#067
I had deliberately closed all four bed curtains, but Carlisle opened exactly the curtain of the bed where Eira was.
“……”
‘Haah…’
The bed beyond the curtain was empty. I nervously swallowed without realizing it. Eira had either escaped to another location or, as I hoped, had downed the stealth potion. But still unable to relax, I watched Carlisle’s back and the dim bed area with a pounding heart.
I could feel Carlisle’s gaze thoroughly sweeping over the bed. The pillow and blankets were messily disheveled. I had a bad feeling. As if I had possessed Carlisle, I followed his gaze and swept over the bed, then froze for a moment.
The foot of the bed was deeply sunken. As if someone was crouching there. It was a disaster. There was no way Carlisle hadn’t noticed what I had discovered.
“Kyaah!”
Sure enough, Carlisle reached out his arm and Eira’s scream briefly rang out in the seemingly empty air. I squeezed my eyes shut.
“What’s this? Are you two having a secret affair or something?”
When I opened my eyes, Eira was being dragged down from the bed with her wrist caught, her form revealed. A bracelet that looked like handcuffs was fastened to one of Eira’s wrists. It seemed to be an item that neutralized stealth. Carlisle fastened the other side of the handcuffs to the bed post, tying Eira up.
I gave up.
“There’s no trash like this trash.”
Laughter mixed into Carlisle’s voice. It was laughter that didn’t sound pleasant at all.
“You kissed me yesterday, so today you wanted to sleep with Eira? Now that life’s gotten better, your old habits came back?”
I could see Eira’s eyes widen at the mention of a kiss. My mouth also fell open. What kind of line is this supposed to be? Why is the atmosphere flowing this way?
If Carlisle caught me with Eira, I thought the first problem would be that her entering the village was illegal. But secret affairs, kisses, and old habits? This makes it seem like… I’m dating Carlisle but got caught cheating.
“Sorry, but Raon, I have mysophobia so I can’t watch that spectacle.”
Carlisle spoke softly with his mouth corners lifted smugly. My mind went numb at his words, not knowing if he was serious or joking. Was the atmosphere flowing this way because I brought up an irrelevant excuse?
It suddenly felt like the genre had changed. Of course, this game did combine romance simulation, but romance and farming had all been blown away long ago when the world collapsed. What talk of romance in an era where survival was the top priority?
But this wasn’t the time to talk about genres. Carlisle’s tone was soft and laughter was embedded at the corners of his mouth, but his eyes weren’t smiling. They were chillingly murderous eyes. He wasn’t simply mocking me.
It probably wasn’t because he had lingering feelings for me. Looking at his attitude toward me so far, it was hard to even call it love-hate. He might have really become unpleasant thinking that his kiss with me yesterday got swept up in my romantic games. But if that were the case, I felt wronged too. Of course I didn’t refuse, but wasn’t he the one who made the first move?
But before determining whose fault yesterday’s actions were, the problem was that if Carlisle decided to throw away the expedition contract and everything else and wanted to blow my head off, I’d be the one in trouble.
“Um, Carlisle.”
“Carlisle Lightinger, it’s a misunderstanding. I can explain everything.”
I was about to open my mouth thinking I should confess the truth and somehow seek understanding, but Eira was faster than me. Probably mindful of people like Tommy who might be pressing their ears to the door outside, she had lowered her voice considerably.
“We’re absolutely not the kind of relationship you think, and actually…”
“‘We.'”
Eira opened her mouth, but Carlisle’s ominous voice cut off her words. He didn’t even look at Eira.
“I’m not interested in what you have to say, so shut your mouth for now.”
Carlisle’s gaze was fixed only on me the entire time.
“Explain, honey. I’ll at least listen.”
No, I said stop that weirdly soft tone. It’s giving me chills. And since when was I your ‘honey’?
He said he’d listen, but I had a strong feeling that no matter what I said, the conclusion would already be decided. But we’d come this far anyway, so there was nothing more to hide. There was only one path. Confess everything truthfully and wait for judgment.
