Winter Field Chapter 7

One of the men who had been conversing with the Archduke stepped forward and approached the table. He extended his hand and passed it over each plate of food. A faint light shimmered between his hand and the dishes.

So they are mages. Rensley realized the identity of the people in the basement, his lips parting slightly. In Cornia, ordinary people rarely ever encountered mages.

The few mages he had glimpsed a handful of times in his childhood and the people here had a completely different air about them. The mages of Cornia kept only to themselves and exuded an extremely strict and closed-off atmosphere, but the mages here looked like ordinary scholars.

The inspection did not take long. The man, having completed the spell, reported to the Archduke.

“There appears to be nothing unusual with the food.”

It was a judgment that cleared him of suspicion of political conspiracy.

The Archduke fell into thought for a moment, but the matter did not seem to hold his interest for long. He soon waved his hand in an annoyed manner.

“I understand. Everyone leave. I will eat slowly.”

The servants trooped out of the basement. Rensley also blended in among them and walked away without looking back.

∞ ∞ ∞

Unlike Rensley, who felt as if he had escaped death and had all the strength drained from his body, the others’ eyes sparkled with curiosity. They flocked to Rensley, vying with one another.

“There were so many new faces coming and going in the kitchen today, I didn’t notice! Are you really from Cornia?”

“Ah, yeah… that’s right.”

“Then you must have seen the princess’s face during the journey?”

“No matter how much they say she can’t show her face before the wedding, you must have seen her at least once. What’s she like? Is she a beauty? Rumor has it she’s a peerless beauty.”

Rensley burst out laughing involuntarily. A peerless beauty, Yvette Elvanes. It was a shame he couldn’t deliver this rumor to Yvette in person. Hey, Yvette. You’ve made it big!

Anyway, he was now left with the task of disappointing these people who were full of anticipation. Rensley rolled his eyes.

“Hurry up and tell us. What kind of person is the princess?”

“Well. The princess waiting in her bedchamber for the wedding right now—even if she’s not a peerless beauty, she was a fairly well-known face within the capital. She’s not a person of noble character, but she has a decent enough personality. She’s not brilliantly intelligent, but she often hears praise for being clever.”

“And? I thought she’d be like the elegant and delicate princesses from songs and old tales. We don’t have a princess like that in Oldenland, so I was curious.”

It would probably be best not to mention that she excelled at swordsmanship and horsemanship, could drink like a fish, and was so robust she never fell ill.

The girl imagining a nonexistent Archduchess had her eyes sparkling as if in a dream. Her lightly freckled, rosy cheeks and the braid hanging down beneath her white kerchief were adorable. Rensley smiled and lowered his voice.

“In my eyes, I think you’re prettier.”

“Oh my, no way. Don’t tease me.”

“I mean it. What’s your name? I’m Rensley. Rensley Malosen.”

“Tia.”

As their conversation lengthened, the young men walking ahead turned back and teased them.

“They say the south is teeming with flirts, and this Cornian fellow really is something. Already making a move?”

“A move? It’s a compliment.”

Despite Rensley’s protest, the teasing continued unabated.

“Tia, be careful. Can’t you tell just by looking at his face? He’s probably made plenty of girls cry. Do all you southern fellows have skin this smooth?”

“And what about that flowing hair? If you end up working with us, know that we’ll shave it all off.”

Even as they jested, the servants showed no sign of suspecting Rensley and seemed to accept him as a colleague. Oldenland truly is a peaceful country. Genuinely moved, Rensley blended in among them. After exchanging a few casual words, he asked what he was most curious about.

“What kind of person is His Grace the Archduke? I nearly wet myself in fear earlier. I thought I’d be sentenced to beheading on the spot.”

At that, the people burst into loud guffaws. Someone clapped Rensley on the shoulder.

“He’d have a man beheaded over something like that? You’re more of a coward than you look.”

