Kays Translations

Chapter 22. a confession under the stars

　The carriage leaves the village and travels along the night road under the stars.

　I was entrusted to be the coachman until morning.

　When traveling long distances like this, the horses are basically left to its own devices, and the driver holds the reins and keeps watch for anything out of the ordinary. I didn’t have much experience with horses, but I took the plunge and volunteered.

　I heard that even in the unlikely event of an accident, the carriage and harness are designed with various mechanisms to ensure safety. Perhaps they have that mysterious magic in them.

　I was enthusiastic with the feeling of protecting the good night’s sleep of everyone who had been working all day to complete the carriage. But……

“Mr. Gilbert, you can rest now as well.”

　Gilbert had been working all day today, cutting wood and looking after the children. He will soon be heading to the battlefield, so he will need to conserve his energy.

“No, It would be dangerous to leave a woman alone on a dais riding through the night.”

　After saying this with a very serious face, Mr. Gilbert suddenly started acting weird. He slapped his face with both hands till his eyes were swimming, and then he sat back down on the edge of the dais.

“Ah, well, don’t worry, I don’t have any strange ulterior motives, you see…!”

“…! Of, of course I know that!”

　Somehow understanding what he meant, I quietly moved to the opposite corner.

　The seats on the driver’s seat are for two people, but they are surprisingly narrow, so if you sit down side by side, you will be very close to each other. It might be problematic for a man and a woman, who are neither married nor in a romantic relationship, to sit so close to each other in the middle of the night. My face is getting hot.

　While I was busy with this, a small window attached to the back of the  chair in the driver’s seat opened. The driver’s seat was separated from the back wall by a small window and connected to the upper bunk of the inner bunk bed. The light from inside the room filtered in, cutting through the night a little.

“What are you guys doing? It’s dangerous to sit on the edge like that.”

　Barbara leaned her cheek against the window ledge and looked at us alternately.

“I was just trying to reassure Miss Flora. ……”

“I, well, I thought it might be disrespectful to Gilbert’s loved one if I was to get too close to him…”

　When both of us simultaneously lined up our excuses, Barbara-san laughed in amusement.

“beloved ……?”

“I thought you was single, Gilbert?　I’ve known him for a long time, but I’ve never heard him talk about his love life.”

“Ahhhhh …….”

　Gilbert gave a half smile, then buried his face in his hands.

“ You’re not bad looking and you have such a great personality, so it’s a bit strange that you’ve been single for so long.  Don’t you think so too, Flora?”

　Mrs. Barbara smiled meaningfully with her cheek on the platform, and Gilbert looked up at her and smiled nervously. Then he turned to me.

“I’ve got a good reason for it. …… I have a problem with my…… birth. I was born a bastard, a son of iniquity, of a good family, you know.”

“What?!  Are you …… the illegitimate son of the royal family?!”

　Even Mr. Dolph peeks in through the small window next to Barbara’s. 

“Huh… How would that be possible! You know the old man in the first place. Well, he’s a fairly well-known aristocrat. You hear similar stories every now and then. I don’t know if the old head of the family was drunk or senile, but… he made a mess and I was born.”*

　Then Mr. Gilbert began to tell me about his life.

“His wife was a very compassionate person, and she said that it was the head of the family who was to blame, not me or my mother, so she found me and took care of me. In particular, the eldest son – my half-brother, who is much older than me – he took very good care of me. Thanks to them, I think I had a very blessed childhood considering my birth.”

　As he says this, Gilbert looks up at the starry sky, his expression gentle as he reminisces about precious memories.

“However, famous noble families are troublesome, and there are people out there who try to take advantage of people born like me.”

　In stark contrast to his previous behavior, this time he looked as if he was annoyed and let out a long sigh.

“But I didn’t want to cause any trouble for my half-brother. So I tried to avoid any frivolous talk as much as possible, but… before I knew it… I’d reached this age…”

　Gilbert sounded incredibly serious, and he clutched his head.

“Here, eat this and cheer yourself up…”

“…Would you like to drink some of my treasured wine?”

　To cheer him up, Barbara held out a small jar of candy from who knows where, and Mr.  Dolph offered him a bottle of liquor. Gilbert looked like he wanted to run away.

“By the way, Gilbert, if you can talk about that to someone you’ve only met for a short time, why don’t you start calling him brother?”  

Mr. Dolph is grinning meaningfully, while Gilbert’s eyes wander.

“…Lionel has, you know, always complained to me. Maybe it’s because of the age difference between us, or maybe there’s some other reason, but he says he can’t get me to call him brother.”

　At these words, the dots and lines connected in my mind and I found myself looking closely at Gilbert’s face.

　He was acting strangely again. There is no hint of the troubled smile that he often wears, and his ears are stained red. It looks as if he’s trying to hide his embarrassment.

　Just as I was feeling warm and fuzzy, there was suddenly a loud crash and the carriage shook so violently that I nearly fell off my chair.

“Flora…! That was close…”

　Gilbert quickly grabbed me by the arm and pulled me into a hug, and somehow I managed to get to safety. However, just as I had regained my composure, my body temperature rose again in an instant due to the position I was in.

“Oops, sorry. …….”

“No, no, thank you.”

　We quickly pulled away from each other and straightened our posture. I was also acting weird.

“See, I told you, if you don’t sit properly it’s dangerous.”

“I must have run over a rock or something. Maybe I should have put on a …… belt.”

　With these words, Dolph and Barbara retired .

　The two lively people fell asleep, and it suddenly became quiet. The only sounds were the wheels of the carriage and the hoof-beats of the horses as we drove along the night road, and the distant sounds of birds and insects.

　The night breeze felt good against my cheeks, which were burning from the unexpected event.

“The old woman got me and I ended up telling a strange story about my life…”

　Gilbert muttered a little awkwardly.

“I’m glad to know why you want to go to the trouble of helping out, Mr. Gilbert.”

　When I replied, Gilbert flashed that smile that seemed to hide his embarrassment again.

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