Chapter 15

A rusty, brown tunic was rubbed against a wooden board.

I don’t know why I thought back to my childhood while just doing the laundry.

Slowly sifting through his rising thoughts, Ian moved his hand again.

It was fortunate that the clothes were dark. If it was bright white clothes, he would have set it on fire somewhere.

“Oh, my!”

As usual, a maid recognized Ian and shouted in surprise.

The eastern porch was originally a quiet area, so only servants who came to collect wood or maids heading for the detached house passed by it.

The situation was quickly understood as she had already heard the rumors that swept the mansion since the morning.

Seeing Ian silently putting his hand into the fountain, even the maids who came late, gathered and whispered quietly.

“Oh, my God, who would do a job like that?”

“Fred, he’s the only one who can think of such a thing.”

“Tch, he’ll get kicked out like the new knight last time. If he gets caught by Claude, he can’t calm down and be childish. How ugly!”

The youngest-looking maid in the group mumbled, sticking out her mouth. They agreed, but it was also a word that needed to be pointed out, so another maid nearby opened her mouth.

[T/N: By “a word that needed to be pointed out” it means that as the youngest maid said ugly to Fred, the elder maids and servants thought that they should point out that it is not right to point out people’s looks even if they agreed with it.]

“Baunie, you can’t just point out how someone looks. Of course, he’s ugly, but don’t you know it’s rude to point out the truth?”

“You’re the most rude here.”

“Let’s leave. He’s a Roxian. It’s better to leave him alone.”

Someone hurried where she was going, ignoring the start of a quarrel beside him.

She was the orange-haired maid who had entered Ian’s room several times. She didn’t think he was a bad guy, but he was Roxian anyway. You won’t see anything good if you get tangled up with them.

Nevertheless, the maid who first discovered Ian, looked worried.

“No, but he’s still going to do laundry outside in this weather?”

They knew best how hard it was. Unlike the Grand Duchy, which is largely generous except for a few things, the aristocracy that abuses servants is widespread.

Even if they were of low-ranking, they would not be able to say anything if they have a job, but the commoners could not say anything either. It was also the first time that a servant could use lukewarm water.

It caught her, but in the end, she couldn’t get close. It was because she was afraid of what kind of sparks would come out from it.

She felt sorry for the prince, who was openly hated, because the story of the enemy country or a war was a little far from those who were not from the northern region.

“Here…”

So this should be okay. The maid brought a large wooden laundry basket from somewhere and placed it down next to Ian. As there was no place to put the washed clothes, she could see clothes roughly lying on the fountain.

Then, they disappeared in a flash even before their eyes met. So when Ian belatedly raised his head, there were only footprints left on the white snow field.

It was already evening when I lost sensation in my frozen hands.

Ian, who never did anything else, dissolved all the sweat off his clothes with water, and looked back at the vast piles of clothes. It was a lot, too.

Ian was lucky that it finished before it got even darker. He stood up and headed straight to the training ground.

Fred stared at Ian like a madman with a pile of wet clothes.

“Did you really wash all of this?”

Ian, who was expected to go out curiously and come back frightened. Fred thought that he would have ran away to his room and not be seen again even after lunch or dinner.

This is why there’s nothing you can do about things that have grown up precious!

It was an appearance that overshadowed a moment ago when he jokingly quarrelled with fellow knights.

Just in case, he looked at a few, but they were all washed clean.

I didn’t even think of a proposition to come back, but when Fred, who didn’t expect it to be all the more, flustered, Ian turned his red hands around.

I was hungry because I didn’t eat, but fatigue came first.

No one stopped Ian from heading to his room, regardless of the way he looked. It didn’t take long to arrive since he had memorized the road ahead of time, following Ailee down.

When I opened the door, the warmth of the room came rushing out.

Ian, who had placed firewood in advance, walked to his bed after getting himself used to the room temperature that made him drowsy.

At this point, it was not a difficult combination, but it seemed to have really eased his guard.

Maybe it’s because of the cold. Ian, who dug into the blanket, curled up.

Maybe because I suddenly came into a warm place, I felt a sting in my fingers.

Ian, who only confirmed that he could move, blinked slowly and tried to turn his head.

