4 — Heart Pounding, in More Ways Than One

Since we were bringing enough luggage to stay for a few days, we had to take a carriage to the base of the hill we’d eventually be climbing in palanquins. The area was close to both the sea and mountains, and we only had to head a bit inland from the harbor to the base of the slope.

“It looks steep from up close, too,” I muttered, gazing up at the hill before me. I’d thought it looked steep from far away, but now that I saw it close up, I was really sure. I had to strain my neck to look up, after all.

“Yes. The others and I would probably be fine on foot, since we train regularly, but it might be difficult for a lady. Now, let’s get going. Hold on tight!”

“Okay... Wait, what!?”

Mr. Fisalis had gotten out of the carriage first, and I’d taken his hand when he offered it as per usual. But then he pulled me close, carrying me in his arms. Out of shock, I clung to him. What’s with the princess carry? I could’ve gotten down myself if he’d just held my hand.

“Um, Mr. Fisalis? Why are you carrying me?” I timidly asked.

“The step to get into the palanquin is pretty high. I thought you might have trouble.”

“Oh, okay.” He said it so matter-of-factly, and with such a big smile, that I was about to accept it, but...

“The step to get in is fairly high, so use this stepladder to get up.”

“Alright.”

I heard the voices of Rohtas and the maids behind us. Looking over my shoulder, I saw that while the palanquins were about waist-height, and thus would be a bit too high to climb into easily, they gave you a freakin’ stepladder! The three of them used it to get inside easily.

“...Mr. Fisalis?”

“Yeeees~?”

He totally got me. Mr. Fisalis looked away, whistling as I glared up at him. He knew! Ignoring my glare, he quickly walked up to our palanquin ride and set me on the seat first. Then he jumped in easily after me. Ah, so he didn’t need one, huh!? ...Not.

There was a lot more I wanted to say, but preparations were complete and we were off. Each palanquin was carried by four porters. Mr. Fisalis and I were in one, while Rohtas and the maids were in the other. In front of and behind us were a few guardian knights (on foot!). And so, our group started slowly climbing up the hill.

The seats were covered in fluffy cushions and there were railings on the sides, so I probably wouldn’t accidentally fall out, and there was a canopy on top to keep us out of direct sunlight—all in all, it was a pretty nice ride. Since I was on the other side of Mr. Fisalis, I could see a view of the ocean. It was great!

“The shimmering water is so beautiful! It looks different from how it did last night.” I was so happy about the view that I gripped the railings and looked out.

“Whoa!”

Suddenly, the palanquin shook violently. It seemed like they’d had to dodge a big rock or something, but since I was on the edge and leaning out pretty far, it was enough to make me start falling out.

“That’s dangerous!” Mr. Fisalis saved me with a quick yank from behind.

“Whew. That was close~!” Whoops. Good job, Mr. Fisalis! I would’ve gone out the window if it wasn’t for you!

The porters were on the verge of stopping after hearing me kick up a fuss, but Mr. Fisalis told them to keep going. They were being as slow and steady as they could manage, but it still rocked. I should’ve been more careful.

“I didn’t realize it would shake that much.”

“Yeah. You shouldn’t be leaning out. Now I’m worried about only having railings keeping you in, so hold on to me.”

“Okay.”

He had great balance because of all his training, but I was rocking back and forth with the palanquin’s every move, so he pulled me close by the shoulder. It made me feel better, so I just let him hug me.

I really do feel steadier when I lean on him. This and the balcony incident are really making him into my lifeline. It’s handy, so thanks☆

With my new lifeline to cling to, I felt comfortable enough to look back at the sea and the path we’d gone up, but...

“Urk!!” I thought we’d only been climbing for a short while, but we were already pretty high up. It wasn’t a ‘hill’ anymore, but a full-blown cliff. I could see the ocean almost directly below us. I’d been happy to get the seaside seat, since the view was great, but now I was really wishing I was on the inside instead. I didn’t exactly get a choice, though.

“Are you okay? You probably shouldn’t look down,” Mr. Fisalis said, noticing that I’d started to tremble once I saw how high up we were.

“You’re right, but I kind of already did.”

He looked at me, laughing with that bright smile of his. I was pretty used to his sparkling grin by now, but my heart still fluttered seeing it this close up. And thinking a bit more rationally about it, we were still super close together... Wait, hasn’t this been happening a lot? Is it because he’s been so clingy lately? Or is it just because we’ve been in a lot of heart-pounding situations?

“Hmm...” I groaned while I tried to figure out exactly why my heart was fluttering so much.

“What’s wrong?” Mr. Fisalis looked closely at my face.

Seeing his beautiful dark-brown eyes, my heart started pounding even harder. Then, as a test, I tore my eyes off of him and glanced down.... Heart still pounding! Anywhere I looked made my heart race. How was I supposed to calm down? The best I could do was look back at Rohtas and the others.

