# Chapter 86
He pressed his hand against the bed to keep his balance, but it was already too late. Their noses bumped, and something soft touched his lips. The sheets wrinkled beneath Arden’s palm.
With a quiet breath, Rite’s exhale scattered against Arden’s cheek. It was a light kiss without the slightest wetness.
Their lips parted with a moist sound. Rite gazed at Arden with dreamy eyes. He released the wrist he’d been holding and reached out. With the rustling sound of sheets, his index finger approached. It seemed to touch the corner of Arden’s eye before Rite closed his eyes again.
Their first kiss came without warning, without memory. It happened very differently from Rite’s romantic fantasy.
* * *
Arden couldn’t sleep a wink. It wasn’t easy to comprehend what situation he was in. Despite his feelings, his diligent mind came to a clear conclusion. He had kissed Rite. But he couldn’t accept that at face value. Arden, unable to sleep, decided to find about a hundred reasons why it wasn’t actually a kiss.
A kiss was an expression of the heart. Like pressing one’s lips to the back of a hand to show pure affection or respect, or touching another’s lips to express sexual desire. What distinguished a kiss from mere contact was the emotion behind it. A simple collision of skin couldn’t be called a kiss.
Rite must have confused dreams with reality. He’d simply pulled Arden toward him while half-asleep, like mumbling nonsense in a dream. If that wasn’t the case, there was no way he could act so nonchalant about it.
But why does he have such sleep habits? Arden looked at Rite, who was breathing softly in the next bed. He never thought he’d feel such irritation watching Rite sleep.
And for another reason… come to think of it, what was that perfume anyway?
Arden kept getting distracted and couldn’t even find three reasons why it wasn’t a kiss.
“……, ……!”
The first to react to the commotion outside was Rite. Arden was more startled by Rite suddenly sitting up than by the disorder outside, and his eyes widened. Rite rose with quick, smooth movements, then knelt on the bed, focusing on the sounds.
“What’s that noise?”
“I’m not sure……”
Arden also raised his upper body and turned on the lamp placed on the bedside table. Rite was already sitting on the edge of the bed, putting on his shoes.
“Arden, stay here.”
“No. I’m coming with you.”
Arden’s voice was firm. Rite quickly agreed and put on his top.
When they left the room, several guests were already outside their doors. Some were gripping doorknobs and peering outside, while others stood by the second-floor railing looking down. As Arden adjusted his light and moved toward the stairs, Rite followed closely behind.
The first floor was also dark. The innkeeper stood at the door with just a small lantern, anxiously peering outside. Even though he’d locked the door securely, he seemed to feel the need to guard it.
“What’s happening?”
The innkeeper, still keeping his eyes fixed outside, explained in response to Arden’s question.
“Thieves. Thieves again……”
At those words, Arden also approached the window to look outside. Though it was too dark to see clearly, several torches were flickering.
“But this time it seems the thief ran into Arto. After standing guard all night, finally……”
“Shouldn’t there be knights in the village? Does no one know where they are?”
Just as Arden was looking around and asking, someone suddenly gripped his shoulder with strong hands. When he turned at the forceful grasp, he immediately met Rite’s eyes.
“Did you say there are knights here?”
“I saw them earlier today.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me?”
“……”
“…Can we still stay here?”
Rite whispered, lowering his voice. While Rite felt this way, Arden also had no fond memories of knights. But they couldn’t leave now. First, Rite’s lessons weren’t finished yet. And.
“Our next destination is Rosmunt anyway. There will be even more knights there.”
“……”
“Not all knights know our faces, so we’ll be fine if we’re careful.”
Arden only mentioned the second reason. Rite was already doing his best, and he didn’t want to add to his burden. Most likely, the knights who knew Rite would be in Moran. There was no way ordinary knights would know about Rite’s existence, aside from the Sun Hawks.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I thought we’d be okay for now.”
Rite’s eyes flickered turbulently. His grip on Arden’s shoulder tightened.
“…Alright.”
The commotion ended quickly. The thief had ultimately escaped.
* * *
Rite woke up earlier than usual and headed to the magician’s house in the early morning before the sun rose. It wasn’t until after lunch that Arden went out, wearing his hat. Despite the risk, he needed to know how the situation was developing.
Worried about possibly becoming a search target again, he left all his belongings in the room. With a lighter pocket but a heavier heart, he pulled down the brim of his hat to cover his face.
Perhaps because of yesterday’s commotion, several shops remained closed. The expressions of people gathered in the streets talking were uniformly grim.
“Yesterday, Arto ran all the way from the orchard to here……”
“And he still couldn’t catch them?”
“Well, given his age……”
“How many people were there to let them escape?”
“Did they see the face? Did they?”
