“Even so, I’ve endured five years of war.”
“I’m fine too.”
“Hey. If you’re being shy, it’s better to be warm in someone else’s clothes than cold in your own.”
Leni, who had been staring at him, looked at herself and said, “Sir Knight, you wear that. I’ll just wrap myself in my cloak while my clothes dry.”
Leni’s cloak had come off just before she fell into the swamp.
After emerging from the swamp, it was only slightly damp because she’d worn it over her soaked tunic and trousers, which clung to her body.
Blayden found the cloak, which had flown off in a windless place, ominous.
“There’s no choice. We have to choose between suspicious clothes and wet ones.”
Leni shrugged, her brow furrowed as if in thought.
“His Majesty bestowed it upon my father, so it’s too big for me. It’s enough to wrap myself completely.”
Just that, and nothing else?
Blayden’s lips twisted.
It wasn’t shyness; she just didn’t want his things touching her body.
“Don’t you feel any shame?”
“It’s better to be warm wrapped in a cloak than cold in wet clothes.
Someone just enlightened me.”
Her nonchalant attitude was admirable, then it subtly annoyed him.
Hey, don’t you see me as a man?
Leni, eyes wide, drew a circle in the air with her index finger.
As he stood dumbfounded, a rebuke flew at him.
“Show some chivalry.”
Ah.
Blayden turned away, embarrassed.
She said he wasn’t not a man, but she was being cautious.
Behind him, he heard wet clothes plop and fall to the ground.
Blayden tried not to imagine Leni’s appearance as he changed his clothes.
Long after the cave had quieted, he glanced over his shoulder and saw Leni holding the front of her tightly wrapped cloak with both hands.
Hmm.
Blayden took off his tunic and cut both sleeves off with his dagger.
“What are you doing?”
Leaving a bewildered Leni, he tied the ends of the sleeves together to make a long cord.
“Turn around.”
As he approached Leni, a wary gaze shot at him.
Leni’s widened eyes swept down his bare chest.
“Why?”
You never do anything willingly, do you.
Blayden grabbed Leni’s shoulders and turned her around, then wrapped the long cord around her waist.
“Oh!”
Leni flinched, hunching her shoulders.
She must be awkward, suddenly being embraced by him.
“Stay still.”
He told the squirming Leni and then wrapped the cord over her cloak.
The curves of her petite body met his contours.
Warmth spread, like an unexpected enemy attack.
Blayden tried to concentrate on the cord, estimating the length of both sides.
As he wrapped and tied the cord a few times, Leni held her breath, her body tense.
Finally, a tight knot was completed.
As he withdrew his hands and stepped back, a bubbly voice piped up.
“Oh, what’s this?”
Leni, having turned, looked at the knot and then at him, her eyes shining.
“Wearing it like this, it looks like a dress. It’s just tied with a piece of cloth, but it looks wonderful.”
Sorry it’s just a piece of cloth.
Blayden was confused whether it was a compliment or a complaint, while Leni kept smiling.
“I could even go on stage. Where did you learn to tie such knots?”
“The battlefield is the best school. All sorts of people gather from everywhere.”
“Yes. I suppose you could think of it that way.”
Leni nodded and looked up at him.
Her clear eyes sparkled as she met his gaze, then she gracefully bowed at the waist.
“Thank you, Sir Rehart. I pay my respects to your excellent dexterity.”
Respects, really.
Blayden almost scoffed at her theatrical tone, but then his throat tightened.
When was the last time he’d been praised for creating something, rather than cutting someone down?
Her bright smile, which made him forget their current predicament, brought tears to his eyes.
Caught in the feeling of his tattered body and mind being comforted, Blayden gazed at Leni.
“Uh, I called you Sir Rehart, and you’re not scolding me?”
“If I scolded you, would you be the kind to change? It’d just be a waste of breath. Right now, it’s time to conserve energy, not worry about useless things.”
Blayden said with a feigned scolding tone and spread their wet clothes on the stone floor near the fire.
Leni approached, wringing and shaking the water from her clothes.
Her tunic lay next to his, trousers next to trousers. It was as if their shed skins lay side by side.
A sudden thought struck Blayden, and he turned to Leni.
“But are you really okay just wearing that?”
“Yes. It’s warm.”
“No. Not that… you weren’t feeling well, were you? You… just in the cloak… so…”
He wanted to ask about the stomach pain that had bothered Leni, but the more he tried to speak, the more his tongue twisted.
Was it not that symptom?
What was there to be embarrassed about if his guess was wrong?
Blayden plopped down in front of the bonfire and rummaged through his satchel.
He pulled out bread and water and handed them to Leni, who had come closer.
Leni took the water bottle first.
Gulp, gulp, Blayden patted Leni’s shoulder as she drank furiously.
“Conserve it. We don’t know how long we’ll have to last here.”
“Ah!”
Leni took the water bottle from her mouth and sighed.
“I hadn’t thought of that.”
Blayden accepted the water bottle she offered back and quenched his thirst.
Just enough to ease the dryness, one sip.
The water was sweet.
Resisting the temptation to drink more, he closed the bottle.
“Did I drink too much, causing you to drink less?”
Leni asked with a apologetic look.
“Glad you know.”
Blayden broke the rye bread in half, put one half in his satchel, and broke the other half again.
Leni took the bread he offered with both hands, took a bite, and sighed a long, “Haa.”
“I feel like I’m coming back to life.”
You have to get out alive.
Definitely.
After all these years I’ve endured, I can’t die here.
Blayden chewed the bread thoroughly, steeling his resolve.
