~Chapter 38~
A Couple’s Quarrel
The knights of Delmark collapsed all over the training grounds, groaning in pain.
But it meant nothing to Caligo.
“Stop whining!
Anyone who collapses before me—even though I only arrived at the mansion yesterday—won’t be able to lift his head today.”
“If you say that, we also just came back from subjugating demonic beasts yesterday!”
“Then it’s about the same.
Me, sleeping uncomfortably in a place that isn’t even my home for days, and you lot who slept comfortably with both legs stretched out before going to hunt beasts.
Isn’t that right?”
Caligo kicked his subordinates, telling them to get up.
Instead of standing, the knights rolled around on the ground trying to avoid his feet.
Caligo was considered one of the elite within the knight order.
He had great stamina, great skill, and was sociable enough to be considered a candidate for the next captain.
But the knights all hoped that the day he became captain would never come.
The reason was the hellish intensity of his training.
‘Please, someone stop the training…’
Just as the knights rolled on the ground praying desperately, someone appeared at the entrance to the training grounds.
All their gazes turned in that direction.
Blair was standing there with several servants.
They were holding baskets in their hands.
“You all seem to be working hard, so I brought some snacks.”
The lifeless eyes of the knights suddenly sparkled.
God had answered their prayers!
Even those who usually didn’t like Blair thought she looked like an angel at this moment.
“If we’re disturbing you, I can just leave these here and you can eat later—”
“No!
We want to eat now!”
“Since you kindly brought them, isn’t it proper to eat them before they get cold?”
The knights who had been sprawled like corpses quickly jumped to their feet and rushed toward Blair and the servants.
Caligo kicked one subordinate approaching Blair in the rear, but the man ignored him.
Eventually Caligo raised both hands.
“Well, since our lady personally came here, it wouldn’t be polite to send her away without greeting her.
Thirty minutes of rest starting now.”
Cheers erupted among the knights.
The servants distributed the snacks.
They were baguettes filled with meat and vegetables and apple juice.
While Caligo watched his subordinates eat, Blair personally approached him and handed him a snack.
He accepted it happily like a child.
“Oh my, for you to bring it to me personally…
I’m honored, my lady.
A household really needs a mistress after all.”
“I was worried I might be disturbing the training, so I didn’t come here often. But if I had known everyone would like it this much, I would have brought something sooner.”
“Well, those guys are happy whenever training gets interrupted.
Anyway, thank you for the food.”
Perhaps he had been hungry as well, because he immediately began eating the baguette.
Blair watched him from the side.
Unlike before, her gaze had turned cold.
In truth, Blair had not come to the training grounds purely to take care of the knights.
As soon as Heredin left the bedroom that morning, Blair had sent a letter asking Mikhail to investigate Caligo.
But with the man who had killed her standing right in front of her, she couldn’t just sit and wait.
So she had come here using the knights as an excuse, determined to do something.
“Oh, this is good.
While coming down from the territory, I kept craving freshly baked bread like this.
The bread sold at inns is like a rock.
You’ve never tried it, have you, my lady?”
“The bread is that hard?”
“I’m serious.
Next time you go to the territory, try it.
It’ll feel like your teeth are going to fall out—”
“…Your teeth?”
“Ah, I shouldn’t use words like that in front of a noble lady…
My apologies. I grew up poor, so I’m not good with proper speech.”
Caligo slapped his mouth belatedly, then noticed a subordinate passing by and nudged him.
“Go bring me another piece of bread.”
“Me?”
“Can’t you see I’m talking with the lady right now?”
The subordinate grumbled but went to fetch more bread.
The fact that he complained meant Caligo was a good superior.
It meant the subordinate was comfortable enough to do so.
Blair stared blankly at Caligo.
The man who had killed her looked far too ordinary to be a murderer.
He liked it when someone took care of him, liked delicious food, got along well with people, and didn’t even view her negatively out of prejudice.
That made it even more frightening.
The fact that someone like this could kill her.
“It seems you’ve been with Delmark for quite a long time.
Everyone seems to follow you well.”
“Well, longer than those guys at least.
I think I was thirteen.
Around that time when I came to Delmark.”
“Then before that, where were you serving?”
If Caligo had not killed her for personal reasons, he must have been acting under someone’s orders.
