* * *
…Ah, I want to go home. I really, desperately want to go home.
It had been three hours since I became a stable hand. The confidence I had earlier was completely lost. This place wasn’t just a stable. It was hell.
“Have you finished cleaning up the horse manure, Giselle?”
“Yes.”
“I’ve finished too.”
I sighed and looked around. These damn horses! Their bowel movements are way too vigorous! You clean it once, and then they poop again, and again, and get it all over their fur… Seriously, are they possessed by evil spirits or something…? Who would have thought this was simply what horses were like as a species? My teeth are grinding…
I glared at the horse standing proudly, flaunting its glossy coat. Seeing this, Vientin added with dignity, “If I remember correctly, these fellows were rather fussy.”
“Ah, really?”
“But for some reason, it seems they’ve opened their hearts to Giselle.”
Why the hell did they open them? Why!
I realized it all over again. I was cursed with an abundance of work. It had been that way in the past, and it would probably be that way in the future, too. Lowering my hand, which seemed to reek faintly of horse manure, I sighed.
“Come to think of it, no one comes all the way here.”
“Yes. Few people would go out of their way to come to the stables. Especially since this is where the sick horses are kept.”
“…”
According to the rules of time travel, we couldn’t become people who had a major influence on this world. But still, we hadn’t come through time travel just to clean up horse manure, had we? The reason we had come through time was… To meet Arseno!
With a faint sense of foreboding, I carefully asked, “Then, are we going… to leave after doing nothing but cleaning horse manure, without even seeing my brother-in-law?”
“That could happen.”
Even though we had come here to meet his older brother, Vientin didn’t seem particularly concerned. Rather, I was the only one anxiously fidgeting.
Well, we can’t exactly cause a huge commotion just to lure him out. It was like having all four limbs restrained…Not only could we not cause a scene, but I couldn’t think of any way to meet my brother-in-law, either.
Feeling a little more dejected than usual, I absentmindedly stroked the horse’s tail and muttered, “Um, then how about we talk about something positive and good for now? There is something fortunate, at least.”
“That is true.”
“Since we somehow managed to get employed as stable hands who clean up horse manure, at least we won’t starve to death on the streets.”
“Yes. Though you wouldn’t die from starving for just one day.”
Wow, so smart and analytical. As expected of a duke…
As if Vientin noticed my sour expression, he raised the corners of his mouth into a crooked smile. Then he quietly opened the stable door and muttered. “Come to think of it, I have some good news.”
“What kind? That we can get some ventilation?”
At that moment, Vientin gestured with his chin toward outside the door, wearing an expression similar to his usual one, but nevertheless looking slightly more pleased than usual. “There. The person you were looking for is coming.”
“Huh? Who’s coming…?” At that moment, I froze.
From a distance, a man who looked like a nobleman appeared, dressed in unmistakably pure white clothes.
“What? Looks like the stable hands have changed again.”
Watching him smile energetically, I swallowed hard. I knew this man very well. The name he goes by at this point in time is… Arseno Kalinos. Arseno Kalinos. The reason we had traveled through time. In other words, my husband’s older brother…
Without realizing it, I glanced toward Vientin. He was still nodding with an expressionless face. “Yes.”
Wow, he really looks like an ordinary stable hand… Arseno, too, passed by without any particular suspicion.
“Well, I get it. The horses of my family have always been rather peculiar.” Arseno shrugged as though it were nothing important, then climbed onto his horse. It meant that he perceived us as if we were air.
Right, this is how it should be. But did Vientin think so, too? Wouldn’t it bother him that his own older brother perceived him as nothing more than air? Even if his expression looked impassive, perhaps he was actually uncomfortable…
After Arseno rode off on his horse and disappeared like the wind, Vientin and I were left alone again. I looked toward Vientin, wondering what I should say. “Um, so.” But I didn’t need to worry about what to say. Because he was smiling while meeting my gaze. “Um, how should I put it? You have… quite a moving expression.”
I realized painfully that there was one thing I had overlooked while planning this time travel. That, my husband, Duke Kalinos…
“This is good. So this is what being moved means.”
…was more emotionally expressive than I had expected. Seeing him smile as brightly as spring flowers, I felt a strange sense of irony.
“…You didn’t even get to properly greet your brother. Are you okay?”
“Yes. Those who use a time machine must not form connections in the first place. If we do, we will have too great an influence on the past.”
“Yes, theoretically, that’s true, but.”
“Simply seeing him once from a distance is the best we can do.”
“…So that we don’t create a connection.”
“Yes. Therefore, even with my brother, it is enough to simply watch him from afar.”
Without realizing it, I muttered softly, “Like an extra…”
His brows furrowed as he whispered in a low voice, “…Yes, like an extra.” He then picked up a shovel and grinned. “In that sense, my job satisfaction is also quite high right now.”
…A stable hand in the Kalinos household? They were merely day laborers who handled countless horses. It was a position that could easily be replaced and easily forgotten. Most of the people here were simply called nameless stable hands, without even having names of their own.
“So, take a rest, Giselle. I’ll do all the work.”
* * *
Several more hours passed. I looked at Vientin Kalinos, who had finished all the work in the stable. This person can’t possibly exist as an extra. I could blend in fairly well. But even if Vientin changed his face, there was something unusual about his aura. He practically sparkles. Come to think of it, he seemed to have done the work far too well compared to what ordinary stable hands would do…
As I was watching him, noise came from far away. The clattering sound of horse hooves made me frown. Again, it was Arseno.
“I need a spare horseshoe.”
I immediately handed him a horseshoe and replied, “Here you go.”
What I had said was only one sentence. Yet Arseno, who had quickly mounted his horse, looked at me with curiosity.
“Looks like this stable hand has received quite an education. Honestly, the fellows who have joined our household until now have been pretty hopeless.”
…? But I only handed him a horseshoe that had been lying around.
When I expressed my confusion with my eyes, Arseno grinned. “Usually, they don’t even know what a horseshoe is.”
…Were they really that ignorant? I was completely flustered. Damn it… I mustn’t stand out. But I could still smooth things over, then.
Tilting my head slightly, I spoke. “So that’s a horseshoe. This humble one doesn’t really know. I just used what was there.”
“Huh?” He looked puzzled and asked me again, “This humble one?”
Ah, I had gotten too immersed in the role of a stable hand.
“Ah, I apologize. I don’t know much.”
I was just thinking that such archaic words didn’t exist in this world when he spoke up. “That word was a term created by people in ancient times to humble themselves.”
What was with this man? I glanced at Vientin. Completely unaware of my burning distress, he remained impassive. Only then did I realize. Until now, I had vaguely assumed that since he was Vientin’s brother, he must have a disposition similar to Vientin’s. For example, I had expected him to have a remarkably similar inclination toward the sciences. But then.
“I suppose I’ll have to research it.”
Does this mean that this person has a tendency to enjoy research? Something like… ‘academic research,’ unlike Vientin?
“Ah, it would be good if you came by sometime in the afternoon. I’m interested in the development of spoken language.”
I realized it then. Um, we’re screwed. Just a little.
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