Leni calmed her pounding heart and entered the tent.
Blayden, who had taken off his cloak and spread it on the inner floor, took her elbow and led her in.
“Do at least one useful thing before the day is over.”
“Excuse me?”
“I mean, warm up the spot.”
That again.
Leni scrunched up her nose at Blayden’s back as he walked out of the tent.
When was he calling her a burden?
Humph, admit it.
I’m a warm burden.
I’m useful for as much as I eat.
With a stubborn determination to prove her point, Leni lay down in the middle of the cloak.
The faint scent of herbs wafted up from the thick fur.
What was it like when she sweated on her back while riding Blayden’s horse?
She tried to recall her father, Uncle Thomas, and Peter’s backs, but her memory was hazy.
Her heart ached, feeling as if those who were her whole world were too far away.
“Father.”
Leni pulled her knees to her chest, curling into a ball, and called out the name she missed.
As her soft breath escaped, the tent rustled, and Blayden returned.
Judging by the moisture on his face and neck, he seemed to have washed himself.
The scent of ginger salt that Gabriel had given them wafted through the air.
After the meal, while the unit members washed, Blayden fed the horses.
A captain who did all the dirty work, regardless of rank.
Gabriel’s words that Blayden was respected by the soldiers came to mind.
Just as Leni’s heart was about to soften, Blayden’s sarcastic remark flew in.
“You’re so small there’s no point in warming it.”
He told me to do it, and now he’s complaining.
It’s your job to assign tasks that fit a person’s abilities.
Leni ruffled herself up and sat, putting strength into her gaze.
“It’s not my fault. There’s such a big difference in our sizes.”
Blayden shook his head, looking at her sharp retort.
He found himself thinking it was amusing, which was absurd, since he should have been dumbfounded.
She was a child who wasn’t intimidated even by the king, who was rumored to be fierce, and spoke her mind, so perhaps a knight seemed trivial to her.
Just as Blayden was thinking that Leni resembled an untamable wild horse, another remark flew out.
“It’s unfair to scold someone for something they can’t change no matter how hard they try.”
Her dark purple eyes, even darker than during the day, looked up at him provocatively.
Blayden met Leni’s gaze steadily.
He felt as if his body was submerged in warm water.
No, it was as if sunlight crackled above his head and a gentle breeze brushed his face.
Solenia Radelaion, if you could, what would you change?
What would you enjoy?
Leni, who longed for her first kiss. Leni, who eagerly awaited a wonderful role on stage.
Leni, who cleared the chessboard dreaming of a world without war.
His heart ached thinking of the smooth path this girl could have walked.
Martin’s prophecy heard in the Tower of Time stirred his heart.
“Keep Leni by your side and watch over her. You will gain an ally more powerful than any king in the world.”
To offer him strength, wouldn’t that be like stabbing Tigrinus in the back?
Story Master, my foot.
Martin Skarlsson hadn’t left the palace.
He was wandering the wilderness, yet he had his hand in the center of power.
Like all things in the world, no one should believe what they see.
Was Skarlsson, who said this little one would be an ally, an enemy or a friend?
What exactly was the true identity of this tiny creature?
To compare her situation to a fish, she wouldn’t lose to anyone in an argument, even if dropped in the middle of the palace.
Blayden shook his head to shake off his sentimental thoughts.
Leni, with wide eyes, stared at him intently.
“If you have something to say, say it.”
Leni blinked her eyelashes, showing a hint of politeness, and opened her mouth.
“I didn’t know you were trying to save me, and I scratched your face.”
Her hesitant gaze fell on his cheek.
Just as he thought she was apologizing, Leni pursed her lips impudently.
“You cut my hair, so let’s call it even.”
Oh, look at her.
She wasn’t trying to apologize; she was planning to get something in return.
“That’s not how you calculate. The scratch you made will leave a scar, but your hair will grow back.”
“Ah.”
Leni chewed on her lip, as if realizing the flaw in her logic.
“If you really want to call it even, I can give you a wound that will leave a mark for a long, long time. How about it?”
Blayden deliberately used a threatening tone.
Leni’s eyelashes fluttered at his low whisper.
The moisture filling her trembling eyes must have been fear.
Blayden surmised that Leni was recalling the beheaded head of Kiabel.
“So don’t calculate, just leave it unfair. Anyway, you and I have always been unfair.”
Leni tilted her head.
Always?
How long had they known each other?
She stared at Blayden, but he didn’t seem inclined to answer.
“Am I causing you trouble?”
Leni subtly changed the subject.
“What trouble?”
“At Clarvil Palace, since I slept in the wolf-nim’s room, everyone must think that the wolf-nim and I… I mean… that… that it went according to the script. But I shouted that I wasn’t the wolf-nim’s woman, so didn’t the plan go awry?”
