# Chapter 31
The forest was noisy from early morning. The faint sounds of animal cries reached the cabin. Whether it was territorial fighting or hierarchy disputes, it seemed they were having some kind of conflict among themselves. It wasn’t frequent, but it happened occasionally. No matter what one was born as, living wasn’t easy.
“I hope it ends quickly.”
Though the conflict wasn’t happening nearby, I was concerned. Hearing my words, Rite, who was knitting in front of the stove, turned his head to look outside the window.
“They must have important business too.”
“I suppose so. But you’ll be alone at home.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
Rite stopped his hands and looked at me with an expression of incomprehension. I glanced at the knitting project he was holding. Last time he knitted me a scarf, but this time the pattern looked much more complex. A thin white yarn was knitted about the size of an index finger.
“Won’t you be scared?”
“What would I be scared of?”
“Those fighting sounds keep coming.”
“What are you talking about? They’re courting right now.”
Courting? An unexpected word.
“Who is?”
“The creature making sounds outside. Torgaseok, I think.”
“How do you know that?”
“How could you not know? You just heard it all.”
We both looked at each other with expressions that said, “What are you talking about?” Rite grasped the situation faster. “Ah,” he sighed softly, then turned his head and continued the knitting he had paused.
“I guess Arden can’t hear it.”
Only after hearing his near-whisper did I realize what was happening. Rite had understood those monster cries. Not just what was happening, but even which monster it was.
Though I was bewildered, I was more concerned about Rite’s feelings at the moment. What should I do? While pondering, I suddenly recalled a past event and brought it up.
“You know, that time you ran away.”
Rite nodded without taking his eyes off the knitting needles.
“Do you know how I found you then?”
“How?”
The purple eyes turned toward me, seemingly interested. Pleased by that attention, I quickly continued.
“Many strange things happened then, but the most fascinating was the unicorn.”
“Unicorn?”
“The unicorn guided me to where you were.”
I looked at Rite with a sense of wonder, but his reaction was unexpected. He snorted and shook his head, then returned his gaze to his knitting.
“No way.”
“It’s true.”
“Why would something like that be in the Winter Forest?”
“I wonder about that too… But it really was there.”
Feeling wronged, I described the unicorn’s appearance in detail. How pure white and how brilliant it was. That even in this snow-covered forest, it was a glowing white.
“Fine, fine. I’ll believe you.”
His expression and tone suggested he didn’t believe me at all, but seeing him knitting with a smile still eased my mind somewhat. I put on my coat and wrapped the scarf Rite had knitted for me, preparing to go out. The deep brown scarf was thick, but the wool was soft, making it comfortable rather than stuffy or uncomfortable.
“Are you going to be late today?”
At Rite’s question, I calmly recalled what I needed to do today. I had to deliver completed work, receive new commissions, and bring back materials. Then I just needed to stop by Lucy’s store to buy white bread and yarn for Rite. When listed like this, it didn’t seem like much, but starting and finishing commissions was more complicated than one might think.
Since I only took orders discreetly from individuals, there were rarely complex jobs. But regardless of a project’s complexity, transactions themselves weren’t so simple. The main issue was that most clients couldn’t express exactly what they wanted. The vague instruction to “just figure it out” was the most difficult order for me.
“Maybe?”
So that’s how I answered. Since Rite considered it late if it was just past 5 PM, by his standards it would be.
“I’ll be going then.”
I greeted Rite as I picked up the large trunk bag containing my work. Rite stared at me blankly, having stopped his knitting. There was no particular reply, but I left without concern. After all, I was the only living being around Rite that he could observe. That’s why he stared like that. The wind coming from outside was cold.
* * *
Markus-ssi gave me notes saying he had received orders from his acquaintances, but the explanations were insufficient. For example, a note saying “Make the old lamp brighter” lacked explanations about how much brighter it should be, what budget they had in mind, or what purpose it would serve. I tried to help Markus-ssi understand this, writing down what additional information was needed next to the memo, asking him to get answers.
By the time I finished and left, over two hours had passed. Next, I stopped by the yarn shop to buy the medium-thickness yellow yarn and thin sky-blue yarn that Rite had requested. By the time I visited Lucy’s shop and bought white bread, it was almost 5 PM.
It was time for Rite to start preparing dinner. I wanted to hurry home and show him that I’d properly bought white bread. Lately, I felt my authority at home had diminished significantly. Unlike when I handled the finances and housework while caring for Rite, now Rite managed most of the household chores, naturally resulting in more nagging. His gaze as he nagged about what bread to buy and wearing clean socks reminded me of an orphanage director looking at a troublemaking child.
“Arden.”
As I was walking toward the edge of the village, I turned around at the voice calling me and saw the same face I had met yesterday.
