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Is there no safe place anywhere in the world? (5) – unedited
As soon as Merson entered the entrance, the surroundings got noisy. Was there such a person? Is he a noble? Looking at the clothes, it’s not… I heard those words.
“Hi?”
“Uah, you scared me.”
I had to tremble to the point of being overly surprised at the whispered greeting in my ear. My heart was about to fall
“Puhaha!”
I almost died of surprise, but what I heard was laughter, not an apology. My eyes squinted thin.
It was a man with brown hair similar to Merson, with freckles rising past his cheek and nose, giving him a mischievous look. He’s too big to be a boy, but he doesn’t show maturity either.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Relax your face.”
The man clapped his hands together to calm me down. But it’s not to me… to Merson? Merson suddenly wrapped his arms around my shoulders and stared at the man with his red eyes wide open.
“I didn’t mean to surprise you. I was just trying to say hello, but I really didn’t expect you to be surprised.”
He was talking sincerely. I loosened the boundary that had soared to 100 and looked back at him.
I felt a little sorry that he was still restless, so I tapped Merson. Hey, stop staring . You will pierce his face. Then, Merson also took his eyes off of him.
“Thank you.”
“It was nothing.”
How dare you catch me stopping Merson.
“I am Evan Prechild.”
“Erina Holden. Oh, this is Merson Holden. He is my husband.”
The man who introduced himself as Evan is startled. It was common for women of my age to marry in this day and age, so I don’t think it’s surprising that I’m a married woman…….
Yes, one hundred is still one hundred. It must have been surprising why Merson, who has a perfect, undeniable intimidation and mysterious aura without missing a single thing, married an ordinary girl like me. It was something made up to disguise our identity for convenience, but it’s strangely unsettling.
“It’s our first meeting, but you’re being rude in many ways, Evan.”
“Oh, I’m going to have to make another apology soon. Sorry. It was my first time seeing such a handsome person, so I was a little surprised. Did you also come to the banquet as an attendant?”
“As you see.”
“As an apology, if you don’t know something, ask me. Since I have had quite a bit of experience working at a banquet like this. Well, I don’t know if I’ll ever be forgiven for offending you like this.”
Evan grinned as he wrinkled the back of his freckled nose. Our conversation time was too short to deem him as completely trustworthy, and I was wary of him, but there was no reason to reject him again, who said that he will guide us on his own.
“Great. What do you think is the reason people are divided by their looks?”
“It’s obvious. Nobles are people who pursue beauty fiercely among human beings. The decent servants will work directly in the banquet hall, and the unfavorable servants will do chores out of sight of the nobles.”
“I really don’t like that.”
“We are ornaments to them, not people.”
“This fucking status system.”
Evan called me out, “Hey!” and pushed me away. Then he hurriedly looked around and, fortunately, found no one was listening to us, and spoke quietly to me.
“Did you know that it could be treason? If you say the wrong word, you will be put on the guillotine.”
I was just messing around with my neck for no reason. It’s still there, right?
“… Long live democracy.”
“Shh! Shh!”
Shaking loudly, Evan put his index finger to his mouth. From my point of view, if he keeps quiet, no one will notice.
The longer the waiting time, the deeper our conversation with Evan got. At the same time, I was able to hear about the basic manners an attendant should have, and there were many talks about how to walk, what to say, and so on, but there was only one important thing.
“Even if you hear it, you pretend you didn’t hear it, even if you saw it, you pretend you didn’t see it. You just have to be like a doll without thoughts and feelings.”
“That’s easy.”
“No, I think it would be better for Erina to be in a position where she can show her emotions as much as possible.”
Merson intervened at once and spoke firmly.
“Why?”
Are you ignoring me now? Right?
Merson’s hand came down and his thumb gently rubbed my forehead. My face, which had been filled with tenseness, was surprisingly relaxed.
“I want to stand without emotion in front of others.”
Merson didn’t really care about everyone but me. He had the determination to comfortably drink a cup of morning coffee no matter who died next to him. Yes, I thought that such a job might be perfect for Merson’s aptitude.
“But it’s not something I’m going to decide.”
“I know. I just hope Erina doesn’t have to be in that situation.”
I smiled and reached high and touched Merson’s cheek. Merson leaned his head slightly and I placed my hand on top of it.
“Don’t worry. If the atmosphere becomes a little heavy, I will come out like a shadow.”
“Yes.”
In Merson’s eyes, there was only my face, as if I was the only one in this world. When he sent a serious gaze with eyes overflowing with love one after another, I suddenly felt a little ashamed. Still, I didn’t hate it.
Clap, clap, clap.
I took my hand away, startled by the applause from behind my back. Evan was clapping towards us with a face half surprised, half intrigued.
“You guys are really in love and got married?!”
… What have you been thinking so far?
He suddenly looks at me again, and apologizes again. This is already the third apology.
Once again, the story goes back to the beginning, and while I am yelling at Evan, the annex door opens and Guernia and the attendants appear.
“Those who are called to the list go left, and those who are not, remain in their seats.”
I didn’t expect her to say sorry for being late, but seeing her shamelessly giving orders without any sign of such a thing twists my mind. Ugh, how annoying.