Chapter 13
Only then did Belita come to her senses and say a word to him.
“Are you crazy?”
“Then what is it? Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Because you’re unbelievable. How did you deal with those people…?”
Belita trailed off and shook her head. She soon pulled a note out of the pocket of her dress.
“I thought it’d be better if you took a look now.”
Tarzen deftly snatched the paper. After glancing at it for a moment, he held it out to Belita.
“You’re going to find it without looking?”
“It’s around here.”
Tarzen gestured forward with his chin. Belita decided to trust him for now. Since she had come to a place like this and caused trouble for no reason, she had no room to complain.
After walking a little farther down the alley, they came to a wide open lot. Belita checked her watch. The note said it would take twenty minutes, but it had taken them forty to get here.
Considering how much they’d wandered, they had still arrived fairly quickly.
“I guess we got here a bit early since we came through an undeveloped area.”
“Then was that the shortcut?”
“Probably.”
Belita was simply glad they had made it here safely and walked toward the shop in good spirits. But Tarzen didn’t follow her inside. Feeling puzzled, Belita asked him,
“You’re not coming in?”
“I’ll wait here.”
With that, Tarzen leaned against the wall.
“Alright, then.”
Belita said so and went into the shop. The owner greeted her warmly.
“You must be Lady Belita, correct?”
“Yes. I’m here to find a gift for my father. A collectible sword that once belonged to a hero from two hundred years ago.”
As if he had been prepared, the owner brought out a finely made wooden box and opened it. Inside was a well-maintained collectible sword. Belita nodded with a satisfied smile.
“Please wrap it.”
The owner nodded and immediately took out wrapping paper. While watching his practiced hands at work, Belita suddenly glanced outside. Tarzen was fooling around, tossing a sword up and down and catching it. Come to think of it, when she’d seen it earlier in the carriage, the handle of his sword had looked quite worn. Belita turned back and pointed to a sword on display with a dark wooden handle.
“And that one too, please.”
“Would you like that wrapped as well?”
Belita looked outside for a moment, then shook her head.
“No. Just give it to me like that.”
Tarzen didn’t seem like the type who would accept a wrapped sword anyway. The owner nodded and handed Belita both the wrapped collectible sword and the other one. Belita paid and stepped out of the shop.
“Let’s go.”
When Belita came out, Tarzen turned to her. She held out the new sword, still in its box, toward him.
“Anyway, we got here thanks to your help, so… as a thank-you.”
Tarzen stared at it silently, then looked at Belita instead of taking it.
“Why?”
“Are you really just giving this to me?”
“Have you ever seen me lie?”
“No.”
“Then just take it.”
In the end, Tarzen accepted the sword. Strangely enough, he didn’t look particularly happy.
“What, you don’t like it? Should I go exchange it for another one?”
“No. I like it.”
“Then why…?”
“I’ve never received a gift like this before. Especially not from a woman.”
At those words, Belita felt her face heat up.
“I’m just giving it to you because I’m grateful.”
Tarzen didn’t say anything and simply nodded. Oddly enough, he accepted it without any hint of sarcasm.
‘Does he really not like it?’
But Belita dismissed the thought. If he didn’t like it, he could just throw it away. She didn’t want to concern herself with that. She had shown her gratitude; what he did afterward was his business.
The road back to the carriage was easier than expected. Tarzen found the way so well that it was actually more comfortable. Belita regretted not leaving it to him from the start and thought that giving him the sword had been a good decision.
When they reached the carriage, the coachman quickly took what Belita was carrying and opened the door. Belita climbed inside happily. Now that she’d found her father’s gift, all that was left was to buy roses at the flower shop near the estate and hold a grand birthday ball.
Above all, the Crown Prince would be attending, which made her all the happier. She was gazing out the carriage window in high spirits when, unexpectedly, a small shrine caught her eye. Belita hurriedly opened the middle door and called out to the coachman.
“Stop for a moment. Pull over here.”
At that moment, Tarzen stuck his head out through the middle door.
“Do you really have to go?”
“Yes. It won’t take long.”
Belita never passed by a shrine without stopping. Even if it was small, she always offered a prayer beneath the holy image of the god. She heard Tarzen sigh, but she didn’t pay it any mind.
The carriage slowly came to a stop.
Belita gathered her dress and stepped down. Tarzen leaned against the carriage, watching her.
“Go ahead. I’ll wait here.”
“It’d be nice if you prayed too.”
At that, Tarzen snorted softly.
“I’m not into places like this.”
“Alright, then wait here.”
Tarzen nodded. Belita stepped lightly into the shrine. She prayed there for quite a while. Once she started praying, there always seemed to be so many things she wanted from the god—about her future life, too.
After waiting a long time with no sign of Belita, Tarzen, growing bored, let out a sigh. He craned his head into the shrine. Since it was small, he could immediately see Belita standing before the statue, hands clasped in prayer.
