Chapter 67

Chapter 67. Please Do Not Lie (7)

SNAP! FLASH!

When I snapped my fingers, a bright light soon came on.

However, because of the steam inside the bath, I could hardly see even right in front of me.

Mm, if I remember correctly, it should be somewhere around here…

Relying roughly on memory, I found the dipper and tub, scooped up water from the bath, and washed myself.

SPLASH~

Pour one dipper of water over my body, soap myself, and pour water again.

This time, pour water over my hair, soap it too, and pour water again.

All right, done.

Smiling softly, I slowly lowered myself into the bath.

Uuugh!

Haaah~ A hot spring bath inside the house. This really is wonderful.

Like that, I soaked myself in the hot water and closed my eyes in silence for a while. Then I suddenly remembered what that fellow had told me earlier.

Since I had already come into the bath, I decided to properly sink into thought.

Watching a fire in the middle of the night.

Serpiz.

…Mm. I do not know.

I was already tired because so much had happened today. A dragon came at dawn and broke all the windows, so we had to replace them without receiving repair costs—though we did have what Mr. Kal gave us.

Mm, I should reduce Mr. Jimant’s inn fee a little. Thanks to him, we replaced all the windows before noon.

Come to think of it, Narsh also left immediately this morning.

Then in the afternoon, we did laundry. Good grief. Now that I think about it, today really was long.

For some reason, it felt as though all my fatigue was suddenly rushing over me at once.

Thinking comfortably like that, I leaned against the wall of the bath and relaxed my body.

And in that instant, something turned my mind upside down, and I immediately sprang to my feet.

Idiot! Why am I only remembering this now?!

Watching a fire in the middle of the night.

Serpiz.

“He,” who had gone to the desert nation in the east.

Gritting my teeth, I hurriedly waded through the bath.

Walking through water felt unnatural, but this was not the time to think about that.

I have to go quickly…

Huh? Why should I help them?

I stood blankly in the middle of the bath, searching for the answer to that question, then sat down again.

The water rose up to my neck.

Right. Why should I go?

When I was once their enemy.

All they ever gave me was a baptism of weapons that could never be called friendly.

In the middle of that, I realized one more thing.

The reason Rene had lied.

She had been worried about me from the very beginning.

Oh dear. My nose suddenly stings, and now I want to see Rene’s face.

I fiddled a little with the hair tickling my back, then simply entrusted my body to the water and floated as I stared up at the ceiling.

What should I do?

Rattle~

Startled by the sound of the door opening, I hurriedly sank my body and looked toward the door with only my head above the water.

Who? No, there is no need to think about that.

“Rene?”

“Correct. Dinner is ready. Han, where are you?”

She had eyes that could see in the dark, but it seemed she could not see well in this mist.

Thinking about the meaning of the lie she had told, I let out a small sigh and approached Rene.

She was standing by the door, looking around. When I approached, she turned her face toward me with a faint smile, and I spoke while looking at her smile.

“I will eat a little later. So do not wait for me. Eat with the others first.”

Rene smiled brightly and nodded. Then she walked to the open door, stuck her head outside, and said loudly,

“Luna, please eat with Mr. Jimant first! We will eat a little later.”

After saying that, Rene smiled softly, lightly removed her blouse and undergarments, and put them into the wardrobe.

Then, with one large towel wrapped around her body and her tied-back hair loosened, she slipped into the bath.

Rene, moving those long legs through the water as she approached me, stopped for a moment, tilted her head, and said,

“Are you sick? Your nose is bleeding!”

“Huh?!”

At her remark, I hurriedly turned around and covered my nose with both hands.

My head did not turn away?! Why?

Oh, God!

I touched my nose a little, but it was only a light nosebleed, and not much blood came out.

It stopped quickly.

After roughly washing my nose with the bathwater, I turned my head to say a word of warning to Rene.

But I could not.

Because I could vividly feel her body against my back.

Suppressing the nosebleed that felt as though it might burst out again, I slowly turned my head.

Then I saw Rene’s face as she clung to my back and rested her chin on my shoulder.

“R-R-Rene?”

“It is all right if we bathe together, is it not? No saying no. I already came in.”

Rene said that while clinging to my back and rubbing her cheek against me.

Ugh! God, lead me not into temptation!

I calmed my mind like that and slowly turned my body.

At that, Rene smiled loosely and this time came into my arms against my chest. I let out a hollow laugh.

“How long has it been since we bathed together like this?”