I shouldn’t have done such a childish thing.

Knowing that it was unnecessary, it was clear that he would seek another way or give up.

I’ve dealt with people like that several times in my work. Whatever you do, if you listen and act silently, their interest will gradually fade away.

“What are you looking at? Aren’t you going to come?”

“……..”

However, Ian, who entered the training ground the next day, was greeted with the same amount of clothes as yesterday.

Is that the b*st*rd?

It was a perfect word for that look of Fred twitching with a proud face.

As if he took Ian’s amazing reaction differently, Fred, who became as elated as yesterday, pushed him on his back and gave him arms full of clothes.

Ian, who was then driven out to the fountain, stood still for a few minutes.

I was hoping that I could get rid of the attention, but when I saw his face I felt like I was on fire.

Let’s do it.

I poured clothes on a wooden board in the same position as yesterday.

I can do it. 

f**k.

What happened next was almost a war against laundry.

Ian didn’t even have enough time to dry his hands after he finished as Fred was kind enough to refill his clothes.

They had a war, but they didn’t know why they even had to participate. Fred seemed to be more frustrated with Ian, who had no particular action to take.

You’re a tough b*st*rd!

Looking down at the clean clothes today, Fred shook his fist.

“You’re saying let’s do it, right?”

It was no longer a matter of bullying. This was a matter of Shertians’ honour!

Ian was still in front of the fountain when Fred was throwing away the honour of the empire at will.

I was getting tired of doing laundry in ice cold water for three days.

Every time I breathed, white breath came out and I could see my fingertips dyed bright red. It was when I thought I might get frostbite by tomorrow.

Thump, Thump, Thump.

Contrary to Ian’s expectation, the sound of someone stepping on the snow must be a servant passing by, the sound stopped right next to him.

As I turned my head to the side, I saw a boy hugging a pile of clothes in his arms.

Fluffy blonde hair and blue eyes.

The boy with a young face, whom he thought, was about 15 years old, tilted his head when their eyes met. He blinked his eyes as if he had seen something strange and took a step closer, throwing the clothes in his arms to the floor. Looking closely, it was shabby everywhere.

Eh, what is it?

When he stopped what he was doing and looked at him curiously, the child who was spinning around and snooping around Ian, raised his head. Ian, who was strangely blinking, noticed his own hair and skin after a while.

Ian’s hair and skin is of a color that doesn’t exist here.

You must be surprised to see a foreigner for the first time.

He realised the reason roughly, but the child, who hurriedly pulled Ian’s clothes, moved his lips as if to say something.

I wondered if he was imitating me because I couldn’t speak, but when I looked at his sparkling eyes, I didn’t think so.

When there was no answer, the child, who was tilting once again, slapped his lips with his hand and shook his head.

When Ian realised he had something in common, he sighed and moved his lips.

I can’t speak either.

“……..!”

I thought he wouldn’t understand, but the child looked surprised.

Ian, who really turned his head this time, thinking his expressions were unnecessarily diverse, moved his hands again. The sound of water splashing showed no sign of leaving the child.

Ian’s reaction to the boy, who seemed to be wanting attention, seemed unpleasant for a while.

Then he shook his head as if he had thought of something.

Only then did he realize the laundry on the floor.

“Ah, ah!”

The child, who ran quickly with a perplexed face, hurriedly picked up the clothes. Fortunately, there was no dirt on the floor because it was piled up with snow.

Whew.

The child breathed a sigh of relief and turned his head away.

He stared with a perfect puppy stare at Ian, who was still not looking at him, and then slowly approached him again.

Bang.

Ian felt curious eyes pouring from the side, but he didn’t respond.

He didn’t like young children, and seeing servants avoiding the child like infectious disease, there seemed to be nothing good about being entangled with him.

I don’t think he’s being treated like a precious person.

I had a hunch that if I caught Fred’s eye for nothing, something more troubling would happen. I’m gonna have to ignore him. It was about 10 minutes after I made up my mind.

Tramp*!

[T/N – *making a fuss or making a mess]

Ian had to turn his head forcibly at the tremendous noise he heard from the side.

ㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ

Stay safe and healthy along with your loved ones. And have a good day!

Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Stay tuned for more.

~Dazzel.D~