Chapter 45: I Am Still Your Fiancée

Seeing His Blackstone’s unruffled demeanor, Leonard continued.

“Don’t worry about the payment for these weapons. Consider it an advance from the Blackstone family to help out the Kingdom Knights. I’ll have someone draw up a contract shortly, and we’ll slowly pay you back.”

“Then I’ll leave it in your hands, Captain.”

His agreed readily.

He knew this iron-blooded man before him would never accept such a large donation of weapons without compensation.

“Good! No false modesty. That’s the kind of personality I like!”

Leonard grinned, then turned his gaze to Ai Lin, who was standing nearby.

“Have you finished inspecting the weapons?”

“Still counting. There shouldn’t be any problems.”

“Mm.”

Leonard nodded, his gaze sweeping back and forth between His and Ai Lin a couple of times.

A meaningful smile suddenly crept onto his lips.

“Speaking of which, aren’t the two of you still engaged?”

“Captain!”

Ai Lin’s expression shifted instantly, her cold, clear voice rising a few notches.

Leonard paid her no mind and continued speaking to His.

“Ah, you know, your reputation in the royal capital wasn’t exactly stellar before.”

Leonard let out a deliberate sigh as he spoke.

“Honestly, I wasn’t too keen on this engagement of yours at first.

But for you to deliver all these gray crystal weapons to our knights at such a critical moment… now I’m suddenly glad she has a fiancé like you.”

“Captain, your wound hasn’t healed yet. Don’t talk too much!”

Ai Lin was so anxious she could have stomped her foot.

“Alright, alright, I’ll stop. I’ll stop.”

Leonard waved his hand with a laugh, but his gaze remained fixed on His.

“Rest assured, young man His. I’m a good judge of character, and you’re certainly not the frivolous young master the rumors make you out to be. If anyone dares to speak ill of you in the royal capital from now on, I, Leonard, will be the first to object!”

“Haha, thank you, Captain Leonard.”

“Ah, no need for thanks!”

Leonard patted his bandaged arm and winked at His.

“Oh, right. Since I’m still nursing an injury, Ai Lin will handle the weapons matter with you. She’s been talking about it every day lately…”

“When have I ever talked about it?!”

“She’s been talking about when the gray crystal weapons would arrive, every single day.”

Leonard finished his sentence without missing a beat.

Ai Lin took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and held back the words that had surged to her lips for a long moment.

His watched Ai Lin’s expression—one that clearly wished she could stuff the Captain back into his bed—and had to exert considerable effort to keep from laughing.

“Captain, get some proper rest. The battlefield will still need you later. I’ll take my leave for today.”

“Mm, go on, go on.”

Leonard waved His off with a warm smile on his face.

“Next time, once I’m healed, we’ll have a proper drink together.”

“Definitely!”

His nodded with a smile and headed out of the tent.

Ai Lin glanced at the Captain.

Leonard said nothing, only nodded at her.

Ai Lin turned and followed His.

The two walked out of the tent one after another, heading toward the camp’s entrance.

Neither of them spoke along the way.

“Um…”

Ai Lin spoke up first, breaking the silence between them.

“I’ve thought about what happened last time.”

“Hm? What about it?”

“It’s… about our engagement.”

“Ah… you’ve already made up your mind?”

His stopped in his tracks.

He had long been prepared for Ai Lin to propose breaking off the engagement.

Honestly, the fact that Ai Lin had dragged this out for so long was what surprised him most.

“I think… we shouldn’t call off the engagement for now.”

“Mm… mm?!”

The unexpected answer left His frozen in place.

This was the last result he had anticipated.

“You’re right. Our engagement was arranged by our parents, and they never asked for our thoughts on the matter.”

Ai Lin said calmly.

“But if we don’t know each other well enough, how can we judge whether this engagement is right?

After returning from the Blackstone Duke Mansion last time, I thought about it for a long time. In the end, I decided we should give each other a chance to get to know one another better.

If, by then, we still believe we’re not suited for each other, there will be plenty of time to discuss dissolving the engagement.

And until that day comes, I remain your fiancée.”

With that, the Sword Maiden of the Kingdom gently tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, turned her head away, and refused to look at His.

“I…”

For a moment, His didn’t know how to respond.

No, no, no.

This was getting stranger and stranger.

This wasn’t how it was supposed to go, right?

“What? You don’t agree?”

Seeing that His remained silent, Ai Lin turned her face back to stare into his eyes.

“Or is it that you already have someone you like, and our engagement is standing in your way?”

“No, no, no. Absolutely not!”

His hastily waved his hands.

“Then do as I said!”

“Yes!”

Ai Lin nodded, then swiftly turned around and strode back toward the camp, her silver ponytail gently swaying in the evening breeze.

