Chapter 42
“Take the pressure off your shoulders and arms. Hold the reins just enough so the horse doesn’t feel uncomfortable, but enough so the head can move freely from side to side.”
His voice, rumbling in the back of his neck, was softer than it had been a moment ago. Rosetta did as she was told, relaxing her grip on the reins. Oddly enough, she could feel Masha relaxing much more.
“Put your feet in the stirrups with the thought that you’re just resting them there.”
This time he bent down and took hold of Rosetta’s heels. Rosetta flinched at the touch on her slender ankle.
“Wait.”
As if to soothe her, Rashid let out a long, slow breath. He waited for Rosetta to release all pressure from her ankle.
“Okay, here we go.”
Pointing forward, he said, “If you want to go forward, you can put a relief on the horse.”
“Relief?”
“It’s a kind of signal, a promise between you and the horse. There are many ways to do it, like kicking your tongue or putting your weight on the horse, but today we’re only going to learn how to put a relief with your leg. Put your leg on the horse’s belly.”
Rosetta did as he said and placed her leg on the horse’s belly. It was warm and soft, as it was the softest part of the body.
“As a beginner, you need to let your horse know that you’re going to give commands like this before you put in the relief. Otherwise, the horse may be startled or confused by the cues. Now give your leg a light kick.”
Rosetta gave a light tap and kick to her leg, and the horse slowly began to walk forward.
“Wow, she is walking……”
She couldn’t help but be impressed. She could barely sit up straight a moment ago, and now she could hardly believe that such a large animal could move under her control.
When Rosetta tried to lean forward, Rashid wrapped one arm around her waist. With his other hand, he held her shoulder straight up.
“Your body should be vertical like this. Yes, this is what I meant when I said your shoulders, pelvis, and heels should be vertical.”
Rosetta nodded. “I think I know what you meant now.”
What had seemed so difficult when he explained it to me, now seemed so easy. If only he had taught me this from the beginning, I wouldn’t have had to raise my voice.
Rashid wrapped his arms around her from behind again, overlapping his hands with hers on the reins.
“What if you want to go left and the horse wants to go right?”
Rosetta tilted her head. “Wouldn’t you have to pull the left rein?”
“No, don’t just pull the left rein, but pull the right rein together to make the horse move forward, like this.”
Rashid put pressure on his left hand. Still holding the right rein, the horse obediently turned to the left.
“Now, this time, you do it yourself.”
He let go of the reins completely. This time, Rosetta pulled on the reins alone. The horse turned in the direction she wanted, just as it had a moment before.
Rosetta smiled and looked at Rashid behind her. “It’s so interesting, as if the horse can read my mind……”
Because of the sudden turn of her head, his face was a little too close to hers. Rosetta’s lips gently grazed the tip of his. Rosetta was startled, and her grip tightened on the reins.
-hee hee hee!
As the reins pulled hard, the horse let out a piercing whinny and lifted its front legs high. Suddenly, the horse surged upward, and Rosetta lost the reins in her hands.
He’d told her to never let go of the reins, but by the time she remembered, she was already plummeting downward.
“Ow!”
Soon after, she hit the ground with a thud.
“Ugh……”
Rosetta grabbed her stiff back first. Strangely, it didn’t hurt much. She’d fallen on the ground, so even if she hadn’t broken any bones, she should be in a lot of pain.
No, I think the ground wasn’t as hard as I thought it was……
“……Rashid?”
Rosetta opened her eyes wide as she realized that she hadn’t just fallen to the ground. Rashid was lying under her. Or, more accurately, he had fallen while carrying her.
“Rashid, are you okay?”
Seeing that his eyes were closed, Rosetta shook his shoulder. She put her ear near his mouth and nose to make sure he was breathing.
She’d heard Allen say once that when a person isn’t breathing due to shock, you should give them artificial respiration.
Fortunately, she could feel his breathing. This time, when she lifted her head to check his heartbeat, she came face to face with a pair of blue eyes.
“Rashid, are you–”
The moment she met those blue eyes so close, she couldn’t speak anymore. The last time she’d seen his eyes this close, she’d just thought they were pretty. She could have picked apart every detail of how and what color they were filled with.
But this time, when she looked into his eyes, she felt her breath catch in her throat. The blue eyes she’d always thought of as mysterious were now pulsing with emotions she couldn’t quite fathom. They were like the ocean she had once seen in a painting, so deep and blue that she had no idea what lay beneath.
His eyes slowly closed. And when he opened them again a moment later, the deep emotion that had filled them a moment ago was gone in an instant.
“I’d like you to move……”
Rosetta jumped to her feet in surprise as he spoke with his normal face.
“I- I’m sorry!”
I wonder how many times I’ve apologized for being sorry. I am most sorry that I let go of the reins and caused him to fall to the ground, even though he had clearly warned me not to let go of the reins earlier.
“Are you okay?”
Rashid nodded. But as he tried to get up, bracing himself on the ground with his right hand, his brow furrowed slightly.
“My God, did you hurt your wrist?”
“No.”
He denied it with a snap, but Rosetta ignored him and walked over to his wrist. From the looks of it, his wrist was fine, but while it might be fine now, it could swell up badly in time.
“I know how to tell if it’s a fracture or ligament damage, but Allen said if you can move it, it’s not a fracture. Let me try to move it.”
He flinched and drew his hand back as Rosetta reached for his wrist with a grip that looked like it could break it at any moment, then furrowed his brow even deeper than before and asked, “Who else is Allen?”
“That’s not what’s important right now.”
“So you don’t remember this one either?”
“Not that I don’t remember. Allen is…… uh, Allen is, like, an old friend of mine.”
Well, that’s another way of saying that he is her escort knight. Allen was the only other person her age who had been by her side since childhood.
But Rashid, uncharacteristically, continued to ramble on.
“When you mean someone like an old friend, do you mean a lover?”
“A lover? Allen and I?”
Rosetta burst out laughing in disbelief. “What kind of nonsense are you talking about, besides, I have a fiancé.”
The moment she said it, Rosetta realized that she hadn’t thought of Iselle in a long time.
Iselle, the man who had been a part of her family since before she was a child, and the man who would be her real family and husband this time around if she made it back to Lysa without incident……
In fact, Rosetta didn’t understand why he had asked her to marry him over so many other women. Of course, she knew she had a pretty good deal as a marriage partner. She might not be as prominent as her brother and sister, but she was still the princess of Lysa, after all, and quite a few noble sons had tried to make their way to her. Of course, they’d be cut off by Arman and Iselle before they even had a chance.
Rosetta had vaguely suspected from a young age that Iselle would one day marry her sister Tanit. It was the custom of royalty and nobility to marry under certain conditions, and in Rosetta’s eyes, the two were very well-suited.
They were the same age and had the same interests. They had heated discussions about political, social, and economic issues, attended classes together, and enjoyed socializing and partying with other nobles.
Rosetta, on the other hand, was never a part of any of it. She could only watch as they moved freely through the palace.
Besides, Iselle is Arman’s best friend, but he communicated better with Tanit than Arman did. This was because Arman had no interest in anything other than swordsmanship.
Even at balls, Tanit and Iselle were the center of attention when they danced. With smiles on their faces, as if they were the perfect pair.
When Rosetta danced with Iselle, on the other hand, most of the reactions were that she was sweet and cute, which wasn’t that different from when she danced with her brother Arman.
So when he presented her with an emerald-encrusted bracelet and formally proposed, Rosetta actually wanted to ask him.
Why me and not Tanit?