Chapter 1.2

“Well, I’ll be off now, Rian.”

Soon after, Pin came out to the living room, which doubled as a kitchen where Rian was working.

“Are you leaving already?”

“Yes. Actually, I was napping earlier and had a restless dream, so I came out. I hurried over, thinking there might be a problem with the roof I fixed last time. But the roof looks fine. Perhaps I dreamed about your roof worrying because I was meant to help the knight wandering in the rain, haha! Anyway, your timid aunt must be trembling at the sound of thunder, so I should hurry back. Rest well, Sir!”

Pin brought Kaiden, now dressed in clean clothes, before Rian and hurriedly left after saying what he wanted.

He seemed to have no intention of taking the esteemed knight to his own home. After all, it would take thirty minutes to walk through the wind and rain to reach his house, where he lived with his wife and five children in a place as small as this.

But still….

“Would you like this? It’s fresh goat milk boiled with a bit of cinnamon and sugar cane.”

Leaving a sturdy male guest alone in the house of his marriageable niece and running off was quite unexpected.

Rian was at a loss and couldn’t even meet Kaiden’s eyes as she offered the teacup.

“Do you have something to drink as well?”

Kaiden hesitated, seeming concerned about the mention of expensive sugar cane, as he accepted the cup.

“Yes, there’s some for me in the kettle.”

When she pointed to the small tin kettle, he glanced at it and frowned.

Even that subtle change made her tense, her shoulders stiffening.

What didn’t he like? Did the old kettle look unclean?

“The kettle, I washed it thoroughly….”

Her voice, shrinking with embarrassment, barely reached him.

“Here.”

Kaiden calmly composed his expression and handed back the teacup he had received.

“I’ll drink from the kettle, so you drink this.”

“Oh….”

Rian was taken aback as she received the teacup back.

The goat milk in the kettle didn’t have sugar cane added. She had only put a little in his cup since the sugar cane bought as a cold remedy wasn’t plentiful.

“But in the kettle….”

“I don’t like sweet things. Please drink it.”

Kaiden spoke as if he knew everything and casually lifted the kettle’s handle. Just as he brought it to his lips, appearing thirsty.

“Oh, it’s still hot!”

Rian exclaimed, reaching out in a hurry.

At the same time, Kaiden extended his other hand to prevent hers from touching the kettle.

Like an unexpected accident, his large hand enveloped her hand. Ah! She recoiled as if scalded by something hot, hastily pulling her hand to her chest.

“…I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to touch you.”

Though his hand was cold from the chilly wind, Rian felt her hand burning.

She consciously wrapped her other hand gently around the one that had touched him, aware of her pounding heart.

Kaiden was silent for a moment. She thought she heard a faint sound vibrating in his throat.

When Rian cautiously raised the eyes she had lowered, their gazes met.

“I seem to have caused a misunderstanding. Actually, I just wanted to smell the cinnamon scent.”

He rubbed his reddened cheek and smiled awkwardly.

His sharp eyes softened, and his austere lips curved gently, transforming him into a much warmer impression.

Rian’s cheeks flushed even more as she gazed at him.

…He smiled at me. Nobles are said to neither smile nor cry. Why does someone of such high and noble status, second only to the King and Queen of Avalore, smile so kindly at my poor hospitality?

Of course, it must be a foolish misunderstanding. If he, like some frivolous knights, considered her a woman to enjoy for a night and showed excessive kindness, that would be troubling. Mixing bodies with anyone without promise… such things were not what she wanted….

“Well….”

But, do I really dislike it? If this beautiful man asked to spend a night with me. Would I….

“But why are you alone?”

Suddenly, Kaiden erased his smile and asked quietly.

Rian snapped out of her impure imagination, startled.

“Huh?”

Her ears burned hotly.

“Your husband…”

Husband?

Rian pursed her lips that felt like they were burning and tilted her head.

“Are you traveling far? Being alone at this hour.”

Kaiden’s gaze awkwardly brushed past her face and escaped into the air.

“What husband are you talking about? Whose….”

Rian’s eyes widened like a startled rabbit at the puzzling question.

“The person named Dein, isn’t he your husband?”

And only then did Kaiden realize his mistake as he spoke the words he had been wanting to ask.

Ah. It’s a mistake. She doesn’t have a husband.

“Oh.”

