Chapter 8

By the time Riat and Sicarius had finished discussing the examination criteria at the café, the sun was already beginning to set.

Riat gazed absently at the sky turning red and suggested that they head back. Only then did Sicarius widen her eyes in surprise.

“Sis, you’re getting this invested in the tests too. Are you actually interested in them as well?”

“…If a strange person enters the Count’s residence, it will only cause unnecessary trouble. I simply want to prevent such trouble in advance.”

Her tone was as businesslike as ever, but the way she subtly averted her gaze made Riat chuckle.

Thinking that she and her aide were truly getting along today, Riat left the café in a cheerful mood.

“I think it might be nice to sneak out more often from now on.”

“It is generally considered unfair to conduct surprise assessments based on someone’s behavior outside the examination grounds. However, given the circumstances, I believe it may be necessary. How about accepting reports from the territory’s residents?”

“That’s a really good idea! Officially, we can say that a large number of outsiders have entered the territory, so we’re accepting reports of any inconveniences or complaints caused by them. I’ll personally make sure they’re addressed.”

Never imagining that her efforts to choose a husband would eventually earn her the great trust of the territory’s residents, Riat began making plans for how the reports would be submitted.

“Hey, pretty young lady! Have some fruit before you go!”

While Riat was talking with Sis, a merchant called out loudly to her.

Riat believed that the hat had completely hidden her face, so she did not immediately realize that the merchant was calling her. After looking around for a while, she finally understood that he was talking to her.

When Riat pointed at herself with her index finger, the merchant smiled and nodded.

Riat had heard countless times throughout her life that she was beautiful, and there had usually been some unpleasant ulterior motive behind those words.

As a result, whenever she heard them, she merely felt bored, even thinking, Again?

She had always thought people approached her with the same predictable, tiresome trick.

But this time, being called pretty felt genuinely pleasant.

Of course, it was probably another merchant’s tactic for selling his goods, but strangely enough, Riat found the kindness she received from ordinary people on the street amusing.

“That person really knows how to sell things.”

“You’re not actually taking that compliment at face value, are you?”

“This is the street, and I probably just look like an ordinary person. So I think I’m allowed to be genuinely happy about it.”

Riat answered gently as she walked toward the stall.

It seemed she had found one more reason to want to sneak out regularly.

Sicarius simply watched Riat’s retreating figure for a moment as she skipped along with a light, excited step.

Whenever Sicarius thought she had figured Riat out as a carefree and thoughtless person, Riat would suddenly show an entirely unexpected side of herself.

And for someone who seemed so simple, there were times when the expressions on her face held emotions so complicated that they were impossible to read.

When Sicarius had first been assigned as the aide to the County of Pshikia, she had looked into Riat Pshikia’s background.

Her impression at the time had been simple.

She probably didn’t have an easy life.

Still, Sicarius had not thought Riat’s life had been particularly difficult either.

Her beauty had probably attracted plenty of troublesome men, but thanks to that beauty, she had ultimately married a Count and received a considerable sum of money.

The Viscounty of Pshikia had been on the verge of collapse, so marrying into the wealthy House of Count Vortus had been a considerable benefit.

And after discovering that Count Vortus was planning a rebellion, she had killed her husband and received a great reward from the Emperor.

That was all Sicarius had thought had happened.

Perhaps she had even thought of Riat as a lucky woman.

But the actual Riat Pshikia was remarkably different from the woman Sicarius had imagined.

Sometimes she behaved exactly as Sicarius expected.

At other times, she acted as though she had half lost her mind…

And sometimes—very rarely—she would smile with an expression that Sicarius could not read at all.

Had that expression contained sadness?

Or relief?

Sicarius instinctively felt that she should not find out.

The more she tried to understand what emotion lay behind that expression, the more she felt that she might eventually make the wrong choice.

“Sis! Come over here and try some too!”

“The pretty young lady takes good care of her friend!”

“Ahaha! Did you hear that, Sis? He says we’re friends!”

“…I would prefer not to be mistaken for your friend anywhere.”

“But you were mistaken for one here! What can we do about that?!”

