"Why are we here? Isn't it time for you to tell me?"
As I heard the question uttered from behind me, I stopped walking.
Looking back, I saw Cassion staring at me with a grumpy expression. He'd just been steadily following me until now.
Well, to be exact, all I could see were his lips in a straight line because he was wearing a black mask.
Now that it's been about a week since Cassion's accident, the search for him wouldn't be as extensive as it was before. However, there wasn't anything bad about being cautious.
The fact that a week had already passed was just that—only a week had passed.
I looked at the black mask, about where his eyes were. Then, I opened my lips to speak.
"You asked me later than I thought you would, hm?"
Right now, we were walking along a squalid alley, and by anyone's judgment, it was a place that exuded poverty.
Several dilapidated structures and tents that were too shabby to call houses. Trash rolling on the street so dirty that they'd turned black. Strange odors that permeated everywhere.
Usually, a dark place like this was very far from bright places, and the brightest place in the duchy's domain was the Valentine estate.
Our travel time from the estate to this place had been quite long, however, in the meantime, Cassion did not complain or even ask a question.
When we left the ducal estate in a carriage, when I asked him to wear the mask I gave him during the ride, he asked not one question.
Even until we stopped by the Larrington Bookstore, escaped through the back door and walked for a long time until we reached this squalid alley.
If it were me, I would have asked already around the time the mask was put on.
At my question, Cassion did not answer.
All I could see were his lips in a straight line, so I couldn't read his expression.
He continued to stare at me, then just took a few steps forward in order to catch up. Standing tall right next to me, he leaned down a little before he opened his mouth.
"You asked me to come with you, so we're probably going somewhere we need to go. And I know you'll tell me about it later, so I thought that it just wasn't the 'proper' time yet."
I blinked.
The stiff tone of voice he spoke with sounded like whining to me.
He trusted me and kept waiting, but it looked like he got sulky because I showed no signs of telling him anything.
I couldn't see anything beneath what the mask was covering, but for some reason, I could tell what expression he was making right then.
Obviously, it was a warped expression that would match his grumbling tone.
I smiled slightly and pushed the man's shoulder with one finger.
He had leaned down to match my height, but he now returned to standing upright.
"There's someone I'm looking for here. Someone who will help."
As I gradually walked forward again while answering him, Cassion matched my stride at a relaxed speed.
"Someone who will help… Then is it the person you talked about last time? Did you say her name's 'Diana'?"
"Well, the final objective is to get to her, but she's not the one we're looking for today."
"Then?"
The answer to Cassion's question lay in the note in my pocket.
Two days ago, when Blanca pretended to be a bookstore employee and paid the mansion a visit, didn't she say that she needed my help for the additional request I sent before? The one related to Diana.
Then she gave me a book with this note in between its pages, telling me to check it later to know what kind of help she needed from me.
After Blanca left, I immediately opened the book. Inside, there was a veil much like the one she always wore, and beneath that was the note.
This was what's written on that small piece of paper:
'Two days later, wear this and go to the place marked on this map.'
And that map was written at the back of the note, depicting the alleys near the ducal territory's city.
Amidst the depiction of winding alleys, a red line was drawn along only one alley, and the road where that red line ended was marked with stars.
It seemed to be the destination.
After checking the marked place again, I read the note once more.
'Along the alley that has been marked here, buy a doll and take it with you. When you arrive at the destination, there will be someone waiting to help you regarding your request.
P.S. Bring your escort knight.'
It was impossible to know what's going on, but I had no choice but to do as I was told.
The Blanca I knew was already doing her best to do the request I made. No matter how strange the instructions were, I'm sure this was going to be of assistance to me somehow.
That's why I came all the way here with Cassion, and I was wearing the veil over my face just as I was instructed.
Unfortunately, we've yet to find the dolls that were supposedly being sold along this alley. However.
"It should be here. Someone who can help me find that woman."
I answered half-heartedly, looking around. Maybe the doll seller was around here.
'If I go even further, I don't think I'd even see a single ant, let alone a human being.'
Even though we've already walked quite a bit, I still couldn't find the supposed doll seller. All we've come across were some people either begging on the street or selling crude flowers. Except for them, who all glanced furtively at us because we definitely looked suspicious to anyone else given that we were wearing masks and hoods.
'If I knew this would happen, I should have just brought some other doll with me.'
Though even as I thought like this, I soon shook my head. The specific instruction was to 'buy a doll there', and so I should abide by those words.
