Chapter 15
Come to think of it, it had been a long time since he felt no great difficulty in conversing with someone. Bjorn knew well that he was not a particularly good conversational partner.
He had seen more than once people approach him, dazzled by his flashy shell, only to turn their backs once they encountered his cold and unfeeling true self.
When he escorted ladies as part of maintaining relations with the faithful, he was often criticized for being stiff as a block of wood, and lacking any smooth wit, he frequently earned bad reviews for being boring and chilly.
In contrast, Leila showed no particular signs of feeling awkward or bored around him. Rather, it was Bjorn who was surprised by how she continued the conversation without fluster, even in response to his curt, blunt answers.
Despite her somewhat peculiar, or more honestly, slightly suspicious outward appearance, she was utterly ordinary when it came to conversation. Even the gaze he had always thought of as gloomy did not feel that way now, for some reason.
Like a well-educated lady, appropriate topics flowed endlessly from her lips. Yet she did not give the impression of being overly talkative. Her low voice, stepping lightly like feet on fresh snow, was not unpleasant to listen to.
‘Wasn’t she supposed to be very shy?’
That Leila had followed him for ten years meant that Bjorn, too, had unintentionally seen her over that same span of time.
The Leila he remembered had been a bit more timid and cautious than she was now. That was how he had felt since around the age of twenty, when he first became clearly aware of her presence.
Of course, personalities could change as much as one liked. Perhaps she had simply been hiding her true self all this time.
Bjorn tended to despise that sort of pretense, yet the unexpected side of Leila he had discovered today was not, for some reason, so unpleasant.
At the same time as he thought that her unadorned demeanor now was far nicer to see than her usual stiff attitude, he felt flustered.
Today was not an occasion for him to decide whether he liked or disliked Leila. He had only come to give her a compelling reason to give up on him.
Recalling what he needed to do, Bjorn cleared his suddenly dry throat.
“Ah, I’m sorry. I’ve been talking too much, haven’t I? I haven’t had many chances to talk with other people lately, so… I think I got a bit carried away.”
And yet, that wasn’t unpleasant. It was strange. Normally, he would have frowned at someone getting excited and rambling on by themselves.
The trivial chatter countless women had poured out while clinging to him had been nothing but an annoying, tiresome ordeal, yet for some reason, Leila’s stories were even rather interesting.
Just moments ago, Leila had been telling Bjorn about desserts and types of black tea that were currently popular in the capital.
Despite their impressive uniforms, the people of the order were a dull breed who knew nothing beyond prayer or meditation when they weren’t holding a sword.
As someone who lived such a rough life, he had never had the slightest interest in desserts or black tea, yet he found himself focusing on her voice before he realized it.
Suddenly coming to his senses, Bjorn steeled his heart once more.
‘Did I get carried away just because it’s been so long since I went out. Don’t get swept up by the atmosphere, Bjorn.’
“Why aren’t you eating? Does the soup not suit your taste?”
“Oh, um, well…”
“If you don’t plan to eat it, I’ll have it.”
Reaching out, he snatched Leila’s bowl away and repeated what he had done earlier.
There was no time to taste it. The reddish liquid splashed wildly over Bjorn’s clothes and the white tablecloth.
A wave of self-loathing washed over him at the sight of himself going this far just to shake off one woman, but it was too late to turn back now.
The one consolation was that although he had thrown his dignity straight into the trash, the effect seemed certain.
The sight of him shoveling food like a beggar who had starved for three days straight, then crudely scraping the bottom of the empty bowl without a shred of decorum, was enough to make anyone lose all affection, even in his own eyes.
If Allen and Todd had been here, they might have applauded it as a once in a lifetime performance.
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