CHAPTER 89………………….
“Someone died, so I shouldn’t be feeling this way… but… I think I’ll finally be able to sleep peacefully now.”
Hilde’s soft voice trembled, but she looked more at ease than ever before.
“Hilde, I told you, didn’t I? That our lady would take care of everything for us.”
“Yes, Masha. You were right.”
Hilde wiped away the tears that had welled up, then smiled brightly.
“Masha, have you thought about what you’ll do now? Will you rebuild the tavern?”
Masha scratched her head roughly and let out a long nasal sigh.
“I’m still figuring that out.”
Everett stepped closer to her.
“Madam, have you ever thought of going north?”
“North?”
“Yes, to Lord Olbreno’s domain.”
Because Lord Olbreno couldn’t leave his territory unattended for too long, he had returned north a few days before the banquet began.
“What would I even do up north? I can’t sell ice kuna in a place that cold.”
Everett smiled lightly.
“I think the north would suit you more than anywhere else, Madam.”
“Me?”
“You have the bete. I heard you and Lord Olbreno were studying ways to use fermented bete.”
Masha let out a short laugh.
“Oh, calling it research is far too much. It wasn’t anything grand. The lord just said he liked the texture of fermented bete and wanted to try making different things with it, so I helped him.”
“That’s research.”
Everett pulled out a letter from his bag, sealed with Olbreno’s crest.
“He sent you a letter. He wants to learn more about bete with you in the north.”
Masha clicked her tongue and shook her head.
“He suggested it several times before he left, but I told him it would be too hard for me. And now he’s even sent a letter through you, huh.”
“Why did you refuse? No one is more passionate about fermenting bete than you.”
“I… I can’t just leave here.”
“Why not?”
“What do you mean why? My lady and Daisy are here. How could I go anywhere without them?”
She said that, but in truth, Masha had wanted to go north even before the lord made the offer.
There were so many things she wanted to try making with the crops that only grew there.
When Olbreno first suggested it, she had been thrilled. But then she hesitated.
Everett and Daisy—her two most precious people. She couldn’t bring herself to leave them behind.
Everett gently clasped Masha’s rough hands with both of hers.
“I know you’re staying because of us. But you don’t have to worry anymore. We have someone protecting us now…”
Everett glanced at Ventus, who was still keeping a wary eye on their surroundings.
“And besides, I’m an incredibly wealthy woman now, aren’t I?”
Masha burst out laughing.
“You want to do it, don’t you? And since the tavern burned down, isn’t now the perfect chance? Please, I’m asking you—continue your research into fermented bete.”
“……”
“I’m sure your bete will help me a great deal.”
“You mean… even if I’m just doing what I want, I can still help you?”
“If it weren’t for your help, I never would have come this far.”
She felt Everett’s warm touch through their joined hands. Looking down at them, Masha smiled gently.
“All right. If I’m going, then I should pack up quickly and leave as soon as I can, shouldn’t I?”
Hilde, who had been watching them nervously, asked cautiously:
“Then… I’ll have to move out of Masha’s house, won’t I?”
Now that the culprit was dead, there was no reason for her to keep staying there.
And if Masha was going north, Hilde began to worry where she would go.
“Hilde, do you know why people say it’s so hard to live in the north?”
“Well… isn’t it because it’s freezing cold and monsters cross the borders all the time?”
“That’s right. That’s why everyone avoids the north. But it’s only because that region blocks the monsters that the rest of the continent can live in peace.”
Everett continued gently:
“The north needs your explosive powder more than anywhere else. I’ve heard the powder they’re using now isn’t very effective.”
Hilde gave a small laugh, and Everett went on.
“Even though Lord Kyle wiped out many monsters, they still need powerful explosives. Would you help us, Hilde?”
Ventus, who had been scanning the area, suddenly snapped his head around at that.
He hadn’t expected the maker of the explosive powder to be a middle-aged woman.
“Would it really be all right for me to make it?”
“Of course. Lord Olbreno would welcome you with open arms.”
It was a talent she had hidden all her life, as though it were a crime.
To hear that she could finally use it openly—Hilde’s face flushed like that of a young girl.
