Chapter 109
‘Nanny’ and ‘medicine.’
Soon, the two ventured a little deeper into the forest.
Since there was still time before reaching the mushroom colony, there was no need to wake Sierre immediately.
How much time had passed?
The eyelids of Sierre, who had fallen asleep as if fainting, trembled slightly and slowly began to open.
And the next moment.
“Wow… wow.”
Sierre was so captivated by the sight before him that he forgot the chestnuts he had been clutching tightly even as he dozed off from exhaustion.
If there were waves of green, would they be like this?
Unlike the refined, beautiful gardens of the Imperial Palace, the vast untouched nature itself was inherently wondrous.
When vitality seeped into Sierre’s eyes, which had been dim with fatigue, Einar set him down.
“Judging by your reaction, it was worth coming all the way here.”
“On purpose?”
“Yes. I wanted to show you. This is also a place I like.”
At Einar’s words, not only Sierre but also Riina looked with fresh eyes at the strange, large meadow in the middle of the forest.
Einar’s favorite place.
A space where nothing obstructed the view, as if touching the sky.
It was somehow reminiscent of him, a place where the wind could whirl freely without anything to hinder it.
A man who, thanks to his heaven-sent luck, is unbound by anything, but because of that, finds value in nothing.
And to such a man, only she with her ‘misfortune’ would be wholly…
Riina closed her eyes tightly and reopened them, shaking away thoughts that threatened to deepen.
But the thoughts remained like afterimages, continuing on their own.
Just as she was the only one who understood his ‘luck,’ Einar was the only one who empathized with her ‘misfortune.’
Two people who were whole to each other.
Einar filled Riina’s blue eyes, which touched the cloudless, clear sky, rippling as if about to overflow.
As Riina unconsciously pressed her chest, Einar’s refreshing voice echoed in her ears.
“It seems we shouldn’t delay any longer, so let’s go now. If we cross through here and go in that direction, it won’t take long.”
Einar tried to carry Sierre again, but Sierre shook his head.
“I’ll walk.”
Though Sierre’s legs were trembling, Einar gave his cheerful permission without saying anything special.
So Sierre walked one step at a time, very slowly, but on his own feet.
The sound of grass being trodden, the scent of grass being crushed from friction with his shoes, the wind brushing his feverish forehead and cheeks, and the breathing of the trees echoing in his ears.
Sierre, who had set foot directly into the vast meadow that had overwhelmed him, walked faster and faster, whether from excitement or otherwise.
His mind was already running, but realistically, his body couldn’t keep up, so he could only walk quickly while catching his breath.
“Whoa!”
Looking precarious as if he might fall at any moment, Sierre eventually crumpled forward, perhaps because his legs gave out.
But soon a familiar—no, a scent he had become familiar with today—embraced Sierre.
“Sit down now.”
Einar clicked his tongue inwardly at Sierre’s excessively light weight.
Perhaps embarrassed, Sierre nodded with the tips of his ears turning red.
He cleanly acknowledged that he had already used up today’s energy just by walking this far and could no longer move.
“I’ll sit over there. Eating will give me strength.”
“Then shall we put in some effort for our youngest? A bet?”
“With you, Einar? I’ll pass.”
Einar and Riina, who had been exchanging minor bickering that would be forgotten as soon as they turned around, soon dispersed.
How much time had passed?
Sierre, who had been diligently nibbling on roasted chestnuts without getting tired of them while sitting on one side of the mushroom colony, paused.
He had thought they would just pick a few visible mushrooms and enjoy themselves leisurely when they said they were coming to pick mushrooms, but…
“What about this one?”
“I’ve picked it. And this?”
“That one’s already picked since it’s over here.”
Einar and Riina, as if they had been waiting, were quickly moving around collecting mushrooms by type.
Of the two, Einar went a bit farther away, but Riina headed toward Sierre, her eyes gleaming as if determined not to miss a single mushroom.
Sierre tilted his head to one side.
He had certainly heard that she liked mushrooms, but to pick them so enthusiastically.
Wasn’t this a completely different image from the Bolshevik young lady he had only heard about in rumors?
But Sierre soon put another chestnut in his mouth and chewed.
Throughout this day, hadn’t he seen countless things he hadn’t known?
