Chapter 9
For about three minutes, I simply stared at the spot where Heter had suddenly dashed out.
Even so, I couldn't for the life of me figure out why he'd done that.
“Sigh. I should just get back to work.”
With a deep sigh, I eventually sat at the desk and began looking through the remaining documents.
Huh? Why wasn't I chasing after Heter?
Because even if I chased him, I wouldn't be able to catch him.
What ordinary person could catch a knight fleeing at full speed?
At times like this, it was best to simply do my own work until he calmed down.
‘Heter was bound to return here eventually anyway.’
Flip.
As time passed to the sound of turning pages, the moon appeared in place of the sun.
“You've come.”
“Ah….”
At last, I was able to encounter Heter.
Heter froze in place when he saw me sitting on a straw bed and reading.
“How long have you been at the levee?”
“Since after dinner and washing up.”
Thud.
I closed the book audibly, got up from the bed, and approached him.
“Don't you have something to say?”
“…I'm sorry for suddenly running away this morning.”
Quickly grasping the situation, Heter promptly bowed and apologized.
“I accept your apology.”
Well, I'd suddenly run out while talking to him last night too.
Of course, then it was because Heter had suddenly kissed the back of my hand, but let's gloss over that.
“Then let's hear the reason now. Why on earth did you run away?”
I asked while staring at him.
I'd thought about it for half a day, but still didn't know why he'd run away.
What grand reason could possibly be hidden behind it?
“Shall I be honest?”
“Yes.”
“You were too beautiful, my lady.”
“Huh?”
A strange sound automatically escaped my mouth.
It was an utterly ridiculous reason, yet Heter's expression was completely serious.
“You were so beautiful with your makeup on, my lady, that for a moment I nearly lost my reason. So I hurried to leave, but I felt I would surely regret doing nothing with you standing before me, so I kissed only the tip of your finger and ran away.”
“Uh… wait a moment.”
“There is a story that the reason the once-prosperous Empire fell was because of a single beauty. When I heard it, I thought it was absurd fiction, but after seeing you with makeup on, I began to wonder whether the story might have been true after all.”
“….”
This guy. Had he always been this talkative?
What did he mean, all this endless nonsense spilling from his mouth?
‘If not that, perhaps Ruby's makeup skills really are incredible.’
In fact, after finishing my makeup that morning, Ruby sat in a chair with a satisfied smile like the protagonist of some boxing manga and promptly fainted.
I'd thought that was an exaggerated way of teasing me, but apparently it hadn't been.
“Then… are you all right now?”
“Now that the makeup has faded, I have a more natural look—beautiful in a different sense—but I can at least barely keep my wits about me.”
“Ah, yes.”
To me, he still didn't seem entirely sane, but if he said he was fine himself, he probably really was.
“Since you're all right, let's continue what we were discussing this morning.”
“Understood.”
“First, I have steeled myself to offer myself as compensation to you, Sir Heter.”
I placed a hand over my chest and stated it clearly, my eyes wide.
I'd hesitated a little in the morning, but as time passed, my resolve had fully hardened.
“There are a few conditions, though. Is that all right?”
“Yes. Please tell me.”
I began reciting, one by one, the conditions I'd been devising since last night.
“First, I, Alice Fortune, can be offered as compensation, but I cannot give you the Fortune family. So I would like you not to use me to interfere with or harm the family.”
Though the Fortune family was a weak house in a remote corner of the North, it was still a venerable family with several hundred years of history.
If it disappeared in my generation, wouldn't I be terribly sorry to my ancestors?
“Naturally. It was you I wanted, my lady, not your family.”
“Good. Next… I would like you not to make me do anything the people of the territory would hate.”
The biggest reason I was going through all this trouble was my concern for the territory's people.
“Why would I make you do such things to innocent people of the territory?”
At hearing my second condition, he gave a wry smile.
“Harassing innocent commoners would go against my code of chivalry.”
“That's a relief.”
In truth, this condition was the most important, so I was glad he'd accepted it without issue.
“Third, I would like you not to make me commit evil deeds or order me to harm myself. For example, ‘Alice, stab yourself.’”
I didn't want to press a knife to my own throat like the villain in some manga.
“What on earth did you take me for, to set such conditions? I couldn't do that to someone I love.”
“People's feelings can change easily sometimes.”
I could say that.
After all, I'd actually been betrayed by a mage, a craftsman, and a merchant—people I never thought would do such a thing.
“I accept all three conditions.”
“Thank you. Lastly… I would like you not to use loopholes in these conditions to make me miserable.”
I looked at him with an expression as sorrowful as I could manage.
Half of it was to elicit his sympathy, but the other half… was how I honestly felt.
Because I didn't want to be betrayed by someone I'd given my trust to ever again.
“I swear on my name and a knight's honor.”
Could he have noticed how I truly felt?
Heter, his smile completely gone, closed his eyes, placed a hand over his heart, and said,
“But since Sir Heter is an alias, wouldn't swearing on your name be meaningless?”
“Ah, well….”
Hearing me, Heter trailed off, flustered.
“My real name is….”
“If it's difficult to say, you don't have to tell me.”
I lightly tapped his forearm to show him it was all right.
“Because I'm going to trust you one last time, Sir.”
“…I will make sure to repay your trust.”
Right, that was enough if he gave me such a definite answer.
