Chapter 28
“Did you see?”
Roy wore a shocked expression. Adi too found it difficult to recover from the shock. The face revealed after the beard’s removal was even more shocking than the initial appearance. A vagrant… with long nails like a beast.
Could the legendary lycanthrope have looked like that? With long nails, hair and beard—though without the ears, and of course, red lycanthropes probably didn’t exist anyway.
“That’s His Grace the Duke? He’s much taller than me! And looks so young!”
“Given his real age, he could potentially be even taller than now.”
“What do you mean even taller? Do you even know how tall I am?”
At Roy’s words, Adi looked up at him.
People from Palesa, being from the central region, weren’t particularly tall. The Grimaldi had many tall people, probably due to settlers from the northern continent. The southern region tended to have shorter people, so for a southerner, Roy Gaillard was quite tall.
“You seem about 10 centimeters taller than me.”
“How tall are you?”
“175.”
“…It’s an 8-centimeter difference.”
“Still tall.”
“His Grace was even taller than me. Those legs… this is humiliating.”
“What’s so humiliating about it? He’s still growing.”
“He’s well past his growing years. He’s twenty-six.”
Though his face looked about eighteen. Even being generous, he looked like someone who had just come of age. Of course, with the Duke’s pretty features, one could imagine he’d grow up to be handsome, but still.
“Some people have it all—a Duke with succession rights to the throne, good looks, and that height, and on top of that—”
Roy stopped mid-sentence. Saying more might hurt other pride as well.
“You’re handsome too, Roy.”
“…Thanks. I know I am.”
“Right. That’s why you’re in the Second Knights.”
While he was recruited there for his looks, even without being in the Second Knights, Roy was confident in his appearance. Men tend to be narcissistic anyway.
But Roy wasn’t just narcissistic—he had been praised for his looks since birth, throughout childhood, adolescence, and his time as a squire, even when his family fell and he wandered between relatives’ houses, and when he was just an unremarkable knight. He couldn’t help but know it.
But the Duke… There was no point thinking about it. Roy asked, “Are you alright?” Adi looked up at Roy with sympathy and said,
“I have no intention of competing with the Duke in terms of looks.”
“That’s not what I…”
Roy hadn’t intended to compete either. The Duke was a different type of handsome anyway. Though he did feel slightly overshadowed, they existed in different worlds altogether. Roy was more concerned about Adi’s physical condition.
“You only just got up.”
“My body feels fine.”
It looked that way. But yesterday’s Adi kept coming to mind.
He had seen many people cry before. Women’s tears, men’s tears. Among the squires, many shed tears of frustration when they couldn’t join their desired knight order, and others cried for various reasons. Each time, he had wondered why they were acting that way.
Strangely, Adi Grimaldi’s tears had stirred something in him.
“…Your sister.”
How precious his own sister must have been.
Having lost his own siblings, Roy could understand.
“Were you close?”
At this unexpected question, Adi looked up at Roy. Seeing Adi neither answer nor counter-question, Roy explained apologetically, “Just…”
“You…”
It had seemed heartrending. The way Adi had cried while promising to protect her, to help her escape that place. Yet there had been vulnerability in it. In the way Adi had begged her not to leave, promising protection. Roy had felt then that Adi shouldn’t be left alone.
But at that time, it was the Duke’s hand that Adi had grabbed. And the Duke hadn’t pushed that hand away.
He even knew that Adi had called his deceased sister ‘Adi’. Roy hadn’t expected the Duke to know so much about Adi.
“To you, Grimaldi was that…”
“Roy.”
Finally, Adi spoke.
“I don’t want to talk about that time.”
“…”
“You must have things you don’t want to talk about too.”
Everyone has secrets. Things they want to reveal but keep hidden because they can’t trust anyone. But, Roy too had secrets he wished someone would understand.
“That place is like that for me.”
Adi Grimaldi must have them too.
“I see.”
It’s just that Roy wouldn’t be the one Adi would confide in.
