Chapter 24
During the break, I suppose it looked strange that I didn’t wander off and just stayed by the carriage. Straightening my back, I smiled faintly and replied:
“Ah, I was drawing the Christopher family crest to embroider on a handkerchief.”
“Really, you’re going to embroider it?”
“Yes.”
“Doesn’t embroidery take a long time?”
“It does take quite a while.”
Even though my hands were faster than most, embroidering a single handkerchief still required a lot of time. Embroidery, after all, only yields results proportional to the effort put into it.
But I didn’t mind the time. I was grateful to Dante, and embroidery was something I enjoyed.
“Anyway, since we’re sitting in the carriage, I can work on it while we go. Don’t you both get bored just listening to me?”
I said this because Dante had looked indifferent the whole time, but he answered immediately.
“Not bored at all.”
“R-Really? But still…”
“Embroidery in a moving carriage will make your head hurt.”
“I think I’ll be fine…”
I hadn’t gotten motion sickness so far; would a little embroidery suddenly trigger it?
I fidgeted with my fingers hesitantly, and Dante let out a heavy sigh.
“…If you’re fine with it, then I guess it’s fine.”
I thought so. Beaming brightly, I stuck close to Dante. He was much taller than me, so every time he took a step, I had to take two or three small quick steps to keep up. I chattered on, asking him questions.
“Is it okay to use yellow thread for the crest? Or do you have a preferred color?”
“Why yellow?”
“I noticed in the carriage that you usually decorate it in gold, but the only thread I have is this yellow. Is it okay to embroider it in this color?”
It was hard to describe the color properly, when just then a butterfly flitted through the air. I pointed toward it. Dante frowned.
“Quite bright.”
“Right?”
His image was so heavy and imposing that yellow didn’t exactly suit him.
‘What should I do then?’
Would it be better to use a soft beige instead? The thought made me frown. While I pondered, Dante cut through my deliberation with his blunt tone.
“Pick a color you think will look nice. It doesn’t have to be gold. As I said before, I don’t use my handkerchiefs anyway.”
So the handkerchief I made would be the first to bear his crest.
His words made the responsibility feel heavier, yet I couldn’t help feeling thrilled. I felt like I had been entrusted with a great task, and it fueled my determination even more.
“Ah!”
A sharp pain spread down my calf. Startled, I looked down and saw a long cut from a sharp branch.
“Oh no…”
My leg burned. My skirt was too full, and my arms were full of branches, so I couldn’t check the wound properly.
‘And lifting my skirt is awkward too…’
Unable to do anything, I hesitated. Dante stepped forward.
“I’ll support you, don’t overdo it.”
But to support me, I’d have to put down the branches I was holding. That would delay our meal.
I shook my head quickly.
“No! I’m fine! It doesn’t hurt that much!”
“Still…”
Dante sighed and walked forward, saying:
“First, it would be best to wash the wound.”
After gathering the branches in one spot, we went to a nearby water source.
At first, we went because we heard the sound of water, but the current was faster than expected. It turned out one side was like a series of cliffs, broken into steps.
We stood midway. Water fell from about my waist height, spraying cool mist and rushing downward with a roaring sound. I gasped.
“Wow, the water is falling from above!”
Inside the Cline estate, there were large lakes and fountains, but none had this fresh, powerful feeling.
Dante, showing no sign of annoyance, answered my question.
“This is how waterfalls are formed. From high to low.”
High to low.
Completely opposite from the Cline estate fountains, which shot water upward. I nodded.
“That’s the natural flow of water, then.”
“That’s why I don’t like fountains. Anything forced seems unnatural, whether human or otherwise.”
After saying that, Dante looked resolute and said:
“We’ll listen to those kinds of stories later. Sit here.”
“Huh? You want to see it directly, Duke?”
“Then who else would?”
But we were both unmarried. I had been raised strictly since childhood and had never even shown my knees to Emil.
‘Is my sense of propriety strange?’
Unlike my embarrassment, Dante showed no awkwardness at all.
‘Still, I’m embarrassed!’
Even if it’s not a social norm, if I’m embarrassed, I can refuse kindness. I politely pushed his hand away.
“I-I can treat the wound myself. Do I look like someone who’s never been hurt?”
“You do, actually.”
“I was a tomboy as a child, you know? Even just before meeting you, my knees were scraped.”
They’d been scraped while I sneaked through the garden to spy on Emil and Rozian.
Sitting on a flat rock as he pointed, I lifted my skirt. The wound looked worse than I expected.
‘Ah, so that’s why he wanted to see it himself.’
Blood soaked my white socks, making it look scarier.
‘But it shouldn’t be as bad as it looks.’
Thinking that, I tried to remove the sock but shrieked and curled up.
“Ugh! It hurts so much.”
I had no idea how the branch had cut me. Shivering, Dante came closer, holding my foot gently in his hands.
“I’ll pull it off slowly, be careful.”
“…Okay.”
He gently pulled while I kept the sock from touching the wound, finally removing it.
Embarrassed to even show my foot in a sock, I ended up exposing my bare foot as well.
‘Today has been a series of blunders.’
Even trying to cheer myself up, everything kept going wrong, leaving me disheartened. I lowered my head gloomily.
‘Thankfully, the wound isn’t too deep.’
Though long, it wasn’t deep enough to require stitching. The bleeding had mostly stopped. The pain when removing the sock had been from the dried blood sticking to it.
I carefully washed the wound in the cold stream. Dante, standing beside me with his arms crossed, gestured at something and asked:
“What’s that?”
“Huh?”
I turned and saw Pepe’s round head poking out of my pocket.
“Oh!”
‘You must have been so frustrated!’
Hearing only the sounds inside the pocket, he must have been curious. I hesitated for a moment, then decided to take him out.
“This is my friend, Pepe. He’s a baby dragon.”
At the words “baby dragon,” Dante’s eyes lit up. He reached out his large hand.
“May I touch him?”
Pepe trembled lightly at the offer.
‘Ugh, he doesn’t seem to like it.’
Still, I couldn’t just snatch Pepe away abruptly. I smiled awkwardly.
“Just a little?”
“I was going to anyway.”
His thick fingers gently tapped Pepe’s head. I thought this was uncharacteristic of Dante, and indeed, it wasn’t done out of affection.
He was just fascinated by the knitted toy.
“Why is the surface so rough? Is it the thick thread? Why use such thick thread?”
“Oh, this is knitted. Different from the cotton or silk you wear.”
“Knitted?”
“For scarves, socks, things like that… Haven’t you seen this before? Usually, children wear vests or wraps made this way.”
“Hmm.”
Dante shook his head.
