RTT-03

Chapter 3

“What? What are you talking about? We can’t get through?”

With an expression that said the situation was utterly absurd, Isis roughly shoved open the small hatch leading to the driver’s seat.

The coachman’s flustered voice came through.

“W-Well, Young Master… it seems the carriage ahead has gotten one of its wheels stuck in a puddle, and it’s blocking the road.”

“What? What kind of nonsense is that? We’re already running out of time! Tell them to get it out immediately!”

“Um… the ground is muddy because of the weather, so it doesn’t look like it’ll be easy to pull it free.”

“Then go around it!”

“The road is too narrow. I don’t think there’s enough room to pass.”

“Haah. Unbelievable.”

They couldn’t do this, they couldn’t do that.

Eventually losing his temper at the coachman’s endless stream of impossibilities, Isis flung open the carriage door.

He was just about to jump outside when—

“Ugh! Wh-What the…?”

Startled by something, Isis froze halfway out and stumbled backward.

“You really don’t listen, do you, Young Master? I said you can’t get through.”

A very tall man stood directly in front of the open carriage door.

Isis was startled by the stranger’s sudden appearance, but only for a moment.

His brows soon shot up fiercely, and his sharp violet eyes swept the man from head to toe.

Perhaps because of the damp mist filling the forest, the man had pulled the hood of his robe low over his head.

Only the line of his mouth was visible, making it difficult to see his face.

However, judging by the Imperial Palace entry pass attached to his robe, he also seemed to be on his way to the banquet.

Judging by his clothes, he must be the son of some insignificant family.

Just as Isis narrowed his eyes in an attempt to get a better look at the man’s face, the carriage began to shift.

Clunk.

With another jolt, the carriage tilted to one side.

The coachman’s urgent voice immediately rang out again.

“Y-Young Master! I think one of our wheels is stuck too!”

As luck would have it, the carriage carrying Isis and Litricia appeared to have stopped over a depression in the ground as well.

“Damn it…! What were you doing if you can’t even handle the reins properly? Hey, you! Stop blocking the door and move!”

Wanting to deal with the urgent situation first, Isis shoved past the robed man and jumped out of the carriage.

But even then, Litricia remained frozen in her seat.

She desperately wanted to escape this cramped, boxlike space.

The outside air coming through the open door was helping her breathe a little easier, but her startled muscles had gone rigid and refused to obey her.

“Aren’t you getting out?”

Then the mysterious robed man’s voice came from beside her.

Apparently, he had yet to leave the carriage door.

“I’ll… I’ll get out in a moment. Please don’t worry about me.”

“If you stay seated, your weight will only make the carriage sink deeper.”

Along with his low, almost languid voice, a large hand appeared before Litricia.

“Take my hand and come out.”

“…Then, just a moment—!”

Litricia was about to reach for the offered hand when she noticed how badly her own was trembling and tried to pull it back.

But the man was faster.

He caught her hand in his.

Unlike his cool voice, his large hand was surprisingly warm.

Perhaps that was why.

When their palms met and his long fingers closed securely around the back of her hand, her trembling seemed to ease slightly.

“Come out slowly. There’s no need to rush.”

“…Thank you.”

With the stranger’s help, Litricia managed to step down from the carriage and looked around.

The thick fog made it difficult to see clearly, but just as the coachman had said, a carriage stood farther ahead with its body tilted to one side.

Behind it was another pitch-black carriage.

Apparently, those carriages had attempted to pass through this road before the one carrying Litricia and Isis and had ended up in their current state.

“The Imperial Palace is practically right there… Then what are we supposed to do about this…?!”

Listening to Isis’s shouts drifting over from nearby, Litricia pulled the container of sedatives from inside her sleeve.

The moment the stranger’s large, warm hand disappeared from hers, her fingertips had begun trembling miserably again.

If Isis saw her like this, there was no telling what he would say.

She had to regain control of herself before he returned.

But…

Click. Click.

Because of her trembling, her fingers kept slipping around the lid of the flat container.

When she finally managed to open it—

“If I were you, I wouldn’t take that.”

The robed man covered the open medicine container with his hand.

“Those are sedatives, aren’t they?”

Then he suddenly leaned closer, bringing himself near enough that she could feel his breath.

He tilted his head as though checking something, and the cool, refreshing scent coming from him mingled with the bitter aroma of the sedatives.

“You’ve already taken a sedative, haven’t you?”

“How did you know…?”