As his stomach filled, the warmth of the bonfire thawed his body.
Wiping bread crumbs from her lips with the back of her hand, Leni suddenly asked, “I proved myself, didn’t I?”
“What?”
“Didn’t you tell me to be useful? Thanks to me cutting your arm, we got out of the swamp of souls.”
“Yes. You were useful. I acknowledge it.”
Blayden replied in a dry, bread-like tone.
“Now there’s one more time left.”
“Right.”
“I’ll quickly fulfill all three times and gain my freedom.”
That look, as if she’s seen light in the darkness.
Blayden found Leni suddenly brimming with motivation annoying.
“In this situation, we barely have enough time to figure out how to survive together, little one.”
“That’s true, but becoming a free person is important too.”
Even though she looked embarrassed, Leni still chattered stubbornly.
“What’s the point of being alive if you’re a slave?”
Talking to her would only waste energy.
Silently finishing the remaining bread, Blayden got up and surveyed the cave entrance.
The sunlight was pale in the dim sky.
Darkness was already settling over the forest.
If he left rashly, he might fall prey to the shadow spirits’ magic.
Remembering Gustav’s warning, Blayden returned to the fire.
“It’s dark outside. It’s better to spend the night here.”
“Yes.”
Leni nodded and said, “You should get some sleep, Sir Knight. I’ll stand watch.”
Blayden curled his lips into a faint smile.
“Living long enough to take orders from a little one.”
“Stop calling me ‘little one.’
This ‘little one’ saved you, Sir Knight.”
Leni retorted firmly, then suddenly winced, rubbing her forehead with her hand, letting out a faint groan.
Blayden approached her.
“What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know. Suddenly…”
Leni couldn’t finish her sentence and slumped sideways.
“Leni!”
Blayden cried, catching Leni in his arms.
Her limp body felt like a burning fever.
She said she was fine.
“Leni!”
Blayden cupped Leni’s flushed cheek.
Leni, sweating coldly, moved her dry lips.
“Here…”
Here? Where is ‘here’?
“Uh… Mother Superior.”
Mother Superior Ericanin?
Why is she calling her?
“Leni. Snap out of it!”
What should I do?
Is she under the influence of the shadow spirits’ energy?
Blayden gently laid Leni on the ground and opened his satchel.
As he was searching for the miraculous medicine Gustav had given him, Leni’s faint voice pierced his ears.
“Eleanor.”
His hand froze.
“Eleanor.”
Blayden, covered in goosebumps, looked back at Leni.
He could tell where her mind was now.
***
Leni looked around at the enchanting scenery of the Forie Forest, bathed in the sunset glow.
Reddish sunlight gently caressed the grass and trees.
As she walked along with the fresh flowers, dew-kissed by the sunlight, she heard voices.
“Master, does the Prince absolutely have to become King when he grows up?”
“Do you wish to become something other than King?”
Leni hid behind a tree.
A small woman in a nun’s habit and a boy with a dignified air approached them side by side.
“I want to be a forest guardian.”
The boy, about six or seven years old, was dressed in neat silk clothes.
His bright eyes sparkled in his clear face, and his honey-colored hair fluttered beautifully.
The woman, who smiled kindly at the boy, seemed to be in her early thirties, with warm brown eyes as elegant as her voice.
“Your Highness, there is a wider forest beyond this one.
How about becoming a guardian of that place?”
“Where is this wider forest? I want to go there.”
“It is the forest of the people.”
The boy tilted his head.
“But the people are humans. They’re not trees or flowers.”
“That’s right. The people are humans. Always remember that and take care of them. Don’t let the gentle ones be trampled, and don’t let the beautiful ones be broken. Then the forest of the people will always be green and lush.”
Although he wore a puzzled expression, the boy listened carefully to the woman’s words.
Birdsong could be heard between their conversation.
“Oh!”
The boy’s face brightened.
He looked up, stopped, and stretched his arms out wide to his sides.
A bird with a red body and a white beak flew in, circling several times above his fluttering golden hair.
Poro-rorong, it chirped melodiously, then landed on the boy’s left shoulder and folded its wings.
“Eleanor thinks I’m a tree!” the boy whispered, as if not to startle the bird.
“Please turn me into a tree, Master.”
A shadow fell across the woman’s face as she looked around.
“The sun will set soon. You should return to the palace now.”
“I like the forest more than the palace. Can’t we camp here tonight?”
“His Majesty will be displeased, Your Highness.”
At the mention of ‘His Majesty,’ the boy’s face hardened.
“Yes, it’s better to go back before it gets dark. Last time, His Majesty scolded me because my clothes got dirty. I don’t mind, but I don’t like it when the maids get scared.”
The boy nodded reluctantly and stroked the bird’s head with his hand.
“Goodbye, Eleanor. See you next time.”
The bird opened its beak and sang.
A bright smile spread across the boy’s somber face.
“Master, you said it’s a good day if you make someone happy, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
“I think I just made Eleanor happy. So today is a good day. Isn’t it, Master?”
“Yes, Your Highness. It is truly a good day.”
Leni, watching the boy from behind the tree, covered her mouth with her hand.
She was now in Blayden’s childhood.
“What? Good? I like you too, Eleanor. Take care. I’ll order the hunters to never enter, so don’t worry.”
The boy’s soft voice spread, carried by the spring breeze.
He was such a pure and innocent child.
The image of the harsh and cold Blayden came to mind, and Leni’s heart ached.
The more she clenched her lips to swallow her sobs, the more moisture welled up in her eyes.