Episode 13: Same Bed, Different Dreams (3)
Completely oblivious to the childish turf war between the newcomer and the locals, Hashana pointed toward the gate visible at the far end of the market.
“Just a little more effort. Once we pass through that gate, we’ll reach the lodgings prepared for the traveling merchants. Normally, you would have to receive an entry permit at the fortress gate, but… just for today, we’ll skip that procedure and pass through quickly.”
One of the soldiers approaching through the market crowd furrowed his brows deeply at her words.
Hashana waved to him as if his timing were perfect.
“Ah!
That man is the central guard captain, in charge of the gate leading into the central village.”
“Greetings, saintess.”
A man whose right side of his face, from forehead to neck, was covered in an intricate tattoo knelt on one knee and bowed his head before Hashana.
Though the Outer Fortress’s guard captain had been taller and broader, the intimidation radiating from the tattoo was on another level.
Hashana patted the man’s shoulder as if she were handling a large dog.
“Mm.
You’re working hard.
The delegation wishes to stay in the central village.
Please guide them to the lodgings for traveling merchants and help them fill out the entry permit forms at their assigned quarters.
I’m counting on you.”
“I will ensure they have no cause for disappointment.”
“Thank you.
Shall I bless you?
You look tired.”
The man, called the central guard captain, erased the displeasure from his face and bowed deeply to Hashana.
She lightly placed her hand on the back of his bowed head and blessed him with a small measure of divine power.
Straightening with a formal bow, the captain fixed each member of the delegation with a warning glare, then strode off toward the gate with long steps.
Pointing at the captain’s solid back, Hashana lowered her voice as if sharing a secret.
“The captain may be a little curt, but he is very thorough. He’ll make sure you’re well looked after so you won’t be inconvenienced.”
The delegation could only give awkward smiles.
Should they risk heatstroke to follow this beautiful, god-like being all the way to the mountaintop?
Or should they walk a bit less, but live under the watchful eye of the central guard captain, whose gaze clearly said, ‘Try anything funny, and I’ll kill you’?
They suddenly found themselves leaning hard toward the former, and a few of them began to raise their hands ever so slightly, when Iskandel snorted and called out to Hashana.
“Saintess.”
“Yes?”
“You’re taking the least steep route possible, aren’t you?
For the sake of my friends and their pitiful stamina.”
“Uh… well, yes.”
Hashana swallowed the comment that it was not just the delegation whose stamina looked unimpressive and simply nodded.
He let out a small sigh, feigning an apologetic look.
Why don’t we leave my friends in the care of the central guard captain, and you and I can take a shortcut straight to the top?”
“Hmm… Would that be all right?”
While she hesitated, the central guard captain, who had nearly reached the end of the market, turned back with a feral smile.
Iskandel greeted him with a graceful smile of his own and glanced at the man’s ear, which was covered in strange symbols.
When the captain turned his head and openly gave Iskandel a blatant glare, Iskandel met it with the same teasing eye-smile he often used to provoke the crown prince.
‘If he can hear me from that distance, he’s no ordinary man.
The plan is to put the delegation under the supervision of this monster with inhuman hearing to monitor their words and actions, while she herself stays close to me to restrict my movements… Fine.
I’ll take her head-on.’
Although it stung his pride to realize he had been identified as a spy from the very beginning, this separation was no small stroke of luck for Iskandel.
‘At this rate, I’ll be in the Inner Fortress with Rsanda and the saintess, while the delegation will be in the residential area, learning the soldiers’ patrol patterns and the fortress layout.
There’s bound to be someone in the delegation that my brother planted to keep an eye on me, so it will also be easier to find an opportunity to cut off his puppet’s strings.’
While the central guard captain and Iskandel silently glared each other down, Hashana, having made up her mind, shrugged and beckoned to the captain.
“Give the delegation anything they say they need.
And introduce them to some sociable artisans and traveling merchants as well.”
“I will make the preparations.”
The central guard captain answered with reassuring confidence, moving with crisp, disciplined motions to stand at the head of the delegation.
“Now, please follow me. The road is narrow, so form two lines.”
The delegation couldn’t muster a single word of protest and listlessly arranged themselves into two rows.
As the men trudged forward like the dead being dragged off by a reaper, Hashana waved at them with a bright, sunny smile.
After seeing them off with an almost cloying fondness as they grew smaller in the distance, she leaned toward Iskandel and whispered.
“I am sorry, Your Highness.”
“For what?”
“You were signaling me because I was getting a little carried away, weren’t you?”
‘…Is she mocking me?’
Iskandel silently looked down at her, trying to decipher the intentions of this woman whose true feelings he found impossible to read.
