Chapter 16
Chapter 16
THE inn had a room separate from the main eating area where guests were free to take drinks at any time of day. The extra room’s fire was always loaded with logs and equipped with an iron grate where guests could heat water or milk to make tea or other hot beverages.
Yuki zoned out as she watched the water boil over and into the fire below. The proprietress was dozing off at the counter where they had paid for their room, a small puddle of drool collecting beneath her face.
The iron teapot rattled on top of the grate. She quickly put tea leaves into a clay teapot and poured the boiling water. The inn was quiet; stillness took over once the teapot stopped whistling. Yuki almost felt as if she were taking part in some sort of sacred ritual. Pouring herself a cup of tea was just another part of the ritual.
Once the tea leaves opened after steeping in the teapot, she poured the contents into a cup. An enticing aroma wafted with the steam from the amber tea. Yuki washed the pot as she waited for her tea to cool, her mind filled with thoughts of this new world and her place in it.
Suddenly, the door flung open. Yuki jumped at the noise that shattered the serene silence surrounding her. She cautiously stuck her head out of the room and spotted Luca staggering into the inn.
What happened to him? Her mind rushed with concern as she dashed out of the room to his side. She put out both of her small arms to support his swaying body. The proprietress was sound asleep with her upper body splayed across the counter and showed no signs of waking.
“A-Are you okay?”
Was he attacked by someone? Is he hurt?
She caught a whiff of a cloyingly sweet fragrance as she checked him over for any wounds.
“Oh, it’s you?” Luca put his hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him as he stared down at her.
“Are you all right?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?” Before she could respond, he continued, “Sorry. I should have kept a better eye on you. I should have dragged you into the shops with me even if you didn’t want to come inside.”
Yuki was happy enough she thought she could cry when she realized he worried about her during the kidnapping.
I was scared, but…
“I’m sorry, too. I should have been more cautious and aware of the fact I might be targeted.”
Yuki couldn’t figure out why she could be so honest with him. Her eyes welled with tears.
“…I see,” Luca smiled—his eyes glazed over.
“Whoa, hey, are you sure you’re okay?” She peered up at his face and caught a whiff of alcohol along with the cloyingly sweet scent.
I-Is he drunk? Witnessing Luca drunk for the first time perplexed her. What’s with this sweet scent coming from him? It makes me want to choke.
She frowned at Luca, when he suddenly wrapped his large hand around the back of her head.
“Uwah!”
Just like that, Yuki was pulled into his arms. His hot breath tickled the nape of her neck. She got goose bumps.
“Hey! What are you doing!” His silky blond hair tickled her neck as well. Something soft pressed against her collarbone—Luca’s lips were there.
“~~!” Yuki felt the blood rushing to her face. Her breath caught as she struggled to breathe. She lifted his head off her chest on reflex. “Wh-What are you doing!”
“You looked like you were about to cry, so I thought I would comfort you…” He grinned, grabbing her hand and removing it from his face. He pulled her face back to his chest with his free hand and whispered, “What a tease you are.”
Her heart leapt at the sound of his voice. It was a tone she’d never heard before—a kind of deep smooth baritone with an underlying promise of something more. All she really understood from it was that there was a hint of passion, and that was enough to make her shudder. Her lungs were filled with a sweet, intoxicating scent that made her dizzy. There was more to his stroking her back than just a friendly gesture.
“I-I don’t need you to comfort me!”
“How cold. You were the one who invited me.”
Heat rushed to her cheeks. I-I invited him?
“You’re mistaking me for someone else!” She pushed him away and slapped him across the cheek.
The sound of her slap echoed through the room. Silence quickly returned. Yuki took several steps back, and placed a hand on her chest where her heart beat viciously. Luca stood stock still in the same position he was when she slapped him.
I don’t have to guess the kind of shop he went to tonight! A flushed Yuki couldn’t hide her confusion over the ambience she had no experience with.
