Chapter 67
Kiara’s confession of illiteracy seemed to come as quite a shock to Laine. He froze for a moment, gripping the cuff of his robe, then spoke haltingly.
“Uh, I heard from the servants… that you invented a device to carry water?”
Looking back and forth between her and Raelin, Laine asked cautiously. Instead of answering, Kiara simply nodded, and Raelin quickly chimed in to elaborate.
“Um, well, the Lady Witch is quite eloquent in her own language… and I’ve seen her write characters, though I don’t know what they mean.”
“Ah, different languages. Of course.”
Realizing the situation, Laine nodded as if it finally made sense and began fixing his robes again. Honestly, Kiara had no idea why anyone would wear such uncomfortable clothes.
No, actually, it wasn’t the clothes — it was Laine’s behavior that unsettled her. Since earlier, he’d been tugging at his perfectly fine sleeves, folding and unfolding them repeatedly.
Watching this, Kiara began to feel a creeping sense of anxiety.
‘…He’s not going to say something like “you’re not qualified, so get out,” is he?’
It wasn’t even just for Maeve, whoever he was.
Kiara had always loved books, and the library was her favorite place in all of Altnebra. At last, Laine flashed a grin.
“Then let’s do it this way.”
Kiara had been sighing for a while when her eyes suddenly grew wide with hope. In response, Laine’s green gaze locked with her crimson one and deepened, almost as if he was startled himself.
“…Ah. It really is red. So red there’s no mistaking it.”
Laine pushed his glasses up, sounding genuinely impressed. Through the thin glass, his eyes had darkened to a shade closer to deep blue than green. Fixing those blue-tinged eyes on her, he spoke again, this time more slowly.
“I’ll teach you how to read and write. In exchange…”
“I–in exchange…?”
In exchange for what?
Kiara mentally flipped through her belongings like a merchant counting wares. Charcoal. A notebook. But surely a man of his stature, the president of the Historical Society, wouldn’t be interested in her meager supplies.
‘…Clothes, maybe?’
Aside from her undergarments, she owned no more than three or four lightweight inner dresses and a couple of formal outer gowns reserved for rare occasions.
One of those had been a gift from Raelin — a winter dress made specially from raccoon fur.
‘No… not the raccoon dress…’
Kiara’s face crumpled in dismay. She had cherished that gown. Sure enough, Laine was still busy wrestling with the cuff of his sleeve.
Kiara hesitated, then spoke, her voice uncertain.
“W-well… in that case, I can’t just accept it. I should offer something in return…”
His robe looked even warmer than raccoon fur, but there was no helping it. This might be her only chance to learn to read.
Before she could finish her sentence, Laine seized her hand with alarming enthusiasm.
“Yes? Ah, so you were thinking the same thing!”
Whoosh. The robe’s oversized sleeve fluttered dramatically, draping over their joined hands like a curtain. Robes, she thought, were supposed to be practical and easy to wear.
Kiara frowned. Why in the world were his sleeves so absurdly long and heavy?
‘…I’d hoped the fabric might be good enough to repurpose into something else.’
But she had no talent for sewing. Or embroidery. Or anything involving a needle, really.
Sighing, she shook her head.
“I don’t think I can do it…”
“No, no! You can do it! I mean, I do have a bit of a knack for languages — mastered Altnebraic Old Tongue when I was still a boy, actually!”
“…Huh?”
A sudden claim of linguistic genius?
Kiara stared at him, bewildered. His eyes had returned to their original green, and he looked positively radiant with excitement, still gripping both of her hands and chattering away.
“In exchange for me teaching you the Altnebraic script, you’ll teach me the witch’s writing. That’s what you meant, wasn’t it?”
Oh?
Kiara blinked rapidly. That was not at all the trade she’d had in mind.
“W-why would you… want to learn that?”
“I’ve always been fascinated by the witches’ script. It turns up sometimes in old manuscripts, and I could never read it! Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we both learned something from this? And besides, if I understand the witches’ language, I might even gain insight into magic!”
“M-magic… well…”
Kiara offered a hesitant smile. Could one really perform magic just by learning a language? Even she, supposedly a powerful witch, wasn’t entirely sure if she possessed true magical ability or not.
Her expression faltered. She opened her mouth, carefully choosing her words.
“Wouldn’t it be better to learn directly from the Empire’s mages instead? When it comes to magic…”
“You mustn’t say such things, my lady!”
Laine looked scandalized, and Kiara instinctively recoiled.
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