“Ugh!”

This scream was not made by Deborah. Although she did stagger.

“!”

Zen dropped the boxes he was holding full in both hands to the floor and reached out to support her. But despite his efforts, Deborah stood up very stably.

“Are you alright?”

Instead, Deborah asked Zen. Worrying if he was so startled by the small commotion that he dropped the boxes.

Zen frowned and sighed.

“Worry about yourself before worrying about me. Are you okay?”

“Yes. I’m fine, but……”

Deborah’s head turned back. Zen, who was also frowning, looked behind her. Just what kind of person had bumped into Deborah?

Deborah, who looked back first, saw an empty space. Huh? That can’t be right. As Deborah lowered her gaze gradually, she saw a small child sitting on the floor.

“Uh, uh……”

He looked about five years old. The little boy was terrified by Deborah’s expensive-looking coat and Zen’s threatening expression, who looked like a gentleman to anyone.

He even seemed worried about making Zen drop his things right after bumping into him.

‘I didn’t bump into that person……!’

The boy was certain he hadn’t collided with Zen, but he was scared that Zen would blame everything on him.

‘Oh dear.’

Deborah immediately realized that the reason the child was trembling wasn’t because of the cold.

Naturally crouching down, Deborah grabbed the child’s arm and said,

“Are you okay? Are you hurt badly?”

“Y-Yes……”

His mumbling voice was mixed with sobs. Deborah smiled and said,

“Good. I’m glad you’re not hurt.”

Kind words have power. It may not be great, but it has enough power to give courage to a child.

“I-I’m sorry.”

The child, who had been constantly telling himself it wasn’t his fault, gathered courage and apologized to Deborah. Deborah patted the child’s head.

“Thank you for apologizing. And from now on, don’t run in crowded places, okay? It’s dangerous.”

“Yes……”

He answered, but the child’s eyes were on the chocolate boxes scattered on the floor. It seemed he still couldn’t shake off his worry about them.

Deborah, still in a half-sitting position, approached where the boxes were scattered. Of course, she also carefully held onto the snowball box.

“What are you doing now?”

Zen’s exasperated voice was heard above Deborah’s head. Nevertheless, Deborah paid no attention and picked up the boxes.

“Ugh……”

Deborah, who had gathered all the chocolate boxes from the floor into her arms, stood up with a groan. Then she approached the child who was still sitting on the floor and said,

“You should get up. Isn’t your bottom cold?”

“Huh? Yes.”

The child stood up, watching Deborah’s expression. Though his body was upright, his gaze was directed at the ground, and his red fingers, frozen by the wind, were pitifully fidgeting.

Deborah bent down to show the chocolate boxes to the dejected child. Seeing the child’s look that seemed to ask what this was, Deborah replied with her eyes crinkling,

“They’re all chocolates except for the smallest yellow box. Choose one.”

“What?”

“Come on, hurry!”

At Deborah’s playful urging, the child reflexively picked the box on top. Deborah smiled brightly at the box firmly nestled in the child’s arms.

“You have great taste! That’s the most delicious one!”

In fact, Deborah didn’t know what chocolates were in the boxes. She hadn’t tried all the chocolates from that store. But because Deborah didn’t want to lie, she briefly prayed that the chocolate in the child’s arms would be the most delicious.

“Thank you.”

The child, now relaxed, looked up at Deborah and said.

“Hehe. That’s what they say, Mr. Baker.”

She straightened her back and turned to Zen with a bright smile. Zen’s rounded eyes captured Deborah for just a moment. Because he quickly turned his head away.

Deborah made an embarrassed smile and met the child’s eyes again.

“Where were you going?”

As Deborah conversed with the child, the night was deepening. When the sun sets, the cold that Zen hates dominates this world. But at this moment, Zen was not dominated by that cold.

Zen had lived like the winter wind he so hated. He made no mistakes and always acted with chilling coolness.

It wasn’t difficult for him to move as accurately as the hands of a clock, so he thought he would live like this until he died. A life of not acting carelessly, following profit, not wasting a moment.

But in front of her, living like that was of no use. The way he had lived disappeared in an instant, like a snowflake melting when it touches body heat.

