Chapter 11
Pffft—!
Having exhaled every last bit of air, I tried to bolt for the surface but froze in shock.
A man with pale, porcelain skin was cutting through the water, gliding directly toward me. I was momentarily stunned by his movements—he looked almost like a merman—but what truly gave him away was that dazzling golden hair.
Ricardo?!
Looking closer, a nearly naked Ricardo was charging toward me at high speed.
To be honest, seeing a man’s bare body wasn’t exactly embarrassing or awkward for me. I’d “encountered” plenty of them through the descriptions in novels back in my old world. However, facing one this directly and vividly was a first.
(The guys in my knight order don’t count; they’re basically my brothers at this point.)
The water I’d accidentally inhaled made my nose sting. With almost no oxygen left, my head began to spin. I kicked my legs harder, desperate to reach the surface.
Don’t come any closer!
Even in my panicked state, I didn’t forget to aim a kick at the rapidly approaching Ricardo to keep him back.
“Puh-ha!”
Miraculously, just before my lungs gave out, I broke the surface. I flipped onto my back, floating comfortably and letting my body relax as I waited for Ricardo to come up.
The moment he surfaced, I was going to give him a piece of my mind. Even if he did have feelings for me, diving in stark naked like that was…
No matter how I looked at it, his behavior was scandalous. Did he think showing off some muscle would suddenly make me fall for him? What did he take me for? My cheeks, which had been on the verge of heating up, cooled down instantly.
Soon, Ricardo surfaced. I prepared my sharpest rebuke, ready to demand why he had jumped in without a stitch of clothing.
Gasp—.
But as soon as I faced him, I sucked in a breath and jerked my head away.
Ricardo was paddling his hands and feet frantically to stay afloat, and the sight was so much like a frog that I almost burst out laughing.
The male lead… doing the frog stroke?
I was genuinely taken aback by this unexpected sight. Well, it happens. Even male leads can be bad at swimming, I told myself. Gathering my composure, I finally spoke.
“Phew… suddenly… like this… whew…”
The words wouldn’t come out right. No matter how good a swimmer I was, I wasn’t skilled enough to hold a fluent conversation while treading water.
“No… splash… phew…”
Ricardo was in the same boat. I gestured toward some nearby rocks, and we both raced across the lake as if competing to see who could reach the shore first. I stepped onto the land first, turned around, and shouted.
“What do you think you’re—”
The moment I turned, I was met with Ricardo’s chest. Below that, I saw perfectly sculpted abs. Water droplets trailed down the grooves of his muscles, and his thin white trousers, soaked through, clung tightly to his sturdy thighs and calves.
This was such blatant temptation. Perhaps because I knew his secret feelings, every single movement of his felt like a provocation.
Gulp.
I unintentionally swallowed hard. Ricardo looked up at me, his eyes sharp.
What? What did I do! I put my hands on my hips and stood tall, chin up.
Then, Ricardo took a long stride toward me, his eyes narrowed menacingly. I raised my fists, dropping into a defensive stance.
“Are you trying to pick a fight with—”
Ricardo brushed right past me and began picking up his discarded clothes from the ground. I watched him for a moment before frowning.
“What are you doing now?”
Having haphazardly thrown on his clothes, Ricardo turned and shouted back at me.
“What on earth are you doing?!”
Me? He was the one getting angry? Stunned, I replied, “Watching you get dressed?”
Did he think I was some kind of voyeur? But he was the one who chose to dress right in front of me, as if he were putting on a show.
“Ha! You can say that now? Why did you suddenly dive into the water like that?”
“What? I just wanted a quick swim before washing up. Why did you suddenly strip and charge at me?”
“Charge…? What? I was already washing, and I was just about to leave when… ugh.” Ricardo shook his head, covering his face with one hand. He let out a long, weary sigh, as if he couldn’t find the energy to continue the argument.
Unable to contain my curiosity, I asked first. “So, you were washing, saw me dive in, and then rushed toward me? Why?”
“Do you have any idea how long you were under?”
“Ah… so you thought something happened because I was under too long? Were you… worried about me?”
I hadn’t been thinking straight earlier because I was flustered. Thinking about it now, the idea that he jumped in to save me was much more plausible than him trying to ambush me.
I wasn’t necessarily expecting an answer, and a long silence followed. It seemed neither of us knew what to say. Then, Ricardo removed his hand from his face and locked eyes with me.
“Yeah.”
Startled by his unexpected honesty, I could only blink. I thought he would deny his feelings until the very end. I expected him to snap and say something like, “Why would I ever worry about you?”
That’s the kind of guy Ricardo was—arrogant and prideful. A guy who would rather die than admit he liked me. And yet, he admitted he was worried. Even if I had to prod the answer out of him, it was still a shock.
