Walking with a glass of cool fruit juice, we entered the street lined with tents.
rchants engaged in various betting gas were gathered.
“Oh, that looks interesting. Do you want to try?” Lark pointed to one of the signs in interest.
[A chance to get up to 10 gold dals for just 50 silver!]
[Trust your senses!]
Several boxes were covered with blackout silk on the stall, and goods were visible behind the rchant.
From cheap cotton dolls to pendants that look like they cost about 10 gold…
“Let’s play a ga.”
“Oh, welco.”
Lark quickly sat down on a chair in front of the stall and raised 1 gold.
Looking closely, there were five boxes. Each item was written on it, and I pointed to the leftmost box that said [Pendant worth 10 gold].
“Put my hand in, touch what’s inside, and guess what it is, right?”
“Yes, that’s right. But the 10-gold one is a bit difficult— Uh, scary for a woman to do it, I think?”
“I’ll try even if I can’t win!”
Lark chuckled as he saw overflowing with enthusiasm.
“Let’s see…”
When I shoved my hand through the hole on the box, I felt sothing soft. There were also fluffs.
‘Hmm… It’s a touch that might frighten ladies. There’s a reason he scared first.’
Was it a bug? The rchant made eye contact with and smiled.
“It’s squishy. It’s the size of a fist, with several segnts, and has fur…”
“Yes, so?” For so reason, the rchant beca nervous when he saw my calm expression.
“Hohoho… Why does it feel like an imago silkworm?”
“Oh, dear!”
The rchant was surprised— No, he was pretending to be surprised.
‘Who are you fooling?’
I’d seen silkworms a few tis while doing clothing business in earnest.
There was also an insect of the sa kind as the silkworm that spun yarn in this world. Its appearance was more terrifying than silkworms. I didn’t want to see it twice.
Anyway, I’d never touched it but I felt like it should feel the sa.
‘But there’s no way they put real bugs in there.’
It was obvious that the young guests would be terrified. He wasn’t crazy enough to put that big bug here, right? Like the fact that he scared from the start, it was definitely a trick.
‘This guy has good facial expressions.’
I praised the rchant’s surprised facial expression and skillfully removed my hand.
“It feels like a bug!”
“… Feels like?”
“But it should be a rubber ball with fur!”
“Oh, my!”
The rchant tapped his forehead and smiled brightly.
“Wrong!”
“Eh? Then what is it?”
The rchant, who rubbed his hands together and smiled sinisterly, swept off the blackout silk.
Then what I saw was…
Clear near the head, rolling black eyeballs, and two non-aggressive but terrifying-looking cracked teeth.
“Aaaaaaagggh!”
… a real silkworm.
“Aaaagh! Agh! Aaaaagh!”
“Ouh, I’m going to be deaf.”
Flustered by the trendous decibel, the rchant covered his ears.
Had I told you?
“Aaaaagh!”
I hated bugs the most in the world.
“This is crazy!”
My head spun, and my vision blurred. I just touched that thing! !
I imdiately turned my body and reflexively embraced Lark, who was sitting there, like I was pouncing on him.
“R-Ruby?”
It was embarrassing to get on his lap and hug him, but now I couldn’t afford to pay attention to that.
“Agh! Aaaagh! I-I touched that thing!”
“I-I understand! Wait, calm down! Calm down!”
I hugged Lark, who was flustered with embarrassnt, and struggled arrogantly on his lap.
You might say that I was making a fuss about touching an insect once, but no one will be able to criticize when you see the appearance of a silkworm.
I, who hated bugs, even having a history of fainting at the sight of cockroaches…
“Aaahhhh…”
“Stop, stop. You can cry it out. It’s okay, it’s okay.”
I got goosebumps all over my body, imagining the bug that would be staring at if I turned my back.
Trembling, I continued digging into Lark’s arms.
“E-Excuse ? How can I do business here if you do this in the middle of the day? The inn is over there…”
I heard the voice of the nasty rchant.
“Ruby, calm down. And first of all… Umm… Can you get down?”
“Cough, hicc…”
The hardened Lark tried to soothe , but my heart hardly cald down.
When I tried to get down, I turned my body incorrectly and flinched again upon making eye contact with the bug. So I held onto him for several more minutes.