At Riat’s lighthearted reply and bright laughter, Sicarius shook her head.

Perhaps she had been worrying for nothing.

The cool autumn breeze of the approaching evening swept through the streets.

Riat held her hat firmly with one hand so that it would not blow away, while using the other to eat the fruit she had been given.

The juice bursting sweetly across her mouth made her wonder whether she should have some brought directly to the mansion.

Then—

Thud.

“Ah! Hey, are you all right?”

“I’m fine!”

A boy running toward them had collided with Riat.

Riat barely managed to catch the fruit before it fell and asked whether the boy was all right, but he merely said he was fine before hurriedly running away.

Was he on his way home because it was already evening?

Riat thought the boy’s clothes looked somewhat shabby as she took another bite of fruit.

Then—

Boom!

A loud noise suddenly came from behind them.

It was loud enough that everyone gathered in the street turned to look.

The boy who had collided with Riat moments earlier had tripped over a man’s foot and fallen to the ground.

Riat spun around in surprise, and just as Sicarius sensed that something was wrong and moved in front of her, the man let out a short sigh.

“He stole money and still shamelessly says he’s fine. There are people like this everywhere.”

“…Money? Oh, Sis. My purse is gone!”

“You brought money with you?”

“It’s essential when sneaking around. Wow, I actually got pickpocketed on the street even though I brought money with me.”

Riat’s eyes sparkled with fascination, apparently finding the experience of being pickpocketed for the first time rather interesting.

Sicarius let out a genuinely heartfelt sigh.

Had allowing this master to sneak outside really been a wise decision?

While Sicarius was deeply questioning that decision, Riat cheerfully skipped over to the fallen boy and crouched down to meet his eyes.

“Hey, how did you know I had a lot of money? Can you tell? Does it show? Do I look like I’m dripping with nobility?”

“…Are you crazy? Ugh!”

“You should watch your language, little boy.”

The man deliberately pressed his foot onto the boy’s back.

The boy cried out and struggled beneath him, while Riat stared blankly at the purse the boy tossed aside.

How many gold coins did I put in there?

She had simply grabbed whatever she could find before leaving.

There might even be enough inside to buy several shops around here.

It took roughly ten minutes before the city watch finally heard the commotion and arrived, taking the boy away.

Fortunately, they did not recognize Riat.

In fact, Riat had not even known there was a city watch stationed in the County.

Come to think of it, wasn’t there something about a temporary city watch among the documents Sis submitted for my approval a few days ago…?

“The city watch is really slow here. Well, I suppose it makes sense since all the knights were arrested.”

At the man’s sigh, Riat’s eyes suddenly widened.

That was right.

The knights of the County had all been dismissed because they were implicated in Count Vortus’s rebellion, which meant the territory’s knight order still remained vacant.

“Do you think we should increase the number of people in the city watch?”

“There’s been a huge competition, and so many outsiders will be coming here, so naturally problems like this will become more frequent…”

The man’s green eyes suddenly wavered.

Riat happened to be rising from her crouched position at that exact moment, so their eyes met directly.

Although her hat covered half of her face, when she looked up at him, her features were bound to be clearly visible.

But the man did not seem merely surprised by Riat’s beauty.

His expression was closer to bewilderment.

Then the man hurriedly spoke to her.

“I helped you just now, so I’ll accept one favor in return.”

“Oh, I was going to give you this purse as a thank-you.”

“I don’t need that.”

“If you knew how much money is inside this purse, you wouldn’t say that…”

As though he could not hear Riat—or perhaps as though he was deliberately ignoring her—the man suddenly blew gently onto his own thumb.

Then he pressed that thumb firmly against Riat’s forehead.

Riat was startled by his sudden movement, but before she could react, the man repeated the action once more.

This time, he pressed his lips against his palm and murmured something under his breath before trying to press his entire palm against her forehead.

Riat slapped his wrist away.

“What are you doing?”

“…Ah.”

The man’s green eyes became distant.

His hand could not possibly have hurt after being knocked away, yet he stared down at it for a long moment before letting out a short laugh.

Riat thought she faintly heard him mutter to himself,

There’s no way.

“I thought you might be someone I knew.”

