Nerea chuckled. Though her heart was still unsettled, she had enough composure to comfort a crying child.

“Ungrateful. You came all the way to this rural village of Alpern for me. Heather Blanche.”

“It’s Heather Wilkinson, my lady.”

She never had much talent for it from the beginning.

Heather corrected with a nasally voice. Ah, right. Nerea smiled.

Even though she had heard dozens of times that her grandfather’s herb business had failed and they changed their surname due to debt, the name engraved in Nerea’s mind was Heather Blanche.

“My lady, do you perhaps remember me? When you saved our village in the Border Ospilern, I said I would definitely repay the favor. Heather Blanche, six years ago.”

It was the name that little Heather had revealed when she entered this house with a desperate face five years ago. That little Heather was still looking at Nerea with the same eyes.

Unwavering hope.

“And Alpern is not some rural village. It’s one of the Esteban Count’s territories, and it only takes two days to get to the capital! If people knew you were here, they would all flock here.”

So Nerea had to shatter that precious and vain expectation. Because it’s too painful when a stronger hope breaks.

Just like her past self.

“That’s right, Heather. No matter how far it is from the capital to this Alpern, it only takes two days by carriage. If a fast horse ran without resting, it would be even quicker.”

Heather’s lips parted slightly, blinking at the sudden change of subject.

“And the painting was already revealed ten days ago.”

Nerea spoke slowly to the face that quickly realized what she meant. It was what she had said to herself whenever she wondered if her choice had really been the best.

“If anyone really wanted to know, they would have looked for news of me. They could have asked directly at the Esteban Count’s residence. Or gone to the summer villa in Alpern that my father had boasted about several times.”

She tried to put a smile in her voice, but it became increasingly hollow as it came out between her lips.

“Everyone in the capital would know, Heather. There was a big article. That I collapsed and went to Alpern for recuperation. But look. No one…”

As Nerea paused for a moment, Heather stood up abruptly with tears welling up in her eyes.

“I’m sorry, my lady. I’ll… I’ll step out for a moment.”

Bang-. Only after the loud sound of the door closing did Nerea mutter.

“There’s no one. No one looking for me.”

Because people only find it interesting to talk about how a used-up shield fell.

Her mouth was bitter and her throat stung. Facing the truth was always such a gut-wrenching affair.

Nerea tried to ruffle her hair out of habit, but realizing she hadn’t even taken off her hat, she laughed a little. As she removed her hat and undid the pins, red hair tickled her nape. Her fingertips trembled as she brushed down her hair a few times.

It hadn’t been trembling lately. Should she skip training today? She had just finally been able to wield a sword at will. As she blankly stared at her calloused palm, there was a knock.

Knock knock-.

Nerea quickly put on a contrived face and called out with a smirk.

“Heather. Just come in. I don’t lock the door over things like this.”

But the door didn’t open. Nerea walked to the door and said loudly.

“Do I have to open it for us to make up? Then I should open…”

Nerea stopped speaking.

The one standing in front of the door was…

A man as big as the door, blocking the painfully spreading sunset. Black eyes flashed from a face that even light couldn’t reach, looking down at Nerea.

At the strange feeling, the moment their eyes met, Nerea couldn’t breathe.

Eyes so deep and black that even light couldn’t penetrate. She once thought she knew those eyes better than anyone.

“…I’m glad to see you look well. You seem to have been doing fine.”

That low, seductive baritone that sent chills down her spine belonged to someone Nerea didn’t know.

“I was abandoned by the knight and haven’t been doing well.”

She silently watched as his fiercely twisted lips parted red. As emotions slowly surfaced over calmly settled eyes, Nerea reached out her hand.

The man brought his cheek close to her palm. The moment she felt the familiar warmth, Nerea pinched and twisted his fine nose bridge.

“Ah.”

Seeing him let out a small groan, she smiled faintly.

“…I should have recognized you from that wicked smile. Even your words have picked up bad habits. Alejandro.”

Her one and only squire who was small and young. Alejandro. That child finally smiled faintly with the face Nerea knew.

Feeling choked up, her nose stung. Nerea murmured, recalling Alejandro’s words.

“And abandon, you say.”

You naughty boy. Thinking it wasn’t even worth saying out loud, Nerea put a little more force into the hand pinching Alejandro’s nose.

But Alejandro didn’t even pretend to pull his face away. Rather, he brought that pretty face closer to Nerea as if telling her to pinch as much as she wanted. His calm black eyes pursued Nerea with an almost obsessive intensity.

