“This time, I will go in too.”
As I stared, Enoch added:
“I had foolish faith that you would do well in the past... but this time, it just won’t work out. It hasn’t been that long since you got up from your seat.”
“...”
“It is the law of a knight to never lose sight of his lord at any moment. Please, allow me to follow as Your Highness’ knight.”
I nodded before he even finished speaking.
“Do that.”
Enoch's eyes widened in surprise at the willing acceptance.
“Are you sure?”
“Of course. Thank you for asking first. I’m not used to traveling with an escort knight.”
“...”
“From now on, please carry out your duties well without asking for my permission.”
I spoke each word with emphasis.
Enoch's eyes had calmed down. He looked at me with unknowing eyes for a while, then slowly bent his knees and greeted me.
“I will faithfully carry out Your Highness’s orders.”
“...”
“At least, unless you tell me to retire.”
Enoch added as a joke to lighten the serious mood. But I couldn't laugh.
Maybe he had noticed all along that I was indirectly rejecting his feelings by treating him like a complete outsider.
Even if Dmitry is someone I can't control, the reason I always kept Jacqueline around and excluded Enoch was... because I didn't want his feelings for me to grow any further.
Up until today, Enoch has never once disobeyed my request to wait. Even though it is basic for an escort knight to never lose sight of his master, as he said.
Until then, it must have been because protecting me was closer to feelings of affection than the loyalty a knight should have toward the royal family.
So, when he finally said that he would follow me as my escort knight, it meant that he had made up his mind.
"...Thank you."
That was all I could utter, but Enoch seemed to understand everything.
Would I be getting ahead of myself if I said I saw a certain lightness in Enoch's brown eyes?
“Then I will open the door.”
As I nodded, Enoch grabbed the rusty doorknob and twisted it.
Dust, cobwebs, and wood chips fell out along with a squeaking sound, as if the door had not been opened for a long time.
Enoch and I could only stare at each other in bewilderment. Even if no one came and went, how could this be...?
As the dust slowly settled, we cautiously looked inside. It was very shabby, but there were definitely signs of human habitation.
At that moment, an old man came rolling down the stairs from this floor.
“What crazy guy tore down the wall?!”
This is a wall? Enoch and I were left frozen in place.
What we thought was the entrance was actually a door that had been left unused and had been reduced to a wall.
I slowly grabbed the doorknob and tried to close it again. But once it had been forced open, there was no way it would go back to the way it was.
Instead, shelves, picture frames, dried herbs, and glass bottles containing liquids that were barely hanging on the wall fell to the floor with a loud noise.
“My... my, herbs! How did you gather all these?”
The old man's voice rang out like a scream. Suddenly, we had become a thug who not only tore down a perfectly good wall but also destroyed the owner's valuable belongings.
In the darkness, the old man's eyes could be seen gleaming.
I sneaked behind Enoch and hid.
“Is that Maxim? Did that bastard send you?”
The old man looked around frantically, then grabbed a broom propped up against one of the walls.
His eyes looked like those of a crazy person.
“Calm down.”
Enoch stepped forward before the other man could make a bigger mistake. The broom the old man had been swinging menacingly was caught in his hand.
“There was a misunderstanding. I think you were mistaken for someone else.”
“What kind of new trick is this...”
“It’s not a tall tale.”
Enoch said, gently taking the broom from the old man's hand. But the stubborn old man's attitude showed no sign of softening. At least, not until Enoch added something.
“Who would believe that? These bastards are worse than dogs...”
“It was my fault for breaking the door, so I will compensate you for the full cost of repairs and damaged items.”
“...”
"Sorry."
The old man's mouth, which had been swearing at the word compensation, shut tight.
He narrowed his eyes as if he were suspicious of our polite manner. He seemed to sense something, especially in Enoch's tone of voice.
Enoch spoke standard language, which was unusual for Vostok, and his speech was refined, as expected of a palace knight.
The old man hesitated for a moment, as if remembering something. Then he raised the lantern sharply toward us.
The sudden light dazzled my eyes. The light from the lantern licked and scanned Enoch up and down. It seemed that he was so angry that he didn't even look closely at us.
Well, who would calmly examine their opponents before tearing down the wall of their house?
The old man's expression, which had been somewhat calm until he began observing Enoch, changed from moment to moment when he turned to me. The changes were so funny that I also began to observe the old man closely.
He was a man with white hair and an inexplicable, wiry energy that flowed from his whole body.
But where have I seen that face before...
