Hakushaku to Yousei Vol 13 Chapter 3

CH3

“Excuse me, are there any rooms available?” 
The boss glanced at Frederick, who was only carrying a bag and dressed fairly light for a traveler, then quickly spoke something. It was Gaelic. 
Just then, Frederick remembered that only the boss’s eldest son was able to speak English fluently in this inn. He couldn’t understand Gaelic.
Just when he was worried about what he ought to do……
“He said to please wait a little more if you wanted to stay, as they prepare the room first.”
This was spoken in beautiful English with no Highlander accent. A woman sitting towards the side of the inner pub smiled and looked at him.
She had a Scottish tartan scarf covering her hair, and was wearing a gray skirt without any decorations. Because her clothes were honestly too simple, he couldn’t help but feel she was an older lady. But upon turning around, her features were quite young, approximately twenty years old.
Frederick usually never paid any particular attention to other people's appearances, but even he knew that this person was a considerably outstanding beauty, and the girl’s smile didn’t have the least bit of displeasure.
The inn owner handed him a beer and went up the second floor. Then the girl approached and sat next to him. 
“You are English, right?” 
Full of interest, she appraised Frederick, probably thinking that he was a dull man rather than a strange one.
Frederick hadn’t had a haircut recently, so his hair was unkempt, and was wearing round eyegla.s.ses, which weren’t pleasing to the eye.  Although his fingers had formed calluses from writing so much for a long time, there was no muscle in his arms. His unironed s.h.i.+rt had faded from was.h.i.+ng and his coat was wrinkled, so he didn’t look to be a man with a decent occupation. 
Since Frederick was twenty eight years old, his mentors, colleagues, his parents and relatives were concerned over marriage, and so at parties and other occasions women had been introduced to him. But the women who were introduced to Frederick at parties and other occasions would a.s.sess him in a split second for the most part, a.s.suming an att.i.tude of wanting to leave as soon as possible. 
Many people approved of his great success in research, but he also knew that this was not something that could attract women.
Therefore, Frederick couldn’t help but be confused at her intense gaze.
“No, umm... I'm Scottish.” 
“Someone from the lowlands? The people in this region think that as long as you’re not a Highlander, then you’re English.”
From the edge of the scarf you could catch a glimpse of her pale hair that was almost fair as her skin. Her eyes were light blue. 
The more one advanced towards the Northern islands, the more one would frequently see tall, blonde haired, fair skinned people who bore conspicuous characteristics of the Nordics.
They are descendants of the Celtics who speak Gaelic, and who also possess the thickly mixed blood with the Nordic Vikings.
“I am Aurora McKeel. Pleased to meet you.” 
She cheerfully extended her right hand to him. 
“Ah...... h.e.l.lo, I am Frederick Carlton.” 
Her hand was extremely delicate; she should be a girl who came from a wealthy family.  The pendant that shone on her bosom was an aquamarine, which wasn’t some cheaply-priced ore. 
“McKeel” is one of the family names among the major clans on this island. In the Scottish Highlands, clan heads act as landlords; therefore, due to the clan hiring tenant farmers, they would also have the same family name. But from her speaking English, it seems that she isn’t a tenant farmer, but rather a relative of the clan head.
“Why have you come to this remote island?”
“Umm… to see the standing stones.” 
“You like historic ruins?” 
“No, I like stones.” 
Whenever Frederick said this, he found that the majority of people will show a puzzled look, so he quickly added an explanation:
“Because I’m performing mineralogy-related research.”
But surprisingly, Aurora kept smiling.
“Mineralogy? That seems quite complicated.”
“There’s no such thing. From the beginning, it’s a kind of simple knowledge of looking for all kinds of stones in the world and naming them in the field of natural history all over the world. But even if stones take on a completely different color in appearance, it is possible that it could be the same ore. Since ancient times, people were very interested in gems and actively a.s.signed names to them, but even the roadside stones, soil, gravel, and of course, standing stones, any stone can become the object of study. In addition, the area below the earth’s surface is still an unknown domain, so there might be minerals lying dormant underground which haven’t yet been discovered. All kinds of things can be clearly understood by merely researching one stone, such as the material of a stone, its characteristics, as well as the period and environment of when the stone was produced. Stones can bring up information from the underground that no one has seen or has been able to reach. Just thinking about these stones, there isn’t enough time……”
Frederick suddenly got ahold of himself and shut his mouth. This was already a common occurrence, as long as he mentioned stones, he would forget about the time and situation. He was also very troublesome.
“……Ah, I'm sorry, I suddenly said a bunch of strange things.”
“Strange? What’s strange about it?” 
Unable to comprehend, she tilted her head and didn’t seem to think what Frederick said was particularly strange.
“Hey, can I ask you a question?”
“Ah…… yes, you can.”
“Are you single?”
“What?”
“Single, right? If you had a wife, she would help you sew b.u.t.tons and mend frayed spots.”
Frederick noticed her staring at the loose threads on his cuffs, thus he urgently covered it. Now that he thought about it carefully, there was no point in covering it.
“Shall I mend it for you?”  
“N--no absolutely not!” 
“There’s no need to hold back.” 
Frederick’s coat was caught and he couldn’t help but panic.
If he took off his coat, she would surely discover that there were ripped seams all over his s.h.i.+rt. Overall, he thought the clothes on his body would be taken off.
The old lady in his dormitory was also like this. As long as Frederick thought that her easy-going manner was similar to Aurora’s, his feelings of anxiety increased.  Although he had been taken care of by the old woman around the time he was a student, regardless, there was no way for him to be half-naked in front of a young woman whom he met for the first time.
“I’m sorry! You being considerate is enough, truly...”
She loosened her hand at Frederick’s unyielding refusal, but she wasn’t unhappy as a result, as she was still grinning from ear to ear.