Given the lack of warmth in their parting, was it appropriate to wear the clothes so soon?

Aillen spread the overalls across her bed and hesitated.

But her hesitation did not last long.

Her father called her name from beyond the door, and the sound of her siblings’ cheerful chatter rang through the house, bright as sunlight, providing undeniable proof that a new day had begun.

Taking a quiet breath, Aillen stepped outside, the straw hat perched lightly on her head. She wore the gifted clothes.

“Well, look at you. Quite the fashionista.”

“You could get married now.”

“Sir, please don’t joke like that. Our sister promised she’d live with us forever.”

From the moment she stepped out of the cabin and threw herself into her work, Aillen was subjected to the same remarks time and time again. She pretended not to hear them. She had already responded to them in every possible way.

However, Haila, seemingly unwilling to let such foolish comments go unchallenged, stood by her side and retorted sharply on her behalf. Rather than feeling uncomfortable, the guests only laughed louder.

The style itself was simple. Yet perhaps because of the fine quality of the fabric, it exuded a subtle elegance that set it apart.

Aillen adjusted the loose strands of hair slipping from beneath her hat and offered a small, uncertain smile.

“Sister, say something! Why are they all trying to marry you off? It’s ridiculous.”

“If you’ve been hearing that since the day you were born, you’d know answering every single one would leave your lips falling off.”

Aillen handed her the basket of laundry with a mischievous smile.

Haila accepted it with a grumble and stomped off.

Aillen turned to look out of the window at the dining hall. As always, it was filled with guests who had come for coffee, but the black-haired visitor she was looking for was nowhere to be seen. As she had been the one to give the gift, Aillen had hoped to see it first.

Then again, given the way they had parted, perhaps it was better not to meet at all.

Letting out a quiet sigh, Aillen moved on to her next task.

Until that moment, she had believed that today would be no different from any other day.

***

“Sister!”

“Sister!”

“Haila, Riman! Didn’t I tell you not to run like that? You’re grown now—you’ll cave in the floor!”

“Then we’ll just call Auntie to fix it!”

Haila shouted back at their father and stopped in front of Aillen.

At that moment, Aillen was emptying the bin.

Oh dear!

She had been bent over all afternoon. As soon as she stood up straight, her lower back protested with a sharp pain.

“What is it? What happened?”

“Sister, in the attic…”

“There’s a cat!”

Overcome with excitement, Haila blurted it out. Riman shot her a look of betrayal, as though she had stolen his thunder.

Haila, of course, did not care.

“A cat?”

Aillen’s eyes widened.

Cats climbing the walnut tree and sneaking into the attic was nothing new, so there was no need to shout and run around like this.

There must be more to it than that.

“Yes, but…”

“I’ll let you say it.”

Haila nodded magnanimously, as though granting a favor.

Clutching the hem of his shirt, Riman continued hesitantly.

“It looks really bad. We didn’t know what to do, so we came to you first.”

After a brief pause, he added,

“Mother’s busy, and Father… well… I don’t trust him.”

Riman made a remark that he knew their father would find hurtful; his face betrayed his timidity. He shifted anxiously from foot to foot. Haila, beside him, looked as though she was about to drill through the floor.

“Hurry! Hurry!”

Without hesitating, Aillen dropped what she was doing and ran after the twins.

A few guests in the corridor turned around in surprise, but she skillfully avoided bumping into anyone and made it to the attic without incident.

At the Grandel Inn, the attic was merely a storage area for unwanted items, despite whatever romantic images novels might suggest.

When she pushed open the trapdoor, the first thing she noticed was the dust shimmering in the thin beam of light streaming through a small window. It drifted lazily over sheets thrown across old belongings, creating a strangely picturesque scene for a moment.

But there was no time to admire it.

From somewhere inside came a weak, pitiful cry.

Climbing the ladder, Aillen lifted herself high enough to look around, spotting a grey cat perched precariously on top of a stack of stored items. She could not tell whether its fur was naturally grey or simply stained with dirt from living on the streets.

She climbed fully into the attic and took a step towards it —

— then froze.

Now she understood what the twins had meant when they said something was wrong.

A brownish fluid had seeped onto the floor around the cat.

Was it blood?

Aillen’s face drained of color, and she took an instinctive step back. It seemed impossible to bring the cat down right away.

She slowly descended the ladder.

“Well? Well?”

“I’ve never raised a cat, so I can’t say much… but how did you even find it?”

“I was sweeping the corridor when a guest asked if we kept a cat up here. I said no, but they said the crying kept getting louder. So I went looking for where the sound was coming from…”

“Does it look really bad? It’s not… dying, is it?”

Riman looked on the verge of tears.

She wished she could reassure him, but she chose not to be careless with optimism.

“I don’t know the situation yet. Let’s call Mother. This doesn’t seem like something I can handle.”

“What’s happened?”

The voice was slow and steady yet resonant.

Aillen’s head snapped up.

There, with one hand resting lightly on the banister, was the face she had been both searching for and avoiding while working.

“Seren?”

“You seemed to be running about rather urgently.”

“Oh…”

The air between them felt awkward, as though the closeness of yesterday had been an illusion.

Aillen pointed upward, somewhat blankly.

