What Mone Brought With Her

“Please excuse us.”

The one who greeted us in a voice like rolling bells and entered first was Mone. Roze followed after her.

Both Mone and Roze were wearing robes that completely covered them down to their toes.

“My, I did not realize the prince was here too. Hello.”

Mone lowered her hood and smiled bewitchingly. It seemed she had let her long hair down tonight. Her long, abundant hair hid the area beneath her jaw. Roze stayed pressed close behind her and said nothing.

“Whose permission did you receive to come here?”

Raul threw out a harsh voice.

“Eh? Ah… um. I am sorry. Was I not supposed to bring them here? They called out to me…. They said they wished to greet my lady before leaving the country.”

Eaton was flustered.

“At first, I thought they might be aiming to become purveyors to Lady Shitoen, but after speaking with them just now, that was not the case at all…. They said they were truly grateful for having their wounds treated.”

She began explaining hurriedly to Raul and me.

“Before that, why did they not call out to the order members? There were more order members than a single maid, weren’t there?”

Raul did not lower his guard. His hand remained gripping the hilt of his sword.

“I merely happened to see her. Goodness, please do not make such frightening faces.”

Mone laughed softly.

If it had not been in this situation, I was sure Raul and I would have laughed afterward and said, “She’s a sensual woman,” “But her eyes are intense. Just like you said, Commander, she’s more of a snow leopard than a vixen.”

But.

There was something ghastly in that smile, and it had enough force to make my skin prickle.

“Do not come any closer to Shitoen.”

I also reached for my sword and gave a warning.

“There is no need to be so wary. Ah, how unpleasant, how amusing. Then I shall have Roze step back. Roze, wait outside.”

Mone called out to Roze behind her. After that, she looked around and wiped her forehead with her long, supple fingers.

“The air seems rather stagnant. It is hot. Lady Shitoen, shall I open one of the curtains?”

“I told you not to move.”

She tried to touch the tent curtain, so I sent my voice flying.

Mone shrugged and smiled at Eaton.

“Then, Eaton-sama. The curtain…”

“Do not move, Eaton.”

Raul stopped her, and Eaton looked this way and that in confusion.

“You came to say farewell?”

Shitoen slowly asked.

Her voice was so soft and calm that it felt out of place in the taut air of this place.

“Yes. I have come to bid you farewell for a long time.”

Mone elegantly bent her knees and bowed her head. Behind her, Roze stood motionless with her head down.

“My, Roze…. She must be holding back tears. Now, Roze. Since your greeting is finished, you should step back. The prince and the knight are terribly wary.”

Mone reached out to Roze and gently pushed her shoulder backward.

Roze’s body swayed.

But her hand remained gripping Mone’s robe.

“What do you think, Mone-san? Would you come with me to the Kingdom of Tidros just like this? In fact, I was discussing that with the prince yesterday.”

Shitoen called out quietly.

Mone looked at Shitoen while keeping a beautiful smile on her face.

“That is a most intriguing offer. I shall take it back and consider it.”

“With whom will you consider it?”

At Shitoen’s words, Mone tilted her head slightly.

“With whom, you ask?”

“I feel as though there is someone who gives you orders. Can you not cut ties with that person?”

Shitoen leaned forward.

“Cut ties with that person and form a new bond with me.”

“You said something like that to me once before as well…”

Mone chuckled.

“There are rotten bonds in this world that cannot be cut no matter how much one tries, Lady Shitoen.”

She narrowed her eyes, and only slightly.

Only slightly, she made a pained expression.

“I am truly grateful to you, Lady Shitoen. For the first time, I learned that such kind royalty and nobility existed in this world. But…”

Mone lowered her face and looked behind her.

“Roze, step back.”

“No.”

At Roze’s voice, Raul and I turned our faces toward her.

Because it was mixed with sobs.

“No. I won’t leave you. I don’t want to.”

Still wearing her hood, Roze desperately shook her head and would not let go of Mone’s robe.

“Roze. Be a good girl. Do not say such selfish things.”

Mone turned her back to us, faced Roze, and grabbed both her shoulders.

Then she pushed her backward.

“Now. Leave.”

“No! Prince Saryu! Save my sister!”

Roze grabbed her hood and pulled it down, screaming at me with a tearful face.

“Make my sister stop!”

Reflexively, my legs moved forward.

Because it looked as though Mone had shoved Roze away.

I did not know the reason.

But I felt that Roze must not be allowed to leave the tent.

So before Mone could push Roze out of the tent, I stretched out both hands and caught Roze in my arms.

Then, still holding her, I faced Mone and glared at her.

“Don’t treat your precious little sister so roughly.”

“Please take your hands off that precious little sister of mine. In front of your wife, how improper.”

She glared at me coldly.

I saw Raul quietly move to Shitoen’s side. For now, safety was secured.

“Roze, leave here quickly. Leave the tent with Prince Saryu.”

Mone spoke as though trying to persuade her.

Still holding Roze against my chest, I looked at Mone.

And then I noticed.

Her hood, lowered around her neck, sagged there.

But there was clearly a bruise beneath the right side of her jaw. A mark from being struck.

That person who had snuck into the hot spring.

I had hit that same spot.

“…What? The person in black was you?”

No wonder she had seemed so slender. I scolded Roze, who was crying in my arms, with a “Hey!”

“In that case, you were the one who threw a knife at me! Throwing knives at people like that—what kind of education did you receive?! It hurt, so apologize! And what were you thinking, laying a hand on Shitoen?!”

“I’ll apologize as much as you want! I’ll apologize as much as you want, so… stop my sister!”

Wiping away the tears streaming down her face with both hands, Roze pressed her face into my stomach.

“Sister, stop already! These people are good people!”

Roze cried in my arms.

“Yes, they are good people. Your sister knows that too.”

With a sigh, as if she had given up.

She smiled as if all the strength had left her. She turned her smooth, moist eyes toward me and smiled softly.

“But I am sorry. I will take your precious person. As a substitute, though it may not be much, I will give you my precious little sister.”

As soon as she said that, she took off her robe.

“…Please give me a break.”

“Seriously…?”

Raul and I groaned at the same time.

Mone was dressed as a man.

That in itself was not a problem. I did not care what kind of clothing she wore, and if anything, she had a height and build that would not be out of place among my order members, but….

The problem was the cushion-like burlap sack tied around her torso.

“You… That isn’t gunpowder, is it?”

My vision began to swim.

The burlap sack was only in front of her stomach. It was tied around her over and over with hemp cord, but…. It could easily blow away this entire tent.