The Trash Lady Who Stole the Duke's First Night
Chapter 10
Why was their laughter so clear even from this far away?
Even as she spooned up the thin soup, her throat felt choked up, but she stuffed a potato into her mouth and chewed thoroughly so she wouldn’t get indigestion.
She was agonizing with utmost seriousness over whether to eat the greasy roasted bird leg now or wrap it up to save for later, when a horse’s whinny made her start and sit up straight.
Carlos’s back came into view.
Without her noticing when he had approached, he was already piling up fodder like a mountain right in front of her.
“Are you trying to catch a cold? Wrap the blanket around yourself properly.”
Elio’s eyes widened at the man who spoke as if he had eyes in the back of his head.
“Summer colds are only for dogs—”
The man turned around.
“It’s warm…”
In an awkward half-crouch, Elio spread the blanket he had given her last night over her knees.
Flustered by his unyielding, blatant stare, she grabbed the bird leg and stealthily took a bite. He slowly turned away again and stacked the buckets used to water the horses.
It seemed he did all the chores himself instead of making the squire do them.
Taking the hint, Elio tore off only one bite of the bird leg and set it down. She quickly got up and reached for a bucket.
If she was kicked out right now, she wouldn’t even have money for lodging.
Until she saved enough money—for at least three months—she had to stay on their good side. Both this man’s and Grita’s…
“Um…! Give me the bucket. I’ll carry it.”
The man raised a brow as he pulled on his leather gloves.
“I’m really good at all kinds of thi—”
“I don’t make children work, so just go eat.”
Clicking his tongue, the man reached out. With his thumb, he swiped away the glistening grease around her mouth.
“How many did you eat?”
“O-One.”
Elio stammered, her face burning.
The man had casually wiped her lips with his thumb and then licked the grease off it with his tongue.
What on earth? Like a total playboy…
Elio turned her flushing face away and rubbed her lips hard. The graze of the callous on his thumb against her lips left her thoroughly flustered.
She was now convinced he was a rake who claimed to hate marriage just so he could play around with lovers.
“Don’t leave any leftovers. We’re leaving soon. Wash the tray when you’re done.”
Speaking calmly, he carried the buckets and the remaining bundle of fodder in one arm and walked toward the baggage wagon. The young knights were all busy loading crates onto the wagon.
Elio glanced around hesitantly before rushing back to her meal tray and quickly tearing into the bird leg.
Just as she finished eating in a hurry, Carlos announced their departure.
Elio washed her tray in the icy stream water until it squeaked clean and wiped off every drop of moisture with her skirt.
Not long after she scrambled frantically into the carriage, commands rang out and the horses pounded their hooves, galloping forward.
She had never experienced such a bustling, hectic morning. The carriage sped along so swiftly that the bushes flashed past like afterimages.
Elio rubbed her red fingertips, frozen from the icy stream, then rummaged through her pocket and pulled out some dried jerky.
“…You could have woken me up early too.”
“So you could sleep more.”
He spoke with his eyes closed. Since they remained closed, she kept watching him as she chewed sparingly on the jerky.
She exhaled in time with his quiet breathing.
Her chewing slowed until she stopped altogether. Her gaze drifted naturally along the bold contours of the man’s frame.
Fascinated by his squared shoulders, which seemed easily three times the width of hers, her eyes wandered farther down.
A chest so broad and taut it looked ready to burst out of the leather cuirass.
A trim waist bound with straps.
Thighs thicker and sturdier than a warhorse’s…
A man who could surely pull even a sturdy woman like Grita into his embrace and roll around with her……
“I heard you learned swordsmanship.”
The moment he opened his eyes, she snapped her head away. She chewed her jerky as frantically as a thieving rat.
“On the mountain behind the village. From an unnie I know.”
“Did Sir Grita tell you already?”
Elio pushed open the carriage window and stuck her head out. Warm wind brushed against her flushed cheeks.
“Give me your hand.”
“Why?”
Elio gripped the windowsill at the sudden, unexpected request.
Carlos offered no explanation, merely letting out a chuckle as he held out his hand to Elio.
“What? How unfitting… You eat candy?”
Elio’s eyes rounded as she gently picked up the hard candy resting on his palm.
Her hand was caught.
Holding the fingers that gripped the candy, he took it from her hand and slipped it between her parted lips.
With the candy popping into her mouth before she could react, Elio blinked and looked back and forth between Carlos and her captured hand. She hurriedly tucked the candy against the inside of her cheek.
“Wh-What are you—”
He lightly stroked the tender skin between her index finger and thumb.
Her hand tensed up, and her shoulders went rigid. Her stunned face flushed crimson.
“These aren’t the hands of someone who holds a sword.”
He held her gaze steadily, as if appraising something suspicious. Then, as if searching for calluses, he took both of her hands in his and kneaded them.
Aghast, Elio parted her lips and shouted, struggling with all her might to pull her hands away.
“I-I really did learn!”
Carlos gave an amused smirk, let go of her hands, and leaned back against the backrest.
