Something That Pretends to Make the Rounds #3
"Zion. Zion, wake up. The sea. Look — the sea."
Huh? Wha—?
I had no idea when I'd drifted off.
I remembered talking with Helena inside the carriage, then a stretch of quiet settling over us, and me staring blankly into space. That was where my memory cut off.
"Ugh…! Forgive me, Lady Helena. Your attendant dozed off in leisure while his master sat right there."
Whether it was from tension finally loosening its grip, or from pure excitement, I couldn't say.
What I could say for certain was that I had fallen asleep at my ease while Helena was with me. So I apologized for that first.
And I felt, sharply, that I needed to stay more alert so it wouldn't happen again.
"Hm? If you're tired, you can sleep. If anything, I feel like I came out ahead. I'm happy about it."
I pressed a hand to my throbbing head and looked at her face.
She was smiling so brightly that her good mood was unmistakable.
This clearly wasn't just something she was saying to spare my feelings.
"Besides, Zion always takes it so gently when I cling and act spoiled every day. So the reverse is fine, too."
"Even so… that would be a problem."
"You're so stiff, you know that? Then if I ordered you to cling to me, would you listen?"
"…That wouldn't work either. Never mind my own reputation — Lady Helena would almost certainly get dragged into it as well."
Helena pulled a sullen face and clicked her tongue in open displeasure, but it was still a request I couldn't grant.
Embarrassment and reluctance played a part, yes — but more than that, I didn't want more people treating Helena lightly.
She was a duke's daughter and heir, the youngest Sword Master in history.
That towering wall kept most from underestimating her. But if she kept showing so many soft edges, the way she was now, more people would try to climb over it.
It would only throw fuel on the already fierce desire of those who wanted the beautiful Helena for themselves.
Of course, who she married was hers alone to decide.
I had no right to stop her, and no wish to.
If someone else could truly soothe her, that might even be for the best. She might live a freer life that way.
…Or so the me of a year ago had sincerely believed.
"…Fine. You've always been rigid; it isn't new. I'll let it go. We finally made it to a port city, after all."
"Ah… you did mention the sea. Shall we have a look?"
Drawn by the word, I turned my eyes to the window.
Beyond the glass, a world of blue so overwhelming it took the breath away was moving with restless power.
A sea so clean and beautiful it made the modern world look filthy by comparison; a sky without a single cloud.
And the ships waiting in the harbor, as if the Age of Exploration itself had been set before my eyes.
My heart thudded anew. I watched the gulls skimming over the water and simply forgot myself.
"So this is… Varkan County."
The port territory of Count Varkan thrummed with a vitality all its own.
Fishermen with copper-burnished muscle strutting along the docks; women hawking fish in the streets with full-throated sales pitches; merchants in fairly fine clothes coming and going on business.
When I stared at all of it with shining eyes, Helena teased me lightly for looking like a child.
"You never seemed childish when you were little. Now that you've grown a bit, you've gone and turned into one."
"Did I look that excited?"
"You could put it that way… but I like it. It's far better than that listless look of yours."
Watching me delight in the sights, Helena said with complete sincerity that she was glad they had set out on this journey.
That this alone made the whole trip worth it — and the one listening to her felt his face heat up.
"I'm glad to hear it."
Relieved that the embarrassment stopped at a flushed face and went no further, I composed my expression as the carriage gradually slowed.
When I leaned out a little, I saw we had drawn up right in front of a grand mansion, just as expected.
I assumed for a moment that this was Count Albert Varkan's residence — then I pulled my head back into the carriage as if nothing had happened and sat up straight.
Not bracing my shoulders with force, but settling into the proper bearing of an attendant.
Helena, sensing the same thing, smoothed her clothes and quietly steadied her breathing.
She had clearly realized the time to wear her public face was nearly upon us.
"Pardon me. Am I addressing Lady Helena Krauser?"
We waited, posture set. The carriage door opened quietly, and a knight in plate armor bowed with careful courtesy.
One of those knights nobles hire or raise with their own private funds, I guessed.
"Yes. I am Helena Krauser."
As if she had been waiting for this, Helena drew a token from her breast and held it out.
The crest carved into it was a sword driven into the earth like a standing stone — the mark of House Krauser.
A noble's carriage always bore the emblem of its house.
That alone was usually proof enough of rank, and anyone caught impersonating one was executed on the spot — regardless of how high or low the noble in question stood.
Even so, this knight had not been satisfied. He had blocked the carriage to verify identity in person.
In some lights it was an appallingly rude act; in others, the mark of a man meticulous to a fault about his duty.
Perhaps because even if the carriage itself was genuine, there was no guarantee the person inside truly was a noble.
I thought so, and accepted it. Helena, who showed the token without a flicker of offense, seemed to share my view.
"My apologies."
Only after examining the material and the crest did the man bow deeply, as if truly sorry for the inconvenience.
Judging authenticity at a glance required a trained eye; I suspected this man was exactly that sort.
"Lady Helena Krauser. On behalf of Varkan County, allow me to welcome you most sincerely. His Lordship the Count is expecting you. From here, you need only follow the guide."
"Yes. Thank you."
"Then I shall take my leave."
The knight bowed once more and carefully closed the carriage door. That he hadn't bothered to check my status was almost certainly because Helena's identity was already beyond doubt.
"Quite thorough."
"Mm. They often call in influential merchants for gatherings, so they've grown strict about verifying people. When traffic is that heavy, gaps open up whether you like it or not."
I nodded, finding her light assessment plausible enough.
I had heard that Varkan territory, with its bustling trade, hosted meetings far more often than most places.
