Rohan wanted nothing more than to leave the counter immediately and check on how Clara and Noah were doing.
But it was impossible at the moment.
Just as Clara had agreed to the idea of reading manga together, the previously quiet bookstore was suddenly flooded with customers like a surging tide.
“Three coins and twenty tokens. Would you like a paper bag for one token?”
“Yes, please put it in a bag.”
“I’ve included the receipt inside. Thank you!”
Why did the customers have to swarm in at this exact moment?
It was the busiest day since Rohan had started working part-time and one of the most record-breaking sales days in the history of the Spider Lily Bookstore.
“Do you have any books for learning letters? It’s for my child.”
“Is Pascal’s latest work out of print?”
“I’m looking for a book about how to talk to girls and get a girlfriend.”
Rohan patiently attended to each customer’s requests amid the bustling crowd while sneaking glances toward the corner where Clara and Noah were.
Though he couldn’t see them clearly, it seemed like they were quietly getting along.
“……”
At the same time, a realization struck him deeply.
Looking back, he understood that his confidence in knowing Clara well had been pure arrogance.
The idea that Clara would voluntarily spend time with Noah was something completely beyond his expectations.
It was an unimaginable scenario, even for someone like Rohan, who had enjoyed Abyss City as a gamer and prided himself on his foresight for the game.
And yet, this very thing was happening right before his eyes.
I’ll need to be more cautious from now on, he thought.
This applied not only to Clara but also to Ichinose and Noah, who possessed far more information than he did. And perhaps even the princess.
Reality was unpredictable and unconfined by rigid frameworks.
Rohan engraved that truth into his heart once again.
..
..
“Hmm~”
“…….”
Clara herself was puzzled over where she had mustered the courage to accept the earlier suggestion.
Now, just sitting next to Noah, who was humming a tune while holding a manga, was draining her mental stamina in real-time.
The manga she was holding wasn’t making any sense to her at all.
“What’s our friend’s name?”
Noah, who had been focused on her book, suddenly threw out a question.
The startled Clara flinched and her whole body jolted before she replied softly.
“M-My name is Clara…!”
“Oh, that’s a cute name. Just call me Noah.”
“O-Okay…”
The name Noah and the uniquely beautiful appearance, the snow-white tiger features as pure as perpetual snow, and the subtle chill that gave off an extraordinary feeling.
Clara completed her thoughts and reached a conclusion.
Noah Frozenheart of Tigrova? What on earth is Oppa involved in…
Noah was, without a doubt, one of the most remarkable figures Clara had ever encountered in her life.
But she managed to keep her nerves under control somehow.
Clara herself wasn’t tasked with assassination or intelligence gathering, so the thought that she could escape if she wanted to this time lightened her heart.
The beastkin girl quickly flipped through the pages with a soft rustling sound.
Noah’s gaze lingered the longest not on scenes heavy with dialogue but on the pages where food was illustrated.
After visually savoring the feast, Noah opened her mouth to speak again.
“I was so surprised watching you move earlier. Want to have a race with me next time?”
“Well, um… that is…”
“The first one to reach the top of the mountain wins! Nose is pretty fast on her feet too, so it should be pretty fun if she joins us.”
“…….”
“Oh! By the way, Nose is someone who entered school with me—”
Although Clara had entered this space voluntarily, she was beginning to regret it.
She wished Rohan would show up right then and pull her out.
How could someone talk so casually and invite her to play on a first meeting?
From Clara’s perspective, Noah was a person beyond comprehension.
She wasn’t like Rohan, who maintained a delicate sense of distance and only asked easy-to-answer questions.
No, this felt like a kind of terrifying pressure. One wrong step, one casual “Sure, I guess,” and suddenly you’d find yourself locked into a promise.
It was like Noah tore through all boundaries and walked across with carefree abandon.
Just listening to her talk from the side made Clara feel dizzy with the world spinning before her eyes.
“Anyway, let me know if you’re interested. I’ll make it happen, okay?”
Clara nodded faintly.
At least Noah didn’t press her with forceful demands and gave her some room to breathe.
But that didn’t mean she was free from the traps of small talk.
Noah seemed determined to steer the conversation wherever her whims led, like a driver ready to snap the steering wheel in half.
“You know, the more I look at you, the more doll-like you seem. Nose’s kind of like a doll too, but her style’s a little different.”
“N-No, not at all… I’m nothing like that…”
“Huh? But my standards are super high, and I don’t usually say stuff like this! Faces as pretty as yours are really rare!”
The sudden, blunt compliment made Clara flinch and shake her head in shock.
If you took the words at face value, they sounded like something sleazy men on the street might say.
But Noah spoke with such genuine admiration and without any ulterior motive that the weight of Clara’s discomfort felt almost unbearable.
