“…How childish. You haven’t forgotten, have you? The order was to bring him back in one piece.”
“I know. Why does the Young Duke even want a kid like this brought to him?”
Just one smack. Can’t I give him just one?
Aska gazed at Johannes with desperate eyes.
Johannes immediately shook his head.
“We need to pick up the pace. It looks like the Kineart Duchy has deployed people.”
“Already?”
“This isn’t just any house. It’s the Kineart Duchy.”
It was not a family to be taken lightly.
And they were still within Kineart territory, so they had to clear out quickly.
Aska adjusted his grip on the boy and shifted him into a more secure hold. The thin, practically boneless body flinched at the movement.
Still, there was no sign of the fierce resistance he’d shown earlier.
“So you really don’t want to go back to the Kineart Duchy, huh?”
“Stop picking on the kid, Aska.”
Johannes scolded him, and Aska obediently shut his mouth and launched himself into motion.
The surroundings blurred past them in rapid streaks.
The boy made a wretched gagging sound, as though fighting back nausea, but there was nothing to be done about it.
Casual as their conversation had seemed, the Kineart Duchy was home to a considerable number of highly capable fighters.
They had erased every trace of their intrusion, but if they were to cross paths with one of the Duke of Kineart’s subordinates, things would become very complicated indeed.
Both of them had relatively short tenures as Legion Commanders, yet high-ranking noble houses made a point of knowing the faces of people like them.
Aska glanced down at the boy with an unsettled expression.
The cuts and scrapes scattered across the boy’s body bothered him.
Earlier, they’d been in too much of a rush to check on his condition…
It seemed the boy had suffered no small amount of humiliation inside the Kineart Duchy.
“Hey.”
“…”
“Why were you locked up in the Kineart Duchy?”
No answer came back. Aska hadn’t really expected one, so he let it go without much reaction.
“Move faster, Aska. This is going to get messy if we don’t.”
“Yes, yes.”
A moment later, Johannes’s flat, expressionless eyes shifted to look behind them.
He could see the Kineart family’s private soldiers giving chase.
“Rise.”
Johannes gave the quiet command toward something unseen, and the damp mud — soaked through from the early-morning rain — began to take shape, clumping together piece by piece into forms that slowly pulled themselves upright.
From somewhere behind them came the sound of knights screaming.
⁂
Riersha woke early.
She’d been so exhausted the day before that she’d fallen asleep earlier than usual, and now her body had simply decided it was done resting.
Outside the window, dawn had not yet broken. Riersha yawned and stretched her arms wide.
“Morniiing…”
“Miss Riersha. Are you up already?”
The bedroom door swung open and Sona stepped inside.
Riersha nodded, still rumpled and drowsy.
She was dressed in a dainty little nightgown trimmed with lace, and she wriggled around under the blankets for a moment before finally sitting up.
She didn’t think she’d be able to fall back asleep.
“Aren’t you hungry?”
“Mm, not yet.”
“Then shall we stretch a little and go for a walk first?”
“A walk?”
Riersha perked up at the suggestion.
The early morning air would be a bit chilly, so Sona pulled out a suitable outer layer and helped Riersha into it, slipping each arm through one sleeve at a time.
Riersha sat still and patient while Sona dressed her, then climbed down from the bed once she was ready to go.
She fumbled into her sandals and stepped out of the room, where she was met by the maids and servants just beginning to stir for the day.
“Good morning, Miss Riersha.”
“Mm, good mornin’.”
Riersha, eyes bright and alert, returned their greetings and took Sona’s hand as they set off together.
“There was a brief rain early this morning. The duchy will look a little different today — something new to discover.”
“Really?”
“Yes. It’s absolutely beautiful.”
Sona answered with quiet confidence.
It seemed she had suggested the walk precisely because she wanted to show Riersha the ducal estate at dawn.
The moment they stepped out of the annex, Riersha let out a small, wondering sound.
“Wow, you’re right. It’s so pretty.”
The day had not yet fully arrived, and yet the ducal castle glowed softly against the darkness.
Somehow, every building in the main estate was giving off a white, luminous light — and the sight of it was breathtaking.
Lanterns dotted the grounds as well, casting pools of warm light along the dark paths.
Riersha drew in a deep breath of the morning air. The rain must have brought it with it — there was that particular, damp scent, earthy and fresh, like wet soil.
“Let’s go toward the main area first.”
“Yes, my lady.”
Riersha pointed in a familiar direction and tugged Sona’s arm into motion. It was the path leading toward the main castle and the young duke’s residence.
Sona walked along behind her, but then paused — she caught the faintest trace of a presence from somewhere nearby and turned her head, unhurried and natural.
Tucked swiftly up into the branches of a tree were Aska and Johannes.
Sona’s eyes went very wide.
Sona. Take her somewhere else. Quickly.
Johannes signed with his hands. Sona offered him a gentle smile in return.
Then, in a voice carefully smoothed into perfect serenity, she spoke.
“Miss Riersha, why don’t we explore somewhere other than here first?”
“Mm? Why?”
“Hmm, well — I’d really like to go see the garden walk today. There are so many lanterns there that it’s practically like broad daylight. Right now I’m… a little scared of the dark.”
Scared.
At Sona’s excuse, both Aska and Johannes went cold.
The woman who had once been called the Witch of the Western Border was saying she was scared. The words were almost too absurd to process. If anything, she was the one other people were afraid of.
“Scawed?”
“Yes, terribly scared. Oh dear, what should I do?”
“Hmm, then we can’t weave you awone. Okay, let’s go dat way then.”
Riersha cast one wistful glance back toward the young duke’s residence before turning her feet in the opposite direction. The path leading to the young duke’s castle was a touch darker, even with the buildings giving off their pale glow.
The two of them joined hands and pivoted cleanly in the other direction.
That was when it happened.
“Mm?”
Riersha felt it — something out of place — and snapped her gaze straight upward.
And there she was, looking directly into the faces of both Aska and Johannes.
“…Well. We’re done for.”
Aska muttered in a daze.
Neither of them had so much as considered the possibility that Riersha might notice where they were hiding. Both of their hearts dropped straight to the floor.
“How did she…”
Johannes couldn’t even finish the sentence.
Riersha blinked up at him. She turned her eyes slowly, looking from one face to the other, then tilted her head to one side.
“Whatcha doin’ up there? And who’s dat?”
That.
The moment Riersha said it, both of them understood exactly why she had found them.
“It was this kid’s fault.”
Aska looked at the boy still tucked under his arm and pinpointed the cause.
They had concealed their own presence with precision — but Riersha had read the boy’s presence instead.
I did my best, Sona mouthed silently from below.
Johannes squeezed his eyes shut.
Pernoa’s orders had been clear: on the way back, no one was to discover the boy’s existence.
Sona had clearly known they were returning from a mission and had tried to lead Riersha in the opposite direction — but it hadn’t been enough.
We’re in trouble.
Everything had gone sideways.
“Who is dat boy?”
Riersha raised her hand and pointed directly, precisely, at the boy.
Aska and Johannes had no answer for her.
The situation was already a disaster — and beyond that, they genuinely didn’t know who the boy was.
“…We don’t know either, Miss Riersha.”
“Den why’d you bwing him?”
“That is…”
“Did Daddy tell you to bwing him?”
Aska flinched.
