Uninvited Guest.

Uninvited guest.

“[Rabbit].”

《Rab—bi—t?》

“Mm, [rabbit]—? This one.”

[Rab—bit—]

So he thought he knew the word now. That was what the southerners called this creature.

“Rabbit… ——.”

《…I wanted to make it something that looked like you, madam. Since I cannot give your homeland back to you, I wanted to leave behind something that would prove this place is your land.》

Gus gazed, lost in thought, at the drawing of the seven-legged rabbit that looked like something out of the underworld, and spoke. He could say it precisely because he knew his listener could not understand.

The countless thoughts and events that had gripped his mind only moments before no longer felt important.

“What on earth is he—”

《Madam.》

He hesitated a long while before he finally spoke.

《Your reasons for coming here are of no concern to me.》

“—— —?”

《Because I will be the one to make the reason you cannot leave…》

The castle lord said this as he clasped his wife’s wrist tightly. Softly enough to leave no mark, but firmly enough that his grip would never loosen.

Aspara’s impressions of the castle lord’s impassioned confession came down to a single phrase.

‘What on earth is he saying.’

What on earth is he saying.

Naturally, there was nothing else to say besides that.

“Mm… when Jack or Volmo comes, let’s talk about it again.”

Most likely it wasn’t all that important. Gus still looked dazed, as if he were dreaming, and for all she knew he wouldn’t even remember what he’d just said.

Aspara stroked the man’s back gently and gave him a light push. Gus let his upper body sink back down onto the bed, but he did not let go of her wrist, and Aspara, without any real resistance, lay down beside him on her side on the large bed.

There was nothing to be embarrassed about. After all, this had been the bed of a married couple.

《—… – —… madam…》

“Yes, I am your wife. Please, rest.”

He lay quietly gazing up at the ceiling, lost in thought.

Minutes before, Aspara had come back to the room with great resolve.

She was perfectly aware that she tended to go off without warning now and then, and that once the frenzied spirit of the moment faded, she would revert to a listless mushroom once more.

So, before the inertia of her challenging spirit could fade, she wanted to push straight on through — all the way to asking the castle lord out on a date.

For that, she first had to coax the old friend and send her gently on her way home. To persuade her that no matter what her husband’s heart might be up to, the other woman would never give her heart to a married man, so there was no need to fret over it.

But the room she returned to with that great resolve was a disaster.

It looked as though a war had been waged inside. Shattered fragments were scattered across the rug, and there were gouges in the walls. The tea stand was overturned, and the flame that had been warming the room had gone out at some point and was cold. The chilly wind coming in through the poorly-shut courtyard door only made the cold worse.

‘Well… I suppose he was playing indoor wardrobe-juggling again. Or axe-tag, or human wild-boar, or house…’

The state of the place was chaotic, but fortunately there didn’t seem to be any major damage. None of the broken items had been of any importance, and, oddly enough, the carnage was confined to the out-of-the-way corners no one ever stepped into. It looked as though a wild bear had run riot indoors; but if that were so, it had been a surprisingly considerate bear. Where in the world would you find a clever bear that left alone the spots where the precious things were kept and rampaged only in the easy-to-clean areas.

Truth be told, she wasn’t all that flustered. This wasn’t the first time another person had turned her room upside down while she was away, and she already knew that most of the northern youths’ “play” culture was essentially nothing more than brawling under another name.

She was only puzzled as to where her old friend and her new followers had vanished to.

“Why are you in here alone. Why didn’t you leave with the others.”

Aspara murmured as she toyed with the castle lord’s coarse hair.

“Being with me — it’s not exactly fun, is it.”

Gus, with the face of a man caught in a bad dream, simply kept his eyes quietly shut. His lashes, short but thick, fluttered faintly in time with his breathing.

“Look forward to it. Soon enough I’ll spend a day with you, tailored to you, that anyone who saw us would call the day of a proper married couple…”

Aspara set the rabbit drawing she had picked up off the floor by the pillow so it wouldn’t be crumpled, then decided to lie there for a little while until someone returned.

《The castle lord, as always!》

The castle workers who had fled the room as though escaping had returned one by one to their original duties. Here in the kitchen break room too, two workers had started chattering again as they resumed the work they had briefly set aside.

