Chapter 4. The Guard Knight

It had been over a month and a half since Yerena began staying in the tower. Outside, winter had fully arrived, painting everything in pure white.

‘I’m glad everyone is doing well.’

Jane stared out the window at the falling snow for a long time, thinking about her family. Only when she heard the kettle lid rattling from the steam did she come to her senses and hurriedly moved.

The pale red-colored tea filled the now-familiar white teacup. Jane placed the teacup on a wooden tray, then took out another cup and poured moderately lukewarm water into it. Then she approached those sitting by the fireplace.

When Jane’s footsteps drew near, Yerena, who had been concentrating on something with bated breath, raised her head. She held a thin thread and fairly large beads in her hand.

“I’ve brought tea. Take a break while you work.”

“Just a moment…… Let me finish this first.”

Jane spoke to Yerena. But Yerena, who had already lowered her head again, was busy rolling the beads with her fingers and threading them through the holes.

‘Starting today, I will conduct other training along with religious education.’

‘Other training?’

‘Lady Yerena, you didn’t lose your sight as a child like I did. Therefore, daily life must be quite difficult for you.’

‘……’

‘Of course, you seem to have adapted remarkably well already…… But with training, things will become easier for you.’

The bead threading Yerena was doing was part of Alicia’s education. Alicia trained Yerena not only in religious matters but also in using her senses and hearing as a blind person, and one of these exercises was threading beads.

Threading a fairly large bead seemed easy enough that even a four-year-old child could do it. However, for Yerena who couldn’t see, it was extremely difficult. Her hands failed many times. She could have become frustrated, but Yerena had devoted herself to the training without showing any emotion.

“You should take a break.”

Watching the concentrating Yerena, Jane slightly shrugged her shoulders as if there was nothing she could do and put down the tray. Leaving the teacup as it was, she offered the water cup on the tray to the blond-haired man sitting diagonally across from Yerena. The man nodded once as a greeting and accepted the water cup.

“Has the time decreased?”

Some time had passed since the man had emptied his water cup. Yerena, who had threaded all twenty or so beads to make a necklace, raised her head and asked with a smile.

Jane, feeling proud along with her, was about to answer that the time had decreased significantly after checking the hourglass on the table. But before she could open her mouth, the man who had been sitting quietly with his legs crossed opened his mouth while brushing up his blond hair.

“You’ve improved a lot from before. Let’s see…… There’s still half the sand left. Previously, it took you much longer even after all the sand had fallen, so you’ve become at least twice as fast.”

“……I asked Jane, not you, Sir.”

Yerena, who had been waiting for Jane’s answer, coldly responded to the man’s voice. The man, Frederick, immediately retorted to her words.

“What does it matter who answers? You still seem to hate me a lot.”

Although Frederick meant it as a joke, Yerena’s face hardened. It was natural, wasn’t it? She hated and despised the imperial knights. They were the ones who had led the charge in trampling her homeland and butchering her family.

“Please be lenient. I was just bored, that’s all.”

Realizing his mistake as Yerena’s expression turned serious, Frederick mumbled while watching her reaction. Yerena considered showing her boiling anger but decided against it and instead coldly snapped.

“If you’re bored, you’re welcome to leave.”

“That would be difficult. After all, I’ve been assigned to guard you, Lady Yerena. And it’s not just cold—it’s freezing out there. Even stepping into the corridor feels like my fingers might fall off. Please show some mercy.”

Yerena raised her eyebrows. After all, who had invited him inside from the corridor in the first place? Yerena hated the imperial knights who were monitoring her under the pretext of being guards. But the corridor she had once ventured into was surprisingly cold enough to startle her as the sharp wind repeatedly knocked on the window.

Moreover, Frederick, who had been standing outside at the time, was constantly coughing. Despite her dislike for Frederick, Yerena found it difficult to ignore someone shivering in the cold corridor.

‘……It seems particularly cold here.’

‘It’s in a remote location and doesn’t get much sunlight. Plus, being an old tower, it’s vulnerable to drafts. Still, the inside is quite warm…… Are you cold?’

‘Please tell the watchers… no, the knights outside that they may come inside.’

In the kingdom, she would have ordered fireplaces to be placed in the corridors, but her current status as a prisoner meant she was in no position to make demands. Therefore, after much deliberation, Yerena had spoken to Alicia and created a temporary door by hanging thick cloth on the arch between the bedroom and reception area. And until bedtime, she shared the space in front of the fireplace with Kian and Frederick.

“Can’t a knight endure this much cold?”

