Chapter 16

Knock. Knock.

Lost in thought and wallowing in self-reproach, Judith rolled only her eyes toward the door. It seemed her assistant had brought in some materials. The door slowly opened, and the assistant, her face pale and drained of blood, pushed up her glasses with one hand and moved her bloodless lips.

“Um. You have a visitor.”

“A visitor?”

“Yes. Well.”

Before the slow-talking assistant could continue, Johannes, dressed stylishly in a black suit, leaned one shoulder against the doorframe and raised one hand in a wave. The moment she spotted Johannes, Judith jerked her head up from where it had been resting against the chair back. Her hair, which she had scratched wildly while worrying, was a mess, and the clothes she had put on in case the chemicals needed for document restoration might damage the fabric were also a mess. Judith quickly smoothed the stray strands of hair with both hands and pulled closed the open front of her white gown. In the meantime, Johannes, having entered the lab without permission, slipped one hand into his trouser pocket and strolled leisurely around the room, looking over the old objects. His steps stopped in front of the large glass display case holding the relics of the Kingdom of Pirap. Johannes ran his eyes over the various jewels and weapons King Pirap had gifted to his Queen, then let out a small whistle.

“So this King is that King? King Pirap, mad with love.”

He wanted King Pirap’s old book, and now had he come to propose trading for the relics too? Judith glared at Johannes like a hedgehog with all its spines sharply raised. She would absolutely never trade.

“What’s this?”

When Judith gave no reaction, Johannes came all the way over to the desk where she sat and showed interest in the dancing figure painting spread open there. Once Johannes moved away from the glass case holding King Pirap’s old book, Judith let out a breath of relief. It seemed he had no interest in the relics. Thankfully.

“It’s a dancing figure painting from the Kingdom of Alkairo.”

“A dancing figure painting? Ah, like a book showing how to dance?”

“That’s right.”

“Wow. I can’t tell anything even looking at it, so what exactly can you see?”

Johannes narrowed his eyes and tried to make out a shape by following the faint lines, but then raised his head and took Judith into his gaze instead.

“If you use a microscope or a magnifying glass, it’s easier to see.”

“May I?”

Judith took out a magnifying glass and placed it in Johannes’s hand. As an archaeologist, Judith tended to be endlessly gracious toward those who showed interest in relics. Even if that person happened to be the enemy who had ignored her confession thirteen years ago.

Holding the magnifying glass Judith had handed him, Johannes bent his waist and carefully examined the dancing figure painting. The time-worn paper, packed with faded lines and washed-out colors, was fascinating. Though it was said to be a record from a thousand years ago, it was quite intricate and beautiful. It gave him the strange feeling of having stepped into that time.

“So this is the kind of work you do, Judith.”

Johannes whispered quietly as he looked over the painting. Judith rubbed the back of her neck with one hand and narrowed her brow. What did he mean by this kind of work? Gloomy work, chasing after the lives of the dead? Or foolish work, buried in the past and unable to see reality?

Johannes slowly drew back from the painting and lifted his gaze, looking quietly into Judith’s blue eyes clouded with unease as he murmured,

“It’s impressive.”

“What?”

“It’s the work of holding on time and making it remain. A thing that lets people recall an era they never lived in. The work of bringing back what is disappearing and letting it live on in people’s thoughts. I think it’s beautiful and fascinating work.”

Ha. For the first time, she was being acknowledged for a thing even her grandmother had never understood. Judith was fairly well known in academic circles, but to ordinary people she was an eccentric. After all, it was unusual for a woman from a noble family to go around chasing the traces of the dead. Judith rubbed her reddened earlobe with her palm at Johannes’s praise. Even praise from an enemy was sweet.

“By the way, is the search for a man going well?”

Johannes came closer to the desk, perched on the edge of it, and sat. His clasped hands rested on his thigh, and his gaze stayed fixed on Judith.

“So-so.”

“Really? I’m glad to hear it’s going well.”

Johannes narrowed his eyes and tilted his head sideways.

“Did you come to snoop around because you were afraid I might not be able to deliver King Pirap’s old book to the Princess?”

“Well, in one way or another.”

Johannes slid one hand into his pocket and looked at the flowerpot set at one corner of the desk.

“Is this still alive?”

“……”

Judith checked the flowerpot Johannes indicated with his chin and bit down on her molars. Of all times, he had to come to the lab without a word. She could hardly hide the flowerpot, and it left her in an awkward position. The Aakmu brought over from the Eastern Continent was a succulent that required patience and care, and it was said that if you saw its pink flower, you would receive good news. She had gotten one from her grandmother and shared it with Johannes after hearing that if you raised it for over a year and saw it bloom, love would come true. She had suggested they make a bet on who would hear good news first. She had left out the part about love coming true. Back then, she had not wanted her feelings discovered, and she had wanted Johannes to confess first.

“You said that if pink flowers bloom, you’d hear good news, didn’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Have you seen the flowers?”

“Who knows.”

She had. For thirteen long years, she had seen them bloom over and over, yet no good news had ever come. Still, since she could not abandon a plant she had raised unless she herself died, she continued to care for it dearly.

“Why keep something around if you’re not even interested in it? You should just throw it away.”

“It’s alive.”

“What does that matter if its owner isn’t interested in it?”

Johannes ran a finger over the leaves of the love plant and smiled bitterly.

“Then what about yours, Johannes? Is yours still alive?”

Slip. Instead of answering, Johannes pushed what he had been holding in his hand into Judith’s mouth.

“What is this?”

“Chocolate that’s popular in Udiya.”

Johannes pushed the chocolate all the way into Judith’s mouth, then pulled out the fingers that had been inside her mouth and slipped them into his own. Judith frowned, covering over the lingering feel of Johannes’s fingers, which had brushed against her tongue and vanished, with the sweet and bitter taste of chocolate.

“Not as good as sausage, is it?”

“What?”

When Judith asked irritably, Johannes stepped down from the desk and shoved both hands into his trouser pockets.

“Judith, you like sausages, don’t you?”

“That was ages ago…….”

‘Mmph, this sausage is too big and doesn’t taste good.’, ‘I don’t think so. You haven’t tasted it properly yet.’, ‘And this sausage is supposed to be tasted somewhere other than the mouth.’, ‘Where?’, ‘……Around here?’

At the single word sausage, those lines of dialogue rose one after another and tightened around her throat. The scattered scenes returning to her piece by piece sent heat rushing to her head.

‘What? Did that really happen? It can’t be. Absolutely. It absolutely can’t.’

Judith twisted her lips and looked up at Johannes resentfully.

“I don’t think so. Think carefully. Whether a big, tempting sausage is good or not.”

Leaving behind that meaningful remark, Johannes turned his back and walked away. He had thrown a large stone into a still lake and then vanished without any proper explanation. Judith grabbed at her hair and slammed her forehead against the desk. As though his words had cast some curse on her, those delusions surged up like a flood and made her dizzy. But what if they were not delusions at all, but real? Judith pictured herself carving her initials into Johannes’s chest with her nails. Thud. Thud. Thud. Even if she kept banging her forehead against the desk until it throbbed, the visions would not disappear. The breathless physical conversation of a n*ked man and woman remained vivid. I’m insane. I’ve gone mad. Ah. She wanted to die on the spot.