The Squirrel Will Raise the Tiger Cub
His face brightening like a soldier returning from the battlefield to base camp, Hokan ate his fill at dinner and promptly vanished into the main house where he had always stayed.
Directed toward the annex, I trailed behind a maid carrying my luggage to the guest room.
Though it looked older and more worn than Blan Castle in the capital, the antique elegance of the castle's interior still drew a gasp of wonder from me.
Jackjack must have found it just as fascinating; nestled in my arms, he pointed every which way, letting out an endless string of awes and oohs.
Linda spoke to me with a gentle, warm smile.
Linda asked, an amicable smile beaming on her face.
Jackjack grabbed my collar with all his might, making his refusal abundantly clear.
Once the maid left, I gathered a spare change of clothes and headed to the bathroom with Jackjack.
Sinking into the warm water felt like stepping into heaven itself.
Soon enough, however, I learned that a razor-thin line divides heaven and hell.
After Jackjack and I finished washing up and stepped out of the tub while humming a little tune, I froze in horror at the blunder I had made.
I had left my dirty clothes in the basket outside the bathroom, and the only fresh garment I had brought with me was a single chemise.
Jackjack tugged at my chemise and giggled sunnily.
When I checked the basket, the clothes I had taken off were already gone, taken away by a maid for laundry.
The guest room assigned to me was quite a distance from this bathroom.
If I ran into someone in the hall wearing nothing but a nightgown, it would be beyond humiliating.
‘Please let no one be out there.’
Clutching Jackjack to my chest, I dashed for my room in nothing but my chemise.
Fortunately, the hallway was deserted.
The moment I threw the bedroom door open and rushed inside, though, the shock nearly made me drop Jackjack.
A massive figure was standing stock-still right in the middle of my room.
***
Once again, the shamelessness was breathtaking.
Yet his low, gravelly tone made it sound so utterly sincere that it only stoked my irritation further.
I used my thumb and index finger to pry my own eye wide, mocking the way he had looked at me.
The duke cut me off flatly, his expression entirely deadpan.
The moment I screamed earlier, he had bolted from the room, only to return a long while later to offer an explanation.
In the meantime, I had changed into daywear and laid Jackjack down on the bed.
Worn out by the journey, the boy had fallen fast asleep almost the second his head hit the mattress.
Wary of waking Jackjack, the duke and I had moved our conversation to the sitting room of the annex.
He held out a round, white tin toward me.
Having no idea what it could be, I took the container and examined it from every angle.
His attentive consideration caught me completely off guard.
In an instant, all the annoyance that had flared up over his shameless denials melted away like snow.
Eager to focus on what he had to say next, I straightened my posture and looked at him with bright, attentive eyes.
Finding my sheer enthusiasm a touch overwhelming, he drew back slightly.
He refused instantly, as if he had no choice but to say no.
My eyes widened at the unexpected request.
Hearing poetry mentioned by a duke who always seemed so stoic struck me as surprising.
Since ancient times, there had been a saying: ‘Never sing before a northerner.’
Owing to their trademark bluntness, northerners were said to detest the poems and songs of bards as a rule.
In particular, they were known to openly cringe at whispered love ballads, calling the saccharine lyrics sickeningly corny.
Write a dedicatory poem for a fallen war hero? That felt a little—no, immensely burdensome….
“Let me see…. Even a brief verse will do, so long as it assures him that he need not worry about affairs here, or about Hokan.”
With an indifferent nod, the duke rose from his seat.
I watched his imposing shadow as his long strides carried him out of the sitting room.
I began to turn over what kind of lines I ought to put down on paper.
It was not a night that invited easy sleep.
***
Early the next morning, I asked Linda to prepare a packed lunch of rice balls.
Linda whipped up the lunch in the blink of an eye and provided a weathered blanket we could spread out on the ground to sit on.
Carrying our things in one hand and clasping Jackjack's little hand with the other, I crossed over to the main house where Hokan was staying.
Perhaps because he had finally returned to the place he longed for so dearly, Hokan greeted us looking brighter than I had ever seen him.
Seeing Hokan fresh from a bath and dressed in fine clothes, an affectionate, motherly smile broke out on my face without my realizing it.
Whether it was thanks to the bath or simply because his mind was at peace, not a trace of his suffocating pheromones lingered in the air.
Having shaken off the last of his shyness, Jackjack went up to Hokan first.
Hokan held up a handful of daisies and smiled at Jackjack.
Jackjack beamed broadly, his gaze darting happily back and forth between Hokan and me.
Sweet little children and fresh blossoms.
Just looking at them was enough to lift the spirits.
Hokan took the lead and guided our way.
He led us toward a side door nestled at the back of the main house's kitchen.
Holding Jackjack's hand, I quietly followed behind him.
Stepping through the doorway brought us onto a narrow path running between the castle walls and the estate buildings.
Following that route brought us straight to the mouth of a walking trail leading up the mountain behind the castle.
After trekking up the hill along the trail for quite some time, we came upon an ossuary no larger than a small garden cottage.
Just beside the ossuary, a magnificent, sheer panoramic view lay waiting for us.
“Whoa…”
“Ooooh!”
Both Jackjack and I stopped in our tracks, gasps of awe escaping our lips at the sight unfurling before us.
A lake as vast as an ocean spread out directly behind Blanders Castle.
Because the castle was perched upon high ground, the promenade overlooking the water stretched straight along the mountainside, and the drop between the ramparts and the lake was nothing short of a sheer cliff.
I drank in the breathtaking expanse of the water, a spectacle that defied ordinary praise, and spoke softly to Hokan.
Jackjack looked up at Hokan and asked.
When Hokan asked in return, Jackjack nodded vigorously.
Immense pride and reverence for his father resonated through every word and expression on his face.
Hokan's voice trailed off into silence.
The sense of loss he carried after losing his father seemed born not merely from familial grief, but from the shattering of his admiration for the knight he looked up to above all others.
The reason House Blantiger held such a vast and glorious domain in the North was that they commanded the greatest army in the empire.
They were the guardians of the North, and by extension, the shield that protected the entire realm.
Hoping to comfort Hokan's subdued heart, I drew an envelope from inside the wrapping cloth.
