OLOTV 20

Chapter 20

I hadn’t expected to say goodbye to the world like this. My final end, being trampled by a horse after possessing a romance novel? But contrary to my expectation of imminent impact, I felt no pain. Had I been killed instantly, unable to even register the hurt? Entertaining that absurd thought, I opened my tightly shut eyes.

Keris, who had arrived at some point, had leaped onto the horse’s back and was calming the frantic animal. Aron, who had followed, was visible, shouting at Keris in surprise.

“My Lord!”

Of course, he hadn’t forgotten about me, either. I was helped up by Aron, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away from Keris. The horse was out of its mind. What if Keris got seriously hurt because of this? But surprisingly, Keris was gradually calming the horse. At least, that’s how it looked to my untrained eyes. I didn’t know enough about horses to be sure if it was truly calming down or not.

Soon after, the horse did indeed calm down and became docile. It even obediently followed Keris’s guidance and came over to where we were.

Keris dismounted the now-calm horse and approached me, asking.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

At his words, I looked down at my hands. They were slightly scraped from the fall, but it was minor, nothing serious. I nodded to Keris.

“Yes, thanks to you, I’m fine.”

But Keris seemed concerned even about the small scrapes. He took my hand himself and began examining it carefully. Flustered and unsure what to do, I quickly said.

“I’m really fine. It’s just a tiny wound.”

“Even so, let’s get it treated when we return.”

Meanwhile, Aron, who had been checking the horse’s condition, muttered in a surprised voice.

“The horse has calmed down?”

At Aron’s muttering, Keris and I turned to look at him almost simultaneously. Aron left the horse and came back to us. The horse remained docile even as Aron moved away.

“How on earth did you do that?”

For a moment, I thought he was asking me what I had done, but fortunately, he seemed to be addressing Keris. Keris replied coldly.

“Do what?”

It was obvious he was asking how he’d calmed the horse. I looked up at Keris, who was acting as if he had no idea, with a sense of disbelief. Aron pressed on.

“The horse! How did you make it become so docile all of a sudden?”

From the way he spoke, it seemed the horse’s calmness wasn’t just in my eyes.

“…It’s only calm for a very short while. It will likely return to its original state soon. You should probably try changing its feed.”

Keris added, looking at the feed bucket I had been holding until a moment ago.

“Its feed?”

“While the feed was likely formulated considering the horse’s nutritional needs, it doesn’t suit this particular horse. Did you recently change the ingredients in the feed?”

At Keris’s words, Aron’s expression turned to shock.

It seemed Keris was right.

“Yes, that’s correct. How did you know? We couldn’t get the original ingredients anymore, so we recently changed the feed. For a while after the change, the horse remained calm, so I didn’t think to connect the two.”

“Then it’s better to try a different feed after all.”

The look in Aron’s eyes when he gazed at Keris had taken on a hue of respect. I felt the same. I knew Keris was excellent in many areas, but I never imagined he’d have knowledge about horse breeding, too.

“I never thought you’d be so knowledgeable about raising horses. That’s impressive.”

Keris slightly averted his eyes from Aron’s gaze as he replied.

“I’m not an expert. I’ve just seen a horse in this state before.”

Aron was busy praising Keris, saying it was still impressive. It was hard to believe this was the same Aron who had been looking at Keris with disfavor just moments ago.

With the issue resolved, we prepared to leave the stables. Aron hurried over to us and, saying it was a small token of his gratitude, pressed some food into our hands.

“I hope you’ll visit again. I’d like to discuss various things about horses with you, my Lord.”

As we exited the stables, I smiled at Keris and said.

“It seems Aron has taken a liking to you. That’s great.”

A good outcome is a good outcome. Even if things didn’t go exactly as I’d planned, the result was that Aron had developed a favorable impression of Keris. I could say the first step of the ‘Increase Keris’s Favorability Project’ had been successfully taken.

“And you’re this cheerful after getting hurt?”

“Well, it’s because you’ve won someone over. By the way, how did you really know about the horse?”

“Horses are a basic part of a noble’s education. And I saw an identical case when I was young. Back then, my father… showed me how to mount the horse and calm it down.”

“So you copied what you saw?”

“I was formally taught, too. My father and I got along back then. Let’s stop this talk and head back to the mansion. It’s gotten very late.”

I wondered if it was okay, bringing up his father. As expected, Keris openly avoided talking about his father. Was it that uncomfortable for him? Anyway, I didn’t want to ruin his mood by pressing the issue. I nodded casually and replied.

“You’re right, we should head back. We need to do something about the… manure smell on you, too.”

Of course, it wasn’t an overwhelmingly bad smell. I’d just said it to tease him, but Keris flinched at my words, furrowing one side of his brow as he retorted.

“It smells?”

“It’s a joke. It doesn’t smell that bad.”

“…That means it does smell.”

“Well, yes. Don’t you smell anything, Keris?”

“……”

They say smell is the most sensitive yet easily dulled of the senses. While it wasn’t overpowering, it wasn’t like there was no smell at all. It seemed Keris couldn’t smell anything. I reassured him, saying it was okay and that it really wasn’t severe.

Now that I thought about it, it had happened so naturally I hadn’t noticed. At some point, I’d become comfortable enough with Keris to play these mischievous pranks on him. To be honest, although I didn’t show it, suddenly living in an unfamiliar place had been a bit hard. But without realizing it, I’d become comfortable enough to interact with Keris like this.

‘Was it thanks to Keris’s careful attention?’

Smiling faintly at that thought as we walked back to the mansion, I suddenly noticed a young child glancing at us before quickly running ahead. The stables were in such a remote location that we were now in the middle of the forest. I found it strange that a child would be here in this forest, especially as the sun was setting, and I muttered without thinking.

“Who is that child, and why are they alone in a place like this?”

Keris answered immediately.

“It’s one of the children living in the territory. Probably playing alone in the forest.”

“You remember the faces of all the territory residents? There must be more than a few.”

At my words, Keris shook his head.

“I just distinguish unfamiliar faces. And there aren’t that many children in this village anyway.”

Even if there weren’t many, being able to tell if a child was from the village or not was impressive. I was amazed anew by Keris’s memory.

Regardless, I thought it was dangerous for a child to be playing alone in the forest at this late hour. Thinking we should send them home, I approached the child, who was circling near us.

“Hello? Where do you live? It’s getting dark; is it okay for you to be wandering alone?”

I thought I’d used the softest tone possible. But the child’s reaction was something I never expected.

For some reason, the child, who had been looking at me with wary eyes, suddenly answered in a very angry tone.