Chapter 62 : Chapter 62
It was a clear day.
As if to match the weather, Rasseu Castle was bustling with activity for the first time in a long while. The staff moved with purpose, preparing for a banquet to be held in a few days.
Amidst the commotion, Sevha stood before an open window in a castle corridor, watching the garden below… or more precisely, a man and a woman within it.
Is it mating season?
The pair Sevha was watching, or perhaps surveilling, was Eshu and Hwin.
“Commander, I heard you were recently involved with a maiden from the Tusk Tribe.”
“What? Th-that’s a baseless rumor! It was a man!”
“You were involved with a man?”
“N-no, that’s not it! I swear it, Lady Hwin! I’ve never been involved with anyone!”
As Eshu shouted loudly enough for the whole castle to hear, those nearby chuckled.
Whatever Hwin made of his outburst, she covered her mouth with a handkerchief and blushed.
“Eh? Lady Hwin! N-no! That’s not what I meant... though, I suppose it is what I meant...”
As Eshu flustered, Hwin laughed softly. “Well, if there is no lady who would be jealous of me, then you wouldn’t mind taking a short walk, would you?”
“A walk? Of course! I’d love to!”
Listening to their conversation through the window, Sevha smiled faintly. Then, unbidden, a thought of Marina and another woman crossed his mind.
His expression began to harden, but someone suddenly swept him up in an embrace.
“What are you doing?”
“Grandfather...”
Marden had been lucid for long stretches recently. Sevha didn’t know if his grandfather’s illness could improve so suddenly, and he had no desire to find out, unwilling to risk replacing good news with the prospect of bad.
I’m glad Grandfather is well. That aside...
There was just one thing about Marden that irked him.
He still treated Sevha like a small child.
“Put me down, Grandfather.”
“No!”
“Grandfather!”
Marden finally set him down after bouncing him in his arms a few times. He glanced out the window at Eshu and Hwin.
“So you were watching the show.”
“You find that amusing?”
“Don’t you know Eshu? Seeing that stuffy boy act like that... of course it’s amusing.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Marden threw an arm around Sevha’s shoulders.
“How about it? Care to have some fun with your grandfather?”
“Have fun?”
Marden pointed to Eshu and Hwin and grinned.
“I don’t particularly care for pranks.”
“Sevha. Be a good grandson.”
Sevha sighed and nodded.
Eshu and Hwin were strolling together through the castle town.
“Does Teresse work you that hard?”
“Lady Teresse works harder than I do.”
“Then why do you address her with an honorific? Lady Hwin is a noble, but Teresse is a commoner, is she not?”
“You’ll understand when you meet her. Lady Teresse’s etiquette is more formal than my own...”
Sevha and Marden followed at a distance. Sevha’s stealth was exceptional, but every commoner they passed still offered a greeting. This was because next to Sevha was the immense, unmissable figure of Marden.
“Grandfather... try to be a little less conspicuous.”
“What can I do? I was born this way.”
Words he had heard somewhere before.
Sevha paused, touching his face as if to hide his expression.
Just as Marden noticed the gesture, Eshu and Hwin entered an inn.
“Look, Sevha! An inn! They went straight into an inn!”
“So? They’re probably just getting something to eat.”
“...Never mind. You’re just like Eshu.”
Sevha and Marden crouched outside the inn window and peered inside. For a short while, they watched Eshu and Hwin sit down, order food, and wait.
Thump!
Suddenly, the window was thrown open from the inside. It was Mary.
“Agh! W-what are you two doing?”
Sevha and Marden glanced at each other and shushed her.
Mary’s eyes flickered to Eshu and Hwin eating inside. Then, with a sigh that made it clear she thought they had too much time on their hands, she left.
“Isn’t it delicious, Lady Hwin? I once ate at a fancy place in the capital, and this is even better.”
“It seems you know many people who would dine at such places.”
“Of course! Let me tell you about all the incredible people I know...!”
Listening to their conversation, Marden let out a deep sigh. “Sevha, don’t you ever be like that.”
“Like what?”
Marden gave Sevha a look that clearly said, Do you really not understand? and sighed again.
