Chapter 1 (Part 2)

Quite a perceptive young man.

Having intentionally been unfriendly, the servants scrutinized his expressions as if appraising him.

He was a beautiful young man.

It was hard to tell when he had matted hair and was dressed in rags, but once the playful maids cut his hair and dressed him in clean clothes, it became even more apparent.

His sun-tanned skin seemed to have a natural nobility, as if it might originally have been alabaster white, and his sensual red lips only fueled the maids’ frivolous fantasies. Despite this, he claimed to be the lowest squire in the lord’s army.

Moreover, he had a tall and sturdy physique. Even though he must have spent a long time being dragged from one prison to another, unable to eat or move properly as a defeated soldier, his body was quite well-built.

Looking at his body, one might think that if the boy king, favored by God in the scriptures, were made human, he would look like this.

It was a fortunate thing. The time was approaching when the collateral relatives would come and demand the castle gates be opened, so having one more person around was better.

In any case, he had likely trained in martial arts, and if nothing else, his looks could charm the collateral ladies.

The servants shared a knowing smile.

The man was quite quiet. Despite his handsome appearance, he didn’t flirt with the maids or act lazily, earning the trust of the castle’s servants. Although they didn’t intend to give him a hard time, they ended up assigning him meaningless chores because they had worked together for so long. Yet, he never once complained.

It wasn’t their intention to keep him as a servant.

‘Could you give me some work to do?’

‘But you are a guest who brought the lord’s relics…’

It was what he said right after unpacking in the room he was shown to on the day he arrived at the castle. The surprised butler gave a formal refusal, but the head maid poked him in the side.

‘Since the rainy season is coming?’

‘Ah, that’s right. The rainy season is upon us.’

‘Yes… I would like to stay until after the rainy season.’

The butler and head maid exchanged glances. While Tarnu’s old castle didn’t particularly need extra hands, it wasn’t a bad choice to host the benefactor for a while. Preparing for the rainy season required many hands, and they didn’t need to pay him wages.

Thus, he was assigned various necessary but unnoticed tasks around Tarnu castle. Carrying hay, storing newly acquired food supplies, stacking chopped firewood, and so on… tasks that could be done with just arms and legs.

Even though the servants’ offhand comments might have been unpleasant, he always quietly focused on his work.

He was about twenty years old, an age at which he could have started a family in peaceful times, but also an age at which he might not have controlled his temper. Yet, he always remained calm and concentrated on his tasks.

Grateful as they were for him witnessing the lord’s last moments, the fact that he was a gentle and diligent young man made all the workers of Tarnu come to like him within a few days.

“Is it true that the soil in Schwafelt is really black?”

“Yes, it’s definitely darker than here.”

“That’s why they say those foreigners have black hearts.”

At the stable master’s jest, the servants squatting and eating snacks by the stable laughed.

“By the way, you’re left-handed?”

“Many who followed the lord wielded their swords with their left hands. Are you one of them?”

“A squire with hands this soft?”

“Ah…”

Edan slowly looked down at his hands for a long time.

Well, maybe he only did laundry and never handled a sword. 

The servants thought so. They had only spoken casually to be friendly.

“It’s been three years since I left the battlefield.”

“Well, you’re about twenty? At that age, even if you get cut by a sword, you heal in two days.”

“Come on, that’s an exaggeration. It takes at least five days.”

The servants laughed again.

The lord, who had left for the war at thirty-four, had employed these men since they were crying children who had lost their parents. Edan watched the old men, who were closer than brothers, with a distant look.

“Ah, Madam, are you out for a walk?”

The stable master put down what he was eating and took off his hat. Looking behind him, he saw the Madam in a golden dress, accompanied by a maid, as if she was going out.

“Yes, I’m going down to the village.”

“Oh dear, with the rainy season coming…”

“Well, they wouldn’t be here already.”

As she said this, the Madam dusted off her dress. The dress, which she didn’t know when it was tailored, hung loosely on her thin frame.

The shaggy-haired servant, who had been sitting beside the stable master, hurriedly finished what was in his bowl and went into the stable. It was his duty to prepare the mule that the Madam rode when she went out.

While waiting for that, the Madam’s presence made it awkward for the servants to continue eating, and they couldn’t just stop eating what was in their hands, so they looked embarrassed.

Trying to hurry because the days were getting shorter, the Madam inadvertently rushed those who were eating snacks, and she too looked embarrassed, staring into the distance.

Edan stared blankly at the Madam standing ten paces away.

Under her pale blonde hair, the Madam was wrapped in a loose golden dress……. From the moment she appeared, he had forgotten what was in his hand.

It had been five days since he arrived, and it was the first time he had seen her, even in passing.

He felt the same as when he saw her in the audience room on the first day. Her pale hair and eyes made her look even more forlorn.

As if she could disappear at any moment.

What did the past ten years, separated from Edarson, mean to her?

As Edan vaguely thought about such things, his gaze met her light blue eyes.

Edan forgot his manners and couldn’t avoid her gaze. No, he probably couldn’t even imagine turning his eyes away, as he was busy admiring her face.

What would the Madam of Tarnu think of the lowly squire who brought the news of her husband’s death? 

As he pondered how he might appear in her eyes, which held the clear late autumn sky… Edan’s Adam’s apple bobbed deeply.

As the gaze exchange lasted longer than expected.

“…You’re left-handed.”

Her thin voice echoed from afar.

Though her cold voice didn’t close the five-step distance, Edan understood her words just from her brief lip movement.

He barely managed to nod slightly.

“Madam, I’ve brought Solipari.”

At that moment, the shaggy-haired servant bustled out with the mule. The old men, who knew how proud he was of escorting the Madam, waved their arms in the air for no reason, even though the mule’s steps were as calm as the Madam’s gaze.

“Shoo, hurry up and go!”

“That rascal, always so eager.”

“Hehe.”

After setting the mule beside the Madam, the shaggy-haired servant quickly knelt on one knee and bent the other leg.

The Madam, standing with her back to the mule, stepped on his thigh with one foot and held the maid’s hand tightly. Half-rising, he lifted the Madam’s leg carefully.

Edan didn’t miss a single moment of his rough arm encircling her knee and his hand gently supporting her thin thigh.

As if he were seeing someone mount a mule for the first time.

Even as her upper body swayed while she relied on the two servants to sit on the mule’s back, the Madam’s gaze remained fixed on Edan. As if she wanted to imprint the sight of the beautiful young man who couldn’t take his eyes off her into her mind.