Chapter 49
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 49
The man staring at her—glaring, really—seemed to draw closer. His gaze, intense enough to devour her, drifted down to her chin. For some reason, the path his eyes traced felt ticklish. Her lips tingled, and she pressed them together just as his face tilted. The moment she thought his blue eyes, once filled with unwavering confidence, had clouded over, he leaned in.
“Hah.”
Seo-ah drew a sharp breath she hadn’t realized she was holding.
In that instant, the surreal bubble that had seemed to contain only the two of them shattered.
A scent reminiscent of a smoke-filled night seeped into her lungs, and her heart, which she hadn’t known was racing, plummeted with a thud.
“Ah!”
Seo-ah scrambled back as far as she could, but there was nowhere to go. Pressed flat against the wall, she held her breath, unable to even blink. It felt as if her eyelashes would brush against Oscar’s bangs. It felt as if her breath would mingle with his if she dared to exhale.
Why…
What do I do? What am I supposed to do?
Just then, the man, who had been leaning toward her with his arms braced on the wall, moved. His eyes, framed by delicate lashes, glanced toward the crowded square, and the corner of his lip curled upward. She thought she might have heard a faint, breathy laugh.
“……”
Frozen and unable to utter a word, Seo-ah dazedly watched him straighten up. The reality of his towering height crashed down on her—a mountain blocking her path—and the moment she had been lost in his gaze felt like a lie.
The world rushed in like a tidal wave. A roar of cheers she couldn't believe she hadn’t heard until now thundered in her ears. And yet, Seo-ah felt as if the man standing before her was larger than that entire world.
A booming sound erupted from above. Seo-ah looked up, as if to escape him.
“Ah…”
Brilliant fireworks were exploding over the cathedral, which soared high enough to pierce the sky. The multicolored bursts of light illuminated the dark heavens before fading away.
The screams had been cheers. The explosions were just firecrackers.
The spectacular fireworks, the first she had ever seen, burst endlessly in the sky, one after another.
The spectacle reflected in her smooth, glass-like brown eyes.
The fireworks exploded in the sky and again in the eyes that watched them.
Oscar quietly observed the brilliant lights coloring Seo-ah’s irises, then removed his hand from the wall. In that short time, his smile had faded completely. He ran a hand through his hair.
The dazzling fireworks reflected in her glittering eyes.
Those sparks reminded him of a thorn he had momentarily forgotten.
“…Irritating.”
His low murmur scattered like smoke against the brilliant display.
*
Seo-ah clutched her bag, its broken clasp falling open again and again. Her breaths came in shallow gasps, as if her lungs had shriveled. Her steps were as short as her breaths.
He, on the other hand, had a long stride. One of his steps was longer than two of hers. To keep from losing him, Seo-ah had no choice but to practically run.
The streets, even after the festival, were still crowded with people heading home. She couldn’t possibly cause him more trouble by getting lost, so Seo-ah hurried on, her eyes fixed solely on Oscar’s back.
A jet-black suit and hair as dark as the night sky.
As her gaze fell on his hair, she felt her fingertips and her heart grow numb.
What do I do?
Her grip on the bag tightened.
She wished it had all been a hallucination—the unfamiliar scent that had pierced her lungs, the warm, solid feel of him beneath her palm. She wished it would all vanish without a trace, just like the beautiful, brilliant fireworks that had embroidered the night.
Once they passed the crowded streets, a colder, heavier wind began to blow.
The wind, having crossed the river, swept past Oscar and hit her. A sharp scent of cigarette smoke clung to the breeze. A cigarette dangled from his fingertips as his hand fell heavily to his side.
The specter of her mistake lingered in the narrow alley.
What had possessed her to pull a man a head taller than her into an embrace? Hadn’t he told her to mind her own business?
Oscar, who had let out a disbelieving laugh, had now settled into a state colder and deeper than the river wind.
He was angry.
And why wouldn’t he be?
There was a limit to foolishness. She had mistaken fireworks, which even children weren’t afraid of, for explosives. As if that wasn’t enough, she had grabbed his head and forced it down. Because she had brazenly gotten so close… Seo-ah shook her head, trying to stop her thoughts from spiraling. Even in her hometown, it would have been a discourtesy worthy of severe punishment. Oscar had surely never experienced such rudeness in his life.
What are you going to do?
