Only with Your Heart

Bal took a deep breath as he sat beside the bedroom in the given room, breathing the chilling air full of morning mist.

When I inflate my chest, the stroke on my shoulder that I received in last night's duel stings and hurts, and I accidentally blush.

Even though he had no choice last night, Bal suffered a serious defeat in a bare-handed duel with the Duke of Ruklov, who signed up from Mizu.

To tell the truth, it was a battle I didn't feel like I could win from the start.

Even after a full season, Ruklov is once the strongest warrior in the country. Unlike Bal, who has been serving the territory of a relatively peaceful loan since the beginning of his service, he is a warring knight who has experienced many raw battles.

In addition to that......

Bal stared at his hands, which he placed on his hips.

Only a little...... I touched my hips, but at that moment Bal's hands were paralyzed like they were enchanted, and that odd feeling remains slight even after dawning overnight.

Chizuru.

She was a woman with a strange sounding name, a kind of beauty she'd never seen before. More sophisticated, like elaborate exotic artwork lured enough to see, unlike the flashy beauty of blonde blue eyes that attract heterosexuality at a glance......

Ruklov simply referred to her as a "guest". As if you are one of the many others that are not enough to take.

But his heart is elsewhere was more obvious than seeing fire.

If it were to protect her, Ruklov would be a ghost that would make the devil tremble, too. Not a single clump, such as Bal, who is part of the knight.

Fortunately, the battle was bare. If it were a sword-based match or a horse spear match (Joost), Bal's life wouldn't have been there by now.

The horizon had begun to whiten, but a quiet early morning when the sun was yet to be seen.

The castle, whose loan welcome feast had just come to an end, was about to celebrate a new day at will, but Bal waited for the 'hour' with a tense face. Luklov was supposed to come.

─ ─ You won't be able to complain if they kill you.

As Bal was killing his breath softly, a slight footsteps finally echoed in front of the room door. That's a noise I didn't notice until I was right around the corner. Warrior footsteps.

Bal stood up straight.

Ruklov came straight into the room without knocking on the door.

"Duke of Luklov"

With his hands on his chest and his head deeply bowed, Bal showed respect.

"Heads up."

Ruklov ordered in a calm, low voice. There is no way he can disobey, and Bal slowly looks up.

Surprisingly, Ruklov looked a lot more serene than he did last night.

What I was wearing was also lightweight, and I didn't carry a sword or a weapon, at least as far as I could see. Of course I never smile......

For a while, both Ruklov and Bal stared silently at each other.

Lucrov's eyes are black reminiscent of darkness. Deep, deep darkness that would suck you in if you were caught off guard. Bal squeezed his hands tightly beside him.

"About last night... I'm ready to take any punishment"

Bal was desperate to keep his voice from trembling in gloom. Ruklov would have immediately guessed its strength, raising his jaw slightly as he looked down.

"It would be the loan that left that one for you. I'm not going to punish anyone but him (the loan) for that. I'm just... I'm not gonna forgive the man who touches that thing with any other intentions."

That.

It's about Chizuru. For some reason, Ruklov tried to pick a name that he strangely pushed away when referring to her.

But I didn't succeed.

From the shadow of the words, from the ends of the voice, I feel this chest I'm hearing hurts so much attachment.

"I understand."

If I wanted to, there was as much way to explain it. But that's not Bal's fashion. And Ruklov didn't seem to be such a detail-obsessed man either. What he wants is consequences. The result is that Bal will never approach Chizuru again.

"I'm not going to banish you"

In a pale tone, Ruklov continued. "However, it is forbidden to carry weapons during the stay. And stay away from that one again... You can take your meal here or you can skip time."

Prepared for further demands, Bal remained silent.

But Ruklov waited for Bal's reaction without saying anything more.

"Of course, we'll do everything you want"

When Bal answered in a hurry, Ruklov quickly turned his heel back to say he didn't need to stay here long anymore, even if he wanted to return to his original place as soon as possible.

