Chapter 80 - The Blue-Eyed Knight (2)

“Why has he still not come?”

Alicia clutched her head, slumped over her desk, and let out a groan.

“It has been a full month since I sent that letter, and not only has he not arrived, there has not even been word from him.”

More than a month had passed since Count Gaidar’s house had sent that unpleasant message.

They would already have gathered their people and set out, so they would arrive here before long.

“Please have a little more patience and wait.”

The old knight Duncan looked at Alicia, who was drooping over the desk, with pity in his eyes.

With a threat approaching, it was only natural for her to be shaken.

But Duncan knew very well that it was precisely at times like these that retainers like himself had to set their lord straight.

“You must always prepare for the worst. Only then can you face all matters with humility.”

“... Maybe I should just marry into that side and be done with it.”

Alicia, who had muttered the words with her lips thrust out as far as they would go, began to laugh hollowly, as though even she found what she had said ridiculous.

“Well, that is absurd.”

“... It is.”

Sigmund, Count Gaidar, had sent Alicia a letter asking what she thought of marrying his eldest son.

The Gaidar Family had been the family making the greatest name for itself of late, and above all, it shared a border with Deirmar, so from Alicia’s position, it was a proposal worth considering deeply at least once.

However, the problem was that there was no hint of respect for the Heinal Family in that letter.

If Sigmund had truly wanted a union between Gaidar and Heinal, he would not have sent a proposal that felt like a notice of decision.

The sweet words written in the letter were tempting, but they did not actually promise a future for Heinal, and the relentless wars Count Sigmund had waged until now showed his greedy nature all too clearly.

In other words, the proposal Count Sigmund had sent was like a poison she must not drink.

“We are surrounded by thieves on every side.”

“... Lady Alicia.”

Alicia knew very well.

Bayezid, too, was not treating them out of simple goodwill.

For the powerless, there was no such thing as an ally without conditions.

“If only we had time, we would have a chance to stand on our own.”

At Duncan’s words, spoken in an attempt to give her strength somehow, the sole Heinal, who had been lying limply over the desk, straightened her posture.

“Yes. We have to try until we can try no more.”

Crouching low when one had no strength was nothing to be ashamed of.

If she had nothing in her hands right now, she had to borrow what she could, and Alicia was willing to pay the price in full.

“But is it really this hard to borrow one squire, not even a knight?”

However, the boy she had requested from Bayezid still had not shown so much as the tip of his nose, without a single word.

“... He is only one squire.”

He was no ordinary boy.

The boy who had protected Heinal’s honor in that duel.

And the boy who had wiped her parents’ gravestones with the two hands that had received her handkerchief.

“Lady Alicia. They say the people from the Gaidar Family have reached the territory.”

When everyone surrounding her was revealing dark intentions toward the territory called Deirmar, there was only one person who could help Alicia out of pure duty.

“I understand.”

And even now, Alicia was waiting for that boy.

* * *

There were men entering the entrance to Deirmar.

Even at a rough count, there seemed to be more than ten of them, and all were knights equipped with excellent arms.

“It’s a backwater.”

The man standing at the very front of the group opened his mouth as he swept his fierce eyes around him.

“And far too quiet.”

Unkempt, thick eyebrows, broad shoulders.

And features that looked belligerent even when he was smiling.

The young man, confidently letting his presence spill out without restraining it in the slightest, frowned as though the territory that had entered his eyes did not please him.

“Deirmar has always been this sort of place. It is a territory based more on diplomacy than war, and more on agriculture than commerce and industry.”

“So it is boring, then.”

The burly man scratched his head, as though the explanation about Deirmar he heard beside him had drained away his interest.

“I just have to stay still, right, Godin?”

“You must at least offer your greetings.”

“So I only have to greet her?”

“You should also pretend to be interested and try exchanging a few words.”

“Tch.”

Ishtvan, the eldest son of the Gaidar Family.

He was a man who never hesitated to do what he wanted, and a man born with a natural gift for refusing what he did not want to do.

“I do not want to do anything that bothersome.”

As though the very thought of bothersome work made his temper flare, Ishtvan’s presence suddenly turned savage, and the knights behind him tensed without meaning to.

“You must fulfill the obligations of the blood you were born with.”

And yet Godin, who was receiving that presence head-on, merely wore a relaxed smile.

A knight who always hid a sharp sword behind a face that seemed to be smiling.

A man one could not smile back at when facing him.

“... Fine.”

Seeing Godin remain completely unshaken by his presence, Ishtvan could only sigh as though he had no choice.

After all, the fact that his father had sent Godin, who was no different from his right arm, meant that he was taking this matter seriously.

“They say she possesses beautiful looks.”

Godin knew very well that a man like Ishtvan could not be coaxed by suppression alone.

“They say there is not a single noblewoman in these parts who would dare compare herself to her.”

“... Is that so?”

A bloodline of the West, honest about its desires and never hesitant to do what it wanted.

Ishtvan, who had inherited Sigmund’s nature exactly as it was, nodded as though he understood the carrot Godin had openly dangled before him.

“I am beginning to feel a little motivated.”

It was a boring, unappealing task, but at least there was one thing to stir his interest.

At the edge of Ishtvan’s vision, knights bearing the flag of the Heinal Family were riding toward them.

* * *

“Oh.”

The first word Ishtvan uttered upon seeing the woman with water-blue hair seated above him was an exclamation of admiration.

