Chapter 36: Friends and Boundaries

Luti lay staring at the ceiling with blank eyes. Morning had passed long ago, so it was probably afternoon now.

If she were in the forest, she would have finished lunch and be digging at the root of a dead tree with a pickaxe made from a bird’s beak.

The root of a burned dead tree was huge and immense. Digging out one root took three months at the shortest, and years at the longest. In return, the place where the hard root had been held soil not contaminated by blood, fungi, and wriggling microorganisms.

If she was lucky, she could get a healthy living stem that had not died yet. She could also find and eat high-quality protein worms called mulbaengi. On days when mulbaengi appeared, the two hybrids would make a fuss out of joy…

Luti shot upright. That reminded her. She had forgotten the hybrids.

They had definitely gotten into the carriage with her and come in here. She thought he had snatched them and handed them to the butler. If he was mistreating them…

Luti shook her head. Eight years of affection existed. They were friends, partners, and good pets. Just thinking they were dead made tears well up.

Luti threw off the blankets and got up. She dragged the long hem of her nightgown and fell off the bed with another thump.

But she had done this enough times that her body had learned it. It did not hurt, and she preferred curling into a ball and dropping over groaning her way down from the high, expensive bed.

She got up lightly and threw off the nightgown. Bardel had helped her dress, but Bardel was not here now. After the outing with Jerond, she had given off a strong ‘I want to be alone’ mood, so Bardel said she would come later tonight and left.

Luti walked to the wardrobe. When she opened the door inlaid with luxurious patterns, her mouth fell open.

Dozens of dresses filled the wardrobe. There were shoes, hats, gloves, everything. All the things she had seen, touched, and tried on that day.

Just in case, she walked to the mirror. There was a box of fragrant things said to have come from across the sea. She opened the lid with a ‘surely not’ feeling and paused. Beside it was the jewelry box she had asked him to buy.

Luti looked at the plain jewelry box and frowned again. Her chest ached, and she thought of Jerond, who had bought all of this.

A man with a cruel and savage nature. As a knight, he was polite to women and children, but to everything else he was like a sword. A man who would stab deep, cut out flesh, and smile with his throat cut.

But strangely, whenever she thought only of him, her heart pricked. To be exact, the spot where Sorotel’s horn had been embedded hurt, as if Sorotel… this was as if Sorotel…

“Are you pleased?”

Luti’s eyes flew open. The man in the mirror was leaning against the wall, watching her.

“I came just in case. Good thing I did.”

The man’s black eyes in the mirror touched her smooth legs. She had thrown off the nightgown, but she was wearing a long, wide garment that reached below her thighs.

“I know. I only checked whether your legs were fine. I heard a thump earlier.”

At Jerond’s words, Luti’s face reddened. She wondered if he had seen her roll all the way down like a bean bug.

“Of course I saw you roll and fall like a bean bug.”

Luti closed and opened her eyes as if to say, of course. Then the man leaning against the wall pushed off.

“Agile and precise. It makes sense you survived in the forest.”

Jerond in the mirror came closer. The closer he came, the faster her heart beat and the more her chest throbbed. Luti quickly turned.

She went near the wardrobe and hid herself among the flowing dresses. Jerond looked down at her and bent his upper body.

“Being wary is a good habit. As a woman, protecting your body is natural.”

“A wary woman would also be clumsy at showing interest in other men. But don’t do that with me.”

Jerond stood right in front of Luti. Her eyes, as if about to be buried among the dresses, shone in the wardrobe’s shadow.

Jerond unconsciously reached out and stopped. Her eyes, shining strangely, were strongly rejecting him.

Please step back.

Even in the wardrobe’s shadow, the shape of her lips was readable. No, it felt as if everything she pronounced was vivid, as if nothing else entered his sight.

“If you don’t want me to.”

“Will you bite me?”

Jerond held out one finger. As if telling her to bite, his finger tapped her lips.

