Chapter 9

Suddenly feeling anxious that he might have forgotten about her, Anasha called out to him through the door.

“Commander? Can I come in? I’m coming in……”

Before she could finish speaking, the door opened. Anasha looked up. At the same time, her black eyes widened as she faced him.

“What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

“While I was at the training ground, were you in the commander’s office the entire time?”

“I was ly—, I mean sitting on the sofa. Why?”

“The brooch I left on the desk has disappeared.”

“What?”

Anasha’s eyes looked like they might pop out at any moment. After all, given the circumstances, she was the most likely suspect.

She immediately went past him and entered the commander’s office. She crawled under the desk to see if the brooch had fallen there, but it was nowhere to be found.

“You mean that silver brooch? Are you sure you left it on the desk?”

Rihirt explained that he had already checked all around the desk. He had taken the brooch out separately and placed it on the desk just two hours ago. There was no way he could be mistaken.

“Was it very expensive?”

“…My father gave it to me.”

He spoke calmly, but the listener felt differently. If he was a duke, then the previous duke must have passed away, meaning it was nothing less than a keepsake.

Anasha felt responsible. Unless the brooch had grown legs, it seemed someone had broken in and stolen it while she was delivering the towel. She felt somewhat guilty, thinking that if she had guarded the commander’s office properly, this wouldn’t have happened.

She felt even more so because he neither scolded her nor seemed to suspect her. It was a situation where he could have reasonably suspected her, yet he showed not the slightest hint of doubt.

‘Should I say he’s kind or……’

While looking at him and thinking that the knights would be shocked by such a thought, Anasha turned her head. She looked around to see if there might be some small evidence that could help identify the culprit.

It wasn’t the knights, at least. They had all been training at the grounds, so none could have sneaked away.

‘Did an outsider break in? Or……’

That’s when she noticed a black feather lying beneath the window. Anasha picked up the black feather. The open window, the shiny brooch that had been placed on the desk, and finally the raven feather lying beneath the window.

“A raven, a raven must have taken it!”

She remembered hearing somewhere that ravens have a habit of carrying off shiny objects. After briefly marveling at her own deduction, Anasha immediately climbed through the window and stood on a tree branch.

“I’ll go find it!”

“You don’t need to do that.”

Anasha, who was about to search every nest in the vicinity, froze in that position at his words. She turned around. She examined his face, wondering if she had misheard, but his expression showed no sign of emotion.

“There’s no need for you to act on such a trivial matter.”

“What……”

“It has nothing to do with you to begin with.”

“But, it’s something your father gave you. You’ve lost something important……”

“It’s merely a personal matter to me. As long as it doesn’t interfere with official duties, it doesn’t matter. So you don’t need to concern yourself with it.”

For the first time, Anasha thought he was extremely cold. She had thought he was a formal, somewhat stiff person, but she didn’t know he could be this detached.

“Commander… you’re kind of heartless.”

Rihirt, who had been about to turn away, stopped and looked back at her.

Whether he had hidden his emotions or already shaken them off, his face was expressionless with no discernible feelings, but Anasha had already seen his face earlier. It had been an urgent expression she had never seen before. She had reflexively asked what was wrong.

“I have no missions and I really have plenty of time and nothing to do. You can tell just by the fact that I’ve been sitting on the sofa since morning.”

Anasha sat on the tree branch, looking down at him.

“You’re busy, so you don’t have time to look for it and need to get back to work right away. So let me, who has plenty of time, find it for you.”

“But you have no reason to do so. Nor would you gain anything from it.”

“Affection.”

At the clear response, Rihirt’s blue eyes subtly widened.

“If I successfully find your brooch, give me your affection.”

Her short hair fluttered in the breeze. Anasha continued speaking while maintaining eye contact with him.

“I used to live almost like family with grandfa—, I mean the previous commander. Well, we were practically family. When I didn’t have missions, I would often run errands for him, and when he said his shoulders were stiff, I would massage them.”

Recalling memories with her grandfather, Anasha smiled softly.

“If you ask for help, I’ll help you. No matter how trivial or personal it is. I helped you when we first met too, didn’t I?”

