Chapter 19
“I don’t know what happened to you, but… have things been difficult for you all this time?”
Eris knew she shouldn’t ask, yet she couldn’t quite shake the heaviness in her chest. At her question, Ciel stopped in his tracks.
“You really do pity me.”
His large hand suddenly reached out and swept back the red hair that had fallen beside Eris’s cheek. His fingertips grazed the shell of her ear, sending a cool shiver down her spine.
“Are you a kind person, Miss Eris?”
“Me, kind? Why would you suddenly say something like that…?”
“Because the moment I ask for it, you start worrying about me. Miss Eris, do you know how dangerous it is to pity someone?”
“…Why?”
“Because once you decide someone is pitiful, you have to take responsibility for them until the very end. That’s what I believe, anyway. If you worm your way completely into someone’s heart, only to disappear without warning or pretend you don’t know them afterward, how is the person left behind supposed to deal with the empty space you’ve created? Don’t you agree?”
For a moment, a chilling gleam entered his blue eyes, ensnaring Eris where she stood.
Was that the gaze of a wounded boy, or the eyes of a starving beast waiting to sink its teeth into its prey?
“Miss Eris, are you confident you can take responsibility for me?”
Eris opened her mouth, but instead of answering, she slowly shook her head.
“You can’t?”
“…No. How could someone like me presume to take responsibility for you, Lord Ciel? If I offended you, I’m sorry. Please just think of it as thoughtless meddling on my part.”
Ciel quietly gazed into her eyes before nodding as though magnanimously granting her request. He took a step back, then curved his eyes into a smile.
“What a shame. If you’d said you would take responsibility for me, I would’ve gladly given Miss Eris everything I have.”
There was always something teasing and strange about the things he said, as though every word was meant to test her somehow. Eris pulled herself together once more and resumed walking.
“Miss Eris, we haven’t managed to do a single thing we planned today. Shall we start now, at least?”
“What are you planning to do…?”
“Let’s go buy some clothes first. We got caught up in that business with the boy and completely forgot about it.”
“We just watched someone get beaten bloody, and you still want to go clothes shopping?”
“Why shouldn’t we?”
Eris glanced at Ciel. He must have read something in that brief look, because his brows drew together slightly.
“You really seem to think I’m some terribly delicate young master, don’t you, Miss Eris? Did you expect me to get scared and beg you to take me back to the house?”
Those old memories were the problem. He wasn’t that Ciel anymore!
“…Let’s just go.”
Suppressing an inward groan, Eris turned her attention to the innocent green canopy overhead.
Tender leaves stretched above them in graceful arches, their green so vivid it almost hurt the eyes. Whenever the breeze blew, the overlapping foliage rustled softly against itself, while sunlight shattered through the gaps and cast wavering patterns of shadow across the road.
It was the very picture of early summer in a southern coastal city—fresh, peaceful, and serene.
Yet Eris couldn’t fully lose herself in the tranquil scenery. If anything, everything around her only seemed to make the presence of the man walking beside her stand out with even more painful clarity.
* * *
By the time they finished shopping, the sun had already begun to set.
Somewhere along the way, Ciel had discarded the shirt Eris had hastily prepared for him and changed into a black linen one. He had carelessly left the top few buttons undone, openly revealing the firm lines of his collarbones and chest, and women passing by were constantly turning their heads to steal another glance at him.
In the plain white shirt Eris had hurriedly found at a shop open late the previous day, he had looked like some nobleman freshly arrived from the countryside. Now, however, he looked more like a beautiful, decadent predator who belonged in the back alleys after dark.
Apparently unused to clothes like these, Ciel kept adjusting his shirt before eventually turning to Eris.
At that moment, she was gazing at the crimson sunset spread across the sky. It wasn’t the sort of sight one often noticed unless one deliberately looked up, and today the colors were especially beautiful, drawing her eyes back again and again.
“It seems the red sunset is more interesting to you than my new clothes, Miss Eris.”
At Ciel’s quiet words, Eris quickly turned her head.
Of course, his absurdly handsome face was far more captivating than any sunset. But she could hardly stand there staring at him all day, could she?
Swallowing what she actually wanted to say, Eris answered dryly.
“It suits you well. It’s appropriate for the kingdom’s climate, and you don’t stand out too much. It was a good choice.”
“…What a mechanical compliment.”
Ciel and Eris stopped by a restaurant near their lodgings and ordered its famous fish dish along with grilled vegetables.
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