TWELVE Ch 11

“No. You do not understand my heart. If I had a face like yours, that woman would not have refused the offer of a meal.”

Marco puffed out his breath, his thick lips twitching.

Valeria, who had seen Romeo pressing his hand near his chest several times due to pain during the meeting earlier in the day, asked.

“Does it still hurt?”

“It is bearable.”

“Have you seen the military doctor?”

“…No. I am fine. Do not worry.”

When Romeo took away the hand that had been covering his chest, Marco stopped laughing and lowered the arm he had draped over Romeo’s shoulder, saying, “I put my hand there for nothing.”

The three soon entered Salatico Street. The owners of the wholesale stores, apothecary shops, drapers, and general stores lined up on both sides were all keeping watch over their shops with the lights turned on.

In the wholesale stores, colorful carpets, hangings woven with patterns of gold and silver thread, and wall screens embroidered with splendid paintings were hung; in the apothecary shops, medicine bottles were packed tightly on every shelf.

In the drapers, various types of cotton fabrics were hanging, and in the general stores, everything that could be sold was up on the display stands, starting from clothing like clothes and gloves to furniture like chairs and tables, dishes, pillows, horseshoes for horse hooves, and needles and thread.

During the day, the street was three times more vibrant than it was now, so whenever a market opened, it was so crowded with people that there was no space to step.

“I wonder if the cats are there today too?”

Marco, speaking in a voice full of curiosity, laughed as the Hooked Cat Tavern became visible in the distance.

“Ah, they are here.”

The Hooked Cat Tavern was the name of the pub the three of them frequented. A sign with the name ‘Midnight Wine’ was attached to the entrance of the shop, and that was actually the real name of the pub. However, no one called it by that strange name.

A long time ago, the owner couple allowed a stray cat to live in front of the shop, and the fur pattern engraved on that cat’s body was similar to a hook shape. Everyone called it the Hooked Cat without giving it a separate name, but a few years ago, that cat brought three kittens from somewhere. They were not seen during the day, but when the sun set, they returned to the shop and sat with their bellies on the ground in front of the door to watch the people passing by. Today, all four of them were sitting curled up in a circle in front of the shop.

Meow—

As Valeria pushed the door with the rusted bell, one of them let out a cry along with a cling, the sound of the bell. The other three were wagging their tails left and right, and one fellow had its eyes half-closed. To Romeo, it looked as if giant orange lumps were placed on the floor.

“These fellows always sit lined up like this.”

As Marco bent his waist to try and stroke a cat, the fellow that had let out the cry stood up from its spot and sauntered into the shop. Then, a waitress who happened to be passing by with wine made a sound with her mouth and chased the cat out.

“Hiss, hiss! Out you go, quickly!”

The cat raised its head with slow movements, looked up at the waitress, and looked at Valeria, Romeo, and Marco in turn. The cat, turning its body slowly while wagging its upright tail, gave one loud cry and left the shop.

“Oh my! You haven’t been here in a while, have you?”

The waitress’s face became welcoming as she knew the three people who often came to the shop at this time to drink, but her expression quickly turned to one of surprise again upon discovering the bruise on Romeo’s face.

“Captain, what happened to your face?”

Romeo lowered his head as if to hide the bruise on his jaw and then turned the conversation by looking around the boisterous interior of the shop, just like any other day.

“…It is nothing. Do not mind it. By the way, there are many customers in the shop today as well.”

Valeria watched the waitress’s surprised expression change into one of worry and then asked with a smile.

“Can we sit in our usual spot?”

“You mean the window seat upstairs? Yes, of course. Please go up. Two customers came just now and I gave them the seat, but there is still room for the three of you to sit. But you see, one of those two customers is actually…”

A man with a husky voice shouted from inside the shop, “Give me a bottle of wine here, quickly!” and the waitress stopped speaking.

“Please go on up. I should bring the wine you usually have, right?”

“Yes, and please give us the snacks we usually eat as well.”

“Please wait just a moment. I will bring them to you right away.”

The waitress headed toward a table inside the shop while holding the wine and asked Romeo.

“Are you really okay, Captain?”

“Yes… I am fine.”

The waitress looked back at Romeo once more as she walked quickly into the shop. Marco, who had been rejected spectacularly while trying to win her favor during their second meeting, let out a lingering cough, ahem, as she could not take her eyes off Romeo while moving away.

The three went up the stairs leading to the upper floor and headed toward the seat they always sat in whenever they came. The people who were drinking glanced at the three wearing military uniforms, and those who saw the insignia of the 6th Legion attached to their chests glanced a couple more times.

Romeo approached the window seat relying on the light of the lamps hanging from the ceiling and walls, then stopped in his tracks as Valeria, who was walking ahead, suddenly stopped. At the sound of Marco letting out a groan of “Ha,” from behind his back, he looked back and saw that he was looking toward the window.

When Romeo looked in that direction, just as the waitress said, there were two customers in their usual seat. The colors and shapes of the clothes they were wearing were faintly distinguishable; the person on the left was a man. One could feel that his sitting height was tall and his frame was large.

“What a coincidence this is.”

Valeria spoke while looking back at him, so Romeo asked.

“Why is that?”

Valeria pointed toward the table by the window with a gesture of her head.

“Giovanni Sforza is over there. In the seat where we always sit.”

Romeo narrowed his eyes and stared at the one who appeared to be the man among the two people sitting at the window table. Giovanni, here?

He thought it was a strange coincidence. He had not imagined he would run into him in a place like this. It was only natural since out of the many pubs lined up on Salatico Street, he was sitting right there in the Hooked Cat Tavern, and in the very seat he always sat in. Considering that their last meeting was in an interrogation room, this pub was a private place.

“The person sitting next to him is a face I am seeing for the first time. Seeing as they are wearing the same clothes, it seems they are a professor from Bacci University.”

Recalling his criminal record, Giovanni might have been unluckily caught up in a murder case, or he might have truly beaten the weaver to death but received a not-guilty verdict. It was the same with the matter of Vittorio. The two of them might have actually been in a romantic relationship, or Vittorio might have loved him alone. Whether Giovanni was a murderer or not, or whether he was a cold-blooded man who ignored a dying lover or not, Romeo thought he was a different person from his actual reputation.

Above all, Giovanni had complimented him during the last interrogation, saying his eyes were beautiful. If he had intended to insult him by causing embarrassment, it was understandable, but if not, the story changed.

“Well, what can we do? We cannot sit somewhere else leaving empty seats behind.”

Romeo followed behind Valeria and looked at the man who appeared to be Giovanni. As the distance closed, his face gradually became visible; he also discovered them and spoke in a surprised voice.

“My, my.”

As Valeria, Romeo, and Marco approached and stood before the table, Giovanni smiled brightly toward Romeo.

“I did not know I would see you again here.”

Despite having been interrogated by Romeo only a few days ago and having raped him just yesterday, Giovanni had a quite welcoming face.

“It has been a long time. Have you been well in the meantime, Captain?”

Giovanni stood up from his seat and held out his hand to Romeo. Romeo, who had been looking down at the seated Giovanni, followed him with his gaze as he stood up.

Looking at Giovanni greeting him as if they were well-acquainted, he thought that the man he saw in the interrogation room and the man he faced here in the pub were not that different. Since he no longer had the duty to interrogate him, there was no need to harbor hostility, so he answered with a softened voice.

“I did not expect to see you in a place like this.”