“No, it’s difficult. I’m from the south. There’s no cold in the southern part of the Empire. Thanks to that, I never felt cold even in my crumbling childhood home. But when I came here to the capital……”

But at times like this, she regretted her choice. Yerena was at a loss for words when she heard Frederick’s smooth-talking attitude and closed her mouth. Then she recalled their first meeting.

‘……He didn’t seem like this kind of person.’

The Frederick she had seen in the Sedas Kingdom wasn’t like this. Sharp and cold……

‘I’ve heard the rumors. That the King of Sedas cherished his only daughter immensely. It seems he couldn’t bring himself to ask his daughter, whom he loved so dearly, to become a concubine and save the country. But so what? What are you saying? That you’re innocent because you didn’t know?’

The words he had spat out like daggers befitted a cruel invader. But since coming to the Empire and seeing him again as a guard, he was different. He talked much more and, above all, had become slick.

‘Even though they won, back then he was on the battlefield, and now he’s in his own country. He must be comfortable. Unlike me.’

Yerena’s lips twisted as she found the reason for Frederick’s changed attitude in his environment. Thinking about her situation of being dragged to the Empire made her angry again, but she suppressed it and felt around the table for her teacup.

As the moderately cooled tea went down her throat, her emotions subsided. After finishing her tea, Yerena sighed softly and emptied the beads she had struggled to thread into the basket.

Clatter. The sound of several beads falling into the basket was refreshing. Yerena held onto the now-empty thread and touched the beads again. After repeating this process many times, the tips of her fingers were red and swollen.

“Doesn’t that get tedious?”

“……”

“Even though it’s training, you could take it easier. It’s not like it’s immediately helpful, so there’s no need to go that far.”

Frederick frowned slightly as he looked at the tips of Yerena’s fingers and spoke. Yerena hesitated momentarily at his words but soon resumed rolling the beads and muttered with an expressionless face.

“Is there any guarantee that someone will always take care of me?”

Yerena’s voice was calm, but the moment she spoke, Frederick felt a sinking feeling and unconsciously clenched his fist.

“As you know, I can never see again.”

“……”

“If I were to live in the Sedas Kingdom, I could learn at a leisurely pace as you say. There are many people there to help me. But here in the Empire, I’m a prisoner.”

The end of Yerena’s sleeve rustled with her movement. Although she was just moving her hands, Frederick could clearly see the resignation emanating from her. He stared at her, frozen and at a loss for words.

“I don’t know what will happen to me in the future. Even now, Jane is the only one helping me.”

“……”

“Whatever situation comes, I want to be able to live on my own. I want to be able to eat, sleep, and dress myself without someone’s help…… I want to manage at least that much without difficulty.”

“……”

“……Of course, if I die before then, it all ends.”

After briefly feeling better from her resolute words, Frederick’s eyes widened when Yerena calmly mentioned death. Then, noticing that his too-tightly clenched fist was trembling, he muttered to himself.

‘……This is dangerous.’

His interest in the princess of the defeated country was growing day by day. The fact that he hadn’t felt any complaint when ordered to guard a mere prisoner confined in a tower. He recalled how his lord had previously ordered him not to lay hands on the princess’s body. Instead of unclenching his fist, Frederick bit his lower lip firmly and abruptly stood up from his seat.

Knock knock.

And just then, there was a knock at the door. Jane, who had been tensely watching Frederick’s unsettling expression, looked at the clock above the fireplace and quickly approached the door. She swallowed once and opened the door. The face of another guard, ‘Kian,’ with black hair, appeared.

“Frederick. It’s time to change shifts.”

The man who entered familiarly directly spoke to Frederick. Frederick flinched as he looked at his lord who was pretending to be a guard like him. Then, with his eyes slightly lowered, he silently greeted him before delivering a ceremonial farewell to Yerena.

“Lady Yerena. I shall take my leave now.”

Before Yerena could nod, Frederick had already reached the door. He bowed his head once more to Roshan and was about to leave. But just before leaving, a small voice clearly imprinted itself in Frederick’s ear, audible only to him.

“Wait for me at the Blue Palace.”

Though he hadn’t done anything wrong, Frederick felt an inexplicable sinking feeling. He unconsciously tried to roll his eyes back to look at Yerena but stopped when he met a pair of red eyes. Then, with his head lowered, he answered in a small voice.

“Yes.”

As soon as Roshan heard his answer, he moved toward Yerena. Frederick closed the door as soon as he came outside and raised both hands to rub his face.

“Haah……”

A deep sigh filled with complicated feelings came out white, frozen in the cold air. Frederick stood in front of the door for a long time and only moved his heavy steps after his fingertips had become numb from the cold weather.

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