After lunch, Noah went to the study to teach Duke Khalid about poetry.

Being on a silent pilgrimage, she couldn’t eat things like alcohol or meat. So after finishing a simple lunch of just bread, cheese, and potatoes, she followed the servant guiding him to Duke Khalid.

When the servant knocked on the door, a voice told them to come in. The servant opened the door. Noah walked into the study.

One side of the spacious study was filled with bookshelves, and a large desk was placed in front of the window. In front of it were a table and sofa. Parchment, pen, and ink were prepared on the table. This was what Noah had requested since she couldn’t prepare textbooks for the sudden lesson.

Noah spotted the large man standing in the study. Duke Khalid showed only his back without looking at the person who had entered.

Noah walked in deliberately making footsteps and stood in front of the desk, waiting for him to turn around. However, he showed no intention of turning around.

Kaiden was busy imagining how she might have looked, touching the chair where someone other than himself had sat, the desk they might have leaned against. Since Kaiden had been staying at the knights’ building after marriage, the study had mainly been used by Dana. Which meant this was a place where Dana spent quite a lot of time.

Finally, Noah, who had been waiting, broke etiquette and spoke first.

“Hello. I am Noah.”

Duke Khalid, who was looking at something, carelessly gestured toward the sofa in the study as though telling her to sit down. He didn’t even turn around. Noah thought ‘this won’t be easy today’ as he sat on the sofa.

Duke Khalid, who had been standing with an unenthusiastic demeanor, turned around. When Kaiden turned, he saw the monk. The monk was a woman with a completely shaved head.

“……”

Kaiden remained silent and Noah also stayed silent. Though Noah had traveled all over the continent seeing many people and was a monk who had devoted her life to God, even she was surprised by his handsomeness. God’s grace sometimes doesn’t feel fair, but could such excessive grace really be bestowed on one person’s appearance?

Noah quickly regained composure while imagining the doll-like princess who would stand like a painting next to this man. Strictly from an appearance perspective, she thought the princess had found someone who matched her well.

At the same time, she wondered if the duke might have received absolutely no blessings somewhere else in exchange for receiving so many blessings in appearance. Given his fame, it wouldn’t be his skill as a knight, so perhaps his voice or personality.

Noah spoke to Duke Khalid who was just standing there staring at her.

“I am on a silent pilgrimage. But this head is not a punishment.”

Duke Khalid raised one eyebrow.

“Who asked?”

Thinking that it was something everyone wanted to ask about, Noah replied “No one.” Grace had been sufficiently bestowed on the man’s voice as well. So perhaps it was his personality. Noah thought that seemed more likely.

And while Noah was thinking this, Kaiden was thinking about his wife’s insensitivity in putting a strange woman and a husband in one room. To her, since he wasn’t really her husband, it probably seemed like no problem at all. That was another wound. Even if the other person was a priest, he would never do something like putting a filthy man alone in a room with Dana.

Duke Khalid sat down on the sofa facing Noah. With a sigh, the duke leaned back on the sofa in a rather improper posture. He picked up a pen that was neatly placed to one side and threw it onto the open parchment. Thud, roll roll. The pen rolled away. Watching this, Noah thought:

‘Ah, as expected.’

It must be his personality. At the same time, she felt a sense of déjà vu. It was strange. She had never seen someone so handsome before, so what could it be?

For now, Noah spoke with a composed face.

“First, congratulations on your marriage. And congratulations on becoming a duke as well. I’m not sure if you heard from your wife, but by Lady Khalid’s orders, I have been at Eluan Castle for three years…”

Duke Khalid cut her off.

“Get to the point.”

Noah went straight to the point.

“You want to write poetry? There are three main types of poetry. Do you know them?”

Kaiden shook his head with a heavy sigh. He could categorize people. Those who were the princess and those who weren’t. But to Dana, Kaiden wouldn’t be a criterion for categorizing people.

Noah shrugged and continued.

“The most basic is religious poetry. Poems that sing about Vican, the beginning of the world, and the four seasonal gods. That’s why all priests are also poets. We sing them during pilgrimages and prayer meetings. Another type is court poetry. Poems that sing about loyalty to the king. Court poets belong to the court and sing for the king during banquets.”

The duke raised his large hand and rubbed his furrowed brow and face in a dry gesture. He didn’t seem to be concentrating at all. However, since pointing this out to someone like him would only provoke his temper, Noah continued patiently.

