A little later, I was able to sit side by side with Cedar, who had hastily changed into whatever clothes he could grab.

After sitting down, Cedar remained silent for a long time before muttering while cupping his face.

“I can’t believe it.”

I shrugged my shoulders.

“Why are you so surprised? These things happen in life, accidents like this and that.”

So, after finishing all the official events, Cedar was trying to change out of his uncomfortable uniform into the Dragon Knight duty uniform.

But one of the bags was missing, so another knight was supposed to bring the duty uniform.

‘So that’s why he didn’t think it was strange when he sensed my presence.’

He mistook me for the subordinate bringing the uniform.

But when the clothes weren’t handed over no matter how long he waited, he came out wondering what was going on, and then…

“I didn’t know you were such a shameless woman.”

“Hey, that’s harsh. I was just, well…”

“Nevermind that, how did you find my barracks? You shouldn’t have known where it was.”

It’s true I didn’t know, but it wasn’t hard to find, right? I shrugged.

“The knights told me. When I asked, they gave me directions right away.”

“Those guys…”

I thought it wasn’t much of a secret since there was even a big flag marking it. Seems like they shouldn’t have told me so freely.

Cedar muttered something incomprehensible like ‘They all find this amusing, don’t they?’ Then he suddenly whipped his head around to glare at me and asked.

“So why did you come here? Quickly state your business.”

“That’s right! Now is not the time for you to be so boldly angry at me!”

Right, my business! I didn’t come here to be scolded by Cedar in the first place.

I put my hands on my hips and in turn confronted him with sharp eyes.

“Why do you keep avoiding me?”

At my words, Cedar’s eyes blinked wide. After a moment of blank staring, he stroked his smooth chin and asked belatedly.

“…You came all this way to ask about that?”

He seemed to find it absurd that the reason I came all the way here during a subjugation mission was just to ask ‘Why are you avoiding me?’

But absurd is absurd! You just made a fatal slip of the tongue.

I triumphantly pointed my index finger at Cedar and shouted.

“That just now! You’re admitting that you avoided me!”

“Ugh.”

Caught off guard, Cedar let out a groan. Then he muttered while scratching his head awkwardly.

“You’re uncharacteristically sharp.”

Uncharacteristic! I wanted to argue about what kind of image I had, but that would likely derail the conversation.

I put my hands on my hips again and began my interrogation.

“Why are you avoiding me? What’s the reason? Was I so annoying that you couldn’t stand it?”

Cedar put on a brazen face and feigned innocence.

“What do you mean avoiding? Why would I avoid you?”

“That’s why I’m asking why! And don’t even think about lying. I really hate lies.”

My green eyes met precisely with his mirror-like eyes.

Realizing he couldn’t evade it any longer, Cedar let out a long sigh. But the words that flowed out were not the excuses or reasons I had hoped for.

“…Why do you care about things like my gaze? You seem to be having plenty of fun with Grisha.”

“What? Why is Grisha being brought up here?”

I was asking about his relationship with me, so why was Grisha being mentioned here?

To my question, Cedar answered with his chin propped up, sitting with his back rounded as if sulking.

“You were embracing Grisha earlier. Not even caring if anyone was looking from outside.”

“Huh?”

I was embracing Grisha? When did I do that?

‘Is he talking about that time in the carriage?’

We did make eye contact through the carriage window then. It seems he misunderstood our relationship based on just seeing that.

I waved my hand dismissively with a soft laugh.

“That was just a hug. We almost couldn’t meet, so we finally did.”

“Who hugs that deeply?”

“It’s because we were emotional. That can happen, you know.”

At some point, I realized Cedar was the one interrogating me instead.

I quickly shook my head and put strength back into my eyes.

“But why do you care about that? Are you perhaps jealous?”

“…”

“Cedar?”

But Cedar, who I thought would immediately deny it, closed his mouth.

His expression as he faced me was so unfamiliar that I couldn’t tell what emotion it was.

Slightly sunken, as if sad, yet also as if suppressing something in his heart…

‘Should I say he looks bitter?’

