The Plan.

The Plan.

“Not much, at the moment. You?”

“Assisting my lady with her work.”

He hefted up a thick sheaf of papers as he said it, a bundle of documents covered in the southern tongue.

“Hmm.”

“Quite a stack, isn’t it.”

“The castle lord has more work than that.”

“Why are you competing about it.”

The two of them fell into step together quite naturally, drifting toward Aspara’s room at a leisurely pace.

Ever since they had become able to converse freely in front of their taciturn mistress, the time they spent together had grown considerably.

“Come sit with us a while.”

“Is that really for you to decide?”

“It’s fine — my lady likes me.”

Ugli only gave a faint smile. They walked side by side down the corridor for a moment, and then Jack spoke up again.

“…Hey. This is nice.”

“You’re telling me. When Lady Aspara caught us out, I was genuinely shocked, you know. Thanks to that we get more time to talk together now—”

“No, not that.”

“Hm?”

“That you’ve gotten along with her. You and my lady….”

Ugli’s eyes narrowed slightly, and he flinched.

Why does everyone keep saying that…?

“I was moved. Watching you make a stupid choice left me with a strange feeling. A good feeling, almost, somehow….”

Ugli was flustered. A stupid choice! No — all right, he had done something a little stupid. But absolutely not out of any goodwill toward Aspara, or any urge to protect her.

“…Haha, you’re right. Spending time with you must’ve been contagious.”

“So, that’s the thing — since we’ve gotten close now, about that….”

Jack pressed on carefully, like a dog bringing a toy to an owner who doesn’t want to be bothered.

“The castle lord… the castle lord — you haven’t told him, right? No, not just him — anyone in the castle. About the two of us… you know, that we’re slowly….”

“This is my workplace. As long as we two know, that’s enough, isn’t it.”

“That — that, I know. But, just… it’s not only that — you keep the fact that you speak the southern tongue a secret from the castle lord, too…. Why are you even hiding it in the first place?”

“….”

Under the peppering onslaught of questions, Ugli simply fixed his gaze on the far end of the corridor and kept walking, without a word of answer.

“And, you know, where on earth did you learn the southern tongue? Ah, and speaking of the castle lord, is he maybe—”

“There it is — your room.”

As Aspara’s room came into view at the far end of the corridor, Ugli stopped in the middle of the hallway and pushed the sheaf of papers back into Jack’s arms. The gesture was a touch rougher than it needed to be.

“Uh….”

“Go on in.”

Jack stared at him for a moment, and then,

“…Right.”

he replied in a bright voice. Smiling as though nothing had been said, the young man walked into the room alone.

Ugli simply stood where he was, watching the back of that blond head until it disappeared through the doorway. Without a word. Quietly. Until he was gone.

A lover who hated arguments was really very convenient.

[23.]

“Your cutie Jack has arrived.”

“You’re here.”

Jack came dancing into the room with exaggerated gestures. He bumped the door shut with his hip, thud, and announced,

“This and this are mail. This one’s the translated report.”

“Thanks.”

Aspara answered in a tired voice. She looked entirely absorbed in her work, unable even to lift her head as she reached out a hand to take the papers.

Carefully breaking the rhythm of a pen’s scratch-scratch, the young knight spoke up.

“Um.”

“Hm?”

“That thing that happened, this time….”

“Mm.”

Jack hesitated, then finally said,

“You told him, didn’t you — that you’d known all along Ugli speaks the southern tongue.”

“That’s right.”

“Ugli… how do you suppose he knows it?”

“He was originally a sailor, wasn’t he. That’s where he must have picked it up.”

“…Do you think the castle lord knows that he and I are seeing each other?”

Only then did the scratch-scratch of the pen stop short. The woman lifted her head and asked,

“Do you want to announce it?”

“No, well, just… I don’t know.”

Aspara fluttered the paper in her hand to dry the ink, then briskly wiped the tip of the pen-stem on a rag and set it aside. On one side of the desk, a small mountain of rags too dirty to be used again had piled up.

“Well, you’ll have to talk to him eventually. Before the two of you marry….”

Jack cried out in astonishment.

“What — already!”

“You’re not?”

“No….”

Jack muttered something grumblingly under his breath after that, but his voice was like a caterpillar inching along and couldn’t really be made out. Probably Jack himself didn’t quite know what he’d said either.

“Well, or not. Never mind.”

Aspara picked up a fresh sheet from the pile of papers on her left and turned her focus back to her work.

“But it’s not as though you’ve got anyone else to see here.”

“Mmh….”

“Volmo likes women, I believe.”

“I’m not dating him by process of elimination.”

“I know that.”

“Mm….”

