Spectre of the Sinner - Zetro Translation

POV: Freida von Wagner, quinta hora vesperi, Vest Schëld, Mellanphalia Kingdom

“My apologies… Ouch, ouch, I know it already!”

As I was still half-embarrassed at the black-haired man for his heart-stopping prank, I lightly swung my arm and hit him. To think that this man was able to slip out silently like that and sat next to me while I was investigating the hat’s inner lining…

“And no, I wasn’t doing it for any nefarious purposes!”

Inadvertently letting my excuse for yet another time, soon the sense of shame embraced my being. I was sure that my head was on fire as I felt the heat spreading across my face, I excused myself and escaped into the bathroom to wash my face and calm myself.

“I wonder what would [Annie] say to me now, I hope that she wouldn’t tease me back,” a wistful murmur rolled out of my tongue as I looked at the mirror, which I shook my head to dismiss such thoughts.

Feeling composed, I returned to the room to find Mister [An] seemingly deep in thought, occasionally momentarily furrowing his brows. As I was about to voice my concern, he exhaled and shook his head in frustration before his dark brown eyes met mine.

“Oh, my apologies for making you worry,” he quickly regained his composure as he hurriedly stood up, “I was thinking over some matters, that’s all. And once again, please allow me to express my apologies for my prank. Somehow you remind me of my late wife, as she also used to do the same thing as you just did.”

As soon as the phrase [late wife] came up, a wave of realization and mixed feelings washed over my being. To think that my earlier actions reminded him of her, I couldn’t tell whether I should be happy or sad at the comparison. Just as something inside my bosom was about to erupt, the outlander continued to carefully spin his words.

“While I still miss her dearly, I’ve long accepted that fact,” with a troubled laugh, he shrugged wryly at the following words, “some of my vriende have been nagging me to take another step for a while now. For now, I want to take things slowly, enjoying every step of the way.”

As he uttered those words, his dark brown eyes peered into mine. As much as I wanted to feel relieved, the sense of embarrassment assaulted my mind, causing me to turn my head sideways to escape from his gaze. Once again, the mysterious feeling in my heart stirred pleasantly.

“Still, I hope that this service dress is decent enough to present at your household,” the man muttered skeptically as he glanced at his outfit, calming my mind considerably.

Now that I had the presence of mind to have a good look at the foreigner, I inadvertently gulped over his appearance. The dark olive-green formal suit, which consisted of a matching ensemble of a long-sleeved jacket, trousers, dress shirt, and necktie, had a simple design that didn’t compromise its air of formality in a bit. What caught my eyes first were the rows of colorful ribbons adorned near the man’s heart position, which seemed to indicate the honors and merits that he had earned through his battlefield deeds. The same unit emblem was sewn on the arm part of the sleeve, creating the impression that Mister [An] wasn’t just a mere soldier as he proclaimed. The next item that piqued my interest was the shoulder boards, whose cloth sleeves’ design was slightly obscured due to the black-haired man’s height.

With a rustling sound, the foreigner brought me back to reality. Knowing that I had wasted my time gawking at his attire, just as I was about to squeeze out a word of compliment at him.

“Oh, these are my rank slide, Miss [von Wagner],” he glanced over his left shoulder as he guessed my intention, “guess that I have no choice, huh?”

Slightly embarrassed by his teasing grin, nonetheless, I still accepted his gracious offer. The dark olive-green cloth tube consisted of two scarlet parallel lines and three golden stars arranged in an isosceles triangle formation, which my intuition told me that it bore significant meaning.

Just as I was about to voice the question, the man conveniently interrupted my stream of thoughts.

“Speaking of which, do they have specified the time to come over?”

The well-crafted clock near the bed showed that it was still early to leave the room to head to my family’s residence. Besides, I felt that the time he spent in the bath was suspiciously short, causing my mind to question his sense of personal hygiene.

Perhaps because of my stern gaze directed at him, Mister [An] let out a resigned chuckle before gathering himself.

“Hey, I’m ain’t a pig here, and I have my pride as a civilized man as well,” placing his hand at his heart, the man continued to spin his words, “I simply took a combat shower out of habit. Well, I have to improvise here and there a bit, though.”

“A [combat shower]?”

“A bathing technique that aims to conserve water and energy. Originally used by the army and navy personnel, soon it became a sort of standard practice following the extreme shortage of water following the war. I just cannot suddenly shake off the ingrained habits, after all.”

As he explained the origin of the foreign term, his weathered visage wore a distant look, suggesting that the story was much more than what he had just revealed. Knowing that he once endured the brutal conditions of his enemies’ prisoner camps, I quietly accepted his explanation without any further question.

Suddenly recalling his earlier questions, I hurriedly glanced at the clock once again to confirm the time.

“My mother said that the banquet should be held at prima hora noctis, so we should have at least another 2 hours to…”

“Then how about we rest here for a short while?”

The black-haired foreigner gently put his hand on my shoulder, and with a smooth motion, I found myself sitting on the single bed. While I was confused over the state of the affair, he positioned the wooden chair near the bedside and gently wrapped his hands with mine. A sense of reassurance and tranquility could be felt from his roughly calloused hand, which calmed my racing mind considerably.

“You’re not fooling anyone here, Miss,” he gently admonished me as he put away his headwear, “I can tell that you’re tired now. Thank you for your hard work this afternoon. I’ll keep watch and wake you up on time, so for now, please take a rest.”

Sensing that my heart fluttered at his offer, I turned my head away to hide my face. After a moment of uncomfortable silence, unable to bear the embarrassment, I squeezed out a weak reply.

“Fine then… I trust that you don’t do anything weird to me, ok?”

Seeing that he took my warning seriously, I slowly sunk onto the bed. And soon, I found myself drifting off to dreamland.