IDIBC Chapter 8

Map of the Labyrinth (2)

Harold didn’t answer and turned around to pick up a wooden sword. This was exactly the weakness I had caught him with. In the principality, it was customary to cut off the wrist of anyone who stole another’s belongings.

Harold had arrived at the dining hall a bit late after training and saw a child stealing bread. The child was the son of a maid who worked in the dining hall, and being a man of good nature, he naturally forgave the boy.

He patted the child’s head, telling him never to do it again, and even gave him the bread that was meant to be his own portion. As he turned around, our eyes met directly.

Having witnessed that scene by chance, I thought in desperation that I should seize it as an opportunity.

Of course, I had absolutely no intention of actually reporting the child’s wrongdoing and having his wrist cut off.

I hadn’t intended to suppress Ricardo’s artistic soul through such extreme methods from the beginning.

Ricardo truly drew pictures at any time. Of course, it wasn’t by his own will.

The night Ricardo began drawing the labyrinth, I entered his room and stole all the tools he could use for drawing.

However, the next day I could only despair.

This young artist, mad with painting, had used the entire wall as a canvas to draw the labyrinth.

Without paint and brushes, the picture he had drawn by crushing ink with his fingers was, in a word, beautiful enough to steal one’s soul. But I had to erase that masterpiece of the ages with my own hands.

The ink drawing on the polished wooden wall fortunately came off when I scrubbed it with a soapy brush. Of course, it didn’t disappear with just one or two scrubs – it took many times, really scrubbing hard, to remove it completely.

In the end, I also removed the ink from his room that day.

Again, the next day, as soon as I opened my eyes and rushed to throw open his door, I was left speechless.

Ricardo had injured himself somewhere on his body and drawn a picture with his own blood.

The moment I opened the door, the stench of blood hit me and made me nauseous, but that was all. Once again, I was captivated by the picture he had drawn in just an instant.

So I took a soapy brush again and carefully erased that painting as well. By this point, I was ready to memorize the map of the labyrinth.

And that day, I ended up devising this terrible plan.

Firmly grasping my weakening heart, I set out to lure Ricardo.

“Rica, what are you doing?”

He was sitting on a bench in front of the east wing like a masterpiece painting, reading a book I had borrowed for him. Fortunately, he wasn’t drawing.

“Don’t call me that.”

Despite getting scolded every time, I stubbornly called him Rica. It was my personal nickname that I only used when we were alone together. I felt that at least this much would give me some sense of being rewarded for my efforts. A kind of personal compensation psychology?

“If you don’t have anything particular to do, how about learning some swordsmanship?”

His eyes narrowed at the sudden suggestion.

“What’s with the sudden swordsmanship?”

“Everything is sudden at first. Come on, let’s go. Today’s weather is perfect for swordsmanship too.”

Hahaha, I laughed awkwardly and looked up at the sky to see black storm clouds gathering as if it would pour rain at any moment.

Ricardo clicked his tongue and frowned deeply. Even so, he obediently followed where I led. Then he suddenly stopped.

“Why?”

Ricardo’s gaze was on my hand that was firmly grasping his.

“Do you find it unpleasant when I hold your hand? You’ve let me hold it quite often lately.”

“……No, it’s fine.”

He seemed to pause for a moment, but then shook his head. For someone who used to call me a slave and wouldn’t allow me to come close, this was quite generous.

“Thank you.”

Right, I’m going through all this trouble because of you, so if you disliked even holding hands, you’d really have no conscience. But still seeming displeased, when I smiled brightly, he quickly turned his head away.

When we appeared at the training ground, Harold approached us.

“Say hello, this is Sir Harold. He’s among the best of Count Fennel’s knights.”

I could feel Harold becoming slightly tense upon seeing fifteen-year-old Ricardo. And rightly so, because despite his small frame, Ricardo’s eyes blazed bright enough to overwhelm most adult men.

“How do you do, I am Harold Hector.”

The people of this household thought of Ricardo as some very distant relative of the head of the family. Ricardo just stared at the hand Harold extended for a handshake without any intention of letting go of my hand.

I twisted my arm with a bit of force to pull it free and introduced him to Ricardo once more.

“Go ahead and greet him. From today, he’ll be your swordsmanship teacher. He’s the knight I’m closest to, so you can trust him completely.”

No sooner had I finished speaking than Ricardo whipped his head around to look at me. The summer desert sun that briefly squeezed through the storm clouds made his hair sparkle and shine. Along with that, it made his pupils look even blacker.