“There’s a sick cat hiding up there. I don’t know what to do.”

As she often did when she felt uneasy, Aillen spoke without thinking, pushing the problem outwards.

It was only after the words had left her mouth that she realized she shouldn’t have said that in front of Seren. But it was too late to take them back. She clicked her tongue inwardly.

Seren was a guest. Admitting that she did not know what to do was information she should not have revealed. A guest staying on the second floor had no reason to wander up to the third floor, unless they had grown close to someone who lived there.

Certainly not to follow the innkeeper’s daughter.

Haila had already rushed off to fetch their mother, while Riman, feeling uneasy at the sight of a stranger, had slipped behind Aillen’s back. However, he had grown too tall to hide completely.

“There’s no need for you to worry. I’m sorry for causing concern.”

It was a polite way of saying she need not trouble herself further.

Seren paid it no heed, instead studying her quietly.

When Aillen suddenly realized that Seren was looking at her clothes, she felt something tighten unexpectedly in her throat.

“If it’s a cat, I may not be an expert—but I believe I could be of some help.”

“…What?”

“If I climb that ladder, will that suffice?”

Seren did not wait for a reply. She strode past Aillen with long, decisive steps.

It was astonishing how quickly people with long legs could move.

“Seren, you’re a guest. There’s no need for you to help with this. It’s really fine.”

“You look pale. It would be better if you stayed here, Aillen.”

Cats.

She had never grown close to creatures that bared their claws. Keeping this fact hidden, she intended to pretend that she was perfectly all right.

Yesterday, she had received some expensive clothes as a gift. In return, she offered nothing more than a ribbon. The restaurant she had recommended had only caused trouble. She could not allow herself to owe Seren anything else.

She was not that shameless.

Not like the people of Calix’s estate had so often implied.

“No, really, it’s fine—”

Seren climbed the ladder as if she hadn’t heard a word. She seemed to clear it in three effortless strides.

Aillen was left behind, staring blankly up at the attic. Beside her, Riman shifted from foot to foot, his unease plain to see.

Startled back to her senses, Aillen hurried after her.

When she had come up alone earlier, she hadn’t noticed, but true to its name, the attic was far too cramped for two people to sit comfortably. Ultimately, Aillen could only manage to squeeze her upper body through the opening and watch Seren’s back in silence.

“What is it? Can you tell?”

Since things had come to this, she decided to accept the help that had been offered to her.

The cat’s pitiful cries did not cease.

She was just about to suggest that Seren come down if it was proving too difficult when Seren spoke in her usual calm tone.

“She’s pregnant. It seems labor is near. She must have hidden herself somewhere she felt was safe.”

“Pregnant?”

Aillen hoped that she hadn’t sounded as shocked as she felt.

Seren turned to look at her.

Only when she heard the cool swish of black hair cutting through the air like water from a tap did Aillen realize that Seren had tied her hair up.

With the ribbon Aillen had given her.

“Bring a clean box, towels, and sterilized scissors.”

“Seren, you—”

“Quickly.”

Aillen forced herself to think practically.

She climbed down the ladder at once to get what Seren had asked for, leaving Riman behind. She wasn’t sure when their mother and Haila would be back.

When Riman called after her, asking where she was going, she shouted back that the cat was pregnant. His face drained of color, but there was no time to comfort him.

There were more urgent matters at hand.

By the time she returned, the attic—of all places—had drawn a small crowd.

Pushing past the murmuring onlookers, she made her way to her mother and siblings. They turned towards her, their relief evident the moment they saw her.

“Ah, Sister!”

“Yes. Did you bring everything we need?”

“Yes.”

She wondered how she was going to pass the items up the ladder when, suddenly, a pale hand appeared through the attic opening.

Only someone from the north could have such a pale complexion.

Aillen carefully handed up the items she had brought, but held on to the scissors and climbed up with them herself.

“The scissors?”

“If I just hand them over and someone gets hurt? I was the one who brought them up here.”

Seren arched a brow.

Aillen simply shrugged in response.

“Will you be all right?”

“Let’s just say… I have experience.”

As though sensing that was insufficient, Seren added,

“My sister keeps cats. She says she brought them home, but in truth the whole family ends up raising them.”

“You have a sister?”

Perhaps Aillen asked that question because she sensed the slightest hint of tension in Seren’s voice. She would be glad if she could ease even a little of that tension.

A soft snort of laughter came from Seren.

With her back turned, Aillen could only see the neat line of black hair tied back, and the way her shoulders were set.

“Yes. Unlike me, she’s rather loud.”

Perhaps it was the affection threaded through those words.

Without meaning to, Aillen smiled.

“I’ll stay here.”

The words left her lips in an oddly gentle tone, almost a whisper.

Instead of responding lightly, Seren turned her head slightly to look at her as if to confirm her presence.

Uncertain what the question was, Aillen gave a small nod.

Perhaps it was the urgency of the moment, but the strained awkwardness that had lingered between them seemed to vanish entirely. Without realizing it, Aillen continued to grip the ladder tightly for a long time, her body still tense.

The murmur of voices below, only one floor away, felt strangely distant.

Amid the drifting, shimmering dust, Seren knelt without complaint.

For a moment, Aillen thought she looked like a priest at prayer.