Chapter 37

Raon followed him as well. It seemed the quick fox had soon become frightened and hidden itself.

“Do you think this winter will be very cold?”

Enough to need fur? 

Though Raon did not say it, it was as if even the unspoken latter half of the sentence could be heard.

“It will not be for me. I intend to give it as a gift.”

Seorin carefully scanned the forest.

“You will find out anyway, Commander.”

“…….”

“It is the person you are thinking of.”

Raon stared sharply at him and let out a sigh at the subtle way Seorin spoke while skirting the line.

“Seorin.”

Giving up the search for the fox, Seorin and Raon locked eyes.

“I think that person looks cold. Even while staying in a warm place, that person seems like someone living in the cold.”

Seorin spoke in words that were hard to understand.

“It is none of your concern. Whatever it may be.”

He did not mention her name directly because there was no knowing where someone might be.

At that moment, with a rustling sound, the fox came into the sight of both men.

“We can discuss the details later.”

As Seorin urged his horse toward the fox that had dashed away, Raon sighed and followed him. Just as Seorin was about to throw his knife at the fox, the fox collapsed from an arrow that flew in first.

“Commander, I was…….”

“My apologies. As you can see, I still had not caught even one, so I could not help myself.”

The one who had loosed the arrow was Abil, Earl Winders.

“Earl Winders.”

“Duke Graize.”

He finished by greeting Raon as well, who was approaching from behind Seorin.

“I had no idea it was something you were aiming for, Your Grace.”

The nuance was oddly different from what he had said to Seorin. It was as though he meant that he could yield to Raon anytime.

“It is fine. We can catch another.”

Raon let him have the fox.

From the brief glance he gave, Seorin looked disappointed, but there was nothing to be done.

“Thank you. Thanks to you yielding it to me, Your Grace, I can barely save face.”

Abil’s servant collected the fox that had been caught only because Raon had yielded it. Abil followed Raon, who turned his horse first. At that, Seorin naturally fell back and looked regretfully at Abil’s servant as he gathered up the fox Seorin had missed.

“As expected, even the scale of things changes when you participate, Your Grace.”

“You flatter me.”

If it had been up to him, he could have simply left Abil behind and gone on his way.

But then there would have been no point in attending this gathering. At present, it would not hurt to gain even the smallest bit of goodwill.

“Is there a reason you have suddenly begun moving about so busily?”

The slow sound of hooves came to a halt.

“I thought perhaps I might be of some small help.”

Toward Raon, who had stopped on the path ahead and turned to look at him warily, Earl Winders gave a harmless smile.

Politically, Earl Winders was not a figure who stood out very much. That was because all his interest was concentrated solely on money.

As for the rumors that followed him otherwise, it was said that his womanizing was severe. Rumors quietly circulated that he preferred young women and often enjoyed spending the night with young maids.

However, the nobles did not pay such rumors much mind.

Aside from the matter of youth, there were already quite a few who kept mistresses, so they did not think it such a serious flaw. Besides, his solid financial backing was at a level welcome to anyone.

“There is no particular reason.”

Raon had no special intention of pushing him away either. Earl Winders was also one of those who had the right to participate in the council.

“When one’s thoughts are complicated, outdoor activity is not bad either.”

Laughing lightly, Abil followed behind Raon, while Raon thought, as always, that he was a man whose inner thoughts could never be known.

And two days later, fur made from the fox’s pelt, carefully dressed, arrived as a gift for the Duchess of Graize.

* * *

A carriage visited the Graize ducal residence. A man wearing white gloves stepped down, carefully carrying an ornate box.

“This is a gift for the Duchess of Graize.”

The man carefully handed the box to Gerard.

“And who is the sender?”

“It was sent by Earl Winders.”

As though his only purpose had been to deliver the box, the man gave a brief bow and left the estate immediately.

“Earl Winders?”

Kina, who had come down after hearing from Gerard that a gift had arrived, was flustered to learn that the sender was Abil.

“There was a letter enclosed inside.”

Having opened the gift beforehand for safety, Gerard handed her the letter he had already taken out.

「This fur is from the fox I recently caught with the help of Duke Graize. You may be startled by such a sudden gift, but as it is a token of thanks for His Grace’s help, I hope you will not refuse it.」

Since it was said to be repayment for Raon’s help, it became difficult for her to casually send it back.

“I think it would be better to ask the Duke about it later.”

For the time being, Kina put the fur back into the box.

“Earl Winders sent a gift.”

That evening, after Raon returned, Kina quietly brought it up.

“A fox fur. He says it is in return for your help.”

Ah. He looked as though he understood. At her glance, Gerard brought over the box. When the ornate box was opened, a beautifully colored fur lay inside.

It was enough for Raon to understand why Seorin had asked whether he might give it as a gift for Kina. The giver had changed, but it seemed everyone’s eye for such things was the same. Since it had ended up with her in the end, perhaps it had been meant to come to her from the beginning.

“What do you think of it, Madame?”

“……I am not sure.”

Contrary to expectations that she would like it, Kina gave an unexpectedly vague response.

“I will do whatever feels most comfortable to you, Duke.”

Truthfully, she wanted to send it back. The fur itself was certainly pretty. But the fact that Abil was the one who had sent the gift made it unpleasant. To that degree, he was someone Kina found off-putting.

“I think it would suit you better than me. I will have it stored away, so you may use it when you need it for adornment.”

Not knowing that at all, Raon closed the lid and handed the box to Gerard.

A few days passed, and another gift arrived. This time the ornate box was larger. Inside it were a velvet coat and another box. In the box, once opened, was a set of jewelry.

“What is this…….”

When she opened the letter that had come with the boxes, it briefly said that he had chosen and sent a coat and jewelry that would suit the fur.

“Gerard, could you bring me some letter paper and a pen?”

Fortunately, the word repayment was not in it this time, so she sent the gifts back to the Winders Earldom along with a carefully worded letter of refusal, exactly as she wished.

* * *

After the day had passed, in the evening when the sun was dimly setting. The Winders Earldom, especially the area around Earl Winders’s room, was so quiet that it seemed as if no one lived there. But even in a corridor as silent as death, sound still existed. Very faint, barely audible sound.

That sound came from Earl Winders’s room. Abil had gone to his room saying he would have dinner early and retire for the night, but the servants there knew that his amusement had begun.

The robe he wore was open at the front, to the point that saying he merely had it draped over himself seemed more accurate. Though the sound was coming from the bed, he himself was seated with half his body leaning against the headboard, reading the letter in his hand.

「I have properly conveyed to my husband the feelings you intended through the gifts you sent, Your Lordship. Therefore, I will accept only the fur, for which you said you had directly received help, with thanks. I am enclosing the rest together with this letter. Then I wish you peace.」

It was a letter from Kina, who had instantly seen through the private intentions packed into the gifts he had sent along with the fur and had returned them.