Chapter 59
Rashid stared at the woman who was trying so hard to tell a lie that wouldn’t work.
She didn’t have the slightest talent for lying. A moment ago, anyone other than Sika would have seen right through her lies. Thank goodness Sika rarely thought.
“Why? Did something happen that day?” Rashid asked, turning to the woman who was now brazenly raising her head.
“I gave you a ki–” she paused, then continued, “Whatever happened that day, let’s pretend it never happened!”
Rosetta’s hands trembled as she gripped her skirt. Her face was white and her big green eyes were shaking uneasily as if there had been an earthquake.
“I’m really sorry if I caused you discomfort, but you know I didn’t drink on purpose, it was an accident. Can’t we just let it go? Do you really have to point out someone else’s mistake without any mercy?”
Rashid thought about having a serious talk with her, if he could, about what she’d done that night, when he was drunk enough that her mind was clouded.
But the moment the words came out of her mouth, he felt like she was going to faint. He didn’t know what else to say to a woman who was reacting in such a way, so he shook his head.
“Actually, nothing happened.”
As soon as Rashid said the words, the woman’s face lit up as she looked at him.
“Nothing really happened, did it?”
“Something like that.”
“You should say ‘yes,’ not ‘something like that.’”
“…Yes.” Rashid nodded.
Rosetta put a hand to her chest and breathed a sigh of relief. Then she looked up at him and smiled. “Anyway, thanks for carrying me to my room again, and next time I drink, I’ll try to drink very slowly, not in a rush like last time.”
“No, don’t ever drink again.”
Rashid gritted his teeth. The thought of this woman drinking and then stripping off her clothes in front of everyone and grabbing a random man and kissing him made him feel uneasy.
“Not a single drop. Do you understand?”
Rosetta flinched at his almost growling words. It was the first time he’d ever spoken to her this threateningly.
“Yes…” Nodding quickly, Rosetta avoided his gaze, pretending to admire the scenery.
The wind picked up and her hair tickled her face. Rosetta took off the hood of her cloak and ran her fingers through her hair. Today she only half tied her hair back and let it hang long. Green ribbon fluttered over her shiny golden hair.
Ever since that day, she’d worn the ribbon he’d given her in her hair every day.
She had been avoiding me for days, trying her hardest not to look at me, yet she continued to wear my gift. So was she asking me to look at her or not?
Rashid chuckled to himself.
Then Rosetta suddenly asked, “By the way, why are the buildings here built in the Lysa style?”
That question, too, was a clear indication that she was not the daughter of the Basque chieftain. No Ardennese, no matter how unaware of the world they grew up in, would not know this.
“It was built during the colonization.”
Rosetta looked surprised, then nodded. “I see…”
Rashid looked at her, his face quite complicated, and thought back to the spy who had arrived a few days earlier. He regularly received news from other tribes and kingdoms via the telegraph. This time, the letter from the Basque land said that the chieftain’s daughter had not been seen since the wedding. The chieftain hadn’t made any move either. The situation on the Croa side was not much different from what he already knew.
So, is the Basque chieftain deliberately hiding the real bride so that nobody will find out that she’s a fake? Why? After all, her marriage to the Croa was also broken.
There must be something I don’t know, and if I ask her about it, maybe she would tell me the truth.
But what happens after that? Would she ask to be sent home immediately, like she did on the first day?
“Excuse me…”
Rosetta called out to him, who was looking scary from earlier. Rashid soon returned to his normal face and looked at her.
“I wanted to ask you something… about what you said at the banquet.”
Rosetta took a small breath. It was a question she had wanted to ask him for some time, but had been afraid to.
“Is it true that the people of Lysa are grave robbing here?”
“We only have suspicions, not proof, and we haven’t even found a place where they’re digging. In fact, I don’t know what a wagon or pickaxe found by accident would tell us. I’m just trying to bait them to see if my suspicions are correct.”
“Bait?”
“If there’s really a digging going on, there’s a group of clans in league with the Lysa. It’s not easy for a foreigner to sneak into a country and dig without anyone noticing. I was just trying to see if anyone would respond to that, but the wrong person got caught.”