“We were startled when you suddenly threw yourself on the floor begging. He wouldn’t get that angry at a mere kitchen servant. A soldier who’s broken military law, perhaps.”

The general consensus was that he was not an overly strict type toward his subordinates. Come to think of it, considering what the cook had been grumbling about in the kitchen, it made sense. If he were a tyrant who swung an axe if anyone so much as opened their mouth wrong, no one would dare speak loudly of their own lord as a ‘cantankerous man’ in front of others. Tia smiled and whispered.

“He’s not as scary as he looks.”

Still, that sounded like he meant that while he wasn’t as scary as he looked, he was scary nonetheless. And it was said that he was lenient toward kitchen servants but would behead soldiers who broke military law.

Compared to the reaction he had imagined, it was somewhat hopeful, but Rensley’s heart did not easily lighten. A soldier who broke military law and a false bride who deliberately deceived the Archduke… both were equally grave offenses that made it hard to judge which crime was heavier, and equally deserving of beheading.

Deng—.

Just then, the church bell tolled. Rensley snapped back to his senses. This was no time to be caught up in the feeling of being a kitchen worker at Loudkhen.

Now that it was time for the Archduke to have his lunch, someone would soon come to check on the princess. She had told them to call for her when she awoke, but they wouldn’t leave her to sleep forever. He hadn’t even managed to formulate a clear plan, and having lied that he was an attendant, for the moment, the princess had to be safely in her bedchamber.

“Well then, I’ll take my leave here. Like I said earlier, I should look into the immigration procedures. And think a bit more about how to make a living.”

“It’s cold, but it’s a decent place to live. Sometimes there are outsiders who wish to immigrate. See you later! I hope you really can stay here.”

Waving goodbye to his new comrades, Rensley hastened his steps. The people who had been interrupting him with comments when he was wandering around sightseeing or standing around blankly now seemed too busy themselves to stop him and ask his destination. On his way back to the bedchamber, he spotted a suitable object, pulled it out, and picked it up.

The secluded western space behind the main keep, where he had first descended after slipping out of the bedchamber, was still empty of people.

Near the entrance to the small clearing, Rensley firmly planted a sign reading “Under Repair, Do Not Enter,” then stood pressed close against the building wall, directly beneath the bedchamber window.

No matter how he looked at it, going up was harder than coming down. Rensley clapped his palms together and took a deep breath, then grabbed the lowest wall ornament within reach. Hup. He pulled himself up using the strength of his arms. He wedged his toes into a crevice between the bricks and then searched for a new gap or protrusion to hold onto.

Slowly but steadily, Rensley began to climb the wall like a spider.

“Good… job.”

Ugh, this is exhausting.

After a long climb, the high ground was finally before his eyes. Rensley muttered to himself to bolster his own spirits. The windowsill of the bedchamber was now within arm’s reach.

Taking one last deep breath, Rensley hauled himself up with all his might. The tips of his right hand firmly gripped the windowsill. It was a perfect, seamless return.

“Huh?”

That is, until a human voice suddenly rang out from below.

For a moment, his concentration broke and his hand nearly slipped. Rensley quickly adjusted his grip on the windowsill and pulled himself up with a burst of arm strength. With his arm hooked over the sill, he looked down.

Even though he had set up a no-entry sign just in case, the intruder who had deliberately crept into this secluded clearing was staring up at Rensley with a horrified expression.

“Thief!”

The child holding a ball shrieked at the top of his lungs.

There was no time to argue that he was not a thief. Rensley squeezed his body through the narrow window, pushing the wooden shutter he had deliberately left slightly ajar with his head. He tumbled to the floor with a crash.

There was not a moment to complain about the pain. He sprang up like a coiled spring and grabbed the clothes he had hidden. His hands trembled, but as fast as possible, he stripped off the clothes he was wearing, hid them, and put on the muslin nightclothes. Gathering up the discarded men’s clothes, the gown, the coat, and even the veil into his arms, he ran and threw himself onto the bed as if hurling himself into a river.