Chapter 20. Dawn Outing

El approached Jane with the schedule in hand and showed her the paper.

Though El couldn’t read, she roughly knew how to tell time, so she pointed to the very first picture.

Jane stared at the drawing quietly, then nodded in understanding and got up.

El tried to open the door herself, but Jane stepped forward first, opened it for her, and led the way to the training ground.

“Oh my, Miss woke up early.”

“Good morning, Miss.”

As soon as they stepped into the hallway, cleaning maids lined up to greet them.

Fortunately, the employees of the ducal household were friendly toward El.

There was certainly some caution because of the example set by a previous maid, but to these people with high loyalty to the ducal family, the story of El saving Riello had spread like a heroic tale with slight exaggerations, so basically no one harbored ill will toward her.

Moreover, most of the Mosteros employees were beastmen much older than El, and after dealing with the tall, dependable, and dignified Mosteros family members, they couldn’t help but feel their hearts melt when encountering such a small and delicate being.

“Miss, where are you going so early?”

“Miss, you need to sleep well to grow taller and put on some weight.”

El turned bright red all over at the constant sound of “Miss” and struggled not to run away from there.

“Miss, your face looks just like an apple.”

“Oh my, how adorable.”

The employees cooed because there had never been such a lovable being in the Mosteros household before.

At the maids’ continued comments, El eventually covered her face with her palms.

It was fortunate that she at least didn’t hide behind Jane.

“Qu-quickly, let’s go quickly.”

“Yes, Miss.”

El tugged at Jane’s skirt hem.

But the response she got was once again “Miss,” making El’s cheeks turn even redder.

Jane desperately tried not to laugh at the cuteness of her new master as she hurried her steps.

⁕⁕⁕

“Hah!”

“Haah!”

After turning right from the mansion and passing through an elegant garden, they could hear shouts from a distance.

El, still walking with a reddish tint on her face, stepped in front of Jane.

“Can you hear the sounds?”

“Yes, I can hear them.”

“Your left ear too?”

“The left one buzzes a little, but it’s fine.”

“Since you can hear sounds from a distance, it seems you’re recovering well.”

“That’s because everyone is taking such good care of me.”

“It’s because you take your medicine well, Miss. You’re doing very well.”

El became unnecessarily shy at Jane’s praise and quickened her pace.

As they hurried toward the sound, it wasn’t long before they saw people wielding swords in the training ground.

Among them, Rapellian stood out distinctly.

“Wow.”

El couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration.

In the dawn twilight where the night’s energy still lingered, he alone seemed to shine nobly.

El forgot her assigned mission and became entranced.

When Rapellian was about to turn toward her while performing a movement, El instinctively hid behind a large tree. Somehow, it felt wrong to disturb him.

“Miss, shouldn’t we let him know you’re here?”

Jane, who had inadvertently hidden behind the tree with her, asked.

“Ju-just a moment.”

Completely captivated by him, El wanted to observe Rapellian just a little longer.

‘How can a person be like that?’

His movements were both smooth and sharp, heavy yet nimble.

Each time Rapellian swung his sword, white afterimages formed in the air. The sight was so mysterious and sacred that El stared as if enchanted.

She couldn’t think about her mission or anything else.

‘He’s amazing.’

To think someone could be so kind and gentle to others while being so strong and solid.

He was so magnificent that she wanted to be like him.

‘Gentle strength. I want to be like that.’

El was consumed by the vague thought that if she could become like him, she might be able to protect herself and the people she cared about—she wished she could be that way.

El focused intently on each of his movements, as if engraving them in her eyes.

Sweat naturally soaked her hands.

Her hand gripping the tree unconsciously tightened, and her head gradually stretched out from behind the tree.

How could anyone not notice El’s presence?

“Young Master, you should acknowledge…”

“Don’t think of using that as an excuse to escape.”

Calyx, who was Rapellian’s opponent, received his sword with a face that seemed to say ‘I’m doomed.’

His palm rang with a jingling sound, and his feet planted on the ground slid backward.

“Es-escape? I’m just concerned that the young lady might catch a cold in this chilly weather.”

The swords that had been in contact separated, and Rapellian’s sword, which was about to thrust toward his opponent again, stopped abruptly.

He turned his advancing foot and straightened his posture, tousling his bangs this way and that with his hand so they would cover his eyes well.

Then he turned his head toward where El was.

“Ah-!”

El, who had been watching Rapellian in a daze, ducked back behind the tree the moment she met his blue eyes.

She gestured for Jane to press close to the tree as well.

“Miss?”

“I-I don’t think it’s time to carry out the mission yet.”

“Pardon?”

“Not yet, not yet……”

El made up an excuse because she felt embarrassed to admit honestly that she had a strong desire to see more of his impressive form. Meanwhile, she hoped he hadn’t discovered her.

“Are you hiding now?”

“……”

Despite Calyx’s question, Rapellian just stared blankly at the tree.

More precisely, he was looking at the dress hem fluttering from behind the tree.

“Should I acknowledge……”

“You’ll die if you do.”

“Yes, sir!”

A dark green skirt hem fluttered in the breeze, along with a coat of appropriate thickness.

Thankfully, she didn’t seem to have come out dressed too thinly, so Rapellian lowered his gaze to his own feet and smiled slightly.

After letting out a small laugh, he brushed up the hair that had been covering his forehead and readjusted his grip on the sword.

“Again.”