“Hmm. Let’s close the box again. My little friend is too scared.”
“Ah, shall we?” the rchant chuckled. Soon there was a sign of the box being covered with silk again.
Lark, who I tightly held, stroked my back with a stiff hand.
“We can’t see it anymore.”
“R-Really?”
“Mm.”
“N-No more bugs?”
“… Not really… but it should be okay because we can’t see it.”
“Cough.”
I got down from Lark’s lap, trying my best not to look back. As soon as I ca down, I sprang to my feet.
“It was fun. I hope your business-” As I clung to Lark’s side as I greeted the rchant, I froze. “…runs well. Then, bye.”
“Haha, it’s nice to see young people. Won’t you play one more ga?”
“That’s all right. Just buy so bug food with the change.”
“Aaaaghh!”
The rchant chuckled at reacting to the word bug while Lark shook his head helplessly.
***
“You can’t just sit on a man’s lap like that.”
“Ugh, sorry. But I was really surprised. I could’ve died instantly from a heart attack.”
In the middle of the capital where the sun was slowly setting.
While enjoying the festival for another half a day, Lark said worriedly in the middle as if he were my real brother, “That won’t be the only ti you see bugs in your life. Are you going to get on the lap of every man every ti you’re surprised?”
“But I’m terrified of bugs. I even fainted when I saw a cockroach.”
“Huh… This is a big problem. You know, there are a lot of bugs in Lubon villa because it’s located in the mountains.”
“… Co to think of it, yes.”
Seeing trembling, Lark chattered incessantly in worry. He said that he should send an insect extermination company to Lubon…
Surprised to see such a talkative Lark for the first ti, I laughed out loud.
“Don’t laugh. I’m serious.”
“Yes, yes. I laughed because I liked it.”
“You like listening to nagging?” Lark, who was grumbling, stopped walking for a mont. “Oh, dear.”
“Huh? What’s wrong?”
The reason soon beca apparent. The group of bullies, Joe and friends, were walking towards us from a distance of 5m.
‘Ugh. We et again.’
Lark, who was looking around, grabbed my hand and hurriedly entered the alley between the buildings.
A narrow alley that barely fit one person. Lark pushed to the end and stood with his back out of the alley.
“They’re too persistent, aren’t they?” Lark took off the mask he was wearing, took off mine, and whispered while holding his breath. “Let’s stay like this for a minute.”
“…”
He pointed at the wall behind and bowed as if he were about to kiss .
“Ah…”
The unexpectedly close distance and his revealed handso face caught my breath.
“Where have these bastards gone?!”
“Oh, Joe! Let’s just give up!”
The commotion outside the alley was getting closer, but it didn’t bother .
“Shh.”
Perhaps it was because I was paying attention to Lark, who smiled after putting his face close to , like lovers who secretly hid and kissed…
“What’s this?”
I heard Joe’s voice from the end of the alley. Fortunately, my face was not visible, thanks to Lark covering it.
Ba-thump, ba-thump.
I didn’t know if it was because I was nervous that I’d get caught or for so other reason, but my heart suddenly raced.
Unlike , who was very nervous, Lark always smiled and was relaxed.
“Ugh! Why is there so much sticky stuff in broad daylight?!”
“W-Whoo! Hey, guys! The inn is over there! No matter how busy you are, you can’t do this here!”
As if they hadn’t recognized us, the signs of sarcastic glances at the alley moved away.
“L-Looks like they’re gone.”
“Yeah. What a bunch of idiots,” Lark muttered and chuckled, still with his face close to , as if he had no intention of leaving.
“Let’s go, now?”
“Ah, don’t let your guard down. Let’s leave when they’re farther away.”
“H-Hmm…”
We had no choice but to endure a little longer with this strange posture and atmosphere.
And apparently, this mischievous man knew I was embarrassed. I tried to avoid his eyes, but he stared at tenaciously.
“Thank you for today.”
“… For what?”
“For hanging out with ?”
“N-No need for that. I had fun, too.”
At a distance close enough for noses to touch and mix each other’s breath.
When the conversation stopped, the atmosphere beca strange. And Lark’s eyes were still toward .
As if we were possessed, we didn’t move our eyes off each other like we had made a promise.
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