“Dad told Nose once that if you deny compliments too much, it stops being humble and just looks like rejection. Have some confidence! I’m sure even Rohan would agree with me.”
“O-Oppa would…?”
“Should I ask him later? Even if he’s busy now, he’ll show up eventually.”
The idea that Noah might ask a question Clara herself couldn’t muster the courage to ask felt like a golden opportunity.
But still—
What if, just what if! Surely, my kind-hearted Oppa would never, but…!
She was terrified that a blunt, straightforward rejection might shatter her mental state into pieces.
Just imagining it made her tense and tremble uncontrollably. Clara swallowed nervously.
Noah, who had been quietly observing the strange symptoms of the girl, blinked her eyes.
Suddenly, curiosity welled up within her and she wanted to ask.
“What’s your relationship with Rohan, Clara?”
“With Oppa…?”
“Mhmm.”
What should she say here? Clara shrunk slightly and darted her eyes around.
“Just… an oppa I got to know at the bookstore…”
“I see. That’s interesting.”
“And, and what about you, Noah-unnie?”
“Haha! Noah-unnie? I like how that sounds! I’m just Rohan’s classmate.”
Noah’s tail thumped against the floor. She was clearly pleased with the title Clara had used.
“I’ve got something I’m curious about…”
“Sure! Ask me anything!”
“Tigrova practices, um… polygamy, right…?”
Contrary to expectations, the question wasn’t about an individual but about a broader topic.
Even so, Noah accepted it casually and nodded.
“That’s right! So, my eldest brother… How many wives does he have now? Ten… or was it more than ten? I forget.”
“What?!”
Clara gasped in shock and took in a sharp breath. Noah giggled as she watched the girl’s astonished reaction.
“Well, I guess it must seem strange if you’re from a country without polygamy. It’s natural to be curious.”
“I was just wondering… what do you think about polygamy…?”
At Clara’s question, Noah crossed her arms and pondered for a moment.
Soon, her sapphire eyes glimmered with a sudden flash of insight, and her face lit up as though she had found the perfect answer.
“I think it’s great! With more sisters, I get spoiled with delicious food all the time!”
“That’s, um, not exactly what I meant…”
“Huh? Isn’t it? That’s a huge plus, though.”
Clara was curious about Noah’s personal perspective on the system of her country.
But judging by Noah’s words alone, she already had her answer.
It didn’t seem like Noah had any objections to the practice at all.
“…Are there men who don’t practice polygamy?”
“Well, there are, but society doesn’t really look kindly on them.”
“W-Why is that?!”
This was something Clara genuinely couldn’t understand.
Was it not something that deserved praise as a display of pure devotion?
“Tigrova ultimately views strength as the ultimate proof of worth. In any country, power brings wealth and honor, but in Tigrova, it’s just a little more… blatant.”
“…And what does that have to do with polygamy?”
“There’s this idea that having only one wife means you lack the financial resources or emotional capacity to embrace more. It’s also seen as proof that you’re not fit to be a true leader! That’s one of the beliefs.”
“.…..”
“In the end, it’s just a social structure that differs from country to country. Well, the people of Tigrova don’t expect outsiders to understand it anyway.”
Since Tigrova was a powerful country, its systems and technologies were undoubtedly advanced.
Yet the reasoning that supported such institutions felt almost like something from a hunter-gatherer society.
Perhaps it could be dressed up as the boldness of people living on cold and unforgiving lands.
The way they didn’t care about others’ opinions was, in Clara’s eyes, rather impressive.
“N-Noah, if your boyfriend or husband practiced polygamy… would you not mind at all?”
“Of course not! It’d be great to have more people to hang out with!”
“…….”
“In Tigrova, a woman rejecting polygamy is practically the same as obstructing her husband’s success. Like I said earlier, if a man only has one wife, it could be seen as proof that he’s unfit at critical moments.”
Was it something Noah could accept because she had been raised to think that way from birth?
Clara was bewildered by the innocent tone in Noah’s words.
It made Clara feel as if she was the strange one for not being able to accept it gracefully.
“Uuuu…”
When the girl hid her face between the pages of the open manga, Noah lightly tapped her slender back with her tail.
“Is Tigrova very different from your country?”
“Yes…”
“Then I don’t think you need to force yourself to understand another country’s system. Even Nose said it’s exhausting because there are just too many weddings among my brothers back home.”
“……”
How nice it would be if things could end so cleanly.
Clara sighed. Her weary gaze trailed downward, and she took out her phone.
She began typing out a message with her fingers tapping rapidly on the keyboard.
Bzzzzt—!
Rohan’s phone buzzed while he was warmly greeting the customers.
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