Chapter 41
Perhaps it was only natural that Helen had stopped her meal.
The food that the chef had painstakingly prepared felt as though it was entering through her nose rather than her mouth. When a knight had arrived from the Imperial Palace, the head chef had even boasted that he would serve the finest meal of his life. And yet, before the dishes born of the chef’s hard labor, the two men were too busy growling at each other to eat.
“Why the hell are you kicking up a fuss when she even sees to your breakfast? Don’t they have a mess hall at the training grounds?”
“My lady said she would provide me with breakfast.”
“My lady? Ah, so the foolish knight takes a mere pleasantry to heart.”
“It seems the foolish mage is the one who doesn’t know my lady is in a very foul mood.”
“Are you in a foul mood right now?”
Liandor whipped his head around and asked. Fork in his left hand and knife in his right, as though he would make a threat if she didn’t answer immediately.
Helen set down her fork and smiled a gentle smile.
“Then yes, I am in a foul mood. From now on, I shall breakfast alone.”
“Such—!”
“My lady!”
Helen had no intention of taking back her words. She had no appetite anyway, so though she felt sorry for the chef, it was time to get up.
The moment she pushed her chair back and stood, Liandor was the first to react.
“You’re really leaving? This is all because of you!”
“Is that so? To any observer, it is clearly your fault.”
“Fine. Then I’ll take this chance to expose a knight’s incompetence.”
It was then that flames flickered and bloomed at Liandor’s fingertips.
BANG!
A loud sound rang out from the table Helen had slammed with both hands. The reverberation that filled the dining hall put the two men on edge and caused the flames at Liandor’s fingertips to die out.
She tucked the loose strands that had escaped her updo behind her ear to tidy herself. Then she looked back and forth between the mage and the Knight Commander—a look she shouldn’t have bothered with. The sight of their two faces made indignation well up inside her.
“Both of you, get out. If you don’t wish to, then I shall leave.”
It was good she had added that. As if the two men had been mortal enemies in a previous life, they hesitated and faltered yet still growled at each other. Seeing that made a sigh escape her.
Since there was no sign of them lifting their backsides from their chairs, she had no choice but to leave herself.
Helen roughly shoved her chair into the table. Only after the succession of harsh scraping sounds against the floor rang out did the mage and the Knight Commander spring to their feet.
“Helen!”
“My lady!”
It was not something she could only block out by covering her ears. Having gained a leisurely day to enjoy by herself for the first time in a while, simply making plans for it was enough to drown out the two men’s desperate voices.
* Sivelo
The knights mainly focused on swordsmanship training. Though they would also run for hours around the perimeter of the well-maintained training grounds, by the time Helen arrived, the clashes of blades rang out clearly.
Helen climbed the stairs to the right just inside the main gate, quietly lending her ear to the shouts that rang out from time to time.
In her small territory at the northernmost edge, there had been few places to go, but with the Imperial Knight Order’s training grounds having been built in Hexelof, it could be said that her destinations had increased. It was an hour and a half’s walk from the mansion, but anywhere within Hexelof could be reached within two hours.
Summer was beginning to wane, making it a suitable day for a stroll with a parasol. Had the sun broken through the clouds, it might have been rather hot.
She folded her parasol and spread a handkerchief on the ground to sit upon. Just as she was about to sit down, she heard the knights in the midst of training whispering amongst themselves. They were below the stairs, and though the noise of clashing blades was sharp, the conversation that slipped between the gaps was unmistakably clear.
“You mean that woman? The rumored half-noble lady.”
“That’s right, but watch your mouth. If the Commander hears, you’ll be dead meat.”
There was no need to watch his words. It was simply the curiosity of a young knight.
A half-noble young lady. To elaborate further, her mother had died when she was born, and abandoned by her father at the age of seven, she had come to live here in Hexelof—lowly and only half a noble, yet nevertheless a noble young lady. After all, she still bore the surname Platini.
Helen rested her chin on her hand, propping her elbow on her knee. Looking down, she could see a knight staring at the young lady with her red hair tied up as though marveling at a curiosity. Judging by the unfamiliar face, he seemed to have come up here with Edwin this time.
Perhaps he had just turned twenty.
“It’s an age where everything is a curiosity.”
She found herself wanting to know exactly what he was curious about. Having just come of age, his perspective on the world was bound to have changed.
In that case, was he curious as to how a half-noble young lady had dared to refuse the Emperor’s proposal?
If she told him that she had once lived as someone else entirely, and that someone had been His Majesty’s dead younger sister, he might foam at the mouth and collapse. Or perhaps he wouldn’t even pay it any mind, dismissing it as a wild lie carelessly uttered by a half-noble young lady who knew nothing.
The young knight looked up at her for a while, then whipped his head away as though he had seen something he shouldn’t have. Then, as though he had been earnestly focused on sword training all along, he hurriedly lifted his sword and moved it this way and that. Yet even in doing so, his movements were disciplined, bringing a faint smile to any who watched.
“What’s with him? Did he see a demonic beast or something?”
“He will see one. I shall place him at the very front of this winter’s subjugation force.”
