Chapter 55
The morning sun shining through the curtains woke her up.
Out of habit, Rosetta glanced to the side as soon as she awoke. He usually hadn’t left the room when she woke up, but sometimes he slept soundly, and when he did, she’d steal a glance at his sleeping face. Of course, it wasn’t long before he opened his eyes and she had to close them again and pretend to sleep.
Today, he wasn’t there either, but unlike usual, this time she couldn’t even see the traces of someone lying next to her. Then she realized she was lying in the middle of the bed, taking up the whole bed.
“Ah…”
Her head throbbed as she sat up. She pressed her hands to her head and found her hair in a tangled mess.
“Oh my God, what…”
It was a tangle of whatever she’d done to her hair last night. It would take all day to untangle it, but little by little, memories of last night began to emerge.
I remember listening to him play a lute and sing in the banquet hall. Then I drank some juice, and it tasted a little strange.
And then…
“Oh my God…”
The last time she drank, she couldn’t remember a single thing, but strangely enough, this time she started to remember things one by one.
I blacked out after drinking, and when I opened my eyes, Rashid’s face was right in front of me. I don’t know if it was the alcohol, but for a moment, there was a halo, and everything shimmered. His beautiful black hair, his blue eyes.
I reached out, wanting to touch them. I always thought they were beautiful, but I couldn’t bring myself to touch them. So I started touching him as much as I could with my hands.
I wish it would have stopped there, but that’s when I noticed his lips, which were redder than usual. They looked like really ripe strawberries, and I wanted to bite them. I couldn’t wait to bite into it.
And what I did after that was…
-knock knock.
Just then, the door opened with a knock. Benny was there, a tray in her hand.
“Rigaina, are you feeling better?”
Rosetta shook her head as she walked over to the bed. “No, my head is spinning.”
Benny looked at her hair, which was puffed up like a lion’s mane and said, “Yeah, I can see that…”
Then she held out a cup of warm honey water. “First, take this.”
Feeling thirsty, Rosetta gulped it down. The honey water was sweet. Like the juice she’d tasted yesterday.
“It’s not, but it’s still sweet.”
Suddenly, the words popped into her head, and she spit out the honey water she was drinking.
“Are you okay?”
“……”
Rosetta quickly covered her mouth with her hands. Her fingers trembled. She could still remember the soft, moist feel of his lips against hers, and it gave her goosebumps.
Crazy, crazy!
And then she remembered. The crazy things she’d done.
I grabbed him and kissed him on the lips. What was even crazier was that I didn’t remember anything after that. No matter how hard I tried to recall the next few moments, I could only see his wide-open blue eyes, and then it was all black. Had I done something even crazier than kissing him?
Rosetta quickly threw off the blanket and examined her body. She didn’t see anything particularly strange. No pain anywhere. It was supposed to hurt like hell after the first time, but she didn’t seem to have any of those problems, so it didn’t seem like she’d forced herself on him.
Is this a good thing?
That’s when Benny’s worried voice rang out. “Rigaina, is something really wrong, do you want me to call a doctor?”
Suddenly, Rosetta realized what she had just done. She had spit out all of the honey water Benny had brought her, all over the blanket.
“Oh, I’m sorry, Benny, you don’t need to call the doctor. I’m sorry, you brought me honey water but I spit it all out.”
“No, I don’t think you’re feeling very well. I’ll get you some water, just a moment.”
Benny poured her a glass of water. Rosetta gulped the water down, very slowly this time.
“Riga is right, you better get a good rest today.”
“…Did Rashid say that?”
Benny nodded at Rosetta’s nervous question. “Yes, he said to let you rest in your room today…”
“Did he say anything else?”
Benny shook her head.
“He didn’t say anything else?”
Just as Rosetta was about to breathe a sigh of relief, Benny exclaimed, “Oh,” as if she’d just remembered.
“Well, Riga said he’ll be using a different room starting tomorrow…”
“What?”
Benny fidgeted at Rosetta’s intense reaction. “He- he said he’s going to use the other room, and he wants me to make sure it’s cleaned up…”
Rosetta’s eyes went blank. Obviously, something crazy had happened between them. That’s probably why he’s in such a bad mood and wants to use the other room.
After a few moments, Rosetta spoke weakly, “Benny.”
“Yes, Rigaina.”
“I’m sorry, but I want to be alone, so will you please leave?”
“Sure…”
Sensing something was wrong, Benny left the room, and Rosetta covered her mouth with the blanket and screamed.
Elheim, what should I do? I think I made a really big mistake last night!
***
-purr.
Rashid stared at Akal. Or, more accurately, at the myriad blue ribbons hanging from Akal’s mane.
“……”
It was clear who had done this. There were only a few people who could lay a hand on him anyway. It was him, Mark, and the woman.
Just then, Mark came over and chuckled. [Akal is getting very pretty, isn’t he?]
Rashid sighed and pointed to the ribbons. [Since when did Akal look like that?]
[The day before yesterday. Rigaina came to the stables and gave Akal a gift before leaving.]
[You left that on him all this time?]
[If you want to take it off, you can do it yourself, but I can’t. I saw how happy Rigaina was when she tied those ribbons.]
Rashid raised his hand to remove the ribbons himself, but ended up lowering it again. For some reason, he felt like he had to leave it up for now. At least until she came and took them back.
I’m sure she’s going to give me a sour look when she sees that I’ve taken all the ribbons off.
[…If I go out riding him like this, I’m sure I’ll get a lot of attention.]
[There’s nothing wrong with that, everyone’s going to think you’ve taken up a noble hobby. While we’re at it, do you want me to put some ribbons in your hair too? I think it’ll look good on you.]
For some reason, Mark kept teasing Rashid about it. Rashid decided to give up talking to him about it.
[Mark, you’ll be the one teaching her to ride for now,] Rashid said as he put the saddle on Akal’s back.
Mark’s eyes widened. [Why? Why are you suddenly asking me to do this?]
[I’m kind of busy for a while.]
[I don’t think so.]
Mark narrowed his eyes. [What happened last night? I heard that Rigaina got drunk in the middle of the banquet and was carried away by you. I wonder if something happened during the night…]
Rashid clenched his teeth. [Nothing happened.]
[Hmm, I don’t think so either…]
He crept closer and examined Rashid’s face with a very suspicious eye. [Hmm, that’s strange. Why are your ears suddenly turning red?]
Rashid raised his hands and quickly covered his ears. Mark started to chuckle out loud.
[It reminds me of when you were little. You know, you used to play hide-and-seek with me, and you thought that if you hid your head, you hid your whole body and I couldn’t see you. I think that’s what you look like now.]
Rashid rubbed his forehead. Mark stopped laughing for a moment.
[By the way, Riga, you can be as open as you want to be in front of me, but don’t reveal your true feelings too much in front of others.]
[What do you mean?]
[Your face looked so panicked last night when Rigaina passed out.]
Suddenly, Mark’s expression turned serious. [Even the maids are gossiping, so I’m sure everyone else in the banquet hall last night saw your face. It’s not good to show too much of your weakness to others.]
[My weakness? What a silly thought.]
Rashid untied the reins of his horse with a snap of his fingers and led Akal out of the stables.
Mark watched him go, then reached into his pocket for a cigarette. His face clouded with bitterness as he lit it and blew out a cloud of white smoke.
[I mean, the problem is that you don’t really know what you’re doing, like a child’s game of hide and seek.]