Chapter 29
“Wait a minute. I’ll get you a towel.”
Idorian, who had seated me in a chair in the dining room, quickly disappeared to fetch one.
…Heresden had seen everything. Was it really okay for me to sit here pretending to be hurt and accept Ildorian’s kindness like this?
‘Why didn’t the duke say anything?’
I tried to guess what Heresden was thinking, what he might do next, but couldn’t come up with anything useful.
“…”
Right now, Heresden’s ultimate goal was to teach each of us enough swordsmanship to at least protect ourselves.
He’d said that since there wasn’t enough time for us to truly master swordsmanship, the least we could do was build enough stamina so we wouldn’t collapse from exhaustion in a dangerous situation.
So, to strengthen our basic endurance, all of us were currently undergoing physical training.
Today was the first day, so all we did was run — but who knew what kind of training awaited us next?
Whatever it might be, I was sure I’d perform far worse than everyone else. I didn’t want to attract Heresden’s attention that way.
‘Better for him to think I’m faking an injury because I hate training.’
In the end, I decided to keep pretending I was hurt.
It was safer to be seen as a slacker than risk exposing that I was a zombie.
If only I had thought ahead when I first took Heresden’s hand to get up — or remembered that a twisted ankle should actually hurt to bear weight on.
“Wait, in the novel… did they build stamina this quickly too?”
Even if I didn’t remember exactly when it started, I was sure that in the novel, Penelope hadn’t taken part in this training.
It had only been Lilia and Wuben who exercised.
Somehow, I’d been pulled into it against my will. It felt nice to be included as part of this fortress… yet at the same time…
“For now, just rest,” Ildorian said as he came back and handed me a towel.
“But what happened exactly?”
“I fell on the slope that connects to the waterway.”
“Why?”
Ildorian tilted his head slightly, as though the explanation didn’t make sense.
“No, but you can’t really fall there unless you—”
“I bumped into Lumi while running. My body got pushed that way.”
At that, Ildorian slowly nodded, seeming to understand.
“Is your ankle swollen?”
There was genuine concern in his expression. His gaze naturally lowered to my ankle.
The moment he moved, seemingly to check the injury, I instinctively pulled my leg under the chair.
“I don’t think it’s swollen.”
There was something about his experienced eyes — the look of someone who had tended to injuries many times before — that made me uncomfortable.
‘Even Heresden immediately suspected me just from seeing me stand up.’
If Ildorian was just as familiar with injuries, I might get caught again.
I hid my leg further and raised my head.
He frowned slightly, lips pressed in a line.
“…Even if it’s fine now, it could swell later,” he said after a pause, still worried.
“I’ll be okay after some rest.”
Honestly, I almost wished my leg had swollen — then I could skip training for a month without any guilt.
“Alright then. Wash up first, and if it starts hurting later, come find me.”
Reluctantly, Ildorian stepped back.
“I’ll check it for you then.”
He said it lightly, but even as I nodded and rose, his eyes stayed fixed on me.
It looked like he wanted to say something, so I stared back — only then did he finally turn away.
There was a complex emotion on his face that I couldn’t quite read.
As I tried to decipher it, my brows furrowed unconsciously.
Ildorian’s lips curved — not in a smile, but something that only resembled one.
He looked like he was trying to mask his discomfort with a forced grin, but that only made it stand out more.
There was an odd stiffness in his eyes. Almost as if I made him uncomfortable.
‘Why all of a sudden…?’
He hesitated a moment, like someone who’d missed the right time to leave, and then finally walked away.
When I finished washing and went upstairs, Lumi was sitting in front of my room. She jumped to her feet as soon as she saw me.
“Penelope, I’m so sorry!”
He came closer, his hair damp with sweat, his face flushed red and breathing still ragged — he must have just come in.
“It’s fine. You didn’t do it on purpose.”
I glanced toward the backyard through the window, wondering if Heresden had come in too.
But Heresden, Lilia, and Wuben were all still out there.
“Still, you twisted your ankle. You were in pain — walking around without doing anything about it will only make it worse.”
Lumi held a bandage and some wooden sticks in his hands.
“Let me help.”
Heresden might have noticed that I wasn’t really injured, but—
‘Since I decided to play dumb, I’ll see it through.’
What could he really do if I insisted I was hurt?
“I can do it. I’ve learned how to wrap a bandage before.”
I reached out my hand, but Lumi pulled his back.
“The splint needs to be secured properly. It’s harder to do alone. Please, let me.”
He looked so sincerely guilty that I couldn’t refuse. I nodded.
“It’s not really swollen, though.”
I spoke idly as I opened the door.
It had hurt when I fell — but unfortunately, not badly enough to cause a visible injury.
Once I sat on the bed, Lumi naturally knelt on one knee before me and efficiently secured the splint around my leg.
“You’re good at this.”
It was expected that knights like Ildorian or Heresden would know first aid, but Lumi wasn’t one of them. His skill surprised me.
Especially since he’d been the slowest and most exhausted of the three of us during training.
“I got hurt a lot as a kid, so I’m used to it,” he said as he stood.
“I’ll keep checking on you until you’re healed.”
“Thank you.”
“Please rest now.”
He brushed his damp hair back and left. Not long after, Lilia arrived.
“Milady, are you feeling a bit better?”
I nodded lightly, and she continued.
“His Grace said you’re excused from training until your ankle heals.”
“…What?”
Lilia’s face showed only genuine concern as she relayed Heresden’s message.
I couldn’t quite imagine what kind of expression or tone he’d used when he said it.
“As I told you before, my hand is completely healed now, so please don’t worry and take it easy,” she said as she picked up the damp towel draped over my bed.
“Oh, I can—”
“You’ll have trouble going up and down the stairs, so let me do it for you. Ah, and about the food storage you mentioned last time.”
She brightened as if she’d suddenly remembered something important.
“I talked to His Grace, Duke Heresden, about what you were worried about.”
My head snapped up at the mention of food storage.
I’d been uneasy for a while — in the novel, the fortress’s storage eventually ran out of food, but here it was still completely full.
It seemed fine for now, but I couldn’t shake off the dread that one day, just like in the novel, we’d face a terrible shortage.
That was why I’d voiced my worries to Lilia not long ago — that perhaps the food in the underground storage might spoil due to poor maintenance.
“He said the food won’t suddenly go bad,” Lilia said gently, smiling reassuringly.
“The climate here is quite dry, so moisture won’t spoil it easily.”
“…I see.”
I nodded, but the unease inside me only deepened.
If the climate prevented spoilage, then why had the food shortage happened in the novel?
The storage was full, the food stable — so what could possibly cause it…?
“Ah…”
Then, suddenly, a sentence from the novel flashed through my mind.
The beginning of the problem.
We were fated to have all our food stolen.
