Chapter 2

Once the engagement ceremony ended and she returned home, she knew she would not be able to avoid her grandmother’s nagging for days. Her grandmother might even openly torment her about getting introduced to a man. She must have been furious all the way to the top of her head that even ‘Bauer’ had disband. To a grandmother who knew nothing of the circumstances behind her granddaughter’s fear of the opposite s*x caused by what had happened with Johannes, it was only natural anger and meddling. A granddaughter already twenty-eight and still unmarried. Her precious granddaughter, dear enough to make her eyes ache if she placed her inside them, unable to marry and living under other people’s criticism…. It must be dreadful for her grandmother to witness. Judith fully understood her grandmother’s heart, but that did not mean she could confess to her grandmother that she had confessed to Johannes and been ignored.

Her grandmother had adored Johannes. There must have been some misunderstanding. Johannes is not that kind of child. And so on. It was obvious what sort of scolding would come back from her grandmother. It would be fortunate enough if it ended with nagging, but if her grandmother decided to verify it personally, how was she supposed to endure that humiliation? So she remained silent about everything concerning Johannes.

“D*mn you, Johannes.”

From the moment she opened her eyes, Johannes wandered around in her head. Even if she shooed him away, at some point it would be Johannes again. Judith emptied her glass with a heavy sigh and slightly raised it toward a passing server. The server, still visibly youthful, put on a restrained smile and refilled the empty glass. Judith drained it in one swallow. The quick-witted server stood behind her and refilled it again and again whenever her glass emptied. Little by little, the alcohol rose to her head, and her cheeks grew hot.

Judith covered her forehead with one hand and let out small bursts of laughter. The stares from the people seated at the same table stung, but she did not stop emptying her glass. Was it because of the sense of loss from Elijah having found a match and left? Or was it because she had remembered Johannes, whom she had forgotten for so long? Her heart stung, and she wanted even her thoughts to stop. There was nothing better than alcohol for numbing thoughts that spun without rest.

“Judith. How much have you been drinking?”

Elijah, having spotted Judith with her forehead buried against the table in the distance, hurried over with her brows knitted. Judith stared blankly up at her face as Elijah grabbed her shoulder, then smiled as if she were about to cry.

“Are you happy now that you’re leaving me behind?”

“What?!”

Judith buried her forehead against Elijah’s forearm and laughed as though sobbing. The people at the table covered their mouths and whispered as they watched the two women, who gave off a strange atmosphere. Seeing the situation turning odd, Elijah waved toward the workers of the Müller family lined up against the wall.

“Leaving you behind? Get a hold of yourself, Judith.”

“Together with me for the rest of my life…… Mmm.”

It was Elijah who clamped a hand over Judith’s mouth as more and more strange things spilled out of it. With one hand still covering her friend’s mouth, Elijah handed Judith over to the servant who had approached.

“I think she must be very drunk. She isn’t usually like this. She’s heartbroken since even her friend of ten years is starting a family and leaving. I think she is deeply upset. She has always relied on me quite a lot.”

Yet when the guests’ expressions still did not soften, Elijah swallowed dryly.

“She still can’t forget a man she liked a long time ago, so whenever she drinks, she gets like this. I think she mistook me for that man.”

Only then did the guests at the table nod in understanding. So that was why she had been drinking since earlier, because of the pain of unrequited love. As they even chimed in sympathetically, Elijah let out a relieved breath and looked toward Judith’s back as she followed the servant out of the banquet hall. Her face had been dark from the moment she entered the hall…. Was something wrong? Judith was not the type to drink until she got drunk. And wasn’t she someone who absolutely hated standing out in crowded places? Yet that very same girl had become so drunk she could not even hold herself upright. It was strange. Elijah forcibly held back the urge to run over and ask what was wrong. Let’s deal with the engagement ceremony first. Chasing Judith with her eyes as she disappeared through the open door, Elijah narrowed one eye slightly.

“But then, isn’t this that young lady’s?”