“You may bite.”

I am not a dog.

His lips curved at her response. As expected, her reaction improved his mood. For two days, she had refused to meet his eyes and calling her had been useless. It had felt like hell.

“Right. You are not a dog. You are human. A woman.”

Luti’s brow furrowed again. She wanted to say she was human but not a woman, and she pressed it down. Jerond’s finger tapped her lips again.

“If there is something you dislike, tell me. I can read everything you say. Even now, when not a single ray of light comes in, I read your lips.”

He felt he could read what these lips said even in deeper darkness. Silent screams, of course, and words spoken from any distance.

“What upset you the day before yesterday?”

“Did I do something wrong?”

Her lips closed again. She even bit them slightly, showing her will never to speak.

“You have to tell me what it is so I can know. If you don’t tell me, I won’t know.”

She must not say it. Even if she did, this man did not know Sorotel. She should not tell him that something was embedded in her body, and she did not want to.

Sorotel was the benefactor who saved her, her friend, and the only being who still protected her. She absolutely did not want to say that she saw that precious Sorotel overlapping with Jerond.

“Hoo. Fine.”

Jerond seemed to think for a moment, then stepped away. Once he was out of the wardrobe’s shadow, the shape of Luti’s shining hair became clearer.

“You will be cold. Put on clothes.”

Jerond took out a dress himself for Luti, who could not reach. It was a relatively easy style she could put on alone without Bardel.

“You lived roughly in the forest, so a dress that tightens your body will be uncomfortable.”

“If you want, I will buy you pants too. Do you want to wear pants?”

Only then did Luti step out of the wardrobe, as if relaxing her guard a little. When she lifted her messy hair, Jerond’s gaze clung to her more persistently.

I need pants.

Jerond nodded readily at Luti’s words.

“Tell them to get pants. Anything else?”

I need comfortable boots, not narrow shoes.

Jerond nodded readily again at her request.

“I will prepare the kind you wore in the forest. Anything else?”

Luti hesitated for a moment. Then she remembered why she had jumped up and spoke.

Please give me back my friends.

Jerond’s eyes wavered slightly.

“Friends? Do you have friends?”

Kay and Biyo.

“Kay and Biyo?”

Not one, but two? Jerond almost frowned without realizing, then caught himself and let out a hollow laugh.

“You mean the two hybrids.”

Jerond watched Luti nod and wiped his forehead with his hand. Facing this woman led to unexpected situations.

Like how she had suddenly leaped up in the carriage and climbed onto his thigh. Like how he had been thinking of holding another woman and then suddenly came to his senses. Like how he found himself becoming sensitive to the trivial word ‘friend.’

“You must have friends too. I don’t know why I dislike that…”

Jerond could not finish. The door opened, and someone was sneaking in.

Jerond turned toward the open door. Bardel, just about to step in on tiptoe, saw the two of them and screamed in surprise.

“Oh my goodness!”

Jerond gave Bardel a sour look as she startled like the two hybrids. He glared as if asking why she had to appear now, and she bowed her head again.

“I am sorry! I am sorry! I thought Lady Amblin was sleeping…”

“Why were you away from your post? Shouldn’t you be beside Amblin?”

At Jerond’s sharp criticism, she answered tearfully.

“That’s not it! I tried to stay, but Lady Amblin said she wanted to be alone… She said she would be more troubled if I was there…”

“You are a maid. Amblin’s servant. And you leave for that reason? What if someone came in without a sound and tried to harm this woman?”

“Eeeh?!”

Bardel looked as if she might faint at the absurd words. Someone sneak into this room and harm the future mistress? It was unthinkable.

“Who would dare do such a thing!”

“Who knows. There are humans scurrying around like rats.”

Jerond seemed about to press Bardel, though it was unclear what had angered him. Luti could not tell whether he was angry because they had been interrupted or because he was scolding a mere maid for leaving her post. She grabbed his arm.

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