A moment later, Eshu and Hwin rose from their seats.
The next place they headed was the temple.
“A temple? On a date with a young lady? That Eshu... Honestly. Sevha, if you were on an outing with a lady, where would you go?”
“The forest.”
“Is the Blanc line to end with your generation...?”
“Huh? What are you talking about?”
In any case, Sevha and Marden prepared to follow them into the temple, but just then, Piétang emerged.
“So you two have come. Are you here to offer comfort to Lady Hwin?”
“Comfort?”
“Yes. Lady Hwin and Commander Eshu are currently praying for the late Viscount and the people of the Garde Territory.”
Mourning.
The grandfather and grandson, whose mood was entirely unsuited for the word, exchanged a look and stepped back from the entrance.
“Let’s wait outside.”
“That would be best.”
Piétang, perplexed by their behavior, went on his way.
Then, through the open door, they caught a glimpse of Fernoka passing by.
“That man...”
“Grandfather?”
“...It’s nothing. My old mind is playing tricks on me.”
“Tricks?”
“I saw something that shouldn’t be walking around in broad daylight, so it must have been a trick.”
After waiting for a time, Eshu and Hwin emerged and walked off.
As Sevha and Marden followed, they came upon members of the Broken Tusk Tribe constructing houses. Tataka and Vega, who were among them, immediately began to whistle and tease Eshu and Hwin.
Marden was watching the scene when Sevha asked him a serious question.
“Will you let the Tusks settle in Blanc?”
“Yes. Are you opposed?”
“It will be difficult for them to integrate.”
“Difficult is not the same as impossible.”
Marden glanced at Sevha, a hint of surprise in his eyes. “You are strangely different from the Anse I knew. You’re more... open.”
“The Anse you knew... my father?”
“Yes. That man was the Anse Tribe personified. Knew nothing but tradition. That’s why I disliked him, but Carna took a liking to him the moment she saw him.”
“From what I’ve heard of my mother’s personality, it seems she would have disliked his.”
“Carna’s hobby was breaking stubborn horses. Her married life must have been quite the exhilarating ride.”
Just as the question, Was that really a good marriage? crossed Sevha’s mind, Eshu and Hwin parted from Tataka and Vega and headed out the outer castle gate.
The two arrived at the lake beside Rasseu Castle. They stood at the shore, watching the sunset-stained sky and the crimson surface of the water.
Marden, seemingly unsatisfied with the romantic scene, clicked his tongue.
“He should have at least rented one of those boats.”
“A boat... can you actually ride on those things?”
Marden’s eyes went wide and he stared at Sevha. “You’ve never been in one?”
“How can you float on the water on a few planks that look so unsteady?”
“...Grandson. Never go to the southern kingdom. You’ll die the moment you arrive. No, you’ll die on the way there.”
Just after Marden gave his earnest advice, Eshu broke the silence.
“I apologize.”
“I don’t know what you’re apologizing for.”
“I charged in boldly, but I couldn’t protect your father, Lady Hwin. Nor could I protect your heart from this sorrow.”
Hwin’s expression darkened at the mention of her lost family. But she soon smiled, as if to tell him he had no need to feel guilty.
“Yes, my heart aches. But you are the one who protected me, and that is why I am here to feel this pain at all.”
Finishing her words, Hwin looked directly at Eshu. As if drawn by her gaze, he looked back.
“Eshu, do you know?”
“I’m not sure what you’re asking.”
Hwin took a breath, then summoned her courage and spoke.
“The laws of Blanc only recognize the succession of a married woman. I... am unmarried.”
At Hwin’s noble confession, Marden, and even Sevha, clenched their fists in excitement.
Eshu paused, then smiled with determination.
“You needn’t worry! I will speak to the members of House Blanc and have the law changed! In light of your father’s loyalty, I’m sure they will agree!”
Sevha and Marden simultaneously screamed That idiot! in their minds and started punching empty air.
Hwin sighed deeply, then burst out laughing.
“Why are you laughing?”
“I suppose it’s because you are the man you are that you charged in to save me without a second thought.”
