Chapter 87

Chapter 87: Chapter 87

Marianne opened her mouth only after chewing her lips once.

“Well, can I stay here a little longer?”

Kloud turned to her at that. She hurriedly made a short excuse.

“I won’t wake him up. Let me just watch him here.”

She explained with a low voice for fear she might wake him up as he had just fallen asleep.

Kloud grabbed some empty silver glasses on the table and stood up. Although she didn’t notice it because the room was dark, there was a calm smile on his mouth.

“It’s only the emperor who can refuse your request.”

“… Thank you.” Marianne smiled gently.

Kloud understood exactly what her smile meant.

She was the woman that the emperor risked himself to protect, and the woman who risked her life to protect the emperor. At the same time, she was the only daughter of Duke Kling, who had long been away from the capital, as well as the flower of the enemy territory that had an affair with Ober, the emperor’s political rival.

Apart from the fact that she did not have any hostility toward the emperor, the emperor’s men rightly had suspicions and wariness of her. Kloud also had his wife Mrs. Charlotte keep a constant watch over her. Perhaps she did not know it either. She wasn’t stupid or immature as some had criticized meanly.

Although Kloud told her that only the emperor could refuse her request, it was a little different as far as his safety was concerned. Not only he but also Curtis, standing over there, could exercise their right to overrule it in a situation where the emperor was asleep. If they waited stupidly in contingencies, that would be unfaithful and sinful.

So, it was not because of their confirmation of her high status but because of their trust in her that she expressed gratitude to them. Their trust was so much so that they didn’t search her or warned her to stay away from the emperor, who was put in a defenseless situation at the moment. Instead, they let her stay as much as she wanted.

“I will let you know as soon as we have the news from the local residence where Grand Duke Christopher is staying.”

Having said that, Kloud left the room.

Marianne looked around the room once and approached the portable chair under the window. When she lifted it gently without making any noise, Curtis, who was standing in the corner, popped up and moved the chair.

She held her dress hem and thanked him before sitting down. He went back to his seat quietly. Obviously, Curtis was not an ordinary knight. When he came to pick up the chair and returned to his seat, he didn’t make any noise at all that other people like her could sense.

‘He’s scary, but it’s good for the emperor. I don’t know how terrible a threat Ober’s force will pose in the future…”

Marianne quickly glanced back. Suddenly, something she saw yesterday in the cave came to her mind. ‘It looks like you won’t betray me, given that you cried a lot.’

With a reasonable conclusion, she looked back over the bed.

The sharp bridge of his nose, forehead, and his sharp jawline was visible in the dark shadows. Although he was in bed due to the effect of the medicine, he in deep sleep.

She sighed a long and thin sigh. She gazed at him peacefully as if she felt relieved.

* * *

The residence in Roshan was bustling even before breakfast because the messenger from the temple arrived early in the morning.

Grand Duke Christopher ordered them to pack as soon as he confirmed the good news about the emperor. At his order, the entire residence was ready for their journey. Not only those in the kitchen but also those in the stables were busy preparing for the departure.

“I now see why the royal families are blessed by God. When I asked the butler of the residence, he said it’s the first time hearing about a survival after falling from the Benoit Falls. He said he had been living at the residence for over 40 years, and it was the first time in his life that anyone had survived after falling into the falls.”

Barton was busy handling something with his hands while listening to their chattering. He straightened his waist only after he securely fastened the spare saddle to the cart.

A horseman like Barton who could drive a wagon for her would not do this usually, but he had to take his hands off from driving the wagon or repairing it after the recent accident. Eventually, Barton had to take care of cleaning up the stable usually given to servants and maids. It was up to him to clean up the lower seed and possibly stables. Barton didn’t care. He just regarded his new assignment as her undeserved grace.

“How fortunate! Aside from the emperor, Lady Marianne is also safe. If it hadn’t been her help, I would have already fallen to the underworld,” said Barton.

Another servant Eddie said, shrugging his shoulders, “You know Jason? I just feel sorry for that horseman who drove the emperor’s wagon.”

“You bet. I really wish he could come back alive…”

Barton brushed his hands with a bitter expression.

Although Jason and Barton weren’t very close, they used to greet each other and often shared meals. They clinked their glasses until yesterday, but one of them was not here anymore. “Eddie, go there and make sure the food carts are fastened well. Let me clean it up here.”

“You are really nice. I’ve seen some bad coaches telling me to clean up the alcohol dregs they left. Let me check it out quickly and help you.”

Eddie had a bright smile on his freckled face. He ran towards the food wagon cheerfully.

Barton began to tidy up the empty feeding bins of the horse barns.

In fact, it didn’t matter even if he left the horse barns messy because the servants of the mansion would clean it up anyway. Nonetheless, he checked and cleaned every corner of the horse barns.

Many of the horses he cared for were hurt or killed in yesterday’s accident. Every day he gave water to them, packed rice for them and stroked them. He sometimes treated them like family, and sometimes like a friend. Although they couldn’t speak, at some point he thought that they understood him better than humans.

‘They were not that wild. How come they suddenly started running everywhere?’

Letting out a sigh, he grasped the feeder. His drooping eyes gazed down.

If I had known this in advance, I think I would have gotten them more apples and more straw.

While lamenting, Barton narrowed his eyes. He was staring at the empty feeding bins and then scraped something between the feeders with his nails.

It was something very small and white.

He touched his fingertips under his nose, sniffed it, and then put out his tongue for a taste.

Then he spat and suddenly shuddered.

Ptui, ptui!

Barton brushed his mouth with a more crumpled impression than before. He began to lay out the bins one by one, which he had piled up so far.

‘I see it here. Not here. Again here…’

He examined each of the feeders with a serious expression. As he was not satisfied, he began to search in and out of the barns that housed the horses. As they were roughly cleaned up, he couldn’t find it in any other feeder, but obviously some unidentified white objects remained in some of the feeders. Since there was only a small amount left, it was hard to find it unless closely examined.

“The straps were well fastened. By the way, what are you doing?” Eddie asked, who just came back after checking the food carts.

Barton hurriedly put something he scraped from the feeders into his vest pocket, which was about half of his nail.

“No, nothing. I just was just thinking about the dead horses…”

“Oh man…You’re so kind-hearted,” Eddie pretended to be mature.

Barton looked back with a forced smile.

“Hurry up. We have to get to the temple by lunch.”

* * *

His heavy eyelids opened slowly like an iron door. His eyes with the color of the sea and the lake adjusted the pupils to the luminance of the dark room. The room was so quiet that the sound of his rustling on the bed felt like a loud noise.

Eckart consciously blinked his stiff eyes. As soon as his eyes focused in front, he narrowed his brows in no time.

“…”

The first thing he saw was familiar faces.

Eyebrows as smooth as a swallow’s tail, and the rich eyelashes under her closed eyelids. Sharp nose and soft lips. And a couple of scratches on the cheeks… The owner of this face was Marianne.

She was asleep on the bed, with her face down. With her arms crossed, she placed her face on them, and let out steady breaths. He smelled the scent of the sunny early summer from the stems of the roses on her head.

Eckart held back a sigh because he was worried his long breath would disturb her sleep.

‘… It looks like she already knows what happened at dawn.’

He made a perplexed expression.