Chapter 8 Close Surveillance

Lydia and Byron had been busy repairing the temple for the past few days. They cleared away dust and cobwebs, and put outside anything that seemed beyond repair.

During this time, Lydia and Byron stayed in a tent pitched in front of the temple.

Thanks to Maria, Nella, and the former servants of the Bayern ducal family who came to help, the temple was being restored quickly.

“Excuse me, Sir Randel.”

And surprisingly, the greatest contributor to the temple restoration wasn’t Lydia or Byron, but Randel.

With his great strength, Randel could easily lift and move things that Lydia and Byron struggled with together.

Being tall, he could clear cobwebs from high places, and he was skilled at hammering, sawing—there was nothing he couldn’t do.

Without him, spiders would still be occupying the temple ceiling.

“Drink this while you work.”

Lydia offered Randel some cold water. Randel silently took the cup and downed it in one gulp.

“Thank you for coming to help every day. It would have been difficult without you, Sir Randel.”

“……The Commander ordered me to.”

“Sir Arsen? Oh my, that wasn’t necessary.”

It was a lie. Randel couldn’t admit that he came because he wanted to help. The words simply wouldn’t come out.

In his panic to make up an excuse, he blamed Arsen of all people.

“Still, thank you for com—, Sir Randel? Are you leaving?”

Flustered, Randel pushed the cup back into Lydia’s hands and quickly turned away. His steps were so fast that his large frame soon shrank to the size of a finger in the distance.

In the past, she might have cursed him for being rude or having a bad personality, but Lydia now understood.

Randel wasn’t rude; he was just shy. So extremely bashful, just like their commander,

“Such a socially awkward person.”

“……Are you insulting me right now?”

“Eek!”

Lydia jumped in surprise at the sudden voice by her ear.

She immediately threw a punch toward the source of the sound, but her cotton-like fist made no impact on Arsen’s solid chest.

Instead, the recoil only made Lydia herself stagger.

Arsen’s arm wrapped around Lydia’s waist as she wobbled. How ironic that she hit him and nearly fell herself.

“What is it, Sir! You scared me.”

Lydia grabbed Arsen’s forearm to regain her balance and glared at him with narrowed eyes.

“I walked with plenty of noise to announce my presence.”

“Next time, call out to me from far away. I thought my heart was going to drop.”

Hmph, Lydia tapped Arsen’s forearm and freed herself from his embrace. Arsen felt completely wronged since he truly hadn’t concealed his presence.

“Are you here to see Priest Byron? He’s not here right now.”

Lydia said, glancing inside the temple. Arsen’s gaze naturally followed hers toward the temple. The once crumbling structure had been transformed into something quite presentable.

The temple had reopened and there were now two priests, but the border people didn’t believe in God.

“I wonder if there will be any believers.”

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean? Did you come to mock us?”

Lydia furrowed her brow and glared at Arsen.

“That wasn’t my intention. I was merely stating the reality.”

“Tsk.”

Any gratitude she felt for him sending Randel to help with the temple repairs quickly vanished. Lydia pouted and turned completely toward the temple, crossing her arms.

“If we make the temple beautiful, people will come.”

“If no one comes, at least I will.”

“Really?”

Lydia looked up at Arsen standing beside her, as if she couldn’t believe his words.

“Yes. Although I probably know the doctrine better than you do.”

“Oh come on, stop teasing me.”

“What kind of language is that for a priestess? ‘Oh come on’? You should use proper and polite language.”

Lydia’s lips protruded in a pout as Arsen continued to tease her.

“Just wait and see. I’ll show you this temple filled with people.”

“I look forward to it, Priestess Lydia.”

“In that spirit, I have a favor to ask.”

What spirit? Isn’t it just a favor?

Arsen found it difficult to follow the flow of conversation, but decided to at least hear what the favor was.

“I heard there are lots of lily of the valley flowers in the forest behind the mansion, and I’d like to dig some up to plant in the temple yard.”

Lily of the valley was the flower that symbolized Anastasia, so Anastasia’s temples always had lily of the valley planted in them.

Lydia and Byron had heard about a colony of lily of the valley behind the Edis mansion and wanted to go there.

However, Arsen had issued an order prohibiting entry to the forest while he was hunting demonic beasts, so they still hadn’t been able to go.

“I want to transplant them before they bloom. Is that not possible?”

“Not alone.”

“Then would you come with me, Sir?”

It was a joke. She thought if she asked him to come along, Arsen would say he was busy, and Lydia would then bargain to collect lily of the valley roots from a safe area.

“Sure.”

She never expected him to agree so easily.

“Are we going now? This way.”

Though she had suggested they go together, Lydia followed behind Arsen in a daze.

While she felt safer with Arsen accompanying her, she was surprised he agreed so readily.

He was truly an unpredictable person.

“That’s the lily of the valley colony over there.”

Arsen pointed to a field of broad-leaved plants across a narrow stream.

