Honey, I Believe That’s Your Misunderstanding

Hiiiing!

Yet again, it was the cry of a horse.

Jaime scrambled down the curve of the grand staircase, and Gabriel, the butler, followed hurriedly behind him. Gabriel was holding a large dry towel in his hands.

Even though he was a fairly old butler, he moved at such unusual speed.

He ran elegantly with fast, sleek and perfectly balanced steps. He was the image of a truly perfect butler.

Flustered and stunned as she was, Grace also went downstairs to the origin of the sound. She didn’t pause to think.

Then, again, the same whinny.

The cries of the horse were already loud and clear before, but it sounded nearer this time, too.

Grace moved cautiously, following behind the two men to the central hall where she could hear the sound.

“No, but I also… didn’t… what are we to do!”

“The supervision of…!”

She heard the butler and Jaime bickering.

Grace tiptoed forward with great caution, but she soon found a huge animal standing there, with the moon and the rumbling thunderstorm as its background.

“……!”

It was as black as the night and as enormous as a mountain.

Despite its threatening size, the horse was so utterly beautiful that Grace only stared, mesmerized.

“…Pretty.”

The word slipped through her lips without even her notice, and both Jaime and the butler’s heads flitted to the side to look at her at that moment.

“Huk! L-Lady Grace, why are you down here! Please go back upstairs. It’s very cold!”

Jaime was visibly flustered.

The butler, whose expression usually showed calm benevolence, also changed to a look of surprise.

“There’s something I have to say. But, that horse. Is it His Excellency’s? I saw it running out earlier… Did it come back on its own? What a clever boy.”

As Grace said this, she could not take her eyes off the horse.

And it was as if the horse could understand what she said, because it began to trot calmly towards her.

Tadak, Tadak.

The sharp sound of the horse’s hard hooves upon the marble floor could be heard clearly.

This was a horse she thought was wild.

It stopped right in front of Grace, showing off its saddle-free, sleek figure.

The enormous horse, which was several times larger than Grace herself, looked at her with eyes that were as clear and honest as a lake.

Looking into those gorgeous blue eyes, she felt not a single ounce of fear.

And, she recalled one particular man who had the same blue eyes like this.

‘Lucas Blacke…’

Despite how huge the man’s physique was—with his wide shoulders, tall height, and fearsome atmosphere—his eyes were more beautiful than anyone else’s.

This horse reminded her of that man.

She never thought that she’d see such beautiful blue eyes twice in this world.

‘But have I ever seen another horse with blue eyes?’

No matter how hard she thought about it, she couldn’t recall any.

In many ways, this horse was so mysterious.

She spoke to it with a curious tone.

“Hello?”

Bhrr!

The black horse grumbled roughly as though to respond to her.

Surprised, Grace flinched back unconsciously.

Seeing how Grace had nervously stiffened, the horse slowly rubbed its snout against her cheek.

It caressed her cheek carefully and gently like it’s saying that it wouldn’t hurt her.

“Ah, uh.”

Grace didn’t know what to do, so she was just standing blankly. Eventually though, she ended up chuckling quietly because the breath of the horse was tickling her.

The horse looked to be well-cared for. Its mane was smooth and soft, just like human hair.

Its sleek snout was neat as well. And though it looked like a wild horse, it had a subtle musky scent.

“You… You’re fond of people, aren’t you? Thank you, I was scared. But you’re really so adorable.”

Grace stroked the horse’s head carefully.

The horse seemed totally at ease around her, leaning its head against her hand.

Both the butler and Jaime just stared at the ensuing scene before them with such disbelief in their eyes.

“This guy, isn’t he such a cutie pie?”

“Pfft—”

Jaime quickly clapped a hand over his mouth before he could guffaw.

Hearing the noise, the horse turned its head and looked at Jaime.

Grace couldn’t see it from where she was, but at that moment, the horse flicked its tail menacingly.

One hind leg even stomped on the ground a few times.

Jaime was immediately struck with anxiety, and he soon schooled his features.

‘Why’s he like that?’

Grace couldn’t help but wonder why Jaime was acting like that. One second, he’s about to burst into laughter. Next second, he’s just standing there with a straight face.

Then, the horse acted cutely by nudging Grace, as if saying that she shouldn’t mind it.

A strange silence ensued.

Gabriel, who came to his senses belatedly, spoke with a gentle tone.

“It’s still quite late, Lady Grace. I believe it would be best for you to leave this to us and retire to your room upstairs. It’s raining quite hard today, and the hail is bringing such a chill in the air. This old man can’t help but worry that Your Ladyship might catch a cold.”

“Yes, it is a little cold.”

Grace caressed the horse’s snout sadly.

Perhaps pleased by her touch, the horse rubbed its face into Grace’s palm.

‘This child, he must like me, too.’

Grace smiled slightly and said ‘bye bye’ in a soft voice that only the black horse would hear. Then, she turned around.

