| Chapter 38

As I fired off questions rapidly, his sharp eyes widened greatly. Then, furrowing his brows, he let out a light sigh.

“Who said it was a fake name? Was it Kirhin again?”

“My intuition.”

At my bold reply, he clicked his tongue and rubbed his forehead. Seeing his apparent discomfort, I chewed on my lip and said,

“I’m sure you have reasons for using a fake name. But I don’t want to call you Lord Damian.”

Our eyes met as he raised his head. As I stared directly into those clear green eyes, he soon gave a crooked smile.

“Call me Lars. But you understand there will be times when you have to call me Damian, right? With that great intuition of yours.”

I nodded quickly without even realizing it. As I smiled brightly as if I had never cried, he let out a small laugh and shook his head. Then, in a low voice, he said,

“I lost it. Your perfume bottle.”

I, who had been repeating Lars, Lars in my mind several times, blinked belatedly. As he examined my expression, he slowly scratched his chin at the ensuing silence.

“You’re not bothered? Or are you so angry you can’t express it in words?”

“Was it…”

As the thought finally hit me, I hurriedly grabbed his arm.

“Was it dangerous?”

Kirhin had said that he had the perfume bottle attached to his waist. This meant there was a situation so chaotic that he didn’t even realize he had lost it.

Lars blinked briefly and withdrew the hand I had grabbed. As I lowered my gaze, I felt a thick cloth that seemed to be padded on his fingertips. Come to think of it, I could faintly smell the fresh scent of disinfectant.

“Are you hurt?”

“…You really are quick-witted.”

“How badly? Is it serious?”

“Light enough for the price of not dying. Probably less painful than those feet of yours.”

As I looked in the direction he nodded towards, I saw my feet peeking out from under the hem of my dress, and I hurriedly hid them. Lars raised one eyebrow crookedly and said dryly,

“What young lady from a noble family goes around with feet covered in blood like that?”

“This is, well…”

I mumbled awkwardly, and heard footsteps outside the door. As I turned my head, Maya’s voice softly echoed.

“Miss, my hands are full, could you please open the door?”

“Just a moment!”

I shouted and turned to look at Lars. Surprisingly, he was standing with his arms crossed, his gaze lowered seemingly deep in thought. At least he didn’t seem to be planning to disappear right away.

Reassured, I took a small deep breath and stood close to the door, opening it slightly. Then, hearing the door sound, I stopped Maya from picking up the basket and medicine bowl she had placed on the floor.

“Just leave them and go, Maya.”

“Pardon?”

Maya’s eyes widened in surprise. I lowered my voice with a tired face.

“I have some things to think about. I’d like to be alone.”

“But your feet need treatment…”

“I’ll do it myself.”

As I stared into her eyes quietly while putting strength into my voice, Maya’s initially flustered demeanor gradually calmed. She might have thought it could be related to Nina.

From what I had observed so far, Maya was perceptive enough to think that there must be a reason when I insisted on something.

“Yes, Miss. Then I’ll take my leave.”

Maya bowed her head, glancing around slightly, and retreated with quick steps. After confirming she had disappeared, I struggled to bring in the medicine bowl, snack basket, and water bowl.

As I closed the door and let out a sigh, Lars, who had somehow approached, lightly picked up the water bowl.

“Not bad. You know how to handle servants too.”

At his teasing tone, I pouted and retorted.

“That’s what you told me to do.”

“It’s a compliment.”

He put a small sandwich from the snack basket in his mouth and moved the water and medicine to the table. I followed behind, holding the dangling basket.

“This is perfect timing. Show me the wound on your arm, and I’ll treat it for you. I’m so skilled at disinfecting wounds and wrapping bandages that I could work in a hospital right away.”

I intended to use this excuse to see how badly he was injured, but Lars was not so easy to fool. He smiled knowingly and waved his hand.

“It’s nothing, don’t worry. Let’s look at your feet. Sit down.”

I was taken aback by his words as he immediately began soaking a clean towel in water.

“I can take care of my feet myself.”

“In that uncomfortable dress?”

Although he spoke nonchalantly, I could tell from the smile playing on his beautiful lips that he was teasing me.

