Tea Party and Lorschel (14)
Roelin shook her head with a smile and continued with a rather uncomfortable expression.
âI had a useless misunderstanding.â
âWhat do you mean, misunderstanding?â
Kergel tilted his head even more suspiciously. Unlike a little while ago, it was now Roelin who started avoiding eye contact this time. She muttered in an awkward tone while looking away from his eyes.
âI know it canât be, butâ¦â¦ I wondered if you had changed your mind. I donât know if youâve become tired of meâ¦â¦â
âWhat? What the hell do you mean? Why do you think so?â
Kergel couldnât hear all of her words and raised his voice. Then, Roelin hurriedly closed her mouth. He hurried on as he wondered if she was surprised by him.
âIâm not angry, Roelin. Itâs just⦠because itâs just amazing.â
âItâs not to the point where it has become amazing. It was a situation that could be misunderstood even if it had been someone other than me.â
Roelin refuted Kergelâs remarks in a rather uneven tone. It might be true that she made a wrong assumption, but it had been due to the fact that she was annoyed since she remembered what she had been suffering in the past few days as soon as she heard the word, amazing, from him.
When Kergel realized that her mood had waned, he looked around and opened his mouth once again.
âIâm sorry, anyway. I didnât think youâd have such a misunderstanding. As soon as possible, I wanted to make this properly and give it to you as a giftâ¦â¦â
âWhat kind of snack is it really?â
Roelin asked with a quizzical expression as she listened to Kergel. Considering the fact that he was so obsessed with that âsnack giftâ, there was no other choice but to raise some questions.
However, his subsequent reaction further raised another question.
âHuh? Oh, no. Well, well, itâs justâ¦â¦â
Instead of answering, Kergel stuttered in embarrassment. He looked flustered like a person who had been caught or amidst the danger of getting caught.
âKergel?â
She called out to him with her head tilted. Then, Kergel glanced back at Roelin before he sighed and shook his head in return.
ââ¦â¦â¦I was going to give you a Lorschel snack.â
ââ¦â¦?â
Roelinâs eyes went round. Kergel looked at those eyes as he clicked his tongue and began muttering to himself.
âTo be more precise, I should say that I was preparing to eat it.â
ââ¦â¦what do you mean?â
Roelin asked once again because she couldnât really understand Kergelâs words. Kergel then coughed with an embarrassed face and opened his mouth while still avoiding her gaze.
âYou asked me about âLorschelâs Nightâ last time, didnât you? Do you remember?â
âOf courseâ¦â
Roelin answered with a nod. Of course she had remembered. But she didnât imagine that the story of that day would come back out of nowhere right at this moment.
He offered to find out about Lorschelâs Night, but she honestly didnât expect much. This was because she thought that it would not be so easy to discover about it because it had already been a long time since it got buried and there was no detailed explanation in the book either.
âBut why is that nowâ¦â¦?â
Roelin looked at him with questionable eyes. On the other hand, Kergel just continued with an awkward expression.
âI heard that making and presenting Lorschel snacks itself was called Lorschelâs Night.â
ââ¦â¦?â
ââ¦â¦in the sense of asking for the night, between lovers.â
âNightâ¦â
Roelin inadvertently copied the one-syllable word from what Kergel said and soon blushed.
Oh, my God.
She was not so young as to not understand what he had conveyed. Therefore, she was able to immediately notice the hidden meaning behind the phrase; âasking for the nightâ.
âWhat kind of snack has that kind of meaning?â
Roelin bit her lips as she looked back at herself, who had been the one to ask Kergel about âLorschelâs Nightâ. She never asked him knowingly, but she couldnât help it since her face was already burning.
How absurd it must have been.
She imagined what Kergel would have looked like when he found out what âLorschelâs Nightâ truly was and then, she turned her head while still covering her mouth.
âUh⦠uh, well, I see.â
Roelinâs voice leaked out in a murmur because she already had her mouth covered with her hands. But she, herself, wasnât even aware of her own condition. It just made her face grow even redder.
âRoelin.â
Kergel gazed at Roelin who looked like that and took a step closer to her with an expression full of determination.
ââ¦â¦Can I ask you for the night?â
ââ¦â¦!â
Roelinâs blue eyes instantly opened wide. However, Kergel continued to speak with a serious look on his face.
âIâm embarrassed because I feel like Iâm actually overriding what I just said with my own mouthâ¦â¦ You know, âfor the time beingâ. That period is over now. No, it was already over from before anyway.â
She remembered. âFor the time beingâ was what she had been told to just sleep. That was what he said to her on the day they had finished the wedding and the companion ceremonyâthe day they first shared a bed together.
Even on that day, she didnât expect that this kind of relationship would happen. She never even expected his affection just because they had already become a couple.
She didnât expect to love him either.
It was, after all, a miracle indeed. She didnât know if someoneâs sincerity would touch her or if her sincerity could have touched someone as well.