Chapter 8
“Why are you coming out from there at this hour?”
“I couldn’t sleep, so I went for a walk…….”
“A walk in a place more than 30 minutes away from home?”
“This walking path is pretty, you know.”
She pointed toward the riverbank where the small boats were tied up.
“Doesn’t it look even prettier if you climb up here?”
Want to come up too? I kindly offered, but I was ignored.
Who do you think it was?
Who else could it be. It was Arden.
Arden, who had been glancing at me as if I were the strangest person in the world, suddenly frowned.
“By the way, sunbae.”
“Yes?”
“Are you standing on the wall right now… while wearing shoes?”
“Going up barefoot would be even weirder…… Sorry.”
At the icy glare, I immediately backed down.
“I’ll come down.”
“Yes.”
I jumped down right away.
Arden, who had stretched out his arms to catch me, stared blankly at me as I landed perfectly without his help.
“…….”
“…….”
“I’m pretty good at keeping my balance.”
“It certainly looks that way.”
“Next time I jump from somewhere higher, catch me.”
“Are you saying you’re going to climb up again?”
“You never know what might happen in life, do you?”
Even if I jumped from that clock tower over there, would you have to do your very best to catch me? I joked while pointing at the clock tower visible in the distant square.
“You’re not allowed to just push me away, okay?”
He didn’t even reply.
“If you can’t sleep, go to the hospital. Don’t wander around like this.”
“Is there a hospital you can go to when you can’t sleep? Oh, I heard a new one just opened.”
They say a hospital has been built for people suffering from problems of the heart, not the body.
His Highness the Crown Prince personally invited doctors from abroad, apparently.
He really is a good person.
“His Highness the Crown Prince must have a very considerate and gentle personality.”
“…….”
“The fact that he strengthened patrols so people can return home safely at night, and this hospital matter too.”
He must definitely be kind and delicate. I even clapped my hands while praising him.
“I heard he’ll hold his coronation ceremony soon. How old is he, actually? Was he about three years older than me?”
“I don’t know.”
“Good grief.”
So prickly.
I grumbled inwardly and looked Arden up and down.
Even though he was wearing the pitch-black uniform of the Imperial Knights and a black coat over it, his face was so bright that he didn’t look gloomy at all. His blond hair was literally an accessory.
The shirt sleeve faintly visible inside the coat had purple cufflinks, and they matched his hair color perfectly.
‘Those cufflinks look like real gemstones. Everything he wears is subtly expensive.’
He buys 50 handkerchiefs every day, buys cufflinks… He must live in our boarding house because he has no money left after all that dressing up.
Tsk tsk.
“Arden.”
“What.”
“The Imperial Knights receive a pension, but life sometimes brings accidents that even a pension can’t cover.”
They say that as you get older, unexpected expenses appear that you never imagined when you were young.
“So you have to save a certain amount of your salary every month for such cases. Got it?”
“I wouldn’t know.”
“How long do you think you can stay this young and healthy? Prepare for your old age. Think of the money I’m earning now as something you’ll share with the old me 60 years from now.”
“…….”
“Your parents are still alive, right?”
“Someone might hear that and you’d be executed for treason, yet you say it so casually…….”
“What did you say?”
“I don’t know.”
“Good grief.”
Anyway, even though Arden ignored everything I said, he didn’t seem to have any intention of leaving first.
Naturally, the two of us started walking along the riverbank together.
“But why were you here at this hour? Did you get off work late?”
“On my way home, I saw the capital guards running.”
“Oh.”
“They said a report came in from the Demarci street area.”
“Oh.”
I’ll just pretend I don’t know anything.
“Really? What happened?”
“It was nothing serious, apparently. They said a magician appeared.”
“A magician….”
“It was noisy for a moment and then quickly wrapped up.”
Arden spoke calmly, showing no sign of connecting the incident on Demarci street with me, who was out walking in the middle of the night.
“Phew.”
As I let out a sigh of relief, Arden stared at me.
“Why?”
“There’s something on your hair.”
“Really?”
Where? I tilted my head and brushed my hair with my palm.
Pat pat pat.
“Is it gone now?”
“No.”
Pat pat pat pat pat.
“Now?”
“It’s still there.”
“I’ll just go with it then.”
At that, Arden, who had been hesitating, reached out his hand.
Somehow he was already wearing gloves his hand lightly touched the ends of my hair with minimal contact and then withdrew.
What came off on his fingertips was—
“Ah.”
A petal.
One of the petals that had scattered when I transformed earlier.
Having confirmed what it was, Arden clenched his hand into a fist.