Rian rolled her eyes as if she finally understood, showing an expression of disbelief. Perhaps she was trying to hide her displeasure, thinking what business it was of his.

Kaiden’s throat bobbed as he waited for her reply. His lower body, which had been aroused just from a slight touch while trying to protect her, shrank back in fear.

“Dein is my father. He passed away last year.”

She answered with a voice that seemed calm. The tone, tinged with sadness and regret, sounded like a mild protest to his ears.

“I apologize.”

Idiot. Fool. 

Kaiden repeatedly apologized with a pale face.

“I made a big mistake.”

Mentioning a husband to a maiden who isn’t even married. And it’s her deceased father.

Ah, I should have been swept away by the downpour on the hill earlier….

What shamelessness brought me here? Why am I causing trouble for an innocent woman and burying myself in the mire of shame?

He was too embarrassed and ashamed to continue speaking easily.

How should one speak to a woman from the start?

A twenty-two-year-old man who should normally have about three children.

But for Kaiden, a naive knight who had never held a woman’s hand and only knew a life of loyalty as the king’s vassal, this seemed like the greatest ordeal of his life.

Now he realized that divine punishment wasn’t the downpour that made him look like a drenched rat, but this very moment that left him unable to find even a mouse hole to hide….

“Really… I apologize. Please forgive my ignorance and rudeness. Through the villagers, I often heard passing remarks that Mr. Dein hadn’t come to church since last year, and you had stopped coming too….”

Even in conversations among people who gathered weekly at the small church, he had pricked up his ears at the mention of ‘Rian.’

Ah, the woman living on the hill is ‘Rian.’ She lives with a man named ‘Dein.’ I thought she was younger than me, but she’s already married. Damn. 

But it seems her husband doesn’t even come to church with his wife. In such a small village, there wouldn’t be many gatherings for women to enjoy.

Why is a noble and precious woman like her living such a bleak married life? 

And so on.

“Please forgive me. Above all, losing your father is also deeply saddening for me….”

Rian’s expression softened as she seemed to understand Kaiden’s confused and rambling apology upon realizing his misconception.

“…It’s okay. The villagers often speak ambiguously as if my father were still alive. That’s probably why you misunderstood.”

Rian smiled wryly as she wrapped her hands around the steaming teacup, as if her hands were cold.

Kaiden quickly became distracted by her gesture, narrowing his brows.

Is she cold? If I wrap her hands with mine, they’ll warm up quickly. My hands are already warm….

“Last year, my father protected me and the villagers and passed away.”

Rian’s quiet voice sounded like a lovely bird chirping.

It was a common story.

A frontier village beyond the reach of the lord’s rule. In such places, fighting against the gangsters and robbers who frequently harassed them was the responsibility of the villagers themselves.

The romantic legends of knights traveling through the vast kingdom, protecting justice and saving the weak, were dreamy, but for the suffering peasants, meeting a noble knight and receiving even a small kindness was like a dream.

But in Ferindale, there was a man named Dein. He was like a noble knight from a fairy tale. Rian’s father loved a woman, had a daughter, raised her, and left. That was all.

“…Take your time. I’ll bring out the bath.”

Rian looked at the man who suited her father’s cherished wedding attire and quickly turned around.

It really was a wonderful outfit. Just as her father had said. Even though it was called wedding attire, it was only slightly better in material than the everyday clothes of commoners….

‘When will our Rian show me a wonderful lover? When that time comes, I’ll specially pass on the wedding attire.’

‘But other men are small, so we have to alter this clothes a lot, right? Then the wedding attire won’t be as pretty as it is now.’

‘Can’t you meet a big and sturdy man like me?’

‘Hmph. Where in the world is there a man as big as you, Father? Anyway, there’s no one like that in our village.’

‘Keep an eye on the travelers who come to Ferindale. I met your mother while traveling here. Haha.’

‘But mother said travelers are irresponsible and dangerous. Except for you, Father, they’re all wolves.’

‘Rian, you have a keen eye like your mother. You’ll quickly recognize whether the man is a wandering wolf or a traveler sent for you.’

Rian suddenly wondered what her father would have said if he had seen Kaiden.

A man who boasted a physique so robust that even the wedding attire worn by Dein of Ferindale was tight….

“Hehe. Physique. I keep having strange thoughts.”

She laughed to herself and sighed as she cleaned the bath in the house’s storage.