Tarzen was seized by a strange feeling. The window was clearly meant to highlight the god’s image, yet the light seemed to be directed solely at Belita, making her stand out all the more. Bathed in sunlight, she almost looked like a noble statue of a god herself.
Tarzen frowned and turned his head away. A filthy curse slipped out of him.
“Fuck.”
He ran a hand roughly through his hair and headed back to the carriage.
“She’s fucking beautiful.”
That only made him angrier. He said to the coachman,
“Please go call Lady Belita. It’s getting dark—it’s time to head back.”
The coachman nodded and went into the shrine. Tarzen stared stiffly at the entrance. It was fully afternoon now, shadows slanting long. Feeling unsettled, he reached into his inner pocket for some loose tobacco to smoke.
Then a sharp blade brushed his fingers. He frowned and pulled out the sword he’d grabbed. The blade was unusually smooth.
—
“Anyway, we got here thanks to your help, so… as a thank-you.”
—
He remembered Belita saying that so brightly. The daughter of that man—and yet, why was she different? Unlike her father, who didn’t even know gratitude, at least the daughter understood it.
“Damn it.”
That thought scraped at Tarzen even more. He shouldn’t let his thinking change. After all, they shared the same blood. Tarzen put the sword back into his inner pocket.
Soon, Belita emerged from the shrine. Tarzen avoided looking at her and climbed onto the coachman’s seat first. Once Belita got into the carriage, it set off.
The ride back to the estate went smoothly. It wasn’t far, but after about twenty minutes, the carriage arrived in front of a luxurious mansion.
Belita stepped down cheerfully. Tarzen also helped the coachman tend to the horses. A servant hurried over to greet Belita and took the boxes she was carrying.
“Take these to my room first.”
The servant bowed and headed into the estate. Belita glanced around, then walked over to Tarzen, who was fixing the saddle.
She had held bad memories of Tarzen until now, but this time she didn’t think he was so bad. More than anything, he hadn’t run away despite the danger of the undeveloped area, and he’d found the way well.
In a way, her inability to find the route herself might have been frustrating, but thinking back, he hadn’t been that harsh. He’d just complained a little.
So Belita felt grateful to him.
She approached him and said,
“Tarzen, I think I understand why Father trusts you. You don’t seem like such a bad person.”
Tarzen’s hands paused on the saddle.
“I misjudged you because of your tone and behavior. And at Father’s birthday ball, I’ll tell him to let you enjoy yourself too. After all, you helped a lot with buying his gift.”
“……”
“Good work.”
Belita smiled and turned away. Tarzen stared ahead with a hardened expression. At that moment, the horse snorted and shook its head. He quickly finished adjusting the saddle, greeted the coachman, and withdrew.
Belita headed to the study to greet her father. Harold seemed to have been in the middle of a serious discussion with the butler, his face stiff. But when Belita entered, he smiled as if nothing had happened.
“Belita, you’re back already?”
“Yes. By the way, are you busy?”
“No. We just finished talking.”
The butler bowed to Belita and Harold and left the study. Harold rose from his chair and walked over to the comfortable sofa. Belita sat across from him and began speaking with a smile.
“Father, the flowers I bought this time are really fresh. You should see them.”
“My daughter chose them—of course they would be.”
Harold said with a laugh, and Belita smiled. As she chatted about this and that, the undeveloped area suddenly came to mind.
“By the way, I saw something terrible today.”
“What do you mean?”
“I took a wrong turn and ended up in an undeveloped area. Have you ever heard of such a place? I didn’t even know it existed, but Tarzen knew it well. Anyway, I never want to go somewhere like that again. The people were strange, and if it hadn’t been for Tarzen—”
Noticing the sudden quiet, Belita stopped and looked at Harold. His face had gone rigid.
“Father?”
Only then did Harold relax his expression and speak gently.
“That’s why I told you to go with Tarzen.”
“Yes. Come to think of it, Tarzen doesn’t seem like a bad person.”
Harold’s expression stiffened subtly again, but Belita failed to notice. She was too busy looking forward to her father’s birthday ball.
After chatting for a long while, Belita glanced at the clock. It was almost time for dinner.
“Father, let’s go eat dinner. You haven’t eaten yet, right?”
“Yes. Now that I think about it, I still have a bit of work left. I’ll finish up and then come down.”
“Alright. Take your time.”
Belita bid Harold farewell and left the study. Once she was completely gone, Harold pulled a bell cord. Less than three minutes later, a knock sounded.
“Come in.”
The voice was sharp, different from the gentle tone he’d used earlier. The door opened, and the butler bowed.
“You called for me?”
“Bring Tarzen to the basement immediately.”
“Yes.”
The butler hurried out. Harold rose from his chair and walked to the desk. He opened a drawer and took out a pair of black leather gloves, slipping them on.
Then he strode quickly toward the door.
Soon, the door to the study shut firmly.