While I was tilting my head, the old man seemed to have made up his mind. He quietly lowered the lantern with an air of unexpected politeness.
“I guess I was really mistaken. I will take the compensation seriously.”
He added, taking the broom from Enoch's hand. Even so, he went over the promise of compensation once more, which made it clear that he was not an ordinary person.
“Are you by any chance... from the palace?”
“How did you think that?”
I answered with wide eyes. Even if Enoch and I were wearing nice clothes, would it be possible to tell right away that we had come from the palace?
The old man said he had only settled in Vostok a few months ago.
Even though he was treated as an outsider and was ostracized... There was no chance that he would know all the personal details of the Vostok people. Unless they were particularly gloomy perverts.
“Didn’t you come here knowingly?”
But the old man looked rather bewildered. He came here knowingly. What on earth?
“Even though I look like this, rumors spread quickly.”
“What on earth are you talking about...”
“Didn’t you come here after hearing the story from my disciple?”
Aaaah! I couldn't help but let out a strange sound. It was that man. The man in the portrait I found in the research journal, the master of the palace doctor who had been studying Renouac's disease for years!
He was clear.
I sat down on the shabby chair the old man had given me. It was a worn-out rocking chair that looked like it would break if I sat on it wrong, and it was the only chair in this shabby building. Enoch was practically squatting on a box that contained something.
They said business wasn't going well... I could really feel how poor the old man had been living.
“Let’s have a cup of tea before we start the story.”
The old man poured me a cup of tea from a boiling kettle.
I gratefully accepted it, but honestly, I had no desire to drink it. No matter how warm the steam was rising and how refreshing the scent was, how could I know what ingredients were in it?
I placed the teacup far away, careful not to show my guard. But the old man seemed to have observed me.
“If I were you, I would drink it all.”
The old man gave me generous advice, as if he understood my wariness.
“It was boiled with precious medicinal herbs that help dissolve blood stasis caused by toxins and promote blood circulation.”
Blood stasis? It was a word I had never heard before. According to the research journal, he had learned medicine from a prisoner of war from the Eastern Continent. Is this a word often used on the Eastern Continent?
“If you can’t even believe that, can you believe my pride as a doctor who deals with life?”
If he had recommended it so much, it would have been strange for me not to drink it and endure it. After all, I desperately needed this old man's help.
I carefully lifted the teacup and took a sip. I felt an instinctive rejection, but I suppressed it and swallowed it quickly.
"Huft."
I let out a short exclamation. The scent was incredibly good, and with just one sip, my whole body melted in an instant. It was like warming a frozen body by a warm fire in winter.
I ended up emptying the entire teacup. Then I let out a sigh and a laugh that was a mixture of exclamation and admiration.
“...It’s really cool.”
“Would you like another drink?”
"Great."
He filled my empty cup with tea with a cheerful expression. Then he sat down on the cushion made of the folded blanket with his teacup in his hand and said,
“I think I’m ready to talk now.”
“Then first of all...”
“Oh, before that, I have something to tell you. I hate wasting time. I’ll just answer three questions.”
I opened my mouth wide. You're only going to answer three questions? It was hard to keep up with the sudden changes in your attitude. Just a moment ago, you were such a generous grandfather.
There's nothing I can do. I made up my mind and raised my chin arrogantly.
“Actually, I am the Princess of the empire...”
“I know. Your Highness, the Princess. If I didn’t know, you wouldn’t have even come into the house in the first place.”
“...”
Damn it. It didn't work, the old man added with a shrug.
“I heard rumors that you are not the type of person to punish disobedience by imperial decree.”
“Do you dare to judge the Princess’s intentions?”
“No way.”
The old man smiled kindly.
“I just want to tell you that I have made this concession to repay a long-standing debt of gratitude.”
“...Debt? What does that mean?”
“Is this your first question?”
He asked back with a shameless face... He really was a quirky old man, just like my first impression. Perhaps because my expression looked blank, the old man wiggled his fingers and added.
“Don’t worry about it. I’ve limited the questions to three because I want to make sure that I don’t take questions that aren’t of any value.”
“You think that’s a pointless question?”
“Questions about my current situation, such as why I am staying in a place like this, and where all the money I earned while working as a palace doctor went.”
I kept my mouth shut because it stung so much.
Even if there were no restrictions, that was the first question I thought of.
Then what should I ask first? While I was thinking carefully, the old man pretended to yawn as if he were bored.
“Should there be a time limit?”
Ugh. I finally made up my mind.
“Then let me ask you my first question.”
