Chapter 229 - Norn's Small Romance, Part One

Norn's POV

By the time the carriage entered the Asura Royal Capital, the sky had fully gone dark.

Magic lamps lined both sides of the street, throwing warm yellow light across the cobblestones. The snow had been cleared to the road's edges, and patrolling knights drifted past at steady intervals. The air was cold. But the capital's nights were never quiet, tavern light spilled through frosted windows, laughter bleeding out from inside, and a row of soup stalls along the curb sent white steam curling up into the dark.

I leaned against the carriage window and let out a slow breath.

"Finally back..."

Several months of continuous travel. Gathering material, recording stories, seeing landscapes I'd never seen before. It was worth it. But the moment you return somewhere familiar, your body just... stops holding itself up. The tension you didn't know you were carrying drains away on its own.

Especially since I wouldn't have to be woken up by the cold every morning.

Just thinking about the winds on the northern snowfields made my ears ache all over again. My brother had given me a teleportation scroll before we left, but I'd wanted to actually experience travel, properly, the way it's supposed to feel. If I'd gone home every time the environment got uncomfortable, would that have even counted?

Across from me, Ruijerd sat in silence.

His frame nearly filled half the carriage. These days, in Asura — no, in the whole world — almost no one reacted to his appearance with fear anymore. The only exceptions were people in the most isolated corners of the Demon Continent. Even here, as the carriage rolled through the streets, a few children spotted us and started waving.

"It's a lord of the Superd Race!"

"They really have green hair!"

"Is that Lord Ruijerd?"

"You idiot! Not every green-haired person is Lord Ruijerd!"

"I want to be a warrior someday!"

I smiled despite myself.

"Everyone's really stopped being afraid of you."

Ruijerd was quiet for a moment. Then he nodded.

"Mm."

Still as brief as ever.

"If my brother could see the capital now, he'd be really happy."

"Rudeus has seen it many times already," Ruijerd said. "He doesn't particularly care about it."

"Well... that's him, isn't it."

I'd heard that just a few days ago, my brother had taken his wives, his daughter, and their friends to a hot spring inn. I stared out the window and felt a slow, dull frustration settle in.

I wanted to soak in a hot spring too. And Ruijerd had definitely never been to one.

"Ugh," I muttered. "Why did they go on a hot spring trip exactly when we were out for fieldwork..."

Ruijerd actually paused to think about it. Genuinely. For a few seconds.

"Because the timing happened to miss each other."

"I know that!"

Honestly...

Sometimes being too earnest just looks a little strange. Ruijerd turned to look at me, faintly puzzled, as if he couldn't figure out why I'd suddenly turned annoyed. Looking at that expression, I felt the laugh rise before I could stop it.

It had happened a lot on this trip.

I used to think Ruijerd was someone difficult to get close to. Silent. Serious. Unapproachable. But the longer we traveled together, the clearer it became that he wasn't guarded, he was just genuinely, completely, unhesitatingly sincere. Sincere to the point where he sometimes came across as almost unaware.

Like the innkeeper incident.

The man had been so flustered at meeting Ruijerd in person that he'd stuttered through the entire interaction, couldn't form a proper sentence, turned red, fumbled with the room keys. Ruijerd said nothing at the time. But the next morning, he found me at breakfast and asked, completely serious:

"Norn, am I a bit frightening?"

I'd laughed for a long time.

The memory hit me fresh, and my shoulders started shaking again. Ruijerd watched me.

"What is it?"

"Nothing... just remembered something."

"Is that so."

He nodded and looked back out the window.

Snowflakes drifted slowly past the glass. The street lights reflected in his eyes, steady and still.

I don't know why, but I felt something then, quiet and a little strange. Like I wanted to stay exactly like this. Not arrive anywhere. Not move.

I looked away immediately.

My heart was beating slightly faster than it should have been.

How strange. We'd been traveling together all this time. Why did it still happen sometimes?

The carriage slowed to a stop.

"Lady Norn," the guard called from outside. "We've arrived at the residence."

I pulled back the curtain and looked.

The familiar white mansion stood before me. Snow rested on the courtyard branches. The magic lamp at the entrance glowed soft and steady. And the maids were already standing outside in two neat rows, waiting.

I sighed.

"Queen Ariel really is excessive..."

She had given me this mansion some time ago. To be precise, she had given it to me as a way to stay in my brother's good graces. Ariel had always been sensitive to what my brother thought of her. She worried constantly that she might do something wrong and earn his disapproval, so she went out of her way to look after everyone in our family. She wasn't malicious about it. She was just, at her core, a little afraid of my brother.

She used to send me mountains of high-grade paper and ink. Enough that I'd started to wonder if she was trying to make me write ten chapters a day.

"Lady Norn, welcome back."

The head maid bowed.

I waved her off immediately. "Don't be so formal. I'm already half dead from exhaustion."

I turned to Ruijerd.

"Come in quickly. It's cold out here."

"Mm."

He nodded and followed me inside.

The warmth hit me the moment I crossed the threshold. I nearly teared up on the spot.

"I'm alive again..."

