SOKM 30

Chapter : 30

Why, you ask.

Was everything I’d said so far still not reason enough?

When I looked at him with a conflicted expression, Haydn calmly clasped both hands in front of his stomach.

“Lately, milady, you’ve changed a great deal. You’ve almost completely restrained the misdeeds and indulgences you used to enjoy. There are no more bad rumors, and your behavior and manner of speech have grown much gentler. …I honestly think Sir Suyren is doing very well these days.”

“But I tormented you for years. Treating you normally is something I only started doing recently. You don’t even like my personality, do you?”

“Yes.”

“……”

Haydn roughly rubbed the back of his neck, looking stressed.

“Still, the past is less important than the present.”

When I stared at him with a gloomy expression, he hurriedly added an explanation.

“Is our past more important to you than what we are now?”

“Well, of course not….”

It wasn’t important, but—

If the past and future of this world are different from what I knew, then how am I supposed to survive?

No one knew when Blair’s curse on Haydn would begin, or where the priests of Cairo would appear.

One single mistake, and I could die all over again.

I thought my lips were trembling, but at some point my entire body began to shake.

“Ah.”

As dizziness overtook me and I collapsed, Haydn swiftly caught my shoulders.

“Milady?”

My consciousness was clear, yet instead of words, a short groan slipped from my lips.

Immediately, I felt Haydn’s divine power envelop my body.

Ah. This kind of healing… only high-ranking priests can do it.

Creak.

At that moment, the door opened, and a calm, gentle voice drifted in.

“Priest Haydn. Have you eaten—? Oh? Oh!”

Whether May was startled or not, Haydn placed his palm against my cheek, then clicked his tongue softly.

“No fever. May, when someone from the Order arrives, could you guide them to my master room?”

“…….”

“May?”

“Ah. Sir Kalsuiren?”

“…The master room.”

“Oh. The master room.”

Looking completely dazed, May repeated his words in a voice that clearly said, What on earth is the master room for?

I felt much the same after finally regaining my senses.

When had May come in? And what master room?

I lifted my gaze and immediately met his eyes.

“Haydn?”

“Will you keep calling me by name when others are present?”

As I leaned against him without answering, Haydn gently lifted me into his arms.

“Ugh—!”

My vision shot upward, and in the corner of my sight, I caught May gaping in shock.

Cradling my neck and knees, Haydn pulled me closer, shielding my face from May’s view.

“May. The priests from the Order will arrive at three.”

“Yes…?”

“Please guide me to my master room.”

“M-me…?”

At Haydn’s unspoken You know where it is, don’t you?, May nodded, trembling.

If I was a leaf quivering in the breeze, May was a leaf caught in a storm.

“I know! Hugging— no. The Hugging Knights— no, the Order knights— I’ll guide you to the master room! Fourth floor, right?”

“…Correct.”

As Haydn walked off with me in his arms, May unconsciously held open the purification room door.

Yet she squeezed her eyes shut as though she were witnessing something she shouldn’t see.

Even my face—surely pale white—grew hot with embarrassment.

“…….”

In suffocating silence, the door to the purification room closed.

From beyond the wall came May’s cry of “Oh, holy gods!” but Haydn and I both pretended we hadn’t heard a thing and turned our faces away from each other.

At first, I was simply flustered, but once I came to my senses, I obediently allowed Haydn to carry me all the way to his master room.

I didn’t even bother refusing—truthfully, I had no strength left to struggle.

Perhaps because there was still plenty of time before lunch, the stairs to the fourth floor were completely empty.

Compared to usual, Haydn moved very slowly.

So slowly that by the time we reached the middle of the slanted staircase, I unconsciously tightened my grip on his arm.

Is this hard for him? Why is he walking so slowly?

As if he sensed my unease, he said curtly,

“I won’t drop you.”

“Is that so? …I suppose not. I didn’t eat much this morning.”

“You’re not light. Do you think eating a small breakfast makes someone weightless?”

Ah. I’d tried to phrase it delicately to avoid exactly that kind of blunt response.

In petty revenge, I completely relaxed my body, and Haydn frowned deeply before hauling me up again.

Is it really that hard…?

After a moment’s hesitation, I gently wrapped my arms around his neck.

I felt his chest tense beneath me.

“Am I really that heavy?”

“…….”

“Maybe it’s not my problem—maybe you’re just weak because you work all the time and never exercise?”

When I teased him softly, he shot me a glare.

“I do have a daily life. You may not know this, but my hobby is—”

“Hunting? You just set traps and wait, don’t you.”

When I mocked him, asking whether that even counted as exercise, Haydn let out a long, wounded groan.

Burying my face into his shoulder, I hid my laughter.

A faint soap scent lingered, mixed with the subtle trace of tobacco.

“…Would you like to try going together sometime?”

“Hunting?”

“It’s not as easy or simple as you imagine, but it is enjoyable.”

It was an unexpected invitation. Not long ago, he’d avoided even taking walks with me.

“Sure. But do you even have time to play?”

“I’ll work as if I’m dead for a few days.”

“Oh my.”

What a talent—delivering sincerity disguised as a joke.

When I laughed as if it were someone else’s problem, Haydn laughed too, looking oddly liberated.

Upon arriving at the master room, Haydn opened the door using divine power and set me down on a long couch.

It was wide enough for two people, but some parts were stiff and others too soft—it didn’t feel particularly comfortable.

“So this is the master room?”

“Yes. Welcome. It’s not something you’ve ever said to me before, milady, but please make yourself comfortable.”

He pointed out my habitual rudeness in an unusually polite manner.

“What warm consideration.”

“…….”

When I shamelessly replied as if I knew nothing, Haydn raised both eyebrows.

Shaking his head, he headed toward a small room without a door.

While Haydn went to make coffee, I looked around his master room.

Since it was a strictly private space reserved for the commanders of the Caian Knights, this was my first time here.

“It’s simpler than I imagined. I thought there’d be a huge bed surrounded by all sorts of modern gadgets.”

Rather than a private lounge, it felt more like a very small office.

Even the table in front of me was too high and rough for tea—far more suited to paperwork.

“Were you curious about this place?”

Seeing my interest, Haydn raised his tone slightly, as though surprised.

“Of course. When you work late at night—well, if you do—this is probably all you think about.”

On the rare nights I stayed up, I’d coveted it terribly.

Even if I had time to rest, I couldn’t sleep with Haydn watching—and I’d thought there was a bed here.

Haydn turned to me with a strange look, as if to scold me for speaking of overtime when I’d never worked a day.

Hmph. As if he knew how hard I’d worked in another future—no, another world.

I gathered my hair, which had spilled over the couch, and tied it back, avoiding his gaze.

“Even aside from overtime, there’s a private shower here, right? On mornings after drinking all night and still having to work, I used to desperately wish for something like this.”

“There has never been a single time like that for you… but I’ll give you a key. Use this place when you need it.”

“Really?”

“For reasons like that, you’re free to use it as much as you like. I don’t use it often myself.”

“Oh my. I shouldn’t thank you so easily—but I’ll gladly take the key.”

“Ha.”

After staring at me for a long moment, Haydn reluctantly handed me a cup of coffee.

“Here.”

“Thank you. It smells wonderful.”

But just as I reached for it, his eyes flashed, and he pulled the cup back.

“?”

What was that? Was he playing some childish game of give-and-take?

“Now that I think about it, you’re right.”