No Such Knight

"So what you're saying is, you did look into her?"

"…"

"And here I remember what you said when I was digging into Rihard's background."

"All that fuss about giving up on a hopeless crush, and it turns out you were lecturing yourself."

"Are you comparing me to you right now, Your Grace? I was never that bad."

As if. Then how did he explain the flush creeping all the way down his neck? I clicked my tongue and shook my head.

Astar would never come back after all this time just to confess to Noah, which meant Rihard had to be behind this.

Which meant he'd been with Astar this whole while.

The mere thought made irritation rise, and I pressed it down hard, forcing my attention back to the matter at hand.

Let's think this through. Why would Rihard put Astar up to approaching Noah? Unless he was urging her to finally claim the love she'd never won, there had to be a reason.

Could he have known in advance that monsters would appear?

I would have to verify it myself. I'd gotten that far when Noah murmured, as if to himself.

"Honestly, when is she planning to get over me?"

"…Huh?"

He looked so gravely troubled that I'd assumed he was pondering monsters the same as I was. And then he comes out with that? Since when did the conversation swerve over there?

But Noah didn't spare me so much as a glance as he rose from his seat. His stride was perfectly sound, with no trace of the deathbed act he'd been putting on moments before. And where did he go? Straight to the mirror.

There he stood, tilting his face this way and that to inspect the wound above his eyebrow.

Since when had he cared that much about his face?

"I made myself perfectly clear, too. What exactly has she been doing for the past ten years? Does the North not have a single decent man?"

"Hey. I think you might actually like her…?"

"Does this look like liking someone to you?"

"Yep. Desperately."

As he fingered his still-damp hair, the giddy excitement radiating off him was unmistakable.

"And I told her so clearly to forget me."

"Uh-huh. She did seem awfully fond of you still."

I hadn't actually gotten a good look at Astar's face, but I agreed anyway.

"Really?"

"What?"

"Did Astar truly seem that fond of me?"

"Well… I mean, she did pull you out of that monster attack, no?"

"Fair. That's true. Honestly, someone like Astar could meet any number of decent people if she wanted. If she's stayed alone all this time, there's a reason for it. Ha. Truly, I am a man burdened with sin."

"Sure. Sure."

What had Astar looked like again? The memory was hazy and refused to come into focus, but she'd seemed ordinary. Brown hair, brown eyes, and a snap in her voice every time she looked at me… If she liked Noah, why on earth had she hated me?

"And she acts so carefree about it, as if her youth will last forever. From what I hear, she spent ten years without so much as meeting a man, just swinging her sword around."

"That goes double for you… Right… Wait, are you going out?"

"She'll be too worried about me to get anything done. I ought to go tell her I'm perfectly fine."

Then why was he putting on a shirt and a cravat? Why not just pin a flower to his chest while he was at it?

I watched Noah, words and actions running off in opposite directions, with a sour look on my face.

It was Noah who had made me realize my jealousy of Astar had been one big misunderstanding.

The moment Astar, who used to be glued to Rihard's side, laid eyes on Noah, she started trailing after him like a shadow.

It made no sense then, and it made no sense now. Frankly, forced to choose between Rihard and Noah, wouldn't anyone pick Rihard? Who in her right mind would choose that one? Astar either had spectacularly peculiar taste or terribly bad eyesight.

"By the way, Noah."

"Yes?"

Feeling a faint twinge of guilt toward Noah, who was practically glowing, I said it.

"Damon knows about the Embezzled Crown Funds."

Noah whipped around, aghast.

To the look asking whether I was serious, I answered with a glance that said I was.

Now is no time for you to be courting anyone. Put that flower back in its vase.

"I was so certain, and look how this turned out. Embarrassing, really. I underestimated Damon."

"No. No, no, wait a moment. So that bastard knew about the embezzled funds and still went around courting Cortizan?"

Watching Noah's disbelief, I nodded along.

"Where did that man find time to study acting, when he never learned a day of kingcraft?"

I understood. Anyone would think, what kind of lunatic does that? Because that was exactly how I'd felt.

"Tell me about it. He'd have been a sensation if he'd gone into acting."