I might have to go round and round just to fulfill this condition. Perhaps, I could unearth a hint with the doll seller.
"Rather than that, Maxwell, do you happen to…"
I trailed off.
Because someone suddenly appeared and stood in front of me. Fortunately, there was still some distance between us, so we didn't bump into each other.
Even so, the person who suddenly popped out was such an unexpected person, seeing as they were below my eye level.
To make eye contact with the other person, I lowered my gaze. Quite a lot.
It was a small child whose height couldn't even reach my waist. And, at first glance, it was evident just how thin and malnourished the child was.
"What is it?"
When I asked quietly, I could see the child's shoulders shaking. It was uncomfortable to see because it felt like the child was scared for no reason, even if it was the child who suddenly blocked my way here.
"If you have nothing to say, can you stop blocking my path? There's somewhere I need to be."
As I spoke calmly, I felt Cassion's gaze stuck on me. At that, I turned my head slightly to glance at him.
Then, I lifted the veil slightly with the fan in my hand, barely showing my lips.
'What.'
After mouthing the question at him, I faced forward again without waiting for the answer.
The child was still in the way.
I was thinking of just avoiding and walking ahead, but the child's small hand began to reach down slowly.
And the place where those thin fingers headed towards was their own bag.
It was an old cloth back that looked as though it was about to break. And after rummaging through the bag, the child took out a few small dolls.
They were clumsily made with crude materials, and they could really barely be called dolls.
The child held out some dolls to me and hesitated for a moment, but eventually showed them to me fully.
"H… Hello. P… Please buy a d… doll."
The young doll merchant let out a timid, sloppy sales pitch.
If it were someone else, they wouldn't have looked twice at what's being sold.
However, these words were what I've been meaning to hear for a while now.
"Okay. How much?"
As I asked back without hesitation, the child's eyes shone brightly.
* * *
Cassion thought that it was fortunate he was wearing a mask now.
Otherwise, he would have been caught with a look of disbelief just about now.
His black eyes beneath the mask glanced towards one person silently—the woman walking next to him, Rosetta Valentine.
Her face was also covered with a veil, so he couldn't see her expression. But at just a glance and even when only her lips were visible, it was clear that she was smiling.
Seeing her fiddling with the crude doll, she looked very satisfied.
"That's unexpected."
As he peered at Rosetta, he calmly opened his lips to speak.
The woman turned to look at him.
"What is?"
Though they couldn't make eye contact because of the cover over both their eyes, he lowered his gaze because he felt as though that was the case nevertheless.
But as his gaze lingered on Rosetta's neckline, he became momentarily flustered, so he looked back up and anchored his gaze on her lips.
"I thought that even if you were urged to buy it, you'd ignore the child and pass right by. Whether it's buying something from them or giving alms, I didn't think that you'd show compassion in such a situation."
Earlier when the child blocked the road and held out the dolls, Cassion absolutely thought that Rosetta wouldn't buy any dolls.
Because she didn't seem to be interested in things that had no use to her.
It wasn't that he thought of her badly.
People had different personalities, and in his perspective, Rosetta might be cold, but she wasn't a bad person.
It's not required for a person to buy a doll that a child was selling to them, so if she had ignored the child and just passed by, he would have thought, 'That's just like Rosetta'.
But instead, Rosetta bought one.
And even when the child offered everything to her, she picked up only one.
The flustered child told her to take all the other dolls, but Rosetta patted the child on the head and said no.
"It's not that I don't want to take them. I'll just leave them in your care for a while. So, keep them for now until I come back to get them."
She spoke in such a sweet voice that Cassion could only stare at Rosetta blankly.
Everything she did was always unexpected.
That she willingly bought a doll, that she spoke so sweetly to the child, that she gave more money in such a way that the child wouldn't feel ashamed of it.
To be honest, there was no reason for them to come back to this alley.
Of course, she wouldn't have to meet that child again.
Nevertheless, as she gave more than she should have paid, it was perhaps her way of urging and comforting the child to receive the money by saying that she'd come back for the other dolls later.
It was odd.
He wondered if he hastily judged her as a cold-hearted person just because of her outward appearance.
Meanwhile, Rosetta only blinked as she heard Cassion's question.
Beneath the veil, her expression became colored with surprise.
With the rough cloth doll in her hands, Rosetta thought,
'Compassion?'
When did she ever.
Rosetta herself did not know the meaning of that word.
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