<CHAPTER 10>

“Thank you for taking care of me.”

“Eat.”

“Thank you sincerely for saving me as well.”

Even though she was starving to the point of collapse, Belona carefully expressed her gratitude each time.

Solishar had only thought about stopping her if she ate too hastily, but honestly, he did not expect to hear thanks.

He stared at Belona, who clutched the spoon like it was a precious weapon.

“I forgot to say thank you last night.”

She had woken up in the stone fortress and come all the way here, so her body was in terrible condition and her voice was hoarse.

Still, if Sol had not been there, she had enough sense to imagine what might have happened if she had been dragged to the punishment zone.

She would never have even dreamed of eating a stew with chunks of meat floating in it.

Each time they went back and forth to the inn, and each time she received clean clothes, Sol paid the innkeeper.

What she was enjoying now was not free.

That was very important.

“Thaaank you.”

Her voice dragged from exhaustion as she spoke, but there was no reply.

She had not expected one anyway, since he was a man of few words.

She energetically plunged her spoon into the stew.

“You saved me too.”

The reply came a bit late.

Belona, who had already taken a big bite, widened her eyes and looked at Solishar.

In the room where only the two of them were, he had lowered his mask and prepared his own utensils.

“It means you did your part well.”

Only then did Belona newly realize that Sol had flawless skin.

Sunlight, gradually fading, fell upon his finely sculpted nose and straight cheeks, making him shine brilliantly.

“Right? I actually think so too.”

At her lively voice, Solishar, who had just started eating, nearly choked.

“So I feel a bit proud. I don’t know who sealed my memories, but maybe they weren’t very skilled. Or maybe…”

The girl who used to blush and lower her head when praised now spoke excitedly with a very proud expression.

Then she trailed off mid-sentence and just kept moving her spoon.

It was suspicious how she left her words hanging.

“Or maybe, what.”

What ridiculous thing was she going to say now?

“Or maybe… I might have been a pretty decent mage?”

She said it all at once, then shyly averted her gaze and looked at the ceiling.

“Why do you think that?”

“They said my memories were sealed, but I remembered them in just two days.”

“And?”

“And I was able to help you once I remembered.”

“You used magic too, right?”

Solishar acknowledged that she had used magic, but he did not let it pass so easily.

< i>This should be enough! What more do you expect from someone who lost her memories?

Belona quietly fixed her now-bright eyes on the stew.

“Mages usually present at least three arguments when making a claim.”

And the Belona Solishar knew was a mage to the core.

While chewing her stew, she glanced at him from beneath her lashes before looking away again.

It was a familiar sight he had seen many times.

Belona would sometimes secretly steal glances at him, her lips twitching as if she wanted to say something, only to close them again.

He forcibly tore his gaze away from those lips that he found himself unconsciously following.

Did she think of betraying me while making that expression?

Or was she about to confess what she had been holding inside?

Now, it was something he could no longer know.

If she did not say it in the end, he had no intention of prying.

That was simply the extent of their relationship.

“When I went to wash at the previous inn, the water droplets suddenly got bigger.”

But unexpectedly, her small whisper confessed honestly.

“Water droplets?”

“Yes.”

With a look that said, “You know what I mean, right?”, Belona nodded and continued eating her stew enthusiastically.

Far too enthusiastically.

“I told you to chew twenty times.”

When he pulled the bowl slightly toward himself, she followed it instinctively before starting to chew properly with a dissatisfied expression.

Only then did Solishar push the bowl back.

“What do you mean the water droplets got bigger?”

“Exactly what I said.”

“A single drop of water?”

“It rose on its own and got bigger.”

Belona carefully raised both hands and drew a circle in the air.

“That big?”

As she slowly chewed twenty times, the circle her hands drew grew larger and larger.

After thinking for a moment, Solishar reached a conclusion.

“So that’s why you ended up like a drowned rat.”

“A rat?”

While explaining earnestly with her whole body, she glared.

“You were a rat. You couldn’t control it, so you got drenched.”

“Do you know how scary it is when water suddenly grows like that?”

She protested earnestly, but Sol ignored her.

He also ignored the confusion and faint stirring emotions he had felt when he saw her soaked back then.

“Do you think it was scarier than me wondering if I needed to teach you how to wash?”

“You could have just taught me that. But when the water suddenly grows and comes over your head, there’s nothing you can do!”

The Belona who once could barely speak to him now argued back stubbornly.

Even so, her hands kept moving quickly, scooping up stew.

It was one of the few things about her after losing her memory that he liked.

“What kind of magic did you use?”

“I don’t know. I just thought I wanted to soak in warm water.”

“Well, you did end up soaking.”

Belona made a very wronged expression, insisting she had not wanted to be drenched, but she missed the timing to argue back since she was faithfully chewing twenty times.

A mage who used magic less than a day after confirming memory loss.

Either she was an extraordinary mage, or the northern mages who sealed her memories were incompetent.

It had to be one of the two.

Belona was a rare talent in the North, though she had never shown any particularly outstanding achievements.

However, Solishar had long noticed that Belona was hiding power.

He also knew that she was deeply involved in the seizures he experienced.

Though he had no idea it had started long ago, he believed she had been helping him.

Then he realized she had betrayed him, and now everything had faded into a dense fog.

He no longer knew what was true.

Still, Belona was an exceptional mage.

She certainly had been.

So exceptional that showing more of her talent could become extremely dangerous.

“But you, why would you tell me all that so easily?”

A cold voice, instantly chilled, cut through the air.

Belona, who had been eating diligently, raised her head and looked at him.

After all, he was someone who had lied to her.

For all she knew, he might be leading her into an even greater danger.

“Ah. You mean I should be careful because it’s dangerous. Got it. I’ll be more careful from now on.”

But Belona nodded as if she understood.

For the first time, the man whose intentions were unreadable hesitated in front of her.

She realized she had struck the mark.

“But this means that since I’m this useful, you should take me along safely.”

Without his help, Belona could not even survive.

So, cautiously but clearly, she asserted her usefulness.

That last night, she had not been just baggage.

“Even if it’s only worth one bowl of stew.”

In truth, even if she had not earned the cost of a single meal, Belona would have nothing to say.

All this time, she had been nothing more than heavy baggage he carried.

He said he would take her to someone looking for her, but she did not know who that person was, and even that could be a lie.

If Sol gave up midway, her fate would become worse than death in an instant.

She did not know the details, but she was not an ordinary criminal, and Sol was not an ordinary man either.

After experiencing two attacks, she vaguely understood that much.

The Yellow something must be really important. But what is that?

“More than one bowl.”

Solishar spoke indifferently in a casual tone.

“Eat two bowls.”

Her dull, watery eyes suddenly bloomed like flowers in full blossom as she smiled.

For some reason, those words delighted her so much that her once dim face lit up brightly.

Clueless, like someone who knew nothing, she smiled innocently.

The late afternoon sunlight seemed to cling entirely to her pale face, dazzling his vision.

Belona tried to follow his words and eat two bowls of stew, but failed.

Though Sol seemed not to be watching, he caught her every time she failed to chew properly and scolded her.

So she had no choice but to eat slowly, and one bowl was enough to fill her completely.

After brushing her teeth, she felt sleepy again, but she could not sleep.

Sol, already wearing his hood again, was busily moving outside.

Though it was still chilly, this place was warmer than the North.

Belona slightly opened the window and heard an unfamiliar voice below.

“Are you traveling? Are you perhaps a mercenary?”