“Are you going home?”
I nodded at Jack’s question but then frowned. As Jack approached, a strong fragrance wafted from him.
“Did you put on perfume?”
“Ah… well.”
Jack fumbled without giving a proper answer. He seemed flustered, perhaps embarrassed. I didn’t know why he reacted that way, but I wasn’t particularly curious, so I didn’t dwell on it. Carefully, trying not to be obvious, I stepped away from Jack.
“I was standing next to my father when he was spraying it, so some must have gotten on me too.”
Jack spoke quickly in a louder voice than usual. The scent was too strong to have just rubbed off from standing nearby. Since it wasn’t an important issue, I didn’t respond and just stared at him. I was waiting for Jack to speak, but he just blinked rapidly while looking back at me.
“Did you have something to say?”
“Oh, nothing particularly important. I just saw you passing by. But is the scent unpleasant?”
“Well, I’m not really good with perfumes.”
“You must prefer natural scents.”
“Anything is fine, as long as it’s not too heavily applied.”
“Ah.”
Jack awkwardly laughed while sniffing his wrist. He asked if it was too strong, which made me hesitate. Could I honestly say yes? While I was considering my answer, Jack moved on to the next topic.
“If you’re free, would you like to have dinner at my house? My father is quite a good cook. I’ve learned from him too.”
Dinner? I was too surprised to answer immediately. In all my life, I had never been invited to a meal by anyone. Even when I lived with Plin, it was the same. Plin didn’t really have anyone he would call a friend either.
“Ah… thank you, but I’m fine.”
I would have declined regardless of who invited me, since Rite was waiting at home, but Jack was unexpected. I had only learned his name yesterday, and we weren’t particularly close. Jack smiled easily at my refusal.
“That’s a shame. I was hoping to show off my cooking skills.”
Not knowing how to respond, I just stood there. Again, Jack said goodbye first. It was similar to yesterday. “Have a good evening,” he said, patting my shoulder before turning and leaving. I returned the same greeting and headed home.
* * *
When I returned home, I immediately saw Rite. He was sitting in the same place as this morning, holding his knitting work. Wondering if he had already finished preparing dinner, I glanced at the kitchen, but there was no food smell.
“You’re late.”
“I told you I might be.”
I approached the table and put down the white bread. As I turned around to check if the yarn I bought was what Rite wanted, our eyes met.
“Haven’t you started preparing dinner yet?”
“Who did you meet outside?”
“Huh?”
The response to my question was not an answer, but another question. Who did I meet outside? It was a natural question.
“Well, Markus-ssi and Lucy.”
“And?”
Besides them, there was no one Rite would know. Just the clerk at the yarn shop, and Jack.
“No one else really.”
“Yes, there was.”
His tone was certain. As if he had seen it himself. A strangely unpleasant feeling began to creep up.
“How would you know that?”
“Just tell me who you met.”
“You…”
You’re acting strange. That’s what I was about to say. What stopped me was the knitting that came into view. Something knitted with thin white yarn, about the size of an index finger. The size hadn’t changed at all. A hypothesis suddenly flashed through my mind.
“Did you go down to the village?”
“No.”
“Don’t lie. You did, didn’t you?”
After asking, I became certain. If no one else noticed, I could. I strode over and pointed to the knitting in Rite’s hands. Still, Rite looked at me without blinking.
“Then why is this exactly the same as this morning?”
“…”
“Tell me honestly, Rite.”
“…I just followed Arden, that’s all.”
“You know it’s dangerous. Why did you go alone without saying anything…”
“Because Arden makes me anxious.”
Rite suddenly raised his voice. My ears seemed to ring, and as I tried to step back while covering them, Rite was faster. He rose from his chair and grabbed my wrist. For a moment, a brief but strong wind was felt inside the house.
I had a sense of déjà vu. Hadn’t this happened a few times before? Too minor to dismiss as a mood, yet oddly irritating… Before I could identify what was happening, his face came close, as if threatening me.
“I asked who.”
“What is this about?”
“The person you met before coming home. The one who was grinning and talking to you, and patting your shoulder.”
“Ah… Jack.”
For a very brief moment, I had the illusion that Rite’s pupils had contracted. Not like human eyes, but like those of a beast. His grip on my wrist tightened.
“He’s just someone I barely know. He just asked if I wanted to have dinner together…”
“Dinner? Why would someone you barely know invite you to dinner?”
“Let go of this, Rite.”
I shook off his arm and stepped back. I wrapped my throbbing wrist with my other hand and slowly rotated it. The area he had gripped already showed red marks in the shape of fingers.
“The one who should be scolded right now isn’t me, it’s you.”
“What’s wrong? Arden belongs to me.”
Suddenly, a day from the past came to mind.
