Chapter 28
“Is your hand alright?”
He asked Leila, who sat looking simply happy without even a hint of awkwardness. It was also to change the topic, but he was inwardly curious as well.
He kept worrying about unintentionally injuring Leila. He had already confirmed it several times through letters, but it seemed he would only feel at ease after seeing it with his own eyes. Her hand had been swollen bright red, so it must have taken quite a few days to recover.
“As I mentioned in the letter, it’s perfectly fine.”
“May I confirm it myself?”
Perhaps depending on how she took his words, Leila’s face suddenly flushed red. Only then did he realize he had made a request that could be rather rude to a lady.
“I’m sorry. If it makes you uncomfortable, you don’t have to show me…”
“N-No. Rather than uncomfortable… actually my hands aren’t very pretty, so it’s a bit embarrassing.”
For some reason Bjorn couldn’t take his eyes off Leila as she slowly removed her glove with a shy expression, and only after a moment did he lower his gaze to the small palm that was calmly revealed before his eyes.
Fortunately, the injured palm had healed cleanly in the meantime. However, as she said, it was certainly rough and calloused in many places for the hand of a noble lady, which made him curious.
Aside from that, contrary to her claim that it was not pretty, the delicate harmony of slender fingers without a single protruding joint and pale skin stirred the desire to hold it once…
Hah, get a grip, Bjorn Schmidt.
“Looks a bit ugly, right? Actually, I have a constitution where I get a rash if I stay in the sunlight too long… so I usually always wear gloves. But recently there have been many times I couldn’t.”
A rash from sunlight. He already knew little about Leila to begin with, but this was entirely new information.
“A rash from sunlight… since when have you had such symptoms?”
“Since I was very young. It’s the reason that I could hardly do outdoor activities, and I could only wear clothes made of a special fabric. It improved little by little as I grew up, but it never completely healed.”
Having suddenly learned her not-quite-secret secret, Bjorn couldn’t continue speaking for a moment. Realizing her clothing was because of her condition made him feel petty for having inwardly belittled her taste all this time.
“…I had no idea.”
“Of course you wouldn’t. My father strictly controlled it in case rumors spread. He disliked the fact that I had a skin condition very much. Ah, now he has completely given up on matters concerning me, so I can speak honestly like this.”
If rumors had spread in the capital’s high society, Bjorn would not have failed to know it. Thinking about how distressed Leila must have been to keep it that thoroughly secret made his chest feel tighter.
He recalled how not only himself but everyone had made rude judgments about her unusual attire, calling her bat-like or eccentric. He felt suffocated with guilt.
Come to think of it, today as well she…
“But then why deliberately choose a place like this…”
He could roughly predict the answer.
“The weather is so nice, so there’s no need for you to sit in a shaded corner because of me. My symptoms aren’t so severe these days, and I have my bonnet, so it’s alright.”
So it was because of him that she wore the out of season bonnet as well. It left him speechless. Seeing Bjorn unable to speak due to indescribably complicated feelings, Leila withdrew her hand and instead worried about him.
“More importantly, are you alright, sir? Those rude men seemed to have been quite rough with you that day…”
At Leila’s consideration in politely phrasing that he had been unsightly beaten, Bjorn felt even deeper shame than before.
If possible, he wanted to brag that what happened then was not real, that those punks were easy enough to beat up with just one arm.
He refused to admit that the impulse came from the childish instinct of men wanting to look good before someone they liked.
It was merely… pride as a knight. Bjorn made an excuse for himself.
“There is no particular discomfort. I am rather sturdy. And this… I prepared this as an apology.”
Giving a vague reply, he placed the bundle he had carefully brought from the quarters onto the table.
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