The Reason Why the Forsaken Fake Returned Chapter 127

“Stop right there! I’m the one who’s going to carry that!”

 

“I’m carrying it! And like I’m going to stop just because you said so!”

 

Children being trained as servants came tearing along with trays in their hands, not even looking where they were going. They barreled straight toward Rose. As they were about to slam into her, Caleb moved a step faster, wrapping his arms around her against the wall and sparing her from the collision.

 

“Eek…!”

 

While Rose froze, stiff with shock, Caleb turned and warned the careless boys. “Careful.” His voice was short but cold.

 

The boys, left gaping, lowered their heads deeply.

 

“I-I’m sorry!”

 

Instead of answering, Caleb flicked his hand as if to tell them to go. The boys bowed again and hurried off at a quick trot.

 

“T-Thank you…”

 

“Don’t mention it.”

 

Rose’s face had gone as red as a beet. Unable to meet his eyes, she dropped her head.

 

Caleb watched her intently before curling his lips into a smile. “Anyway, let’s get back to what we were talking about just now.”

 

* * *

With her robe pulled deep over her face, Shailoh looked around nervously. “Is it really okay to do this?” Even though she was the one who had pleaded with Rose first, she felt an uncomfortable tightness in her chest. It was as if she was doing something wrong.

 

Noticing how she felt, Rose gave a small smile to reassure her master. “Don’t worry. We have a guard with us, and I know the back roads.”

 

“A guard?”

 

Tilted her head in confusion at the unexpected words, Shailoh scanned her surroundings when a figure suddenly emerged from the darkness. Rose quickly held Shailoh back as she gasped and tried to step backward.

 

“His name is Kay.”

 

“Kay…?”

 

“Yes. It makes sense that you’ve never seen him before, Milady. He only does night patrols.”

 

Keeping her voice calm, Rose repeated the story he had told her in advance. He’d said that if her lady found out he was Baron Gardin’s bodyguard, she’d probably get even more anxious. But Rose trusted Kay. He might be from outside these parts, but he was kind. More than anything, he’d become friends with her, a mere maid. It had never once crossed her mind that someone like him would do anything bad. Even so, Shailoh didn’t easily lower her guard.

 

“You, w-why can’t I see your face?”

 

“Ah… that…” Rose gave an awkward little smile and answered for him.

 

“He suffered burns when he was young, so he can’t speak and wears bandages over his face. He’s wearing a mask right now so he wouldn’t look unsightly to you, Milady.”

 

“Ah…” Relieved a bit by the calm explanation, Shailoh finally relaxed her tense shoulders. “I see. I’m sorry. I’ve been a bit sensitive lately.” When she apologized carefully, the man shook his head.

 

Rose, after checking their surroundings, cut in. “Then let’s head out right away. I know a back way.”

 

Following Rose’s lead, the three passed through a disused back gate and climbed over a few walls before finally emerging outside the fortress walls. Once they passed beyond the outer walls, Kay brought over a horse that had been tied up by the gate, helped the two women up onto the saddle, and took the reins himself.

 

As her eyes adjusted to the darkness and she scanned their surroundings, the faint outline of a house came into view. Rose pointed toward it. “The shepherd lives in that hut over there.”

 

When they reached the hut, the two women dismounted. At Rose’s knock, the shepherd they had met the other day opened the door to receive his guests.

 

“Pardon the intrusion.”

 

“Come in, come in. I got your message earlier today and have been waiting.”

 

“I’m sorry to trouble you so late at night for no good reason.”

 

“Not at all. It was getting lonely since no one came by at this hour anyway.”

 

Chuckling, the shepherd led the three of them to a couch he had prepared in advance. Shailoh sat down first, and Rose took the spot beside her. But Kay, who they had assumed would sit next, remained standing.

 

“Kay?” Rose patted the empty space next to her, inviting him to sit. But he shook his head and stepped back a few paces. “Why don’t you sit with us?” she said, disappointed, watching him stand there like a guard posted at the door.

 

Shailoh gently reminded her. “He’s a guard, so it seems he wants to do his duty.”

 

Since there was no danger here anyway, acting like that seemed a bit excessive. However, it was indeed for two women alone to slip outside the outer walls at night, so seeing him act that way brought peace of mind.

