Chapter 13
Chapter 13
“Is your leg okay? Your arm?”
Candice nodded, but he still examined her arms and legs for a long while as if worried. Even though they were covered in dirt, fortunately, there didn’t seem to be any places scraped with holes or bleeding through.
“Here.”
Luke held out the goat’s rope to her. Candice couldn’t readily take the rope. The goat, subdued by Luke and barely calmed down, was staring straight at her, and its gaze was not obedient at all.
She felt like it would push her away with its strength and run off the moment she took the rope. It wasn’t groundless fear but a premonition based on experience.
“Um, won’t you keep holding it for me?”
Would he think she was giving him annoying work? She felt self-conscious and subtly averted her eyes, but unexpectedly, Luke answered without any fuss that he would.
“Show me the way, Candice. I think we’ve come pretty far, but I have no idea.”
Luke looked around, asking which direction to go. Candice gave him clues to find their way back to the house. The trees and paths all looked similar, but if you stared quietly for about ten seconds, arrow marks she had secretly carved with magic would appear.
“You can look at these when you’re not sure.”
“I should have known about this when I was younger…”
Luke let out a hollow laugh at the absurdly easy method of navigating the maze. But the time he had spent wandering didn’t feel meaningless. It was because he had overcome such hardships and adversity to become an “adult” and meet her again.
“When did you start raising this goat? You didn’t have it before, right?”
“Right. I started raising it recently. It was originally a wild goat living in the forest, so I had a hard time catching it.”
On the way back to the house together, Luke and Candice walked while chatting.
Luke led the conversation with a very calm attitude as if nothing was up, but inside, he was rejoicing. He could feel that she was treating him much more comfortably, perhaps thanks to the goat, compared to when she had been so guarded.
But it was troubling if she treated him too comfortably like a child. After his first meeting with Candice, Luke had returned to the village and looked into elves in detail. And he learned that the reason she had treated him like a child and the story about being over a hundred years old were not lies.
Elves were a completely different species from humans with very long lifespans. Pointy ears weren’t the only difference.
A gap of roughly a hundred years. What could he do even if it felt too vast to overcome? If he had fallen for her, if he wanted to have her, wasn’t it only right to push through?
“Candice.”
Luke, who had been walking side by side, stopped her. He told her to wait a moment and slowly brought his hand and face toward her bangs. Candice held her breath with her eyes wide open.
Luke deliberately did nothing and quietly looked at her frozen state. Candice, who had been holding her breath tightly, burst out as if reaching her limit.
“Wh, What are you doing?”
“Hm?”
Luke tilted his head as if he didn’t know what she meant.
“I’ll, I’ll tell you in advance, but if you try to do something strange to me, I’ll kick you out of the house immediately.”
Tch.
Luke clicked his tongue without realizing it.
Did he just click his tongue? When Candice asked, he shook his head, saying he did no such thing. And he picked off a piece of dust stuck to her bangs and grinned. It was a fragment of a leaf that had gotten on her when she fell.
“Got it. But what did you say earlier? What did I try to do?”
Candice was flustered at the thought that she had been unnecessarily sharp with him due to a misunderstanding. Luke wore a hurt expression and cast his eyes downward.
“I just wanted to help… Candice, do you not even want to be friends with me?”
“I’m sorry. I think I was being too sensitive.”
“It’s fine. You don’t even remember who I am, so of course I must feel like a strange uninvited guest. You probably want me to get lost quickly, right?”
“No, I don’t think that far!”
Saying that wasn’t it at all, Candice raised her voice. I don’t think that. That. Her voice echoed through the forest.
She told him that he had been a great help catching the goat and gave him her sincere thanks. Luke, who had been watching her from the corner of his eye while continuing his sulky act, took hold of Candice’s hand that had been fidgeting on top of her stomach.
“I’m glad I was helpful. I’ll work hard from now on too, so please take care of me.”
Let me know whenever you need help with anything.
Luke beamed brightly and took the lead on the path himself.
Being pulled along, Candice stared blankly at the back of Luke’s head before looking down at her own hand. The held hand kept bothering her.
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