4. You cried when you dropped the broom
Dalton was a man I had never once dreamed of. He was also a man I never thought I would be entangled with.
If it were the old me, I would have refused his proposal at once. But I am going to die in three months.
My body, which I cherished and cherished again, would be buried in the soil without fully feeling the soft touch of another person. When that thought occurred, I couldn't possibly refuse Dalton's proposal.
What is there to life? Since it's a life passing anyway, I wanted to live a life I hadn't lived before.
I wanted to live a life living only for today, as if tomorrow were the end.
"Then, did you sleep with every woman you were interested in, Dalton?"
I first laid out different words to him. Dalton answered readily.
"No, only when the partner I wanted also wanted me."
He gave a slight nod of his chin. As if it were my turn to answer.
I wanted to nonchalantly bring up the words 'Will you sleep with me?' just as I did to Arwin. However, strangely, my lips wouldn't part easily.
In my head, I was thinking of living life recklessly, but my heart doesn't seem to accept that fact well.
Having lived quietly since birth, transforming into a libertine woman all at once seems to be impossible after all.
When I hesitated, Dalton reached out and started to mess up my hair wildly.
"I'm not forcing you, Iphoe."
Strangely, he called my name very affectionately. As if calling a name he had called again and again until it wore out in his mouth.
For a moment, I wondered if he had known a woman with such a name. It was a truly exhaustive thought.
"...."
"Are you wanting to take back your words now, after saying you wanted to become a libertine?"
"I guess I'm not ready in my heart yet."
"Why are you acting so serious? It's not a big deal. Once you taste debauchery, falling for it is instant. In short, should I say it's a matter of time?"
I don't have much time, you see. Can I become properly libertine within three months? I just smiled small.
I had a smile on my lips, but my gaze looking at him might have been sorrowful. It was fortunate that tears didn't flow.
Whether Dalton didn't notice my sorrowful gaze, he spoke naturally.
"Will you come to my room tonight? I'll tell you about debauchery."
"Are you staying at the Marquis's residence?"
"For the time being. It's the room at the end of the hallway on the second floor."
His eyes drew a gentle arc. That smile was one with a knack for making women's hearts flutter.
I think my heart trembled a little.
There was exactly one time in the afternoon when I could meet Arwin today. I visited his office holding the old broom, which was like my alter ego.
Knock, knock. As I entered the room with the knock, Arwin was burying his head in the desk without giving me a single glance.
Arwin's skin, seen at a glimpse, looked much paler than at other times. He looked like a person who hadn't slept properly for days. Does he even eat while working?
Come to think of it, Arwin was always busy around this time as autumn approached. I couldn't know exactly what work he was doing. Perhaps it might be stranger for me, a maid, to know that work.
I swept the broom soundlessly so as not to disturb Arwin as much as possible. It was a daily task, but I couldn't concentrate at all. Because I wanted to look at Arwin.
I ended up stealing a glance at his face. As I stole a glance at his face, even the desire to ask him questions arose.
If he remembers my name. If we can't spend the night together today as well.
Whether I focused too much on looking at Arwin's face, I let go of the broom I was holding from my hand.
Clatter.
The sound of the broom falling rang like an echo through the silence. It was at that moment that Arwin's face, which I thought wouldn't care at all, lifted.
He lifted his head, which had been bowed as if to bury his nose in the desk, and stared at me. No, to speak precisely, he looked at me and the broom fallen on the floor alternately once each.
Then, without a word, he rose. His movement of standing up was stylish, like a masterpiece painting hanging on a wall. Arwin's long legs began to approach me, drawing a flexible curve.
One step, two steps, three steps.
The closer he got, the more uncomposed sounds my heart made. I took a long breath.
Arwin came right in front of me in no time and stopped. He looked down at me with an indifferent gaze as always. It felt as if I were completely contained within his shadow.
"You're not crying today."
Arwin reached out to me like that hot last night. His warm fingertips touched the corner of my eye.
He pressed gently on the corner of my eye. As if trying to verify whether my tear ducts were holding back tears or not.
"I'm sorry. Did I disturb you?"
Arwin, who answered with silence, swept the corner of my eye once more. It seemed like silent encouragement that if I was holding back tears, it was okay to let them out.
"I'm not crying."
"Yeah."
He answered shortly and withdrew his hand that had touched my face.
Despite telling me not to expect anything, his voice sounded quite affectionate. Of course, that could be my misunderstanding.
Arwin started rummaging inside his jacket with the hand that had been touching me just a moment ago. Just as I wondered what he was looking for, his hand holding something was held out to me.
"A handkerchief?"
It was a plain handkerchief without a pattern. As I couldn't readily take the handkerchief and only tilted my head, Arwin spoke as if frustrated.
"You cried twice. So I thought you might cry a third time."
"...."
"You cried when you dropped the broom."
Arwin seemed to think of me as a woman who sheds tears when she drops a broom.
