Vanessa and Yahin were not the sort of people anyone could mistake easily.
With their blazing sunset-colored hair and exotic features, they stood out no matter where they were.
But seeing those two standing face to face, looking at one another, was something Eleanor had never expected.
How did they know each other?
She was curious, but neither of them seemed like the kind of people she could casually ask.
Yahin had been silently listening to Vanessa when, without warning, he turned to look at Eleanor.
The moment their eyes met, she flinched instinctively.
She had thought they would never meet again. Not Yasmin, but her brother instead. Lisa’s warning—Never get involved with them—rang loudly in her head.
It would be best if they simply pretended not to know each other and walked away.
But Yahin stared at her openly, so blatantly that even Vanessa turned her head to see what he was looking at.
Why does he keep staring at me?
Uncomfortable, Eleanor was about to leave when she froze.
Yahin had started walking straight toward her.
“...?”
Is he coming to me right now...?
It would be awkward to run away now, so Eleanor stood there stiffly, her eyes darting nervously.
Those long legs of his devoured the distance in huge strides.
...He really is coming to me?
“......”
He truly was.
Yahin stopped directly in front of her.
People said all Haitarians were large, but Yahin might have been the biggest of them all.
Standing there like a wall, he cast a human-sized shadow over her as he looked down at her in silence.
It was an intensely burdensome gaze.
“My lady!”
Lisa shoved herself between them.
Despite being smaller than Eleanor, she desperately tried to shield her mistress with her own body.
Unfortunately, Yahin was far too large to be hidden by anyone, and Eleanor could still see him perfectly clearly. Naturally, he could see her too.
Still, Lisa stubbornly stood there like a protective barrier.
“If you have something to say, say it to me or the knight. Don’t rudely approach my lady.”
Lisa spoke firmly. At her signal, the knight hurried over and pushed against Yahin’s chest.
Apparently it was not Gale, who had encountered Yahin before, because the reaction was noticeably slower.
Yahin did not budge in the slightest.
To the knight, it probably felt like trying to push a giant boulder.
Eleanor watched with sympathy as the man strained and sweated uselessly. At the same time, she noticed Anna’s family and several other people beginning to pay attention to the small commotion.
An illegal immigrant her aunt was secretly protecting.
If this caused trouble, it would be disastrous—not for Yahin, but for her aunt.
So she needed to settle this as gently as possible.
Which meant she had to hear what Yahin wanted.
Eleanor had no idea that most of the people in Oclama already accepted the existence of Yahin and Yasmin. Growing up in the capital, where Haitarians were treated coldly, she could never imagine the territory’s people quietly overlooking them out of simple countryside warmth.
Yahin kept staring at her insistently, clearly telling her he had something to say.
Unable to ignore him any longer, Eleanor raised both hands in surrender.
Even if she wanted to deny it, the fact that he refused to move an inch proved he truly had business with her.
“Stop. Yahin, do you have something to say to me?”
Eleanor dismissed the knight, who was still trying to shove Yahin away, and asked calmly.
Yahin slowly nodded.
So he really did come to see me.
“Fine. Then follow me.”
There were too many eyes here. They could not talk in public.
Scanning the area for somewhere secluded, Eleanor jerked her chin toward the back of the shop.
“My lady! Y-You’re going to speak with this... this unidentified man?!”
Lisa carefully avoided saying Haitarian outright and protested fiercely.
Eleanor leaned close and whispered quietly into her ear.
“It’s better than getting caught. We don’t have a choice.”
Only then did Lisa bite her lip, finally aware of the people watching them.
“Then you absolutely must not leave my side!”
Clinging tightly to Eleanor, Lisa glared at Yahin with fierce suspicion.
After telling Anna to wait for her, Eleanor led the other three behind the shop.
Vanessa watched the four of them leave, then simply turned around and walked away without reacting.
Behind the shop stood only a single bench, and there was no one around, making it easy to talk.
Forced to stand behind Lisa and the knight, Eleanor looked at Yahin.
Unfortunately for the two diligently acting as shields, Yahin was not someone who could actually be hidden.
And Eleanor, who was around the same height as the midpoint between them, was equally visible.
“What did you want to say?”
Yahin rummaged through his pocket and pulled out a notebook and pen.
He scribbled something diligently before holding the notebook out.
The notebook passed through Lisa’s hands before finally reaching Eleanor.
— I am sory and want apologis.
Eleanor read the crooked handwriting three times.
He wants to be sorry?