“Sir…”
“……”
“Sir… Your Excellency…”
Her pathetic, cracked, and trembling voice was swallowed by the wind. Oscar walked on as if he hadn’t heard, so Seo-ah scraped together the last of her courage and quickened her pace. She drew as close as she dared to his striding form and called to him again.
“Your Excellency, I…”
Before she could finish, Oscar swept past her. The relentless pace, showing no sign of faltering, felt as piercingly blue as his eyes.
Her mouth went dry, and a chill ran down her spine. The more it did, the more the blood drained from the hand clutching her bag. Following him once more, Seo-ah parted her parched lips.
I’m sorry.
She opened her mouth to say the words, but they felt impossibly light.
“…I’m sorry.”
And so, she didn’t dare say it loudly. The apology seemed to evaporate from her lips, vanishing on the breeze. The man walking ahead would surely not hear it.
When he seems to have calmed down, I’ll offer a formal apology.
For everything—for getting him trapped in the crowd, for grabbing his head.
But then, he suddenly stopped. Seo-ah stopped with him. At the same moment, Oscar turned around.
It was a dark street with no gas lamps.
The only light was the glowing ember of the cigarette at his fingertips. And yet, beyond that ember, the gaze fixed on her was terrifyingly clear. She wasn’t looking directly at him; as always, her eyes were fixed on the ground. But she felt it, vividly.
“…I’m sorry.”
“……”
A cold silence fell. Then, something that was either a sigh or smoke drifted over her bowed head and grazed the nape of her neck. A shiver ran down her spine, and she shrank into herself.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know what it was, so I thought it was danger…”
“Your Excellency!”
As she barely managed to continue her excuse, a commotion grew louder from behind.
Oscar’s gaze, which had been piercing her like an awl, shifted to a point behind her. Seo-ah turned to look as well.
It was Abel.
He reached them in an instant. His usual slyly smiling demeanor was gone, replaced by a tension as sharp as a new recruit’s. Abel clicked his heels together and bowed deeply to his master, who seemed on edge from head to toe.
“I apologize.”
Oscar, holding his jacket in one hand—he must have taken it off at some point—took the cigarette from his lips with the other. He let out a long, smoke-filled breath before dropping the cigarette and crushing it under his heel.
“I’m hearing that a lot today.”
A cold sweat trickled down Abel’s back.
Excuses were pathetic and pointless.
Oscar gave a languid smile, then turned away. Abel moved to follow but glanced back at Seo-ah, who stood there like a pale ghost. Abel’s eyes hardened.
She was a complete mess. Her hair was disheveled and her face was pale, but the most striking thing was her visibly trembling hands. He wondered why she was shaking so much, then noticed how thin her clothes were.
Abel shot a furtive glance at Oscar before quickly shrugging off his own jacket. He draped it over the shoulders of Seo-ah, who had just started to follow Oscar. She flinched to a stop and looked back at Abel.
At the same time, Oscar turned around.
He stared quietly at the two of them. Then his gaze dropped, lingering for a moment on the jacket in his own hand. As if examining something with an unreadable expression, he finally spoke just as Simon approached.
“Traun is empty, isn’t it?”
“Yes, Your Excellency.”
Oscar smiled at Seo-ah, who had looked up at him before quickly lowering her eyes again. Then, with a calm face, as if he had never been angry, he asked, “Have you heard of a place called Traun?”
Seo-ah flinched, but Oscar continued.
“The air is clean, the water is good. It’s much nicer than the complicated and dangerous capital.”
His gentle tone seeped into her, colder than the wind off the river.
While the Outsider blinked, unable to grasp his meaning, Oscar merely shifted his eyes to Abel and gave a quiet command.
“Go to Traun with her tomorrow, Abel.”
At the order, Abel bowed deeply. Before he could even straighten up, Oscar had turned away. Seo-ah stared blankly at his retreating back.
Abel, who had started to follow Oscar, gestured at Seo-ah, who was frozen to the spot. When she still didn’t move, Abel frowned, walked over, and grabbed her arm.
“Hurry.”
Pulled along, Seo-ah walked on listlessly. Oscar’s back, now far in the distance, appeared and disappeared in the flickering light. Staring blankly at the image of him, Seo-ah finally managed to speak.
“Where is Traun?”
“Huh?”
“Is it very far from here?”
“It’s far.”
“…Do we go by train, or by carriage?”
“There’s no station there. You have to go by carriage. It’s a villa in the middle of a mountain range.”
“Then… are there department stores?”
Abel frowned, as if to ask what on earth she was talking about.