As I stared, Enoch added:
“I had foolish faith that you would do well in the past... but this time, it just won’t work out. It hasn’t been that long since you got up from your seat.”
“...”
“It is the law of a knight to never lose sight of his lord at any moment. Please, allow me to follow as Your Highness’ knight.”
I nodded before he even finished speaking.
“Do that.”
Enoch's eyes widened in surprise at the willing acceptance.
“Are you sure?”
“Of course. Thank you for asking first. I’m not used to traveling with an escort knight.”
“...”
“From now on, please carry out your duties well without asking for my permission.”
I spoke each word with emphasis.
Enoch's eyes had calmed down. He looked at me with unknowing eyes for a while, then slowly bent his knees and greeted me.
“I will faithfully carry out Your Highness’s orders.”
“...”
“At least, unless you tell me to retire.”
Enoch added as a joke to lighten the serious mood. But I couldn't laugh.
Maybe he had noticed all along that I was indirectly rejecting his feelings by treating him like a complete outsider.
Even if Dmitry is someone I can't control, the reason I always kept Jacqueline around and excluded Enoch was... because I didn't want his feelings for me to grow any further.
Up until today, Enoch has never once disobeyed my request to wait. Even though it is basic for an escort knight to never lose sight of his master, as he said.
Until then, it must have been because protecting me was closer to feelings of affection than the loyalty a knight should have toward the royal family.
So, when he finally said that he would follow me as my escort knight, it meant that he had made up his mind.
"...Thank you."
That was all I could utter, but Enoch seemed to understand everything.
Would I be getting ahead of myself if I said I saw a certain lightness in Enoch's brown eyes?
“Then I will open the door.”
As I nodded, Enoch grabbed the rusty doorknob and twisted it.
Dust, cobwebs, and wood chips fell out along with a squeaking sound, as if the door had not been opened for a long time.
Enoch and I could only stare at each other in bewilderment. Even if no one came and went, how could this be...?
As the dust slowly settled, we cautiously looked inside. It was very shabby, but there were definitely signs of human habitation.
At that moment, an old man came rolling down the stairs from this floor.
“What crazy guy tore down the wall?!”
***
This is a wall? Enoch and I were left frozen in place.
What we thought was the entrance was actually a door that had been left unused and had been reduced to a wall.
I slowly grabbed the doorknob and tried to close it again. But once it had been forced open, there was no way it would go back to the way it was.
Instead, shelves, picture frames, dried herbs, and glass bottles containing liquids that were barely hanging on the wall fell to the floor with a loud noise.
“My... my, herbs! How did you gather all these?”
The old man's voice rang out like a scream. Suddenly, we had become a thug who not only tore down a perfectly good wall but also destroyed the owner's valuable belongings.
In the darkness, the old man's eyes could be seen gleaming.
I sneaked behind Enoch and hid.
“Is that Maxim? Did that bastard send you?”
The old man looked around frantically, then grabbed a broom propped up against one of the walls.
His eyes looked like those of a crazy person.
“Calm down.”
Enoch stepped forward before the other man could make a bigger mistake. The broom the old man had been swinging menacingly was caught in his hand.
“There was a misunderstanding. I think you were mistaken for someone else.”
“What kind of new trick is this...”
“It’s not a tall tale.”
Enoch said, gently taking the broom from the old man's hand. But the stubborn old man's attitude showed no sign of softening. At least, not until Enoch added something.
“Who would believe that? These bastards are worse than dogs...”
“It was my fault for breaking the door, so I will compensate you for the full cost of repairs and damaged items.”
“...”
"Sorry."
The old man's mouth, which had been swearing at the word compensation, shut tight.
He narrowed his eyes as if he were suspicious of our polite manner. He seemed to sense something, especially in Enoch's tone of voice.
Enoch spoke standard language, which was unusual for Vostok, and his speech was refined, as expected of a palace knight.
The old man hesitated for a moment, as if remembering something. Then he raised the lantern sharply toward us.
The sudden light dazzled my eyes. The light from the lantern licked and scanned Enoch up and down. It seemed that he was so angry that he didn't even look closely at us.
Well, who would calmly examine their opponents before tearing down the wall of their house?
The old man's expression, which had been somewhat calm until he began observing Enoch, changed from moment to moment when he turned to me. The changes were so funny that I also began to observe the old man closely.
He was a man with white hair and an inexplicable, wiry energy that flowed from his whole body.
But where have I seen that face before...
