TGW Chapter 24 Part 2

 

Sienna slowly opened her eyes. It was dark around her. She was startled and quickly sat up.

"Where am I…?"

She tried to gather her thoughts. She had left the palace early in the morning and boarded the White Chip, and this was a cabin on the ship.

"I was sitting in the chair, and then…"

She recalled hearing his voice in her sleep. It seemed he had moved her to the bed. The memory of his low voice lingered, somewhere between dream and reality, like a dreamlike haze.

A small lamp glowed softly above the fireplace, making it possible to vaguely make out her surroundings. As she got off the bed, she saw light seeping in from under the door.

Sienna opened the bedroom door. The sudden flood of light was blinding, and she raised her hand to shield her eyes.

"You're awake?"

Kuhn, who was sitting on the sofa in the lounge, greeted her. He looked busy, holding documents, with papers scattered all over the table.

"How long did I sleep?"

"It's almost noon. I was just about to wake you up. It's nearly time for the lunch I ordered to be brought in."

"Noon?"

Sienna sighed in relief. She had been worried that she had slept through the whole day.

"I'll show you around the ship after lunch."

"You seem to have a lot of work. You don't have to push yourself."

"This?"

Kuhn set the documents he was holding down on the table.

"It's not urgent. You can look at it if you want. You might find it interesting. It's information about the Bless territory."

Sienna's eyes sparkled with curiosity. However, as she approached the table, Kuhn quickly gathered the scattered documents and placed them in a leather binder.

"You said I could look."

She pointed out, dissatisfied with his contradictory actions.

"Not right now."

"Why not?"

"If you start looking at these, you won't move for a while. We need to eat and then explore the ship."

Kuhn patted the seat next to him, inviting her to sit. Sienna glanced at him with a slight frown but eventually sat beside him, leaning her head on his shoulder. She still felt drowsy.

"Do you want to take another nap after lunch?"

"No, I don’t usually take naps. I don’t like how it feels afterward…"

Sienna wondered unconsciously, 'What’s that black stick?' Her eyes followed an object that caught her attention, making her lift her head, now fully awake.

"…A sword?"

She noticed his outfit, which she had previously overlooked. A leather strap crossed his chest, a sword belt designed to hold a sword on his back, where a longsword hung diagonally.

"Why are you carrying a sword on your back?"

"A waist belt is uncomfortable when sitting and standing up frequently. It’s more convenient to carry it on my back."

"Back or waist, why do you have a sword at all? We’re on a ship."

"Oh, that."

Kuhn reached back and pulled the sheathed sword out to show her. The handle was black.

"A black sword?"

"That's right."

The black sword was something she had only seen once before, on the day they first met, about a year ago. When she was trying to uncover his identity, she often checked if he carried a sword, but he hadn’t brought the black sword until today. This was the second time, the first since learning about the sword's reputation.

"This thing has been sulking, so I’m trying to soothe it."

"Sulking? Soothe?"

Sienna was confused. His description of the weapon, as if it were a person, was strange.

"I haven’t carried it around for a long time, and now it’s completely upset. I sound crazy saying this, don’t I?"

"…Is it alive?"

Kuhn burst into a laugh.

"No, of course not. Well, sort of. This sword is special. Don’t ask why—I don’t know, even though it’s been passed down through the generations. Maybe the ancestor who was its first owner knew something, but no information was left for the descendants. I didn't hear anything from my father, the previous owner, either. I had to find out everything from scratch on my own."

"What did you find out?"

"That for a sword, it has a terrible temper."

Kuhn looked down at the sword with an expression of exasperation. His gaze was a mix of love and hate.

"If I leave it unused for too long, it acts up. Sometimes I can’t even touch it, or it won’t come out of its sheath, or the blade becomes dull like it’s lost its edge."

The more Sienna listened, the more mystified she became. She couldn’t imagine what he was describing. Reading her incredulous expression, Kuhn nodded, understanding her reaction.

"This is a good chance to show you how nasty it can be. This time, it’s doing its trick of causing trouble."

Kuhn placed the sword on the table and let go of it.

"Listen."

"To what?"

"The crying sound."

Sienna stared intently at the black sword, focusing her ears. At first, she couldn’t hear anything. A sword crying? How is that possible? But as time passed, she began to hear a faint sound, similar to the flapping of insect wings.

"Just now…?"

"You heard it, right?"

The sound grew louder. It was now audible without having to concentrate. It was a peculiar vibration, not exactly a sound—neither high-pitched nor low-pitched, almost indescribable.

