The Arrow of Destiny Cuts Through the Night

#18

Rattle-

A tray with a meal for one person slid quickly across the floor of the annex corridor. The voice of a woman in a snow-white maid’s uniform holding the handle could be heard humming cheerfully. It was Helen, who worked in the main building.

A knight standing guard in front of a room suddenly straightened his back and called out her name.

“Helen! Long time no see.”

“Hm? Ah.”

It’s Nathan.

The woman in the maid’s uniform immediately lifted her head and smiled brightly.

“So you’re in charge here!”

Seeing Helen’s smile, Nathan grinned widely in his knight’s uniform. It was a foolish expression.

The moment Nathan saw Helen, he completely forgot about grumbling when his turn to watch the elf had come.

“Good morning.”

“Good morning to you too, Nathan.”

“You must be tired, bringing meals from the main building here every time. Isn’t it hard?”

Nathan leaned his uninjured arm against the wall, smiling slyly. As always, he was flirting with Helen. But Helen, seemingly used to this situation, replied with a slight smile.

“Not at all, it’s my job. How’s your broken arm?”

Nathan’s expression immediately soured.

After that night, Nathan had made excuses to others that he had simply fallen down the stairs and broken his arm. Thinking about it later, he realized that falling and breaking an arm alone was quite embarrassing.

“…It’s just broken, you don’t need to worry about it.”

What a stupid excuse I made.

Haha, Nathan cursed his past self with a laughing face.

“But it must be inconvenient. It must have hurt.”

Helen is so kind-hearted. Nathan grinned again. As Helen looked sympathetically at the arm in a splint, Nathan’s self-reproach seemed to melt away. Yeah, it’s not so bad to have someone care like this.

“It does hurt a bit…”

Nathan nodded with a foolish face. There wouldn’t be a single idiot on the continent who would dislike having someone they like show concern.

Helen, who had brushed past the dazed Nathan, checked the door and made a sad face.

“Ah, they didn’t eat yesterday either…”

She was saddened to see the dishes left untouched from yesterday. That bastard. Nathan cursed the elf inside the room and approached Helen.

“Helen, it’s okay. That guest doesn’t eat much normally.”

“They haven’t eaten any of the meals I’ve brought for a week? How can anyone be okay like that?”

Helen said, clenching her small hands.

Despite appearances, Helen was very dedicated to her job as a maid.

Elves are usually like that.

But he couldn’t answer Helen like this.

Nathan wiped the sweat from the back of his neck and waved his palms.

“Ah, well, that guest has separate meal arrangements every day. You don’t need to worry.”

Helen’s eyes immediately widened.

“Separate meal arrangements? Do they eat outside the castle? I haven’t heard about any new guests in the main building.”

“…”

Damn, I’ve never been good at making plausible excuses.

Haha, only one corner of Nathan’s mouth twitched upward.

“Y-yeah.”

“So they eat outside. Who is it?”

“I don’t know. I’m just following orders to guard this place.”

“Really? People in the kitchen were saying that Marquis Gerold’s guest is staying in this annex without the Marquis’s permission.”

“They’re talking nonsense! That’s not true.”

“People were even saying… that it’s Young Master Jersian Gerold’s secret guest. Is this nonsense too?”

Helen whispered, covering her mouth with her palm.

Huh? Nathan stared blankly at Helen’s bright expression and unconsciously made a strange face. Immediately, Helen’s face lit up.

“Really? Young Master has never had a guest before. Who is it? Hm?”

Young Master Jersian had said to keep the identity of the guest inside a secret.

I’m done for.

“…Huh? Ah, I. I never said it was Young Master’s guest. It’s not. It’s not! I don’t know who the guest inside is. Helen, I really don’t know.”

I don’t know.

Nathan shook his head quickly from side to side, belatedly denying it. But Helen, who had honed her perceptiveness working as a maid for the Gerold Marquis family for a long time, smiled meaningfully with a “Hmm.” It meant she had figured it all out even without Nathan saying anything.

“So Young Master Jersian did tell you to keep it a secret.”

“…”

Nathan kept his mouth shut. He finally realized that staying silent would have been better. But it was already far too late.

“Anyway, I’ll change the meal and go. So they can eat right away if needed.”

Helen took out a covered plate from the trolley she had brought and swapped it with the cold food in front of the room door.

Nathan watched with a stiff face, his hands behind his back. He felt dizzy imagining the scolding he would get from the Knight Commander later.

Clatter, click. The sound of neatly arranging the dishes filled the space between them.

After carefully placing yesterday’s plate inside the trolley, Helen said “Well then” and swiftly left for the main building.

Huh, huh?

Watching Helen’s retreating figure without giving him time to salvage the situation, Nathan muttered without confidence.

“…Did I make a mistake?”

Damn it.

He rubbed the back of his neck with his uninjured hand. For some reason, his broken arm, which had been fine until just now, started to throb.

“Haah-“

Helen won’t talk about this elsewhere. Probably.

Thud! Nathan, losing strength, sighed and leaned against the door.

That’s when it happened.

“Yes, you made a mistake.”

A voice came from inside the room.

Aaagh! Nathan was startled and pulled away from the door. It was as if a ghost had suddenly appeared. Nathan turned his back and muttered, covering his mouth with his palm so others couldn’t see.

“…Um, could you hear everything in there?”

“Of course. Weren’t you talking in front of the door for me to hear?”

Kain Starchis answered in a nonchalant voice from inside the room. Nathan replied with a sad face.

“There’s no way…”

The elf’s voice inside the room grew louder. He seemed to have walked to the door.

“That’s not important. Anyway, that woman who just came and left, have you known her for a long time? Do you like her?”

What?

Nathan’s face turned bright red.

“Why are you suddenly asking such a question?”

“If so, I feel a bit sorry for you. You were completely used by that woman.”

What? Used?

Nathan, who had been listening intently to the elf inside the room, frowned deeply.

“What do you mean?”

“That woman, Helen, she was lying.”

“…!”

Nathan’s eyes widened.

“She knew I was here because of Jersian’s intentions even before hearing your words.”

“Th-that’s impossible! That’s a fact only known to our knights and Young Master Jersian in this continent right now.”

Nathan exclaimed. But Kain inside the room replied in an indifferent voice.

“But she did.”

She lied.

According to legend, elves only speak the truth. And they are incredibly good at detecting lies from others. I had read that in a fairy tale book. But that was a fairy tale book… Is it true?

“…”

Did Helen really…? Why would she lie to me?

Nathan’s pupils trembled slightly.

“Will Jersian be in a very difficult position if it becomes known that I’m here?”

At Kain’s calm voice, Nathan spoke urgently.

“That… that’s quite complicated.”

Where should I start explaining…?

In fact, Nathan was more of a person who acted first rather than using his head. He anxiously paced back and forth, touching his fingertips to his mouth.

“What should I do? First, I should quickly go to Young Master Jersian and-“

That’s when it happened.

Someone’s voice cut in.

“Come to me, and then?”

Black hair and red eyes. The one who interrupted Nathan’s words was Jersian, the youngest son of Marquis Gerold.

Suddenly facing the master of the knights, Nathan froze in tension.