Under the Flowing Stars (1)
The cool air brushed my cheek, but it was nothing like winter. This wind wasn’t dry and biting; it was soft and warm, the kind that could only be felt in spring, as though it cupped my face in gentle hands.
It was the season when the earth, once buried beneath snow, finally showed its true shape again; when animals that had slept through the long cold stirred, lifted their heads, and emerged from the soil. Bare trees drew on new clothes, and birds plucked at their feathers as if dressing themselves anew. Whenever I saw the birds that had flown away in winter returning home, I could feel, all at once, that the season had truly changed.
Spring had come. Which meant it had already been nearly a year since I arrived here.
It felt like only yesterday that I’d seen the trees swaying under a canopy of green leaves, and yet the sight of yellow blossoms blooming along their tips made my chest flutter strangely.
A year. Had it really been that long already?
I still didn’t feel entirely real as a knight of the Yuris family.
And yet so much had changed. Even the scenery around me was different now, as were the green shoots breaking through the thawing river ice and beginning their slow return to life. My own state of mind had changed just as much.
Still, if I had to name the one thing that hadn’t changed at all amid all those countless shifts, it would have been Ropena.
Crunch.
She was grinning as she stuffed her cheeks full of cookies. It was almost impressive that she could keep such a figure while eating like that every day, but what struck me as even stranger was how casually she wandered around despite being Irene’s personal maid.
Still, since Irene never said anything to her, there was no reason for me to butt in either.
I watched Ropena nibble on the cookies like a squirrel for a moment, then, just as the little face of hers began to redden, I naturally slid a cup of milk toward her.
“Haa... Ah. Thanks.”
“Eat slower. I’m not going to steal them from you.”
“It’s become such a habit that I end up shoving them in without even thinking.”
She didn’t need that kind of habit. I watched her pound at her chest while coughing for a moment, then my gaze fell on the small necklace around her neck and I smiled faintly.
I’d bought it for her birthday last time, and she was still wearing it. I’d always felt a little bad about how bare her neck usually looked. Food would probably make her happy too, but that kind of happiness only lasted for a moment.
My salary was more than enough, and if I really needed it, I could even get support from Irene, so I’d simply given her a necklace. Judging by her reaction—or rather, by the fact that she was still wearing it now—she must have liked it quite a bit.
A pleased smile slipped out of me, and when I gave a small snort of laughter, Ropena narrowed her eyes at me.
“Why are you making that face all of a sudden?”
“No reason. I just like that you’re wearing the necklace.”
“Because it was a gift from the knight, obviously. I wear it all the time so I won’t lose it.”
As if to show it off, Ropena puffed out her chest. The silver necklace at her throat chimed softly, and she brushed her fingers over it with a wide grin.
“I even sleep with it on. What if I lose it?”
“Yeah, as long as you like it, that’s enough.”
Honestly, I’d had plenty of doubts when I was preparing the gift, so seeing her this happy put my mind at ease. A part of me even wondered if I should’ve given it to her long ago, even if it wasn’t her birthday.
Come to think of it, the word birthday brought one person to mind.
...I think Irene’s birthday was sometime this month.
My head started to ache. I had absolutely no clue what I was supposed to prepare.
To begin with, I didn’t even really know what Irene liked. She was the sort of person who rarely gave away what she felt, so trying to pick out a gift for her was bound to be difficult.
I’d thought about asking Ropena, but somehow that felt like I’d be making my feelings obvious, so I couldn’t quite bring myself to do it.
Sir Chris didn’t seem interested in that sort of thing in the first place.
Asking Irene herself was, naturally, the very first option I ruled out.
In about a week—when the flower hanging at the tip of that tree had fully bloomed, perhaps that would be Irene’s birthday.
It would be nice to take her somewhere, at least.
But ever since the black mage had appeared, she rarely went out, and Irene spent most of her time shut away in her study.
I had realized what I felt, but it was only my own heart that knew it.
I had already understood that this feeling inside me—the one that always made my chest stir whenever I looked at Irene—was love.
But in the present situation, simply showing it was a problem in itself.
There were too many unresolved things. The black mage, the events that would unfold once the original story began.
And then there was her fiancé. If you asked whether this feeling could ever reach her, I could only shake my head in firm denial for now.
