Chapter: 19
“So, I should head back to my estate, right?”
Kaiden walked over to her and asked as if confirming it.
Emilia blinked in confusion before nodding.
“Y-Yes?”
But then he suddenly stopped walking and asked in a dissatisfied tone,
“Are you hurt?”
“Huh?”
Following his gaze, Emilia looked down.
Among the dirt-stained hem of her skirt, she noticed a small patch stained with blood.
“Huh? You’re right…”
She lifted her skirt slightly to check her leg.
There was a long but shallow cut running down near her knee.
She must have scraped it when she fell into the sinkhole earlier.
Just then, she heard footsteps again, and Kaiden quickly walked up to her.
As Emilia looked up at him, his face suddenly drew close.
Startled, her eyes widened.
“Excuse me for a moment.”
After saying those brief words, Kaiden slipped one arm behind her back and the other beneath her knees.
Before she even had time to question what he meant, her body was suddenly lifted into the air.
Emilia could only blink in bewilderment.
“…What are you doing?”
“Going back to the estate. Is there a problem?”
Kaiden answered as casually as if nothing unusual had happened.
Well… technically, he wasn’t wrong.
The scenery around them had already begun moving as he walked.
But that wasn’t what she meant.
“No…! The way we’re getting there is the problem!”
Pulling one hand off his shoulder, Emilia protested.
What she was talking about was the fact that she was suddenly being carried in his arms like a princess.
At her protesting voice, Kaiden lowered his head.
The moment their eyes met directly, Emilia flinched.
Too… too close.
She hurriedly turned her face away to avoid his gaze.
In doing so, the tip of her nose brushed against his shirt.
“Didn’t I tell you? I said, ‘Excuse me.’”
“…Does saying ‘Excuse me’ make everything okay?”
With her face turned away, his voice somehow sounded even clearer.
But she couldn’t bring herself to look back at him.
She could still feel his gaze resting on her.
Then his slightly crooked voice fell from above.
“And weren’t you the one who didn’t even say ‘Excuse me’ yourself?”
“…Huh?”
A moment later, Emilia realized what he was referring to, and her face instantly turned bright red.
“Th-That was an emergency!”
“This is more than enough of an emergency too.”
“How is this an emergency?”
“At the pace you’ll walk with that injured leg, it’ll be sunrise before we get back to the estate. We won’t even be able to sign the contract today.”
At those words, Emilia finally voiced the question that had been bothering her this whole time.
“But seriously… why are you so obsessed with this contract?”
Anyone listening would think the ghost of someone who died without signing a contract was haunting him.
Come to think of it, the owner of the shop where she’d briefly worked in the capital had stubbornly refused to give her a contract.
Seeing the baffled expression on Emilia’s face, Kaiden let out a dry laugh.
She’s the one who made me this obsessed.
“And… it’s not even that serious of an injury.”
Emilia mumbled quietly.
To prove she was perfectly fine, she moved her leg.
Watching her fidget, Kaiden frowned again.
“Could you stay still? If you keep wriggling around like that, I’ll drop you.”
“I’m not a fish. What do you mean ‘wriggling’?”
While Emilia was still shocked by his choice of words, Kaiden adjusted the way he held her.
The sudden closeness made her feel strangely self-conscious.
“I-I’ll just walk faster.”
“I left a carriage nearby. Just stay like this until we get there.”
“But…”
“Just think of it as if you’re already riding in a carriage. Well… a rather small carriage.”
Despite his own size, he shamelessly called himself a small carriage.
Clenching her fists, Emilia muttered,
“Carriages are uncomfortable.”
“In what way?”
At that question, she had no choice but to fall silent.
The truth was, her heart felt incredibly uncomfortable.
Her body, however, was extremely comfortable.
Just as comfortable as a real carriage, if not more.
And I’m so tired…
After wasting what little strength she had left, she felt even more exhausted.
Feeling Kaiden’s gaze above her, Emilia squeezed her eyes shut.
Walking at a steady pace, Kaiden suddenly came to a stop.
The restless movements from the woman in his arms had disappeared.
In the quiet surroundings, only the faint sound of soft breathing remained.
Looking down, he saw the woman sleeping peacefully.
Her pale face was smudged with dark dirt.
One of her small hands was clutching the hem of his shirt.
And as the warm breaths escaping from her slightly parted lips tickled him—
…What exactly am I staring at?
Snapping back to his senses, Kaiden started walking again.
He forced himself to keep his eyes from drifting downward.
That reminds me…
How was it possible for this woman to disappear every single time he took his eyes off her?
Frowning, Kaiden thought,
Does she have some kind of wandering habit?
Did this woman have any idea how absurdly stressful she’d been?
He’d only said it casually, but before he’d even managed to hire her as a tutor, he’d nearly had to file a missing person’s report.
If it had actually come to that, what would he even have said?
Would he have to tell them she was a woman who vanished whenever he looked away and ask them to keep an eye on her at all times?
No.
For some reason, that idea irritated him.
Then perhaps he should ask them to notify him immediately if they found her.
But if they asked what his relationship with her was…
That was also an awkward question to answer.
He remembered the middle-aged women who had fussed over him earlier.
“Oh dear, did your wife run away again?”
“…Yes.”
Kaiden hadn’t denied it.
If he’d insisted they weren’t related at all, they probably wouldn’t have told him where she’d gone.
So his answer had been unavoidable.
A necessary lie.
When he’d first approached them, the women had been wary.
But once they believed him, they enthusiastically started talking.
As a result, Kaiden had been forced to listen to complete strangers lecture him on life philosophy and the virtues of married life.
“You should’ve treated her better. Money and status don’t mean anything after you’ve lived together long enough.”
“If you just try to understand your wife’s feelings, you’re already halfway there.”
Understand her feelings…
Considering she constantly did things he never expected, putting their advice into practice seemed nearly impossible.
No.
Before that, he didn’t even know the first thing about her.
How had she ended up learning Hiphrian?
Why had she come to the capital?
But he couldn’t interrogate her one question at a time.
The moment she sensed his curiosity, she would probably forget about becoming a tutor and run away somewhere else.
…Well, as long as she doesn’t run away.
Kaiden swallowed a bitter laugh.
How had he ended up in a position where such a simple wish was all he hoped for?
Especially from a woman who wasn’t even the slightest bit curious about him.
No matter what, he still intended to sign the contract as soon as possible.
If anything, he wanted it even more now.
In his mind, he began drafting additional clauses for the contract.
Though reason barely managed to suppress his desire to include inhumane conditions like “No Leaving the Estate.”
As soon as we get back…
Thump.
At that moment, Emilia’s head finally slumped completely against his chest.
Kaiden paused for a moment.
Looks like signing the contract today is out of the question.
Letting out a quiet sigh, he resumed walking.
