The man asked without the slightest hesitation. The way he acted without even considering being refused almost made me think for a second, Wait, had we already said yes?

He let go of the reins and greeted us politely. “Hihihiin!” The horse snorted and shook its head. Dust rose into the air. His ordinary dark brown hair looked exactly the same color as the horse’s mane.

“Easy.”

After soothing the horse, the man smiled while meeting every single one of our eyes—Brother Temar’s, Luman’s, and mine.

Luman and Brother Temar exchanged glances.

“......”

“......”

“My party is very tired. It’s hard to find another place. Would it be possible for us to rest here for a little while?”

“Go find somewhere else. There’s plenty of land, so why does it have to be here? We’ve got a carriage too, so it’s cramped for us.”

Holding my hands out toward the campfire, I answered sulkily.

Go look somewhere else.

“I’m sorry. My little brother has terrible manners.”

Brother Temar had been frowning warily, but his expression softened.

“Brother! You said you shouldn’t just casually share camp with strangers.”

Was he sick with some disease where he’d die if he didn’t show kindness?

Huff, huff. I wanted to yell it, but held it in.

If only I wasn’t coughing!

Phlegm kept bubbling up in my throat and I felt like I was about to cough again. I had to keep regulating my breathing so I wouldn’t start, which made it hard to talk for long. While I cleared my throat, going ahem ahem, the man looked apologetic.

“No, that’s understandable. I’m truly sorry. But couldn’t something be worked out?”

Brother glanced at me, then shook his head.

“I don’t think that’ll be possible.”

What? What’s with Brother?

For just a second, it looked like the man’s expression had stiffened very slightly, but it vanished so completely it was like I’d imagined it.

Still wearing an awkward smile, he asked again if something couldn’t be done and slowly stepped closer.

The one who blocked him was Luman.

“Sorry, but no. Weren’t we perfectly clear?”

Luman’s smile was no less impressive!

When he refused him gently with that ridiculously beautiful face, the man’s smile deepened even more.

As he came closer, the firelight stained his face red, and now that I saw him properly, there was a long scar slashing across his cheek.

It looked old already, but the fact that it still showed so clearly meant it must’ve been a pretty deep wound.

Was it because of that easygoing voice and manner? How had I not noticed that huge scar before?

“Ah, this... it’s quite an old scar. Is it frightening? I’m sorry. I forgot to cover my face.”

“Uh... no, it’s not that...”

Crap. I messed up. I stared way too hard. That was seriously rude!

I started to get up and apologize, but Luman pressed down on my shoulder.

“He’s the sort of kid who looks people in the eye.”

“Uh...”

I tried to say something, but Luman tightened the hand on my shoulder like he was telling me to stay still.

No, more importantly, I’m not young enough to be called a kid, okay?!

I can do a grown person’s share too! I’ll prove it, just you watch....

The man, still touching his cheek, smiled and asked, “Is that so?”

What kind of person asking a favor looked that relaxed? I glared at him crookedly for no reason.

“Couldn’t something be worked out?”

How many times did we have to say no?

Luman was already making me uncomfortable enough. I really didn’t want some stranger forcing his way in on top of that!

The man kept asking over and over like a leech, but for all the desperation in his voice, he didn’t actually look that pressed. Whenever I got the chance, I checked Brother’s expression. Luman was the one dealing with the man’s friendly, easygoing persistence. Brother kept looking away, like he didn’t have the confidence to go on refusing him to his face—and then our eyes met!

I was so absurdly proud and happy that Brother was doing something difficult for my sake. (It was for my sake, right? Even if it wasn’t, it was!) It showed all over his face how uncomfortable he was, but he was enduring it for me! My chest swelled up. Brother, for my sake! Brother had definitely changed! I got so excited I felt like I might start snorting.

But Brother still looked uncomfortable. His thick eyebrows twitched. Watching him, the words slipped out of me before I could stop them.

“Tch. Figures a hero would be like this....”

What? What are you looking at? The man looked at me. Did he hear me muttering? No way his hearing was that good. I glared at him. Heh heh. Maybe he got intimidated, because he turned his eyes away like he hadn’t seen anything.

Hey, mister! Hurry up and leave already! Stop making my brother uncomfortable!

Hehe. An inconvenience he was enduring for me!

That man might be more stubborn than he looked, so I figured I should drag Brother away from here. I was just about to grab his arm and suggest we go get some water or something, when the man suddenly seized Luman’s hand. This time even his face had changed, like it’d be a disaster if he didn’t help.

