Come and Cry at My Funeral - Chapter 47
The moonlight cast a pale glow on the skin of the sleeping woman. As Izar brushed away the fleeting strands of hair that had fallen across her face, he recalled the impulse he had felt before going to bed.
‘I hadn’t intended to check the wounds.’
He had originally planned to berate her for laughing foolishly at something Albireo Deneb had said.
‘But instead of uttering that name, I’d rather bite off my tongue.’
Then, he thought it better to leave this place as soon as possible.
‘Naturally, that meant checking the wounds…’
The problem was that he hadn’t anticipated the atmosphere that would follow.
Nor did he expect to learn about things he had never cared about in his life.
The feeling of another’s skin under his fingers, how those small lips quivered with tension, how hot a breath could get.
And how the shepherdess’s eyes looked under the lamp light…
‘Stop it.’
A word came to mind, but Izar shook his head, denying it.
Yet, his fingers kept moving towards her closed eyelids, almost touching, leaving only a hair’s breadth of distance.
He wanted to see her eyes open, but he had no intention of waking her up forcefully.
‘…That man said that the shepherdess harbored affection for me, but.’
Whether he believed those words was another matter.
<Don’t be deceived, Izar.>
<Better to be the betrayer than the betrayed.>
The admonitions his father had drilled into him for five long years, after being made a fool by a woman, echoed in his ears.
Thus, Izar would never trust such emotions.
Even if someone were to present him with evidence saying, ‘This is love,’ Izar would continue to harbor doubts.
<She’s lovely and interesting because of her pure love.>
But were the shepherdess’s feelings so obvious, even to others?
“Hah.”
Izar roughly brushed back his bangs.
He disliked becoming flustered in this way, and he already detested the very beginning of such emotions.
‘Sleep is impossible tonight.’
Izar left the bed first.
Dawn was breaking soon anyway.
Perhaps by sunrise, this foolish turmoil would dissipate along with the sunlight.
* * *
At daybreak, Izar once again left to discuss monster subjugation with the Deneb family.
Meanwhile, Freesia remained dazed all morning.
The heat of the previous night lingered in her memory.
‘I’ll never let him touch my wounds again.’
If her face kept flushing like this, she would make sure to arrange for separate rooms when they went to the capital.
…But then, the weather did actually start to get a bit warmer.
Freesia found herself absentmindedly fidgeting with her sleeve several times.
If only etiquette allowed, she would have liked to roll it up…
‘It’s strange. In Arcturus territory, wearing such clothes at this time would have left me cool enough.’
Just as she wondered if she had packed the wrong clothes, the Marchioness quickly noticed Freesia’s discomfort.
“Lady, are you uncomfortable because of the weather? It gets warmer here a bit earlier than in Arcturus territory.”
“Ah… I should have checked when packing, my mistake.”
“Haha, don’t worry about it. We can lend you something. We have plenty of summer dresses.”
“Truly?”
Freesia’s eyes widened in surprise at the Marchioness’s easygoing response. Lend her something?
“We have clothes stored here from my daughter who got married. Since you’re about the same size, please feel free to wear them.”
“Ah…”
“Days like today suddenly become hotter around noon, so it’s better to wear something light.”
Freesia broke out in a cold sweat internally.
Was this genuine kindness?
Or an extension of the subtle harassment she had endured for three years?
There had been many times when they recommended something outdated, and everyone laughed in front of her.
‘But the lady of the house is offering so kindly.’
After all, she had nearly cracked her son’s skull with a stone.
This time, Freesia resolved to keep her mouth shut, regardless of what she was dressed in.
…However, the Marchioness and her maids took great pleasure in dressing up Freesia, and she ended up being dragged out to bid farewell to Izar’s party in their final choice.
* * *
How much more comfortable it would have been if this was really Arcturus territory.
Izar chewed over this thought again before departing, a thought he had several times before.
‘I would have just left without having to receive any farewells.’
But this land belonged to the Deneb family, and visitors had to follow the customs of their hosts. And, damn it, the Marquis and Marchioness insisted on a lengthy farewell before departure.
Damn it.
‘It’s for the sake of leaving the shepherdess behind, yet it’s all for nothing.’
When he saw the women who came out to bid them farewell…
Izar paused at the sight of the shepherdess.