“I’m sorry.”
Thinking about it, that made sense. Roy’s slight fondness for Adi was merely because they had been introduced. Though they seemed to get along, Roy was still watching Adi under Bert’s orders. They couldn’t be called friends, though they were more than mere acquaintances—it was that kind of ambiguous relationship.
“Let’s go eat. I’m hungry like I haven’t eaten in days.”
“You haven’t eaten in days.”
“…”
“Start with soup. Otherwise, you’ll get indigestion.”
“I’ve never had indigestion in my life.”
“…Now that’s a truly manly stomach.”
Adi chuckled at Roy’s words. As Roy heard that this had been true since childhood, he wondered. Adi Grimaldi was said to have been sickly as a child, so how had he never experienced indigestion?
How had he become so robust?
Enough to recover in just days after being poisoned.
“What’s in Grimaldi?”
“Nothing particularly special?”
“Like food or something?”
“Even less of that. I actually find Palesan food much tastier.”
“Let’s travel to the South sometime. You need to try real food. But hey, did you eat something like bear gallbladder?”
“What’s with the sudden bear talk? Bears don’t live in Grimaldi. There are more bears in the South. On the western edge, not this side.”
“Right. Then, have you ever eaten something like mandrake?”
“That’s poison, Roy. You die if you eat it.”
“…Right?”
It was really strange. Strange, but hard to pinpoint exactly how.
“Have you ever survived after eating poison?”
Looking sideways at the questioning Roy, Adi decided it would be better not to answer anymore.
“Mushrooms? Is it mushrooms? There are lots of them there, right? Like mushroom potage?”
“…”
“Adi, do you like potage?”
“…”
“Don’t tell me it’s consommé?”
“…Please stop talking and let’s just go eat.”
Besides, potage or consommé or soup. Adi was planning to eat meat first. Meat, or bread. Whatever it was, there was muscle mass to recover.
* * *
Knights’ chemises were made of sweat-absorbent material. As a result, they were quite heavy. The thickness was also considered since armor would be worn over them. While they didn’t look bad, they weren’t comfortable to wear. Especially for Yuls, who was used to wearing clothes tailored from luxury fabrics.
The servant removed Roy’s chemise. Then another servant brought newly purchased clothes. After putting on a light, snow-white chemise and a gray suit, the servant tied a white cravat and attached a sapphire ornament to it.
Though they had thought blue and red would clash awkwardly, they surprisingly complemented each other well.
“Aunt will be surprised.”
“She’ll like it.”
“I’m not so sure about that.”
Yuls smirked in response to Bert’s words.
“She’d prefer me to remain in my younger state. It would be easier to handle.”
Despite being the same person, judgments differ based on appearance. Not just appearance, but also by the clothes worn.
The servant styled Yuls’s hair. Yuls had said to cut it off as it was cumbersome, but Bert had strongly objected. The servant looked satisfied after arranging the moderately trimmed long hair.
“It suits you well, sir.”
Yuls looked at himself in the mirror.
“It feels strange.”
Then he smiled.
“But I like it.”
Bert had said he resembled the previous Duke. But Yuls realized that his features in the mirror were identical to his mother’s. He had actually looked more like the Duke when he was younger. Now, except for the red eyes, there was no resemblance.
“Thinking about how Lady Connolly will hate this.”
She’ll probably freeze the moment she sees it, that person.
“Makes me like this face even more.”
How much they had tormented that witch, the two of them.
“What do you think the Earl will do?”
At Yuls’s words, Bert smiled awkwardly.
“Will he shudder in disgust, or pretend not to notice?”
“I think he’ll probably act like nothing’s different.”
“Really? Want to bet?”
“Lady Connolly won’t like it.”
“What can she do even if she doesn’t like it? She needs me.”
Yuls said.
“She’ll come in with her head bowed of her own accord.”
At the subtle humming, Bert felt a fear that the afternoon tea time would turn into a complete disaster.
—–