Bal was supposed to have to shut up and drop off Ruklov trying to leave the room.

But.

I saw it last night, a thousand cranes of uncut smiles floating behind my brain.

And Luklov's words deliberately trying to push her away and the fierce obsession and affection that conflicts with it......

Is it because, until just a moment ago, Bal was even ready to die? The unstoppable courage was lifting his chest and he was accidentally speaking on Ruklov's back.

"I do not know, Duke of Ruklov"

Luklov stops walking perfectly.

"She said... she's just one-sided with you. She likes you, but you say, 'That's not how we get along'. Well... do that."

I could tell from a distance that I had lit Ruklov's fierceness all the time. Ruklov looks back and twists the bal with his eyes that could kill his enemies with only his gaze.

"What do you want to say?"

Ruklov's voice like a tickle and chills strike.

Bal needed to wield considerable courage to continue beyond, swallowing the spit accumulated in his mouth with relief.

"Love you, you must be here"

─ ─ That's pretty deep, too.

"Why didn't you confess to her?"

I felt an uncut shadow dripping like a touch of sadness in Ruklov's eyes, which was just horrible. Even though it was only for a moment, the sadness also moved onto the bal, the shock running across his chest and his spine trembling.

If a rigid man like Luklov hesitates to confess, there must be a serious cause there is no gap to intervene, such as Bal.

Bal was ashamed of my inadvertent question and regretted it.

"I mentioned that I went too far. I'm sorry. Forget it."

It can't be forgotten. I know.

Bal pointed his gaze at the cold stone floor and was ready for Luklov to slap his cheek with his fist of anger. Or they'll slit your throat with a hidden sword.

But they didn't happen.

Ruklov quietly, turned his heel back again and tried to leave the room. And as soon as I stepped out to the hallway, when I put my hand on the door, I stopped moving perfectly there.

"I don't know what that thing said... but if I still have a reason to live, that's just him"

Keeping his back to this one, that's all I have to say, Ruklov left the room early enough.

My body was paralyzed and I couldn't move for a while.

A lot has happened since then.

That he accidentally went with her in the corridor and was kidnapped by his enemies together, even though he was avoiding a thousand cranes, as you can tell.

Bal is not going to speak out loud about the various plight he then forced to protect her.

Except that only the broken ribs and the right arm with the arrow wounds are badly damaged, they are all becoming distant memories.

Bal was quietly narrowing his eyes to the light of the day as he lay himself on the sleeping table in the private room of his nostalgic parents' mansion.

It should be okay to get up and move by now.

Because of his naturally diligent nature, it was beginning to become painful to lie on the bedside forever. I'd like to serve already, if possible. I want to move my body and clear up this mood I'm about to...

"You can't, Master Bal. Please don't move. If you need anything, leave everything to this Effie. Shall I bring you a water drain?

A woman with flax hair and white skin splashed on her face rushed to Bal's pillow for reward. She was the one whose parents gave her to look after Bal, who was wounded in the middle of a battle against the remnants of the Kaftor Count.

Effie......

Effilia.

"It's okay now...... you can move normally. It's going to make me feel weird the other way when I sit still like this."

"I can't if I say no. If anything happens to Master Bal again, I..."

"My parents will blame me."

"I can't stand it. Your wife and husband have nothing to do with this."

"Yeah... I guess"

Ephelia was the daughter of Bal's father's cousin and his cousin, a relative with little blood connection. Two years older than Bal, he has been serving this mansion as my mother's caretaker for years now.

But all the caregivers are named… The truth is that Effilia was sent here as Baru's brother's wife candidate.

However, unfortunately, the temperamental Bal's brother and dear Effelia did not go hand in hand at all. Besides, after some time after Effilia came, his brother fell in love and married the Sakura Count Warrant lady he met in the Wang capital.

