Chapter 192: Side story 4

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*First Pov.

“… ?”

 I don’t know what kind of disagreement had caused the Knight Commander’s sword to be cut in half, but… 

“Tell me if you don’t have enough money.” 

Abigail smiled softly.

 “It’s all right, Miss. I don’t need such a good thing.”

 “Uh…” 

It took quite a while to get out of the vast garden of the castle. The carriage wheels headed to the city of the central territory ran diligently. Looking out the window at the changing landscape, I imagined what the weapons store would look like. I was not a knight, I had little connection with the weapon shop. I once came along with Abigail to a shop in the capital.

‘It’s huge here, too.’

As a territory with the best knights on the continent, the size of the weapon store was enormous. I stepped on the footstool 

and get off the carriage. When I entered the shop, I could smell metal and wood. There were a lot of people. As I looked up, precious-looking swords were hanging on the wall like exhibits. 

Relatively cheap swords were placed carelessly in several wooden barrels like umbrella stands. Each of them was tied with a price label. In addition, there were many rare things that made my eyes turn. Armor, weapons, shoes with iron, wooden baskets full of keystrokes, etc. There was one of them that caught my eye. 

“What are these ropes for?”

The shopkeeper, who had already come out and followed me, rubbed his hands.

“Yes. Ropes to tie small animals, Grand Duchess.”

“Small animals? So the surface is smooth.”

“Yes. It was wrapped in a fluffy cloth.”

I lifted the rope. The rope, which was not rough, was very thin.

“Will it break?”

“There are a lot of small animals that are strong… They look thin, but they are very tough. This is the toughest rope we have.”

“Tough?”

“Tough.”

“Really?”

“Really… ho, maybe I did something wrong?”

The shopkeeper asked, shaking his shoulders a little. I shook my head and grabbed the rope.

“I’m buying this as well.”

“Yes, Grand Duchess.”

Berg was the land of the Grand Duke, and there were a lot of nobles who were vassals. There were cases where such aristocrats were suddenly addicted to these things, so the shopkeeper immediately wrapped the rope without asking anything.

‘Maybe he’s just scared of me.’

I walked with a rope wrapped in a paper bag in my hand.

“Bibi. Did you buy the sword?”

“Yes, I bought it.”

“Is it this?”

I tilted my head. It was because it was one of the swords that were lying carelessly in the umbrella stand I saw earlier.

The cheap price label was still there, so I immediately recognized it.

“Is that really okay? Alliot is a knight commander.”

“Since it was a legitimate conflict of opinion, this is overdone. Because the Lady…”

“Me…?”

“It has been twelve hours since the Lady disappeared and was not found. The Lady and your husband.”

“Ah….”

“Then I grabbed Sir Alliot by the neck.”

“…Huh?”

“But they didn’t let me go look for the Lady, so I threw my gloves.”

“….”

“Sir Alliot is the commander of the Berg Knights, who was acting as a temporary commander-in-chief, right? I knew I wouldn’t be able to beat him in a sword fight, so I just broke his sword.”

‘Where is that minor disagreement…?’

Seeing that talking wasn’t doing any good, Abigail was avoiding the eyes of others and threw her gloves.

“Still, you care about Alliot.”

Abigail blinked at my words.

“Actually, I don’t need to buy him a sword. It was a duel.”

It was cold, but it wasn’t wrong. The world of knights was cold. Besides, considering Abigail’s personality, buying and returning a sword like this was a very nice gesture.

“Still, since he’s the commander of the Berg Knights, you should let him keep his reputation, right?”

Abigail smiled.

“The Lady is the only one who knows me best.”

I returned the smile and left the weapon shop with Abigail. Here, in one of Berg’s largest towns, the clock tower district also had lavish jewelry stores, classical antique shops and large bookstores that would enthrall the aristocrats. After looking around for a while, we headed to a dessert shop in a good mood.

“Bibi. Is there anything you want to eat?”

“Anything. I want to eat what the Lady wants to eat.”

“Yeah? Then, um…”

Actually, I didn’t know much about Abigail’s eating habits. Because she wasn’t picky about food at all. So I traced the menu from the first line to the last line.

 “One of these and some tea. Give me some ice too.”

“I’ll get it ready soon.”

I sat by the window on the second floor with a good view and enjoyed the afternoon breeze. What will Alliot look like when he receives that sword with the cheap price label on it? My inclination was to stand by and watch, but it was clear that if I did, both of them would not like it, so I held back.

“You waited a long time.”

The table, which could seat six people, quickly filled up with plates and teacups.

A pie and plenty of whipped cream on top of colored cookies with a rich buttery flavor, or fillings with lime peels finely ground.

Various tarts and several crepes topped with jam. The almonds, each topped with caramel and chocolate, were a bit sweet to my taste, but still delicious.

