Looking For My Fiancé’s Lover – chapter 32 (spin-off 5)

The dish was emptied and only the oil was left.
Considering the amount of bell pepper fed to her, it could be said that today’s maximum goal was achieved.

“All right.
I’ll take you outside today since you’ve listened well.
But, there are conditions.”

“Why do you keep adding conditions every time you do something? You’re the one who said you’d play with me!”

“One, don’t go more than five steps away from me.
Two, don’t do what you’re told not to do.
And third,…maybe just don’t do anything at all.”

“You are typically telling me not to even breathe, aren’t you?”

Grinding her teeth, Katrina got up from her bed and pushed Nezar’s back.

“I’m going to wash up and get ready.
Go out and wait!”

With nothing to do, Nezar went down the stairs and headed for the indoor racetrack.
On a day when it was snowing like crazy, Lockherd ran to the hill like a wild unbridled horse, but when the sun came up, the madman turned to ride a horse indoors.
Nezar had absolutely no idea what was going on inside that guy’s head.

Nezar sat on the grandstand for a few minutes before Lockherd, upon approaching from afar, recognised him and slowly climbed the stairs.

“What is this, and why all of a sudden? You haven’t shown your face in days.
Is being with Kate that much fun?”

“Well, it was more fun and more worthwhile of my time than playing with you.”

“Why would it be worthwhile? Did you get a job as her tutor or something?”

“Kind of, but a little different.
And what are you so curious about when you don’t even care what Katrina does?”

Lockherd, sitting in the front seat, looked calm without a drop of sweat, his bangs still neat in place.
He leaned back and crossed his legs comfortably, looking up at Nezar.

“If I’m truly not interested, why would I ask? It’s amazing how well she gets along with you.
If I try to do anything, she will just expose her teeth and claws like a wolf cub.”

At that, Nezar stared at Lockherd as the other guy rolled his eyes away from the empty racetrack.

“It’s because you’re a fool.”

“Well, then, why don’t you give ‘the fool’ some advice?”

Advice.
After pondering for a while, Nezar finally came up with a 100-point answer.

“Be handsome, gentle, and smart.”

“Hmm, you’re kidding, right?”

“If you are going to keep talking nonsense, go back to riding your horse.”

At the sound of Nezar’s cold voice, Lockherd dramatically collapsed on the seat, grabbing his chest.

“You are chasing me away already? Aren’t you too cold-hearted?”

“I’m here to watch you ride a horse, not to see you.”

Lockherd shook his head, got up and headed back to the racetrack.
Somehow, unlike when he approached, it seemed like he had a lot of thoughts on his mind.

 

“Oh-, Oh my God.
Look at this, Nezar! Bun-, bunny!”

Nezar nodded indifferently.
But contrary to her fussy gesture, Katrina was busy staring intently at the small animal without giving Nezar a single glance.
However, no matter how he looked at it, it did not look like the kind of rabbit he had heard of.
The rabbit that Nezar knew was shorter, more fluffy, and had a much lower field of vision than that animal.

“Rabbits have patterns on their backs…The book clearly said that they have long ears and fluffy fur, but this one seems a little different.”

Katrina said, baffled.

“That’s because it’s a deer, not a rabbit.”

“…Huh? Not-, not a rabbit? Its tail is so short though?”

“Aside from rabbits, short-tailed animals are everywhere in this forest.”

Katrina was clearly in shock.
She thought she had met the small animal because she’d worked hard on the search, but perhaps she had overestimated herself.

The place they took their walk was on the ridge behind Ezelot’s castle, behind the tall separating wall.
Though it was not that large, it was still a part of the mountain.
Katrina said she had had no chance to climb the mountain because the maids only allowed her to come near the wall for about ten minutes at most.

That said, she was so anxious that she followed Nezar in a riding suit, not a dress.
About an hour had already passed since the silly short conversation at the level of a six-year-old took place.
At this point, Nezar also felt like he had regressed into a child on the same level as Katrina.

“You know what, why don’t we take this baby deer back to the castle? If it lives in the forest on a cold winter day like this, it will freeze to death from frostbite.”

At Katrina’s pointing fingertip, there was a fawn jumping around in the forest.
Nezar kindly gave her the most exemplary answer with the patient heart of a teacher teaching his children.

“It’s no use even if you take it with you, as there will be a mother deer nearby.
Taking it away is like kidnapping.
And kidnapping is a serious crime.”

“Didn’t we also leave without telling Mrs.
Morcada?”

“It’s okay since she is a maid.”

Rather, the old woman was relieved to be able to pass the nuisance to him.

As the sun was setting behind the forest, raindrops dripped onto the white snow.
As the rain, which had only started with a drop or two, began to pour down harder, Katrina grabbed Nezar’s arm and ran into the forest.

“I heard from Eden that there is a log cabin used by the old forest keeper somewhere in here.
If we go there, we will be able to avoid the rain.”

She was right.
At the end of a long dirt road into the wood, stood an old log house.
Katrina finally did something useful for once.
It might as well be the first time ever in a very long time.

“Wow, spider! Look at that, Nezar.
The spider is the size of my fist! One, two, three… eight legs!”

“Okay, I get it, so please don’t describe what that bunch of hair looks like.
You’re giving me goosebumps all over my back.”

The only problem was that the tiny shack had been neglected for so long that it was present with bizarrely shaped bugs and dust.

Nezar’s shoulders shivered slightly as he looked away from the spider hanging from the ceiling.
No matter how mentally strong he was, it was still difficult to bare the sight of a spider the size of a child’s fist.
And it didn’t make sense that Katrina could act so casually before the creature in the first place.

“Nezar.”

Nezar, who was looking around inside the house, turned to her.
As soon as their eyes met, Katrina turned to dust off the dust on the leather chair.
She then took his hand, which had dirt all over, and sat down on it.

“So uh, the thing is, my mother said I should say thank you if I get help.
Thank you so much for bringing me out here.”

Though the surrounding might be dark, the sound of her voice could be heard very clearly.
Nezar glanced in the direction Katrina was sitting.
Despite not listening to him sometimes, at times like this, she seemed like a good kid.

“If someone were to hear this, they would think I got paid to teach you experiential learning.
No need to thank me, I wasn’t particularly busy either, so this much is no big deal.”

He then rummaged through the empty furniture and found short candles and flints.
Nezar worked his hands vigorously to light a candle.

“But you said you’re taking time out of your busy schedule to hang out with me.”

“…At any rate, just understand it in a rough sense, don’t go into too much detail.”

He took the candlestick that was lying around and put the candle in it.
As he calmly put it down next to Katrina, her wet platinum hair could be seen dyed with the warm colour of the light.
Katrina smiled brightly as the light of the flickering flame cast on her.
She felt that the dark room was as bright as in the early morning.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve had such a good day without crying or getting angry.
Until a few days ago, I only slept every day because I enjoyed playing in my dreams more than playing outside alone.”

“Dream?”

Katrina nodded, placing her hand over the thin candle to get a little heat.

“Yes.
In my dream, I was a short seventeen-year-old student.
In my dream world, there was a large bird that carried people flying in the sky, and opera actors performing in a small black box.
The night is bright even without fire, and carriages run without a horse…”

As she spoke, Katrina’s face became dreamy.
At the sight, Nezar quietly leaned against the wall and listened to her.

“I have a lot of friends there.
Every day was so much fun that I didn’t want to wake up.
I skipped meals and only slept, so later on, my body couldn’t move for a while.
That day, for the first time, my mother and Daisy cried.
How shocking it was.
And from the next day on, no matter how hard I tried, I could no longer dream of the same thing.”

T/n: Aw, I feel bad for her