Chapter 4

Clatter, clatter, thud!

The carriage jolted more violently the closer we got to our destination.

Each time, I stifled a sigh and looked down at my shoulder, which felt like it might snap.

Thud!

When the carriage rocked again, I finally couldn’t hold back any longer and opened my mouth.

“Is it normal for escorts to ride inside the carriage with us?”

“My thoughts exactly!”

Beth, seated across from me, huffed and pointed angrily.

She didn’t care that the elderly man beside her looked horrified.

“……”

The man sitting right next to me, with his large frame, was cleaning a dagger. He turned to look at me.

He had a small cookie in his mouth.

Beth had picked it out earlier from the pile of things meant for Saint Fortu.

‘They’re all broken. We can’t give these as a gift anymore. Miss, you should eat them.’

‘Cookies were among the gifts for Saint Fortu?’

‘Exactly. We didn’t need to include things like this anyway.’

Since several items, including the cookies, had been broken during the monster attack, she had decided to let me eat them instead.

As soon as the man heard that the cookie was meant for Saint Fortu, he had stared at it intently.

‘Pardon me.’

‘Wha—?!’

Then he just popped it into his mouth.

‘What was that just now?!’

Beth had been appalled, but I didn’t really care.

Judging by his ragged appearance, he probably hadn’t eaten properly in days. He must’ve been starving.

For someone who looked picky, he munched the cookie rather indifferently.

I stared at him and asked, “Is it good?”

“Not really.”

Beth narrowed her eyes sharply at his response.

Unfazed by her glare, the man swallowed the cookie and added,

“Still, it doesn’t seem to be poisoned.”

“If it were poisoned, do you think she would’ve given it to me?”

“Can’t be too careful.”

Did he think I was the kind of person desperate to kill someone?

He really was strange in many ways.

Just then, a beam of light sneaked in through the carriage window and brushed across his golden eyes.

It was nice to get a closer look at his handsome face, but thanks to his size, my shoulder had been cramped and aching for a while now.

“Don’t escorts usually ride around the carriage on horseback?”

“Is that so? I didn’t know. It’s my first time being an escort.”

“So you know now?”

I sent a sharp look that clearly meant “why don’t you get out,” but the man just shrugged.

When he raised his arm slightly, my poor shoulder, which had been stuck in place, throbbed again.

“There were no horses.”

“No horses? That’s absurd…”

I stopped mid-sentence.

Come to think of it, back when we were fighting monsters, there were no horses around the man or the old man either.

That rugged mountain path had been far too remote to be traversed without a horse.

A ragged man without a horse in the mountains…

Suddenly, a thought struck me and I had to ask,

“Should I be worried about you?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I mean, did I just hire a bandit as my escort?”

“Cough!”

“Your clothes are in rags too, just like a bandit.”

“Hack! Cough!”

The old man, who had been chewing something and frowning for a while, finally choked and started coughing uncontrollably.

As the old man’s body shook, Beth—seated beside him—was jostled as well, her face darkening.

Still, she subtly seemed to agree with me.

“If he’s a bandit, it explains why he stole the cookie like a thief…”

“Cough! Hack! Gahk!”

The old man was nearly coughing up blood now, thanks to Beth’s eerie comments.

Meanwhile, the man looked down at me with a face that said he found this all very amusing.

“And if I am a bandit, what would you do?”

“I’ll decide after I see how things go.”

“See how it goes?”

“If you’re not planning to rob us, I might just keep you on. You’re good at killing monsters, after all.”

At my response, the man gave a wicked grin.

“And if I do plan to rob you?”

“Then I’ll subdue you and drag you to Saint Fortu.”

“……”

“I can’t just let some parasite bleeding the empire dry roam free.”

The moment I finished speaking, the man suddenly covered his mouth.

Then he quickly turned his gaze away from me.

I could feel my sore shoulder trembling from where it pressed against his.

He was laughing.

“What’s so funny? You think catching bandits is amusing?”

“No, I just think you’re very bold.”

“Of course I’m bold.”

I raised my finger and poked the center of my brow threateningly.

That was my way of asking, Didn’t you see me shoot that monster earlier?

Did I look like someone who couldn’t take down a guy like him?

Well, technically, he did save me from being ambushed…

The man watched my gesture carefully, then asked,

“You don’t look the type. Did you learn to shoot?”

“I didn’t just learn—I taught others too.”

I’d been a shooting instructor, for crying out loud.

What did he mean by not looking the type?

Is that supposed to be a compliment or an insult?

While I was mulling over how to respond, the man continued.

“Most noble ladies don’t learn to shoot.”

“It’s a bit different these days.”

“And that stance… That’s the Imperial Knights’ shooting posture.”

A sharp observation.

He noticed that?

I turned to look at him, surprised. He examined me with measuring eyes before speaking again.

“I’ll admit it. For a noble lady from the capital, you’ve got guts and skill.”

Then his hand slowly reached out toward mine, still poking my brow.

He lightly wrapped his fingers around my wrist.

Much to my dismay, my wrist looked quite delicate inside his large hand.

“But in close range like this, that gun’s useless.”

Now that he said it, we really were close.

…Way too close.

As soon as the thought crossed my mind, the man suddenly leaned in even closer.

Our faces were nearly touching—nose to nose.

“Before you even fire that gun…”

He gently tightened his grip on my wrist.

Funny how he’d been annoyed earlier when I touched his shoulder.

But now that he was touching me, he didn’t seem to mind at all.

A strange, heavy tension hung in the air between us.

“Don’t you think I’d do something to this wrist first…”

“What the hell did you just say, you lunatic?!”

Beth, who had been sitting across from us, exploded with fury.

I’d never seen her react so fast.

“Unbelievable! You’re saying that to our lady?! Miss, just throw him out of the carriage!”

“Cough, cough, cough!”

Beth shoved aside the trembling old man and tried to stand up.

But the carriage was rocking too violently, and she failed—so she just swung her fists instead.

Her soft punches all missed thanks to the man’s slight head movements, but still.

Even after seeing that face, she’s getting mad on my behalf…

I was touched.

Beth usually had a thing for handsome men and well-built bodies.

It wasn’t unusual for her to ask me who had the best physique in the Holy Knights.

She knew every handsome man in the capital by name.

So I’d expected her to quietly admire the man’s face and then scold me later for being ungrateful.

But here she was, throwing punches for me.

I watched the scene with a moved expression.

Well, I guess…

Other than my family, Beth was the only one who knew I was a woman.

She was probably the closest person to me, in her own way—

“You bastard! Take your filthy hands off our lady!”

“Beth.”

Though she might be going a little overboard now.

“You lowlife! I didn’t like you ever since you stole that cookie!”

“Beth. That’s enough.”

I gently tried to calm her down.

Meanwhile, the man didn’t seem to care—he was trembling with laughter again.

Thanks to that, my poor wrist and shoulder—still in his grasp—shook along with him.

He laughed so hard that his hold on my wrist loosened, until eventually we ended up holding hands palm-to-palm.

What the—are we clasping hands now?!

Flustered, I tried to pull my hand away and tapped him.

Rustle.

My hand brushed against his smooth leather glove.

It felt a little cold—he must have been outside for a long time.

“……”

Still laughing silently, the man looked at me again.