CH 8

Adam was always like this.

Wherever she went, he followed quietly and concentrated his eyes on her to the point that she felt like it would bore a hole into the back of her head.

He was likely ordered to never take his eyes off her.

As Raeliana clicked her tongue and moved forward, a hand darted out and waved at her from the hallway to the main entrance.

“My lady, my lady…”

“Elma…?”

Adam’s eyes that had been focused on the back of Raeliana’s head shifted toward the person waving the hand.

Raeliana, startled by what someone could call suspicious behavior, hastily walked through the hallway to Elma.

Elma was waiting for her in the small nook in front of the door as if she was on a secret mission.

Raeliana darted glances at Adam and spoke lightly.

“Elma, what’s going on? People would think that you were up to something.”

Please don’t do this if you want my head to stay where it is.

Raeliana glanced back at Adam. Adam stood about a meter away, watching the two.

“Oh dear, my lady…”

Elma held Raeliana’s hand and whispered in a watery voice.

“You must be scared out of your wits.”

“Elma…?”

“I understand. Oh, how nonchalant the Masters are.”

Did the fact Raeliana was leaving tomorrow worry her?

Everyone else from the household had only congratulated her, saying that she would find no better suitor.

Though she had only known her for a short while, only Elma seemed to understand her. Feeling touched, Raeliana made to answer.

“It’s alright. It’s not like I’m leaving forever.”

“Look at those red eyes. He could slash the sword at any moment.”

“Huh…?”

“My lady…?”

Raeliana and Elma looked at each other, confused.

“Red eyes? Are you talking about Sir Adam?”

“Why, yes of course. Who else would it be? Does something else worry you?”

“Well… no, no.”

Raeliana avoided the gaze.

In the end, nobody realized that she was more like a soldier heading to the enemy lines rather than an excited bride-to-be.

But that was to be expected. The two-face had fooled everyone.

“That man has been tailing you all day. Some of the maids have spoken to him to no avail. I hear his nickname is a reaper or something.”

“Uh, Sir Adam has come as my bodyguard. So there’s no choice in his following me. And he’s not that scary. If you wait for a moment, you do get some answers.”

She decided to forget ‘His nickname is the Black-blooded Reaper because he killed people like a reaper and got splashed with their blood’ for Elma and her own sake.

“And those red eyes mean he’s an Alsasa.”

“Alsasa?”

“Yes, the savages.”

“Oh, I see…”

Alsasa referred to the ethnic minority with red eyes from the north. They lived deep in the mountains and were said to be warlike and skilled with blades because they lived primarily by hunting.

Many had success as mercenaries but the people in the kingdom were slightly, or to be exact, incredibly prejudiced against them.

“They say the Alsasa’s eyes turned red because they love blood.”

“That’s all a lie.”

“Right-hand man or not, there must be many knights of better heritage under the duke. I don’t understand why he would assign someone like that to you.”

“Someone like that……?” Raeliana furrowed her brows. “What do you mean by that?” Raeliana raised her voice as if to question her, and Elma responded with a flustered look.

“My lady?”

“Elma, wherever he may be from, he’s a war hero who sacrificed himself from a young age and a respectable knight on his own. The duke knows that, so he assigned him to me.”

“But…!”

“Stop saying disrespectful things.”

“Yes, my lady……”

Elma put her head down, feeling embarrassed. Seeing her, Raeliana made to change the subject.

“Anyway, is that why you called me?”

“No. I tried making the chocolate with almonds that you talked about before.”

“Oh, really?”

Elma took out an embroidered pouch from her apron. As she opened the pouch, it was full of individually wrapped chocolates.

“Woah, it must have been so much work.”

Elma, who was fiddling with her apron, said carefully to Raeliana, who was overjoyed.

“My lady… I’m just saying this because I’m worried for you.”

“Yes, I know Elma. I just didn’t want you to discriminate against other people for such reasons.”

“Yes, of course……”

Elma nodded her head, but had an expression that she still didn’t understand.

Perhaps such a reaction was to be expected from people in this world.

This was a world where people were treated according to the status they were born into.

It was just different from the world she came from, where there was no social caste and humans were equal to one another.

“Thanks for the chocolates.”

Raeliana smiled bitterly and fell silent. As she began to walk, she could feel the quiet presence behind her again.