“Pardon?”
“Today, I was not myself. From tomorrow on, I shall wait as a proper noble lady should.”
“Pardon me?”
Hwin chuckled. Then she moved even closer to Eshu and gazed out at the sunset-dyed lake. Though he didn’t understand what had just happened, Eshu looked only at Hwin, as if simply being with her was enough.
Sevha and Marden watched the scene unfold.
“My knight is a fool,” Sevha muttered.
“Well, there’s a lady who understands that foolish knight, so it will all turn out fine,” Marden replied. “Let’s go back, Sevha.”
Sevha and Marden returned to the inner castle. Upon entering, they saw Baren and Legra training in the courtyard under the setting sun. Duce was watching them while the Knight of Ornament explained their movements.
Marden took in the scene and remarked casually, “I’ve seen many things today that I didn’t before you were here.”
“These are not familiar sights to me, either.”
Sevha watched Legra spar with Baren. Legra was struggling, incorporating not only the techniques of the Anse Tribe but also those of Tataka and Eshu.
“Yes,” Sevha murmured. “These are all things I never saw in Anse.”
“Do you miss Anse?”
“No.”
He meant it. He did not miss Anse, his homeland. On the day of the tournament, he had learned that they were all still beneath the same sky.
“Then... do you miss the people who were in Anse?”
Sevha was about to lie, as he always did. To conceal himself, like a hunter. He was about to say he didn’t miss them.
But he couldn’t.
He had thought of them when he fought Tataka. He had thought of them when he fled with Eshu. He had thought of them when he dueled Duce. Ever since leaving Anse, he had always been thinking of the people he could no longer see.
To deny it would require as many lies as he had memories. So, for once, he told the simple truth.
“I miss them.”
Marden heard his words and looked at Sevha’s face. He was smiling.
Then Marden said, “As I told you, I disliked your father.”
“What?”
“Follow me.”
Marden led Sevha to a room in the castle. A bed, a vanity, a wardrobe, a decorative sword. It was a woman’s room, but it held the distinct air of a knight’s quarters.
“This is...?”
“Carna’s. Your mother’s room. Your grandmother missed her so much she left it untouched, even after Carna left for Anse.”
As he spoke, Marden grabbed Sevha and pushed him onto the bed. Then he shoved Sevha’s face into a pillow.
“What are you—!”
The moment Sevha began to struggle, he caught a scent.
The fragrance of some nameless flower.
Upon smelling it, he felt an inexplicable sense of peace wash over him.
When Sevha stopped struggling, Marden released his head and smiled faintly.
“Your mother was fond of that scent.”
As Sevha lifted his head slightly, peeking at him with one eye, Marden sat on the bed and began to speak.
“She was a hellion, even as a child. She once swung a real sword at her older brother for teasing her. I was so surprised...”
He told stories of his daughter, of Sevha’s mother.
“The wedding was a spectacle. The moment the vows were done, she punched your father in the face. As he lay on the floor, she said, ‘You’re quick on your feet. I hope our child takes after both of us in moderation.’”
Stories Sevha had never heard, that only Marden knew.
“When she came here with Edgar, her belly swollen with child, her body all but broken... I was furious. I asked her why she would do something so insane. And Carna, she just gave that same insolent smile from her girlhood and said...”
“I came to let you know that your proud daughter, the Knight of the Shield, has fulfilled her duty.”
“Do you understand, Sevha? You are of Anse blood... but you are also of Carna’s blood. Of Blanc’s.”
When the story was over, Sevha sat up next to Marden.
“Why are you telling me this now? And what is the duty of the Knight of the Shield?”
Marden hesitated, his smile tinged with sadness. But his expression quickly hardened as he replied.
“I will teach you. I will teach you everything.”
He stated this firmly and rose to his feet.
“I’ll be going. I have a letter to write before my mind wanders off again.”
Marden left the room without waiting for a farewell.
Sevha thought that something was strange about his grandfather.
Then he recalled another strange thing.
Teresse.
He had seen many people today, but Teresse…
It was a mystery as to where she was and what she was up to.