“Yes!”

Rapellian resumed training as if he hadn’t seen El at all.

Only then did El’s eyes peek out from behind the tree where she had been hiding.

“He didn’t see you, it seems.”

“I-it looks that way.”

Jane believed the Young Master would certainly have noticed them even if they had hidden properly, but she told a white lie for El’s sake.

El truly felt relieved and took in the sight of him.

“Miss, don’t you need to go to him?”

El couldn’t answer Jane’s question right away.

El was so distracted by admiring his transparent hair fluttering as if cutting through the dawn, his face that was both relaxed and serious, and his firm, solid arm muscles that she responded a few beats late.

“……I don’t think I should disturb this.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes.”

El excluded disturbing his sword training from her assigned duties and quietly gazed at Rapellian with flushed cheeks.

⁕⁕⁕

El left the training ground when he finished his dawn training and returned to the main building.

Somehow, El ended up secretly following behind Rapellian.

Behind his large strides that walked briskly ahead were small steps following.

When Rapellian took one step, El had to walk almost running two or three steps.

Even while walking like this, El’s steps were quite careful and stealthy.

Rapellian, pretending not to notice for El’s sake, struggled to hold back the laughter that kept trying to escape.

Rapellian subtly narrowed his stride and slowed his pace.

El’s footsteps, which had been pattering hurriedly, gained a slight margin.

Thanks to this, they ended up walking together at an appropriate distance, like taking a stroll.

Whether she knew this or not, El was doing her best to walk without being discovered by him.

“Miss, is it alright to keep following him like this? It seems quite rude.”

“I know, but I missed the moment to approach him. What should I do?”

Jane, thinking that the distance between them and Rapellian had somehow strangely decreased, whispered even more softly and quietly.

“Hmm…… I’m not sure. I’m hesitant too.”

Since Rapellian effectively ruled the ducal residence in place of Michaela, who spent much of her time in the capital, he was a more intimidating figure to the mansion’s servants than Duchess Michaela herself.

“And I still haven’t completed the mission given by the Duchess…… Coming forward now wouldn’t be a disturbance.”

The whispering voices constantly tickled his ears.

‘So it was because of Sister after all.’

Rapellian wondered what Michaela was plotting as he entered the rear garden even more slowly than before.

Following hurriedly behind him, Jane and El whispered.

“Wi-will we get scolded…… Ah!”

El was looking at Jane while asking and didn’t watch where she was going, causing her to misstep.

El instinctively covered her mouth in surprise at the short exclamation that escaped and quickly hid behind a boxwood bush.

Jane, who had been walking with her, was also startled and crouched down behind the boxwood, hunching her body.

“Sh-shoe.”

“Ah.”

Though they had hidden their bodies, a small shoe and handkerchief had fallen in the middle of the path between the boxwood bushes. Because the shoes were a bit big for El’s feet, she had stuffed them with handkerchiefs, and one had come off when she misstepped.

El’s eyes looking at the shoe resembled those of a small herbivore in front of a predator.

El peered through the boxwood at where Rapellian might be with slightly frightened eyes.

‘He’s not there.’

She couldn’t see him.

‘He must have already left the garden.’

El carefully checked her surroundings and then, just in case, lowered her posture considerably and crawled out on all fours.

However, El’s assumption was very wrong.

“If you play hide-and-seek like this, you’ll always end up being ‘it.'”

Just as she stretched out her hand to grab the shoe, a slender leg filled her vision.

El couldn’t grasp the shoe and slowly raised her head.

“Eek!”

Eyes as blue as a summer sky were looking down at her.

El belatedly exclaimed in surprise and plopped down backward.

Rapellian lowered himself to match El’s eye level with an impassive face.

His calm, even nonchalant expression left El no time to feel embarrassed.

“May I hold you?”

“What?”

“To help you up.”

“Yes.”

El, dumbfounded, answered without really understanding what he was saying.

Rapellian helped the seated El to her feet, dusted off the dirt on her dress and coat, and quickly checked if she was injured anywhere.

Fortunately, there didn’t seem to be any wounds, so he calmly said:

“Pants would be more comfortable for playing hide-and-seek.”

He skillfully sat El on his thigh, dusted off the dirt on her small feet, and put the shoe back on. While doing so, he didn’t forget to check if she had twisted her ankle.

El stared at him blankly.

Before leaving the training ground, he had entered a building next to it and seemed to have washed up there.

His hair was damp, and there was a faint scent of soap.

His snow-white skin was moist and had a luscious glow.

El felt her cheeks getting inexplicably warm.

He seemed to have a scent similar to her own.

“There. Try standing.”

“Ah, yes.”

El, who had been distracted by his profile, jumped up and stood on both feet.

Instead of the handkerchief that had fallen to the ground, Rapellian folded his own handkerchief and pushed it into the back of El’s heel.

“We need to get your shoes delivered quickly.”

“They said they’ll arrive soon, very soon.”

“That’s good then. Now, since I found you, is it your turn to be ‘it’?”

“……”

El couldn’t answer right away and mumbled with her lips before turning her head to look at Jane.

She could only smile awkwardly, as there was nothing she could do.

“I’m sorry.”

“I don’t know what you’re sorry for.”

Rapellian continued to pretend not to know as he stood up.

He deliberately stood on El’s right side and extended his hand.

“Shall we go for a short walk?”

El looked up at him and gently grasped his pinky finger.