“Is this how you usually check whether you know someone?”

“…Yes.”

“If that’s the case, then I have nothing to say.”

Riat had only asked sarcastically, but the self-mockery contained in his answer silenced her.

He checks whether someone is an acquaintance like that?

Is he even human?

Riat scrutinized the man from head to toe with deep suspicion.

His hair was pitch-black, like darkness that absorbed every trace of light, while his skin was somewhat pale.

The corners of his eyes, which framed his green irises, tilted slightly upward, giving him a sharp appearance.

Yet whenever he spoke, they curved into a rounded shape that made him seem somewhat playful.

His overall impression was arrogant yet somewhat languid.

But strangely, his green eyes were dark, as though they held the lifelessness of something already dead.

Because of the deep-set shape of his eyes, there was even a faintly melancholy atmosphere about him.

Are those dark shadows beneath his eyes because he doesn’t sleep well?

Riat stared at his face for a while before reaching a conclusion.

He was quite handsome.

No—

Very handsome.

He looked like the son of a noble family, yet his clothes were shabby…

“…Don’t you think you’re staring at me a little too much?”

“You were staring at me just a moment ago too.”

Though she was not sure whether he had really been looking at her.

Rather, he had grabbed her as though possessed by something and pressed his thumb firmly against her forehead.

The warmth transmitted through his thumb felt strangely unfamiliar now that she thought about it.

And beginning with that unfamiliar sensation, Riat suddenly felt as though everything around her had become unfamiliar.

There were moments when the entire scenery surrounding her suddenly felt new.

This was one of those moments.

The wind blowing past her felt unfamiliar.

The man’s hair fluttering in the breeze seemed new.

And the eyes quietly looking down at her…

Those lifeless green eyes strangely reminded her of a forest.

“…?”

A sudden shiver ran through her body.

Riat had never experienced anything like it before.

She sucked in a breath and placed a hand against her chest.

Her heart dropped with a heavy thump.

“If everything has been resolved, may I leave now? I’m sorry about the strange way I acted earlier, but… let’s consider that the price for helping you, and now we should part—”

“Wait.”

Riat hurriedly grabbed the sleeve of the man who was trying to leave.

It was exactly the same gesture he had made toward her moments earlier.

“Have we… met somewhere before?”

“What? Haha. I’ve gotten that line quite a lot, but it’s been a while since someone used it on me. And don’t people usually stop using lines like that these days?”

“Answer me quickly!”

Riat raised her voice.

The man’s eyes widened in surprise.

Even then, Riat could not tear her gaze away from his eyes.

She felt as though she were under a spell, her attention captured by those green irises.

And perhaps…

perhaps she was experiencing déjà vu.

I’ve seen something like this somewhere before.

No… Have I felt it before?

“I haven’t been into the city for a very long time… so I don’t think we’ve met before.”

“How long has it been?”

“It’s been long enough that I can confidently say you’ve never met me before.”

The man answered firmly, then grinned as he slipped his sleeve free from Riat’s grasp.

“And thank you for showing an interest in me, but I came here to apply for that strange and fascinating competition being held in this territory.”

The corners of his eyes curled mischievously.

Apparently, the playful impression Riat had noticed earlier had not been a mistake.

He smiled quite happily.

Then, before Riat could add another word, he abruptly turned and walked away.

Riat stared blankly at his retreating figure before letting out a short sigh.

She had merely grabbed his sleeve and then let go.

Yet the sensation of him slipping from her grasp lingered strangely in her hand.

“Sis.”

“Should I find out who he is and give him some extra points?”

“…What kind of expression was I making for you to say something like that?”

“The expression of someone who fell in love at first sight?”

At those words, Riat immediately made a deeply disgusted face.

For a moment, her heart had thumped heavily and her entire body had tingled.

But that had lasted only an instant.

If her heart had continued pounding afterward, perhaps she would have been delighted at finally meeting her destined partner.

But the strange sense of déjà vu had been much stronger.

Riat gazed quietly at the street where the man had disappeared, then lowered her eyes to the purse still in her hand.

“Forget the bonus points. Find out everything you can about that man.”