Between Your Letter and My Reply

Chapter 44

[Translation By Divinity]

“Why? What’s wrong?”

Carl asked, puzzled, and Damian put his index finger to his lips and whispered,

“Shh.”

They stood there for a moment in a silent standoff, then Damian suddenly lunged forward and tackled the figure in the bushes. A few moments later…

“Aaargh!”

A scream echoed through the air. Carl’s eyes widened in surprise as Damian emerged from the bushes, dragging a young man by the scruff of his neck. The young man struggled to break free, but Damian held him firmly, even with only one arm.

Damian didn’t let go until they were a good distance away from the bushes. The young man protested,

“What the hell, man?!”

He panted, but Damian didn’t even blink and retorted,

“I should be asking you that. What were you doing sneaking around here?”

“None of your business.”

Damian briefly considered punching the defiant young man, but Carl spoke up first.

“Glenn? What are you doing here?”

“Glenn?”

Damian looked at the young man again, surprised. He appeared to be around Damian’s age, with reddish hair, a slightly tanned complexion, and a smaller build than Damian. But there was a hint of rebelliousness in his expression.

Damian chuckled dryly and asked,

“You’re Glenn?”

“Yeah, so what?”

“I heard you were away from the village for work. Are you back?”

“I’m just here on a short leave! But who are you, and how do you even know that?”

Damian felt a flutter in his chest. He had finally met one of the people mentioned in the letters. Feeling a surge of relief, he softened his guarded expression.

It seemed Lintray was a real person after all. His heart started pounding. Damian suppressed his excitement and said to Glenn,

“I’m Damian Stern… I have some questions for you.”

“Why are you speaking informally?”

Glenn glared at Damian, but Damian, feeling elated, was unusually generous.

“I’m not younger than you. And you were the one who spoke informally first.”

…Well, ‘generous’ by Damian’s standards. Normally, Glenn’s head would have been bashed in by now.

Glenn’s expression turned slightly uncomfortable as he asked,

“Do you know me?”

“A little?”

“How?”

“Lady Lintray mentioned you in her letters.”

“Lintray…? The Lintray who lived here?”

Damian nodded, and Glenn’s expression turned strange.

“Why would Lintray write to you about me?”

“Well… it just happened. But before that… you haven’t answered my question about what you were doing here.”

“I-I was just following you because it was suspicious to see a stranger going to the Benbrick mansion!”

“Is that so?”

“Y-Yeah! Why else would I be here? What’s so strange about me being in my own village?”

“I see.”

But Damian’s suspicions weren’t completely dispelled. Before Damian could interrogate Glenn like a war prisoner, Carl intervened to mediate.

“Hey, you two… You’re not fighting, are you?”

“Fighting? Can’t you see we’re having a conversation?”

Damian replied with a calm expression, but Glenn shook his head and hid behind Carl.

“He looks like he’s about to hit me!”

“He’s more timid than I thought.”

Damian muttered, and Glenn, feeling offended, asked Carl,

“Uncle Carl, do you know who this guy is? He’s your customer, right? Is it okay to bring someone like this here?!”

“Yeah, he’s a friend of Lady Seyra, who used to live here. He came once before.”

“Seyra? He’s a friend of Seyra, not Lintray?”

“…For now, yes.”

“Then why was he exchanging letters with Lintray?”

“It just happened that way.”

Glenn still seemed wary, crossing his arms and glaring at Damian. But Damian wasn’t intimidated at all; in fact, he didn’t even seem threatened.

“So, what questions did you want to ask?”

“Oh, it’s nothing much. I’m looking for Lady Seyra. So…”

Damian took something out of his pants pocket and showed it to Glenn.

“Do you know anyone who looks like this?”

It was the photo Damian had taken with Lilliana at the fountain in front of Lomeltos Palace a few days ago. Glenn looked at it once, glanced at Damian, then looked back at the photo, lost in thought.

“Well… I think I’ve seen her before, but I’m not sure…”

“Really? Then you probably haven’t.”

Glenn’s uncertain expression didn’t seem like a lie, so Damian put the photo back in his pocket and asked,

“Then can you describe the people who lived here?”

Glenn looked at Damian suspiciously and asked accusingly,

“What? You said you were Seyra’s friend. Don’t you know what your friend looks like?”

“I have something to check, so I’d appreciate it if you could tell me. If you don’t know, it’s okay if Carl over there tells me…”

Glenn looked at Carl as if to say, ‘What’s with this guy?’ Carl shrugged. Since Glenn didn’t seem inclined to have a long conversation with Damian, Carl stroked his chin and spoke up.

“Let’s see… the Baron, the owner of this house…”

Carl trailed off and frowned at Glenn.

“What did the Baron look like…?”

Glenn looked at him in disbelief.

“You don’t even remember that? The Baron, you know, the… the…?”

Glenn stopped mid-sentence, as if his mind had gone blank. He scratched his head and tilted it in confusion.

“Why can’t I remember the Baron’s face? I used to see him often.”

Now Damian’s expression also turned strange.

It seemed odd that someone would forget the face of a person they had seen just a few months ago, after living in the same village for years.

“Sorry, I’m not doing this on purpose. I really can’t remember.”

“…Okay? Then what about Lady Seyra or Lady Lintray? What did they look like?”

“…”

“…”

Carl and Glenn’s faces remained creased in confusion. They seemed frustrated, thumping their chests and grabbing their heads.

“Why can’t I remember?”

“Yeah, why can’t I remember?”

“As far as I know, Glenn was close to Lady Seyra. Wasn’t he?”

“That’s right! I’m Seyra’s friend! But I can’t remember! Really! I even had a picture of her!”

“A picture? Why didn’t you say so earlier?! Show us!”

“But I lost it…”

Damian looked at them with a strange expression at that answer. But they seemed genuinely frustrated, not like they were lying.

“Then can I ask the villagers?”

Carl nodded at Damian’s question and replied,

“Y-yes! The villagers must remember what the Benbrick family looked like!”

“That’s right! Others will remember.”

Damian was quite baffled, but he had no choice but to get into Carl’s carriage with Glenn and head down to the village. Carl started asking the people they encountered about the Benbrick family’s appearance. And they experienced something quite bizarre.

“The Baron’s family? Well, I wasn’t close to them, so I don’t remember their faces well.”

“Baron Benbrick and Lady Seyra? Come to think of it, their faces are a bit hazy… I didn’t see them often.”

“I can’t remember either. Glenn would know better, wouldn’t he? He hung out with the Benbrick family a lot.”

“Oh my, am I getting dementia already? I can’t remember.”

None of the villagers could remember the faces of the people who lived in the Benbrick mansion. No one could even recall simple details like their hair color or height.

Carl drove the carriage all around the village, but everyone they met had the same reaction.

“What the…”

Damian was dumbfounded.