I thought, and I ended up laughing because it was so absurd. There’s no way Cedar would look bitter.

“Yeah. I…”

“There’s no way you would, right? Huh? What were you about to say just now?”

Because my voice overlapped with his delayed response, I couldn’t hear what Cedar was trying to say.

When I asked again, Cedar’s face turned bright red all the way down to his neck in an instant. He burst out.

“I don’t know, you woman!”

Then he abruptly turned his back. That broad, solid back couldn’t have looked more childish.

‘Why is he really acting like this? Is he going through puberty?’

But that immature and completely illogical behavior, far from being annoying, even seemed cute.

‘My eyes must be broken.’

I rubbed my eyes with the back of my hand. But even after that, the sulking Cedar still looked cute.

‘I must have gone crazy now.’

If it’s not a problem with my eyes, then it must be a problem with my head. But if my head is broken, how do I fix it?

As I was lost in my own thoughts and Cedar in his, silence lingered in the barracks for a moment.

And it was Cedar who broke that silence.

Having seemingly sorted out his thoughts, Cedar, back to his usual calm expression, reached out and ruffled my hair.

“It’s nothing, so don’t worry about it. There’s no way I would avoid you.”

If I could not worry about it, I wouldn’t have come all the way here. And for some reason, I had a baseless conviction that I was the one who did something wrong this time.

So I fidgeted with my fingers and earnestly continued speaking.

“You never know. A person’s heart isn’t something you can see through clearly like looking into clear water. I might have done something to make you feel hurt without intending to.”

“Something that made me feel hurt. There actually was such a thing.”

“What? What happened?”

To my question, Cedar answered with an extremely serious expression.

“Don’t you remember? Last night when you were drunk, on my chest…”

Cedar trailed off, hanging his head as if nothing could be more tragic. Last night? When I was drunk? I shouted angrily, not even knowing what I had done.

“Lies! Don’t lie!”

“Well. Is it really a lie?”

“Wh-what did I do?”

Cedar motioned for me to come closer. I hesitantly approached Cedar.

Cedar’s unique refreshing scent washed over me. His low, heavy voice tickled my ear.

“So don’t drink alcohol.”

Even after hearing those words, I couldn’t figure out what they meant for a while.

Only after seeing Cedar snicker did I realize it was a blatant lie, and I glared at him.

“You meanie.”

Cedar got up lightly from the bed. And he pushed my back.

“Grisha will be looking for you. Go back now. I have to attend a meeting too.”

“You’re not really angry, right? Or feeling hurt?”

At my question, Cedar stared at me blankly. Then he spoke in a voice lower and softer than usual, almost whispering.

“You didn’t do anything wrong. The problem is that you’re too pretty.”

“What?”

I doubted my ears, but I didn’t get a chance to confirm what he had said. Cedar, ushering me out of the barracks as if chasing me away, reached out his hand.

“Keep your hood on well, and don’t be picky with your food.”

The tip of Cedar’s finger firmly pressed against my forehead.

Cedar smiled, but it didn’t feel like a smile at all. Rather, it was an expression like swallowing bitter medicine.

“Don’t come looking for me so suddenly like this anymore.”

I had no choice but to leave Cedar’s barracks without saying a word.

After chasing Nelly out of the barracks, Cedar let out a sigh. Saying he had to go because it was time for a meeting was half true and half a lie.

It was true that a meeting was scheduled, but it was supposed to be held in his barracks.

However, since none of the subordinates who were supposed to come to the barracks for the meeting showed up, he couldn’t hold the meeting even if he wanted to.

Cedar roughly rubbed his reddened face with his palm.

‘These guys are messing with me.’

He was annoyed at how they had eagerly given directions to his barracks, and how they didn’t show up at all after letting Nelly in.

Cedar licked his dry lips.

‘Unnecessarily perceptive.’

Even though he had brought her as carefully as possible, it seems they figured out it was Nelly.

‘Well. They would know if she showed her face.’

Cedar chewed on his lips. He recalled the events of last night.