Effilia was betrayed and consequently missed her marriage. But by contrast, he was relatively pale in accepting and continuing to be my mother's caregiver, not angry, complaining or crying.

"You are a courageous woman, Effie"

Bal was crushing unconsciously.

Ephilia puts her neck up. Even though she was an older woman who was already past her marriageable age, Bal's eyes always showed her as a girl.

She had such an innocent tenderness and adorability.

"What happened to you suddenly?

"How did you get through that pain after another woman stole the man you liked?

To be honest, Bal is not sure if he was in love with Thousand Cranes.

Now I think maybe it was just a childish admiration. Still, when I thought of her, who would be happily bound to Ruklov, I was left with a faint breathlessness of jealousy, regret, and unidentity.

Effilia's expression sank.

─ ─ Oh, shit. You can go against Luklov, you can go against Effilia, how can Bal ask such a careless question?

"I'm sorry, Effelia. That was a terrible question."

Ephilia let her smile at her temperament as to whether the penance was on her face.

"That's okay, Master Bal."

Ephilia replied with a small trembling voice.

"But... I'll answer you. It was okay for me to be betrayed by your brother because I didn't like him. That's all. I'm not being brave."

Bal frowned in surprise.

It was my first ear.

I had never heard of it clearly, but I thought that Effilia was still in this mansion because of her untrained to her brother.

"I am a coward. I can't even confess my thoughts to whomever I want, because I'm here today."

And Effilia looked down and began.

Ephilia thinkers......

What kind of man would that be? I thought my brother was an idiot to dump Effilia, but the guy is also pretty brainless. At that moment, in Bal's chest, an incredible spark scattered.

"If you bring the man here, I'll put some iron fist sanctions on him so he can understand the logic of things. Even so, I am the Knight of the Lone Duke's Sacred Territory."

With the intention of joking, in the guise of brightness, Bal said, Ephilia suddenly swung her neck as a bum.

"You can't do that! Master Bal! You are injured, and you have your own iron fist..."

The blossom-like scabbard decorated the area with white skin that occasionally stained bright red again.

"... Murray, it is..."

Crunching with a disappearing voice, Effelia turned her back a lot and squeezed her shoulders small and small.

Poor thing, my back is shaking.

From the hair that was nodded together to make it easier to work, a flattered room was shaking around the cheeks.

Yes, was it?

"Effilia, turn this way, please"

"Yes, no! Don't laugh at me... I know. I know thoughts that don't come true..."

Bal also knows very well that there is something surprisingly stubborn about her. When she first came to the mansion, she often had a private conversation. Bal, so calm in character as to be called the young man, and the quiet Effelia, the horse fit.

Soon afterwards, Bal became the knight under the direct command of the Duke of Lone, and leaving the Mansion made the friendship between the two alienating.

I thought it was going to...

"If you won't turn around, you'll have to let me stand up and go before you. Yeah, my ribs are going to hurt, but I can't help it. Come on..."

"Shh! I can't do that...!

An effiria with a changed complexion turns to Bal instantly.

Bal didn't miss the moment. I hugged Effelia's arm and pulled her all the way to her chest.

It smelled like young grass.

Effelia's little body felt good.

"Didn't know how you felt...... sorry"

What dwells in this breast is still like an extension of friendship and a faint protective appetite, absolute... like Ruklov has against Chizuru for example... not intense love.

At least not yet.

"Don't apologize, Master Bal. And... forget it. Please."

"That's hard..."

But as for the future, it was still unknown. The warmth that springs up in the back of my chest is real, and it just swells to the point of no denial.

Effilia.

Two older, flax hair, cute one who was my brother's fiancée.

Bal nodded and whispered his nose tip into Effelia's hair.

"Let me give you a hug a little more like this. I feel like something is about to change in me..."

At that time, there was no more Rukrov or Chizuru in Bal's mind.

Only a deep affection for the woman in front of her spread just slowly and gradually dominated everything in her mind.