“It’s strawberry. Not your taste?”
The corners of his lips lifted as he looked at the frozen rabbit, who was neither sucking nor chewing on the candy.
“It really doesn’t suit you, Sir.”
Elio muttered, looking at him as though he were a madman.
“My mother packed it for me.”
“……Well, everyone likes strawberry.”
As she rolled the candy over her tongue, the sweet fragrance of strawberry flooded her mouth.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but the Duchess clearly did not know her own son. Strawberry candy for a beast of a man like him?
A total wolf. A rake…
Grimacing, Elio threw the window wide open and rested her heated hands on the frame.
Carlos, quietly gazing at the woman’s smooth hands, followed her gaze out the window. Before long, the carriage had left the dense forest behind and was rolling over low, rolling hills.
Perhaps because of the little rabbit poking her face out the window, the gentle breeze carried a sweet scent of strawberry.
He tapped his fingers slowly against the armrest.
“Shall we spar later?”
Carlos’s cool mouth curved into a gentle arc.
“You and me. Swordsmanship.”
Elio dropped her jaw, completely forgetting to suck on the candy.
You and me. What?
It was an utterly nonsensical combination of words.
“I’m curious about the swordsmanship you learned.”
“And that means we should spar? Me… against the Dragon Slayer?”
Was this some novel way to commit suicide?
❖ ❖ ❖
“Hurry and sign here.”
Elio held out the paper, her eyes gleaming.
Under the cool shade of the tree, standing three paces away from the man, she extended her arm as far as it would go.
Carlos let out a dry laugh and wrote ‘Schuppenhardt’ in clean, crisp cursive.
Elio moistened her lips and carefully received the signed paper.
Recommendation Letter
At those three immensely satisfying words, a soft smile as fluffy as fresh cotton burst from her lips.
“Telling me to blindly recommend you… What on earth are you planning to use this for?”
Carlos chuckled softly as he watched the woman caress his signature.
“I don’t know what kind of work I’ll be doing after I part ways with you, Sir. Whatever I do, won’t people trust me more if I have a letter of recommendation from Schuppenhardt? When we arrive at the main castle, you must stamp your seal on it, too.”
“I fear for the credibility of the Schuppenhardt name.”
Elio shot him a glare at the sound of Carlos clicking his tongue.
“You should at least bear that much…! A lady like me is braving immense fear and danger to spar with you. I need to get something out of it too.”
“What is there to be afraid of?”
“The sword! It’s terrifying! And you, Sir, standing there with a sword in hand, are even scarier.”
“I thought you said you knew how to use one.”
“Knowing how doesn’t make it any less scary!”
Carlos asked back, incredulous.
“And what’s this about braving danger?”
“Because you’re dangerous.”
“Me?”
Elio leaned toward him, knitting her brows deeply.
“How do I know you won’t work me to the bone again, claiming you were just testing if I’m strong like with the ogre? I might actually die!”
He stared at her in silence.
Elio let out a small sigh and shook her head. She folded his recommendation letter neatly and slipped it deep into her bag.
For a reward like this, surely enduring a single spar was worth it. Even by her own estimation, she felt she had secured quite the clever prize.
A brisk wind rustled the hem of Elio’s skirt, and her eyes consciously avoided the man, following the path of the breeze.
Across the hill, knights were either kicking a ball made of bundled grass or lying down for a nap.
Gazing at the horizon stretching endlessly below the hill, her mouth went dry.
Which territory should she settle down and live in from now on? She pressed her fingertips firmly against each other, then turned her head.
The man was still leaning against the same tree trunk, his eyes quietly closed.
He looked so tranquil and relaxed with his eyes closed under the large plane tree, as if taking a nap, that Elio’s racing heart slowed down along with him.
Could this person ever feel afraid…?
He was so unfailingly composed that even if she died right before his eyes, he seemed the type to simply say, ‘Dear me. How utterly feeble. Dead already.’…
“……!”
Elio stiffened with a start. Her eyes met pitch-black irises.
“How about earning that recommendation letter now?”
She stared at the sword that dropped right in front of her. The reality hit home that she was currently traveling with this mad Schuppenhardt who would draw a blade even on his fiancée.
Carlos gestured to her, took three strides forward, raised his greatsword to forehead height, and lowered it.
Elio forced her trembling body up, took up the sword, and stood facing him. Cold sweat broke out at the sight of a blade larger than her own height. Just how much would it hurt to be cut by that?
“…Aren’t you going to salute?”
“What salute?”
“…….”
In the man’s heavy silence, Elio nervously watched his reaction before bowing deeply from the waist.
Carlos silently looked down at the pale nape of the woman who was bowing to him at a ninety-degree angle.
For the first time in his life, he felt like a back-alley thug.
To think he was seriously pointing a sword at a woman who hadn’t even learned the spar’s salute.
“Commander. What are you doing with a delicate lady? She’s still just a child, so please don’t bully her.”
Grita approached with a gentle smile and placed a firm hand on his shoulder.
