressed down on her arms, restraining her from above.

“Not content with seeing my body, now you want to show me yours!”

“Hey!”

“You pervert!”

“Horse dung! Are you not going to take that back?!”

“I don’t want to see it! Seeing your body would only upset me! Don’t try to fulfill all your perverted desires using me!”

“What?!”

Aila flared up.

“What the! Hey, let me go! Who are you calling a pervert?!”

“It’s obvious! Are your body and mine the same?!”

“Hey! What’s so diff—”

Aila hesitated. They were different. He was an emperor with an excellent body.

“…ferent, but not enough to be upset about!”

Tael wasn’t listening.

“Seeing it would only upset me anyway, so what are you plotting this time?!”

“What?! Come on, you jerk, let me go! Your body isn’t that great…”

No matter how she thought about it, it was an impressive body.

“…but still! It’s offensive to say that!”

Tael wrapped Aila tightly in her clothes, carried her under one arm, and with the wild boar on his other shoulder, descended from the mountain.

“Put me down.”

Aila spoke through gritted teeth, but Tael barely listened.

“I said put me down.”

“Be quiet. You’re overflowing with energy because you saw something good. But don’t get too attached to me. It’s just annoying now, but it could become burdensome later. And I…”

Tael’s face turned completely red.

“I won’t look. I absolutely won’t look. I have no desire to be swayed by someone like you.”

“Ugh!”

“I am definitely not an easy slave.”

–

Despite Aila’s struggles, Tael only released her when they reached the yard of the house. As soon as he practically dropped her to the ground, Aila jumped up and glared at him.

“That strong glutton.”

“Have you ever seen a glutton catch a wild boar? I’m a grateful glutton.”

Aila was fuming but had no rebuttal. He was right.

Still seething, Aila flung open the door and entered the storage room. Then she was startled, her eyes widening.

A masked man was inside the narrow storage room.

“?”

“?”

The man and Aila stared at each other. Aila scratched her head, then quietly grabbed a wooden club from the corner, gripping it firmly with both hands, and swung it at the man.

“You rat b*stard!”

The man dodged in surprise, moving his body this way and that.

“What are you trying to steal from this nearly collapsed house?!”

It was genuine curiosity.

Aila’s home was so poor that a thief would likely take one look and curse that not even a rat could survive here.

“N-no! It’s not like that!”

“The only thing I have for you is this club!”

Aila struck the thief repeatedly. Tael watched calmly before grabbing the club.

“He’ll die.”

He looked down at the man coldly, but the man instead hid behind Tael and shouted:

“Aila! It’s me! Me! Jeffrey!”

“Jeffrey?”

Aila dropped the club. Her face turned bright red as she grabbed Tael’s side and hid behind him.

Jeffrey peeked his face out from behind Tael.

“I was worried you might not have food.”

Jeffrey took out what he had brought. They were edibles like carrots, potatoes, and tomatoes.

“I was going to leave them secretly.”

Jeffrey scratched the back of his head apologetically.

“I thought you might be uncomfortable receiving things from me.”

Aila, still holding Tael’s side, peeked out her face and met Jeffrey’s eyes.

“I told you these things aren’t necessary. If your parents find out you’re helping me, they’ll get angry again.”

“Don’t worry about that. That’s why I came prepared like this.”

Jeffrey pointed to his mask, smiling playfully.

“Don’t starve, eat well. Okay? Oh, and come to our house in the afternoon. There’s a place where the wall has collapsed. Fix that.”

Aila was touched.

“You’re helping again. Thank you, Jeffrey.”

He playfully poked Aila’s cheek.

“Don’t thank me. How many years have we known each other? It’s nothing to give you some work.”

At those words, Aila felt grateful yet sorry, and slightly lowered her head. Jeffrey looked embarrassed, thought for a moment, then seemed to recall something. He took Aila’s hand and opened it.

Then he placed a small sugar candy on her palm.

“Your favorite.”

He smiled shyly as he gave the gift.

“Remember our promise? We agreed you’d smile whenever you eat this.”

He smiled first, raising the corners of his mouth. Seeing the candy, Aila couldn’t help but smile too.

The two of them were still peeking out from behind Tael, holding his waist.

Seeing this, Tael’s face grew cold.

He felt like a wall.