TWELVE Ch 14

As Giovanni was lowering the arm he had rested on the back of the chair, he accidentally brushed against the hilt of the sword fastened to Romeo’s waist; startled, Romeo suddenly flinched and sprang up from his seat. Because he had stood up so abruptly, the chair fell backward with a loud clatter, and not only Giovanni, Valeria, and Marco, but also Serafina and the customers at the neighboring table stared at Romeo.

His face contorted, Romeo looked down at the sword hilt where Giovanni’s hand had touched. It was merely a slight rattle of the scabbard and Giovanni’s hand hadn’t actually touched his waist, yet his body became extremely tense.

Goosebumps rose on the nape of his neck, and his entire lower body, including his waist, stiffened. It even felt as if his muscles had hardened like stone. This was not the drapers’ alley on 1st Rosati Street, and what had just touched his body was a sword hilt, not Giovanni’s hand. Even knowing that, his breathing quickened in an instant.

It was only then that he felt the pain in his body.

“What is the matter?”

Romeo clutched the area below his ribs with his hand. Since Giovanni was looking up at him, Romeo bent over to pick up the fallen chair. His thigh muscles were stiff and his fingertips were trembling, so he had to grip the back of the chair tightly to pull it upright.

“…It is nothing. I am sorry.”

After pushing the chair closer to the table, he sat back down and straightened the front of his military uniform and his sleeves, while Marco spoke in a flustered voice.

“Captain, what is wrong?”

Valeria also leaned toward the table to look closely at Romeo’s face.

“Are you alright?”

“I am fine. I was just thinking of something else for a moment…”

He lowered his gaze to look at the table, but Giovanni reached out and lightly caught his shoulder. When Romeo flinched his shoulder and twisted his body away, Giovanni examined Romeo’s face with a look of surprise.

“Your complexion is poor. Are you truly alright?”

“…Yes, I am fine.”

When Romeo looked down at Giovanni’s hand resting on his shoulder, Giovanni withdrew it. Clenching the hand he had lowered beneath the table, Romeo took a breath so deep that his chest rose and fell significantly.

Watching Romeo in that state, Giovanni covered his mouth with his hand as if stroking his lips. While Marco and Valeria repeatedly asked Romeo if he was okay, Giovanni chuckled to himself and pretended to drink his wine. As his laughter wouldn’t stop, he poked at the lamb on his plate with a fork, his mouth twitching.

As if he found this situation so incredibly amusing he couldn’t stand it, Giovanni’s lips trembled continuously, and he bit his lip to stifle the urge to burst out laughing.

To tell the truth, it was he who had raped Romeo last night. But there was no way Romeo could know such a fact. Indeed, how could he know? He was in such a state that he would jump like a startled kitten at the slightest touch on his body.

“Did you ask if there is a blind person among my acquaintances? No, there is not. Why do you ask such a thing?”

Giovanni stabbed a piece of lamb with his fork. As he chewed and watched Romeo’s profile, Romeo replied while steadying his breath as if trying to calm his mind.

“I asked because you seem to understand quite well what it is like to be unable to see. As you said, if I could properly see the food served here on the table, I would have felt an appetite as well. But you are not blind, are you, Mister? Just as it is difficult for a healthy person to understand the hardships of someone lying in a sickbed for a long time, it would not be easy for you to understand the circumstances of a blind man like me. How do you understand that the inability to see is related to the desire for food?”

Giovanni shrugged and laughed.

“I merely imagined the difficulties you might face, Captain. Let us call it keen curiosity. No. The word curiosity does not seem appropriate. Let us call it insight. Insight into unfamiliar things.”

Saying so, Giovanni set his fork down on the plate and turned his body toward Romeo.

When Giovanni suddenly turned toward him, Romeo tried to pull back, tilting his head away. Because they were sitting right next to each other, he could feel that Giovanni’s body was large. Large enough that if he stood behind the man’s back, he would be completely hidden by his shoulders.

At the thought that his build was similar to the man in the black cloak, he felt threatened.

“That is why I am saying this. I have been watching, and you seem to feel pain in the lower part of your jaw when you chew your food.”

From the close distance, Giovanni gazed steadily at Romeo’s face. His cheeks appeared flushed in the light of the lamps hanging from the ceiling, and perhaps because his nerves were on edge and he was tense, his pupils had dilated. His long eyelashes fluttered every time he blinked, and his blue eyes were clear and vivid, as if one could look right into them. Though there was a bruise like mold beneath his jaw, Romeo was still startlingly beautiful. It was as if he had stepped out of an ancient mural depicting the deeds of some mystical being and sat down right here.

“It is because of the bruise.”

When Romeo raised his hand to touch the bruise, Giovanni shook his head.

“No. It is likely not the bruise, but a different problem. Does the inside of your mouth not hurt? Around the gums, I mean.”

Though the pain had lessened compared to when he ate at the officers’ mess in the morning, the area around his lower teeth and gums was throbbing, just as Giovanni said.

“Yes, it has been like that throughout the day. But it is fine now.”

“Let me take a look.”

Giovanni opened his mouth as if telling him to follow suit, and Romeo, after looking at Giovanni’s mouth, looked up into his eyes and refused.

“It is fine. It is not enough to worry about.”

“Open up.”

“No, I am really fine.”

When Romeo looked out of the corner of his eye, Marco and Valeria were watching. Looking back at Giovanni, the man was saying “Ah,” with his mouth open, so after hesitating, Romeo reluctantly opened his mouth. Giovanni gently took hold of the tip of his chin to make him open wider; when Giovanni’s hand touched him, Romeo reflexively started to brush his hand away but then faltered.

Giovanni chuckled with a slight curl of his lips and inspected the inside of Romeo’s mouth. He saw even white teeth and a red, moist tongue, but the gums around the lower teeth were swollen.

He was about to ask if the gums hurt, but he ended up laughing because of Romeo, who was looking at him with his mouth open. His small face, which felt like it could be held entirely in one’s hands, and his smooth cheeks made him look momentarily like a boy; thinking of Romeo, who would have been attending the military academy back when he himself was working as a professor at Bacci University, he couldn’t help but find it funny.

He knew the man’s past, and he knew his naked body. He knew the moans he made when their bodies joined, and he knew how narrow his backside was. Following those white buttocks, seeing him show the inside of his mouth so submissively like this, he couldn’t help but find him lovely.

“Your gums are swollen. It must be painful.”

“It is fine.”

“You say ‘it is fine’ quite a few times. It would be best to take some medicine to relieve the pain. You could be examined by a military doctor, or you can describe the symptoms to a druggist and get medicine without a prescription. There seems to be nothing particularly wrong with the teeth.”

Giovanni released the hand that had been holding Romeo’s jaw and slightly turned his cheek to examine the bruise as well. Romeo, who was about to say there was no need for that, remained still with his head turned to the side. He couldn’t refuse the person offering kindness with “it is fine” multiple times, and Giovanni’s fingertips touching his cheek were meticulous and careful.

“This side is fine as well. It looks like it won’t last long. There, we are done.”

Romeo, about to straighten his head, looked at Giovanni as the man lowered the hand that had been holding his jaw and lightly stroked his shoulder. Setting aside the fact that his body grew tense, it felt as though he were being caressed, making him feel strange.

Though he saw it shiftily, Giovanni had a smiling face.

What was he so happy about? He thought that for a moment but soon forgot it and took a sip of wine.

“I heard from Captain Musoyo. What a fascinating coincidence.”