Though each spoke in a different voice, they were all talking about the same thing. The village was uneasy. Arden felt uncomfortable, like a thorn stuck under his fingernail. Something was clearly out of place, but his mind felt shrouded in thick fog, making it impossible to figure out what.
With his head bowed low as he walked, Arden’s vision was limited to people’s feet and hands. That was enough for him to avoid collisions while walking. That is, until familiar boots entered his field of vision.
When he saw black uniform sleeves and dark brown boots, Arden’s body froze stiff. They were garments much more familiar than the changed uniforms. Because of this, he failed to avoid the approaching knight and their shoulders collided.
Arden’s heartbeat immediately accelerated. The fingertips of the person he’d bumped into trembled slightly. Whether from injury, his little finger was wrapped in bandages.
“Ah……”
“What’s wrong?”
“No, it’s just that my finger keeps throbbing……”
“Is it going to rain? That would be trouble.”
The knight he bumped into passed by without even giving Arden a glance. With each step, a faint, discordant sound could be heard. Even then, Arden remained unsettled, unable to exhale while staring at the ground.
“Eden?”
Knights always brought nothing but trouble. It might be different for others, but for Arden at least, that was the case.
‘What’s that thing on your ear?’
‘Everyone else is quiet. No one else is complaining, so why are you?’
‘Have you seen any monsters around?’
‘We still need to make sure. That hat. Take it off.’
From his days as an engineer at the castle to living quietly in Winterishe, not once had they been favorable toward Arden. They made him bow his head like a criminal even when he’d committed no crime. Now that he had so much more to protect, Arden felt suffocated.
“Eden!”
With a cheerful voice, someone patted Arden’s back. At the same moment, Arden finally exhaled the breath he’d been holding.
“Is something wrong? Why are you standing here blankly?”
It was Corol. Perhaps because it wasn’t his real name, or because he was distracted, he hadn’t realized someone was calling him. Arden composed his expression as if nothing had happened and shook his head.
“Nothing’s wrong.”
“Great! Help me out then!”
Before he could answer, Corol grabbed Arden’s hand and pulled him along.
Corol had brought Arden to help with work at the orchard, but her plan was thwarted by her mother. She scolded Corol, saying they couldn’t make a guest from elsewhere work.
She’s just saying that! I wasn’t really planning to make you work! Corol protested indignantly.
With his hat pulled down, his impression became even more gloomy as he leaned against the wall. Once again, he held an apple in one hand while keeping an eye on his surroundings.
The house Corol had pulled him to was small but charming. The white fence looked newly built, and the low saplings growing around it, along with the fully grown trees, all reflected the caretaker’s dedication.
The residential area, away from the bustling streets, was quiet. Houses were spaced far enough apart that shouting from a neighbor’s house would be hard to make out, but the unease persisted.
“My father’s determination almost paid off. It’s really disappointing, isn’t it?”
“Is your father’s name… Arto, by any chance?”
“How did you know?”
Corol nodded as she spoke. Kaiyu was hanging laundry a short distance away, and near him, their mother sat in a chair knitting.
“What was stolen this time?”
“Well, nothing specifically disappeared, but father said suspicious men were digging in the ground.”
“The ground?”
“Yes, with their faces completely covered like this. So my father shouted, asking what they were doing, and ran toward them. If he had approached quietly and secretly, he might have caught at least one of them. Such a shame.”
First, they damaged the means of transportation, and now they were digging in the ground. Did the covered faces mean they might be locals? Arden frowned at the thieves’ unclear objective.
Corol, saying she needed to help her father, put on boots that came up to her knees, picked up large pruning shears, and enthusiastically continued her story.
“Ever since we had the youngest child, his enthusiasm seems to have surged… Yesterday, his expression was like that of a young hunter. But what can you do? His body isn’t what it used to be. I wish he would consider his age.”
Arden fell into thought while listening to Corol. The country was too chaotic. The continuous rain in Winterishe, the land in Menden, and now thieves in Idelven—nowhere was peaceful.
While the country is in this mess, I wonder what the Emperor is doing. Perhaps Moran isn’t peaceful either.
“He acted like he would catch them all, but eventually let them escape… Only my slingshot was effective! I wasn’t sure it would work, but it hit right on target!”
“You just grazed their hand……”
“Shut up! You were just staying at home because you were scared!”
“I was guarding the house.”
Kaiyu, who had been hanging laundry at a distance, suddenly interjected. At those words, Arden snapped out of his thoughts.
“Hand?”
“I couldn’t help it! It’s naturally difficult to hit someone running away in the middle of the night. Isn’t it amazing that I managed to hit them at all?”
The little finger of the knight he’d bumped into earlier flashed through Arden’s mind again.
