Chapter 3.1 – Change of Season

Raindrops pounded against the window. Liat, who cast her gaze far outside as if waiting for someone, rested her chin on her elbow atop the table.

“When is he coming?”

As if determined to shake off the summer’s dark clouds before it ended, the rain poured down without restraint.

With the rain falling, it was certain that permission to go out wouldn’t be granted. Unable to relieve her frustration, Liat tapped her index finger furiously on the tabletop.

The only thing she was allowed to do was stuff her share of fluffy whipped cream cake into her mouth. Listening to the maid’s nagging to maintain her dignity, Liat pouted her lips like a duck.

“Still no word from Alvin?”

“No, there’s been no news that he’s come into the mansion yet.”

On rainy days, she was especially sensitive. The length of her protruding lips matched the degree of her sulkiness. The maid felt the seriousness of her master’s’s beak-like lips.

The sharp sound of glass clinking rang out. Perhaps she had soothed her burning insides with cold tea, but not a drop remained in the cup.

Delin, the maid who served Liat most closely, poured the tea slowly.

The sweet scent that spread through the air seemed to calm Liat, and the length of her pouting lips shortened.

“Did he collapse on the way? Isn’t today a free day because of the rain?”

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say Alvin spent all his time, except for when he met Liat, on swordsmanship.

He couldn’t forgive his powerless past that put Liat in danger. Alvin, weighed down by guilt and acting like a sinner, didn’t change even when Liat teased him on purpose out of annoyance.

‘Was I too harsh?’

Had she been too harsh, repeatedly rejecting that foolish boy who thought only of her? Was that why he wasn’t seeking her out?

Clouds began to gather in Liat’s mind, casting a shadow. She needed to act before the creeping melancholy swallowed her.

Alvin was also afraid of the rain, so he probably couldn’t come.

In that case……

“No, this won’t do. I’ll go to him myself.”

“My Lady, it’s raining outside.”

“I must see Alvin today.”

Ignoring Delin’s attempts to stop her, Liat strode outside.

“I’ll take responsibility later! Hurry and prepare the carriage.”

She pushed aside the distracting thoughts. She knew that if the Marquis found out, she’d be confined to her room for a while, but she couldn’t bear to just sit and wait in her anxiety.

She threatened to run out and act like a madwoman in the rain, so the servants made way. Delin, who had grown up with Liat since childhood, could read the sincerity in her eyes.

Before the unprecedented event of the Marquis’s daughter running through the streets in the rain could happen, Delin decided to give in to her stubbornness.

“Whew.”

The rain fell steadily. Raindrops hit the ground and burst, sending tiny water beads bouncing.

They were only raindrops, but they stung her skin as if pricked by needles.

The pouring rain and the fishy scent that brushed her nose made her pause.

‘Mine.’

At that moment, a boy’s voice, both unfamiliar and familiar, echoed in her ear.

‘……Who is it?’

A chill crept up her spine, gnawing at her reason.

“My Lady, there’s a message from Sir Roygi……”

The servant’s call snapped her back to herself.

“I’ll hear it later.”

Liat hurried out and climbed into the carriage.

Inside the carriage, which began to move cautiously for fear of an accident on the wet road, Liat anxiously bit her nails. The carriage had just passed through the main gate.

Worrying about what might go wrong, she glared helplessly out the window until something caught her eye and she shouted in surprise.

“Alvin!”

There was no way she was mistaken. She saw a figure kneeling beside the gate.

She immediately stopped the carriage and jumped out without waiting for an escort. She forgot all about her cherished dress getting soaked, or even her fear of the rain. Alvin was the only color in her eyes.

His new formal clothes, soaked by the rain, clung to his body, revealing every line. Wearing clothes that had already failed their duty, Alvin looked up.

“Liat……!”

His lips were pale from hours in the rain. Alvin, shivering with cold, crawled on his knees and gently stroked her hand. He didn’t look normal from any angle. His cloudy eyes flickered.