His watched that rapidly receding figure and stood there blankly for a long while.

“Young Master?”

The coachman called out tentatively when he saw that His hadn’t gotten into the carriage.

“Huh?”

His snapped back to reality.

“Oh, everything’s been unloaded, right?”

“All unloaded.”

“Mm, then let’s head back.”

His hopped onto the carriage and leaned against the window.

Watching the knights’ camp gradually recede into the distance, his heart was a jumble of mixed emotions.

***

Two nights later, His returned to his domain.

After exchanging a few brief words with Florin, he went straight back to the study.

Closing the door, he leaned back in his chair, and the image of Ai Lin’s silver ponytail gently lifted by the evening breeze flashed through his mind again.

His sat up abruptly and slapped his own cheeks a couple of times.

For some reason, over the past two days, Ai Lin’s figure kept suddenly invading his thoughts.

He stood up, casually pulled a book from the shelf, flipped through a few pages, then shoved it back.

Just then, a soft knock came at the study door.

“Young Master, please come have dinner.”

Rafina’s gentle voice came from outside the door.

“Oh, coming.”

His pushed the door open and followed Rafina to the dining hall.

Along the way, Rafina turned back to look at His several times, as if she wanted to say something, but each time she hesitated.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. It’s just that you seem a bit distracted today, Young Master.”

“Is it that obvious?”

“Mm…”

“I suppose I might be a little tired.”

***

Blackstone Duke Mansion dining hall.

Rafina sat to His’s left, frequently serving him food and soup.

Ni Wei sat on the other side, appearing to focus on her meal, but her eyes kept lifting from her plate every so often to steal quick glances at His.

Yet His was completely oblivious.

At that moment, he was staring blankly at a plate of roast meat.

“Young Master His?”

Seeing this, Rafina called out to him softly.

“Huh?”

His snapped back to attention and forked a piece of meat into his mouth.

Ni Wei watched His like this and let out a mental snort.

That guy.

He’s been completely spaced out ever since he got back.

He was perfectly fine before leaving for the royal capital, so why is he like this now?

Ni Wei bit down on her fork as the image of that silver-haired woman she’d seen with His at the royal capital’s gate involuntarily surfaced in her mind.

That was… his fiancée, wasn’t it?

Could it be…

No way, right?!

***

After dinner, His returned to the study once more.

He spread another book open on the desk, hoping to divert his attention through reading, but he couldn’t get into it no matter what.

Just then, the study door was pushed open.

His assumed it was Rafina coming to call him to rest, but found Ni Wei walking in instead.

She carried a tray holding a cup of hot tea and a small plate of pastries.

“This is…”

“I made it myself.”

Ni Wei set the tray on the desk, a smug little expression on her face.

“Didn’t you say last time that I should help share some of sister’s burdens? So I started with tea brewing and making pastries.”

Seeing the young girl like this, His let out a long-missed laugh.

“Is that so? Then I’ll have to give them a try.”

“Don’t worry. I guarantee they’re delicious.”

His picked up a pastry and popped it into his mouth.

Mm…

Not bad, actually.

Though they still fell a little short of Rafina’s.

“Well? How is it? How is it?”

“Not bad.”

His nodded with satisfaction.

“Oh, and I’ve been reading this lately.”

Ni Wei trotted over to a bookshelf, pulled out a book, and handed it to His.

He took it and looked: Basic Element Theory.

“Can you even understand this?”

“When I don’t get something, I just ask Housekeeper Florin.”

Ni Wei pouted.

“Besides, someone promised to teach me how to control the dark element in my body, but then went missing for days on end.”

“I’ve been busy with important matters.”

His picked up the hot tea and took a sip.

“Oh, sure. Isn’t ‘important matters’ just going to the royal capital to see your fiancée?”

His nearly sprayed out the tea he’d just taken into his mouth.

“You! What are you talking about?!”

His swallowed the hot tea in one gulp and coughed dryly a couple of times from the burn.

“I went to the royal capital to discuss business, understand?”

“But you still saw your fiancée.”

“…”

Realizing he couldn’t win an argument with Ni Wei, His decided to change the subject.

“Who would’ve thought? Our little maid actually knows how to care about her master now.”

“What are you talking about? I’m not worried about you!”

Ni Wei turned her face away.

“I just thought sister looked worried, so I…”

Even she didn’t believe that excuse.

His watched Ni Wei’s ears turning slightly red and suddenly felt that this sharp-tongued little maid seemed a fair bit cuter than before.

“Don’t worry. I’ll talk to Rafina tomorrow.”

“Hmph. You’d better.”

Ni Wei stood up and walked toward the study door without looking back.

“Hey.”

His called out to stop the girl.

“What now?”

“Take this book back with you.”

With that, His walked up to the girl and handed the Basic Element Theory back to her.