CH 5

Lily said she was going to the stable to do some work………….

“What?” 

It wasn’t dangerous, but the maids held her back.

“No, no, no!”

There was no way they would send a baby out into the snowy fields at dawn. That was how they felt. But they could not break Lily’s insistence.

“I can’t? “

Lily’s shoulders drooped with a hint of sadness in her blue eyes.

Lily’s short life consisted of a long string of pressures.

Her family, and even the husband she had lived with since her marriage, were equally selfish and heartless people.

So Lily had a small appearance, but at one time she was the flower of society. She knew how to treat people to some extent.

“Are you sure I can’t?”

Lily blinked her big eyes and cried.

“Ah….. Then how about we go together?”

“I know it’s not as difficult as both of us are going.”

“You’re quick witted, aren’t you?”

The servants explained ten times how many steps they had to take to get to the stable, and packed the dried meat to eat if Lily got hungry while walking. 

“If you are ever in distress, holler at us. I’ll be right there.”

It was only tens of seconds away from the castle. But they packed things like Lily was going on a long trip.

Lily thought these maidens were really cute, despite their size. 

They wrapped scarves around her and put hats on her, Lily went outside looking like a fluffy snowman. 

***

At the same time. 

Blake was sitting in his dimly lit office, with only a small candle lit.

The morning sun had not yet risen, and the duchy was very dark.

“Oh my gosh. That scared me.”

The old butler was surprised when he came into the office and saw the dark figure.

Alfred, who had given his daughter’s clothes to Lily.

He was an Upus, but he was small and calm, perhaps because of his old age. He was also a man who had devoted all his time to the dukedom.

“What are you doing without sleeping?”

“Thinking.”

Blake was in the same position he’d been in since Lily left his office.

His face shook with the fire flickering on the candle.

The hard shape of his jaw moved.

“I was reminiscing about what kind of a man my father was.”

“The previous Duke was a good man.”

“We have our differences of opinion, don’t we? The man in my memory was just selfish.”

“Hahahaha.”

The butler was on the side of the former Duke, but there was no denying that.

“I can’t believe he made a promise using his family name just because he spilled wine on an unknown woman. Was he that much of a madman?”

“Maybe it wasn’t a woman he didn’t know.”

“Do you know anything about her?”

“It was a guess.”

The butler shook his head.

His role was closer to that of a head servant than an aide. He was in charge of the big and small things in the castle.

Most of the external affairs were the work of his aides.

“But I want to tell you this old story.”

The wrinkles in his eyes deepened as the butler recalled the old days.

“It was a long time ago, when you were a child. Your father, who was the head of the house at the time, didn’t like to go to the capital.”

“Of course not. He had to meet those b*st*rd noblemen.”

“But it’s interesting. One day, a while ago, the young lord and your father had fun visiting the capital. I think it was when you were no more than seven years old, isn’t that unusual?”

“We did? What did we do?”

“He didn’t answer any of my questions, instead he told me to ask Your Highness. But you were very young at that time.”

“I see. Then bring me the seven-year-old.”

“His Excellency is looking for you, seven-year-old Master Blake, hahahahaha.”

“Not funny.”

“I’m sorry.”

Alfred could no longer remember and left the office, leaving Blake with only questions.

The old butler pondered as he walked down the dark corridor, relying on the lights.

‘I suppose I’m getting old. I can’t remember a thing about the old days.’

But the hustle and bustle of winter was still vivid in his old brain.

The former headmaster who laughed out loud, and Master Blake, who often stuttered but had a good heart…

That had changed after the former Lord disappeared in a mysterious death five years ago.

‘The Young Master was always a quiet person, though. I don’t really see him smile now. ‘

It had been five years at most.

The winter castle had been frozen for far too long.

Alfred wondered if he could see the former young Master Blake again before his lifespan was up. He felt lonely, so he stopped and looked out the moonlit window for a while.

Then he suddenly looked down and saw a small person walking on the snow field.

What could it be?

It was Lily, who happened to be on her way to the stable.

He could see her breath spreading under the hazy light from the castle.

How can a guest from the capital venture outside at this cold dawn?

The surprised butler soon smiled.

The figure, surrounded by clothes and scarves, seemed to be the work of the servants.

‘It seems she couldn’t sleep at dawn.’

It was a small, lightly pigmented guest, who had walked alone in the snowy mountain path to come here, so he needn’t have worried too much. Unexpected guests were what brought surprises to the castle.