I dropped straight onto the sofa. The maids appeared with hot tea and freshly baked pastries, and the air filled with the smell of butter and black tea. Ruijerd sat nearby, drinking his tea in silence, posture perfectly upright even after everything, back straight, like a soldier at attention.

He was always like that.

But somehow, right now, it made me feel settled. Safe. As long as he was there beside me, nothing was going to go wrong.

I snuck a glance at him.

He looked back.

"What is it, Norn?"

"Nothing!"

I looked away. Ruijerd tilted his head slightly, clearly having no idea why I'd just flinched.

...Idiot.

That's exactly why it's dangerous.

Then familiar laughter floated in from outside the door.

"Oh my. It seems our great writer has finally come home."

The door swung open, and Ariel stepped in.

She wore a long, ornate dress. That perfect smile was already in place. Luke and a few guards followed her in.

"Queen Ariel? What brings you here?"

"To welcome you back, of course." She smiled warmly, then let her gaze settle on Ruijerd. "And welcome back to you as well, Ruijerd."

"Mm."

Ruijerd nodded. Ariel didn't react at all to the brevity, after years of knowing him, she understood exactly what kind of person he was. And in all of Asura Kingdom, she was probably the one who trusted Ruijerd most, second only to me.

"I heard you went to the northern snowfields this time?"

"Yes, and I nearly froze to death." I started complaining before I'd even finished nodding. "It was brutal. The ink almost froze solid at night."

"Hehe. But you must have gathered a lot of material?"

"That I did." I settled back a little. "I saw races and cultures I'd never encountered before. There's enough for a whole new book."

Ariel gave a satisfied nod. "I'm looking forward to it."

Then something seemed to cross her mind. She smiled, almost to herself.

"Though it really is a shame."

"Hm?"

"While you were away, Lord Rudeus happened to take his family and friends to a hot spring inn."

"Did Queen Ariel go as well?"

"Yes."

"In what capacity?"

Ariel lifted her teacup and took a measured sip.

"As the inn's owner?"

I laughed a little. "That's very like you. Did anything interesting happen?"

Ariel pressed her lips together. Then she smiled.

"There was. Lord Rudeus suffered quite a blow when the children barged into his room."

"What's so bad about that?"

She picked up a sugar cube and dropped it into her tea with the air of someone making a casual observation.

"Perhaps nothing at all. If Lord Rudeus and his wives had been wearing clothes."

Ah.

...I see.

My brother had always cared deeply about his image as a father. Worked hard to maintain it. And then something like that happened.

That's rough.

Beside me, Ruijerd's brow furrowed slightly. "What happened?"

I pulled a face. "N-nothing. Ruijerd doesn't need to know."

"Alright."

Ariel set her teacup down gently.

"Well. I won't keep disturbing your rest." She rose, smooth and unhurried as always. "Lady Norn, make sure you send me the first draft of your new work when it's ready."

"Again? You want to review it early again?"

"Of course." She said it like it was self-evident. "I am your most loyal reader."

"You laugh at me every time you read it."

"That means Lady Norn's work is entertaining." Her smile went just slightly warmer. "Every novel with Ruijerd in it is already enough to make anyone smile."

"Queen Ariel!"

She laughed softly. Then she looked toward Ruijerd one last time.

"I'll continue to count on you to protect Lady Norn."

"Mm."

Ruijerd nodded calmly. Ariel smiled — genuinely satisfied, and then she and Luke and the others were gone.

The hall went quiet.

Only the low crackling of the fireplace remained.

I let out a long breath. "Finally."

Ariel was a good person. I knew that. But every conversation with her left me with the uneasy feeling that she'd read straight through me without even trying. I didn't particularly like it.

Ruijerd looked over.

"Tired?"

I sank deeper into the sofa. "A little."

Then something soft settled over me.

I blinked. Looked down.

A blanket. Ruijerd had picked it up from beside him and laid it over me without a word. He was already settling back into his seat as if nothing had happened.

"Don't catch a cold."

Said completely naturally. Like it was just the obvious thing to do.

I opened my mouth. Closed it.

"Th... thanks."

"Mm."

And he went back to being quiet.

I looked down at the blanket. It was still warm from him.

My face was definitely red.

I was still sitting there thinking about nothing in particular when he spoke again.

"Norn."

"Hm?"

"This trip — were you happy?"

"Of course I was."

"Is that so."

"I got to see a lot of things. And besides..." I paused. Then, quietly: "You were with me the whole time."

Silence.

Ruijerd seemed to go still for just a moment. Then he nodded, slow and steady.

"Protecting you is what I'm here to do."

...There it was again.

That exact thing. He said it with complete sincerity, no hesitation, no second thought, and somehow that made it worse. My heart was already racing. I dropped my gaze and brought the teacup to my lips, hoping the steam would explain away the color in my face.

He didn't notice. He just sat there, quiet and present, exactly the same as always.

Outside, snow fell softly past the window. The warm light inside caught the line of his profile.

I murmured under my breath.

"Handsome idiot..."

"What did you say?"

"Nothing!"

➤ Next: Norn's Little Love Song, Part Two