That face looked just like the one in her dreams, so this grown man didn’t feel unfamiliar to Nerea. Her heart ached. So she smiled faintly and removed her hand.

“…If I hadn’t left you behind then, would you have been able to grow this big?”

No matter how much she thought about it, the answer was ‘no’. Nerea spoke matter-of-factly.

“Probably not. So, Alejandro. You should be grateful that I left you behind. If you had come with me, you might still be tiny.”

The last day ten years ago when rain poured down in torrents. Alejandro’s image came vividly to her mind.

If he had followed her, Alejandro might still have grown up as a small child with red cheeks who couldn’t even eat a bowl of thin corn porridge.

He wouldn’t have grown this tall, nor would his shoulders have broadened like that.

But…

“That’s you abandoning me.”

Would he have smiled?

Not with that dry smile, but with that child’s truly bright and clear smile from before.

Nerea bit her lip at the vain supposition. The moment the area above her lip pressed by white front teeth turned pale, Alejandro instinctively reached out his hand towards her lips but quickly lowered it.

This hand wouldn’t be pretty in the knight’s eyes…

But her sharp-eyed knight seemed to have already seen everything.

“You, that hand!”

The water-colored eyes rippled as if surprised. Her usually leisurely tone changed distinctly. At that moment, Alejandro instantly shattered his own delusion.

That’s right. To the knight, this isn’t an unsightly scar, but a pitiful gap I can exploit.

So he subtly held out his hand. So that the scars that had been torn and healed repeatedly long ago would stand out.

“You were supposed to be the one to raise me.”

Now the water-colored eyes focused entirely on him. Alejandro smiled weakly. Whether it was guilt or whatever, it didn’t matter.

“What could I, who only knew how to follow the knight around, do without you?”

“…”

“So that you can’t abandon me, so that no one can separate the knight from me again.”

Persistently pursuing the eyes he had longed for for ten years, Alejandro finally uttered the words he had swallowed for so long.

“…I’ve come.”

“…”

“Now I’m wealthy, big, and strong. Very suitable as your squire.”

“…”

“So…”

Alejandro nonchalantly gestured towards the interior of the cabin.

“May I come in?”

.

.

.

The moment he entered the lit interior, Alejandro reflexively ducked his head. It felt like the lamp hanging from the ceiling would barely touch his head due to his tall stature.

Wealthy, big, and strong, he said.

Come to think of it, the jacket he wore was simple but of good quality, and his shoes had a luxurious shine. Nerea smiled faintly.

Well. There was no way that Baron and Baroness Jenax, those kind and warm people, would dress their treasured second son carelessly.

The longing she had buried kept surfacing. With so many things she wanted to ask, Nerea’s dry lips moved for a while. In the meantime, Alejandro opened his mouth.

“Small and pretty as you wished…”

Meanwhile, Alejandro seemed to have been looking around the house. After narrowing his gracefully drawn eyes, he looked at the hall that served as both kitchen and reception room, then carefully held back his words.

As if trying to find a more appropriate word, Alejandro pondered for a few moments before giving an answer.

“…It’s a country house.”

Nerea smiled a little.

“You can call it a cabin.”

“But you were the one who insisted on ‘country house’, weren’t you?”

At the following words that seemed to ask if she remembered, Nerea bit the inside of her cheek hard. Cutting off the memories that were rising in clumps, Nerea hurriedly changed the subject.

“By the way, how did you get here?”

Alejandro shrugged. A faint smile spread across his docile face.

“By carriage. I still can’t ride a horse alone. I guess it’s because you didn’t teach me how.”

“That’s not what I meant. Did Johan Jenax allow you to come here?”

Alejandro raised his lips slightly in a smile.

Well. Johan Jenax, the eldest son of Baron Jenax’s family who served the Esteban Count’s family faithfully and Alejandro’s brother, would certainly not have known that Alejandro was coming here.

…But since he’s already here, wouldn’t it be okay to ask a few things? As small weights went back and forth making clumsy calculations, Nerea’s mouth blurted out a question first.

“…Are Baron and Baroness Jenax doing well?”

In truth, she wanted to ask how Baron Jenax’s leg was, but the fear was greater.

Baron Jenax’s screams from that day often came as nightmares, and in her nightmares, he always resented her while unable to walk.

That grateful person who stood up to her father to the end to protect her. She wondered if he, whose leg was broken by a vassal who ultimately sided with her father, was alright. Or if that kind wife didn’t hate her, things like that.

“I suppose they are?”

But the answer that came back was a question. Alejandro furrowed his brow, then raised the corners of his mouth as if troubled.

“Knight, I…”