A question arose about the correlation between a broom and tears. Needless to say, there was absolutely no connection.
I asked as if puzzled.
"Were you always this kind?"
"No. Just, I'm weak to tears."
He tilted his head as if asking why I wasn't taking the handkerchief. Only then did I pick up the handkerchief and wipe my dry eyes, which had no trace of tears. The handkerchief smelled nice.
"Don't expect me to wipe them for you."
He spoke nonchalantly and turned around.
I had never once expected Arwin to wipe my tears, but maybe starting today, I might do so a little.
I stared blankly at his back moving away. Of course, he never looked back at me.
I washed my body with expensive scented oil again.
A dizzying scent, enough to make one's mind faint, wafted from my skin. A scent one would never forget once smelled.
As expected. Expensive things were always right.
Would Arwin remember the smell of my skin that night?
I suddenly recalled the money I had earned while working as a maid. It wasn't a lot of money, but I think I earned quite a bit. However, there wasn't much money in my possession.
I sent most of it to my parents in the countryside, and I spent only enough money to keep the spiderwebs out of my mouth.
From now on, I wanted to spend all the money I earned on myself before dying. There weren't many days left to spend it.
Luckily, payday was soon. What should I buy? I want to buy something monumental that will be remembered even when I die.
As soon as the thought of dying occurred, I wiped the corners of my eyes like a habit. Surely tears aren't coming again.
Fortunately, there were no traces of tears.
Like that, it became midnight again.
Holding a simple outfit and a small lantern, I walked down the hallway. Whether the others in the mansion were already buried in the silence of the night, I encountered no one in the hallway.
Soon, arriving at the room at the end of the hallway on the second floor, I knocked lightly. Knock, knock.
"Come in."
Unlike Arwin, he gave a proper answer. When I grabbed the doorknob and turned it, the door opened naturally.
As soon as the door opened, what I saw was a dazzlingly handsome man. If I had to say the name, Dalton Racers.
He had lit a few candles and was sitting on the sofa. As soon as I entered, his odd eyes that I saw during the day turned towards me. They looked like a cat's eyes shining in the dark surroundings.
"I won't force myself on you, so instead of standing like that, would you sit in front of me?"
He invited in a considerate voice.
I wasn't standing because I was scared of being eaten, I was just making an observation—which wasn't really an observation—about his mysterious odd eyes.
I walked with slow steps and sat opposite him. Dalton spoke without taking his eyes off me.
"I've thought about it, and I think a correction is needed."
"What correction?"
Dalton answered with a quite serious expression. He looked as if he were about to say something important.
"I am a lecher, not a libertine."
To think the words spat out with such a serious face were 'lecher'. I barely suppressed the laughter trying to come out and asked him back.
"Isn't that the same thing?"
"Different. Debauchery is enjoying liquor and women. I don't enjoy liquor. The only thing that intoxicates me is women."
"That's a cool line."
"...Aren't you speaking too soullessly?"
Was I?
I fiddled with the nape of my neck for no reason, feeling like my inner thoughts were caught. At that, Dalton started giggling.
I don't know what was so funny. Does everything in the world feel funny when you become an Archmage?
"By the way. Before talking about lechery, there is something I want to ask first."
"What is it?"
Instead of answering, he rose from the sofa and sat soundlessly next to me. When I turned my head to look at him, his body was pressed too closely. His odd eyes, bearing a dangerous light, did not leave my face.
Dalton raised his hand slightly and quietly caressed my brown hair draped over my shoulder.
"It's something I've been puzzled about since I first saw you... I think I smell what I was looking for from you."
He tilted his head to the right as if he would bite the nape of my neck soon. I shrank my shoulders but did not avoid him.
Whether he didn't intend to do lecherous things to me, he only sniffed a few times.
"What are you looking for?"
"By any chance, have you spent the night with someone recently?"
I recalled Arwin. If it's a night I stayed up with someone recently, it was only that night I spent with Arwin. Then, even the words of unknown meaning Arwin said came to mind.
'I have two hearts.'
What is the reason those words with a strange resonance came to mind? Did Dalton smell Arwin's scent on me?
Dalton lifted his head, which had been tilted. He looked at me with his head straight. Our eyes met helplessly.
A faint heat was twinkling in Dalton's odd eyes, beautiful enough never to be forgotten once seen. It was a heat that looked dangerous to anyone.
The answer to Dalton's question was Arwin, but I had a premonition that I shouldn't bring up Arwin's story.
No, it wasn't a premonition but a conviction.
As I swallowed dry saliva and tried to bring up other words. It was at that moment that the sound of the door, signifying another's visit, was heard.
Creak. The door was opening slowly. Dalton's and my gaze naturally turned there.
"...!"
Surprisingly, Arwin was standing there. For what reason did he come to find Dalton now, at midnight?
Arwin's eyes, stepping on the threshold while holding the doorknob, soon touched me.
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