ORCA 53

Niah rolled his eyes to steal glances at Orca, then showed his lips as he was told. A bittersweet fragrance spread nearby, and a slightly cool sensation touched him. The movement hovering over his skin was somewhat clumsy yet cautious. It stung, but it was bearable.

The bigger problem was his own heart, which was pounding like crazy. An inexplicable tension washed over him. He wanted to scratch at his chest.

Niah gripped the edge of his clothes and lowered his eyelids. Even then, he couldn’t look ahead, so he just glared at the carpet on the floor. It was strange. He wasn’t scared at all right now. If anything, he should have been happy. But this felt like a sensation akin to fear. It was different from when he saw Pepe or Adrian being incredibly angry.

“Don’t bite them now.”

Niah looked up at him silently. It felt as if his throat was completely blocked, and he couldn’t say a word. A cool, stinging sensation lingered on his lips.

Orca didn’t stop there; he wrapped his arms around Niah’s back and held him firmly. He was determined not to let him run away. Then, he immediately reached out his other hand and lifted Niah’s top. He didn’t even give Niah time to be flustered. Niah only thought of a superficial concern, such as wondering if there would even be ointment for this kind of thing. It was natural, as he had never used medicine for mere bruises.

Orca, who had tilted his upper body to look at Niah more closely, clicked his tongue with a ferocious expression for a moment. It was because he had belatedly realized that someone other than himself had made him this way. It looked as if red coral had grown on his white skin.

He fixed the hem of the clothes and gave a light brush, as if to show it off. He felt Niah flinch the moment he touched his bare skin. He touched him persistently again and raised his eyes to Niah. Niah bit his lips to match his touch, then quickly let them go. Instead, he held onto the forearm that was wrapped around him.

“Good boy.”

Orca said softly as he corrected his tilted posture. He stopped his persistent rubbing and stroked him with the broad surface of his palm. He gently rubbed and soothed the bruises. It was a touch that felt like praise. While doing so, he blew a puff of air onto his lips, which had become slick from the ointment. At the ticklish breeze, Niah gripped him tightly once more.

Orca had no intention of grilling him about the culprit he hadn’t heard about last night. He had some suspicions, but he didn’t want to ask for fear that the answer would turn out to be, “I don’t know.”

Yesterday, he had clearly known but stayed silent, but he wasn’t sure what state he would be in today. Moreover, even if he found out, it wasn’t as if he could kill the guy. However, if he were to find out for sure, he felt he might want to. Given these circumstances, it was better to just guess on his own. It wasn’t as if there was no other way to resolve it.

Orca pulled down and arranged the clothes he had tucked up as he pleased. The rough fabric wound around his fingertips. He didn’t like that sensation at all. It was better after he smoothed Niah’s softened hair and nape.

“Go on, then.”

He suddenly stepped aside diagonally. Since he had bathed him and applied the ointment, it was about time to send him off. Niah looked at him with a jolt at the sudden emptiness in his field of vision.

“You said I was late.”

“But…”

“Go eat.”

At his urging, Niah moved slowly and hesitantly. He wanted to follow the young master’s words nicely. He wanted to be praised, but he didn’t want to follow the order to leave. Niah couldn’t bring himself to complain directly, so he just twisted his body around, feeling downcast.

Because of that, he couldn’t move even a single step forward properly. If he brought a snail here right now to race, the snail would probably win. The soles of his shoes barely made a pretense of moving. He couldn’t just stand there blankly, so he tried to fidget at least. It was because Orca hadn’t taken his eyes off Niah for even a second.

Being scolded was scary. The instances of being yelled at by servants other than Pepe and Adrian had decreased, but the fear of being scolded was just the same. He was scared and overwhelmed by the loud, shrill voices scolding him, being poked in the side, being cornered, receiving sharp glares, being interrogated with the same questions every day, having to do a lot of work because he was hated so much, and hearing insults about being stupid or taunts that he smelled fishy. But lately, the scariest punishment was the one the young master gave him.

Niah, who had barely moved a few steps, looked at the door that was still far away and gathered the courage to turn around. His gaze fell listlessly. His own shoe tips poked out into the view filled with the red carpet. In the corner on the other side, he could see the young master’s dress shoes. The distance between him and the young master seemed impossibly wide, as if it would never close. On the other hand, it felt so close that he felt he could rush into his arms at once.

“Um, young master… Uh…, well…”

Niah opened his mouth, his voice small. He bit his tongue, contemplating what he should ask. He kept wanting to chew on something because he thought he shouldn’t. The meaningless letters rolled to Orca’s feet. Long, lingering tails of speech stretched out like honey. However, it was Orca who had overtaken his worries and finished them first. Niah quickly looked up.

“Yes.”

Orca provided the answer he wanted before even hearing the rest of the sentence. He answered for himself even to the bewildered counter-question of, “Yes?” He could easily guess what was inside Niah’s head. That was why it was difficult. The goldfish, who wore his heart on his sleeve, occasionally hid himself and became a labyrinth.

“Shall we have Earl Grey in the afternoon?”

“Y-yes? What… What do you mean, yes?”

Niah, eyes wide, stammered. Then, he hurriedly nodded. He shook his head so hard that his hair flew about. No matter how oblivious he was, he could understand this much. Life returned to his face, which had been gloomy as if it had eaten storm clouds. A grin spread, and laughter hung on his upturned lips. It was a simple and honest reaction.

Orca, who had slipped out of the meal, headed straight for the garden. He had left behind his parents, who were, as expected, reeling off trivial proposals. He felt strangely put out. It was a matter he could just ignore as he always had, but for some reason, he was getting increasingly annoyed. It was even so, despite the fact that it was a story he had heard several times before. It was a proposal that had been added to letters arriving at the border, just as it had been when he graduated from the military academy.

It is common for children of noble families to exchange engagement rings when they are young. The Wair family was no different from other families. Meanwhile, Orca, who was considered an oddity, was excluded from this range of “normal” every time. The reason was that they were anxious it might stir up unnecessary trouble.

However, as he surpassed the family’s standard of normal and became extraordinary, the engagement talk, funnily enough, came up first. It was quite unique that he hadn’t even been engaged, let alone married.

The Orca are a group with great pride in their maternal lineage, and it was taken for granted that women would marry into other Orca families. In the case of men, they were relatively free, but most tied the knot with children of other major families.

The family that was consistently mentioned to Orca was, of course, the Grey family. They were a family that could further solidify the position of the Wair family, which dominated the upper echelons by producing outstanding border guard members and Imperial Knights for generations.

If the Wair family pursued honor, the Grey family pursued money. It would not be an exaggeration to say that all trade and commercial activities taking place across the empire were under the feet of the Grey family. It was a structure where they had no choice but to benefit each other.

Of course, it was none of Orca’s business. He had no interest whatsoever in the topics they talked about—harmony between families, mutual agreements, or friendly relations. If he engaged as they wanted, next would be marriage, then children; he didn’t want to get involved in the first place. Even if he lived a single life, it wasn’t as if a major crisis would occur in the Wair family.

He couldn’t understand why they were so enthusiastic. Above all, he just wanted to enjoy this perfectly peaceful season for a while. He loathed anything bothersome.

☀️🌊

Orca made up an excuse as he hurried his pace. It would probably be fine if he said he would have tea in the garden or the greenhouse. He called out and ordered any servant he saw. He didn’t forget to order Earl Grey. The servant bowed and then backed away as if running off. There was still a long time left until afternoon tea, but since it was the young master’s order, time didn’t matter. He intended to stop by the distillery and summon Bailey.