Chapter 3

Usually, when Sir Shubart warns someone to be careful, they will run away in a panic. Or they become as quiet as a dead mouse and start to listen well while nodding their heads.

Sometimes, they disappear without a trace.

I’m not sure why. No, I don’t want to know about it.

Anyway, I didn’t intend to go out, so I headed straight for the stairs to the second floor. I could hear their conversation as I walked up, but it wasn’t important. Of course, the important story will come out after I’m gone from there.

The wooden floor creaked all the way up the stairs and down the hallway. I may be used to it now, but the sound ringing in my ears isn’t good at all.

I opened the hallway window instead of trying to enter my room. There was still a blizzard outside, unaware of the subject.

I didn’t close the window right away and stuck out my head a little more in a cold but more refreshing feeling than I thought.

Actually, there is another reason why I’m a little impatient to get out. I was going to pile up a lot of firewood this time and not go out for a while.

According to the original story, the prince will come here soon. Valery Ahibara Kasinev, the second son of the protagonists. In the original, I would corrupt his mind.

If what I remembered from the original story is correct, he would come to the North while hiding his identity in mid-January, the coldest time of the year. 

He will leave the capital and arrive in the North in about three days. On the surface, his reason for coming here was for inspection as well as to boost the morale of the lords who managed the North.

However, I couldn’t remember the exact date, so I was planning to stay away from encountering people for about two weeks. I wanted to avoid seeing my mother as much as possible too. Still, the unexpected arrival of Sir Shubart made me a little nervous. By any chance, seeing him can make me speed up the plan.

“Hmm.”

If I knew this would happen, I thought I should have read each letter of the original book seriously. However, it is already useless. It had already been close to 20 years since I read it, and even the memories I knew were fuzzy.

I even forgot part of my childhood memories, so only remembering this much is already a good thing.

The wind, which felt fresh, was already cold.

Like my mother, I’m the type of person who can get cold easily, so I really hated winter. It’s not because I’m capricious.

I hurriedly closed the window and headed to my room. I didn’t even leave my room until Sir Shubart came to my room in the evening.

The dinner table was much grandly than in the morning. It was because Sir Shubart is here. He did a great job cooking by himself. Every time I saw his unexpected appearance, I became quite curious about his existence.  

I call him Sir Shubart, but he certainly has the title of nobility. He has a lot of money, and there’s nothing he can’t do.

Sometimes I even wondered if he was living for the 5th time of his life.

“Did you not like it?”

After thinking for a moment without entering the dining room, Sir Shubart looked at me. I guess he thought I stood still because I didn’t want to eat it.

“Uh… No. I’m going to eat it. Do you need my help?”

I asked, even though I knew he had already done it all. At the same time, he shrugged.

“It’s not a big deal. Sit down. I’ll call Lu.”

“Yes.”

He put my chair in and left the dining room to call my mother. Knowing she wouldn’t come, I leaned my chin and waited for him to return.

‘One, two, three, four…’ Counting the numbers inside.

Lucellai never had dinner. Perhaps today will be the same.

“As expected, she’s not eating today either.”

Sir Shubart quickly reappeared with a face full of disappointment. I chuckled and urged him to sit down quickly.

“Mother doesn’t eat dinner all the time.”

“She may suddenly change her mind.”

“I guess it’s not for today.”

“I know.”

He smiled cheerfully and sat down in the chair.

Sir Shubart, as usual, piled up a mountain of food on my plate and asked after me. Only the two of us ate, but the amount of food was more than enough for four people.

I don’t usually eat well, but I ate more than two servings at his constant request. Fortunately, his cooking skill was good. 

“Did anything hard happen?”

“Um, there wasn’t.”

The usual questions were the same, and my answer in return was the same.

“I’m going to stock up all the firewood in the warehouse tonight. They changed the delivery man.”

This is how he’s solving everything.

“Mmm… That’s a relief. Are you going to leave right away?”

