Chapter 49
“Strange Sensation”
What was that? I was momentarily speechless.
It was the first time someone asked if I was their older sister, and I didn’t know how to answer.
“How can you be sure that I’m… older than you?”
“You look like the noona I knew when I was younger.”
It was a strange and illogical reason, but it left me without a comeback.
The man lightly jumped down from the tree.
His silver hair swayed gently as his purple eyes beneath long lashes focused on me.
“And you saw me earlier too. I know who you are.”
The man came closer.
On the trainee knight uniform he wore, the crest of the Kaela Knights shimmered.
I could see the hem of the shirt he wore under his collar.
“You don’t remember me, noona?”
Then, as I saw the leaf-shaped crest embroidered on his collar, I realized who he was.
“Siute Beiche?”
I didn’t recall his name because I’d heard it during training with Kaela earlier.
It was the crest of the Beiche family—the leaf symbol.
A handsome young man my age with pretty silver hair.
That was a character from the original story.
He was even one of the male lead candidates!
“So you know my name?”
There was a faint interest in Siute’s eyes as he looked at me.
In the original story, he was the male lead candidate who would oppose Roitz.
Though a bit cheeky, his free-spirited personality made him more popular among the readers.
Siute even had a nickname…
It was “Cute.” C, U, T, E… Cute…
“I know you too. You’re the swordmaster from the Bibi family, right?”
“How do you know me?”
“I could tell by the way you dodged my sword earlier. Swordmasters move in a certain way. Didn’t you know that?”
His words sounded like nonsense, and I stepped back.
The way he spoke, like Lucifer walking into a school, made me uncomfortable.
Do all male lead candidates have something odd about them?
Siute smirked.
“What’s with that face? I was joking.”
“That’s not funny…”
“Actually, I already knew. I saw you that day.”
“When?”
“I’ll tell you next time we meet.”
Next time? I doubted we would meet again, but I just nodded and turned away.
I was busy. With Elche’s strict schedule and attending Yudeln, I had no time to waste if I wanted to make the incense from the grass.
As I tried to leave, Siute lightly pulled the strap of my bag toward him.
“Where are you going, noona? I want to talk a little longer.”
He smiled so sweetly, it could melt a ghost.
But I just reached out my palm and pushed against his forehead.
“Sure. Then goodbye.”
Even then, Siute followed me for a long while.
I tried my best to escape from him, and only after bombarding me with questions all the way to the entrance of Kadel Forest did he finally let me go.
After sending Siute away, the first thing I did was collapse on my bed.
Maybe it was from picking grass all day, or from being tense after seeing someone unexpected, but my body felt heavy.
“The heroine still hasn’t shown up, and only male lead candidates are appearing. This is unfair…”
I lay down for a while, then suddenly sat up.
Sleep was creeping in. At this rate, I’d waste the time I’d gained by brushing Siute off and just fall asleep.
“Alright, I’ll wake myself up with a walk.”
As I walked down from my quarters, I saw someone pacing in the distance along the path.
It was Roitz.
“Sunbae? What are you doing here?”
“Serdin.”
He was holding several bags.
Curious about what they were, I quickly ran over to him.
“Huh? What’s going on?”
“Serdin, it’s just…”
Roitz hesitated for a moment, then suddenly started talking about work.
“You heard, right? About what happened at the Benzel Temple charity event?”
“…All of a sudden?”
“The intruder who appeared that day…”
He began telling me about the incident at the charity event.
It was a strange case. At the event, someone in a mask had attacked the eldest daughter of the Servart family who was hosting it…
On and on he went.
‘Why is he suddenly here telling me about work?’
But Roitz was as skilled at speaking as he was at fighting, and before I knew it, I was drawn into the story.
The intruder had been agile enough that none of the knights guarding the family could catch him.
But Roitz had been there, and he caught him right away.
The culprit was the eldest son of the Entry family, who was also their swordmaster.
The problem came after that. Once his identity was revealed, he tried to kill himself with his own sword.
Fortunately, Roitz stopped the fatal blow, but the man was still unconscious and had not woken up.
It was hard to believe that a proud heir from such a prestigious family would do something like that as a prank.
But it was equally hard to believe he had truly wanted to kill the Servart daughter.
“There must be someone behind this.”
Roitz said that, but I couldn’t even guess who it might be.
I had only one thought.
‘This… is starting to feel like a dark fantasy novel again.’
I had a very bad feeling, like the original story’s grim atmosphere was creeping into my life.
‘I need to find the Dagger of Light quickly…’
As I listened to Roitz’s story, his voice suddenly stopped.
“Sunbae?”
Was it obvious I was thinking of something else?
I poked him in the arm. It was so solid, my finger barely made a dent.
“Sunbae? I’m listening, really.”
“Serdin.”
“Yes?”
“Actually…”
Roitz’s eyes shifted to where my hand was poking him.
“I didn’t come here to talk about this.”
“Then why?”
“Are you okay?”
“What do you mean?”
“You said you were sick earlier. Are you feeling better now?”
Oh, right. I’d faked being sick to slip away.
Roitz finally held out the bag he’d been carrying. It was filled with all kinds of medicine.
“I actually came to give you this, not to talk about work.”
His gaze was gentle.
Seeing that look reminded me of a day years ago.
The day I was so sick I couldn’t even go watch the Wilderness Era performance.
On that day too, Roitz brought me all kinds of medicine just like this.
“I’m fine. I was even out for a walk.”
“That’s a relief.”
Roitz let out a soft sigh and smiled. I had completely forgotten I had lied about being sick.
He hesitated, then spoke.
“I’m not really good at this kind of thing. I just bought everything the doctor recommended.”
I could almost picture Roitz going to the doctor, stiff and awkwardly asking what medicine he should buy.
“Why are you laughing, Serdin?”
Was I smiling?
I nodded toward the other bag he was holding.
“What’s in that one?”
“This?”
Roitz pulled something out of the bag.
I had wondered about the sweet smell coming from it—it was cookies and bread, the kind that made my mouth water just by looking.
My eyes widened.
“But… I don’t know if you should eat this. It’s too sweet. If you’re sick…”
“No, sweet things are good for you!”
I quickly grabbed the bread before he could take it back.
I bit off half in one go.
And my eyes widened even more.
‘It’s so delicious…!’
But eating so fast left crumbs all over my mouth.
“Why are you eating like that?”
I couldn’t answer as I chewed, and Roitz chuckled helplessly.
With my mouth closed, I tried to brush off the crumbs, but I couldn’t see my own face and didn’t know where they were.
“Here. No, not there.”
Unable to watch any longer, Roitz took the handkerchief back and brushed the crumbs off himself.
“Why did you even eat like that…”
As he brushed my mouth, he lifted his gaze.
At that moment, our eyes met.
“…”
Suddenly, the distance between us felt much closer.
A breeze carrying the scent of grass passed between our gazes.
Roitz’s face—his features, his expression, the atmosphere they created—suddenly felt different.
Maybe it was because I rarely saw anyone’s face from this close.
“…Why?”
Roitz asked in a low voice. His hand trembled slightly.
For some reason, his voice seemed to tremble too.
“…Why are you looking at me like that, Serdin?”
He slowly brushed the last crumbs from my lips.
Then, with the edge of his thumb, he lightly brushed just beside my mouth.
The rough pad of his finger gently grazed my lips.
And at that moment, I felt it again.
The same strange sensation I had once felt at the inn in Delzers Village—
as if someone was gripping my heart and squeezing it.