“You mean you want to apologize?”
Yahin nodded.
Yasmin had spoken Tritan fluently and clearly, but judging by the completely destroyed spelling, Yahin apparently still had not mastered the imperial language.
“You already apologized that day. That was enough.”
Remembering how he had bowed deeply before, Eleanor handed the notebook back.
After it passed through Lisa again, Yahin wrote something else and held it out once more.
— Grabed fairy-nim arm and Yasmin scolded me.
Eleanor read the sentence seriously.
Why was fairy-nim written so neatly?
Ignoring the embarrassing title, she focused on the rest.
“...You got scolded by Yasmin because you grabbed my arm?”
Yahin nodded quickly.
He took the notebook back from Lisa and wrote again.
— Haitar cannot hit fairy-nim. Want say sorry. Are you hurt.
Hmm. So he means Haitarians must not hit fairy-nims. He wants to apologize and ask if I’m hurt.
The arm Yahin had gripped so tightly that day had remained red for quite a while, but it had never swollen or bruised.
If it had, Eleanor herself would have been angry the moment she saw him again today.
But by the next day the marks had disappeared completely, so she had simply forgotten about it.
“I’m not hurt. So in Haitar, men aren’t supposed to hit women?”
Having fully deciphered his meaning, Eleanor returned the notebook directly this time.
Passing it through Lisa every single time was too troublesome.
Besides, if all this was really just for an apology, he did not seem particularly dangerous.
“My lady...!”
“It’s uncomfortable for me too, Lisa. He doesn’t seem to have bad intentions, so this much is fine.”
Eleanor spoke firmly, and Lisa reluctantly stepped back.
Still, she remained plastered against Eleanor’s side, ready to shield her at any moment. Eleanor did not stop her.
Meanwhile, Yahin finished writing again and held the notebook out.
Eleanor took it herself.
— No. Of course not hit women. But Haitar cannot hit fairy-nim.
Eleanor’s expression turned strange.
After painstakingly deciphering the terrible handwriting, she hesitated before speaking.
“So... because I’m a fairy, I can’t be hit?”
Yahin nodded emphatically.
Eleanor tightened her grip on the notebook.
Not even as a child had anyone ever called her a fairy, and every fiber of her being rejected the title.
Was he seriously saying this?
Even staring suspiciously at him, his face remained utterly sincere.
She began to wonder if he had injured his head while crossing the border.
When tiny bear-cub-like Yasmin had called her that, it had already made her skin crawl. Hearing the same title from a giant fully grown man who looked capable of punching through the sky was unbearable.
“Yahin. It’s fine if you play along with your sister’s joke, but stop calling me a fairy.”
— No. Not joke.
Yahin scribbled quickly.
— Really think you fairy-nim.
He really thinks I’m a fairy...?
Eleanor suddenly felt absurdly confused, as though she might need to somehow prove she was human.
“Why do you think that?”
Eleanor knew better than anyone that she was not ugly.
Her pale coloring made her features look faint sometimes, but when properly dressed up, she was definitely considered pretty.
Still, perhaps because she had grown up seeing Lydia—who seemed to contain all the colors of the world within herself—Eleanor simply could not accept such an excessive title.
If it were just being called beautiful, she would gladly accept it. But this was far too much.
Yahin thought deeply for a moment before slipping a hand inside his clothes.
He pulled out a necklace from beneath his shirt and removed it from around his neck.
— Looks same as fairy-nim.
Eleanor took both the notebook and the necklace.
Inside the pendant was a painting of a girl with slightly darker hair than hers and blue eyes, shown in profile while praying.
“This person is a fairy?”
— Nimpa-nim protect Haitar. Looks same.
“Well... we do resemble each other a little.”
They did resemble each other.
Both had eyes, noses, and mouths. Their hair and eye colors were somewhat similar. Ah, and both had pale skin.
But if that alone counted as resemblance, there would be countless women in Beyrn who looked like this Nimpa.
“I’m not a Nimpa fairy.”
Eleanor returned the necklace.
Tritan had similar mythical beings too—the mermaids said to live in Lake Nifla, or the phoenix said to protect Beyrn.
Imaginary beings who watched over people’s hearts existed everywhere.
Yahin accepted the necklace back with obvious disappointment.
He looked like a puppy whose ears and tail had drooped sadly.
It was ridiculous for him to want a human to be a fairy, yet somehow Eleanor felt awkward, as though she had personally disappointed him.
“Instead, I’ll tell you my name.”