“Thank you. In return, since I will also become your possession, I will do my best to comply with your requests as much as possible.”
“Ah, about that.”
Heter fumbled out a sheet of paper folded several times from inside his clothes.
“I would like you to look at this.”
“Let's see… number one, fingertip; number two, finger; number three, back of hand?”
When I unfolded the paper he held out, it had numbers beginning at 1, with parts of the body written beneath each number.
‘What is this? Is it a list showing the order in which my body parts are to be trafficked?’
Was he declaring that he would cut my body up in this order?
“B-But you just said you wouldn't make demands that harmed me….”
When I slowly backed away, he hurriedly said,
“It isn't what you think; if anything, it's something good for you, my lady, so please stop looking at me as though I'm a murderer.”
“Then what exactly is this list?”
“I intend to claim you, my lady, according to the numbers written on that paper.”
“…?”
What on earth was he talking about?
When I looked at him in utter incomprehension, Heter began to explain.
“This may be the first time I've said it properly, but I've fallen in love with you, my lady. That is why I wanted you in exchange for becoming the territory's knight.”
“I see.”
“…You're not very surprised this time?”
He said it in a tone suggesting he found that unexpected.
It was probably because I'd shown him so many flustered reactions before.
‘Rather, I've heard this kind of direct confession many times.’
The words ‘I like you’ had become all too familiar to me.
“Hmm… To continue, then.”
Heter continued explaining with an awkward expression.
“Wanting you was all well and good, but after thinking it over, I realized that even if you became mine, you probably wouldn't like me. When I asked you to become mine, you actually stormed out and ran away.”
His prediction was correct.
Even I knew that I would try to obey Heter's commands, but I didn't think I would fall in love with him.
In my previous life, I'd heard that after marriage, people lived not for love but out of loyalty, and I had been prepared to do the same, but it seemed that wasn't what he wanted.
“So I thought of a way to slowly grow closer to you, my lady.”
“And that's the order written on this paper?”
“Precisely.”
Yes, I understood why he had shown me the paper.
But what did the order in which our body parts grew closer have to do with anything?
“I'll explain that now. Do you see the spaces beneath the body parts?”
“Yes.”
“When I am formally inducted as a knight and whenever I accomplish a great deed, please sign the spaces in order. I mean, sign to transfer ownership of that body part to me.”
“Does that have any meaning?”
“Yes, because I won't touch any part of you other than those bearing my signature.”
“!”
Hearing his words, I was startled.
‘He won't touch a body part unless I sign it!’
If I didn't sign anything, didn't that mean I could hire him without paying him?
‘This is incredible!’
Just as Heter said, this was an exceptionally good deal for me.
“All right!”
Before he could change his mind, I quickly accepted.
“There are still a few conditions left, so I would appreciate it if you could wait just a little longer.”
“Yes!”
Thanks to the good news, I was in such high spirits that I spoke energetically.
“You said when I accomplish a great deed, but I leave that entirely to your discretion, my lady. I only ask that you judge objectively.”
“Of course!”
He had promised not to exploit loopholes in my proposal, so why would I exploit them?
It would be best if I could make Heter work without pay, but even if this only bought me time until I could accept myself as a woman, that would be enough.
“And… you must treat any body part that has been signed over with care. That body part belongs to me.”
“What do you mean by treating it with care?”
“It means not letting it get injured or intentionally harming it.”
It seemed he meant I wasn't to injure it at will or do things like get a tattoo.
“If you violate this, I will punish you.”
“Understood.”
“Good. Now, lastly, I would like you to sign over the first and second items—the fingertip and finger—as compensation for defeating the Snow Wyrm.”
“That… um….”
‘Come on, think.’
When he'd first defeated the Snow Wyrm, he'd defeated the magical beast that had ravaged the vineyard, and the next time, he'd saved the territory's people from a magical beast attack.
Was that enough merit to warrant signing them over?
‘At this point, it's more than enough.’
Besides, it was only my fingertip and finger.
“All right. I'll sign.”
I readily nodded.
“Excellent. Then let's draw up an official contract and sign it.”
“Yes.”
Thus, Heter and I drew up a contract containing our respective conditions and signed it in front of a small, flickering oil lamp.
“Thank you, my lady. I look forward to working with you from now on.”
“Thank you for becoming a knight of House Fortune, Sir Fortune. I look forward to working with you.”
Since his position had changed from guest to knight of the family, I changed the way I spoke.
“Yes, my liege.”
Their little investiture ceremony ended with Heter kissing my finger.
And the next day.
“Your finger. It's injured?”
On the way to breakfast, Heter said while staring at my index finger.
“Ah, I nicked it slightly on the paper while organizing the contract I signed yesterday.”
I gave an awkward smile as I showed him the bandaged finger.
“You have a keen eye, Sir Heter. Thank you for worrying….”
“Since a body part that belongs to me has been injured, I must punish you for violating the clause that says you will treat it with care.”
“…Pardon?”
Soon after, he strode toward me with an expressionless face.
“Sir Heter? W-Wait a moment?!”
Despite my attempts to stop him, he didn't slow down.
I backed away hesitantly, but soon hit the wall, and the distance between Heter and me steadily shrank.
“N-No….”
Before I knew it, the distance between us had narrowed until only enough room for a single fist remained.
Swish.
His hand slowly reached toward me.