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Chapter 06
After Dad and Sherry left the Pebble House,
Anne and I ended up in a subtle standoff.
“Sherry said there are rabbits on the walking trail near the west gate. Want to go see them?”
I wanted to go to the west gate, where the Red Eagle Knights’ training grounds were.
“The west gate? That’s too far, Miss. Instead, could you tell me more stories about when you lived in Bonwell Village?”
Anne wanted to dig for information about how Dad lived while we were alone together in the room.
Back in Bonwell Village, I was a champion crayfish catcher. The secret was finding where the crayfish were and choosing delicious bait.
You just imagine what kind of bait would look tastiest to a crayfish and wave it in front of them!
“Well, if that’s the case, then it can’t be helped.”
I flopped onto the bed and spoke to Anne, who was organizing clothes.
“Oh right, the other day Dad and I saw a wanted poster at the fruit shop—”
“You mean Young Master Leitan’s wanted poster?”
And the tastiest bait for Anne was Dad’s mysterious past that nobody knew about.
Anne completely stopped what she was doing and came closer to the bed.
“You saw the wanted poster with the bounty at the fruit shop? Then what happened?”
“Because of that, we couldn’t even buy strawberries… Yaaawn. I’m sleepy.”
“Miss, if you sleep more today, you won’t be able to sleep tonight.”
“Then there’s nothing to do…”
“Would you like to go see the rabbits?”
“But it’s far…?”
“If we walk while talking, it won’t feel that bad. It’ll take some time, though.”
“Reaally? Should we ask the other maids to come too—”
“They’re all busy, so they probably can’t.”
Tempted by my bait, Anne conveniently pushed away the other maids herself. She probably thought talking would be easier if it was just the two of us.
Which was exactly what I wanted too.
‘Kekeke.’
Fishing success.
After leaving the Pebble House with Anne and walking for a while,
‘This is it!’
Even though I had never seen it before, I recognized it instantly. I suddenly stopped walking while holding Anne’s hand.
“Miss? The walking trail is farther ahead.”
“Anne unnie…”
Then I looked up at her with teary, pitiful eyes.
“My legs hurt. I can’t walk anymore…”
To Anne, it was like a bolt from the blue.
Yesterday and today, Dad had carried me around so often, and Anne had seen all of it while working at the Pebble House.
Judging by the confused look in her eyes, she was probably thinking, ‘Do I have to carry her too?’
But unlike Dad, who could easily lift me with one arm, Anne was just an ordinary seventeen-year-old girl.
Carrying a seven-year-old for over a kilometer was impossible for her.
“W-What should we do? I don’t see anyone nearby we can ask for help…”
In the first place, there were no residences for the direct family members near the western wall, so people rarely came here.
If she wanted help, the only option was the knights’ training grounds.
‘Be brave, Anne!’
Still, it probably felt scary for a maid who had only worked here for five months to enter a place crawling with knights all by herself.
The giant red eagle banner hanging on the building fluttered intimidatingly in the wind.
Carry me herself, or enter the training grounds.
Anne hesitated between the two choices before finally asking me,
“…You really can’t walk at all?”
I nodded and looked up at her with the expression Grandma Marshall once talked about.
“Don’t make that face. Even if you look like a drenched chick, you still have to take your medicine.”
What kind of expression did a drenched chick make, anyway?
Whatever it was, Anne groaned in indecision before finally making up her mind and stepping through the doors of the training grounds.
Then she sat me down on a bench in the courtyard and carefully warned me.
“Please stay here for a moment. I’ll go bring a knight I know. Understand? Don’t leave the building.”
“Okay! I won’t leave the building!”
Seeing my cheerful answer, Anne left me alone without any suspicion and entered the main building.
‘Just as planned!’
The moment Anne disappeared from sight, I started wandering around the training grounds. Since Crown Prince Theon had entered the Trabal family around the same time as me, there was a high chance he was here.
What I wanted was a meeting disguised as coincidence.
I didn’t know when Uncle would throw Theon out, so I needed to meet him as quickly and as often as possible. Becoming friends took time, after all.
‘Today, just introducing ourselves is enough! Then I can go back to the Pebble House before Dad returns. There’s plenty of time!’
Poke. Poke.
‘I can’t seeee—.’
First-floor hallway of the annex.
I kept jumping to try and look through the window.
The windows were built for adults, so even standing on tiptoe only let me barely see the window frame.
‘I can hear Uncle Rex’s voice, so I really want to see inside.’
This time, I should jump harder.
‘One more time!’
I bent my knees deeply and jumped with all my strength.
“Upper stab!”
Right then, Uncle Rex shouted the name of the next move. Maybe because the loud voice startled me, I jumped higher than before—
“Eek.”