I wasn't joking. I was genuinely reflecting on my mistakes.

He'd lived his whole life like a dog, so I'd taken him for a genuine bastard. How was I to know he was a madman playing the part of one?

"Huh. And how exactly did you come to learn that?"

I gave Noah a brief account of what had happened at the banquet. He clutched the back of his neck, heaved a sigh, parted his lips as if to say something, then shook his head.

"You're telling me the Grand Duke knows everything about the crown funds being embezzled, and he said he wouldn't make an issue of it?"

"For now."

"Is he actually insane…?"

"Or he has some other reason."

"Insane either way."

"Well, yes."

Noah sank back into thought, brow furrowed. I waited a moment for him to sort through it, then shrugged.

"In any case, we handle the most urgent matter first. Come somewhere with me."

"Does working a cousin to the bone right after he crawled back from death's door really settle your temper?"

And who, exactly, had been preening in front of the mirror just now?

Noah didn't wilt under my reproachful stare. Watching him squirm and burrow into the bed, I honestly couldn't tell whether the man was eight years old or twenty-eight.

"Is that so? Then stay in bed."

"…?"

"If you're sick, you should rest. I'll go to the Winston estate alone. If Astar comes looking for you, I'll tell her the shock of running into that monster left you flat on your back."

"Ah, Your Grace! Your Grace!"

Noah shot upright as if he'd never been ill a day in his life.

I knew it.

He rolled out of bed and sprinted to the door in an instant, planting himself in front of me just as my hand closed on the handle.

"Why on earth are you suddenly going there of all places!"

Seriously, was there a single thing wrong with him? As I eyed my cousin, healthy beyond all reason and brimming with vigor, Noah slyly eased his grip from the door. He didn't forget to pat his own shoulder with a sickly groan, either.

"Is all that groaning going to make a healthy body ache?"

"Aren't you being cruel to a cousin who died and came back to life? I'm telling you, every inch of me aches. You should have seen me running for my life, Your Grace. I ran with everything I had just to survive."

Right. Nearly twenty years with a sword, and instead of fighting back, he'd turned tail and run. I'd heard the story, loud and clear.

"What does Astar even see in you?"

It was a question that had gone unanswered ten years ago, too. Noah squared his shoulders as though he'd never once groaned in pain.

"My face."

What a boast.

Noah remained unashamed beneath my withering look. I hadn't realized he was that confident in his face. I waved a hand vaguely.

"In any case, we secure Astar first. If I want the full story about the monsters, she's a better source than you."

"You're going to drag Astar in? By what means, exactly?"

"Trespassing on my lands."

"You'd make an enemy of the Count over something that petty? And she's a problem after you catch her, too. Where do you plan to keep Astar? Please don't say the underground dungeon that hasn't seen use in a hundred years."

"If you like her that much, confess. Confess."

"Is now really the time? Let's leave her be for the moment and see how things play out."

"An ember only catches when you stir it."

"That's how you end up setting everything ablaze… Your Grace. Ah, Bella!"

I brushed off Noah's outburst behind me. For all his complaining, he was the one who'd wring every last detail about the monsters out of Astar the moment he saw her. All mouth, that one.

Astar.

Calling to mind the only memories I had of her, none of them pleasant, I swallowed a sigh.

First I'd catch her. Then I'd hear her out.

"There is no such knight in Winston."

Of all the outcomes I'd imagined, I hadn't pictured this one. I stared, dumbfounded, at Rihard, who had snapped back into formal address as if our easy familiarity had never existed.

I couldn't believe the man standing before me was the same one who'd been cooing Bella, Bella at me.

"There isn't?"

Hey. Look me in the eye. I met Rihard's gaze head-on and asked him. Could you really lie while looking me in the eye?

Rihard's gaze held mine, steady and unblinking. A faint flicker of amusement passed through his dark red eyes.

"There isn't."

"Pfft."

I shot a glare at Noah, who was laughing without a shred of tact. His face scarlet, he was hiccuping with suppressed giggles.

Ha. So even Belois wasn't on my side. I was lonely enough to die over here. Glaring at Rihard, who still wore that infuriating smile, I gritted my teeth.

So that's how you wanted to play it?