“I had an errand earlier at a mansion with a greenhouse.”
I made an excuse because I felt guilty.
“There was a flowering tree in the middle of the mansion, and it must have stuck to me when I passed under it. I was jealous. Getting to see flowers in this season.”
“What’s there to be jealous of? Spring is almost here.”
“That’s true.”
Spring really is coming soon.
I looked up at the sky.
Right now it’s still the season where your breath comes out white every time you speak, but it will get warm soon.
“Arden.”
“…Yes.”
“Do you think the world is in winter right now?”
Is the world that cold and chaotic? To the point that an oracle came down to choose a magic saintess for the first time in 950 years?
“Wasn’t the wartime era more chaotic?”
That was 500 years ago, I think, yet even then there was no magic saintess, so why now. I swallowed the grumbling I couldn’t voice.
I hadn’t expected a reply anyway, but unexpectedly Arden gave a serious answer.
“The average has risen, but the gap has widened.”
“Hm?”
“Back then everyone lived a -100 life together. But now—”
Some people live +100 lives, while most live -50 lives.
“Ah.”
“For some people, that gap might be the greatest chaos of all.”
“I see…….”
I hadn’t thought of it that way. I nodded. Arden glanced at me and added,
“That’s why I will work hard to change it. So that a fair spring comes for everyone.”
“You will?”
“Why. Do you think I can’t?”
It’s not that I think you can’t.
But you’re not even the emperor, how can you declare it so confidently……
“Sunbae can change it too.”
“Me?”
“Yes. Isn’t that why you studied?”
To make the world a better place. Arden added.
“…….”
No. I studied for my own personal success.
But in front of a junior who says he’ll change the world, saying that would hurt my pride as a senior.
“Right. Exactly. I studied to change the world.”
“Yes. I’ve thought about it, and I think sunbae can do it.”
“Okay. Let’s do our best. When I succeed, I’ll definitely buy you a meal.”
“Buy me two.”
“Alright.”
Suddenly I’ve become someone who will change the world.
“Hey, you can change the world too.”
“What are you muttering to yourself?”
We had already arrived in front of the boarding house Arden, who had opened the door, looked at me. As if asking why I wasn’t coming in.
While I was checking the mailbox, I called out to Arden who was about to go up first.
“By the way, Arden.”
“Yes.”
“When you say ‘I thought about it and that’s how it is,’ does that mean you think about me when I’m not around?”
“No?!”
“Oh.”
Just asking if you thought about me… is that something to get that angry about? To the point of suddenly raising your voice?
“I’m not the kind of person who thinks about others. Other people don’t even register to me.”
“Ah.”
“I live thinking only about myself.”
“I… see.”
Arden (21 years old, Imperial Knight) who will change the world but has no room in his mind for other people.
“Earlier at the knights cafeteria I received chocolate, and it was the chocolate sold at the academy. That’s why it came to mind. Because sunbae used to eat that chocolate a lot in the past. It’s not that I thought about you—it just came to mind.”
Isn’t that the same thing?
“Got it.”
I held back laughter and nodded.
Arden, looking displeased, pursed his lips and went upstairs first.
“Sleep well…?”
My greeting, shouted at his handsome back profile (even the back of his head is handsome), scattered vainly into the air.
And a moment later, morning came.
“Ugh… I don’t want to go to work…….”
When I barely slept for 30 minutes and forced myself to get up,
“Huh.”
In front of my room window, a single strand of green yarn was hanging and swaying.
It came down from upstairs, from Arden’s room.
Just like how academy students in different classes used to exchange notes.
Tied to the end of it was—
“…Chocolate?”
I stuck my body out the window and looked up, but Arden was nowhere to be seen.
The moment I grabbed the chocolate, the string was cut.
Tak. I heard the sound of a window closing.
“……It’s the one sold in the academy vending machine.”
The teaching assistants used to give one whenever we ran errands, so I always volunteered because I wanted to eat these.
And the note attached to the chocolate.
– I don’t feel like eating it anymore.
“…….”
I take back what I said two days ago while looking at Arden: “Which woman would take that guy?”
Anyone would take him.
Because he’s extremely handsome and just a tiny bit cute.
‘If possible, please get married after I pass the imperial palace civil service exam.’
I’ll give a lot of monetary gift.
While I was making that vow, down below in my field of vision, boys wearing berets and riding bicycles were delivering newspapers to each house.
[There are so many bad guys in the world that I came personally to catch them… The appearance of the Magic Saintess]
[What is a Magic Saintess?]
[Who is the innocent new member of society who had her job stolen?]
When I saw the photo printed there, I ended up throwing up.
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