I Met Up With Mr. Ekenhart
“By the way, where is Mr. Ekenhart? Is he still sleeping?”
“No. But as he has no work in particular today, he is relaxing in his room.”
“Should I tell him that you want to see him?”
“Uh…no. I don’t want to bother him if he is resting. I’m sure that he is very tired now.”
My heart skipped a beat when he asked that.
I didn’t know what Mr. Ekenhart was doing right now, but he might be in the middle of slipping out, or perhaps he had already left.
If Sebastian went to his room now, the plan would be exposed… And I didn’t want that, since I had already agreed to help him.
…Though, for Sebastian and the people of the mansion, it was probably better if he was stopped…
“Well, I will be going now.”
“Yes, please be careful.”
I talked with Sebastian as I went to the entrance hall. Then I opened the door and stepped outside.
Aside from Sebastian, several of the servants saw me off as well.
While it wasn’t as many as when Mr. Ekenhart or Ms. Claire left…it really wasn’t necessary. Ah, well.
“Hahaha. Do you like to run that much?”
As soon as she was outside, Leo lay down so that I could get on her back.
I climbed on and Leo barked happily.
The garden was rather small for someone of Leo’s size, so I suppose she really enjoyed being outside .
Perhaps it would be good to visit Ractos, as if I was taking her on a walk.
“…Ah, Mr. Takumi. What a coincidence.”
“Uh…coincidence? But we talked about this yesterday?”
“Hahaha. Well, it sounds better when you say it like that. That we just happened to meet on the road to Ractos.”
A few minutes of running after leaving the mansion.
Along the road, I had seen Mr. Ekenhart, and so I told Leo to stop.
He then walked out from the shadow of a tree and came towards us. But he pretended was a chance encounter.
…I wasn’t sure why, but if that’s what he wanted to do, then it was fine.
Though Leo was also tilting her head as if puzzled.
“No, I really don’t mind… Besides, I don’t know much about the town, so I actually feel better being with someone.”
“Well, it will likely be troublesome if someone sees me and… No, that’s not what I meant to say…”
Mr. Ekenhart got on behind me, and then Leo started running again. That’s when he apologized to me for some reason.
I thought it was about coming and about being secretive with the others, but it was not the case.
“You have to ride on Leo with someone like me… I’m sure you would prefer to ride with Claire? …Or is Lyra?”
“What! What are you talking about!”
“Well, if you had to ride on Leo with someone who was holding onto you from behind, surely you would prefer a lady? Or is that not the case?”
“…Well…yes, I would prefer a lady, but…”
“Yes, and so that’s why I’m apologizing…”
“There is no need to apologize…”
So Mr. Ekenhart was apologizing about having to grab onto me while riding on Leo.
He was right that having a man grab onto me didn’t exactly make me happy.
But I don’t know why that had to lead to bringing up his daughter’s name, or one of his servants.
Well…they were both rather voluptuous…and so the idea of having them hold me from behind… No, no. I should not be thinking of such things.
“Hmm… You’re thinking about it now, aren’t you?”
“…It’s because you say such strange things, Mr. Ekenhart.”
I had shaken my head to get rid of such thoughts, which only betrayed me to him.
But who wouldn’t think of it after hearing that?
“Hahaha! Well, you are a man, after all. …I suppose there is some hope for Claire then…”
“No, nothing. By the way, Mr. Takumi. I’ve seen that Claire wears a certain hair ornament often now… Did you give that to her?”
“Ah, yes. I bought it as a present when I first went to Ractos. I also got something for Tilura.”
“Tilura… Ah, that necklace. It had a wolf on it… She must have been very happy.”
Mr. Ekenhart had muttered something, but quickly changed the subject to Ms. Claire’s hair ornament.
After all, she wore it nearly every day.
I suppose as her father, he was curious about the ornament that he had never seen before?
“…You can’t court two people at once, you know?”
“Bah! I-I wasn’t doing that! It was just a present to show my gratitude, because I was treated so well as a guest!”
What is he going on about now?
Why would someone as inexperienced as me suddenly do that?
Besides, Tilura was much too young!
As for Ms. Claire…as Mr. Ekenhart saw when he spied on us before, we had gotten rather close. She was beautiful and had a good personality… Who knows what would have happened if we hadn’t been interrupted… No, don’t think about that!
I had to make sure Mr. Ekenhart stopped saying such strange things!