Chapter 44
“Evan Taylors has arrived and was shown to his room. As you instructed, we assigned him to the middle room of the western tower.”
Rowen reported to Riccardo, who had just returned from the hunt.
Riccardo’s cheek was smeared with a vivid streak of blood, and behind him, soldiers were dragging along a bear the size of a house.
It wasn’t particularly surprising, so Rowen remained composed.
“A guest has come, so…”
Riccardo’s lips moved.
In his deep green eyes, there still lingered a suffocating bloodlust.
“…we must treat him generously.”
“I’ll inform the young master to make preparations as well.”
Riccardo turned his gaze toward the snowy mountains he had just left behind.
Winchester’s winters were brutal.
Only the strongest beasts could survive there, and yet he had hunted down the mountain’s king with a single stroke of his blade.
Even without Black Flame’s aid, it hadn’t been a difficult task.
“…”
And then, Riccardo suddenly felt the faint gaze of someone watching him.
The owner of that timid gaze, like a small woodland creature, was a child who stood about waist-high.
A silver-haired girl with her hair tied into two pigtails—she seemed to have grown a little since the last time he saw her.
Though she stood on Winchester’s harsh soil, her green eyes shamelessly gleamed with innocence and purity.
“Hel… hello.”
At Sasha’s voice, Riccardo twitched an eyebrow and wiped the blood from his cheek with a weary gesture.
The soldiers all stared at the little lady of the duke’s household with identical expressions.
‘How can anyone be that impossibly cute?!’
For the daughter of the Duke of Winchester—who could cleave a bear in one strike—her presence seemed oddly out of place, as though she alone radiated a soft, luminous glow.
With her cheeks tinged red from the cold, Sasha approached Riccardo.
“Welcome back.”
Then, grasping the hem of her dress, she gave a polite little curtsey.
The icy wind around them felt as though it turned into a warm breeze just in her presence.
“What are you doing out here?”
The unspoken words “in this weather” hung between them.
Unlike Jin and Othello, Sasha tended to catch colds three or four times a year.
When Riccardo cast a cool glance toward Maya, Sasha hastily waved her hands.
“I asked to come out. It’s not Maya’s fault.”
“…”
“I… have a favor to ask.”
She hesitated for a moment before speaking to Riccardo.
He would never know just how fiercely she had fought against herself, inside, just to muster the courage to talk to him.
When Riccardo frowned, Rowen quickly dismissed the nearby soldiers.
The cold wind swept between Sasha and Riccardo.
After a moment, Sasha finally spoke—and Riccardo’s eyebrow twitched.
Her gaze was earnest.
“The western tower isn’t suitable for Evan to stay in.”
Riccardo looked at me with his cold eyes as I voiced my protest about Evan’s quarters.
Of course, I knew. I was meddling beyond my place.
But this time, I had to speak up.
“Because it’s too close to the northern base—they’ll notice for sure.”
To adults, I probably just sounded like a child babbling nonsense.
Even if I was regarded as a prodigy within the household, knowing many things, most of my days were still spent buried in the library.
And I had always grown up trying not to draw Riccardo’s attention unless absolutely necessary.
When he only frowned without giving a reply, I cried out desperately, hoping he’d understand.
“I’m saying this for the sake of the family!”
At that, Riccardo’s eyebrow twitched.
He stared into my eyes for a long time.
Then he spoke.
“Did the Grand Duke tell you about the northern base?”
The northern base was one of Winchester’s secret defensive strongholds.
Only direct family members and high-ranking aides knew of it. I had only recently learned of it through Grandfather Hector.
Thousands of bombs were stored there, connected to escape routes. It also held a massive laboratory for developing lethal weapons.
“…Yes.”
“Truly, there’s nothing the old man won’t tell a child.”
Riccardo muttered with a grimace.
Then he fixed his gaze on me again.
“Evan doesn’t know about it.”
I knew that from the original story. Evan had no knowledge of the northern base.
“Since it doesn’t exist in any documents, the Taylors spies wouldn’t have been able to discover it so far. But if Evan notices and reports it to the Taylors, the situation could become very difficult.”
Had Evan known about the base in the original story, Winchester would have been conquered far more easily.
And if only Othello hadn’t been swayed by the traitor Permetis, Jin or Riccardo might have been able to move to the northern base and prepare for the future.
That was what I had thought when I first learned of its existence.
After a pause, Riccardo finally spoke.
“…So your judgment is that the location is inappropriate.”
His eyes were fixed on me, and I nodded.
My heart pounded. Would he actually accept my opinion?
“…”
For a long moment, his gaze was serious, even tinged with a strange curiosity.
At last, he broke the silence.
“That is… a useful opinion.”
It was an acknowledgment.
“But.”
Then he leaned forward slightly, lowering himself to meet my eyes.
“Even if you have something urgent to say, it is not proper for a young lady to rush out in weather like this.”
When our eyes met, I shrank back instinctively.
“Cough…”
Even after wiping, the bloodstain on his cheek remained.
In his green eyes, the emotion there was stern—so much so that I couldn’t tell if it was curiosity or killing intent.
“…Restrain yourself next time.”
His low voice slipped into my ears.
Was he… worried about me? Somehow, I felt bewildered.
But one thing was certain—my opinion had gotten through to him.
“Yes, Father…”
Straightening back up, Riccardo called for Rowen.
“Reassign Evan Taylors’s quarters.”
“As you command.”
Rowen bowed to Riccardo’s order.
Still, I couldn’t shake the memory of Evan’s eyes watching me from the window.
Riccardo’s low voice flowed into my ears once more.
“And as for you—”
― Once a week, you will join me for dinner.
Among the Four Great Houses, there was a truth that everyone knew.
― Wh… what? Why?
For children and adults alike, receiving an invitation to dine with the family head was both a mark of recognition and a great honor.
― I wish to see what you have learned. You’ve grown quite a bit now.
And so, at the mere age of seven, I was cursed with that “glory.”
“…”
Of course, I could have refused.
Had Riccardo not been wearing such a long, terrifying sword, I would have refused.
Had his face not been smeared with blood, making him look so fearsome, I would have refused.
‘I should’ve just sent an anonymous letter instead of speaking directly…’
I wanted to smack myself.
What kind of fool rushes to Riccardo of all people to speak directly?
“I’m doomed…”
I flopped onto my bed.
“Phew…”
Riccardo’s low voice still lingered in my ears.
Why can’t he just eat with Jin instead? Damn villain dad!
Weakly, I muttered:
“Othello’s going too… I’ll go… too…”
Just as I was about to drift off to sleep, something suddenly appeared before my eyes for the first time in a while.
[You may enter the Special Zone. (0/1)]