The garden grass leaned into the breeze. Though the garden was not large, Raeliana’s mother was said to have put a lot of effort into utilizing the modest space.

She walked through the flowers that the gardener tended dearly every day.

“Sister!”

“Rosemary?”

Rosemary trotted along and hugged Raeliana’s legs. She was clutching onto a long string with a yellow balloon.

“Sister…”

As Raeliana held her up, the child smiled and rubbed her cheek against her.

Having had only a mountain-beast like older brother, she had her heart stolen by this small creature to do almost anything for her.

“What were you up to?”

“Hm, praying…!”

“Praying?”

“Praying that you will be happy with the duke.”

“Rosemary…”

What a lovely little sister. Raeliana held Rosemary with eyes full of love and spun around until the child said she felt dizzy.

“Rosemary, you should never fall for a man for his status and good looks. A person should have good character above all.”

Not grasping a word, Rosemary nodded, happily smiling.

Raeliana sniffled, thinking that perhaps Raeliana McMillan’s bad fortune was to balance out for having such a cute sister.

“Who gave you this balloon?”

“N, no, you have to…”

“Let it go,” as Rosemary added on, she opened her hands. The yellow balloon floated up into the sky with the wind.

“Ah!”

But then, as the balloon floated along, its string got caught by a large, old tree nearby.

Rosemary jumped out of Raeliana’s arms and ran to the foot of the tree, stamping her feet anxiously.

“What do I do?”

“The balloon got away. Let’s ask Hans to get it for us when he comes.”

As she patted Rosemary’s head, telling her that the gardener would have a ladder to get the balloon down, the child mumbled with a disappointed face.

“They said the balloon had to fly away.”

“Mm, why?”

“The balloon will tell the sky god my prayer. What if the balloon forgets what I said because it took too long to fly up?”

Rosemary looked up to Raeliana with her large eyes wet with tears.

Oh gosh, she’s too cute...!

Raeliana shuddered at Rosemary’s unbearable cuteness, but calmed herself when she looked at her sister’s tearful eyes.

“Don’t worry. The balloon will surely remember everything. Should we eat this while we wait for Hans?”

Raeliana stooped down to meet Rosemary’s eyes and put some chocolate from her pouch in the child’s hands.

“Okay.”

Rosemary fumbled with the chocolate wrapper in her hand and nodded sadly.

As Raeliana patted the child’s back in encouragement …

Swish.

She heard a sound of a sword being drawn and the branch swayed slightly.

“Huh?”

As Rosemary widely opened her eyes and looked up at the sky, the balloon’s string had been cut off and began to rise to the sky again.

“It’s on its way!”

Rosemary waved to the balloon with a rosy face.

Raeliana observed the floating balloon for a moment before turning her eyes back to Adam, who was putting away his sword. His face still remained like a stone.

That’s surprising. He seemed like someone who wouldn’t care for something like this.

“Thank you, Sir Adam.”

When Raeliana told Rosemary to ‘thank Sir Adam,’ the child trotted to the boy and put out her fist toward him.

“Your hand, please.”

As Adam put out his hand out of surprise, Rosemary put a chocolate in his hand.

“Thank you!”

Rosemary thanked him with a bright smile.

Adam fixed his eyes on the chocolate in his hand and nodded slightly.

For some reason, he answered faster than usual. The boy fidgeted with the chocolate and stood blankly for a long while.

Raeliana handed Rosemary more chocolates and looked at Adam from behind the child.

He seemed to be in love with the chocolate.

“Sweets, do you like them?”

This time, he answered later than usual. As she waited, Adam nodded.

He has a cuter personality than I thought.

Smiling, Raeliana pulled the boy’s hand and put the whole pouch on it. Caught off guard, Adam let out his voice for the first time.

“Ah…”

It was a clear voice.

Stripped of all titles whether it be the Black-Blooded Reaper or the duke’s Right Hand Man, Adam just looked like a flustered young boy.

Going to the battlefield from a young age would have meant that he did not get to enjoy all the things children should have enjoyed when they were young.

“Please take good care of me.”

While thinking that she should ask Elma to make more chocolates for her before she headed to the duke’s estate, Raeliana smiled at the boy.

Blinking his eyes, Adam closed his hand holding the pouch.