“I had heard the rumors and knew of you well, but rumors are only rumors after all. A beauty that cannot be contained in mere words now stands before me.”

“...”

Unlike his rugged appearance, Ishtvan strung together rather refined words, but Alicia was already feeling displeased with him.

Because Ishtvan’s attitude was far too casual toward the ruler of a territory.

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Lady. I am Ishtvan of the Gaidar Family.”

“... Welcome, Lord Ishtvan of Gaidar.”

Though she had the official title of baroness, Ishtvan had dared to call Alicia by the mere address of Lady.

Duncan, standing beside her, pressed Ishtvan with a sharp presence, but Ishtvan himself only smiled it off.

“You must have had a difficult journey. It would have been better if you had sent word in advance that you were coming.”

They were people who could not be pressured by presence to begin with.

However, Alicia Heinal was the rightful ruler of Deirmar.

As its ruler, she had a duty to make herself noble.

“Would it not have been necessary to coordinate matters beforehand regarding this proposal? I believe coming here so suddenly was somewhat hasty.”

Her hair was the color of water, but the color of the words flowing from the tip of her tongue was a cold blue.

At least outwardly, Alicia succeeded in donning the colors of a noble.

“I find the attitude Gaidar has shown me somewhat regrettable.”

As Alicia said, a marriage or engagement between nobles obviously was not established simply by sending a single letter.

However, without even hearing Alicia’s intentions, Gaidar had already sent Ishtvan, the person concerned, to Deirmar, so no matter how generously one looked at it, this could only be a discourtesy toward Alicia.

“Our count said there may also be bonds that begin through meeting.”

“What meeting between noble families proceeds in such haste?”

Duncan, flaring up at Godin’s sly words, felt as though he wanted to let out a curse if he could.

To the old knight, his lord Alicia was someone he cherished no differently than his own daughter.

“Please do not be so harsh. If the count did not cherish Lady Alicia so much, why would he have sent his own son directly, as though fearing someone else might take her?”

However, he must not grow angry carelessly.

The fact that they had forced their way in so recklessly was surely an intentional act, and that intention would be to build up some justification of their own.

“I apologize that propriety and procedure were disregarded to some extent. However, Lord Ishtvan here is the eldest son and heir of the Gaidar Family. His very presence is enough to stand in for such trivial procedures.”

As Godin said, the fact that the family’s eldest son had been sent to this place meant that Count Sigmund had placed great meaning on it.

If Alicia treated him carelessly here, the situation would become no different from an open denunciation of the Gaidar Family.

“Please do not be so angry. We are people who have brought good news.”

Seeing Ishtvan’s sly smile, Alicia ended up gripping her skirt tightly.

Uninvited guests who had brought the difficult and troublesome justification of a marriage proposal.

Looking at the men whose aim was obvious and whose intentions were utterly unpleasant, Alicia tried her best to endure.

“We welcome your visit. For now, please rest in the quarters prepared for you and...”

“Rather than rest, I would first like to deepen my acquaintance through conversation with Lady Alicia.”

Pioneers had no hesitation.

If there was something they wanted, they said without hesitation that they wanted to have it.

“I would like to pay my respects to your parents first, but circumstances do not allow it.”

And to have it, they did not choose their means or methods.

Seeing Ishtvan now even bring up her dead parents, Alicia’s water-blue eyes rippled violently.

“How dare you...”

Patience was a precious virtue for anyone, but even it had a line.

If one only endured even after that line was crossed, it was merely an act of lowering oneself.

“Do you know where you are...”

The ruler of Deirmar, the sole Heinal.

Before an insult she must not endure, she rose from her seat to spit out her anger.

“The knights of Bayezid have arrived!”

The moment the balance Alicia had barely been holding onto through patience was about to break, the butler crossed the lobby, shouting loudly.

It was no different from daring to silence his lord as a hired servant, but the butler had already been permitted to do this, and he had to do it.

“They have just arrived at the manor.”

The butler’s face was pale, and cold sweat was breaking out on him from the sharp presence of the knights shooting toward him from behind, but he was struggling somehow to do his duty.

“Let them in!”

Duncan’s preparations for the worst had succeeded, and the poor butler did his utmost to complete his task.

With Duncan’s urgent shout, the doors to Deirmar’s lobby opened.

There were men visible through the slowly opening gap.

Fur-lined cloaks unique to the North.

Knights of the North, giving off a presence as sharp and cold as the place they had come from.

“It has been a long time, Baroness Heinal.”

And standing at the very front of them, a one-eyed knight bowed his head politely.

“The knights of Bayezid greet the ruler of Deirmar.”

Unlike the knights of the West, the knights of the North treated the ruler of Deirmar with courtesy.

“...”

Alicia looked at the boy who alone had not lowered his head and was meeting her eyes.

Blue eyes looking at Alicia with the same unwavering gaze as back then.

He was the boy who had entered the dueling ground alone, carrying her honor, when she had given up on everything.

“I apologize for being late.”

The boy, standing before the lobby in a slightly different capacity from the knights here, belatedly bowed his head and offered his greeting.

“I have arrived here now to answer your call, Lady Alicia.”

Ishtvan did not have the right to call Alicia Lady.

But the boy who had now entered the lobby had the right to call her Lady.

Because he was the only person she had permitted to do so.

“Welcome, knights of Bayezid.”

With Alicia’s nod, the doors of the lobby were closing.

Because now, everyone who needed to enter was here.

Those who had come to take justification and those who had come with justification in hand were looking at one another.