Chapter 30
“Close one.”
Above me, a single bird gave a dull, listless cry. Don’t tell me he went through all that for a damn bird.
Even as my lower back throbbed with pain, Ian hauled himself to his feet while still holding me against him. He made sure he stayed upright with my body locked in his arms.
“Be careful. An attack could come at any moment.”
“You are the attacker. You are!”
“Do not dismiss aerial strikes. Warlocks transform into hawks and crows to assassinate. It is the most common method after poisoning.”
“Why would a crow even want to assassinate me?”
“In a world where someone can be killed over a piece of bread, if you want a reason, there are endless possibilities.”
This b*stard. Is he serious? At this point, he might actually be messing with me on purpose.
When I stopped walking and simply looked up at him, he brushed the dust off my knee and asked, “What?” Like he truly didn’t know.
“You really don’t listen to anything I say.”
“And you’re just now realizing that?”
I grabbed my aching back and walked past him. I could feel Ian quickly falling in step behind me, sticking close. The sound of his bare feet brushing over the soft grass had become familiar by now.
“You’d do well not to take things lightly.”
“Yes, sir.”
I replied with a sarcastic tone, and a low sigh came from beside me. As if I wasn’t the one who deserved to be sighing right now.
We were both frustrated with each other, neither of us understanding the other at all.
Finally, Ian tried to persuade me.
“Judging by your appearance and your relationship with me, I’d say you’re probably the daughter of a noble family. The more power a family holds, the dirtier the fights over inheritance and succession tend to get. Even if you’re an only child, don’t let your guard down. Relatives, former servants you helped once, even beggars you gave a handout to will crawl out of the woodwork to steal your place at the table.”
“What are you even talking about?”
I muttered as I dug a finger into my ear. Ian showed no sign of wrapping up his monologue anytime soon.
One of the few upsides of getting dragged into a game world was not having to deal with old-fashioned and bossy supervisors breathing down your neck.
I was wrong. I had something even worse than any boss I’d met in real life glued to my side.
Hah… What kind of law of conservation of mass is this?
“Even Prince Gilbert, who gave up the throne, was ambushed multiple times…”
“Okay, okay. But what about my face? How do I look to you?”
I wasn’t truly curious. I threw the question at him to derail his paranoia, to force the conversation somewhere else. Ian, who had been speaking without pause, suddenly furrowed his brow.
“I don’t understand the intent of your question.”
“I just want to know how you figured I was noble. Most people go off clothing.”
“Look in a mirror.”
“God, you infuriating human wall. Just speak what you need to speak”
Only then did I see him flinch, checking my expression.
His mouth, which hadn’t stopped once, finally closed. Why did he look so serious? He was selecting his words carefully now, his brow tight, contemplative. The quiet helped.
I inhaled slowly. The cool air traveled deep into my lungs, sweeping through me. The constant pressure eased, and only now did I truly see the garden around me.
A vine of grapes ripened at the far end of the lawn. Beads of water clung to the fruit, lush and staged like a scene deliberately arranged.
The grapes were plump, fuller than anything I had ever seen back in Korea. Not harvested yet? Decoration only? Typical nobles, blinded by luxury.
Could I pluck one as I passed? If anything went wrong, I could blame Ian. Then Ian…
“What your silence means,” he said quietly, “is that if we had met as strangers, you wouldn’t have bothered with me at all.”
“…Huh?”
My eyes snapped wide with confusion, and Ian continued, voice low.
“If we’d met as strangers, you wouldn’t have given me the time of day.”
Discussion
0 CommentsReactions
No comments yet.