Whether I was misunderstood or confessed the circumstances, the fact that I had not only contacted the exiled Eira but also brought her into the village wouldn’t change. Then it was better to clear up the misunderstanding. At least, to say that I hadn’t been trying to play with Carlisle. I didn’t know if he was serious or teasing, but from the current atmosphere, Carlisle definitely seemed fixated on that issue strangely.
I made up my mind and hurried to the area with the partition to first show Eira’s workstation that had been hidden.
“You already know that I’ve been commissioning potions from Eira.”
Since I had a history of proposing a deal to him and getting shot down.
I confessed the story related to the Elmer and Kate couple. Of course, to avoid the two getting wrongly involved, I slightly changed the story to say that I had arbitrarily brought Eira to make healing potions without them knowing.
“Ah. So you volunteered to do such work with no benefit while having no money?”
Carlisle’s reaction was cynical.
“Even risking being expelled from the village? Were you such an altruistic person? You want me to believe that?”
Of course, I wasn’t such a person with excellent character. But at least, I was an ordinary person who had feelings and affection.
“Benefit or whatever, Elmer ahjussi and Kate ajumma aren’t strangers.”
I felt upset and disappointed (though it was somewhat true, but still) that Carlisle saw me only as a selfish, heartless, and materialistic person.
“If I didn’t know them at all it would be different, but when I clearly know a way for them to survive, how can I pretend not to know? You say it’s risky, but if I don’t get caught, that’s it, and from my position, it’s not a lot of money. I got the sand strawberries and Eira said she’d help, so how could I not do it? Someone is dying.”
“……”
Carlisle closed his mouth for a moment and just stared at my face quietly. The cynical feeling disappeared, but he didn’t seem to particularly believe my words either. I felt wronged. So I spoke more bluntly.
“It’s true. If I really wanted to sleep with Eira, I would have done it at Eira’s house. Why would I complicate things like this? There’s no reason to bring her all the way here while taking risks.”
“It could be killing two birds with one stone. Help Kate and make an excuse to satisfy desires.”
“Shibal, I said no! Why don’t you believe what people say!”
Do you really see me as that kind of person?!
I couldn’t control my temper and ended up yelling loudly.
Carlisle didn’t say anything about believing my words or anything like that. When I cursed and fumed, he just stared at me blankly before taking out a cigarette and putting it in his mouth.
Neither Eira nor I could bring up things like indoor smoking bans or keeping manners. The guild lodging full of rough mercenaries wouldn’t be non-smoking in the first place, and even if it were non-smoking, it would be shameless for criminals like us to harp on about no smoking.
Anyway, Eira was a Potionist accustomed to the acrid smoke of burning herbs.
And I, though I had lost control of my anger for a moment and yelled loudly, quickly grasped the situation and my place and immediately shrank. In a situation where no one spoke and only Eira and I watched Carlisle’s mood, only the sound of the analog clock hands moving on the wall was loud.
I had gotten quite used to Carlisle’s cigarette smoke too, but as smoke billowed up in the closed space and I felt psychologically stuffy, another impulse gradually rose. Since I was standing by the window, I subtly reached out and opened the window a little.
Seeing this, Carlisle let out a snort as if finding it absurd.
“Uh…”
When I looked at him hoping the atmosphere might lighten a bit, Carlisle wiped away his smile as if nothing had happened. Then suddenly, as if he had lost interest in everything that happened in this room, he released Eira’s handcuffs with an indifferent expression.
“Run away or don’t, do whatever you want.”
After throwing out those few words, he turned around and left the room immediately.
Flustered by the sudden situation, we just stared at the door he had disappeared through with our mouths open. And without any time to exchange words, as if doing a baton pass, Taro immediately came in to handle the situation and took us to the mansion.
Eira obediently followed to the mansion. It might have been because she was worried about me, but anyway, she couldn’t return to the forest on this night, and it would be dangerous to go anywhere with the potion’s effectiveness being uncertain.
Carlisle had disappeared somewhere and wasn’t visible. (Taro emphasized that he definitely hadn’t tattled.)
I needed to explain the situation to Eira and apologize, but until Eira left the next morning, we weren’t given time to talk alone. Taro was with us in the car, and after arriving at the mansion, Hayden the butler was already waiting outside, probably having been contacted.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
