Chapter 9
Over the next few days, Arsen pretended to search hard.
Since Lowengrin had disappeared, his knights were temporarily under Arsen’s control.
Arsen walked around smiling every day, thinking he would become crown prince in just three months.
Of course, since his brother was missing, he acted serious and sad in public.
“Your Highness, where should we search today?”
“Anywhere. Do I have to tell you everything?”
“S-sorry!”
The new captain of the knights had replaced the former one, Phillips, who disappeared without a word.
Arsen waved his hand, signaling the captain to leave. The man bowed politely and left the room.
“Tsk. At least the last captain had some sense.”
The new captain obeyed well, but he was slow-witted. That was the problem.
Arsen decided to wait and see a little longer.
If Lowengrin’s body was found, Arsen would naturally become crown prince. So he decided to be a bit patient.
He didn’t allow the search to go beyond the capital.
If Lowengrin had run away, he would’ve left the city—but since Arsen believed he was already dead, it didn’t matter.
He thought they could expand the search outside the capital after about a month.
Meanwhile, the mood in Lowengrin’s knight barracks was dark.
“Ugh, damn it!”
Rian, one of Lowengrin’s knights, stomped his foot.
“Your Highness… where did you go?”
It didn’t make sense that he disappeared without anyone noticing.
They questioned the palace maids, but all they said was that Lowengrin told them not to let anyone in. That was useless.
And Arsen didn’t even seem to be trying hard to find him.
“This can’t go on.”
“Huh? Hey! Where are you going, Rian?”
Rian ran out of the barracks, thinking:
He had saved up his vacation days just for something like this.
Since joining the knights, he had never used any leave.
He didn’t even knock—he burst into the captain’s office.
“…What is it?”
“Captain, I’d like to take vacation.”
“What? Now? Are you out of your mind?”
“I’ll look for the prince on my own.”
“Sigh…”
Rian’s eyes were burning with determination.
The captain realized that trying to stop him wouldn’t work.
If he didn’t allow it, Rian might desert.
And leaving on vacation was very different from deserting. Desertion could get him kicked out of the knights.
He might never be able to apply to the royal guard again.
But Rian was the kind of guy who would do it anyway.
“Sit down first.”
The captain decided to try reasoning with him.
“What do you plan to do on your own? You could just go with the search teams.”
“Captain, be honest. Are we really trying to find him properly?”
“Well…”
The captain sighed deeply at Rian’s words.
Since there was no order to search outside the capital, they could only look inside.
Even when he requested permission to expand the search, Arsen gave no reply.
“I’ll find the prince.”
“And how will you do that?”
“You keep searching inside the capital. I’ll go outside.”
“Hmm…”
Maybe that really was the better idea.
The captain sighed again and asked,
“If you gather up all your leave, how long do you have?”
“About two months.”
“Two and a half months. No more than that.”
“Thank you, Captain!”
Rian quickly filled out his vacation form, handed it over, and rushed out of the room.
* * *
Rain poured down heavily.
Because of the bad weather, Joo-hee and Rowen couldn’t go outside and stayed indoors.
“I want to eat pajeon,” Joo-hee said, reaching her hand out the window and feeling the raindrops.
At the orphanage, whenever it rained, Jisook would sometimes make pajeon.
To Joo-hee, that pajeon was the best.
She stared blankly, thinking about it.
Rowen didn’t know what she was thinking—he guessed she was just feeling down because of the rain.
He wanted to cheer her up.
Maybe a walk would help her feel better.
So he waited for the rain to stop.
Luckily, it didn’t last long.
“Joo-hee, the rain stopped.”
“Yeah, it did.”
Rowen glanced at her and asked,
“Since the rain stopped, would you like to go for a walk?”
A walk, huh?
The ground would still be muddy from the rain, so she was planning to rest.
She looked at Rowen.
He was staring at her with hopeful eyes.
She couldn’t ignore that look, so in the end, she said yes.