My mouth tasted bitter. But that still didn’t mean I could do anything right away, so I simply let out a quiet sigh and reached for one of the cookies Ropena had been eating.
“H-hey, you said you weren’t going to steal them!”
“Just one.”
“No way!”
I had so little free time left, and yet why did even this tiny bit of peace feel so unbearably dull?
I stared vacantly into space for a moment. Ever since spring arrived, work always piled up like a mountain.
This year was no different, and every so often, when I looked at the stacks of documents piled high on my desk, I couldn’t help frowning.
What in the world were the retainers doing? Sometimes I wanted to complain, but I couldn’t bring myself to say anything, because I knew those same retainers were dealing with even more than I was.
In a situation like this, moments of leisure were hard to come by.
Just staring into space was about all I could manage, but the lingering scent of spring drifting in through the window was perfect for loosening up my stiff body.
Spring, I thought with a dry laugh.
When had time slipped by so quickly?
Until not so long ago, time had felt like something that would never move, something frozen in place forever.
And now that I realized winter—buried in snow just a moment ago—had given way to spring, I couldn’t help feeling strangely subdued.
The more time passed, the more violently the situation changed.
At first there had only been the black mage who appeared in the duchy. But now they showed up from time to time and were being handled by the imperial knights.
...Something felt off. I had heard that Adel Roman had encountered trolls and still hadn’t woken up, and every time I heard news about him, a faint sense of unease lingered in me.
Was it really normal for someone who had taken a direct hit from a troll to remain unconscious for so long? Adel Roman had been knocked out by a single blow, and not even a particularly repeated one at that.
Everyone knew that a knight at the Expert level possessed a body that far surpassed human limits.
And yet the Roman family itself had begun to voice suspicion at the fact that he still hadn’t regained consciousness after several months.
That wasn’t all.
The Kilrog and Medib families had shown no sign of moving at all.
I didn’t know what they were preparing, but with the black mage now appearing so openly, why were they still making no move?
If I assumed the worst at every turn, I could only let out a bitter smile at the thought.
If every one of the five great families except the Yuris family had joined hands with the black mage, then how was Yuris supposed to respond?
There weren’t that many ways to deal with a black mage.
You needed a mage or a knight who could overwhelm them in magical combat. Failing that, you needed a knight order with overwhelming individual strength.
But apart from the imperial family, what family possessed all of that?
Of course, there were knights who could stand against a black mage.
...But I didn’t particularly want to think about that. I let out a faint sigh.
I still hadn’t forgotten what I’d seen at Verdeng Mountain, so how could I so easily let him go?
Unless the situation became absolutely unavoidable, Evan wouldn’t be going anywhere.
“You seem to have a lot on your mind.”
“...It’s just that a lot has been happening.”
After I muttered that softly, Sir Chris gave a snort of laughter and walked toward the window.
Was even he feeling something from this season called spring? For a brief moment, a flicker of color crossed his brown eyes, and then he spoke carefully.
“Lately, both the young lady and you have looked rather worn out. Wouldn’t it be a good idea to rest once in a while?”
“If I had that kind of spare time, I would’ve done so long ago. But I don’t. Neither Evan nor I have the time to do as we please.”
There was no time. I wasn’t so foolish that I couldn’t understand why Sir Chris was saying this, but making room for rest was harder than anything else.
Could he really say that while looking at these mountains of documents?
I was still staring at the pile for a moment when I turned at the sound of his voice again.
“It may be impossible for now, but the young lady’s birthday isn’t far off, is it? Why don’t you rest a little then?”
“...Come to think of it, it really isn’t far off.”
Was it about a week away? When I glanced at the calendar, I noticed a day circled in one corner.
A date marked just like Ropena had marked it, with a little red flower drawn beside it.
“Young Lady’s Birthday!”
Laughter slipped out of me before I could stop it. What was a birthday, really, that she had gone to such lengths to mark it like this?
If Sir Chris hadn’t mentioned it, I might have forgotten entirely.
It was just the day a person was born, the day other nobles sent useless gifts and you lost time dealing with them.
And yet these days, the word birthday felt strangely new to me.
Was it because of Evan’s birthday? Or because of what I had heard that day?
But one thing was clear: what I felt about birthdays had changed a little.
I didn’t exactly have expectations. If I let myself hope for too much, I might only end up disappointed.
