Chapter 103
“A Joke I Want to Believe”
‘Then… was it not just a sense of debt?’
Blinking, I looked straight at Roitz.
Back then, what emotion had he been so afraid of?
To begin with, I didn’t really understand what it meant to be afraid of emotions.
The wind blew, brushing the grass against my cheek.
Listening to the sound, Roitz suddenly asked another question.
“Serdin, why did you come to Elche?”
It sounded like something out of an interview.
“You know questions like that really put people on the spot, right?”
“Then you don’t have to answer.”
And yet, because he said that, I felt like I wanted to answer.
“No, I’ll answer.”
“You don’t have to.”
“I said I will.”
“…Alright. Then why did you come?”
“Can I be honest?”
“What kind of answer are you planning to give?”
Turning onto my back, I looked up at the sky. Running my hand through the grass a few times, I thought for a moment.
“Because it seemed nice. The uniforms at Elche look cool, and the work itself seemed respectable.”
From the grass came his voice in reply: “That’s true.”
Well, what I said wasn’t exactly a lie.
But I also knew there was another reason.
The truth of why I really came to Elche, why I made that decision.
“Actually, there’s another reason.”
“What is it?”
“Because of you, Senior.”
Roitz didn’t respond immediately—he just looked at me quietly, as though wondering if it was a joke.
“…A joke I want to believe, huh.”
“You know it’s true. I originally wasn’t going to come to Elche. But because of you, I did.”
Roitz didn’t reply for a long moment. Then, turning away from me, he lay on his side.
At last, after a silence, he asked:
“Why?”
“…I just wanted to keep following you.”
The waves on Kadel Forest Lake rippled gently in the wind.
As the ripples spread silently outward toward the center of the lake, Roitz turned back toward me.
“Serdin.”
His face wasn’t exactly smiling. But it felt like a smile was about to tug at his lips.
I didn’t know why he looked like that, but it made me feel strangely unsettled.
So this time, I quickly rolled away, turning my back to him.
Behind me came his low voice:
“So, the Elche you chose… is the Elche I’m in?”
“…Something like that.”
A blade of grass brushed against my neck, tickling me. The sensation made me clench my hand tightly.
The forest fell quiet again, the silence broken only by the sound of the wind.
And with it, the lake rippled on, calm and endless.
On the way back, Roitz brought up the incident with the prince I had rescued.
I hadn’t intended to brag, but that incident had already spread far and wide.
The day His Highness came to Elche himself because I had saved him.
“You did well.”
“Honestly, not really. I let the culprit escape.”
“You protected a prince his own guards couldn’t protect. You don’t need to dismiss what you did right just because of one failure.”
“…Then I’ll call it a success.”
Swaying in the saddle as we talked made me drowsy.
I nodded off several times, struggling to force my eyes open.
When I glanced down, I saw Roitz’s arm resting like a seatbelt along mine.
“Don’t fall asleep. You’ll tumble off.”
“I wasn’t falling.”
“Incredible. How does someone even manage to doze off on a galloping horse?”
“What can I do if I’m tired? Besides…”
Slumping, I straightened my back and turned toward him.
And immediately, our eyes met up close.
Sharing the same horse inevitably made the distance between us short.
“Even if I fall asleep, Commander, you’ll get us back safely, won’t you?”
I added a playful grin with the words, like bait to soften the scolding I expected.
But instead of scolding me, Roitz only blinked, his expression stiff.
Then, turning away, he looked into the distance.
The horse sped up. Startled, my eyes flew open, wide awake.
He’d said I’d fall if I dozed—but was he actually planning to throw me off?
I tried to turn to him again, but he blocked me with a hand to my head. Then, out of nowhere, he changed the subject.
“…Aaron Dessein took leave for a few days. Said there was family business.”
“Yes, I heard.”
With the fortress approaching, it seemed Elche business was weighing on him again.
I already knew Aaron had taken a short leave.
“Hopefully nothing serious. Aaron’s heart is softer than he lets on.”
In the original story too, Aaron wasn’t just baby-faced—he had the temperament of a child.
Judging from the fact that Roitz suddenly brought it up, he must be worried as well.
“I see.”
“I’ll keep an eye on Aaron a bit more.”
“…Why you?”
His voice dropped low, noticeably so.
So it wasn’t concern?
I’d noticed before—Roitz always seemed displeased when I mentioned Aaron.
Even during the Edikal Forest expedition, it was the same.
‘Does he not like Aaron?’
But in the original story, the two got along well enough.
Aaron worked hard too… perhaps to Roitz now, he just wasn’t good enough.
“Don’t.”
“Why not?”
“You already have too much to do. Don’t waste yourself on someone else.”
“Oh, so you do know I’m busy?”
“Of course. You’re my aide.”
“I thought you didn’t notice.”
He only urged the horse faster.
The rush of wind roared in my ears as the horse tore down the night road, the fortress looming closer.
‘Once we’re back, I’ll really need meditation.’
But then—
‘What’s that?’
Something moved in the shadow, where moonlight didn’t reach.
“Wait.”
I tugged the reins sharply, halting my horse.
My gaze locked on the darkness ahead.
Someone was running quietly through the night.
“Commander.”
It was just instinct, but it felt suspicious.
And I had never once been wrong to trust that instinct.
I met Roitz’s eyes.
He nodded, already understanding.
We urged our horses forward again, at a quiet pace that blended into the wind.
Up ahead, faintly caught in moonlight, was the figure of a man.
His frame was large, his body hidden under a robe.
And—
There was something familiar about that back.
I couldn’t see his face.
Not just because it was night.
‘That man is wearing a mask.’
It wasn’t clear, but it looked like the same one from the cruise ship.
If it really was him, then this time, I had to catch him.
The duelist from the Entry family, the charity party, the cruise ship… how many incidents had already involved a mask?
I couldn’t let this one slip away too.
At the far end of the street, the man stopped in a park, staring toward a mansion.
He moved closer to the wall.
One of the Cresen family estates.
‘That’s where Manon lives.’
In the moonlight, his tall silhouette briefly showed beneath the robe.
From the park’s grass, Roitz and I dismounted, keeping our distance.
The masked man lingered at the wall, glancing up at the mansion before turning away.
He hadn’t noticed us yet.
“Serdin.”
Roitz’s hand landed on my shoulder as he whispered:
“Stay here.”
His eyes stayed locked on the masked man as he spoke.
“No.”
“I have a reason.”
“What reason?”
“Just stay. It’s better that way.”
“If you won’t even tell me why, then no.”
“Serdin.”
He tried to fix me with a stern look, but I met him with stubborn eyes of my own.
Normally, I might have trusted that he had a plan and obeyed.
But not now.
Because I saw it—his honest eyes trembling slightly.
If I stayed behind, Roitz wasn’t going to come back.
Whatever his reason, he meant to face the masked man alone.
“We don’t have time for this. Let’s go.”
When I refused, he gave up and straightened.
Together, we stepped out of the park and toward the masked man.
Splitting off, I circled to the right, while Roitz went left—cutting off both paths of escape.
Step by step.
The masked man still hadn’t noticed.
Through the trees, I caught a glimpse of Roitz moving carefully, moonlight flashing across him.
‘Why did he want me to stay behind?’
Why try to leave me here?
Was the man that dangerous?
But if so, wouldn’t the two of us together be faster?
‘Then there must be another reason…’
At that moment, the masked man sensed us and turned his head.