“It has not been that long. About a month?”

Rene raised her head, quietly looked at my face, then smiled loosely and said,

“Han? Do not be so nervous.”

“N-no. I am not particularly…”

“But I can hear your heart beating very loudly.”

Those were Rene’s words as she pressed her ear to my chest as soon as she heard me speak. Suddenly, I felt something drop somewhere inside my chest.

Ugh.

Rene looked at my face for a moment, smiled softly, then lightly hugged my arm instead of moving away from my chest and said,

“What is wrong with a married couple bathing together? Hm? Relax your face. Now, I will scrub your back, so go outside.”

It seemed I was fated to live being pushed around.

Rene said this would not do and forcibly dragged me outside by the arm despite my resistance, then ended up scrubbing my back.

Ugh.

“You are sparkling.”

That was Luna’s impression when she saw us walking out of the bath with towels around our necks and our arms crossed.

I gave her a somewhat bitter smile, looked around, and said,

“Where is Mr. Jimant?”

“He went upstairs first. With a bottle of liquor in his hand.”

I nodded to her and, led by Rene, was dragged into the kitchen to eat dinner.

For a while, I ended up sitting in the hall with Luna.

It was too early to sleep, but after bathing, I felt too languid to do anything else.

So I simply watched Luna read her book for a while. Then I decided I might as well read a book myself and walked toward Rene’s study.

If one passed through the hall and opened the door where the stairs and first-floor corridor met, the study appeared at once.

The study in our house was longer than an ordinary room. Since all the leftover space had been made into the study when the house was built, it was like three rooms connected together.

When one opened the door and entered, there were enormous bookshelves, a fireplace, and a carpet spread across the floor.

Thanks to Rene, the room created a soft and elegant atmosphere.

As I slowly walked toward her, I looked over the books in the study one by one.

Every single one has such stiff titles.

Hm? Among the books I passed, one caught my eye, so I pulled it out.

“Spirit Magic”

I flipped through it to find out whether what Rene had said earlier about spirits liking pranks was true.

Then I found a suitable section and began to read… or at least, I tried to, before simply putting it back and walking over to Rene.

Rene closed her book and gave me a small smile as she looked at me. I showed her a faint smile and sat down in front of her.

“You need to practice reading.”

To think it was a book written in Elvish.

The cover had clearly been in Merses language.

Mm. I gave her a bitter smile at her words, propped my chin on both hands, and quietly looked into Rene’s golden eyes as I said,

“Rene.”

“Yes?”

“You are beautiful.”

At my words, Rene smiled softly with her eyes.

“Thank you.”

I quietly looked at her smile for a moment, then turned my gaze toward the red-hot charcoal burning inside the fireplace.

It is burning well.

“Why did you lie?”

“I cannot tell you.”

Rene closed the book, placed her clasped hands on top of it, lowered her head deeply, and spoke in a thin voice. I looked at her like that, then smiled faintly.

Thank you for worrying about me.

I rose from my seat.

Then I walked to Rene’s side as she kept her head lowered, reached out, lightly held her chin, and turned it toward me.

Then I lowered my head and waist and kissed her forehead.

“Ah…”

“Good night. I will go upstairs first.”

Rene stared blankly at me as I slowly walked away. I turned my head, looked at her, and smiled softly.

At that, Rene smiled warmly with her eyes, lifted the book, put it back in its original place, and ran toward me.

As soon as she approached me, she hugged my arm tightly and said,

“Let us go together.”

“Huh? What about your book?”

“I can read something like that anytime. Let us go. I was feeling tired anyway.”

I tilted my head at her words.

Strange. She does not look that tired.

Simply accepting it as it was, I walked through the study with her.

Because the room was long, we had to walk a little before reaching the door.

Beside me, Rene held my arm and smiled loosely as though she was very happy, and it was not an atmosphere where I could easily speak to her.

She looked too happy.

So I walked while looking at the bookshelves, but when I found some strange objects, I became curious and asked Rene,

“Rene, what are those?”

“Yes? What?”

I raised my hand and pointed at the scrolls completely filling one large bookshelf. Seeing them, Rene smiled brightly and explained.

“They are scrolls. Magic is sealed inside them. They are things I used before, but it felt wrong to throw them away, so I kept them.”

I nodded at her words.

Mm. Scrolls, then?

They looked exactly like ordinary scrolls one might use to write something down, but she was saying magic was sealed inside them?