Revealing my feet, covered in calluses and wounds, was embarrassing, but I didn’t want to refuse. It was the first time someone had shown such care for me, and I also wanted to fluster him who seemed so at ease.

“Then may I ask a favor of the gentleman?”

I sat boldly at the end of the sofa, wrapping the hem of my dress with my hands, and extended my feet with my knees bent. Lars let out a small laugh and gently pulled my calf after spreading out the wet towel.

“If you’re going to pretend to be bold, you should go all the way.”

I unconsciously swallowed hard at the feeling of his warm hands firmly touching my calf. Feeling my face flush, I quickly turned my head to look out the window.

The stars shone beautifully in the dark sky, like it was about to pour down. I had to struggle to prevent a scene from ‘Where the Night’s Curtain Sings’ from coming to mind.

The gentle touch of the wet towel carefully cleaning the dried blood from my wounds was meticulous, but it wasn’t painless. Gritting my teeth, I rolled my eyes to see Lars frowning as he looked at my wounds while holding my ankle.

Strangely, seeing his face seemed to lessen the pain. His expression of disapproval at my wounds was delightfully pleasing. I almost wished the wounds were worse so the treatment would last longer.

However, contrary to my wishes, his movements were very practiced. Watching his efficient hands as he applied ointment to the disinfected wounds and then wrapped them in bandages, I blurted out,

“…You don’t look like someone who would be used to this kind of thing.”

“You do whatever is necessary. Isn’t that why your feet ended up like this?”

He replied calmly and glanced at me, asking,

“Tell me. Was it that important to dance well at that event?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“I wanted to stand out.”

One of his thick eyebrows twitched, as if this was an unexpected answer. I added,

“So that people wouldn’t think strangely of my brother. I wanted to show that I deserved to be there.”

Lars let out a laugh like a sigh, then furrowed his brow. His beautiful green eyes, which had been focused on my wounds, were now looking at me.

“So… did you succeed?”

“Mr. Penu, who came as the administrative official, invited me to a recitation gathering.”

Unavoidable pride seeped into my voice. In truth, I wanted this person, more than anyone else, to recognize my efforts.

“What?”

His pleasantly resonant voice jumped heavily, seemingly quite surprised.

“Why would that stuffy old man…”

“I memorized several of Cynthesi’s poems because I heard he likes them. He was delighted, asking if I had read them all and if I understood them. He said he never expected to be able to converse like this with such a young miss.”

His hand, which had just finished neatly bandaging one foot and was about to grab the other, had stopped. I saw thick wrinkles slowly etching into his smooth forehead.

“What… did you do?”

“I walk the path to youth,
To my lover, brief and capricious like the sea’s sparkle.
Youth is cruel by nature, neither to be defied nor grasped.
Ah, I mock the moments I thought were fortune
And fall endlessly each day like a bird with broken wings.”

I recited the verse that seemed to have particularly impressed Penu and grinned. I expected Lars to exclaim in admiration and pat my cheek or something similar, but he just stared at me with frozen eyes.

As the awkward silence continued, I became a bit anxious and quickly added more, clearing my throat unnecessarily.

“I also talked about ‘Highlund’. After all, it’s not a book ordinary noble young ladies would read, and it happened to mention the hero Yuzerk while we were talking about Cynthesi’s poetry. If I read Cayonbe next, he might invite me regularly.”

“So.”

Lars paused briefly and asked, rubbing his furrowed brow.

“You memorized Cynthesi’s poems from the start with the intention of catching Penu’s eye? And practiced dancing to the point your feet ended up like this. Why is Penu so important?”

“Because he was the highest-ranking person there.”

I spoke earnestly, trying to persuade him while watching his reaction.

“It’s the quickest and easiest way, isn’t it? To silence those who mock me and doubt my brother. Actually, after dancing with him, no one dared to openly ridicule me. Though the hostile gazes from the young ladies remained.”

I hoped my words would smooth out the wrinkles between his brows, but once again, my expectation was wrong. Seeing another wrinkle appear, I chewed my lip before mumbling in a small voice.