“No... Well, it’s not really anything...”

“But you’re thinking about something, aren’t you?”

“Yes. Hmm, I was just thinking that if I was riding with Stellaria or Rosa instead, my heart wouldn’t be pounding like this.” I stopped before I started talking about how much more fun that would have been.

“Huh? Who would I ride with, then?”

“Rohtas, of course.”

“No. No way.” Mr. Fisalis immediately refused, getting cranky.

“...Right.” He really doesn’t wanna sit with Rohtas, huh?

“If I was stuck with Rohtas, I’d have to talk about work the whole time instead of enjoying the view.”

“Ah... that’s true.”

“I bet he brought all the paperwork with him, too,” he sighed wearily.

“Hahaha!” I couldn’t help but burst out laughing at how easily I could imagine it.

While we chatted about Rohtas, I actually heard him sneeze from the palanquin behind us.

After all that chat and sightseeing, we finally made it to the top.

The hill was like a peninsula that stuck out into the sea; from a different angle, it looked like a completely separate island. The hilltop villa was in a spot that you couldn’t see from the Le Cœur one, but you could still get an unbroken view of the ocean from it. It was another well-used, wonderful villa about the same size as the other, and the white plaster walls were blindingly bright. It was still before noon, so it seemed like it hadn’t even taken us that long to get there.

They carried the entire palanquin right into the villa for us. After we got out, we left the sunlit entranceway, which was outfitted with lots of windows, and went to the salon. Rohtas and the maids went to unpack our things in the bedrooms, so I assumed we’d eat lunch and just chill out there.

“No time to relax.”

“Huh?” Without giving me a moment for a break, Mr. Fisalis took my hand and led me back out of the salon. “What? We just got here! Where are we going? What about lunch?” I asked.

“There’s a spot I want to show you. We’ll be going out again, but we need to hurry so we can get there while it still looks beautiful. I only want to show you the best views, after all! Hold on tight!”

“What!? Gyah!” He scooped me up again and put me back into the palanquin we’d just gotten out of. Just let me use the damn stepladders! Where the heck are we going, anyway? We just got here!

“And hurry!” Mr. Fisalis told the porters.

“Got it!” They picked the palanquin up, so they must have already known where we were going.

“Have a nice trip.” Rohtas and the maids were apparently staying at the villa, and had popped out to see us off before I’d even noticed.

It looked like the guardian knights were coming along on foot, too. At Mr. Fisalis’s command, the palanquin hurried along at an even faster pace than we’d been going on the way up, rocking.

“Wait, it’s swaying too much because you told them to hurry!”

“Sorry, sorry. We need to hurry a bit if we want to see it. Just hold on to me.”

“Okay!” You don’t have to ask! I would’ve done it anyway!

Luckily, it wasn’t as steep as it had been on the way up — it was more of a gentle downhill path. Why are we going down when we’ve just come all this way up? Leaning into the sway as we headed to our mystery destination, I finally realized that we’d reached the ocean again. There was a little wharf there, but unlike the harbor in Le Cœur, it only had smaller boats. It must have been a private wharf. I figured it must be right behind the harbor.

Mr. Fisalis carried me out of the palanquin, yet again. Please, please, just let me use the stepladder!

“Are we going on a boat?” I asked.

The wharf had a bunch of little boats that looked like they might seat about ten people at most. And hanging on the side of some of the boats were even smaller boats, big enough for maybe four people. Were they for your luggage? Evacuation? I mean, it didn’t really matter, but...

“Yep, we’re boarding right now,” Mr. Fisalis said, hopping onto one of the boats with me still in his arms. The palanquin porters and the knights hopped on too, and we were seemingly ready to go. The porters changed classes into rowers—Two for the price of one, nice!—and the boat slowly left the shore.

The ocean waves were calm, so the small boat didn’t do much rocking. And the calmness of the waves meant the water was so clear I could see the bottom, despite how deep it was.

“Wow! I can actually see the fish swimming!!”

“The water is clear out here, so it should be a great view.”

“I’ve never seen saltwater fish before! Scratch that—I’ve never been on the ocean before, either!”

“Rozhe isn’t near the sea, after all. And your family’s territory wasn’t close to it either, was it?”

“Nope! I could see freshwater fish, but not any saltwater ones! I’ve only ever seen them at the market... Ah!” I realized how worked up I was over all these firsts.

“Ahaha! That’s just like you,” Mr. Fisalis said, completely calm.

The boat seemed to be heading around the hill peninsula, rowing towards Le Cœur. Right behind the villa—or rather, the peninsula’s highest point—was a sheer cliff. Because of how the waves hit it, the place where the cliff met the water looked like it’d been gouged out of the rock. While I was wondering why we’d stopped here...

