Chapter 9.5

“Miss! Are you okay? Open your eyes, Miss…!”

Blink.

Brienne opened her eyes at the urgent voice calling her. As her vision slowly focused, she saw Garzen’s shocked face.

“Huh? Blood….”

As soon as she regained her senses, Brienne sat up abruptly. Bright red blood was flowing from his nose. Meanwhile, her own body was perfectly fine, not hurting anywhere.

“Miss, are you really okay? Can you see me? How many fingers am I holding up?”

Garzen waved his fingers in front of Brienne’s eyes. Frowning, Brienne answered.

“Three. I’m fine, so please calm down.”

“Should I be calm? I was so shocked, I thought something was wrong! I caught you perfectly, so why did you suddenly faint?”

“I was just too surprised!”

Brienne jumped up and looked down at Garzen. Her face flushed red, and her voice trembled.

“It’s my first time falling from such a height. I really thought I was going to die. But why do you keep getting angry, Zen?”

“What? When did I get angry?”

“You did get angry!”

Brienne’s eyes narrowed sharply as she looked at Garzen. But soon, she sighed and handed him a handkerchief.

“…Here. Wipe your nosebleed.”

“Nosebleed? I have a nosebleed? Me?”

Only then did Garzen blink and rub his nose with his thumb. He took Brienne’s handkerchief, still looking completely unaware, and blew his nose awkwardly.

Then, he suddenly threw his head back.

“What are you doing!”

Brienne, startled, quickly leaned over and pressed his head down. Caught off guard, Garzen, now facing the ground, asked in confusion.

“Why? What’s wrong?”

“Who blows a nosebleed out like snot? And, when you have a nosebleed, you’re supposed to lower your head.”

“I didn’t know! This is my first nosebleed ever.”

“…What? Really?”

Brienne blinked and removed her hand from Garzen’s head. Garzen lifted his head slightly and gave Brienne a resentful look.

“Yeah, you hard-headed Miss.”

“…”

Was her head really that hard? Brienne rubbed her own head for no reason, watching the blood flow from Garzen’s nose.

Just as she was about to apologize, Garzen threw out a joke with a surprisingly serious face.

“Sorry, Miss, but since you took my first experience, you’ll have to take responsibility.”

“Are you crazy…!”

How could he say something like that?

Brienne instinctively recoiled and stepped back from Garzen. Without Lusellion, the proper attendant, Garzen seemed like he was missing a screw.

Maybe several.

“What’s with that reaction?”

Garzen, resting his chin on his knee, watched her with amused eyes.

“W-What?”

“It’s fun. I like that it’s new.”

Watching Garzen’s sly expression, Brienne nervously clenched her fists and stepped back, ready to hit him at any moment.

But Garzen soon backed off cleanly.

“All right, enough joking around.”

Garzen stuffed a corner of the handkerchief into his nose and stood up lightly. After tugging the rope he’d hung up earlier a few times, he turned to Brienne.

“How was the challenge, Miss? Wasn’t it easier than you thought?”

“…I suppose so. I’m not sure about tomorrow, though.”

Brienne looked down and nodded as she massaged her arms. For now, the muscle pain wasn’t too bad. Garzen, seeing her, laughed in satisfaction.

“See? I told you you could do it. Next time, you’ll do even better.”

Next time.

Brienne’s gaze shifted to the rope in Garzen’s hand. Garzen, quick to catch on, held out his hand.

“But there’s no time today, so let’s stop here. Now, let me carry you, Miss.”

“Huh? You’re going to carry me up?”

“Why, don’t you think I can?”

That wasn’t it.

Brienne remembered Garzen easily carrying her with one hand before and shook her head.

“No. I don’t think you can’t. It’s just…”

“Just?”

“…Now that my feelings are clear, I don’t want my actions to upset Herace.”

“What…?”

Garzen frowned slightly at Brienne’s gentle voice, as if asking what she meant. Brienne, a little embarrassed, looked down.

“I know it sounds silly. But if I were Herace, I’d feel bad about it.”

“…”

For a moment, something flickered in Garzen’s eyes as he looked at Brienne. But under the dark sky, Brienne couldn’t read the emotion on his face.

She just mumbled on, embarrassed by her own words.

“I don’t want to disappoint someone I care about. It’d be easy to be carried up now, but that memory would always linger and make me feel uneasy.”

“…Aha.”

After a brief silence, Garzen withdrew the hand he’d offered and nodded.

“So, what you’re saying is, you’ve fallen in love with that wizard guy?”

“…Yes.”

“Ah, that’s a bit unfair.”

