Ch#225
225
The voice, which had been flowing slowly, gradually faded away.
He scrutinized her slender face, framed by the firelight of the hearth, with sharp eyes as if dissecting it. After hesitating for a long while, the woman lifted her head again and looked at him.
“Of course, you don’t have to agree. I only wanted you to consider it at least once….”
“Stop beating around the bush and tell me the business that brought you here.”
His voice was harsh, spurred by a strange irritation at her excessively cautious attitude. Her lips stiffened.
Varkas thought that this time, she might finally reveal some raw emotion. However, within those dark eyes tinged with navy blue, not a single trace of emotion could be found.
After a moment of silence, the woman slowly spoke.
“I heard that once Laina’s engagement ceremony is over, you have to leave for the North again. Is that true?”
Varkas hesitated for a second before giving a slow nod.
“It is true. As soon as the situation here is settled, I must return to the border.”
In an instant, her complexion darkened noticeably.
Varkas felt a thirst of unknown origin burning in his throat and moistened his parched lips.
“The position of Commander-in-Chief is not one that allows for a long absence from the military camp. I must remain in the conflict zone until the suppression of the rebels is fully complete.”
“Then….”
She chose her words carefully.
“When you leave this time, could you take Edric with you?”
At the unexpected request, Varkas narrowed his eyes.
Watching his reaction, the woman added cautiously.
“If it doesn’t strictly violate protocol, I would like you to appoint him as your aide.”
“Why are you concerned about such a thing, Your Highness?”
“Well….”
Looking at a loss for words at his sharp question, she lowered her eyelashes before continuing calmly.
“He sometimes spars with the soldiers for training… and they say his skills are too good to waste just acting as my guard….”
“…….”
“In the first place, he’s someone you assigned to me because you were afraid I’d cause another accident. I have no intention of causing any more trouble. I just want to live quietly, as I am now.”
As she finished speaking, a log in the fireplace split with a sharp crack.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, quietly watching her face, a dry, hollow laugh escaped Varkas’s lips.
“Did you come all this way just to ask for such a trivial thing?”
At his edged voice, her fingers resting on her lap flinched. Yet, the eyes looking back at him remained as still as a bottomless lake.
“If it isn’t too difficult, I’d like you to reconsider. There’s no reason for someone like me, who stays only within the castle, to have a high-ranking knight from the Roem Knights as a guard.”
He wiped the sneer from his lips and stared intently at her face.
The woman who had once claimed she could never forgive him until she died was now facing him with detached eyes, devoid of any emotional residue. He didn’t know why that fact grated on his nerves so much.
Varkas rose from the bed and stepped toward her. He saw her stiff fingers grip her skirt tightly as if anxious. A bitter smirk suddenly escaped his lips.
“I didn’t realize before that Your Highness was so thoughtful as to worry about the future of a mere guard.”
At the blatant sarcasm, her knuckles turned white.
Avoiding his gaze, she spoke.
“I’m not worried about that man’s future. I simply wish to be free from unnecessary surveillance.”
He searched her eyes persistently, trying to judge the truth of those words. She had always been difficult to read, but now he couldn’t even begin to guess what she was thinking.
He swallowed a sigh and straightened his posture.
“I didn’t hire Edric Luvon for surveillance. That man is….”
He started to say he had wanted to leave someone by her side whom she might feel even slightly comfortable with, but he bit his tongue. He didn’t want to admit with his own mouth that the man had actually been a source of comfort to her.
He turned toward the shelf and uncorked a wine bottle the servants had left. Picking up a silver goblet that had been placed upside down on the tray, he spoke bluntly.
“Understood. I will review it favorably.”
As if relieved by his answer, her rigid shoulders relaxed softly.
“……Thank you.”
Muttering in a calm voice, the woman slowly stood up.
Watching her as she walked toward the door without a hint of lingering attachment, Varkas let out a hollow laugh and poured the red wine into his glass.
Just then, a low voice reached him from behind.
“You know….”
When he turned his head again, he saw her standing awkwardly, clutching the doorknob with one hand. She struggled to finish her thought.
“There’s one more thing I’d like to ask.”
Narrowing his eyes, Varkas gave a slight tilt of his chin, signaling her to speak.
Fiddling with the doorknob as if hesitating, the woman finally brought up her business.
“About Laina…. If possible, could you let her stay in Kalmor even after she gets married?”
The hand bringing the goblet to his lips stopped in mid-air.
Varkas, his brow furrowed as if trying to gauge her intentions, threw a sharp look at her and asked in a low voice.
“Did someone ask you to try and persuade me?”
“It’s nothing like that. It’s just that she… I felt a little sorry for her, so I’m mentioning it.”
Varkas set the glass down with a thud and strode toward her. Her enigmatic behavior was beginning to make him feel increasingly restless.
“It seems you’ve become the saint of all people in the span of a few months.”
She flinched and leaned against the door.
Leaning in even closer toward her, he continued his questioning as if interrogating her.
“Have you forgotten how rudely Laina has treated you all this time?”
“……Even so, she’s just a child. The worst thing Laina has done to me is spread some gossip at most.”
Dropping her gaze to the floor to avoid his eyes, the woman murmured in a low voice.
“And… I know why she acts that way.”
The words that followed were almost a whisper.
“She’s a little like me. So… I don’t want to hate her that much.”
He stood there speechless, looking down at the crown of her head.
How long did the silence last? She pulled the doorknob and stepped cautiously into the hallway.
“I’ve said everything I wanted to say. I’ll be going now, so please rest.”
Varkas reflexively reached out as if to catch her as she walked out into the dark hallway, but he soon lowered his hand. He saw the maids waiting on one side of the corridor quietly follow after her.
Watching the scene blankly, Varkas soon closed the door and sat down in a chair.
Through the window, he could see the night deepening. Moistening his burning throat with the wine he had poured earlier, Varkas leaned his head back against the chair and closed his eyes.
He had a strong premonition that tonight, too, he would greet the morning amidst a long and tedious insomnia.
The nobles who had remained at Raedgo Castle to socialize after the engagement ceremony returned to their respective territories on the fourth day.
In the meantime, Varkas went through the process of searching for a city in the southeastern region that he could entrust to Lucas and granting it as a fief.
Thanks to the omission of most cumbersome formalities under the pretext of being at war, the administrative procedures for the land grant were completed without issue.
Not long after Lucas left Kalmor with his subordinates, Varkas also began preparing to depart for the campaign.
There was no immediate need to rush back, but having confirmed that she was doing well, he decided there was no reason to stay here.
Just as she had promised, she was leading a quiet and peaceful daily life, and he did not want to disturb that. It was time for the uninvited guest to disappear.
After summoning his vassals and firmly declaring that he would restore all the rights of the Grand Duchess, Varkas immediately led the cavalry toward the border. Among the armored procession following him was Edric Luvon.
“Is it alright to leave without even a word of farewell?”
Edric, clad perfectly in the black iron armor symbolizing the Shekan family, approached and spoke to him.
Varkas replied by spurring his horse onward. The heavy sound of hooves loudly awakened the sleeping earth.