I studied them carefully for a moment, but because Rene led me away, I was dragged outside without any resistance.

Luna was still sitting in the hall, reading a book. When Rene saw that, she smiled softly, and I turned my head to look at the wall clock.

Mm. It is only eight o’clock?

Come to think of it, I can sleep properly for the first time in a while.

“Luna? We will go upstairs first.”

Luna, who had been reading, slightly raised her head and glanced at us once, then merely lifted her hand and waved it.

At that sight, Rene turned her head, grabbed my arm, and pattered up the stairs.

I tilted my head a little at her behavior.

Why is Rene acting like this?

Once we went up to the second floor, I asked her something I had been curious about.

“Rene?”

“Why?”

She turned her head with a bright smile, and I looked at her face for a moment before asking,

“You somehow seem to be in a good mood.”

“Hehe~ Of course I am. I received forgiveness. How could I not be in a good mood?”

Forgiveness?

Ah, the kiss on the forehead earlier?

I had only done it to say thank you, but did Rene take that as forgiveness?

Certainly, she probably still thinks I know nothing.

Mm, good. I will pretend I do not know until the end.

I am not bothered by it, so I can let it count as forgiveness.

I entered the room together with Rene, who was so happy because she mistakenly thought she had received my forgiveness that she hardly knew what to do with herself.

Aah, perhaps because I bathed, my body feels quite languid.

Like that, I changed into sleepwear and was about to crawl under the bedsheet when something tugged at my sleepwear.

When I turned my head, Rene was standing there.

She had not changed into sleepwear and was still wearing only the light skirt and blouse she had put on after leaving the bath.

Huh? Why is she not changing?

I made a face that asked her what was wrong.

Rene, who had been standing there with a quiet smile while holding the hem of my shirt, abruptly said,

“Hold me.”

My mouth fell open.

So that is why she did not change clothes…

“Um, Rene. I am a little tired.”

However, it seemed Rene had already decided not to listen to me.

She slowly approached me, quietly asked for a kiss, and I, I…

---

“I cannot sleep.”

As I said that, I sat up.

What time is it?

At that moment, I heard something mumbling, so I lowered my head to the side and saw Rene sleeping soundly while wearing my sleepwear again.

In the end, I had given in.

But why can I not sleep? Normally, I would have fallen fast asleep.

Mm, this feels unpleasant.

It feels as though something is still bothering me.

As though there is something I have to do, and something of mine keeps catching on it.

Damn it!

I removed Rene’s arm from around my waist and got down from the bed.

Then I walked to the window and slightly pulled back the curtain.

I could see the eastern sky lit by the full moon.

It was quiet.

Am I worrying for nothing? Mm…

I shook my head vigorously and went back to bed.

But sleep would not come.

I pulled Rene, lying beside me, into my arms and tried to sleep, but the feeling that something was catching on me remained the same.

Should I get some cold air?

I sat up again, covered Rene’s body with the sheet, and went downstairs alone.

All the lights were out.

I was about to go down to the hall, but instead, I simply sat down on the stairs and looked down at the silent hall.

Haaah! What should I do? It keeps bothering me. Should I go have a look?

If I quietly take only two Teleport scrolls from the study and go there quickly, then come back…

-If you go there, Rene will be sad.

Who?!

I sprang up from my seat and glared into the hall.

Then, near the table in the middle of the hall, I saw two eyes glowing red.

Mindful of the others, I asked quietly,

“Is that you? How can you stand…”

I stopped speaking halfway, and he continued in my place.

-You saw it too, did you not? The full moon. It is my golden outing time, which comes once a month.

“What are you trying to say?”

-Not much. I am simply saying I will watch your choice. Just like that young man Jeff.

I glared for a moment at the fellow speaking in the dark, then rose from my seat.

“Damn it! I do not know! What do you want from me? Damn it~ I only need Rene. I will greet an ordinary, peaceful morning tomorrow with her.”

As I turned around to return to the room, his leisurely voice sounded quietly from the darkness.

-I can hear the wretched screams of the Serpiz Border Guard. By now, he must have forced his way through there and be heading toward a nearby village.

I do not know for certain, but as far as I know, even if a zombie dragon cannot breathe a breath attack, it should be able to use magic. Until the time given to it runs out, it could probably wipe out several small villages.

In that instant, my steps froze in place.

Baring my teeth, I slowly turned my head, and I could see the thin smile of the fellow sitting in the darkness.

-You are human.