One of the guests pointed to the handbag Judith had dropped behind. Elijah covered her mouth with her hand and swallowed a sigh. I will not ask for congratulations, but please do not scatter ashes over this. My friend. Regretting having invited Judith to the engagement ceremony, Elijah picked up her bag.

“It seems the groom-to-be is looking for the bride.”

“Pardon?”

She was about to have a servant deliver the bag to Judith when suddenly a man who had cut in from beside her reached a hand out toward Elijah.

“May I help you?”

“Ah……”

It was welcome news, but she could hardly hand Judith’s bag over to a stranger just like that. Elijah lifted her head and looked him over carefully. Sleek black hair and unusually rare purple eyes filled her vision. This man……

“Huh?”

Elijah pointed at him with her index finger and opened her eyes wide.

“It’s been a long time, Elijah. And congratulations on your engagement.”

The man snatched Judith’s bag from Elijah’s hand and smiled brightly.

* * *

The ground was swaying. Her vision heaved as though she were lying on the bottom of a pitching ship. With what she saw before her looking like that, there was no way her stomach could stay calm.

Judith braced herself against the wall and bent over at the waist. The only thing she had consumed was a few glasses of alcohol, but the heat pooled in her stomach rose up in a lump through her insides.

“Ugh.”

“Ah, just a moment. I can’t do this here.”

Panicked words poured into her ears. Hurried footsteps followed from all around. Judith, dazed with drink, lifted her blurry gaze and shook her head from side to side.

“…I mustn’t throw up… just anywhere. So. Ugh. I have to hold it in. A young lady from a prestigious family must not make a mistake outside… jiik. Blergh.”

The moment she babbled that nonsense, clear liquid poured out of her mouth. Judith tried covering her mouth with one hand, but it was no use. The servant who had been running over from a distance carrying a bucket for rinsing rags turned pale.

Even though sour stomach acid ran down from the corners of her mouth, she felt nothing. Judith rubbed at her soiled mouth with the back of her hand.

“Are you all right?”

At that moment, a black-haired man entered her field of vision. He took off the jacket he was wearing and draped it over her head. Trapped beneath the man’s jacket, Judith only blinked slowly. The man pulled out a handkerchief from his jacket pocket and wiped Judith’s soiled face and nape.

Her eyelids were far too heavy. Judith kept staring at the man who had entered her blurred vision, not letting him go. Black hair and purple eyes. Familiar and dearly missed colors. Ones she had once loved beyond measure……

“Huh?”

Judith pointed at the man with her finger and smiled dreamily.

“Please guide us to a guest room.”

Whether she did or not, the black-haired man supported Judith and urged along a servant of the Müller family. Judith buried her face in his jacket and moved her feet here and there as though riding on a cloud. Her drunken body was in ruins, and her steps were unsteady. In the end, as she staggered, her ankle twisted.

“Ow.”

At the sound slipping out from beneath the jacket, the man immediately stopped walking. He sat with one knee raised and checked Judith’s twisted ankle. Judith stared hungrily at his glossy black hair, then soon laid her palm on it. The feel that entered her hand was like a cloud. Judith slipped her fingers beneath the man’s hair and lightly scratched. The man, whether his hair got ruined or not, scooped Judith up around the waist. In that instant, Judith, now raised as high as the man’s shoulder, bent forward. As she wrapped her arms around the back of his neck, she could feel his shoulders stiffen hard. Finding that amusing, Judith brought her lips to his earlobe and blew, “Hoo.”

“Stop.”

His low voice barely registered in Judith’s ears. She was only absorbed in nibbling at the nape of his neck, where the fine hairs had stood on end. The servant walking ahead stopped and lowered their head. The man carrying Judith said, “Thank you,” and entered through the door.

Thud.

The man threw Judith onto the bed and loosened his tie and a few buttons of his shirt. Judith had no idea what she was doing. She simply lay on the bed, stretched out both arms, flapped them, and smiled brightly.