By the wrong person, he means Rosetta. He said it was the wrong person, but it was actually the right person. Because she knew best what it was.
“I see. I’ve been causing a bit of a ruckus…”
Rosetta didn’t ask any more questions and turned her gaze elsewhere, a number of dizzying thoughts racing through her mind.
“Rosetta, forget what you saw today.”
She remembered sneaking into the temple’s basement and what she saw. At first, she thought it was just pretty and interesting, never realizing there was anything wrong with it.
But when her father found her in the basement, he scolded her for the first time. When her father, who was usually a loving man, yelled at her with a scary look on his face and asked her why she was here, she felt so lost and scared that she burst into tears.
She didn’t know what she had done wrong, and she apologized profusely. Her father looked at her with a pitying look on his face, then opened his hands and took her into his arms. Rosetta cried even harder when she saw him back to his usual doting self. When she had stopped crying, he said:
“I’m sorry. Forget everything you saw today. This is very important to Lysa. This must never get out. Can you promise me that?”
Rosetta laced her fingers with her father’s and made a promise. She would never tell anyone else about what she’d seen today. And in truth, she hadn’t told anyone else.
So I can’t tell him either. I’m sorry, but this was unavoidable. I may be a do-nothing princess, but I can’t just give away my country’s secrets to another country.
At the thought of it, her mood sank rapidly. Rosetta stroked Masha’s mane absentmindedly.
Just then, Rashid approached the tree in front of them. He looked around the tree for a moment, then reached for something.
He turned back to Rosetta. “Open your palm.”
“…If it’s a caterpillar, I’ll politely decline.”
No matter how much she liked unusual things, she really didn’t like caterpillars. She loved the dainty, good-looking ones among the bugs, and the only thing she could think of that would be so easy to catch in a tree was a caterpillar.
Rashid laughed lightly at that. “It’s not.”
Rosetta opened her palm cautiously, still a little skeptical, as he dropped something into it.
“What is this?”
“Cicada skin.”
“Skin? You mean what the cicadas leave behind when they molt?”
“Yes.”
“This thing just sticks to the tree?”
“If you look for it, you’ll find a lot of them.”
Rosetta ran to the tree as soon as she heard that. Just as Rashid said, there were several cicada skins attached to the bark.
“Why didn’t I see this before?”
At Lysa, Rosetta spent a lot of time in the garden. She’d read books, eaten snacks, and even taken naps under the trees, but she’d never seen this before. There are cicadas in Lysa, so they must have been in the trees there, too.
“Because you didn’t know it existed until now. But now that you’ve seen it, you’ll keep seeing it.”
“I see…”
Rosetta looked at the cicada skin in her palm and smiled. I’ll definitely have to look this up when I get back to Lysa, she thought to herself.
Then Sika, who had gone to get something to drink, returned. “There you are, I’ve been looking for you for a while, not realizing you were tucked away in this corner.”
Sika was sweating, probably because he’d been in a hurry, and he had a pouch in his hand.
Rosetta pulled a handkerchief from her pocket. “You could have taken your time.”
Rosetta wiped away the sweat, and Sika accepted her touch with a wide smile.
“Hehe, I can’t wait to give you something refreshing to drink, Rigaina…”
At that moment, Sika locked eyes with Rashid. Those calm blue eyes glared at him, and the ferocity of their gaze sent chills down his spine. Sika took a quick step back.
“I- I’m okay now. You must be thirsty, here!” Sika held out a pouch containing several wooden barrels.
“What is this?”
“It’s made from goat’s milk, it’s sweet and refreshing, try it.”
Rosetta accepted it with her right hand and held out her clasped left hand. “Then, here’s a gift for your hard work.”
“A gift?”
Sika’s eyes lit up, momentarily forgetting that Rashid was still glaring at him like he was going to kill him.
“Wow, a gift. I’ve never gotten anything like this before… Ew! That’s a bug!”
Shrugging off Sika’s reaction, Rosetta pulled a wooden barrel from the pouch. She was about to open the lid when a loud bang rang out nearby.