 

Just as Shailoh felt a strange sense of deja vu when she saw him tap the floor twice with the tip of his foot, the shepherd offered a cup of warm tea.

 

“It’s not much, but it should warm you up.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

“Don’t mention it.”

 

Smiling warmly at the gratitude, the shepherd added more logs to the cast-iron stove to heat the tea and warm up the place. After poking at the blazing embers a few times with a poker kept to the side, he got down to business. “You must have had a reason for coming to see me.”

 

Shailoh nodded at once. “Yes. Rose told me you’ve wandered all over the place.”

 

“That’s right. I’ve been traveling here and there ever since I was a boy.”

 

“Do you only travel around the North?”

 

“I am a northerner born in this land. I mostly stay in the north, but I’ve occasionally crossed over to those southern mountain ranges as well.”

 

“You mean Kestria Mountains?” Shailoh’s eyes widened in surprise. “Those mountains are so high and rugged that no one travels back and forth except a few merchants. Is there really a place to graze sheep over there?”

 

“There certainly is. Though it’s a location passed down only among northern shepherds.” Grinning, the shepherd began to talk about the mountain range as if recounting a tale of adventure. He skipped over the details as if guarding a secret, but the gist was that if you took a hidden path through the range, you would come out into a place of untouched natural beauty, a stretch of flatland that was nothing short of paradise for sheep.

 

“If a place like that really exists, I’d love to see it someday…” Eyes closed, Shailoh murmured the words without realizing it as she pictured it in her mind. She had thought she’d broken free, but in one sense she was still confined. When she considered that her situation was no different from an outing with a fixed time limit, she found herself all the more desperately wishing she were a shepherd instead.

 

“The view when you get there is truly second to none, but the way up is so treacherous that I can’t in good conscience recommend it to a young lady. It’s a path we don’t even tell anyone about unless they’re shepherds who’ve been at it for years.”

 

“I see…”

 

Behind his gentle smile, Shailoh could clearly see the shepherd’s freedom and pride. She found it both strange and impressive. Here in the North, no one would point fingers at him or look down on him. But cross into another region, there would be plenty of people who would laugh and sneer at his profession. Yet he himself showed not the slightest hint of shame or hesitation as he spoke with pride as a shepherd.

 

“We roam every corner of this kingdom. If the border issue gets resolved, I even plan to cross the mountain range to graze the sheep in other nations.”

 

“That would be wonderful. Sheep get stronger when they move around a lot, and you’d discover all sorts of good places for them,” Rose chimed in, just as engrossed in his story as Shailoh.

 

The shepherd let out a hearty laugh. “Exactly. But since His Majesty has just ascended the throne, he must have a mountain of work to attend to.”

 

At the mention of the man she had managed to forget for a brief moment, Shailoh quietly bit the inside of her mouth. He was someone she was trying very hard not to think about. A man who might be watching this place at every moment, waiting for the day he would snatch her away.

 

“Milady?” Startled by Shailoh’s expression, which had darkened in an instant, Rose called out to her. “Are you alright? You’re not feeling unwell, are you?”

 

“No. I’m fine.” Shailoh gave a faint smile and shook her head.

 

Just then, the shepherd cast a quick glance out the window and cautiously rose to his feet. “Looking at the time, it’s gotten quite late. You had better head back now.”

 

“What? But it’s still the middle of the night,” Rose protested, pouting and knitting her brows.

 

The shepherd looked at her, sounding almost incredulous. “Rose, you really don’t know why no one ever comes near this place at night?”

 

“What?” Rose’s eyes widened at the cryptic words.

 

At that very moment, a fierce gust of wind rattled the cracked window and finally flung it open. At the same time, the fire in the cast-iron stove flickered and faltered. The air turned so bitterly cold that no one could move easily. Then, all of a sudden, the shepherd snatched the long gun hanging on the wall. Shailoh’s eyes flew wide in shock, but the shepherd pressed his index finger to his lips.

 

“Shh.”

 

The shepherd wasn’t the only one who went on high alert. Standing beside the door, Caleb unsheathed the sword at his waist with sharp eyes. A low growl could be heard from beyond the door.

 

Hands trembling with tension, the shepherd finished the explanation he had been about to give. “In this place… a pack of wolves often roam when the night grows dark, young ladies.”