Chapter 30
Episode 30
If they attack us, they're the ones who will disappear, not us.
Jin said with a serious face.
"When we get back, I'm doing training tenfold."
"Deal."
"What?"
"No, I mean, good."
Nina grinned.
Whether Nina was right, or they just didn't have the mind to, there were no attacks until the next day.
Nina and Jin ransacked the remaining valuables in the barracks.
Nina said Adrian would like it, and rolled up a smooth leopard skin to take with her.
"This barracks is a waste..."
Jin lamented, stroking the thick tent with his hand.
"We can come back for it later. It's our land now anyway."
At Nina's words, Jin smiled brightly and climbed onto the Unicorn, saying, "Oh, right?"
The two Unicorns were loaded with luggage, but the Unicorns didn't even flinch at the weight.
\ \ \
The two, who raised the flag with the black hawk drawn on it in the Illa Plains, returned to Black Shield Castle.
In the meantime, the victory news spread throughout the plains.
Although Count Lava tried to keep it quiet, everyone knew that The Roubaenue Dukedom had won.
However, no one believed the words, 'They were all defeated by one commander.'
The nobles paid attention to The Roubaenue Dukedom, which had regained the Great Plains.
Count Lava was equally furious. He now pressured The Roubaenue Dukedom to repay the debt immediately.
Adrian sent a letter in elegant handwriting, saying, 'Wouldn't it be until next year's exchange?'
In short, it meant, 'Don't you need to restore your honor?'
It is not known what kind of arguments took place within the County, but the returned letter contained the words [Next year will be the last.].
They had bought themselves a year.
Adrian sank deep into his chair.
The leopard skin covering his chair was soft and smooth.
Nina and her party were greeted with enthusiasm upon their return.
"Good job, Nina."
When Nina handed over the skin, saying, 'This is for Young Master,' Adrian somehow burst out laughing.
He felt like a primitive tribe that had successfully hunted and returned to share the spoils.
Spoils.
'Yes, the first spoils.'
Finally, The Roubaenue Dukedom was regaining its original form.
\ \ \
The joy was short-lived.
Because the administrative rights had been delegated for eight years, he was overwhelmed with work.
Adrian spent all day stuck in documents, except for short naps.
It was around the time Louis was starting to worry about His Excellency's health.
Nina grabbed Adrian's hand as he picked up the next document.
"Nina? When did you get here?"
Adrian looked back at her, puzzled, and Nina smiled.
"It's serious if you don't even know I'm here."
Adrian rubbed his forehead and said.
"I'm concentrating."
"What did you say to me before? Wasn't it you who said there's no need to rush? Young Master, you're the one who needs a break? You've been working non-stop for three days. Let's take a break together today."
She said she had everything prepared and pulled his arm, so Adrian had no choice but to follow her.
She went all the way to the end of the castle and opened the gate to the watchtower.
On the narrow watchtower was a picnic basket made of rattan.
"Come on, sit down, Young Master."
She patted the blanket-covered floor, and Adrian sat down.
Nina took out simple food and tea from the basket, and finally took out two flower crowns made of wildflowers.
She put one on her head and one on Adrian's head.
A wildflower crown, Adrian burst out laughing.
"We can't go out, so let's at least feel like we are."
At Nina's words, he chuckled.
She made the flower crown well. He remembered her saying she learned it from her brother when she was young.
Whenever they went outside, Nina would make a flower crown or flower bracelet and put it on him.
He always reverently received her flower crown, feeling like a king being crowned.
She smiled and summoned Frost to make the tea ice-cold.
Adrian, who received the iced tea she handed him, looked at her wearing a flower crown full of yellow flowers.
Nina pointed to the sky with her finger.
"Blue sky, cool breeze, brilliant Tae Yang. Don't people need leisure?"
When he looked up at those words, the sky was surprisingly blue, and cumulus clouds seemed to show how high the sky was.
Leaning against the cold watchtower wall, Adrian cooled his head.
"Nina La Del."
"Yes, would you like a biscuit? I also got some jam."
Nina will spread it for you.
When she asked, holding a butter knife, Adrian said.
"You're right."
Tae Yang, water, air.
And you.
Everything he needed to live as a person was here.
"Right? You need leisure, right? Well, it's not for me to say, since I forced Young Master to take a vacation."
Nina handed him a biscuit with plenty of butter and jam.
It wasn't that it was hard to find wheat in the territory, it was just hard to find it in the castle.
Extreme austerity was the cause of the food shortage in the castle.
'But that didn't mean everyone was rich enough to eat white bread.'
Nina, who had finished the biscuit and tea, got up from her seat and sat on the edge of the watchtower.
She shook her hands in the air to drop the crumbs and enjoyed the breeze.
Her pigtails fluttered softly in the wind.
She was wearing a comfortable outfit with a hip-length top embroidered around the collar, pants underneath, and a belt around her waist.
Nina tapped her knees lightly and said.
"Come on, come and lean on me and act spoiled."
"Is that so you can use me as you please?"
When Adrian replied with a smile, Nina said, "That's exactly it," and confidently told him to come over.
But Adrian didn't move. Nina sighed and got up from her seat.
"I can't help it. I'm doing this because I'm really your Young Master."
Nina went next to him and sat on the watchtower.
"Hurry up and lean on me."
Seeing Nina's sparkling eyes, Adrian turned his body and leaned his back against her legs.
When he lifted his head and looked up, Nina smiled and reached out to shade his eyes.
Time passed slowly.
There was no noise on the watchtower except for the sound of the flag fluttering.
A sense of floating as if floating in the sky enveloped his whole body.
Nina's voice was low and soft. The content of the story was light enough to let it flow through one ear, yet sparkling like mica in the pouring sand.
There was no need to listen intently or think seriously.
The tension that had been tightening his whole body was released.
The taut nerve strings loosened.
He reached out and pulled her hand that was shading him.
As her arm was pulled, Nina's upper body leaned forward as if being pulled.
They faced each other so closely that he could see the patterns in her irises.
"Nina."
"Yes."
"Nina."
"Yes."
"Nina."
Nina smiled and answered "Yes" again. Her attitude was that she would answer a hundred or a thousand times, so Adrian closed his eyes.
It was difficult to see her smiling face straight on. When he closed his eyes, Nina straightened her body.
Nina knew very well that this was his way of acting spoiled. She stroked his hair and looked up at the Violet Forest beyond.
The watchtower with only the two of them felt like the end of the world.
"Come up often, Young Master."
Nina murmured so.
"Okay."
A small and short answer came back, and she smiled.