The voice that abruptly cut in was terribly familiar. If one listened with eyes covered, it was a fine voice one could never dare imagine belonging to a knight. The voice of the boy who had sat helplessly by the roadside in childhood was unchanged from then until now.
Perhaps that was why. Though startled by Edwin, who had appeared without a trace, she quickly regained her composure. Helen turned her head and asked him, as he smiled brightly down at her.
“Sir Vance, when did you arrive?”
“I just arrived. Not that I followed you here, my lady! This place is my place of work, and to fulfill my duties as an Imperial Knight…”
Edwin despised himself for rambling on, unable to connect his words properly. But on his honor as a knight, he had spoken only the truth.
No, in truth, he had spoken a lie. It was an undeniable fact that he had followed Helen. During the meal, Helen had left her seat, and though he was left alone with the mage, he had not wished to engage in a pointless scuffle with him, so he rose first. He had immediately prepared himself and left the mansion, only to discover Helen, who had set out before him.
She had been walking slowly ahead, holding a parasol as fine as she was. Since they were walking the same path, he had wanted to call out to Helen in his joy, but considering what had happened in the dining hall, and above all not wishing to disturb her, he had quietly followed behind her.
It was a path he had to take anyway, and without the mage’s interference, it was time spent with only her. He found himself praying inwardly. That she would walk ever so slowly.
Edwin hung his head as though he had committed some great wrong. Would she be disappointed that a mere Knight Commander had followed her? Perhaps she even despised him. Had he known it would come to this, he would have walked beside her instead.
While he was repressing his regret inwardly, Helen drew a faint arc of a smile upon her lips. Looking ahead, the knights’ training, steeped in tension and shouts, was in full swing due to the Knight Commander’s arrival.
“Is this winter’s subjugation force comprised of Sir Vance and those men?”
“That is correct.”
“There are about four months left.”
“Hmm, perhaps the demonic beasts won’t come down from the Northern Forest this winter.”
“My lady? Why is that?”
He did not doubt anything Helen said, but this time, it did not easily resonate with him. After all, hadn’t they formed an expedition for demonic beast subjugation the previous year as well? The reason training grounds had been built here in Hexelof, close to the Northern Forest, was the same.
But she said the demonic beasts would not appear this winter? That was impossible unless the ground of the Northern Forest caved in.
“They appeared last winter as well.”
“So, did the expedition encounter any demonic beasts?”
Edwin’s lips flapped open and closed before he clamped them shut reluctantly. The expedition of twenty, including Duke Everett, had returned without a single injury. People seemed to think that their unscathed state was thanks to divine grace and Duke Everett’s outstanding command.
Had they not read the expedition report, anyone would have thought so. The report stated that they had only discovered traces and corpses of demonic beasts, having failed to encounter a single living one. At the northernmost edge, there was no border with another nation, so no separate troops were stationed there. Naturally, one couldn’t help but wonder whose handiwork it was.
At the time, he had merely thought they had succumbed to the fierce blizzard. Looking back, it was a matter that should have been thoroughly investigated then.
To think there was a mage here.
“Liandor is here, after all. He has cast a barrier upon the Northern Forest, so demonic beasts will likely not show themselves again.”
Edwin snorted at Helen’s words.
“Even the Imperial Mages could not devise such a thing. Do you think he accomplished it? It could very well be a lie.”
“Of course, that is possible, but I know Liandor’s capabilities. He is not one to tell idle lies.”
At least, not about something like ‘this.’ She hadn’t known before, but now she did. The only thing Liandor cared about enough to lie over was herself—Helen Platini.
“Just what is his true identity? He is suspicious to be called a mere mage.”
“I wish I knew as well.”
Why had he saved her? For what purpose had he made the most unfortunate person live as one beloved by all? And she wanted to ask why he had cast her into the abyss at her happiest moment.
If it were simply for love, shouldn’t he have made her unable to love another? He should have rather locked her in a cage to prevent her from leaving. She had already come too far to find out where things had gone wrong.
Helen spoke to Edwin, who sat at a distance equal to the length of her folded parasol.
“I heard that Duke Everett presided over the construction of the training grounds here.”
“That is correct. Thanks to His Grace, the work proceeded smoothly. Even those who can’t stand to see others succeed couldn’t so much as twitch at His Grace’s word.”
“Is His Grace well? Despite taking charge of the construction, I haven’t been able to see him all this time.”
When she had heard that Carlisle had proposed building the training grounds in Hexelof, she had been so happy she wondered if it were a dream. His proposal had soon been accepted, and hearing that it would be pushed forward successfully, she had harbored hope. Since he had become the overseer of the project, she had thought he might visit at least once.
But to this day, he had not once set foot in Hexelof. Well, he was a busy man by nature.
“He is well. Hmm, or perhaps he is not well.”
“What do you mean?”
Her green eyes trembled at the bolt-from-the-blue words. Had he been injured somewhere? Usually, when it was said that he was not doing well, it meant he was in poor health, so worry seized her.
Had Edwin paused before the rest of his words, she would have immediately gathered her parasol and left her seat.
“The Everett mansion is overflowing with marriage proposals.”