I spent a long time wringing the water out of my wet clothes and hair before finally whispering a single word.
“Sorry.”
“…”
This was the first apology I had ever offered Ricardo. It was for what just happened, but it was also a word I had been carrying in my heart for a long time—though he would never know its true meaning.
It was a small piece of guilt from someone who had taken things he should have had, someone who had accidentally painted over the bright future he was supposed to have in the original story.
“Why?”
“…?”
“Why are you the one saying that…” Ricardo said, his voice laced with a hint of pain.
I looked up at him. Seeing his slightly distorted expression, I lowered my head. Ricardo shot me one last glance and then left without another word.
I stayed in the water until my fingers were shriveled like raisins and my body felt bloated. After scrubbing myself raw with soap, the scent of blood was replaced by the fishy smell of the lake. It wasn’t the best, but I couldn’t expect a luxury bath in a tiny village.
I wanted to go home. I wanted to soak in a warm tub filled with scented oils, rose petals, and honey.
With those thoughts in mind, I trudged back toward the village square, letting the air dry my damp skin. When I arrived, I saw the knights and the villagers gathered around a bonfire, throwing a feast.
Various meats and vegetables were roasting over a roaring fire. It seemed the villagers had offered the food as a token of gratitude. I slipped into the crowd, intending to eat quietly and leave.
I sat and waited for the red meat to turn golden brown, then grabbed a piece. Seasoned perfectly with spices and salt, the meat tasted divine. Perhaps because I had been swimming for so long, it tasted better than any delicacy I’d ever had. I wolfed it down.
Soon, my subordinates gathered around me, chiming in one by one.
“I heard you finished off the monster, Commander? You didn’t even give us a chance… that’s cold.”
“The guys who went to find you didn’t come back, so I thought something terrible had happened. My underwear was soaked with cold sweat!”
“Hah! Getting your pants wet over that? The Commander isn’t someone who’d lose to a monster like that. There’s a reason she’s called the Monster Hunter.”
I let their chatter wash over me as I chewed. Then, Gerard, who was sitting across from me, tilted his head and asked, “But what was that monster exactly? I was too far away to see properly, but it looked like the villagers were doing something around it. What were they doing?”
My jaw stopped moving. At the same time, the knights who had been enchanted by the monster’s song and forced to dance all looked up at once. We shared a silent, meaningful glance.
“…”
Then, Kiern’s voice cut through the silence. “Oh? You guys didn’t see it?”
He leaned in close to me, whispering with a mischievous grin. “Commander, your dancing skills were quite impressive.”
Kiern’s eyesight was better than anyone else’s. It was why he was such a skilled archer; once he locked onto a target, he never missed. It was thanks to that vision that he had been able to pierce the monster’s eyes. He even had the composure to fire from outside the monster’s range. Truly, there was no one better suited to be the next Commander.
Despite Kiern’s teasing, I simply patted his shoulder. “Kiern, it’s thanks to you that we defeated the monster. Thank you.”
When his joke was met with a compliment instead of a retort, Kiern looked embarrassed, rubbing the back of his neck and turning away. I watched him with a satisfied smile before draining a mug of beer in one go. Even though the beer was lukewarm, it felt like it washed away the fatigue of the day.
The rowdy voices of my knights, the sense of accomplishment… In moments like this, I felt that being in the knight order wasn’t so bad.
Not everyone gets to live doing exactly what they want. Very few people who joined the order did so with a clear sense of purpose. Most just flowed with the current, living as if this were their pre-ordained life.
Was it because this was a novel? I often thought that perhaps my life was already decided and that I couldn’t swim against the tide to change it. Living a life I didn’t want, doing things I didn’t want to do—it felt like someone was constantly whispering that this was my fate.
And I hated it.
Why should I live a life I didn’t choose? Even if this was a novel, this was my life. I was a real person existing in reality, not just a character on a page. I didn’t want to be trapped in a frame someone else had built.
Up until now, I had conformed to this life because of the pressure to fulfill “Siona’s” role. Thoughts like ‘Siona would have lived like this’ acted like shackles, preventing me from running away.
But I had my own life, and I needed to try something new to gain what I truly wanted.
I stood up. All eyes turned to me.
“Alright, the monster is dead and our goal is achieved. I’m heading back immediately. You guys can take your time returning.”
I looked at Kiern. “Kiern, you’ll be in command while I’m away.”
“Commander…?”
Kiern’s eyes went wide. As he tried to stand up, I pressed down on his shoulder.
“Just do what you usually do. You’ll be fine.”
I patted his shoulder twice more, then turned and walked away. I had rested enough. I packed my light bags, intending to leave the village immediately.
I was leading my horse toward the village exit when—
Shadow.
A shadow suddenly fell across my path. I looked up.