“Brother, let’s—”

“It’s just that we’re in a truly difficult situation. I know this is rude, but could you really not make an exception? There’s a young girl in the carriage. If we keep going like this, she may grow exhausted and collapse. If it weren’t for the child, I never would have made a request like this.”

No, why was he suddenly pushing harder?! Wasn’t he about to give up?!

I just stared at him, dumbfounded. Surely Brother wasn’t going to fall for that, right?!

“A young child, you say?”

But Brother Temar reacted immediately....

“A young girl, to be exact.”

Luman’s voice was lukewarm.

The kind of voice that said, What does that have to do with us? Nice one, Luman!

“Achoo!”

“We don’t prefer taking in unfamiliar groups. There’s no particular ‘benefit’ in it for us, is there? Sorry to say, but I absolutely hate that sort of thing.... Since our boy here was rude, I’ll at least send you off with some dry firewood. That should do, yes?”

Then Luman swept armfuls of wood into a big sack.

Wow... so a refusal was still a refusal, huh?! Before the man even had time to answer, Luman kept shoveling more and more in, then lightly hoisted the sack and strode right over to him.

“This should be enough.”

The beautiful man and the easygoing man exchanged smiles.

Wow! What a defense. Luman, I might actually like you a little.

“......Ha ha.... So I suppose there’s really no helping it? Since it’s night, if we lose the road... our lady....”

“Achoo! Achoo!”

The man kept talking while watching me. My mouth itched to tell him there was no point staring ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) at me. I was absolutely against sharing camp!

“Aaachoo!”

Ugh... snot. I wiped it off with my hand and rubbed it into the dirt, and then... my eyes met Brother’s.

God, that’s embarrassing.

I looked away, and this time my eyes met Luman’s.

S-so what if my nose is running a little! S-so what if I wiped it on the ground!!

I carefully avoided Luman’s gaze too and looked over at the carriage instead.

But who was inside? You’d think they’d at least peek outside because they were curious, but there wasn’t the slightest sign of movement from inside the carriage.

“Couldn’t something really be worked out?”

The man asked in a tone like if he got turned down one more time, he’d give up neatly. —Though he’d already been stubborn enough.— He’d seemed like he would leave after being refused once or twice, so why was he clinging like a leech now?

Yeah!! Since something can’t be worked out, please just leave! Sorry I stared so hard, but I really hate sharing space with strangers, okay? Brother! Hurry up and refuse him! That guy’s seriously persistent too. We said no! Just go already.

“...Yes.”

“Whew. Yes. Understood. I’m very sorry for making such an unreasonable request.”

The man bowed his head again like before, then turned his back to take hold of the horse’s reins.

Then, as if he’d suddenly remembered something, he let out an “Ah!” and turned around.

Still smiling, he glanced at me, then looked at Brother Temar.

“We happen to have cough medicine. Shall I share some with you? I’ll also leave you some warm soup. Our lady doesn’t like soup, you see. There’s nothing better for a cough.”

“No! A-choo, ngh! I d-don’t need it, a-choo, okay.”

Stupid, tactless cough!

Even when I held my breath and covered my mouth, the cough kept coming. The man smiled softly.

Brother Temar furrowed his brow like he was thinking it over.

“......If only for a little while, then please rest here.”

“...! Would that really be all right?”

The man lit up.

“Thank you! Milady!”

Like Luman, he cut off any chance of argument by thanking us too quickly, then hurried over to the carriage.

Bang!

Before he could even open the door, the carriage door flew open on its own.

It was thrown open so hard that it slammed into the side of the carriage with a thud and then rattled on the rebound.

“Forget it! Who said I wanted to stay badly enough to beg?”

The one who came out after throwing open the door was a woman who looked rude as hell at a glance—(!) no, a rich-looking woman.

She looked too mature to call a little girl, but too young to call a lady.

Her purplish hair was twisted up tightly, and she was wearing an expensive dress. In every possible way, she looked completely out of place with the word camping.

“Ah!”

At my gasp, the girl(?) woman(?) turned a pouty glare on me.

What!? Why are you glaring!? I suddenly got pissed, but my curiosity won out. I settled for frowning once instead of snapping at her and tugged on Luman’s sleeve.

That! Earlier! Right? Lady Gannion!! The lady from the newspaper who’s supposed to inherit that massive fortune, isn’t she??

“Gnnnngh—!”

I obviously couldn’t say it out loud with her right there, so I just made strangled noises.

Thump. Luman set a hand on top of my head like he understood, and his hand was so big his fingers came down all the way to my forehead.

Ugh, gross!

I flinched and slapped it away, and Luman laughed.

“Seriously no manners at all.”