While I was tilting my head, the old man seemed to have made up his mind. He quietly lowered the lantern with an air of unexpected politeness.
“I guess I was really mistaken. I will take the compensation seriously.”
He added, taking the broom from Enoch's hand. Even so, he went over the promise of compensation once more, which made it clear that he was not an ordinary person.
“Are you by any chance... from the palace?”
“How did you think that?”
I answered with wide eyes. Even if Enoch and I were wearing nice clothes, would it be possible to tell right away that we had come from the palace?
The old man said he had only settled in Vostok a few months ago.
Even though he was treated as an outsider and was ostracized... There was no chance that he would know all the personal details of the Vostok people. Unless they were particularly gloomy perverts.
“Didn’t you come here knowingly?”
But the old man looked rather bewildered. He came here knowingly. What on earth?
“Even though I look like this, rumors spread quickly.”
“What on earth are you talking about...”
“Didn’t you come here after hearing the story from my disciple?”
Aaaah! I couldn't help but let out a strange sound. It was that man. The man in the portrait I found in the research journal, the master of the palace doctor who had been studying Renouac's disease for years!
He was clear.
***
I sat down on the shabby chair the old man had given me. It was a worn-out rocking chair that looked like it would break if I sat on it wrong, and it was the only chair in this shabby building. Enoch was practically squatting on a box that contained something.
They said business wasn't going well... I could really feel how poor the old man had been living.
“Let’s have a cup of tea before we start the story.”
The old man poured me a cup of tea from a boiling kettle.
I gratefully accepted it, but honestly, I had no desire to drink it. No matter how warm the steam was rising and how refreshing the scent was, how could I know what ingredients were in it?
I placed the teacup far away, careful not to show my guard. But the old man seemed to have observed me.
“If I were you, I would drink it all.”
The old man gave me generous advice, as if he understood my wariness.
“It was boiled with precious medicinal herbs that help dissolve blood stasis caused by toxins and promote blood circulation.”
Blood stasis? It was a word I had never heard before. According to the research journal, he had learned medicine from a prisoner of war from the Eastern Continent. Is this a word often used on the Eastern Continent?
“If you can’t even believe that, can you believe my pride as a doctor who deals with life?”
If he had recommended it so much, it would have been strange for me not to drink it and endure it. After all, I desperately needed this old man's help.
I carefully lifted the teacup and took a sip. I felt an instinctive rejection, but I suppressed it and swallowed it quickly.
"Huft."
I let out a short exclamation. The scent was incredibly good, and with just one sip, my whole body melted in an instant. It was like warming a frozen body by a warm fire in winter.
I ended up emptying the entire teacup. Then I let out a sigh and a laugh that was a mixture of exclamation and admiration.
“...It’s really cool.”
“Would you like another drink?”
"Great."
He filled my empty cup with tea with a cheerful expression. Then he sat down on the cushion made of the folded blanket with his teacup in his hand and said,
“I think I’m ready to talk now.”
“Then first of all...”
“Oh, before that, I have something to tell you. I hate wasting time. I’ll just answer three questions.”
I opened my mouth wide. You're only going to answer three questions? It was hard to keep up with the sudden changes in your attitude. Just a moment ago, you were such a generous grandfather.
There's nothing I can do. I made up my mind and raised my chin arrogantly.
“Actually, I am the Princess of the empire...”
“I know. Your Highness, the Princess. If I didn’t know, you wouldn’t have even come into the house in the first place.”
“...”
Damn it. It didn't work, the old man added with a shrug.
“I heard rumors that you are not the type of person to punish disobedience by imperial decree.”
“Do you dare to judge the Princess’s intentions?”
“No way.”
The old man smiled kindly.
“I just want to tell you that I have made this concession to repay a long-standing debt of gratitude.”
“...Debt? What does that mean?”
“Is this your first question?”
He asked back with a shameless face... He really was a quirky old man, just like my first impression. Perhaps because my expression looked blank, the old man wiggled his fingers and added.
“Don’t worry about it. I’ve limited the questions to three because I want to make sure that I don’t take questions that aren’t of any value.”
“You think that’s a pointless question?”
“Questions about my current situation, such as why I am staying in a place like this, and where all the money I earned while working as a palace doctor went.”
I kept my mouth shut because it stung so much.
Even if there were no restrictions, that was the first question I thought of.
Then what should I ask first? While I was thinking carefully, the old man pretended to yawn as if he were bored.
“Should there be a time limit?”
Ugh. I finally made up my mind.
“Then let me ask you my first question.”
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