Chapter Two Hundred and Seventy-Three: Pot-au-feu with Wine and Root Vegetables 2
Surprised by Gottfried’s words—from a man she had assumed disliked Julius—Karen nonetheless shook her head.
“No… I’m worried about Mr. Julius, so that condition is fine. I don’t want anything else.”
“In the first place, Master Julius is only away because the hunting festival is still underway.”
Gottfried studied Karen with a searching look. His eyes seemed to be trying to see through her, and Karen tensed slightly.
“If Master Julius is aiming to win, he’ll have gone deep into the forest by morning. He won’t be back easily—and most likely, he hasn’t even noticed anything is wrong on this end. Are you sure you want to use that as your condition?”
“I sent magical power through the earring that transmits heat, so it wouldn’t be strange for him to come back at any time.”
She hadn’t sent that heat due to this disturbance, but the timing had been almost too good. Gottfried, however, tilted his head at her words.
“The Enchanted Forest is thick with magical power. So if he has gone deep enough, there’s every chance the magic never reached him. It isn’t a dungeon, but the area outside a dungeon’s sphere of influence is practically the same thing. Even herbs grow there.”
“So what you’re saying is, even if Mr. Julius were calling for help, it might not reach me.”
It was a painful, open secret Julius had never even tried to hide. Rather than hiding his wounds, he seemed not even aware of his own pain—his dullness made her chest ache unbearably, and now this. When something went wrong, how much would Julius take care of himself? She had been at the very moment of doubting that she could trust him in that regard—and then this had happened. Karen let out a long, heavy sigh.
Gottfried narrowed his eyes at her and spoke:
“If Master Julius appears to be held up in the forest for some reason, of course, I’ll go help him. For now, have some wine. It will calm your mind.”
“…Thank you.”
Gottfried poured from his flask and handed the cup to Karen. She couldn’t very well refuse, so she brought it to her lips. The aroma was extraordinary. She took a sip—and her expression shifted to something puzzled.
“This is a remarkably good wine. I feel like I’ve tasted it somewhere before…?”
“Have you had Gotthard before? Perhaps Lord Helfried gave some to you?”
“What?! Gotthard—the ultra-luxury wine!?”
Karen’s eyes went wide. It was the label Sara had once brought to a celebratory gathering, saying it was a gift from Helfried.
“It’s just a hobby of mine, homemade. I can’t produce much, so the price rises.”
Karen swallowed hard. Between her irritation at being dragged into Gottfried’s affairs and the very real danger it might bring, she had tossed the wine carelessly into the pot-au-feu when he offered it. It hadn’t been in a labeled bottle, so she’d had no idea. Inside the orichalcum alchemical cauldron, an extraordinarily expensive pot-au-feu was quietly reaching completion.
Gottfried poured a cup for himself, took a long swig, and turned back to his knights.
“Each of you, have a cup! You may open one of the barrels from the carriage!”
“Thank you, Captain!”
The knights erupted in a cheer, and Gottfried exhaled quietly beside Karen.
“I’d like nothing more than to make wine in peace and spend my days quietly at home with my wife—but Lord Helfried won’t allow it… and now I can’t very well abandon my men either. A troublesome business.”
Karen took a small sip of the wine herself. It was fragrant and delicious, and unmistakably right for the pot-au-feu. The pot-au-feu in the orichalcum cauldron was nearly ready now. Karen gave it a slow stir, ladled a little into a small dish to taste, and sighed.
“What’s wrong? Did it not turn out well?”
“It turned out beautifully. It’s warm and nourishing, exactly as I hoped… I just found myself wishing Mr. Julius could have some too.”
A single sip of the nourishing hot soup eased her, warmth spreading through her body and tension leaving her shoulders. Even cooking over an open fire, the cold crept in steadily once the sun went down. And yet, how cold must Julius be right now? Even if his body was strong thanks to magical power, what should she call this desire to feed him something warm?
“Please, help yourself. You did provide the ingredients, after all.”
Gottfried accepted the bowl of pot-au-feu from Karen and said:
“Whatever you come to know about him, you intend to live alongside Master Julius, don’t you, Miss Karen?”
“Of course.”
“Once you have chosen Master Julius, there is no going back.”
She felt a pressure emanating from Gottfried, and a faint sweat broke out across her skin. It wasn’t overflowing magical power—just the intensity of emotions boiling within him reaching her.
“That’s exactly what I want.”
Karen answered with a smile, even as a bead of sweat traced her brow. Gottfried exhaled, took a spoonful of the pot-au-feu, and murmured:
“…It certainly warms the body. I started making wine myself because I wanted to warm my wife—she tends to run cold.”
He turned to face Karen fully and bowed his head.
“I’m sorry for dragging you into this. If you are truly prepared to accept every side of Master Julius, then you are as good as family to me.”
Karen’s eyes went wide at his words.
“As the price for pulling you into my affairs—if you ever have troubles of your own, you are welcome to pull me into them as you would family.”
“…As family?”
From the very beginning, Gottfried had made his proposal not to her as an alchemist, but to Karen as an individual who would marry Julius. Repeating his words, Karen asked with wide, round eyes:
“Were you treating me as family from the start when you involved me?”
“If you were willing to accept all of Master Julius, then as family. If the information I hinted at led you to give up on him, then as a neutral, well-meaning third party. That was how it would have gone.”
Gottfried exhaled.
“Master Julius is not easy, Miss Karen. The despair of clinging to life with everything he had—that experience has, without question, twisted his heart. And that twist will manifest as an obsessive attachment to the woman he has given his heart to.”
“Obsessive…”
“I haven’t had experiences as harrowing as Master Julius, but after carrying out my duties at the edge of death, the change that came over my feelings toward my wife was something I can only describe as frightening. In that, Master Julius resembles me.”
Karen felt something click into place. Gottfried had not disliked Julius. He had been testing her—for Julius’s sake.
“You’re worried about Mr. Julius too, Captain.”
“I’m not sure ‘worry’ is the right word. I am, however, concerned about Master Julius’s future…”
Gottfried looked down at her, his eyes growing quiet and measured.
“Because of Winfried’s foolishness, Master Julius went through something truly devastating, and it left its mark on him. It may not show—but what feelings he has come to harbor toward someone like you… You may not be able to feel the full weight of it yet, but when the day comes that you see that attachment for yourself, I can only hope you will have the resolve to truly accept it.”
Karen swallowed nervously.
“So that means I’m guaranteed to be overwhelmingly loved…!?”
“That is not what I said.”
“But the way you’ve been talking, Captain—you love your wife very much, don’t you…?”
“I won’t deny that what I feel for my wife falls in the category of love, yes.”
“And you’re saying Mr. Julius is like you…!”
Karen’s eyes lit up. Gottfried’s face went completely blank.
“That is not something to rejoice over. At the very least, I have no intention of ever letting my wife escape.”
“Kyaa!”
Gottfried looked down at Karen’s delighted shriek with an expression of utter disappointment.
No comments:
Post a Comment