“We’ll be moving to the smaller boat now,” he said, pointing to the little boat attached to the side of our craft. So it wasn’t for emergencies or luggage, but for us! It’s so tiny, though...

Mr. Fisalis and I, plus one rower and knight each, piled into the little boat that could fit four, maybe five people at max. The other rowers and knights stayed behind on the main boat. Even though the boat looked like it could seat all of us, it was still a pretty tight fit, since the other passengers were all well-built men (including Mr. Fisalis!). We’re not gonna sink from the weight of all this muscle, right? Right!?

And for SOME reason, I ended up sitting on Mr. Fisalis’s lap.

“Um... I can sit on my own,” I informed him with a glare.

“Never mind that,” he smiled.

What the heck do you mean by ‘never mind that’? You’ve been picking me up all day. And we’re snuggled close together, yet again. My heart’s not gonna last if both you and the boat keep making it race like this!

We’d switched boats, but I still didn’t know where we were going, and being on the huge ocean in such a tiny craft was making me worried. As I sat there fretting about the destination, the little boat drifted away from the other one and started heading straight for the cliffs.

Where are we even going!? We’re gonna crash into that cliff! “Is it okay to go this way!? The sea is calm, but what if we hit something?” We were heading towards what was basically a sheer rock wall. What would happen if we hit that? I clung tighter to Mr. Fisalis and he put his hand over mine.

“Look right there,” he said, pointing to the boundary where the cliff met the sea with a reassuring smile. There, if I looked closely beyond the waves, was a little opening. It was just about big enough for the tiny boat to fit through.

“There’s... a hole?”

It kept disappearing behind the waves. Was there a cave down there or something?

“Yep. And we’re going inside of it.”

“Huh!?” The hole was just a bit wider than the boat we were on, and it would barely fit through height-wise. How would we get inside!? Was he serious!? I looked around, shocked by his words, only to see the knight and rower smiling back at me, not surprised in the least. How were they okay with this!? Was this normal!? I looked up at Mr. Fisalis, dumbfounded.

“We’ll duck down on the oarsman’s signal. If you’re scared, just hug me tight,” he said, pulling me closer.

Of course I’m scared!!! ...Ahem. Sorry. Getting a bit shaken up, there. Whatever. I’ll cling if I have to!! I wrapped my arms around him, totally done with all of this.

“Well then, I’ll handle the timing, so please duck... now,” the oarsman said.

We all leaned forward. Lying horizontally like this, we were just about as tall as the edge of the boat. I’m gonna cling to Mr. Fisalis like this. Or, wait, this is more like fully embracing him. Whatever. My heart was racing, but I still had my lifeline, so I was sure I’d be fine. But being so close to him made my heart flutter, too.

Ah, it’s happening again! I couldn’t tell what was making my heart pound so badly!

As we waited, the rower found the best moment to head into the crack in the cliffside. Since it was so bright outside, my eyes weren’t used to the darkness; once inside, I couldn’t see anything at all. It was pitch black.

“It’s okay to sit up now.”

At the oarsman’s signal, we all slowly sat back up, and I saw that we were in a dark cave. I looked around once my eyes started to adjust and saw that the cave was shockingly large compared to how small the entrance was. Everything above the water was pitch black, but the water itself was shining bright blue.

It’s like magic! “It’s so big on the inside! And it’s beautiful how the water is shining!” I leaned out of the boat a little bit and saw that the water here was still clear enough to see straight to the bottom.

“Isn’t it? You really couldn’t tell from the entrance, could you? Oh, and don’t lean out so far. It’s much deeper than you’d think,” Mr. Fisalis said, tightening his arms around me. Having him to hold on to really made me feel safe, though!

“Okay! But if I fall in, you’ll rescue me, right?”

“Of course. But I’d never let you fall in the first place.”

“Right?” I was looking this way and that, admiring the view as we passed.

“But you haven’t seen the best part yet. Do it,” he said, signaling to the rower. I looked up at him, wondering what he meant.

“As you wish,” replied the rower, turning the boat back around. And the moment we faced the entrance again...

“—!!”

The sunlight coming in from the small entrance lit up the water in bright blue sparkles. It was shining even brighter than it was deeper inside. Seeing the contrast between the dark cave and the shining blue water was so gorgeous, I couldn’t make a sound.

“Isn’t it breathtaking?” Mr. Fisalis pulled me close, whispering in my ear as I sat there speechless, and it was all I could do to nod back. “I know you’re moved by its grandeur, but you do need to breathe, Viola.”

“Buwaha!! It’s so pretty, I completely forgot! Ah~ I thought I’d die...”

“Try to remember that ‘breathtaking’ is a figure of speech, okay?”