“Okay, let’s go.”
–A walk! A walk!
Mel laughed happily and spun in circles around Joo-hee.
Joo-hee quickly got dressed and went outside with Rowen.
The grass was still wet with rain.
The smell of rain in the air made Joo-hee feel calm.
Rowen looked around and pointed to a hill behind the house.
“If we go up that hill, you can see everything below. Let’s go together.”
“Okay.”
Joo-hee gave a short answer and started walking up the hill.
Rowen was a little worried it might be hard for her, but she didn’t seem tired at all.
Even though Joo-hee was slim, she had grown up doing tough chores, so she was strong and had good stamina.
When they reached the top, Rowen took a deep breath and smiled wide.
“This place is always so nice.”
Joo-hee nodded and looked into the distance.
A breeze blew and messed up her hair.
She raised her hand to fix it, but Rowen reached out first and gently fixed her hair for her.
“…?”
Joo-hee paused and looked at Rowen with a confused expression.
Rowen realized what he was doing, panicked, and quickly apologized.
“Uh, I-I’m sorry! My hand just moved on its own…”
Who exactly was this man?
He took care of her so naturally—like it was a habit.
If it were another woman, it could easily be misunderstood.
“Rowen.”
“Y-yes?”
“Be careful.”
“Be careful… about what?”
“Someone might misunderstand.”
Another woman, she meant—but she didn’t say that part out loud.
Rowen looked confused, unsure what she meant.
“Can’t you explain it more clearly?”
“…”
“…Okay. I got it…”
Rowen looked a bit sad, but Joo-hee didn’t mind and looked around for a place to sit.
Since it had rained, the ground was wet.
Rowen thought he should’ve brought something to sit on from home.
But Joo-hee didn’t hesitate. She just sat down on the damp ground.
“Joo-hee, the ground is wet…”
“It’s fine. I can wash my clothes.”
“Oh, right. That’s true.”
Rowen hesitated, then carefully sat down beside her.
His pants got wet quickly, but neither of them stood up.
They could hear insects chirping. Joo-hee started to feel sleepy.
Maybe it was the damp air, but her body felt heavy.
Her eyes blinked more slowly.
Rowen didn’t notice. He was just looking ahead.
“Joo-hee, what do you want for dinner?”
“…”
“Joo-hee?”
Just as he was about to turn to her, her head gently rested on his shoulder.
Her soft hair brushed against his cheek as it fell.
Rowen stiffened in surprise and slowly turned his eyes to the side.
Joo-hee had her eyes closed, resting her head on his shoulder.
“Joo-hee…?”
He whispered softly, but she didn’t move.
He didn’t dare move in case he woke her.
After some hesitation, he carefully lifted his other arm and brushed the hair from her face, trying not to touch her skin.
Her hair felt so soft under his fingers that he almost squeezed it without thinking.
Rowen looked at her sleeping face and thought, I wish we could stay like this forever, even if I never get my memories back.
It hadn’t been that long, but he really enjoyed being with her.
He even thought—just for a second—maybe I’ll pretend I never remember anything, just to stay with her.
As he kept staring at her, his face slowly leaned closer.
But right when he got very close, Joo-hee suddenly opened her eyes.
“What are you doing?”
“Ah! Ack! W-wah!”
Rowen, who had been lost in a daze, screamed and jumped up in surprise.
His face turned bright red from embarrassment.
“S-sorry! I’m sorry, Joo-hee!”
He stuttered out an apology, then turned around and ran off.
Joo-hee was left speechless at his sudden reaction.
–Rowen’s face looked like a tomato! Did you see that, Joo-hee?
The truth was, Joo-hee had woken up because of Mel’s voice.
She had been lightly asleep, but Mel started loudly saying that Rowen was staring at her.
Rowen ran so fast he was already gone, back inside the house.
Joo-hee tilted her head, confused why he ran away when they’d just see each other at home anyway.
Then she stood up and started walking back home.