Jack quietly helped sort the papers, all the while making faint whimpering noises.

Come to think of it, he belatedly realized he didn’t know very much about his own lover.

“But….”

The young knight let out a sigh, haa, and closed his mouth. He seemed to want to say something more, but even he didn’t appear to know what it was.

“So… is there anything else I can help with?”

“Let me see.”

Aspara flipped through the papers and said slowly,

“Honestly, I’m not sure. In the end it all depends on whether production actually ramps up the way Volmo’s mother and I agreed. I can’t get a feel for what to start with, or how.”

“Hmm.”

She set the papers down with a tap, as if exhausted, stretched out her arms luxuriously, and exclaimed,

“Well, it’ll all work out somehow!”

“It’ll all work out somehow!”

The two of them chanted the motto of their lives together. Like sweeping dust under a carpet to hide it.

“All right, let’s focus. Before the castle lord comes to glare at us again, shall we finish up everything from here to here.”

“Why has that man been coming to glare at us so much lately, anyway. It’s scar— it’s creepy.”

“Don’t say such things.”

Having said so, she did find it a little eerie herself.

Like a hawk about to snatch up a rabbit, perhaps, or like a male tiger squaring off against another male in a staring contest. Though she had never seen either.

I was wondering if he’s been coming and going to check I’m handling the business I set in motion — but for that, it’s a bit too—

The woman’s thought was cut off mid-sentence. A knock-knock at the door made her flinch.

The two of them thought the castle lord must have come again to glare for a bit and then quietly withdraw. Aspara cleared her throat lightly and spoke in her short, halting northern tongue.

《Come in.》

The door slowly creaked open. The two of them had fixed their eyes at the top of the doorframe, expecting a large-built man, but there was no one there.

“Oh my.”

The face of their unexpected visitor stood about three hand-spans lower than that.

“Pardon the intrusion.”

What came cautiously in through the open door was a long-haired young man.

“It was Volmo.”

“Might I trouble you for a moment?”

“What is it?”

Aspara set down her pen and pulled her chair slightly back from the desk, in a gesture that gave him her time.

“There’s something I came to ask. That is….”

The young man continued, fumbling.

“About my… mother.”

“Your mother? Ah — the head of the merchant house.”

Volmo’s mother. The wife of the pig-of-a-baron who had so very conveniently met with an ‘accidental death’ during Aspara’s last visit, and the mother of this bastard son. The head of the merchant house who had taken over her husband’s enterprise after his ‘accidental death’ and built it up splendidly.

And now, Aspara’s trading partner.

“If it’s something I can answer.”

Volmo, who had been leaning only halfway against the doorframe, gave a little bow and stepped inside. Behind him the heavy door swung to with a thud.

“So, what is it.”

“I, well….”

Watching the young man assume a gravity unexpected of him, Aspara likewise took up a serious posture, so that she might answer to the best of her ability, no matter what difficult question was thrown her way.

At last, he swallowed hard, tapped his toe against the floor a few times, and finally opened his mouth.

“Does my mother….”

“Yes.”

“…love me, do you think?”

“Have you been drinking?”

“My mother — does she love me, do you think?”

What in the world was a question for someone to come all the way to her room to ask. At Volmo’s question, Aspara narrowed her eyes for a moment.

“What are you talking about — that.”

“No, it’s… it’s that, perhaps.”

Aware that he had said something a little embarrassing, the young man’s face turned red.

“Am I — really a Volmo?”

“….”

After some deep deliberation, Aspara folded her hands together and answered cautiously,

“Are you in the middle of some sort of… existential crisis…?”

“No, no, that’s not it! Volmo — whether I am one. No, I mean — Volmo — no, 《——》, I meant. Damn it!”

“Calm down.”

“I mean whether I really am being held here as a hostage.”

“Ahh.”

Aspara tilted her head to one side.

“Well, aren’t you?”

“While Lady Aspara was in the middle of carrying out some sort of contract with my mother this time, I happened to glance at a few letters that came to the castle. And there was something in them that was, just a little….”

He fumbled, then sighed and said,

“There was something in the content I didn’t understand.”

“I’m sorry, but that’s not something I know about. Nor does it sound like the sort of thing I can be of help with.”

Aspara spoke in an apologetic tone, though her face did not look particularly apologetic.

“Um, I heard you’re going to be meeting with my mother in connection with the deal this time.”

“That’s right.”

“Take me — take me with you!”

With that cry, the young man flopped down onto the floor on his knees. As though he had come with his mind made up, there was no hesitation in him.

Rather than a desperate child, he looked more like an actor at the extremes of his craft, striking a dramatic pose.

“I will not leave until you give your permission!”