And yet whenever that one person came to mind, I couldn’t help but think, What if?
Maybe it was all just my imagination. Spring suited his green eyes so well, after all.
Wasn’t Evan the one who had carried warmth all by himself, even through that cold winter?
I shook off my thoughts. And yet they kept swirling through my mind, scattering everything into disarray, until I finally frowned and let out a quiet sigh.
“I’ll think about it on my birthday. It’s still a long way off.”
“You should take it a little easier. Evan’s always worrying about you. Didn’t you even collapse while working last time?”
“...Evan really does say the most useless things.”
I hadn’t wanted other people to know about that. So that was why Sir Chris had been keeping such a close eye on me?
But when I remembered what had happened then, the sensation of the blanket wrapped around me came back so vividly that my face grew hot for no reason.
The wind was so cool, and yet my face felt hot.
The absurdity of it made me laugh under my breath, and Sir Chris laughed with me before speaking again.
“You seem to be laughing more these days.”
“......I wonder.”
“It’s especially so when you’re with Evan, isn’t it? Though, oddly enough, you haven’t been talking much with Ropena lately. Did something happen?”
“Nothing happened.”
Had nothing really happened? The thought brought back a memory that left a bitter taste in my mouth.
Truthfully, it wasn’t even much of an incident. Ropena had simply shown off the necklace I’d given her on her birthday.
“The knight gave this to me. What do you think?”
She had been so bright, beaming with a smile I’d never usually seen on her, proudly showing off the necklace around her neck.
It had been nothing. All I had needed to do was give her a single compliment.
And yet I still didn’t know why I’d felt so irritated.
Why had I acted that way? The image of Ropena shrinking beneath my icy expression made me feel unbearable.
I had apologized afterward, of course, but it wasn’t easy to restore a relationship once it had gone awkward.
It had been because, at the mention that Evan had given it to her, my mood had suddenly sunk.
I didn’t know why, but I couldn’t deny that just that one sentence had sent my emotions surging upward.
To make up for it, I’d given Ropena a few other things separately... but every now and then, when she looked at me and flinched, it still bothered me terribly.
“Where is Evan?”
It was Evan’s fault. If he hadn’t given Ropena that necklace.
No, if I hadn’t first discovered that stack of letters addressed to Evan.
Then I wouldn’t have reacted so strangely to Ropena at all.
When I asked in a flat voice, Sir Chris let out a small chuckle and answered slowly.
“He should be here soon. It’s almost time to change shifts.”
Had time really gotten so late already? When I looked out the window again, the sun was already sinking, its light turning into a pale sunset.
Time really did move fast. I hadn’t properly done a single thing, and yet the merciless flow of it was quietly tightening around my breath.
And even so, would I really be able to rest peacefully on my birthday?
Probably not. A birthday was only a day for receiving gifts from other nobles, wasn’t it?
Of course, going outside and enjoying the flowers in full bloom would be lovely too.
But the chances of that happening were probably slim. Perhaps because my mood had turned cold, a quiet stillness settled over the room.
I used to live in a place like this, and yet now this kind of atmosphere felt strangely unfamiliar.
I guessed that was one of the changes I’d gone through after meeting Evan.
Evan Fried.
I murmured his name inwardly for a moment, then lifted my head at the knock that reached my ears.
“Young lady, it’s Evan.”
“Come in.”
The door opened at once, and the familiar face beyond it came into view.
That same pure white face, those warm green eyes. Whenever I saw the gentle smile he always wore, my heart seemed to settle all by itself.
I had just been irritated while thinking about Evan a moment ago, and yet for some reason my mood shifted so easily.
But it was fine.
Just having him beside me like this, just knowing that the Yuris crest was embroidered on his chest, was enough to make my heart feel at ease.
I held his green gaze for a moment, then gave him a faint smile.
Sir Chris’s words seemed to echo in my ears.
Had he said I’d been laughing more often lately? Perhaps that was true.
When I was with Evan, my heart relaxed without my even noticing, and the corners of my mouth would lift all on their own.
The air of chill that had settled over the room thinned, and once again the warmth of spring began to fill it.
The wind was no longer cold.
Now it carried flower petals with it whenever it drifted through, a pink-tinged breeze that moved softly through the room.
It was unmistakably spring.
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