Luca suddenly swayed violently, his knees buckling beneath him. His body lurched forward. Yuki quickly ran to him and supported him. He stared down at her with a dazed expression. It differed from his usual sullen-look—his face was completely devoid of emotion.
“Hey, come on! Get a grip on yourself. Are you okay?” Even when she spoke to him his eyes wouldn’t focus on her—he remained leaning on her in a stupor.
Just as Yuki was reaching her limit, his lips moved on his doll-like expressionless face, “No matter what…”
“What?” She didn’t catch everything he said, so she asked him again and was surprised he returned a serious answer.
“No matter what I do, you won’t disappear.” He wrapped his arms around her. Yuki couldn’t push him away this time—the arms squeezing her felt so weak and helpless.
“You are always smiling, and no matter how much I speak to you, you won’t respond.”
Who is he talking about? Is he so drunk he’s mistaking me for someone else? Or is he just muttering to himself?
“Please say my name…” Luca pleaded in a voice so forlorn it nearly faded as he spoke.
Yuki had never seen Luca like this before. Luca was always arrogant, egotistic, and manipulative without letting on what he was thinking. For all the weeks they had traveled together, that was the only side of him she ever saw.
Who is he talking about with such desperation? Who knows Luca in such a fragile and weakened state? To whom does he feel it’s okay to show this side of himself to? Yuki thought of all the people she had met until now, but couldn’t think of anyone who fit.
“Please call my name. Say, ‘Luca’.”
How does he expect me to do that?
For all the time they had traveled together, Yuki never once said his name aside from the time she impersonated the Legendary Witch in Fol. She didn’t know how to address him after all. Should she call him ‘Sir Luca’? Should she call him Prince Luca? Or should she just call him Luca? She felt as if she didn’t know him well enough to ask. Her heart ached when she realized she wasn’t even in a position to say his name.
Eyes enduring a great pain locked onto Yuki. She gasped. Luca looked as if he were about to cry. To anyone else he would have appeared expressionless, but to Yuki he looked like he was on the verge of tears.
“…a…Lu…ca…Luca…” She squeezed out hoarsely. She squeezed him tightly, to erase the sorrow from his face. “Luca. Luca. It’s okay now.”
It’s okay. Don’t look so sad. Yuki knew that face. It’s the face you make when you want to cry, but can’t.
It was as though she were looking in a mirror. His expression was one of someone who was in pain, but couldn’t show it on the outside—thus their face stiffened into an awkward expression.
You should just let loose and cry already, she wanted to tell him and herself—she was in the same position.
“Don’t cry…Luca.” The arms wrapped around Yuki’s back squeezed her so tight it hurt.
***
LUCA fell asleep with Yuki in his arms. Yuki was at a loss as to what to do with him, when Ain—realizing she wasn’t in the room anymore—woke up Nasette and came downstairs with him. The two of them pulled Luca off her and helped him back to their room.
“It’s a bad habit of his to end up like that,” Nasette said, scratching his head.
Ain heaved an exaggerated sigh. “As far as I can remember, he stopped doing it these past few years. Yuki, did Prince Luca do anything weird to you?”
“What do you mean?” She peered up at him with innocent eyes.
A red-faced Ain fumbled over his words, “Um, uh, well, uh…as long as you are okay…”
Aaah, that’s what he meant. Heat rushed to Yuki’s cheeks when she understood what Ain meant.
“I-I’m okay…but does he go to that kind of place often?”
“Well, how do I put it? He ends up like this when he gets into that kind of mood,” Nasette said, and then added, “I think he goes whenever he wants to forget something.”
Ain immediately glared at Nasette, “Can you refrain from saying such vulgar things to an impressionable Yuki?”
Yuki smiled—Ain sounded like an older brother.
“Ah, my bad,” Nasette apologized, scratching his head again.
“Ahaha,” Yuki found herself laughing. She was laughing, but her empty laugh was terribly devoid of emotion. Somewhere in her heart smoldered an emotion that was too much for her.
He goes whenever he wants to forget something? Like the person he mistook me for?
“Stupid Luca,” Yuki muttered, leaving his room.