If his current lord wasn’t behind it, there was a high chance it was someone from his past.
“Before I came to Delmark…”
Just as Caligo began speaking, a presence was felt at the entrance of the training grounds.
Turning toward it, they saw Heredin entering.
“Your Grace?
What brings you here at this hour?
Isn’t this when you’re busiest?”
“My work finished early, so I came to spar.
But it seems there was already a guest here.”
His gaze, directed at Blair and Caligo, was strangely cold.
Blair glared at him in irritation.
‘If we talked a little longer, I might have been able to guess the one behind this…’
But now that Heredin had arrived, she couldn’t continue the conversation.
And more than anything, it was uncomfortable to look at him.
After all, she had just argued with him this very morning.
Especially when she remembered the words she had said the moment she saw him.
‘I really… hate you.’
Why had she said that?
She wasn’t a child.
‘It’s not like he’s the kind of person who would be hurt by words like that.’
Those had been the only words she knew to express her feelings, so she had blurted them out in anger…
But it sounded exactly like something a six-year-old child would say when sulking.
Of course she resented him.
She disliked him.
But she hated how that single sentence made the weight of her emotions seem so trivial.
“I only meant to drop off the snacks, but I’ve taken up too much time.
I’ll be going now.”
Blair left the training grounds with the maids as if fleeing from Heredin.
Heredin’s cold gaze followed her retreating figure.
Watching that, Caligo suddenly let out a small exclamation as if realizing something.
“Ah, you two had a fight?”
“…”
“They say a couple’s quarrel is like cutting water with a sword—it doesn’t last long.”
Instead of answering, Heredin turned his cold gaze toward him.
When he had returned to the mansion immediately after the beast subjugation the previous day—
Seeing Blair together with Caligo had twisted his mood.
The way she couldn’t take her eyes off Caligo, the way she had asked about him while in his arms, and even that letter she had been writing to someone.
All of those things combined to create the current situation.
“You two must be in the good stage of marriage.”
The tactless Caligo lightly punched Heredin’s arm.
But Heredin’s expression when he looked back at him was icy.
The knights watching Caligo turned pale.
Only then did Caligo sense that something had gone wrong.
And his late realization was exactly correct.
Heredin tilted his head toward the back and gave an order.
“Go get your sword.”
The sparring session from hell had begun.
* * *
“Is this little thing really a predator of the forest?”
Melly looked curiously at Pippi as it drank milk.
The way it lay on Blair’s lap drinking milk made it look like a little master being served.
Blair nodded and enthusiastically explained what she had read about sables in a book.
“Yes.
They hunt in packs and can even kill animals bigger than themselves like roe deer and deer.”
“Wow.
It looks so cute, but it’s much scarier than it looks.”
“That’s why some nobles who enjoy hunting raise sables and take them hunting.”
“Then I should make sure this little guy likes me.
If I don’t want to be hunted.”
Blair laughed at Melly’s joke.
Since Blair entrusted Pippi to her, the two had grown much closer.
Of course, with Lina as well.
Just as Blair was playing with Pippi while chatting with Melly, footsteps approached.
Blair instinctively turned around and brightened when she saw Lina walking toward them.
Perhaps news had arrived from the guild.
But the words that came from Lina’s mouth were just ordinary daily business.
“Melly.
The butler asked if you could come see him for a moment if you’re not busy.”
“You should go, Melly.”
Disappointment briefly appeared on Blair’s face as she sent Melly away, but it soon disappeared behind a bitter smile.
‘It will probably take a long time.’
It had already been fifteen days since she asked Mikhail to investigate Caligo.
And fifteen days since she had argued with Heredin.
Perhaps because of their argument, he had stopped coming to her bedroom at night.
They still ate together as before, but that was all.
There was almost no conversation—just silent meals shared together.
That day.
She still didn’t know why, suddenly, or for what reason he had shown such a twisted mood.
But in a way it was better this way.
After considering the possibility that he might have been the one who killed her, it had become difficult to even look at his face.
She would need to reconcile with him before conceiving Asiel, but she didn’t want to think about it right now.
Just as Blair pushed away those thoughts about Heredin and played with Pippi’s paws, a maid entered through the open door.
“My lady, Lady Lorelline has come to visit.”