Garzen grinned and approached Brienne with a mischievous face.

“Miss, honestly, what do I lack compared to him? Is it that flashy face?”

“Huh?”

Brienne looked up at Garzen and burst out laughing. His words reminded her of the first day they met.

“Zen, you still joke like that.”

“Huh, I’m not joking. I’m serious.”

Garzen crossed his arms and leaned toward Brienne, making a thoughtful sound.

“Miss, if you think I’m joking now, you could be in real trouble. Imagine, one day you come home and suddenly there’s a marriage proposal from a prince waiting for you.”

“That’s a scary thought. If you’re going to send a proposal, send it to the princess of Rontiano.”

Brienne shook her head, and Garzen, looking a bit dazed, let out a deep sigh.

“Sometimes you’re so old-fashioned, Miss. Why do you still care about rank and marriage…?”

“What do you mean, still? Even His Majesty the King of Roeta wouldn’t want a Marquis’s daughter like me to marry a prince.”

“Why not? You’re smart, brave. Who else has queenly qualities like you?”

“That’s ridiculous. Besides, you shouldn’t say that with a handkerchief stuck in your nose.”

Brienne shrugged and yanked the handkerchief from Garzen’s nose.

Only then did Garzen realize he had a handkerchief in his nose, and his face slowly turned red.

He looked at Brienne for a moment, then at the ground, then up at the sky. Irritably, he grabbed the rope.

It was a moment when he wished humans only had one nostril.

“Fine! I’ll go up first, so follow after me.”

“Huh? How?”

“Check the carriage floor.”

Garzen, avoiding Brienne’s gaze, pointed to the carriage with his chin. Brienne, confused, approached the carriage and checked the floor.

There was a portable ladder rolled up with string.

Brienne, exasperated, turned to Garzen.

“You should have told me about this earlier!”

“I don’t care, you hard-headed woman. Throw it to me. I’ll go up and lower it down for you.”

Ignoring Brienne’s scolding, Garzen muttered without even looking at her. Brienne frowned slightly at his suddenly sulky behavior.

‘…Hard-headed woman?’

‘Who was he calling hard-headed?’

“Here you go.”

Whack!

The ladder Brienne threw hit Garzen’s side and fell to the ground. Only then did Garzen look back at her in disbelief, and Brienne threw the ladder again.

“Sorry! I think I put a bit of emotion into that!”

“What? What emotion?”

Garzen asked, bewildered, but Brienne didn’t bother to answer. If he knew it was annoyance, Garzen might hide the ladder on the way back.

* * *

At that time.

“Brother…! Is it really you? It’s really you, right?”

In the slums near Peterman Station, a tearful reunion was taking place.

“Why did you only come now, Brother! I waited so long!”

A boy, eyes brimming with tears, hugged the man standing at the door. It had been years, but he recognized him instantly.

His brother, who had left home years ago to earn money for their sick youngest sibling, had finally returned.

“Y-Yeah.”

The boy, sniffling, hurriedly pulled a money pouch from his coat.

“Look, Brother. The money problem is all solved now. With this, we’ll be fine for years…”

The boy, grinning with excitement, suddenly stopped and checked his brother’s face. Something felt odd. His brother hadn’t closed the door and was just standing there.

“Brother…?”

At that moment, two sturdy men approached from behind his brother. Judging by their heavily armed appearance, they seemed to be knights.

“Bring everyone out.”

“W-Who are these people…?”

A nameless anxiety made the boy step back.

“Uh? Brother, I asked who they are?”

The boy, urging for an answer in confusion, saw that his brother only hung his head silently.

Soon, the knights who had approached grabbed the boy’s arms.

“L-Let go…! Brother! Why, why are you doing this!”

“…I’m sorry, Hugo.”

“Brother…!”

Struggling, the boy looked toward the bed where his youngest sibling lay. The little one, with a wet towel on their forehead, had just taken medicine and fallen into a deep sleep.

Another knight approached the youngest.

“No, don’t…! Let go! Don’t touch my sibling!”

Hugo threw the pouch of money he was holding and bit the arm of the knight grabbing his neck.

“Ow! You brat…!”

The knight dropped Hugo and grabbed his own arm. As Hugo frantically ran to his sibling, the knight frowned and gestured at the man standing at the door.

“Hey, why are you just standing there? If you want your siblings to be safe, you bring them yourself.”

“B-but…”

“Do I have to repeat myself?”

At the knight’s threat, the man, pale as a sheet, hesitated and stepped into the house. Hugo’s eyes shook as he stood in front of the bed to protect the youngest.

But for that man, Winor, there was no more room to hesitate.