Seeing his eyes flash with dissatisfaction, it seemed something had put him in a bad mood. Like Resotia’s rainy season, his temper was always somewhat fickle.

“What’s wrong?”

“You’re…… closest to him?”

“Huh? Yes. He’s a very cool and excellent knight.”

“Cool and excellent?”

What’s this? His persistent questioning seemed like he suspected my plan, so I hurriedly headed toward where the wooden swords were lined up. Ricardo quietly followed me.

“Pick out a wooden sword you’ll use. You need to exercise, exercise. Drawing pictures all day isn’t good for your health.”

“I don’t draw pictures these days.”

No, you only draw pictures these days. You draw pictures like a madman!

“Rica. How important learning swordsmanship is, well…”

“I told you not to call me that.”

Ricardo gave me his usual reproach for calling him by my arbitrary nickname. Nevertheless, he examined the wooden swords laid out in the training ground from various angles. Then suddenly, he called my name quietly.

“Lienne.”

At the voice that pierced my ears like a spring breeze, I slowly closed my eyes. Every time I heard it, it felt like a large piece of my heart was being cut away.

“You cleared out all the art supplies from my room, didn’t you?”

I was speechless at the sudden question, but I didn’t want to lie to Ricardo.

“Yes, but that was……”

“It’s okay.”

“Huh?”

“I know you did it for me.”

“…….”

“So I’ll do as you say. Swordsmanship, or whatever.”

“What?”

“It’s perfect weather for swordsmanship too, and I…… trust you.”

Having picked a sword he liked, he held it up and swished it through the air. Though he was just lightly gripping and waving it, it immediately captured the viewer’s attention.

If it were the usual me, I would have clapped enthusiastically toward Ricardo, saying he was really cool. But I just stared blankly, lost in thought about the meaning of what he had said.

He trusts me……?

Even though we had often slept embracing each other’s warmth on unbearably cold days, even though there were so many days when I saved the snacks I cherished for you.

I never thought I’d hear you say you trust me…….

Only when Harold nudged my foot, which had been standing there in a daze, did I finally come to my senses.

Now wasn’t the time for this. Sorry to you who trusts me, but it was time to betray Ricardo’s trust.

“Have you ever held a sword before?”

Somehow Harold’s voice seemed to have become quite serious.

“No.”

“Ahem, is that so?”

“Yes, because I didn’t feel the need.”

“Any man of the principality should learn swordsmanship.”

“Why?”

“What? Well, if you learn swordsmanship, um……. you can build physical strength.”

At Harold’s words, Ricardo chuckled and held his sword forward. But even to me, who didn’t know the first thing about swordsmanship, that stance looked quite impressive.

Harold also seemed to sense something extraordinary and leaned forward to get a better look at Ricardo’s movements. But at that moment, Ricardo, who had readjusted his grip on the sword, began the attack first.

“Ahhhhh!”

At the sudden strike, Harold screamed ungracefully and staggered back three steps. No matter how mediocre the skills of Count Fennel’s knights might be, was this really appropriate behavior when facing a 15-year-old boy?

Unable to regain his composure from the continuous attacks that followed, Harold couldn’t get his bearings. I gritted my teeth and urged him with my eyes to quickly execute the orders I had given earlier.

After hesitating for a moment, Harold steeled his resolve and aimed only for Ricardo’s wrist.

Though the child displayed remarkable swordsmanship for his age, he couldn’t overcome a knight who trained daily and was fighting with all his might.

The relentless attacks disrupted Ricardo’s steps, and Harold didn’t miss that opening, striking down hard on the right wrist of the boy who raised his hand to block.

‘Success!’

As Ricardo frowned and grasped his wrist, Harold threw down his sword with an even more pained expression and ran over.

Meanwhile, I smiled triumphantly, making sure Ricardo didn’t notice.

The boy who had just been saying he trusted me glared at me with eyes full of betrayal. Still, this was an unavoidable choice.

“Are you okay?”

When I barely managed to lower the corners of my mouth and asked with feigned concern, Ricardo smiled brightly as if he had never been angry. This clever child couldn’t have failed to notice that I had orchestrated it and Harold had carried it out.

With a shameless face, I approached the boy who had fallen to the ground and extended my hand. But he didn’t take my hand and got up by himself, then walked toward the sword that had fallen to the ground.

And he picked up the sword with his uninjured left hand. But somehow that movement was far too natural. Flash – the sun shining behind him transformed directly into Ricardo’s halo.

“What are you…… doing now?”

“The swordsmanship training isn’t over yet.”