Seeing her walk away with her back turned to them, Jaime and the butler breathed out a sigh of relief, similarly in such a low volume that Grace wouldn’t hear.

The black horse stood tall in the same spot, its eyes chasing after Grace’s retreating figure.

Jaime shook his head at the sight, but when he looked down, he suddenly realized that he was still holding the riding crop, which looked odd for a reason he couldn’t figure out.

‘Come to think of it, wasn’t Lady Grace going to say something earlier…?’

Jaime hesitated for a moment, but just as Grace was about to leave the central hall, he spoke up.

“Um, Lady Grace!”

“…Yes?”

“Weren’t you going to say something about this?”

Jaime raised the formerly missing riding crop.

When the black horse saw the riding crop in Jaime’s hand, it reared its head back.

Takadak, takadak!

The horse quickly ran to Jaime.

Shocked by this, Jaime hurriedly stepped back, but the horse was already in front of him in a heartbeat.

Bhrr!

Staring pointedly at the riding crop, the black horse stomped one front hoof angrily.

“No, the fault isn’t…!”

Roughly huffing out of its mouth, the horse then started hitting Jaime on the head.

Grace went back to their side, thinking that the horse might be picking on Jaime now.

The horse then aggressively started pushing Jaime’s back with the bridge of its nose, expressing its dissatisfaction.

But Jaime just shuddered and muttered, ‘I don’t know, sir! I really don’t know!’

Curiously, it seemed like Jaime could understand what the horse was saying?

And he’s even answering the horse with a respectful tone.

The same tone he used when speaking to Lucas.

An amusing thought crossed Grace’s mind then, that it must be because of Jaime’s incredible loyalty that he could also understand the horse’s intentions.

—…diot!

At that moment, Grace suddenly heard Lucas’ voice in her ear.

The only ones around Grace now were Jaime, the butler and the horse, so she looked behind her in surprise.

“…Hm?”

She thought that Lucas Blacke had come downstairs, so she quickly looked around to find him. However, she couldn’t even find his shadow anywhere.

‘Am I experiencing a hallucination just because he’s on my mind?’

Embarrassed, Grace shook her head and tapped Jaime on the shoulder.

“Um, Jaime.”

“Yes, Your Ladyship. Please speak!”

“I was about to tell you earlier, but I couldn’t. It’s about the riding crop.”

“Y-Yes! Do, do you happen to know why it’s become like this?”

“Actually…”

Grace raised her right arm and slowly pulled up the hem of her sleeve.

“When I found it earlier, I read the archaic words that were written there and…”

At the back of her pale arm, an even paler, luminous script glimmered beneath the moonlight.

“This is what happened.”

The script contained the letters that once were on the riding crop, and each character shimmered as if they’d been engraved to her skin with crushed, powdered pearls.

“…Huk! N-No, but this, h-how on earth!”

Overcome by shock, Jaime grabbed Grace’s wrist right away even though it was not proper.

As she was pulled, Grace stepped closer to Jaime.

BHRRR—!

Without a second to react, the displeased black horse immediately hit Jaime on the shoulder.

So, Jaime quickly released Grace’s wrist and asked.

“What in the world happened, Lady Grace? Would you be so kind as to explain in detail?”

“It’s exactly as I said earlier. I went downstairs because I was thirsty, then I found the riding crop on the floor, and it still had the archaic words written on it at this point. Then the letters started to glow for some reason and I tried to take a closer look, but then the letters suddenly got transferred to my arm.”

It’s what Jaime heard from Grace earlier.

In truth, it was strange that this item, which was supposed to be at the top compartment of a locked cabinet, just fell on the floor like that. But now, they’re met with an even bigger problem than that—Jaime didn’t have the leisure to sweat the details.

“And you read the archaic words that were written on this?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“May I ask how you know the archaic language?”

“I studied it a little while I was still attending the academy because I found it interesting. I could still recall a few words and I read the phrase on the riding crop out loud, then it became like this…”

Grace traced one finger over the letters on her arm.

Jaime, Gabriel, Grace and even the black horse fell into silence.

Jaime’s eyes flitted alternately between Grace’s forearm and the normal-looking riding crop with such confusion behind his gaze.

Seeing how troubled Jaime was, Grace felt apologetic.

“I’m sorry. I’ve troubled you all due to my actions. I didn’t know it would be like this either.”

“Oh! Not at all, Lady Grace. There’s no one to blame for the current situation! I’m the one who must apologize for agitating Your Ladyship.”

Flustered, Jaime waved his arms and said it was alright, but Grace couldn’t hide how terrible she felt.

But then, at that moment.

—Can’t even take care of… that idiot… because of… even had to apologize… whatever reason. But besides that… I’m worried… might have gotten hurt…

Huh?

Again, Grace heard Lucas Blacke’s voice.

Clearer this time.

And a lot closer.