"If you ignore it, it gets louder and more annoying. This sound strangely travels far and disturbs people. If you keep listening, it feels like your head is spinning. Sensitive people even get nauseous."

Kuhn returned the sword to its belt, and the sound stopped abruptly as if it had never been. Just like he had said, it seemed like a sulking child throwing a tantrum.

"Does the saying ‘once drawn, it must see blood’ have to do with the sword’s nature?"

Kuhn nodded.

"It needs to be fed blood once drawn. I tried to sheathe it without doing so once and had a terrible experience. At a critical moment, the sword wouldn’t come out. I was drenched in cold sweat."

"At this point, you could say it’s alive."

"I’ve half come to believe that and made peace with it."

"How do you appease it when it’s angry?"

"By carrying it around for a while, like now…"

"Have you ever apologized to it?"

"…"

"You have, haven’t you?"

The thought of him holding a lump of metal and asking for forgiveness made her chuckle.

"Does it do its job well, given how high-maintenance it is?"

Kuhn chuckled, finding her choice of words amusing.

"It performs exceptionally. Once you’ve used this, no other sword feels right. The cutting sensation is unique. It’s incredibly sharp and strong, lacking nothing in either aspect. But it’s so unruly that I avoid drawing it unless absolutely necessary."

"You drew it when we first met."

Sienna eyed him, who subtly avoided her gaze.

"Did you intend to act hostile towards me that day?"

"…"

"Now that I think about it, knocking my sword out of my hand seemed quite deliberate. There’s no way you couldn’t control your strength that well."

Sienna noticed how the future she had seen in her dream differed from reality. Dreams and reality overlapped oddly. Their first meeting wasn’t romantic. It could have ended in the worst possible relationship, like in her dream.

She wasn’t sure what had changed the course of their relationship, but she realized that even a trivial cause could slightly alter the path to the future, leading to significant changes.

"Sienna, our past is in the past…"

Kuhn spoke in a resigned tone, watching her lost in thought.

"…but I guess we can’t just bury it. I went too far that day."

"I’m not holding it against you. I’m the one who forced you to draw your sword. It’s fascinating. If it weren’t for that meeting, would our relationship be different?"

"No matter the meeting, I would have fallen for you."

He assured her with a straight face, and Sienna chuckled. She knew of a future where that wasn’t the case.

"You look like you don’t believe me."

"Yes, I don’t."

"What? Why?"

"How can you know something that never happened?"

"Is this the extent of trust between us?"

As they bantered playfully, there was a knock on the door from outside.

"Marquis, I’ve brought lunch inside."

The two quickly wiped the smiles off their faces. When Kuhn responded, "Come in," the door opened, and carts loaded with dishes rolled in.

There was a separate dining table in the lounge. The two moved to that table.

The meal was a proper full-course dinner. From appetizers to desserts, dishes were brought in multiple times on carts. The attendants did not leave the table. They ate their meal quietly.

"Carson."

The young man serving their meal answered Kuhn's call.

"Yes, Marquis."

"How's the weather? It was cloudy this morning."

"It's cloudy with a slight breeze. It’s good for a walk on the deck."

Kuhn spoke to Sienna.

"Your Highness, would you like to take a walk and enjoy the river breeze, or would you prefer a tour of the ship first?"

"I’ll take a walk first."

"Alright, shall we?"

Gilbert was waiting outside the lounge door. When he met Sienna’s gaze, he bowed his head.

"Sir Gilbert, have you eaten?"

"Yes, Your Highness."

"Feel free to relax while on board. You don’t have to be on high alert."

Gilbert glanced briefly at the Marquis before earnestly requesting Sienna.

"Your Highness, please allow me to fulfill my duty."

Knowing Gilbert’s upright nature, Sienna smiled lightly.

"Do as you see fit."

Sienna and Kuhn walked side by side up to the deck. Gilbert followed them, maintaining a respectable distance. He showed some flexibility, keeping his distance but not far behind.

Sienna voiced the odd feeling she had just had.

"Sir Gilbert seems stiff when he deals with you. Is it just my imagination…?"

"He is stiff. He seems uncomfortable around me."

"Because you hid your identity?"

"No, I think it’s because of the gifts. I still send him quill pens."

"I told him it was okay to accept them."

"Sir Gilbert doesn’t see it as a windfall; he feels burdened, which makes him uncomfortable around me. Normally, people have a favorable view of gift-givers, but he’s incredibly honest and has no selfish desires. You’ve got a good man in him."

"…Yes, I know."