Not every one of them was some lavish party, but the constant flow of people was an undeniable fact.
And it was entirely possible that someone would try to slip through those cracks to assassinate the Count or work some other scheme.
"Yes. That does make sense."
"Still, I suspect some people find the thoroughness itself offensive, depending on the moment. Being careful is good, but…"
Helena didn't name anyone specifically, yet her tone suggested she had particular people in mind.
It was none of my business, but if a noble of the same faction mishandled themselves, I supposed it would leave a sour taste.
"My lady. We've arrived."
While I was making light conversation face-to-face with Helena, a familiar voice carried through the door. Brown, the coachman who had driven us this far — and would continue to drive us — was calling out.
"Yes. Thank you for telling us."
The moment I heard him, I opened the carriage door and stepped down a pace ahead of Helena, so I could offer my hand and help her descend.
When I first rode in carriages I had been too short for anything resembling an escort; now I managed it easily.
"If you please, Lady Helena."
"Yes. Thank you."
In private Helena spoke freely and dropped formality, but the moment many eyes were on her, her bearing changed completely.
Using polite speech with everyone — servants included — was the baseline, and she dealt with people with unhurried composure.
She was composed at home as well, of course, but the quality of it was entirely different from when she was inside the Krauser estate.
After the poisoning, her obsession with me had become so open that she had finally started to ease the set of her shoulders a little within the estate walls. A positive change, in its way.
"It is an honor to receive you. I am Ready, butler to Count Varkan."
As Helena carefully stepped down, taking my hand, a middle-aged man in a tailcoat stepped forward as if he had been waiting and offered his greeting.
His dress had already marked him as a butler, but he looked considerably younger than Andy, the butler of the Krauser household.
"Yes. A pleasure to meet you. I am Helena Krauser. I'm glad to make your acquaintance, Ready."
"The honor is entirely mine, Lady Helena. To behold with my own eyes a genius of the sword who has ascended to the lofty rank of Master…"
"Oh, you flatter me. I was simply a little lucky, that's all."
While I fetched the bags and cases I had stowed in the corner of the carriage, Helena was building a pleasantly warm rapport with Butler Ready.
For a duke's daughter she was somewhat unpretentious, and yet dignity still clung to her; that combination must have won him over thoroughly.
A noble who could set the weight of her shoulders down like that was a striking plus in anyone's eyes.
Of course, that was only my reading of it. Plenty of people still believed that an untouchable nobility — the sort you scarcely dared address — was the true virtue of the aristocracy.
"You are truly an admirable lady. I've imposed by talking so long I lost track of the hour."
"Not at all. I enjoyed it as well, and it helped me relax, so I'm glad. To be honest, I was terribly nervous."
"Haha! Modest to the very end! I would love nothing more than to continue this delightful conversation, but if I did, His Lordship would have my head. Come, this way. As for the coachman over there, I will assign someone to show him to a room."
At last Ready turned his back and led the way toward the Count. I followed in silence behind Helena — until a doubt snagged at my mind, and I whispered low enough that only she would hear.
"Ah — by the way. Won't you need a private audience with the Count? It doesn't seem like a place for me to intrude."
"There's no need. No — don't."
Helena shut the idea down with absolute firmness.
I knew she hated being parted from me, but when it was truly necessary, it had to be done.
"But…"
I let the sentence trail off, trying to raise a careful objection — and only managed to prod her temper.
"…Zion. You don't need to care that much about some mere count, do you?"
In an instant Helena whipped her head toward me.
Her eyes were bottomless pits, her expression so ice-cold it was hard to believe this was the same woman who had been smiling softly a moment ago.
That she still kept her voice down was the only mercy; left alone, she looked ready to make a scene.
Every scrap of the calm she showed the outside world was gone. This was the final stage of her gradient of obsession.
Why had the outburst button been slammed so out of nowhere?
"He is a pillar of Duke Krauser's faction — of the so-called royalist party. Of course I have to care."
"Is anyone who makes Zion more uncomfortable than necessary… really necessary?"
Living as part of a noble house meant enduring a certain amount of inconvenience.
Helena knew that well enough; she usually only showed a flicker of discontent. This time was clearly different.
A Master's razor-edged presence pressed naturally on everyone nearby. Even someone with dull instincts would feel terror soon enough.
So it was no surprise that Ready, walking a few steps ahead, threw a glance back with sweat beading on his brow.
Ordinarily, when eyes start to gather, you point it out and ask the person to settle down.
But I knew that with Helena in this state, it would be the worst possible move.
In moments like this, soothing her first always worked best. As it always had.
"It is necessary. I want to go on a date with Helena by the sea. It'll be better if the Count makes things convenient for us."
"…Huh? A… date?"
The sheer destructive power of the word date was extraordinary.
The air that had been sharp as a blade softened in an instant, and light returned to those bottomless eyes.
Color even rose in her cheeks, as if to prove how lively she could be.
Ready, seeing it, pressed a hand to his chest in open relief, let out a breath, then pulled himself together and faced front again.
Whatever the reason, I imagined he had decided that only the fact of Helena's mood recovering mattered.
Openly displaying private curiosity would have been rude, after all.
Thanks to that, I could freely use the way I spoke when it was just the two of us.
"Yes. It might get a little dull, but I'd like to try fishing somewhere quiet, walk along the shore, ride a boat. Buy some fish and cook it, then eat it together, just the two of us… Does Helena not want that?"
Helena, eyes hazy, murmured that she wanted it too.
Inwardly I felt my hands and feet curling with secondhand embarrassment — but I was deeply grateful we had managed to smooth things over so cleanly.