“The last is free verse written by city minstrels, and among those, love poems are the most popular. Anyone who has someone they love can sing love poems. And among those, the most popular are definitely the love songs that knights sing for noble ladies. They’re even more popular because they end tragically.”

Duke Khalid, who had been sitting with his gaze down in an insincere posture until then, raised his eyes to look at Noah for the first time. He asked:

“Why?”

“Pardon?”

Noah asked back. Duke Khalid looked at Noah with dry eyes and asked:

“Why are they popular when they end tragically?”

Noah explained calmly.

“Because they’re heart-wrenching and leave a lingering feeling. The noble lady is the lord’s wife, so she’s an unreachable star, and thus the knight’s burning heart that can never be fulfilled moves even the listeners’ hearts.”

Kaiden lowered his gaze again and fell silent. An unreachable star… Though the prince of Heinz wasn’t his lord, the princess was an unreachable star to him. That’s why he and she could never be together. Somehow he had married her and undeservedly become her husband, but…

Noah, who had been explaining, smiled.

“Since Your Grace is the lady’s husband, it won’t be a tragic love song, but still. Your wife seemed to have high expectations – do you think you can write well?”

“…Expectations?”

At the mention of Dana, Duke Khalid raised his eyes again to look at Noah. Noah nodded and said:

“Yes. I’ve known her for three years, but I’ve never seen her so excited before.”

“……”

Kaiden looked at the parchment spread out on the table. This monk seemed to have no eye for observation. Though he knew it was impossible for the princess to be excited and have expectations of him…

Kaiden stared at the parchment for a while, then picked up the pen. Seeing this, Noah explained:

“First, think about what content you want to include. And write down whatever words you want to say to your wife. Then we can connect them and adjust the rhythm to make sentences. Once you write something, I’ll help you match the rhythm.”

Kaiden thought of the princess. Words he wanted to say to the princess… The time and feelings he had spent wanting her, which the princess would never know about.

Since his feelings for the princess could never be fulfilled, if he included that time and those feelings, his poem would also end in tragedy. Could that poem leave a heart-wrenching impression on the princess? Could it move the princess’s heart? All this time that he had watched the princess, wanted the princess, fought to reach the princess, failed, and returned again…

Even if his poem couldn’t move the princess’s heart, this might be his only way to convey his feelings. Because in front of the princess, he was a loser and a coward who wouldn’t dare directly reveal these presumptuous feelings. The indifferent princess, who had no interest in him and felt no need to show any interest, wouldn’t even give him such an opportunity.

Perhaps that’s why knights who fought fearlessly with swords in the world wrote poems to sing about their feelings for noble ladies. Becoming cowards in the face of impossible love. Because it was something they couldn’t cut with swords or pierce with spears, nor could they block it with shields and armor. And he too was clearly just such a knight.

Noah stared intently at Duke Khalid who was lost in thought. At his form sitting with a frown in a crooked posture, holding the pen with unmotivated movements. The duke raised his hand as if by habit and ruffled his black hair. His posture became even more crooked as he did so.

Watching this, Noah had an “ah” moment of realization. She had found the source of the déjà vu.

‘They said he was an orphan.’

Though she hadn’t mentioned it in front of Dana, Noah had also heard rumors about Duke Khalid, the commoner who had married the princess. She had heard he was originally an orphan without a family name, which meant he must have grown up in a monastery.

Noah had experience teaching orphans at monasteries. Back then, the troublemakers who were caught and forced to attend lessons after causing problems had exactly that posture. A crooked posture meant to express maximum defiance since they couldn’t actually run away. A thoroughly wrinkled expression and forcefully squeezed thoughts to express their discontent. It was exactly like that.

Though it was a disrespectful thought about a duke, she figured he must have given the monastery monks quite a hard time when he was young. She clicked her tongue internally.

‘Wonder which monastery he’s from.’

It was crystal clear how much those monks must have struggled.

Thinking this, Noah recalled the princess asking her to teach the duke. The princess’s shy appearance as she blushed while asking her to teach the duke. The duke who seemed completely unsuited for this but was still trying to write poetry anyway.

The overlapping images in her mind of this matching yet mismatched scene made Noah laugh silently.

As she quietly laughed, Duke Khalid sharply raised his eyes and asked:

“Why are you laughing?”

Yikes.

Noah put on a serious face and feigned innocence.

“I wasn’t laughing.”

“Please continue,” she added nonchalantly. The duke looked back at the blank parchment.