13. Incredibly Expensive Natural Organic Soap
It was a familiar voice.
Soon, the one who called me tapped my shoulder lightly. Before I even turned my head back, I quietly called his name.
"Dalton."
It's a strange feeling, as if I meet him at least once every day. Is it a coincidence or an intentional meeting?
When I tilted my head obliquely and looked at his face, Dalton smiled broadly. It was a bright smile that didn't remind me at all of yesterday's creepy smile.
"Are you standing by the window crying this time?"
"No."
I swept the corners of my eyes, but not even a little bit of tears were flowing. However, I probably have a face that looks like it will cry soon.
"But why do you look like you're about to cry?"
Dalton seemed to have guessed by looking at my sad face. I answered honestly.
"Because a woman came to visit Arwin."
"Does Iphoe like Arwin?"
"...Yes."
I confessed honestly again without intending to hide it.
There was no reason to go out of my way to hide the fact that I liked Arwin. Since Dalton already knew even the fact that I was dying.
Nothing would change just because he knew one more fact about me.
At my refreshing answer, Dalton giggled small.
"And yet you said you wanted to become a libertine with me?"
"...."
Dalton grabbed a handful of my brown hair scattered carelessly on my shoulder. Twisting my hair as if it were his own, he smiled an erotic smile.
"Actually, you only want to be a libertine for Arwin, right?"
Was it impossible to hide my heart from a player? There was no room to refute Dalton's words.
I nodded my head faintly and answered.
"It's so accurate I have nothing to say."
"Arwin is... an indifferent guy. Don't expect emotions from him."
"I know that too."
I know well that Arwin behaves without emotion. Sometimes I even doubted if he had human emotions at all.
But a strange disparity existed between knowing with the head and accepting with the heart. I know, but still, I wanted to expect emotions from Arwin.
"If you know, that's a relief."
Since when did Dalton know the fact that Arwin was an indifferent guy? I recalled the words Arwin said.
'He is someone who has had ties with the Marquisate for a long time. He isn't a character who would leave easily just because I tell him to go.'
Someone who has had ties with the Marquisate for a long time.
I turned my body completely toward Dalton and faced him. My eyes looking at him might have been imbued with a light of wariness. That was the light of wariness I wished Arwin would have.
"Dalton. Did you know Arwin from a long time ago?"
"Of course. I've been watching him continuously."
"Since when?"
Dalton whispered in a small voice as if telling a secret.
"Ever since he hurt his heart. All along."
Heart. That word was a meaningful word to me in many ways.
The two hearts Arwin said he had. The dead heart of Arabel, who was Dalton's lover.
The one thing Dalton, the Archmage who can do everything, cannot do. That is, making a dead heart beat again.
Although they were scattered facts, a connection called the heart existed. If the scattered facts are connected, what conclusion will be reached?
"Dalton."
I called his name while looking straight into Dalton's strange odd eyes.
"Do you want to have Arwin's heart?"
"No."
Dalton answered immediately without hesitation. It was the fastest answer among the answers he gave recently.
"Why? Didn't you need a heart to save your dead lover?"
"That is true, but I don't want Arwin's heart."
He spoke clearly. It was a very firm tone.
I recalled the terrible dream I had the other day. That dream where Dalton appeared taking Arwin's heart.
Was what I saw in the dream a result created by my far-fetched imagination as expected?
But to say that, the fishy smell of blood imprinted on my mind wasn't forgotten. I couldn't shake off the ominous premonition that something full of déjà vu would happen sooner or later.
I lowered my face a little over the back of Dalton's hand touching my shoulder. Bringing my nose tip close enough to touch the back of his white hand, I smelled that scent.
Enough to make my expectation of smelling blood feel meaningless, a fragrant smell came from the back of his hand. It was a nice smell comparable to the smell of my oil.
It was a smell that made me forget all the fishy smell of blood that came to mind for an instant.
"What are you doing?"
Dalton asked puzzledly, watching me sniffing over the back of his hand.
"Smelling."
I answered as if it were natural. It was an act that couldn't be expressed in other words.
Although he could have thought it strange, Dalton didn't mind much and permitted me to smell the back of his hand.
"What soap do you use?"
"Natural organic soap."
If it's a soap with such good lasting power, it must be expensive. Just like my oil that Arwin remembers.
"That's expensive, right?"
"Incredibly."
As expected, my prediction wasn't wrong. Dalton nodded with a proud expression.
"I want it."
"You want to buy one too?"
"Regrettably, I have no money. I already bought a dress with a month's salary. On the monumental day I wore the most expensive dress I bought in my life, someone struck a storm. The rainfall was so fierce, I thought the lace of the dress containing the touch of a masterpiece would become rags."
"...."
"Of course, it didn't go as far as becoming rags."
I looked at Dalton with half-closed eyes.
"Iphoe. You, you're incredibly good at talking."
I smiled soundlessly.
I didn't say it expecting reflection from Dalton particularly. I just listed the events that happened in the past without exaggeration.
