"Uh, hurry and hide!"
Simon stamped his feet nervously and led us to a large box in the corner.
Thud!
Ricardo and I barely tumbled into the box when Simon hastily covered us with an old cloth.
"……!"
My vision went completely dark in an instant. The position was uncomfortable, but the box was so cramped that I couldn’t move, so I just held my breath. Then, Ricardo, who had been strangely stiff, reached around my waist and helped adjust my posture.
"……!"
We were so close that I could feel his breath. I didn't know where to turn my head and ended up resting it against his chest.
Thump, thump.
I heard the pounding of a fierce heartbeat.
"……Do you have a heart condition by any chance?"
Instead of answering, Ricardo pushed my cheek away with his hand as if in resentment.
For some reason, his hand on my cheek felt hot.
Just then, Simon’s voice, which had grown distant, came closer.
"……What brings you all the way here."
"Hmph, your brother said earlier. That he saw you bringing an outsider up the mountain!"
"Oh, we split up a while ago. I'm from Bilpart too, there's no reason I’d think kindly of outsiders."
"Ha, you sure talk smooth! And yet you dare leave the village claiming to become a mage?"
There must have been quite a few people, judging by the varied footsteps.
"My father didn't say anything either, so what right does the chief have to tell me not to leave the village!"
"Tell us the truth. Where are you hiding them?"
"Wow, this is seriously driving me mad! I told you we split up, why won't you believe me!"
Simon shouted in a voice filled with frustration.
"Besides, you know this too, Chief. Just how much I cherish this cave……!"
"Search every corner."
But ignoring Simon’s words, the chief gave the order. As the sounds of people busily searching around reached us, cold sweat trickled down.
"Hey, hey? Those are all things I found. You can't just handle them like that! If you're going to touch them, at least pay for it!"
Just then, we heard footsteps approaching us.
As Ricardo, still on high alert, reached for his sword—
"Chief, the outsiders are heading north!"
"What? Why there?"
"What does it matter! Didn't something happen last time too? Misfortune brought by outsiders is always the same!"
Simon shouted.
"Go now. You're just wrongly suspecting innocent people."
Thanks to his flawless acting, people began to walk away one by one.
After the commotion passed—
"……Looks like they're all gone."
As I tried to get up, putting strength somewhere, Ricardo visibly flinched.
"That’s……!"
"W-What!"
Startled, I quickly pulled my hand away. Ricardo also flailed.
Crash!
The box eventually tipped over. As we spilled onto the ground, I stared at him in disbelief. Then, a deeply flushed Ricardo huffed angrily.
"Pervert……!"
"W-What did you say?"
He repeated it, as if making sure I understood.
"You, pervert."
"W-What did I even do……!"
Ricardo, looking ashamed, quietly fixed his clothes.
"You did it yesterday too. I should’ve known then."
I opened my mouth in disbelief at his grumbling. Then, finally finding my voice—
"That was……! For treatment!"
"Oh, sure."
"What about you, Duke? You touched my clothes without hesitation……."
At that moment, Ricardo, face red, hurriedly covered my mouth.
"Mmph!"
"Let’s stop this."
Stop what!
I stared silently at Ricardo as I was running out of breath, and he cautiously removed his hand.
I sighed inwardly. Then, a hand suddenly reached out in front of me.
"What are you going to do, holding a pervert’s hand?"
"Looking forward to what comes next."
Ricardo lightly replied and helped me up by the hand. He stared at my face for a moment, then gently pointed to his cheek.
"There's dirt."
"Here?"
As I rubbed my cheek with the back of my hand, Ricardo hesitated.
When I still couldn’t find the spot, he cautiously reached out his bandaged hand. Rubbing my cheek with the clean bandage, he let out a small laugh.
"……."
Embarrassed, I mumbled.
"You could’ve just said so."
"I'm not good at explaining."
I rolled my eyes and quickly turned my head. At some point, it had gotten dark outside the cave.
Feeling uneasy, I approached the entrance and saw storm clouds gathering in the sky.
"Looks like it's going to rain soon."
Ricardo, who followed me out, also furrowed his brow slightly.
Plop……
Raindrops began to fall one by one before we knew it.
As the fine rain gradually thickened—
"……!"
An arrow flew from somewhere. Ricardo urgently reached out to shield me.
In the wind and rain blowing from afar, I smelled the metallic scent of blood. The arm that awkwardly held me trembled slightly. Ricardo looked at me in a panic.
"Are you alright?"
"I-I…"
Unable to continue speaking, I stared at his shoulder with trembling eyes. Ricardo stood up without hesitation.
Meanwhile, the rain had grown stronger.
"Damn it."
I looked at the blood smeared on my hand and hastily grabbed him.
Only then did Ricardo seem to notice the arrow lodged in his shoulder. He frowned and pulled it out without hesitation.
"Why would you…!"
I let out a shrill cry.
"Do you not want to use your shoulder anymore? Why would you pull it out!"
Was there medicine inside the cave?
No, there had to be!
As I frantically searched for medicine, I noticed something odd about Ricardo.
Come to think of it, his face had been red for a while.
I approached him and placed my hand on his forehead.
It was as hot as my hand.
"You even have a fever now!"
"I'm fine."
"Since when have you been like this?"
"……."
"Come to think of it, even the first day we met, you looked strangely dazed."
At my words, Ricardo blinked slowly, as if surprised.
"Don't tell me you've been sick since then?"
"……Were you watching me?"
"Excuse me?"
"Why?"
I was the one asking the questions, but somehow I had been led along by him.
"Because, you're not someone easily seen."
"……."
"And is that what matters right now?"
I shut my eyes tight in frustration.
"Why did you come all this way in such a condition?"
"Because I wanted to."
"Even though you don’t understand your own condition? That’s just stubbornness. And it’s not like you even get treated on time……!"
Do you think I’ll be thankful just because you went this far?
Even if you become the scapegoat of high society in my place, I’m a selfish person who doesn’t know how to be grateful.
What can you expect from someone who hurt you for no reason, who found relief just from thinking you looked fine?
Then Ricardo replied quietly.
"I know. It’s stubbornness."
A slight twitch appeared around his eyes.
"I know it would make you uncomfortable too……."
"……."
"I figured, since I’ve already chosen to be hated, I might as well do this much."
I clenched my fists tightly.
"I don’t know what you're talking about. I’ll go look for medicine."
As I stood up, Ricardo grabbed my hand.
"Stop the act, Bianca."
"……!"
He roughly pulled off my ring.
The ring that fell rolled across the floor.
Pink hair spilled over his body. He let out a bitter smile.
"Just when, exactly……."
A flustered voice escaped me.
Then he exhaled the words like a sigh, as if blaming me.
"I… about you……."
Ricardo carefully took the ends of my hair.
"……How could I not recognize you?"