“I’m so sorry, it’s embarrassing. A saintess shouldn’t be so thoughtless. This is my first time receiving such distinguished guests, so I’m afraid I’m falling short in many ways.”
As she led Iskandel into a narrow alley between a grocer’s and a shop that sold quill pens, Hashana kept offering apologies, and every one of them sounded sincere.
“I was too greedy.
I wanted to show the delegation every corner of the city… You must have been very hot, weren’t you?”
“…No.”
“How can you say no?
Even though I was holding your hand and using divine power to restore your stamina, your complexion just kept getting worse.”
Iskandel couldn’t say anything, only offering a faint, noncommittal smile.
Whether someone was flirting with him or trying to slip a noose over his neck, he was infamous for escaping with an easy smile, so being told his complexion looked bad was a first.
‘I’ve heard “I want to kill you” every time I teased the crown prince or the empress… but this is the first time anyone has worried that I look unwell.’
When he awkwardly ran a hand over his face, Hashana’s expression grew even more apologetic.
“To be honest, I thought your expression kept worsening because you had to stay so long in the soldiers’ barracks. I assumed you were angry that we were making such an honored guest sleep on the threshold… but it turns out the weather was simply far too hot for people from the Capital to endure, wasn’t it?”
Iskandel remained silent.
“It was my mistake not to consider the delegation’s stamina. I overlooked that people who’ve traveled so far couldn’t possibly recover in just five days. You see, I’ve never been outside Durgtah…”
He had suspected she might be mocking him, but now Iskandel was genuinely thrown.
‘I thought she would drop the act and show her true colors once there were no eyes on us… that, knowing I’m a spy, she would threaten me to cooperate while she was still being nice, or try to kill me.
So what on earth is this?’
Once again, Hashana’s reaction was completely different from what he had expected.
It wasn’t just that she had defied his expectations; it was more accurate to say his predictions were utterly wrong from the start. Follow the newest chapters on novelping.com.
“From now on, I will never make you walk so long that you’re on the verge of heatstroke. As for the welcome banquet’s schedule, let’s discuss it only after you’ve had plenty of rest and fully recovered your strength. Truly, sincerely, I apologize again.”
As the saintess of god apologized so profusely, Iskandel felt an odd sense of displeasure.
The fact that he couldn’t pinpoint why he was displeased only made him more irritated, and he shook his head.
“Do not apologize, saintess.
Those who stand above others should not say they are sorry so easily.”
“Why not?”
“…What do you mean, why not?”
“Rsanda always teaches that the virtue of an excellent commander is to recognize a problem, reflect on it, and correct it without delay.”
Tilting her head, Hashana fixed her large eyes on him, silently demanding an answer.
A sudden wave of embarrassment flushed through Iskandel.
There was no way he could say, ‘In the imperial palace, they teach us never to apologize.’
Even he had to admit that Rsanda was right.
When the teaching that those in power must never bow their heads was set against the one that you should acknowledge and correct your mistakes, it was painfully obvious which was right.
“Why aren’t you supposed to say you’re sorry in the Capital?”
The woman holding his hand looked straight into his eyes and asked again, this time in all seriousness.
Iskandel could not find an answer, so he simply let himself be led by that slender hand through the shadowed alley.
“It’s just… the way things are done, I suppose.”
Hashana’s sun-colored hair swayed softly, shimmering as she tilted her head.
After waiting for his answer with a few more inquisitive tilts of her head, she shrugged as if to say it didn’t really matter.
“Well, cultural differences can be hard to explain in words.
It seems the Capital is very different from Durgtah in many ways.
Please, keep teaching me these things.”
“In that case…”
He stared helplessly at her blue eyes and golden hair, as if he had forgotten how to speak, then opened his mouth like a man under a spell.
However, he soon became aware of how foolish he must look and, overwhelmed by a sharp stab of self-loathing, shut his mouth again.
Hashana patiently waited as he opened and closed his mouth over and over.
As they walked in silence, the sounds of the bustling market grew distant, and the dull roar of the muggy sea breeze from the far end of the alley grew louder.
It was only when they were nearly at the end of the alley that he finally managed to force down the irritation, the faint anger, the embarrassment, and the sheer absurdity churning inside him.
He still didn’t know why those feelings were boiling over, but once he had barely regained his composure, Iskandel finished the thought he had left hanging.
“In that case, since the subject has come up, may I tell you about another fairly major difference?”
“Of course.”
Her eyes sparkled as if she had been waiting for this.
He had been about to say that the Capital had neither such high mountains nor such heat, that it was all flat land, but he changed his mind and instead brought up what he had been mulling over since the day they first met.
“In the Capital, the phrase to carry someone away is a euphemism for having rather… rough tastes in bed. It’s something people say when they’re looking for a partner who shares that preference.”