CHAPTER 66……………………
It was something that made no sense.
Even the Tower Master couldn’t see divine beasts.
Unless it was a special case, like Linaria who had contracted with the Divine Beast of Time…
“I can see the bird and the tiger.”
He could clearly see them.
“Their voices too?”
“Yes.”
Linaria froze in shock.
“Linaria!”
At that moment, August strode over, calling her name loudly.
“I just heard something—what on earth was that about?”
“Y–yes?”
Could he have overheard her conversation with Cass?
There was no way August could have heard. They’d been speaking far too quietly.
Still, just the thought of it made Linaria’s heart race.
“That my tastes run that way!”
“…I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Thankfully, he meant something completely different.
“You told Noah that maid uniforms were my…!”
August, who had raised his voice, suddenly caught himself and fell silent.
It must have been about that time she had, as an excuse to Noah, claimed maid uniforms were August’s taste.
“How strange. So it wasn’t your taste?”
Linaria asked innocently.
“…Maybe it was.”
Thinking it over, he realized Linaria would never have said something like that, even as a joke.
He figured there must have been a reason and let it pass.
“Anyway, what do you think of the clothes Noah’s wearing?”
“They’re fine.”
“Linaria, you’re way too dry.”
Thanks to August, who was passionately holding forth beside her, Linaria naturally blended back into their conversation.
Nodding absently, she stole a glance at Cass.
His face betrayed no reaction, as if he had no idea how shocking the words he had just spoken were.
“Linaria, look at this.”
“It’s fine.”
All the while, August acted as if he meant to buy every outfit in the tailor’s shop.
Lord Brimstone, Duke Ignas, and even Lady Obel.
It was unusual for such prominent figures, with little prior connection, to gather in one place, but no one seemed suspicious.
Everyone already knew that August and Noah were childhood friends.
And by now, everyone also knew that Noah had formed a working partnership with Obel.
It was a good decision to openly cultivate ties with Ignas.
Thanks to that, so long as Noah was present, no suspicion would arise even if August was with them.
Linaria had asked her father deliberately, using Ignas as a bridge.
The moment there was a sign of growing close to Brimstone, Leviathan immediately became wary.
Revealing the favor of two noble houses would only intensify Leviathan’s vigilance.
But if it was just Ignas, Leviathan might let it pass.
After all, Noah’s reclusion had already diminished his house’s prestige.
Finishing her calculations in her head, Linaria casually nodded along to the two men.
It looked like August really meant to pay for everything he’d seen today.
“All the clothes you tried on today—I’ll gift them to you.”
“A g–gift? That’s far too much…”
“We’re friends. Friends can give each other gifts like this.”
“…Are friends supposed to give and receive this much? But I’ve already received too much from you…”
“Don’t treat it like a debt you need to repay. That’s not friendship—that’s a creditor and debtor.”
“…But still.”
“I’m giving it because I want to. Because I want you to be happy.”
August smiled brightly.
“All you need to do is smile.”
At those words, it was not Noah but Linaria who faltered.
“Oh, right. While we’re at it—could you pass this along?”
It was the very thing August had once wanted Linaria to tell Noah in his place.
So he ended up saying it himself after all.
“You don’t usually smile much. So when you do, I feel truly happy. And that makes me happy too.”
“……”
“So when you smile, I’m happier than at any other time.”
Noah hesitated, then awkwardly lifted the corners of his mouth to mimic August.
“Y–yeah.”
For seven years straight, his friend had knocked on his door with unchanging patience.
Still confident, still flawless, August remained his ideal.
So when he faced the knight who had shown inferiority toward August, he had thought—
Had he looked just as pathetic once?
But no.
As a child, perhaps he had.
But not anymore.
Even standing before August, grown so splendidly, he no longer felt deprived.
August is August, and I am me.
Like a pot mended with gold, which to his eyes was more beautiful than an unblemished one, he now accepted their differences.
“You look good when you smile. So that settles it—I’m buying all the clothes you wore today. Alright?”
“Uh… uh, that’s…”
Noah tried to object, but August clapped him on the back in camaraderie.
Each time, Noah wobbled like a flimsy sheet of paper, unable to say a word.
They even stopped by two more tailors after that.
All the while, Linaria wanted to speak with Cass about the divine beasts, but never found a moment.
Exhausted, she parted ways with Noah, then moved to board her carriage.
“Could we talk a moment?”
If August hadn’t spoken, that is.
Perhaps her reluctance showed on her face, because he quickly added,
“I mean about the tastes Noah knows of mine.”
“Ah, I forgot about that.”
With everything that had happened recently, she’d forgotten to coordinate with August in advance.
“Then let’s say that cancels one of the debts you’re owed by me.”
Hearing that, August chuckled as if amused.
“You know, Linaria, there are so many things I’m grateful to you for.”
“I’ll keep tallying them all as debts.”
“Ha, haha.”
After laughing aloud for a while, August suddenly grew serious.
“About that information on the canyon. When I first heard it, I agonized for ages over what I’d overlooked. But I couldn’t figure it out.”
In his past life, after August died, Dante later took over Pelrig.
Father treated people without prejudice.
That was how he’d come by information that had turned the tide of war.
“I don’t know why you’re bringing this up now.”
“Because you were the one who provided it.”
“I told you, it wasn’t me—”
“I checked with Duke Obel. Will you still deny it?”
“…There was someone I knew from Pelrig. They told me about the canyon.”
“So the answer was with people all along.”
Her father too had learned it from people—so it wasn’t a lie.
“How hollow.”
August gave a bitter smile.
“If I’d only been a little kinder to the locals, I could’ve learned about the canyon. And lives wouldn’t have been lost.”
Many had died in those hard-fought battles.
Watching them fall, August had realized his own inadequacy.
And deep down, sensed that he too would meet such an end.
Perhaps because he had resigned himself to death—
When a single strategy covered up his incompetence, he had felt especially grateful to the one who had provided it.
“You’re already kind enough.”
“I was half-hearted in everything.”
“You know you can’t be a good person to everyone.”
Linaria’s words were firm.
In that instant, August realized—he had envied her for exactly that.
“Did the foreigners always defeat us?”
“No.”
“Were the battlefields only filled with the dead?”
“No.”
“And were there not those whose lives you saved?”
“There were.”
“You saved even one. If you could be a good person to even one, then that’s enough.”
You can’t be good to everyone.
Today, more than ever, August seemed to understand that truth deeply.
“Listening to you makes me feel like I could admit maid uniforms are my thing.”
“Please don’t.”
Linaria grimaced.
Pfft, hahahaha.
Her expression made him burst out laughing.
“Oh, right. I have something for you.”
“For me?”
August handed her a meal ticket.
“It’s a restaurant my family often goes to. Seats by the lake need to be reserved half a year in advance, but my family gets exceptions.”
“……”
“Go there with Duke Obel. When I saw him recently, he seemed to be doing better than expected. He could use a change of scenery.”
Linaria started to refuse.
Sensing it, August quickly cut her off.
“It was your father’s idea, so don’t feel pressured. I think he’s felt guilty for a long time. He insisted on giving this to you himself—I barely convinced him to let me deliver it instead.”
“…Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Well then, it’s time you head home.”
August escorted her naturally toward her carriage.
But—
“?”
The hand he extended went unclaimed.
Because Cass, who had been standing silently, took Linaria’s hand first.
Far from clumsy, his actions were the very model of a gentleman.
No way…
August’s eyes narrowed.
He realized Cass was perfectly imitating him.