Sienna smiled. The person she had chosen without much expectation had turned out to be a real gem.

The deck was filled with bustling crew members moving around. They paid no attention to the man and woman walking on the deck. Sienna, who was always in the spotlight, enjoyed their indifference. It felt liberating, like shedding a heavy garment.

"Hey! I told you to pull that rope over there!"

"Neil! Neil! Where the hell did that bastard go?"

It was a bit—no, very noisy. There was a lot of shouting and swearing. Kuhn, slightly embarrassed, explained when Sienna looked in the direction of the noise.

"They’re rough because they’re sailors."

No sooner had he finished speaking than a rope that had fallen from the mast swept past them. The rebounding rope flew away before coming back. Kuhn grabbed it.

"Tie it to the post over there, Kuhn!"

A sailor shouted from the mast. Kuhn tied the rope tightly to the post without hesitation, his knotting skills quite adept. After pausing briefly, he resumed walking as if nothing had happened.

Sienna noticed that the hierarchical relationships were not strictly vertical. The sailors did not fear Kuhn, but they weren’t disrespectful either.

"Some call you Marquis, and some call you Kuhn."

"They do as they please. Within the empire, I’m supposed to be addressed as Marquis, but they don’t listen."

He didn’t seem particularly bothered by it.

"It’s an unusual relationship."

His attitude towards the Kali brothers was similar. His relationships with those who supported him differed from the typical master-servant dynamic.

The two climbed to the highest vantage point on the deck. The unobstructed, expansive view came into sight.

This wasn’t Sienna's first time on a ship, but when she traveled on a regular liner to visit her territory, she stayed inside the cabin.

The vast, endless stretch of blue river was impressive. She could feel the grandeur of the empire’s longest and widest river, which flowed across the land.

"Sienna."

He hugged her from behind, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"My dream is to travel the world without being bound by anything. Someday, come with me."

Instead of answering, Sienna held onto the arms around her waist. It was a wonderful dream, she thought.

After finishing their walk on the deck, Sienna followed his lead to explore the cabin. As befitted a luxury cruise ship, there were many amusements.

Several lounges with various interior decorations created different atmospheres, a terrace with a large window overlooking the river, a salon stocked with various liquors, a recreation room where one could enjoy gambling and card games, and more. The entire afternoon passed while they were sightseeing. They returned to the cabin for an early dinner.

Afterward, they sat across from each other on the lounge sofa, discussing the information about the Bless territory that Kuhn had been reviewing earlier.

Suddenly, the two of them were thrown sharply to one side of the sofa. Kuhn quickly grabbed the sofa with one hand and held Sienna with his other arm.

For safety, most of the items inside the cabin were securely fixed to the floor or walls. Even if the ship were to turn upside down, they would remain unmoved. The sofa they were sitting on was the same. Only a teacup rolled off the table and fell to the floor.

"What happened?"

"The ship has stopped."

Kuhn stared at the door. A moment later, there was a frantic knock. Martin entered.

"Kuhn, you need to come out for a moment."

Kuhn told Sienna.

"Don’t leave the cabin, Your Highness."

"Understood."

Kuhn left with Martin. Sienna, left alone, calmed her surprised heart. The maids, who had come out of their rooms, cleaned up the spilled tea and picked up the fallen cup.

"Are you all alright?"

"Yes, Your Highness."

She remained on the sofa, waiting for Kuhn. He didn’t return, suggesting it wasn’t something that would be resolved quickly.

"Should I find out what’s going on? …No, he told me not to leave. Maybe he also meant for the maids not to leave."

She was curious but not worried. If it were serious, he would have rushed back. No news was good news, she believed, trusting that he would handle it.

She checked the clock hanging on the wall in the lounge. It was already late at night. She called for a maid.

"Prepare for bed."

"Yes, Your Highness."

After taking a bath and changing into her nightwear, Sienna felt a tremor. It was similar to the shaking she felt when the ship set off in the morning.

"It seems we’re moving again."

Any residual anxiety disappeared.

"Yes, Your Highness."

"It seems it wasn’t anything serious."

The maids also looked relieved.

"Thank you. You may go and rest."

After dismissing the maids, Sienna lay on the bed. She closed her eyes, but her mind was clear. It was a lingering effect of her long nap. Instead of forcing herself to sleep, she opened the bedroom door. The lounge was dimly lit by a small lamp, like the dawn.

Standing in the doorway of her bedroom, she stared at the firmly closed door of the lounge. She couldn’t take her eyes off it, as if it might open at any moment.

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