Immediately, Yahin held out the notebook again.
Eleanor carefully wrote her name neatly so it would be easier for him to copy.
— Eleanor Stikov.
Yahin brushed his finger slowly over the letters, almost as though speaking the name with his hands in place of his voice.
“You should call her my lady.”
Lisa cut in sharply.
Yahin’s face drooped again.
He scribbled clumsily.
— My laddy.
“......”
“......”
Eleanor and Lisa both fell silent at the same time.
They did not necessarily want to meet again, but imagining him proudly holding that spelling out next time left them speechless.
“...You can call me Lady Eleanor instead.”
As Eleanor returned the notebook, even Lisa did not stop her.
Yahin moved his large hands busily over the tiny notebook. The pen that looked perfectly ordinary in Eleanor’s hand seemed ridiculously short in his.
— Lady Eleanor.
He showed her the neatest handwriting yet.
Compared to the disastrous my laddy written above it, the difference was so extreme that Eleanor burst out laughing.
“Well done, Yahin. You can write my name properly.”
Yahin stared quietly at her smiling face, her eyes curving gently.
A flower petal had caught in the strands of hair beside her forehead.
He reached out instinctively to remove it.
The moment he did, Lisa yanked Eleanor backward.
“Don’t touch my lady.”
Pulling Eleanor protectively behind her, Lisa glared fiercely.
The knight also grabbed Yahin’s shoulder to stop him.
Protected so aggressively by the two of them, Eleanor blinked in confusion.
Yahin lowered his hand and wrote again.
— Not hitting. Flower stuck in hair.
“Ah.”
After decoding the message, Eleanor touched her hair.
A pale pink petal came away in her fingers.
So he had been telling the truth.
Once Eleanor confirmed it, she signaled Lisa and the knight to back off.
“Thank you, Yahin.”
Yahin lifted the corners of his lips slightly and nodded.
“Ah, right. You were talking with Vanessa earlier, weren’t you?”
Suddenly remembering Vanessa standing beside him, Eleanor spoke up.
Because Vanessa always treated her so coldly, it had been surprising to see her together with a Haitarian. Eleanor had assumed Vanessa was distant with everyone.
— Was with Venessa.
Performing the miracle of turning Vanessa into Venessa, Yahin nodded.
“You know Vanessa?”
— Venessa sometimes gives work. To me and Yasmin. Kind person.
“Vanessa is kind?”
— Yes. Takes care of us. Very kind.
I see. So Vanessa treats the siblings very well.
A strange feeling settled in Eleanor’s chest.
Maybe Vanessa only acted nice in front of Auntie.
Maybe she picked fights with everyone, not just Eleanor.
She had thought that before.
But Yahin’s answer destroyed all those excuses at once.
So... is she really only like that toward me because I’m fake?
“Lisa. Am I fake? Do I smile insincerely?”
Unable to hold it in anymore, Eleanor suddenly asked.
Maybe she truly had been acting fake without realizing it.
“What? No? You’ve never given that impression. Though... sometimes it’s obvious you’re forcing yourself to smile.”
“Really? Do I look fake then?”
“No. It just seems like you’re trying hard not to ruin the atmosphere. I always thought that was admirable.”
Right.
There was no way she looked fake.
She had never acted fake in the first place.
Relieved by Lisa’s answer, Eleanor let out a quiet breath.
Thankfully, Vanessa’s attitude was not somehow justified by Eleanor herself being the problem.
Well... whatever.
Even if Vanessa was mean to her, if she treated Yahin and Yasmin kindly, that was still a good thing.
Since they were children her aunt had taken in, it was far better for people outside to speak well of them than badly.
“I should get going now. Yahin, does Yasmin also think I’m really a Nimpa fairy?”
Yahin nodded obediently.
Eleanor pressed a hand to her forehead.
What kind of misunderstanding was this, just because they shared similar eyes, nose, and mouth?
“When you go home today, make sure to tell her I’m not one. Tell her my name is Eleanor. Got it?”
Like a well-behaved puppy, Yahin nodded again.
At last freed from being treated like a fairy and restored to humanity, Eleanor smiled brightly.
“I’m leaving now. Goodbye, Yahin.”
Eleanor waved her hand lightly.
Yahin copied her, waving back before bowing his head deeply.
The sight was oddly funny, and Eleanor burst into laughter as she turned away.
Yahin lifted his head and kept waving long after she left, watching Eleanor disappear into the distance alongside Lisa and the knight.