《It really has been a while, seeing him lose his temper like that. No matter how many times I see it, it’s frightening.》

《Right? There’s been less shouting inside the castle lately, hasn’t there. Really — he’s still got it in him, thank goodness!》

Up until a few hours earlier the two of them had been singing the praises of how beautiful and generous the new southern young lady was. But isn’t workplace gossip, by its nature, apt to flip over like the palm of a hand. Now the topic had shifted to praise for the castle lord, who had so satisfyingly chased out the ill-mannered southern wench.

Rumors that relations between the castle lord and his wife might be on good terms had been spreading bit by bit of late, but public opinion still resented the sudden appearance of the southerner.

These two were no exception. That was why they found the castle lord’s action — prioritizing his pride as a northerner over courtesy to My Lady’s friend — satisfying.

《There was a rumor, you know, that the castle lord was so wrapped up in that woman’s skirts he didn’t know what to do with himself. Turns out that was nonsense, as expected.》

《Of course it was. Who’d go falling for a dry-sand sort of woman like that.》

《Ah, shouldn’t someone go tell the friend she’s leaving?》

《Forget it, no one even knows when or where she disappeared to. We’ll just say we couldn’t tell her because we didn’t know where she was.》

《Would that do… still, it’s a hometown friend she hadn’t seen in a long while.》

《What are we supposed to do about it? Besides, even if we slack off a bit, nobody says anything to us anyway.》

《True…》

The grounds on which the two of them were standing so firmly did not rest on today’s events alone.

Lately the castle lord had been taking an unmistakably native-first line in his dealings. From the migrant-hunt to the hostage-kidnapping affair. Surely the castle lord was sending a warning to Aspara, who had forced her way into the lady-of-the-house seat, not to overstep. Or so the two of them thought.

《See? That’s what it is.》

《But Star says the castle lord is rather fond of My Lady—》

《Well, she’s his personal maid, so she’s going to get her share of the crumbs. Of course she’d take his side.》

《I suppose so…》

Just then, the back door of the kitchen cracked open, and a voice hunting for someone drifted in.

“—, – —! Where——…ah.”

《What the.》

The voice’s owner turned out to be Volmo, one of the main characters of the thick cloud of rumors. He was going around looking for Sebinya’s employees, who had abruptly had to head home. Spotting the kitchen attendants, he put on an air of forced dignity and said:

《The young lady has… ahem, that is, the guest has urgent business and must depart, so I am in search of the employees who came with her. Have you seen them?》

《They went to the back break room to hand out gifts. They should be back shortly to return the dishes they used to distribute the food… want to wait here?》

《Mm…》

He hesitated, looking uncomfortable, then closed the door behind him and stepped inside. Normally he was an insufferable sort who looked down his nose at the local workers, but thanks to the incident that had just taken place, he had been taken down a peg.

《Oh, right. So what exactly was said earlier?》

《Hm?》

《You got spooked and stopped halfway through relaying, didn’t you. That southern young lady’s last words — what did she say?》

Volmo hesitantly averted his eyes from the two pairs of stares boring into him.

Fortunately, the northerners had only heard that “there are occasions when a noble who has committed infidelity and their lover are driven together to the same frontier region.” They hadn’t gone so far as to hear any direct statement that Jack and Aspara had been embroiled in such a scandal.

《Nothing… she said nothing in particular.》

《Their names came up, it sounded like.》

《The two of them are not that sort — she merely mentioned that such a custom exists in general. Don’t go jumping to pointless conclusions.》

《Hmmm.》

The attendants’ eyes were skeptical.

《Come to think of it, there was that other rumor too.》

《What now.》

《About the castle lord and that knight with the pretty-boy looks.》

《Ah, right, that one too.》

The smirking male attendant brought up even that piece of scandal, which had died down after festival day.

《What nonsense is this now?》

《Oh right — that was just before you came, so you wouldn’t know. That little fellow had a rumor going with the castle lord too. Right up until recently.》

《Rumors have limits.》

《It’s true, I’m telling you — I saw it myself. The two of them slipping off alone to go hunting together. I mean, is it even normal for a guy with that kind of build to hold the post of personal knight? He’s got a knack for seducing his superiors, that’s all it is.》

《That’s enough out of you.》

《Who knows. If My Lady and her knight really are in that kind of relationship, maybe the woman put the knight up to it, to silence him and all — sent him to take a swing at the castle lord one ti—》

In that instant, Volmo did not realize what he had just done.