“Lord Olbreno is a very clever man. I’m sure he’ll be a great help to you as well.”
Everett was certain.
These women would become a great strength to Kyle.
At that moment—
“Madam, please, we’re starving. Could you give us food, or at least a coin? My child hasn’t eaten for days.”
While Ventus’s gaze was fixed on them, a woman and her daughter pushed their way forward, hands outstretched.
Ventus quickly blocked the woman, but the small girl darted past him through a gap.
Her dusty, grimy face tilted up toward Everett as she held out a tiny hand.
“Madam, I’m so hungry I could die. You’re rich, aren’t you? Please give us alms for pity’s sake.”
How many times must she have practiced?
The child’s little mouth spilled out words with the sly tone of an adult.
Blocked by Ventus, the mother shouted:
“Tell her properly, child. How long you’ve gone without food!”
The girl glanced nervously at her mother instead of speaking.
Forgetting her rehearsed lines, she soon began to whimper.
Everett knelt down to meet her eyes.
Through her tattered clothes, Everett could see the child’s frail bones.
She gave Daisy a look, and Daisy handed the woman a few coins, despite the mother’s protests.
Everett couldn’t know whether that money would really be spent on food for the child.
“Do you have anything edible on you?”
Hilde pulled a few biscuits from her pocket and handed them over.
Everett wrapped them neatly in a handkerchief, tied it into a little loop, and hung it from the girl’s thin hand like a handbag. Then she smiled warmly.
The woman grabbed her daughter’s hand and ran off quickly.
Ventus spoke urgently:
“My lady, we need to leave at once. If one group found us, others will too.”
On the way back, inside the carriage, Everett looked out at the square with a troubled expression.
“Daisy, has the square always had this many beggars? Was I just unaware because I stayed inside the tarot shop?”
“Lately more and more beggars have appeared. The guards drive them away whenever they see them, but as soon as they’re gone, the beggars return.”
“All of a sudden…”
But nothing ever changes all at once.
Whether for good or ill, things always build up until they show themselves.
The poor are usually the last to reveal their suffering.
For even those who had never begged before to appear now—it was proof that hunger had reached its limit.
How many more were hiding in unseen places, clutching empty stomachs?
The capital of Bartmann—so beautiful.
The first time she saw it, the sight had been almost mystical, she couldn’t look away.
But now, to Everett’s eyes, it looked like a storm about to break, the city rotting at the seams.
“What is happening outside the walls?”
For the first time, Everett truly wondered what lay beyond those high, solid ramparts.
“Milady, when will His Excellency return?”
It was already past the expected third hour, but Kyle’s black stallion’s heavy breathing had not been heard.
“He only said ‘in the afternoon,’ so I suppose before sunset.”
Just then, a knock came at the front door, and Daisy hurried to answer it.
“Milady, Lord Kyle is here!”
“But I didn’t hear the horse.”
At the door stood Kyle, taking off a dark robe.
“You walked?”
“Yes. I needed some time to think.”
As they entered the parlor together, Everett asked:
“You surprised me, saying you were coming for tea out of the blue.”
A pleasant, low chuckle spread behind her.
After sipping the warm tea, Kyle looked at her intently.
“I came because there’s something I need to tell you.”
“Please, go ahead.”
Everett set down her cup and folded her hands on her knees.
“The one who named you as the arsonist—do you know who that was?”
For a brief moment, many thoughts raced through Everett’s mind.
Should she tell him everything she knew?
Or, as always, should she filter her words, giving him only what he needed?
When she didn’t answer right away, Kyle spoke again.
“Remember when I first asked for a contract with you? I said all I wanted was the power to protect those dear to me.”
“Yes, you did.”
“I’ve changed my mind. I want to amend the terms of our contract. That’s why I came.”
“Amend… the terms?”
Kyle’s green eyes blazed with intensity.
“Not just what I need… I want everything you have. I want you to sell me all of yourself.”
Even without words, Kyle already knew.
That Everett always struggled over what to say to him.
“You don’t have to be certain. I want you to share with me every suspicion, every doubt—everything you think, even if it isn’t proven truth.”
“Even if it might be wrong?”