‘It seems to fit Bibi’s taste very well.’

Haha, Abigail was never picky about food. She ate everything well, a lot and cleanly. Our Abigail, full of rewarding food…. After drinking a cup of bittersweet black tea with ice, we returned to the castle.

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*Third pov*

“It’s a pity that the vacation is short.” (Lesche)

Linon tilted his head as Lesche said, resting his cheek on the back of his hand.

‘Does he really think it’s a vacation?’ (Linon)

The aides all knew that in the past few days, Lesche just finished his every other morning meeting and went down to the second floor in a hurry. And then he wouldn’t come out of the bedroom until dawn the next day. (*Lesche rushed and finished all his work in the morning then went to the bedroom to have fun with Seria until dawn the next day for a few days.)

They knew very well that the second floor became a temporary off-limits area. 

Originally, Lesche commanded the Knights Templar in the training hall every morning at dawn. However, because of the previous battle against the demons, now the Knights of Berg were also on a temporary leave.

Thanks to that, Lesche checked the documents at that time. So….

‘It’s not a vacation.’

Anyway, he was still working on other things. Linon thought so.

“Your Highness.”

Linon wanted to recommend it.

“Why don’t you… take a vacation?”

He (Linon) later wanted to score some points by telling Seria that he had fervently convinced the Grand Duke to take a vacation. Besides, human psychology goes even more crazy if you offer something sweet. Rather, if Lesche took a real vacation and enjoyed it fully, and in the long run, he would become less obsessed with his wife as he is now….

In fact, Linon was worried that Seria wouldn’t be unable to walk.

“Since you’re married, you can rest a little longer…” (Linon)

Lesche, who was reading the documents, raised his gaze.

“Why don’t you marry?” (Lesche)

“Yes?”

“Don’t you have a partner?” (Lesche)

Linon couldn’t answer right away and hesitated. Lesche raised her eyebrows slightly.

Just as he once told Ben and Susan, who encouraged him to get married, to get married themselves. And in the past, every time Linon talked about marriage, Lesche would tell him to get married too.

Like now.

But at the time, Linon listened appropriately, but now things were a little different than usual. The unplaced glances were new, but…

Lesche looked down at the papers indifferently.

“Get married. I’ll give you a luxurious wedding..”

“Yes… Thank you, Your Highness.”

After that, Lesche finished his work in silence. Since Seria went out today, he worked until late evening. 

But by that time, the bedroom was still empty.

“Your Highness.”

Ben approached and bowed his head gently.

“The Grand Duchess is coming late because she has some work to do in the study.”

“As soon as the bandages are removed, she moves immediately.”

Lesche clicked his tongue low. In fact he didn’t like that Seria went out to the city today. What if she suddenly gets sick while moving?

Of course, Seria was the kind of person who just walked around when her ankle was injured.

He wondered if he could be wrong. As Lesche was about to go straight up to the study, Ben stopped him with a troubled face.

“She said to tell Your Highness not to come.”

“Huh?”

Lesche frowned slightly. Ben hurriedly added.

“It wasn’t that the Grand Duchess was in a bad mood. No, on the contrary, she looked very happy.”

“Happy?”

“Yes. In my eyes, she was…”

At that moment, Lesche’s expression softened a little. He remembered he was not allowed to enter the study from Seria last time, and she gave him a secret gift that she even embroidered on herself.

Since she was happy, it must be the same this time. What other gift was she planning to give him?

Lesche cast his gaze at the empty bedroom. He had been working all day, and he didn’t really want to be alone in the bedroom without Seria.

“Prepare the bath.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

In fact, Lesche always took a bath before entering the bedroom for nearly two weeks. Today was different. It was because he wanted to take a bath with Seria. It was to tease her for staying in the study. It would be fun to see her face turn red from surprise.

Perhaps Seria knew about his prank, so she stayed in the study.

Lesche took a long bath and waited, and when he came out, there was still no Seria. 

So he just stood at the door waiting, thinking that he should get some papers from the office to look over to pass the time.

But then the doorknob turned.

“Huh?”

Seria blinked her eyes when she saw Lesche right in front of the door.

“Lesche? Where are you going?”

“I want to wait in front of your study.”

“What?”

Seria burst out laughing. Lesche fully understood why Ben said that Seria had a happy expression on her face.

Seria looked noticeably happy. He loved seeing those blue eyes looking at him as if it would suffocate him.

Back in the bedroom. With such a sparkling smile on her lips, Seria walked closer to Lesche. Without warning, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his lips.

Lesche didn’t have time to panic, or act. It was because Seria, who quickly kissed his lips to the point of being wild, spoke in a whisper.

“Close your eyes for a second.”

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