I accidentally made eye contact with one of the knight uncles standing near the window.
“Upper stab…!?”
Aaaah. I got caught.
The knight’s voice cracked as he shouted the move, and the moment I landed, my heart started pounding like a thief caught red-handed.
“…Gi…?”
After a brief silence, Uncle Rex’s angry voice echoed from the training hall.
“Who was the idiot that shouted nonsense like ‘gi’ during sacred training time?!”
“C-Commander, I have something to report.”
We only made eye contact for a second, but the knight uncle was already planning to snitch on me without a shred of loyalty.
“What do you mean report?! Aishal! That’s your problem, your attitude! You must not have been focusing at all during training! Back in my day—!”
His yelling kept getting louder.
If Uncle Rex spotted me, I would definitely be sent back to the Pebble House. I had no reason to stay here.
‘I can’t get caught before even meeting Theon…!’
Panicking, I desperately spun my thoughts around.
Because of that, I failed to notice someone passing by me and entering the training hall.
“I brought what you asked for.”
“Ah, later, Theon. The commander’s angry right now.”
‘What!?’
Among the quiet conversation, one name immediately caught my attention. I quickly turned around, but the back door of the training hall had already closed.
‘I need to get inside the training hall…!’
If I wanted to at least introduce myself to Theon, I needed an excuse to enter. The back door? The front door?
“Back in my day, we never even thought about losing focus during training! Young Master Leitan—”
“Dad?”
Then, using Dad’s name that came out of Uncle Rex’s mouth as an excuse, I ran to the nearest door, stood on tiptoe, and pulled the handle.
It was the front door.
“……”
At a glance, more than thirty knight uncles turned to stare at me.
All with expressions asking, ‘Who’s that kid?’
When things get awkward, smiling is the best solution.
So I grinned brightly and asked innocently,
“Is my dad here?”
“Young Master Leitan’s daughter?”
“They don’t look alike at all… Are you sure she’s really his daughter?”
“That’s the miracle of life. Not a single trace of her father’s scary face. Just pure cuteness.”
“No wonder he retired for childcare. If I had a daughter like that, who cares about a holy sword?”
“It does matter. It’s a holy sword.”
I could hear all the whispering.
I was sitting on a huge chair that the knight uncles had brought from somewhere. My back didn’t even reach the backrest, so it felt more like I was perched on it.
A fluffy red cushion stuffed full of cotton, with flashy gold carvings on the legs and armrests.
Completely Uncle’s taste.
‘Ugh. Did he sit here giving orders to the knights or something?’
Uncle had dreamed of becoming the head of the family by mastering swordsmanship, but sadly he gave up that dream in childhood. He lacked talent, and beside him stood a genius who excelled at everything.
My dad.
‘Uncle likes flashy attention. Even though his skills don’t match his ambition.’
Maybe because of that, whenever he felt inferior to the other direct family members, he came to the training grounds to relieve stress. Watching the knight uncles obey him gave him pleasure. Such a petty hobby.
Having to receive training orders from someone who couldn’t even use a sword properly.
‘Victims of workplace harassment right in front of me…’
I looked sympathetically at Uncle Rex, who was nervously fidgeting in front of me.
Vice Commander of the Red Eagle Knights.
Rex often appeared in my other memories.
Seeing him in person, he really was built like a giant bear. Apparently he was afraid of small living creatures because he thought they looked too fragile and easy to break.
“U-Um, Miss Berry? As far as I know, Young Master Leitan is currently out…”
“Yes! He said he’ll be back before dinner!”
“I see. We’ve already sent someone to the young master’s annex, so someone should arrive soon. …But did you come here alone?”
“Yes! Can I wait here?”
“Well, training is currently in progress, so…”
“Commander, since Miss Berry is here, should we call it a day?”
One of the knight uncles immediately tried to seize the opportunity, but there was no way that would work on Uncle Rex.
When Rex turned around, his eyes gleamed like a wild bear’s.
“With that lazy attitude toward training, do you think you can defeat enemies?”
“N-No, sir. That was just a joke…”
“Right now, five hundred push-ups, five hundred overhead slashes, and fifty laps around the training hall. Begin.”
“…Begin.”
Then he turned back toward me, still looking anxious.
“In that case, would you like to wait in the commander’s office? There are delicious snacks and cute dolls there…”
“Okay!”
The moment I nodded, Uncle Rex’s face brightened as though he had finally found a solution.
“I’ll assign a knight to guide and guard you. Aishal, escort Miss Berry—”
Ah, no! Then there would’ve been no point entering the training hall!
I quickly pointed somewhere and asked Uncle Rex,
“Can I ask my friend to come with me?”
“A friend?”
The knights’ gazes all followed the direction I pointed.