Dazzling sights he would never have seen if he had remained confined to his palace.
The warm sunlight, the sweet and savory chestnuts filling his mouth, the wind cooling his feverish forehead as it brushed by, and the rustling sounds of the grass.
Before he knew it, Sierre had closed his eyes and was purring like a cat when Riina’s voice echoed in his ears.
“You shouldn’t eat too much.”
She took the handful of chestnuts from Sierre’s grasp and put them back in the bag.
“Eating too much of anything at once can make you sick.”
As she said this, Riina looked at her basket, which was so full of mushrooms it was about to overflow, and exhaled a faint sigh.
Who was she to talk…
Lightly tapping the basket with her fingertips, she clearly and methodically recalled all the matters piled around her now.
Issues that were either tangled or simple but unseen.
As her thoughts reached that point, Riina’s eyes instinctively searched for Einar due to the anxiety that suddenly welled up.
After all, he was the only one who could tear away the misfortune that tightly wrapped around her, strangling her.
But he wasn’t visible.
Where on earth had he gone, the one who, as always, with a slight smile, would easily dispatch the terribly difficult tasks that she faced?
“My lady?”
Sensitively feeling the stillness of the air around Riina, Sierre instinctively tugged at her sleeve.
Riina’s face, which he looked up at, was terribly…
“Ah, Your Highness.”
But before Sierre could continue his thought, Riina answered.
She no longer searched for traces of Einar and instead looked down at the small, thin hand of the child holding her sleeve.
Yes. It was entirely her own decision to get involved in all those matters.
Hadn’t she pushed away his sincerity without even listening to it because she didn’t want to depend on and lean on Einar for her entire life?
Being swept away by momentary anxiety, impatience, urgency, and fear—before her regression was enough.
Taking a short breath, Riina opened her mouth.
“I apologize. I was momentarily lost in thought.”
“No, um…”
Having reached out to Riina because the atmosphere felt strange, but not having thought beyond that, Sierre didn’t know what to do and just blurted out anything.
“Sit here.”
Sierre, who had tapped the space beside him for lack of something to say, was soon more surprised by his own casual action.
C-can I be this familiar?
“Yes. I will.”
And Riina simply brushed away Sierre’s confusion by moving her mushroom basket aside and sitting close beside him.
At this, Sierre’s insides tickled inexplicably again, and he couldn’t help but speak.
“I’ve never heard that the Bolshevik young lady enjoys mushrooms.”
As Sierre said, Riina had been picking mushrooms quite enthusiastically.
After brushing away the dry soil dust on Sierre’s slightly flushed cheeks, Riina merely smiled.
She couldn’t tell him that among these mushrooms, clues about the suspicious foreign group were hidden.
And somehow, for that trivial action and calm smile, Sierre no longer found the silence uncomfortable.
How much time had passed with only the occasional passing wind filling the space between them?
“I wonder where Brother went?”
Sierre tilted his head to one side and blinked.
Though she had told him not to eat any more, the sight of him with his once pale and gaunt cheeks now plump with roasted chestnuts, his eyes round, made Riina’s gaze soften.
Instead of repeating the same words, she naturally pulled the chestnut bag toward herself and answered:
“He’ll appear at some point.”
Though it was not an answer at all, Sierre nodded obediently.
“Yes.”
Silence again.
But this time, Sierre didn’t just stare blankly elsewhere.
He was gazing steadily at Riina.
The Second Prince’s—that is, his brother’s—fiancée, but to him, just a stranger.
Though he had received many things today that made his insides tickle, he knew almost nothing about her.
He had only heard a smattering of rumors about the famous Bolshevik young lady.
And perhaps she too knew almost nothing about him.
The youngest prince with a weak body, who might die at any time.
There was no other information about Sierre known to the world.
Was that why?
No, it must have been why.
The disorganized stories that had been pooled deep inside were brought out.
Hadn’t it been said that a complete stranger met in an unfamiliar place is a better listener than someone you know or are close to?
“There’s a really good person.”
At Sierre’s abrupt words, Riina’s eyebrows rose slightly, but she soon nodded.
“Yes.”
“There’s one flaw.”
“A flaw?”
“Yes… just one. Only one.”