I asked in the hope that he would leave in a hurry.

“I don’t know. It’s your birthday soon. Do you have any presents you want?”

“Present… I’ve never thought about it.”

“Think about it from now on. If possible, make it big.”

“Um, then I want wish something instead of receiving present. I want to continue to enjoy this simple life. But not too long, just for enough time.”

Sir Shubart smirked.

“Don’t talk like an old man. Unlike me, you’re still young, and you should enjoy your life more. You have a duty to do so.”

I stopped putting the food in my mouth and looked up at him.

“Of course, I know that the words duty and responsibility don’t go together.”

I didn’t mean to criticize him, but Sir Shubart seems to be the only one who feels naive. He knew very well that the mother and daughter of this house don’t really get along well.  

“Um, but I know that Sir Shubart is only 18 years older than me.”

“Anyway, you are getting older.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Great. If possible, have some ambition. Just like Lucellai.”

I laughed bitterly when he said just like Lucellai.

I couldn’t figure out how far I should go to learn my mother’s ambition to swallow up the Empire.

While thinking like that, I sensed that he would put food on my plate again and pull the dish more towards me. No matter how delicious it was, more than three servings were impossible.

“Sir Shubart.”

“Yes?”

“Is everything all right in the capital?”

“Capital?”

Sir Shubart raised his eyebrows in wonder.

“Yes. There’s nothing interesting here, so I wondered if there was any interesting news from the capital.”

“Well, it’s the same. Come to think of it, the capital seems quiet these days. I’ll see if there is any interesting news. Capital is definitely more comfortable than being here, right? I’m sorry.”

Even though he did nothing wrong, Sir Shubart is always apologetic to me.

I shouldn’t have asked. I just wanted to know if the second prince had already departed or not, but I guess I asked too much.

“That’s not true. I rather like being here because it’s quiet. I’m so tired of the same kind of love letters.”

He chuckled.

“We’ll be moving house next month.”

“Next month?”

“Yes. It’ll be much better than here. Of course, it’s still in the North too.”

He frowned while talking about it, then moistened his mouth with wine. Sir Shubart was bitterly upset that he had sent us to the North.

I already feel grateful that we survived here, but I guess it wasn’t the same for Sir Shubart.

“I guess you’ve solved some problems.”

“To a certain extent. And several employees will arrive. What do you think? This is good enough, isn’t it?”

“Sir Shubart has always been wonderful.”

At the end of my speech, Sir Shubart could not hide the corners of his mouth rising. In addition, there is another mountain on my plate.

‘I’m going to suffer from indigestion today.’

* * *

‘…so bloated.’

I ate more than usual because of the begging for me to eat a little more, and it seems that my digestive system is clogged up

I didn’t want to take medicine because it made me feel stuffy, so I put on my shawl and went outside. Although our house didn’t have a garden, I could use all the roads in the yard.

Originally, we had two houses, but the lights didn’t turn on one day, so we had to move away.

Before, an old man lived in this house, and he passed away not long ago. So, there is only one place where the light is turned on in this area. There were a few visitors, but the most frequent visitors were wild animals.

The weather here was so cold that every time I breathed, white steam came out.

How long did I walk? By the time my cheeks were tingling, I could hear the sound of a wagon in the distance.

I squinted at the wagon. The closer it got, the closer I felt a big mountain approaching me. The firewood that Sir Shubart said earlier seems to have arrived.

When the wagon was almost where I was, I doubted my eyes. Sir Shubart’s remark that we would move to another place a month later felt like a lie as I saw the amount of firewood loaded in the wagon. Unlike the previous delivery man, who was chubby and hairy, the delivery man now was a big man with a lot of muscles.

“Where should I put it?”

He asked me the location of the warehouse. His voice was deep, suit with his appearance.

I pointed my finger at the warehouse. He nodded and began to unload the firewood in the warehouse. I only came in after looking at him a little longer.