“Sedatives made from pephra herb leave behind a distinctive scent for a while after they’re taken.”

Apparently, that was why he had leaned closer.

Once he had confirmed it, the man straightened again.

In the process, the hood covering his face slipped back slightly.

…Blue eyes?

For an instant, Litricia found herself drawn to the vivid blue gleam within the sharp eyes revealed beneath the shadow of his hood.

But the man quickly pulled the hood low again.

Then, somehow having taken the medicine container from her without her even noticing, he closed its lid.

“It doesn’t seem like it’s been long since you took the last dose, yet you were about to take another. Didn’t the physician who prescribed these explain the dosage to you?”

His voice had dropped even lower than before.

For some reason, there was now a sharp edge to it.

Piril’s face immediately came to mind, along with his repeated warnings that she absolutely must follow the prescribed dosage.

Litricia shook her head.

“That’s not it. So please give them back now.”

“If I do, are you going to take another one?”

What a strange man.

Yes, sedatives could have side effects, but taking another dose immediately wasn’t going to kill her.

And even if it did cause a problem, it would be Litricia’s body that suffered, not his.

Why was this complete stranger interfering?

There really are more people like Allen and Piril in the world.

Swallowing a sigh, Litricia reached toward the medicine container in his hand.

“I’ll take care of it myself.”

“…”

Contrary to his stubborn attitude, the man surprisingly loosened his grip without much resistance.

Litricia thought that would be the end of it.

But then he rummaged through his clothes and gestured toward her.

“Open your hand.”

“…?”

“I’m not going to do anything strange, so stop looking at me so suspiciously.”

Almost without thinking, Litricia held out her hand.

She stared curiously at the candy-like object he placed in the hollow of her palm.

“What… is this?”

“That should work better than the sedative.”

The little object rolled across her palm, and Litricia instinctively curled her fingers around it.

…I hate sweets.

A faint vertical crease appeared between her brows as she imagined the cloying sweetness sticking to the inside of her mouth.

As though he had read her mind, the man added a short explanation.

“It looks like candy, but it isn’t sweet. So don’t worry. Take it. Your face looks terrible right now.”

Then, as if to prove that whatever he had given her was harmless, he tossed another piece into his own mouth.

“…”

Litricia’s gaze slowly dropped.

Her eyes moved between the container of sedatives and the white candy the man had given her.

After a moment, she followed his example and placed the white piece into her mouth.

For a brief instant, caution surfaced.

Should I really eat something handed to me by a man whose name and identity I don’t even know?

But the thought soon faded.

What did it matter anymore?

She didn’t have much time left anyway.

At worst, that small handful of remaining time would simply become a little shorter.

Half resigned, Litricia rolled the candy across her tongue.

Then her eyes gradually widened.

“What is this…?”

Just as the man had said, it wasn’t sweet at all.

Instead, as it melted in the warmth of her mouth, it released a cool, crisp fragrance.

And perhaps because of that scent, the trembling in her hands began to subside noticeably.

Litricia blinked in astonishment at how quickly it worked.

Just then, Isis, apparently having finished assessing the situation, approached them.

“Excuse me!”

Judging by his furious voice as he addressed the man standing beside Litricia, the situation ahead was clearly not improving.

“Are you the owner of that carriage stuck up there? What are you going to do about this?”

“What do you mean, what am I going to do?”

“Ha! Are you seriously asking because you don’t know?”

A vein bulged on Isis’s forehead at the man’s utterly indifferent response.

“Because your carriage is stuck in the middle of the road, neither I nor any of these people can move. Shouldn’t you at least be doing something? Instead, you’re standing around here wasting time. If we end up trapped here and arrive late to the banquet, are you going to take responsibility?”

“Hmm. Responsibility.”

Still completely at ease, the man slowly repeated Isis’s words and turned his head.

Isis’s face twisted.

Then, suddenly realizing that the stranger had been speaking down to him this entire time, Isis strode forward.

“What family are you from that you dare speak to me so casually? Judging by your clothes, you look like the son of some insignificant provincial lord. Do you have any idea who I am?”

“Ha.”

At Isis’s demand to know his identity, the man’s lips twisted.

He casually rummaged through his clothes, pulled out something that could prove who he was, and tossed it toward Isis.

Isis somehow managed to catch it.

His brows furrowed as he examined the object.

Then, in an instant, they shot upward in visible shock.

“What…?”

He stared at the man.

“Why are you here…?”