“The stream is shallow, but the stones are slippery, so be careful.”

“I understand. But Sir, why did you bring me all the way here?”

Unable to contain her curiosity any longer, Lydia asked. Arsen grabbed Lydia’s arm as she walked carelessly despite his warning, and answered.

“Because if I had just given permission, you would have come alone anyway.”

“You know me so well, Sir? How did you really know?”

It was obvious based on Lydia’s behavior so far. Arsen released Lydia’s arm only after crossing the stream and reaching the lily of the valley colony.

Lydia diligently dug into the ground with the hoe she had brought. More precisely, her spirit for digging was diligent.

While her mind was that of Lydia who had endured all sorts of hardships in the labor camp, her body was that of a noble lady who had never experienced hardship in her life, creating an enormous gap.

Still, digging up the lily of the valley buds clustered in the grass was enjoyable.

A smile appeared on Lydia’s face as she imagined Byron’s delighted expression upon receiving them, but it quickly disappeared.

“S-Sir, Sir Arsen.”

Lydia clutched her hoe tightly and backed away until she fell on her backside.

“What’s wrong?”

“There, there’s a demonic beast over there.”

“A demonic beast?”

Arsen muttered that it couldn’t be, as he bent down to look in the direction Lydia was pointing.

“That’s not a demonic beast.”

“That’s not a demonic beast?”

“It’s a rabbit. Called a winter rabbit.”

Lydia looked at the strange creature again. Long ears with visible veins, protruding eyeballs, and even protruding fangs.

Moreover, what kind of rabbit was so muscular? And it was so large! She was certain she would lose in a fight against it.

Then suddenly, Lydia remembered Arsen saying she resembled a rabbit. He had called it a winter rabbit. Surely that rabbit wasn’t…

“Sir, the rabbit you said I resembled isn’t that rabbit, is it?”

“Yes, that rabbit.”

Lydia turned the hoe she had raised toward the rabbit in Arsen’s direction. But far from being frightened, Arsen just stared blankly at Lydia.

“You must wear your eyes as decoration, Sir. How do I resemble that in any way? Do I look like a demonic beast to you?”

Winter rabbits develop fluffy pink fur when winter arrives.

From a distance, they look like pink cotton candy running around, and even up close, they appear as round, fluffy balls of fur, making them quite cute.

The problem was that this only applied in winter. That’s why they were called “winter rabbits,” meaning “rabbits only in winter.”

Arsen had been thinking of winter rabbits in their winter state when he made the comparison, but who would have thought Lydia would encounter a winter rabbit looking like this?

“Who was it that said they wanted to keep one as a pet?”

“I didn’t know they looked like that.”

Now that she knew it wasn’t a demonic beast, Lydia cautiously stood up and dusted the soil from her hands, when she suddenly remembered something from the morning.

“By the way, Sir, are there mercenary groups in the border region?”

“No. Don’t tell me some people claiming to be mercenaries have arrived?”

“Yes, how did you know?”

So they were indeed sent by the Emperor. Judging by the timing, it seemed Richard had sent people ahead during the brief delay in Arsen’s return to the border because of Lydia.

Since Arsen was so eager to return to the border, they were probably sent to investigate what was there, and incidentally to monitor Lydia who had come along.

“They’re not mercenaries. They’re people sent by the Emperor.”

“Richard? If I had known that, I wouldn’t have even offered them a cup of water.”

Lydia trembled with indignation, her hand holding the hoe quivering.

“Those people won’t be able to find out anything about you, will they?”

“I’ll drive them away before that happens.”

But they wouldn’t leave easily.

“If you drive them away without reason, they’ll become convinced there’s something in the border region.”

Then Richard would send his close associates with some other excuse. Since his associates would typically be nobles, they would need to be accommodated at the Edis mansion, and it would be troublesome if they heard about the presence of Bayern ducal family servants.

“If they hear something interesting, they’ll leave to report it. What kind of news would interest Richard?”

“Well, the Emperor is most wary about the relationship between you and me. Before I left, he specifically called me in to badmouth you……”

Arsen caught himself and closed his mouth.

“He badmouthed me? I figured as much. Tsk, am I not allowed to badmouth him?”

She could curse for more than half a day if she wanted to. But more importantly, her strategy seemed to be working.

She had aimed to give Devon false hope and Richard a subtle sense of anxiety. The fact that Richard had called Arsen in to speak ill of her meant that Richard was anxious about potential developments between Arsen and Lydia.

“From Richard’s perspective, the news he least wants to hear is probably something about you and me developing some kind of relationship. But if we push that angle too hard, he might do something impulsive.”

Hmm, Lydia pondered, pressing her lips together.

“It would be just right if it seemed like you weren’t interested, but I was chasing after you because I liked you.”

Since Richard was well aware that Arsen was an iron fortress when it came to women, he would likely remain only slightly anxious without taking action.