Arthur raised his gaze.
Talia Greaves stood a few steps away from him, still, with her hands joined in front of her body.
Her grey eyes watched him with that calm she had always had, as if nothing truly surprised her.
Her dark brown hair was gathered in a low, neat ponytail, and the dark dress she wore made her seem even more composed against the half-empty square.
“Talia…,” Arthur managed to say, rising a little too quickly from the bench.
She did not smile.
She merely tilted her head slightly.
“You’re not often seen around here at this hour.
Usually you’re in the shop.”
Arthur ran a hand over the back of his neck, trying to look natural.
“I had a delivery.
Then… I stopped for a moment.”
Talia studied him for another second.
It was not an invasive look, but it was precise.
As if she noticed more than she showed.
“You look tired,” she said at last.
“And you’re quieter than usual.
Even though you’re not usually one for many words.”
Arthur did not know what to answer right away.
The part of him that was twenty-two wanted to invent any excuse and leave.
The part that was Arthur, the shy one, stayed locked as always when someone observed him too closely.
“It’s just… a strange day,” he murmured.
Talia gave a small nod of her head, as if she accepted the answer without fully believing it.
“My family has to pick up an order from your father in two days,” she said after a short silence.
“Work blades and some tools.
Usually my brother does it, but this time I’m coming.”
Arthur nodded.
“All right.
It will be ready.”
She did not move right away.
She remained there, with that grey gaze that seemed to weigh more than the words.
“Arthur.”
The tone was the same as before, calm, but there was something more attentive in it.
“If you have problems, you’re not obliged to solve them alone.
Even if you’re used to doing so.”
He felt his heart beat a little harder.
Not from any particular emotion, but from the sensation of having been seen.
Even just a little.
“I don’t have problems,” he answered, perhaps too quickly.
Talia looked at him for another moment, then lowered her gaze slightly toward his hands, which Arthur was holding too still along his sides.
“As you wish.”
She took half a step back.
“See you at the shop in two days, then.”
She turned and began to walk away with a calm step, without hurry.
Arthur remained still watching her until she disappeared around the corner of the square.
Only then did he let himself fall back onto the bench for a moment and open the Status.
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[Curse: Gender Transformation – Blood of Lysara] Phase: 1/4 Progress: 11%]
It had risen by another two points.
Just from talking with her.
Just from the stress of being observed.
He stood up and started walking toward home.
The streets of Valenford at this hour were quieter than in the morning.
The merchants were closing their stalls, a few adventurers passed by discussing in low voices, and the smell of baked bread mixed with that of the smoke from the chimneys. Visit novelping.com for the full chapter.
Arthur walked with his head down, hands shoved into the pockets of his light jacket.
As he advanced between the houses of stone and wood, his thoughts piled up on one another.
Talia had looked at him in a strange way.
Not suspicious, not worried.
Just… attentive.
As if she had noticed that something did not add up, even without knowing what.
And that sentence — If you have problems, you’re not obliged to solve them alone — stayed with him more than he would have liked.
In his life as Arthur he was not used to receiving that kind of attention.
In the previous life, the one as a twenty-two-year-old, he was used to solving everything alone, in silence, without involving anyone.
Now the two habits overlapped and left him confused.
He touched his neck without thinking.
The skin was smooth.
The sweet scent, light but constant, seemed more noticeable now that he was alone and could pay attention to it.
He wondered if Talia had smelled it.
If she had noticed and chosen not to say anything.
Two days.
In two days she would be back at the shop.
Arthur raised his gaze toward the houses he recognized, feeling the weight of that time that was flowing too quickly.
Every percentage gained was a step closer to something he could no longer control.
And the more he tried to stay calm, the more he had the unpleasant sensation that precisely that forced calm was becoming difficult to maintain.
When at last he spotted the sign of the family forge at the end of the street, he slowed his step.
He had to go back inside, pretend that everything was normal, answer Tessa’s questions if she asked any, and prepare to see Talia Greaves again in two days without letting anything show.
He straightened his shirt, took one deep breath, and crossed the threshold.
The smell of iron and coal welcomed him as always.
But this time, for the first time, it almost seemed foreign to him.