Chapter 20

The meeting place was a forest a little outside the city. They said the lakeside park, created through the donation of some noblewoman, had lately become a popular dating spot among young people. In the newspaper photographs it had looked ordinary enough, but seeing it in person, she understood why it had become a famous spot.

Judith tilted her head back and looked over the restaurant made by converting a greenhouse. They said it had once belonged to the noblewoman who donated this forest, and the scale of it was considerable. She had heard that even getting a reservation was difficult, so the doctor’s connections must be impressive.

“Miss Loewe?”

As she stood there too overwhelmed by the building’s exterior to move her feet, a man leaning against the porch by the restaurant entrance recognized her and approached. Judith held her breath and watched him come toward her.

The man, with dark chestnut hair neatly combed back, extended his hand toward Judith. Without thinking, Judith took it. His hand was as large as his height suggested. The man gave her hand a gentle shake and let go, then quietly stepped to her side. Standing at a distance that caused no discomfort, he guided her toward the restaurant entrance. The moment they entered, one of the servers lined up along one side naturally led Judith’s party onward. Following the server deep into the restaurant, a single table came into view beneath the long hanging lights. On one of the chairs, a man’s black coat had already been neatly folded and draped.

“Ah, I must be late?”

“Not at all. I arrived much too early.”

The man drew out the chair opposite his own so Judith could sit. Judith carefully perched on the seat. The man returned to his place and sat down as well. Dressed in a brown suit that fit him perfectly, with a black knit turtleneck underneath, he gave off a warm and handsome atmosphere. Just as if to prove that Teacher Marie’s words had not been wrong. Judith secretly studied the man, whose features resembled David’s statue, while lightly scraping her thigh with the tips of her nails. She had not realized he would be this striking. Of course, she would only know for sure after talking with him, but at least his appearance was excellent.

“My name is Karl Schneider.”

The man introducing himself as Karl Schneider pulled a calling card from inside his jacket and handed it to Judith. Judith accepted the glossy card and looked at it. Glory Clinic. A five-story building in the middle of the busy district.

“My name is Judith Loewe.”

Judith took one of her own cards from her handbag and held it out. Karl picked it up, checked it, and slipped it into his pocket.

“I’ve heard much about you. Professor Judith Loewe, descendant of frontier Earls and goddess of fortune, who earned the youngest doctorate in archaeology.”

The fact that he left out the first woman seemed to show he was being considerate in his own way. At the very least, it meant he was not someone who had come after reading her column just to criticize her.

“It would be hard to call me a goddess of fortune when there have been many sorrowful things too. I studied and worked just as hard as anyone else.”

“Then I suppose you’re especially intelligent compared to ordinary people. No ordinary person can earn a doctorate by the age of twenty-five no matter how hard they try.”

“Is that so?”

“Unless fortune is on their side, I would say so.”

“I see.”

Though it was not that she felt no bitterness, Judith had no intention of refuting Karl’s words. From the perspective of someone who did not know Judith, it was a natural suspicion. Since she came from a good family, they would naturally feel that luck had followed her. After all, it was a world where money could do anything. Were there not people who even said that money itself was fortune and honor?

Judith watched as Karl stopped a passing server and thought.

“I’ll have hot coffee, please. And Miss Loewe?”

“Ah, me too. The same, please.”

Without taking his eyes off Judith, Karl placed his clasped hands on the table.

“You’re more beautiful than I had heard, Miss Loewe. And your air is different from the rumors as well.”

Since he worked at a hospital, he must have dealt with plenty of talkative ladies. They always became overly excited about the affairs of others. Backbiting disguised as concern. It was an unpleasantness that anyone living in Bayer had to learn to brush aside.

“I’m misunderstood in various ways because of the work I do. Well, to begin with, I’m not very used to dealing with people.”

“Archaeology is a very fascinating field. I think it’s admirable. Digging up the past is not something just anyone can do. And to think you investigate the traces of people who lived thousands of years ago. That would be impossible for ordinary people who frighten easily.”