“What script and what plan?”
“The wolf-nim staying in that room all night was the script, and I was a tool.”
Blayden narrowed his eyes.
An ominous feeling ran down his spine.
“I don’t know what kind of story it was, but the wolf-nim wrote the story and acted it out himself. I was the tool that had to be in that room. To prove that the wolf-nim was in that room. All night, all along.”
Seeing Leni emphasize “all along” like bait, Blayden almost burst out laughing in admiration.
This child was intelligent.
Dangerously so.
“Tools don’t speak. They don’t try to understand the scene. They just exist. So don’t worry. I’ll keep it a secret that the wolf-nim put me to sleep and went out.”
Ah, cunning Solenia.
Is she threatening me now?
For a very brief moment, Blayden wished Leni was truly sly.
But Leni was transparent.
He told her to let down her guard if she wanted to escape, and she was following it literally.
With acting skills like that, you’ll be playing trees and rocks your whole life, kid.
Blayden’s sharp gaze swept over Leni’s body.
She was small but sturdy.
Her steps were quick, her body flexible, and her hands fierce.
What he needed to observe was not Leni’s acting, but other skills.
“You, did you learn swordsmanship?”
Leni looked at him as if asking why he was suddenly asking that, then nodded.
“Yes. My father taught me since I was little.”
She admitted it was too late to deny it.
Yes, all lies are woven into the truth.
“You’ve been a wanderer, so you must have learned self-defense.”
“Yes. My father often told me: ‘Having the strength to protect yourself is respect for yourself. Not using that strength carelessly is respect for others. You must develop the power to control your strength.'”
Blayden recalled Martin, who maintained his dignity even while imprisoned.
Those were words he would have spoken.
Did he say Leni was a hand that moved the board?
But in his eyes, Leni was just a young, delicate girl.
“Solenia Radelyon.”
His own voice, flowing from his lips, sounded unfamiliar.
A strange emotion welled up from the lingering echo on the tip of his lips.
His heart creaked like an old wooden staircase.
Then his mouth went dry, and his uvula tickled.
Blayden stretched his lips into a long, “Tsk,” sound.
“Relax and sleep tonight.”
“Excuse me?”
“I mean, I won’t pounce on you, so sleep comfortably.”
Leni’s eyelashes fluttered.
The moment he looked into her mysterious purple eyes, his heart ached, and Blayden turned away.
“And don’t sniffle. It was so loud I couldn’t sleep.”
There was no answer.
Behind him, Leni was silent, not even breathing.
He wondered what expression was on her small face, but Blayden clenched his hands tightly.
To keep himself from looking back at Leni.
To keep from opening his mouth and uttering more regrettable words.
***
Whether she had adapted to sharing a space with Blayden, she felt less afraid and anxious than last night.
‘I’m not getting used to this person! I just want to rest comfortably.’
Insisting so, Leni closed her eyes.
There was no benefit to her if she stayed awake.
From his actions so far, it seemed unlikely that Blayden would torment her in the same way he had in the Great Hall.
So, it would be best to close her eyes and conserve her energy to face tomorrow.
Contrary to her wishes, she didn’t fall asleep easily.
Her head was muddled with all sorts of thoughts.
Blayden’s words that pity was an insult lingered in her mind.
The sight of him sitting around with his subordinates, eating fish, kept flickering before her eyes.
Blayden, who had been sharp at the palace, looked comfortable with his unit members, as if wearing clothes that fit him perfectly.
His attitude toward his subordinates was disciplined yet easygoing, and the unit members also treated him freely.
It was clear that Kinolf was a group united by camaraderie rather than hierarchy.
It felt more like a small community than an army, reminding her of her time living with the troupe.
No!
That’s not right!
Leni shook her head vigorously.
Skarlsson’s Troupe was my home.
The troupe members were family.
To compare these people to my own, it’s absurd.
She barely managed to compose herself, but sleep still wouldn’t come.
Blayden, who had angrily cut her hair, came to mind.
His childhood, which she had heard rumors about, weighed on her heart.
A seven-year-old boy who cut open his father’s corpse and took out his heart.
Did he get angry because I touched that painful memory?
What else was taken from the child who lost his status and family?
Did he cry aloud, longing for the time he couldn’t return to?
She wondered what Blayden’s life was like when he was a prince of Kiabek.
He must have been surrounded by attendants and servants.
He must have learned all sorts of things from excellent teachers.
Who taught him that pity was an insult?
Did he learn it on his own, without being taught?
On his own.
Alone.
As her thoughts turned to her own situation, the tip of Leni’s nose tingled.
When she didn’t know what to do as she grew up, she relied on her father’s wisdom.
But her father was too far away.
Now, she had to decide everything for herself.
Her father’s well-being even depended on her choices.