Chapter 58
After finishing my preparations and eating a simple breakfast, I headed to the office.
There was still some time left before Kaylen had to leave.
As I entered to do what I could before then, I saw that April had come earlier than me today.
“Eri!”
April, who had been sitting on the sofa talking with Lea, jumped down and ran toward me.
“Eri! Tell older brother not to go! Please?”
Lea hurried after April with an embarrassed look.
“Your Highness… um, the Grand Duke Kaylen is…”
April roughly pushed Lea’s hand away and buried her face in my skirt.
“Why does older brother keep going somewhere… Why does he leave April behind… I wish he didn’t go…”
Her sad voice dampened the fabric of my skirt.
Lea seemed flustered by April’s stubbornness, but I shook my head at her.
“Your Highness.”
April flinched and hid even deeper between my legs.
I slowly stroked her shiny small black head.
“I don’t want it either, Your Highness. Then… shall we go tell the Grand Duke not to go?”
At my words, April lifted her head a little. Her eyes were already red.
“Can we… do that?”
I nodded strongly.
Hearing my answer, April’s small cherry-like lips trembled, and she looked back at Lea.
But after seeing Lea’s expression, April’s shoulders drooped.
“No… April won’t do it.”
She gave up quickly. Even though she sometimes threw tantrums, Lea told me she never acted like this back at the Imperial Palace.
Ever since coming to Winterford, April had started whining and being stubborn much more often.
But she also gave up easily.
Feeling sorry for her, I crouched down and held her small hands.
“How about a warm cup of milk?”
April loved warm milk with honey. She nodded, her chubby cheeks wobbling.
Although I had work to do, I decided to put it aside for now.
Sitting beside her as she blew on the warm milk, I decided to drink some tea too.
“The Grand Duke said he’ll come back as fast as he can.”
“…Okay.”
She gave up on running to Kaylen and begging him not to go, but her mood still didn’t improve.
Seeing a five-year-old trying so hard to hold back her emotions made me gently speak again.
“Let’s think about what fun things we’ll do while the Grand Duke is away.”
April, who had been staring quietly at her milk instead of drinking it, slowly turned her head toward me.
I asked Mia for paper and a pen. She had been watching April with a worried face and quickly brought them.
“He said he’ll be back soon. If we play lots of fun things, time will pass quickly, and he’ll return fast.”
April set down her milk cup and looked at the blank paper.
“I’m going to draw.”
“What will you draw?”
“Aiden.”
I tried hard not to smile and nodded.
[1. Drawing — with Brother Aiden.]
April quietly watched me write each word.
“What’s this?”
“Oh, that’s Aiden. Brother Aiden’s name.”
Lately she had become interested in letters ever since I gave her the messy fairy-tale book I made.
She pointed at the letters with her tiny finger and tried sounding them out: “A… I… den…”
I wrote another line beneath it.
[2. Studying letters]
Then I added things like going skating if the weather was good, making a dollhouse, and more.
By the time one whole sheet was filled with things April would do until Kaylen returned, her expression had brightened.
Just then, someone knocked on the office door. It was Greta.
“The preparations for departure are finished.”
It was time for him to leave.
“Everything is ready.”
“Good.”
Kaylen looked over the neatly lined-up knights and nodded.
He walked toward the horse he would be riding. Anyone could see it was an excellent horse.
Excited to run with its master again, the horse blew out a strong breath.
Kaylen stroked its nose, then approached the people who came to see him off.
“I’ll be back. Please take care.”
The Grand Duchess, Elliana, bent her knees and bowed.
“Don’t worry. Please return safely.”
Her expression was more solemn than the knights preparing for departure. Kaylen turned to April, who was tightly holding Elliana’s hand.
Seeing his little sister clenching her lips and holding back tears, he knelt on one knee.
“April.”
April let go of Elliana’s hand and hugged Kaylen’s neck.
She pressed her face into him.
“Come back quickly.”
Kaylen held her small body and nodded.
Compared to what he had done before, this mission wasn’t dangerous, yet stepping away felt especially difficult.
He stroked her little back and whispered in her ear that he would return soon after finishing his work, so she should play well until then.
Standing beside Elliana, he brushed April’s cheek and then rose to look over the people who had come to see him off.
Dylan, Benjamin, Greta, the Grand Duchess’s brother—every servant working in the castle was there.
“Please look after the castle.”
Everyone bowed together.
Kaylen turned around and put on his gloves.
He placed his foot on the stirrup, mounted easily, grabbed the reins, and took a deep breath.
“Depart!”
The Winterford castle gates opened wide, and Kaylen kicked his horse’s side.
The eager horse shot forward.
As soon as Kaylen moved, Isaiah followed.
Isaiah was accompanying him on this journey. His white horse followed Kaylen’s black one, and behind them came Caspian and the line of knights.
Kaylen crossed the drawbridge first, followed by the others.
The vibrations of the horses pounding the ground reached Elliana’s body.
Even after the riders passed through the gates and could no longer be seen, no one, not even Elliana, left their place.
April held Elliana’s hand tightly, her nose red from the cold, her green eyes watery as she watched her brother until the very end.
Each time the horses struck the ground, snow flew up.
The snowstorm caused by the horses was a spectacular sight.
The border region they needed to reach was more than four hours southwest of Winterford. Kaylen planned to rest as little as possible to arrive earlier.
Though clouds covered the sun, the wind fortunately wasn’t strong.
After about two hours of riding, Kaylen pulled the reins to slow down.
The knights behind him also slowed.
“We’ll rest here for a bit.”
He pointed toward the entrance of a small rocky area that would block the wind.
The knights moved quickly. Well-trained, they lit a fire to warm their cold bodies and let the horses rest.
“We’re about halfway now?”
Isaiah held his hands near the fire and asked Caspian.
“Yes. Once we cross this rocky hill, it’ll be mostly flat.”
Caspian took off his gloves, brushed off the snow on his thighs, and checked on the resting knights.
“It feels a little less cold since we moved farther south.”
His nose and cheeks were red from riding in the cold wind.
Isaiah unhooked a small flask from his belt and took a sip before offering it to Kaylen.
“I’m fine.”
Kaylen took dried jerky from his saddlebag and bit into it.
Isaiah shrugged and drank another sip.
The strong liquor burned his throat. He wiped his mouth with his sleeve.
“Who’s left in Winterford Castle?”
“Mark, Paul, and Gas.”
“So you left only the skilled ones.”
Kaylen chewed the jerky while looking at the rocky hill they would soon cross.
“Is King Ober the type you can talk to?”
Isaiah shook his head as he warmed his wet trouser legs.
“A brute.”
Kaylen nodded; there was no need for more explanation.
“And Ferdinand? How’s the situation there?”
Isaiah lowered his voice.