However, sometimes certain events brought about results I didn't expect. Dalton retorted small with a face like a dejected puppy.
"That soap. Should I buy it for you?"
He must have felt guilty. I didn't want to refuse his kindness. He's offering to buy it first, why should I decline?
I answered readily.
"I was waiting for those words."
I didn't force him to buy the soap. Absolutely not.
"Thanks."
Dalton smiled a bright smile and patted my head. That smile that makes many women's hearts flutter.
The feeling of wanting to vomit began to subside noticeably. Maybe because of Dalton's natural organic soap smell and smile.
Everything on the street was being dyed red by the overwhelming sunset light. Within it, nothing maintained its own color. Dalton's blond hair, and his odd eyes beautiful enough to sting the eyes, were also dyed red.
Even my appearance reflected in his eyes seemed to be dyed red.
"Is it okay to come out like this?"
"I came out after doing all my work. It's okay for a short while."
Since today wasn't playing hooky, I just had to return to the Marquis's residence not too late. Of course, if the head maid catches my brief absence, I'll be scolded....
Nevertheless, I really wanted Dalton's organic soap. If I smell its scent, I thought I might be able to dilute my jealousy toward Arwin.
Jealousy is futile. It only gnaws at me. I didn't want the little devil in my heart to wake up again.
And such a thought also occurred. When I die unexpectedly early. So when I am laid in a coffin. When one of the mourners places a chrysanthemum flower in my hand. At that time, I wished that smell would be there.
The fragrant organic soap smell coming from a corpse's hand. It was clearly a romantic thing, more than thought.
Dalton walked ahead to the shop where he bought the soap. They say the place where he bought the soap is a shop of a certain Western merchant.
After walking quite a bit along the long main road, a shop that looked like it would sell expensive items just by looking appeared. Only then did Dalton stop walking and say to me.
"It's here."
"It looks like a shop that sells only expensive items."
"You bet."
Dalton became very conceited.
"Dalton, do you have a lot of money?"
"You bet."
"...."
"I am an Archmage. I am not restricted by money. If there is something you want besides soap, I'll buy you one more."
He spoke as if being generous. I didn't refuse his generosity.
"Sounds good."
Because it might be the last generosity from another person I receive while alive.
As soon as we entered the Western merchant's shop, the first scent I smelled wasn't the natural organic soap scent. I smelled wood. A smell with depth as if it had endured a long time.
I walked following the trace of the wood smell as if possessed. The more I walked following the trace, the thicker the smell of wood became.
When I walked to the secluded part of the shop, the owner of the smell was seen. A brown wooden coffin placed carelessly was its owner. Although the coffin was in the shade where light didn't reach properly, to my eyes, it looked brighter than anything else.
I reached out and carefully stroked its surface. Then I tilted my head and smelled it.
From the wooden coffin, the smell of a tree that grew upright receiving sunlight came. Just smelling it was a good smell that made the mind comfortable.
"Iphoe? What are you looking at?"
Dalton's voice, seemingly having chased after me who disappeared suddenly, was heard. He approached me in a bound.
"...A coffin?"
"Yes, I think I'll need it sooner or later."
A coffin was a more necessary item for me than soap.
I imagined myself lying still inside it. The thought suddenly occurred that it would be nice if the lavender Dalton gifted was also inside my coffin.
"Dalton. Can you buy this for me too?"
I asked him without taking my eyes off the coffin. Dalton answered, stroking the coffin with his fingertips following me.
"You bet."
It was a phrase I heard just a moment ago, but somehow, just for this time, his voice felt sorrowful.
"You really remind me of Arabel."
I looked at Dalton's face. His face was complicated and subtle.
"Did you buy her coffin too?"
"No, she prepared it."
"Why did she die?"
"There was a worm gnawing at her heart."
The moment I was about to say I think I know what that worm is too, Dalton spoke first. I closed my mouth again and looked at him.
"May I hug you once?"
Before my answer even fell, he was already gripping my shoulders. His fingertips touching my shoulders were trembling minutely.
"...It doesn't matter."
Dalton pulled me into his embrace with a face like he would cry soon.
Those fingertips that were stroking the coffin pitifully touched my waist, and his face was placed on my shoulder.
"I think I'll be really sad if you die."
His voice was wet. He must have felt the nostalgia of his old lover from me again. Is that nostalgia something deeply imbued and unforgettable?
I answered in a dry voice contrary to his voice.
"I don't think we are close enough to grieve each other's death."
"If we become such a relationship, it will become sadder. Then, I might grieve your death to an unbearable extent."
Dalton held my waist he was holding even tighter. Although I couldn't know the reason, I didn't feel like shaking him off even a little.
He spoke in a sorrowful voice as if making a desperate request.
"Give me a chance to sincerely grieve your death."
Then he seduces sweeter than anyone in the world.
"So that our relationship can become a little closer."
"...."
"Won't you give me your night tonight?
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