Her tone became somewhat grumbling. She felt a bit resentful toward him for coldly drawing a line and acting as if their previous encounter had never happened.

“It might sound sudden, but I want to become closer with you, Commander. I don’t want to continue with this rigid separation between public and private matters.”

“……”

“So, will you let me help you?”

Rihirt couldn’t readily answer her question. Until now, no one had tried to approach him except for official matters. Rather, he was the type of person others found difficult to deal with, to the extent that they would be relieved if they didn’t have to be cautious or uncomfortable around him.

Therefore, her words about wanting to become closer felt extremely unfamiliar to him.

The unfamiliarity soon led to fear. It was always difficult to reach out to something one had never experienced before. But he couldn’t refuse her offer. As if his mind had been made up from the beginning, despite his hesitation, he eventually had to speak.

“…I would appreciate it.”

At his honest answer, Anasha’s eyes crinkled as if she had expected it. Then she stood up abruptly on the tree branch and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

⁕⁕⁕

Anasha collected all sorts of shiny objects and returned to the main building. After looking around the building, she began placing shiny objects in conspicuous locations.

Climbing up a tree, Anasha watched from above. With bait in place, she expected the culprit to appear soon.

But that was a miscalculation. For over three hours, not a single raven was seen. As the sun began to set and the ground was dyed red, something small emerged from the nearby bushes with a rustling sound.

“Meow.”

A snow-white cat called out from beneath the tree. It occasionally appeared at the knight order, and Anasha had played with it before. Since then, whenever it saw her, it would meow for petting.

“No. Go away.”

“Meow― Meow.”

“Hey!”

“Meow.”

When it showed no sign of leaving and started scratching the tree trunk, Anasha had no choice but to climb down.

“Does it feel good when I pet you?”

Anasha looked down at the cat purring and rubbing its head against her hand. Its fur was not just clean but glossy. Thinking it must have an owner, she was patting its bottom when—

Caw! A long cry echoed above Anasha’s head. A raven flew diagonally downward and landed on the ground where the shiny objects were placed. Then it picked one up with its beak and quickly flew back into the sky.

“Ah!”

Anasha stood up from her crouching position and chased after the raven. The cat, left alone, meowed once more before disappearing back into the bushes.

⁕⁕⁕

Outside the window, autumn rain was falling steadily. Rihirt put down his work and placed his hand on the desk. He tapped twice, but there was no response from the ceiling.

He looked up at the ceiling. The quiet ceiling suddenly felt unfamiliar, as if he had become completely accustomed to the woman who would abruptly appear from it. Even he was checking every hour to see if she had come.

Rihirt swallowed a sigh and rose from his seat. He felt restless and increasingly anxious even while sitting still, which made it wrong for him to continue working. He stood by the window, looking at the trees being rained on outside.

The last time he had seen her was three days ago. Whether she was still looking for the brooch or not, she hadn’t shown herself since then.

That keepsake from his father was one of the few precious items he had. But that only applied to him, not to her.

Rihirt regretted asking her for help. It would have been right for him to search for it himself.

He wondered if she might be getting rained on. He wished she would give up the search and return. At the same time, he pondered what made her so persistent.

‘Affection……’

Recalling her words to him, Rihirt stared at the raindrops on the window glass. Eventually, a raindrop silently slid down and disappeared from his view, but lost in uncharacteristically long contemplation, he didn’t notice.

⁕⁕⁕

Anasha opened her eyes only when it was nearly evening. The rain that had been falling all day seemed to have stopped, as sunset light filled the room. Quickly getting up from the bed as if shaking off the damp humidity, she prepared to go out.

For two days, she had chased after every raven she could find throughout the capital but couldn’t find the brooch. This morning, she had sprawled out in bed thinking the rain would make searching difficult, but thanks to that, her energy was fully restored.

Anasha passed through the castle walls and headed to the outskirts. She had already searched most of the capital, so only the outskirts remained.

While wandering the outskirts of the capital, Anasha was only able to find ravens after the sun had nearly set. Not just one, but several. The sight of ravens gathered on an old tree, cawing loudly, gave her an eerie feeling.