Even now, hadn’t he become a fool in an instant with just one glance, one smile?

The child’s legs were short. But how could they be so fast? Deborah softly laughed out loud as she watched the child’s back quickly disappearing into the distance.

‘I just told him not to run, and he’s already forgotten.’

Why are children so much like puppies? Deborah found their behavior pretty and cute, and also worrisome. Maybe because she didn’t have such an innocent childhood herself, she always hoped they would grow up smiling brightly.

“You’re not angry that I gave a gift on my own, are you?”

Deborah quietly asked Zen.

This handsome man, who seemed to have a hobby of furrowing his brow, replied with a displeased expression.

“It’s your property, so you do as you please.”

“I knew you’d say that, but I still wanted to ask.”

“If you knew, why ask?”

“Just in case?”

Deborah slightly crinkled her eyes and smiled. Zen, who had been staring at her face, reached out his hand towards Deborah.

Deborah froze with her smiling expression. Even in this cold weather, as Zen’s large hand came closer, cold sweat ran down her spine.

Even in this moment when her heart was pounding, she tried her best to think realistically.

That hand reaching towards her cheek was probably coming to remove something. No matter how stubborn Zen’s personality was, surely he wouldn’t…

Just as Deborah’s mind was in turmoil,

“Give them to me.”

Zen’s hand, which had said this, stopped abruptly in mid-air.

“Pardon?”

“I said, give me those boxes.”

Ah, so that’s what he meant.

Deborah let out a laugh mixed with dejection and relief. And she was about to place the chocolate boxes on that large hand that could easily cup her face with room to spare. He would easily carry this burden that was too much for her.

“……”

Just before handing the boxes to Zen, Deborah hesitated.

As Zen furrowed his brow and twitched his eyebrows, wondering why she stopped giving him the load, her intelligent eyes looked up at him.

“It’s okay. I’ll carry them. They’re all mine anyway.”

By now, Deborah’s intelligent eyes were full of mischief. If Zen had found that look annoying, he wouldn’t have been dazed like this.

And so Deborah passed by Zen with light steps. Zen, suddenly coming to his senses, immediately closed the distance between them.

“Hand them all over.”

Despite his voice telling her not to joke around, Deborah chuckled.

“Weren’t these a gift to me?”

“You know that’s not what I meant when I said hand them over, don’t you?”

With this small bickering, the two walked towards the same place.

They had no reason to say goodbye to each other just because the night was deep. They just had to walk. If they kept walking, they would arrive at a warm place where they could rest their heads.

‘How grateful this is.’

Deborah felt that this moment was the most peaceful of the entire day. Even Zen’s brow, which had been furrowed so often, was smooth at this moment.

But Zen’s mind was far from peaceful.

The image of Deborah’s expression, completely frozen when he reached out his hand, kept coming back to him.

Why had she been so frightened then, when she could play light pranks on him like this now?

‘Did I see it wrong?’

It would be fortunate if he had seen it wrong. But if not?

Zen clenched his fist. He had no intention of letting anything slide carelessly in a situation where nothing could be certain.

As he learned about her past, this uneasiness he felt now would be resolved. And someone who knew about her relatively recent activities was scheduled to come to the capital soon.

Meanwhile, the man holding the notebook with the information Zen was curious about was looking at the night sea.

‘It’s strange. Grasian.’

While the capital streets were overflowing with streetlights, here the only light was from old torches stuck in dilapidated buildings, just like the distant old lighthouse.

‘Any country is less developed outside the capital.’

So this much he could understand. But for a windy seaside to be less cold than the capital.

“What kind of country is this?”

The man’s beautiful voice was drowned out by the sound of waves crashing against the rocks.

‘I might be able to leave earlier than expected. I thought I’d be stuck here for at least a week.’

The man looked at the notebook in his hand. The new notebook contained information about only one person.

‘I wonder what they’d say if I give them the whole notebook? I’ll have to copy it over on the train back.’

The man who lowered his hand holding the notebook quietly raised his head. The moon and stars in the sky twinkled beautifully. Even if you look up from the capital, that moon and those stars would be beautiful. It was like that in Astrian too.

‘Deborah Johnson. I should have seen her face before coming here.’