Chapter 255: Hard To Get Used To
Even if there were no intentions behind it, laying their eyes on a beautiful girl after seeing so much ugliness on the battlefield for two years felt like a breath of fresh air.
However, realizing that the person they were staring at was one of their own, whom they fought alongside every day for years before, caused conflicting responses. Most decided not to say anything at all. They were unsure of how to approach someone they thought they knew, but turned out they didn’t at all.
Even though the standard of beauty was a woman in a beautiful gown, Irene shone without all that. Her face was fresh, and her eyes were bright green. Her hair had grown out and fell in wonderful waves around her shoulders. Even though she had been on horseback, it gave her a bit of volume that seemed wonderfully unkempt.
Luckily, Sir Gunnar whipped them all back into shape, and they realized it wouldn’t help to be silent while one of their own reentered the knighthood after being injured and taken away for months at a time.
"Sit down and have something to eat," Sir Sven directed first. "Take a load off. Commander Lothian left us barrels of golden ale to enjoy while we get things back together."
Irene was immediately relieved to hear someone acknowledge her first.
As she looked towards the kitchen, she was surprised to smell that something was being cooked. After remembering how the kitchen looked when they found Agnes, she never thought it would be functioning ever again.
"Ah, right," Sir Gunnar realized. "We have three maids. Cooking will be slow for now, but they are doing their best. After all, we’re lacking in knights as it is. There aren’t many mouths to feed."
As if on cue, Ingrid walked out of the kitchen with two steaming bowls of stew in her hands, and she handed them to the just-arrived travelers with a small smile on her face.