Chapter 34

“A party? All of a sudden?”

After training ended, Raon returned to his office and instructed Seorin to find out the full schedule of the nobles’ social events.

“Yes. If possible, I’d prefer nobles who attend the council.”

Raon was someone who normally never enjoyed such events and always refused them.

“That is not difficult, but there will be quite a few. Shall I focus mainly on gatherings like hunts?”

“I don’t mind couple gatherings either.”

He said it indifferently, without taking his eyes off the documents. The one who reacted instead was Seorin.

“Wouldn’t it be better if you simply went alone? Rather than couple gatherings…….”

It was Seorin objecting, though he usually accepted orders without complaint.

“I’ll make the decision, so just find out.”

Raon ignored him at once. Without any answer from Seorin, only the sound of Raon’s pen moving across the documents could be heard.

“I’ll attend with you as well.”

That answer came the moment Raon, who had been reading the papers, put down his pen.

“The more people there are, the better.”

He answered as though he were going out for leisure.

“We’re not going there to fight.”

“Well, anyway.”

When Raon looked at him, Seorin shrugged and acted as though it were nothing.

“Are you worried about me?”

Even as he asked, Raon himself did not believe that could be it. Seorin, who knew him better than anyone, was not the type to worry over him excessively.

“Or is it my wife?”

He asked the question that had been on his mind the whole time.

“Let’s say it’s both.”

Though Raon ought to have been surprised, Seorin showed no sign of it, nor any intention of denying it.

“You seem to have grown closer since the victory banquet. Even so, you mustn’t cross the line.”

Raon spoke in a placating tone. Because Seorin worrying to this extent over his wife was certainly excessive.

“Whatever you’re thinking, the misunderstanding is correct. Even so, I’m still going to accompany you to the party.”

“What’s the reason?”

“It’s stranger that you don’t know, Commander.”

The look Seorin sent him was one of clear reproach. It had been so at the victory banquet, at the morning training, and even now as they faced each other. All those strange actions seemed to have something to do with Kina.

“Well, how am I supposed to know unless you tell me? What on earth?”

He interlaced his fingers and asked in earnest.

“I cannot be the one to tell you.”

“Then there’s no reason for you to come along either.”

Raon cut him off as though there were no value in saying anything more.

“Commander!”

“If you have no intention of saying more, then let’s stop there.”

At the words that he would not permit it any further unless Seorin told him, Seorin’s lips moved, then stopped. If it were up to him, he wanted to blurt it all out. But because of Kina, who had pleaded so desperately, he could not.

“A good choice.”

Go out and do what I told you to do, Raon ordered.

*

Kina returned from the poorhouse a little later than Raon. Rather than Kina being late, it was that Raon had returned early.

“By any chance.”

He called to Kina, who had given a simple greeting and was about to go upstairs to change.

“Were you acquainted with Seorin from before?”

Though she thought the question was strange, Kina answered diligently.

“The first time I met him was at the victory banquet.”

Even at their first meeting, he had been a good person who had helped her and stayed by her side.

“I see.”

“Why?”

Had he perhaps found out what happened at the banquet? Kina asked while hiding the unease rising in one corner of her heart. But Raon only gave a small shake of his head.

“It’s nothing. I’ll wait in the dining room.”

“I’ll be right there.”

Seeing that he still did not seem to know, Kina felt relieved inwardly and headed to her room. Once she went up the stairs and disappeared from sight, Raon turned his steps toward the dining room.

He remembered the first greeting the two had exchanged from where he had stood. Even though it was something he knew better than anyone, he had deliberately confirmed the truth with Kina. That was how many puzzling things there were in Seorin’s behavior. Raon’s thoughts, unable even to make a guess, were cut off when Kina entered the dining room.

There was no conversation during their dinner. Only the sounds of tableware clinking and servants’ footsteps filled the dining room.

“For the time being, it seems there will often be occasions when we have to attend balls.”

Ordinarily, he would have kept silent to the very end, but around the time the main dish, fried trout, had been cleared from the table and dessert had taken its place, Raon finally spoke first.

“Balls……?”

Raon sensed that there was another emotion mixed into the way Kina repeated his words. It was only for the briefest instant, something one would miss if not paying attention.

“If it makes you uncomfortable, you may say so.”

Kina avoided his gaze for no reason at all at his consideration, having noticed the feeling she had failed to fully hide. To be honest, she did not want to go to balls. Not much time had passed since that incident, there was no guarantee something like it would not happen again, and even if nothing like that happened, there was still the anxiety that Raon might come to learn how she was treated with disregard.

“We have to go, don’t we. Just let me know and I’ll prepare in advance.”

But if he was saying it like this, there must be a reason. Her own anxiety was merely pride she wished to protect. Compared to the things he had to do, it was nothing much.

“Thank you.”

The usual Raon might have said that she did not need to go if she had no reason to. But just this once, he pretended not to notice and drank the tea that cut through the richness of the fried trout.

“And…… wouldn’t it be better to change the menu?”

Kina too drank the peppermint tea, cool as it spread down her throat.

“The trout dishes.”

Ever since he had asked what food she liked, the meals had been filled with trout dishes morning, noon, and night. Grilled, fried, even soup. The effort of the cook at the ducal residence of Graize, trying to serve as many varied and delicious dishes as possible, was admirable. Even Kina, who liked it, was beginning to tire of it slightly, yet Raon ate it all without the slightest change in expression.

“Then we can switch to the dish you like second best after trout.”

His tone made it sound as if continuing to eat it would be perfectly fine.

“I’m not the only one living in this house.”

So, as though pressing him to say what food he liked, Kina looked at him.

“I’m fine with anything.”

“……Then the next menu will be ‘anything.’ Tell Gerard that.”

Raon had meant that she should keep eating the food she liked, but apparently that was not how it sounded to her. When their eyes met, she spoke with smiling eyes, wearing an expression that made it impossible to tell whether she was serious or not.

But perhaps it was his imagination, the sound of her utensils grew louder after that.

Raon still did not know Kina well, so it was difficult for him to read her expressions. At times like that, the surest method was to give the answer one thought the other person wanted and watch the reaction.

“I like chicken dishes. Steamed plainly.”

After answering, he said it without taking his eyes off Kina, who was moving her fork. Kina slowly lowered the dessert fork she had been holding.

“……Chicken?”

What came back was not a reaction showing whether he had or had not given the answer she wanted, but only surprise, as though his answer itself was unexpected. It was Raon who found that reaction strange instead.

To the point that he wondered whether liking chicken dishes was really such a surprising thing.

But what surprised Kina was not the ingredient, but that he liked ‘plain dishes.’ It was the opposite of what Bersha had told her—that Raon liked roasted dishes so rich they were almost as if fried.

“Then I’ll have them prepare it that way.”

But she quickly erased even that expression. Her emotions had only brushed past for a brief instant. She seemed like someone who had become quite skilled at hiding her feelings.

Soon, silence came over them again.