Karl folded and unfolded one eye as he smiled broadly. His brilliantly white teeth, fully revealed, sparkled in the sunlight pouring into the greenhouse. He really looks like a prince from a fairy tale. Karl was not the sort of stunning, eye-catching handsome man Johannes was, but the more one looked at him, the more attractive he became. His considerate way of speaking and his courteous manners made him stand out. In particular, the dimple in his left cheek when he smiled was charming.

“Thank you for saying so.”

“I can’t understand why someone this charming has remained alone until now. It seems the men of Bayer have their eyes on the soles of their feet.”

“I don’t think that’s it.”

There had been no shortage of men who chased after Judith simply for her looks. The problem had been Judith’s reaction when men confessed to her. Traumatized by confession, Judith would throw up or sneeze wildly and spray saliva whenever men approached her and tried to confess. Humiliated and offended, those men began spreading bad rumors about Judith, and unless someone had a remarkably strong heart, they could not even dare hand her a card. The reason Judith had no man in her life was not only because of the men of Bayer. The problem was Judith herself, still unable to escape the incident of her confession to Johannes.

“And why have you remained alone until now, Mr. Schneider?”

“Well, I suppose I ended up this way from being buried in study and work.”

That was understandable too. To become a licensed doctor, he must have studied like mad, then found work at a large hospital and spent day and night caring for patients. It was probably true that he had simply had no time.

Judith slowly looked Karl over. There was not a single crooked corner to him. Almost too much so. Since this meeting had been arranged through Teacher Marie, he must know what kind of meeting this was. So it was something she needed to make clear.

“As you may already know from the rumors, I’m rather bad at dealing with the opposite s*x.”

“May I ask what part, specifically, you find difficult?”

“Well. For starters, it’s hard for me to look them in the eye while speaking, and if their hand so much as brushes mine, it feels as though my stomach is on fire from tension. Because of that, I’ve committed some discourtesies a few times.”

Karl looked quietly at Judith, then reached out and placed his hand over the back of hers on the table. Judith widened her eyes and stared at him.

“I suppose I must not count as the opposite s*x to you, Miss Loewe.”

“Ah……”

Come to think of it, she had held Karl’s hand earlier when they greeted each other. It had only been a simple handshake, but contact was still contact. And sitting at the table now, she had never once avoided his gaze. Judith curled one hand into a fist and pressed it to her chest. Her heart was calm. She felt neither anxiety nor tension. Judith held her hand out toward Karl. Understanding her intention, Karl took it briefly and then let it go. It was large and warm. That was all.

“You’re all right, Mr. Schneider.”

“What do you mean?”

“It doesn’t make me uncomfortable.”

When Judith whispered softly, Karl narrowed his eyes. Who would have thought those words, it doesn’t make me uncomfortable, could sound so unpleasant?

“This is the first time something like this has happened. It’s strange, and a little surprising.”

Come to think of it, lately she has not been afraid of men. Talking with the men she had met through the advertisement had not been difficult either. She had not fled from her seat in the middle of talking with them. Before Johannes reappeared, that would have been unimaginable. Right. Johannes’s return. Since meeting him again, even if men were on the street, she had not turned away to take another route. She simply walked straight along the road, and even if shoulders brushed, she did not react as if afflicted and shook it off.

“Could it be because we graduated from the same school, and I feel some sense of kinship?”

“The same school?”

“I also studied at Hildegard, the same as yours. I finished my undergraduate studies there and completed graduate school in Opolt. The first time I became aware of you was in an ancient language elective.”

“Ah, I had no idea at all.”

“You paid no attention to your surroundings, so that would make sense. I openly followed after you, yet you never once even looked my way.”

What was I like back then? Judith bit her lip as she recalled her university days. It had been a time when she knew nothing but study and books. She wore loose clothing and hid her face behind glasses. She did not style her hair, and she did not attend even the most ordinary social gatherings. It had been a time when she had not possessed the slightest bit of charm that might draw anyone’s eye. Since she had stubbornly insisted on a path her grandmother opposed, she had felt she must produce visible results.