Chapter 30
"What’s the point in winning if you cheat?"
"That way, I don’t lose. Actually, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t cheat."
"You just admitted—"
"Race you to the gardens!"
He beat her in the end, which left her in a foul mood. She stormed off while he was panting by one of the benches, the girl having hardly caught her own breath.
"Where are you going?"
"To huck potatoes at the field hands. Don’t even think about following me."
"I’m not."
Off to the side of the property lay a huge patch of land dedicated to the cultivation of vegetables and fruit, along with another area for livestock. Most of the property was enclosed by a thick wall of stone that stood at the height of four men, with only the forested areas on the far fringes of the western fields lacking any such fortifications. Only from atop the ramparts of these walls, along with the manor house’s third floor, could one see the much larger barrier of stone that surrounded all of Mayhaven, as well as a full view of the city. The farmlands beyond were visible in the distance, standing proudly against the barely-discernable treeline of the forests that surrounded the county.
On the afternoon that he’d left Anice to her business of hucking potatoes, he had immediately gone off to visit the art hall after the two of them had put an end to their one-sided games. Surprisingly, she had intercepted him within minutes of storming off, having apparently changed her mind. He went to bed that night a grateful boy, relishing in the silence of his solitary chambers where he was finally free of his cousin’s incessant badgering.
Altogether there were over sixty rooms within the manor house, and Anice practically dragged him from one to the next whenever he made the mistake of tagging along on her tours. Every time she showed him a new part of the manor, she would ask for his opinion on it, though in a smug sort of way that slowly began to annoy him.