Liat struggled to get him into the carriage, but hauling his large frame was impossible.

“Alvin, why are you like this? Come inside……”

“Liat, I—I was wrong. Please forgive me. Don’t leave me alone.”

The drops running from his eyes were washed away by the rain. His lost gaze held only her, wavering desperately.

“What are you saying? Just get up, okay? You’re freezing.”

“I’m scared, I’m scared……”

Liat, who was holding his face to share her warmth, glanced at the coachman. The quick-witted coachman approached Alvin and helped him up. His sturdy body, now heavy with rainwater, seemed almost like a stone, making the coachman grit his teeth.

Alvin’s eyes were fixed on Liat, ignoring everything else happening to him.

“Liat, Liat……. I’m sorry for being dirty. Please forgive me. Don’t disappear from my sight. I won’t do it again. Don’t send me away. Let me stay by your side, please.”

“All right, I said all right!”

“I—I was out here, letting the rain wash away my filth. Even cursed rain, I endured it. So, please? Forgive me. My Liat, stay with me.”

“What on earth……. Ah, ah.”

Liat sighed.

She managed, with the coachman’s help, to move him at last. The coachman, complaining of back pain, closed the door and turned the carriage toward the mansion.

Seeing Alvin, delirious and desperately seeking only her, made Liat feel like she would burst into tears. She realized what Roygi had meant to tell her before she left.

On the day summer turned to autumn—the anniversary of the day Liat and Alvin were kidnapped—was drawing near. And Alvin, who remembered everything, always suffered extreme anxiety at this time, unable to leave Liat’s side.

Roygi, knowing Liat couldn’t keep track of everything at once, must have wanted to warn her.

‘And I knew Alvin was afraid of the rain…’

She had thought his condition had improved because he seemed brighter. He’d stopped clinging to her to the point that daily life was impossible.

“Liat, Liat……”

Alvin, repeating her name as if broken, rubbed his face against her shoulder. His hands, clutching her wrist as if not wanting to let go, felt cold. Drops from his hair soaked her.

When Liat kept refusing to meet, he must have waited at the gate just to be closer to her. His extreme ways hadn’t changed.

“You fool……”

It was herself, not Alvin, who had been living absent-mindedly. She knew her friend was still swimming in the depths of the past, but was too caught up in her own affairs to think of it.

Suppressing her tears, she hugged him. It was Liat who should apologize.

“Liat. Don’t get hurt. Don’t disappear from before my eyes.”

With those words, his large body slumped. He collapsed, quickly growing feverish.

* * *

Two days had passed since Alvin fell ill with a high fever. Despite the servants’ objections, Liat devotedly stayed by his side, looking down at her own wrist.

The hand wrapped around her wrist was hot.

His eyes, damp with fever, looked up at her pitifully.

“You fool, I’m not going anywhere. I’m right here.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

He was well enough to open his eyes and have brief conversations with her. He still seemed dazed, but was gradually coming to his senses compared to before, which relieved her.

Liat sighed deeply and lifted her captured wrist. She slowly rubbed her face against the back of his hand.

“See, I’m here?”

“Yeah, it’s soft. Liat, you’re here.”

Alvin laughed like a child.

Seeing him like that, Liat reflected. She hadn’t realized how mentally cornered Alvin was. No, she knew, but had forgotten.

Of all times, the rain and damp air dragged her forcibly back to that day. Just when she thought she’d forgotten ‘that day,’ Liat’s vision darkened.

Something reached out to her through the darkness. Colorless, flashing eyes stared down at her.

The muggy air and the pungent, fishy scent. The terror that made her forget how to breathe.

‘I want to have you.’

Her stiff body was hers, yet not hers. Helplessness surged over her.

‘If you lose your value, then I can have you, right?’

The scar left on her nape stung. A child’s scream echoed in her ears like tinnitus. A headache surged.