“Oh, by the way.”

Alfred remembered a scene when Blake’s father came back from the capital with young Blake. The former master was indeed teasing Blake.

“This is what I’m talking about! This little boy! You already promised to marry that girl?”

“Go away!”

“Alfred! Could you check out the wedding venue a bit in advance? It’s for my wonderful son and his wife.”

“Please! Haha!”

Butler Alfred’s wrinkled eyes became fond of the memory.

“I suppose it’s meaningless now…”

Still, Alfred thought about telling Blake about the memory, but there was no one in the office anymore. Blake was crossing the hallway on the other side. 

He was filled with frustration. He had to do everything he could to forget this feeling. It was dawn, but he thought he’d stop by the stable. 

He didn’t know it, but it was the same place where Lily was already in. The morning sun hadn’t risen yet.

Blake walked through the thick open gate.

He saw a white field where the snow had stopped.

The castle of Upus, high up in the snowy mountains, was always covered with snow.

He stepped on the snow with his black leather boots and passed by. Cold steam came out of his mouth.

This had been Blake’s daily routine lately.

It was because his most prized possession, his cherished horse, was about to give birth.

As the day of delivery approached, he went to the stable himself every morning to check on the horse’s condition.

‘It’s a little early.’

‘It’s not bad.’

He didn’t know when Lily Hedwick was going to show up for breakfast, so he left in advance. Without knowing that Lily was already in the stable.

Lily’s shoe prints were left on the snow, but Blake didn’t notice them because Lily was wearing the maid’s shoes.

He only thought that probably one of the maids must have gone to the stable to change the water.

Blake entered the stable, vowing never to see Lily again for the next year.

Inside, the magic whale oil light was always on.

It was dimly lit……….

Thanks to the daily cleaning by the servants, the place smelled only of faint barley tea.

However, he also smelled the scent of peaches through the familiar air.

Blake pounded his feet on the ground, shaking off the snow from his leather boots, and flinched. He raised his head.

His dark brows furrowed as he thought.

‘No way….’

‘Is it her?’

Blake hid himself in the darkness for a moment.

***

Lily had just come to the stable under a dark dawn. It was just quiet inside.

After looking through a number of horses, she quickly found the black horse that the maids had described.

‘I take it you’re the one Lord Blake cherishes.’

Blake was quietly observing Lily from his hiding place.

‘What connection did I have with this woman when I was young………………?’

The more he looked at her, the more familiar he felt, and the more he wondered about it.

Of course, it was still just speculation.

The butler didn’t know anything about her, and the woman in particular didn’t seem to know anything about it at all.

Thinking about it twisted his judgment. Somehow, these worries themselves might not make sense.

He just wanted to see what that woman was doing in a stable where the picky nobles would never come.

In the meantime, Lily thought the horse stable was good.

The stable was in the form of a separate room for each horse.

There were beds piled with clean straw, and the food containers were spotless.

‘This is how the horse stable is made. It’s too bad that I just know now. It was hard to get out of the mansion in the capital, so there are so many things I don’t know.’

Outside, there was snow all year round, but inside it was warm, probably due to the special temperature control. Horses were sensitive animals to heat and cold. 

Lily stood in front of Blake’s favorite horse.

“Good dawn to you, my friend.”

Lily pulled down her scarf as she greeted the horse.

The slight mouth barely opened due to the servants’ overdressing, which made her look like a small giant.

“Neigh.”

The black horse replied lightly.

The horse had fierce eyes. Lily marveled at the pitch black mane behind the pointy ears, like a famous work of art.

The muscles were tightly connected under the neck, but the belly was plump.

“Oh! You’re really pregnant . It’s a mysterious thing.”

Lily moved as she mumbled. Suddenly the past smoldered in her head and she whispered.

“I once thought I would get married and have children of my own.”

The fact that the person who was listening to her was a horse that didn’t understand human speech eased her mind.

Lily leaned the water bucket she had been holding against the drinking fountain.

The hot water reached the right place with steam………

“Hm.”

There was nothing more to do.

Instead of returning to the castle immediately, Lily paced around the black horse.

‘It’s really romantic and serene.’

The whale oil lamp inside flickered at just the right moment, glowing against the brown walls.

Lily liked this monotonous atmosphere.

She thought long and hard about the ordeal and the hard time that had passed, and decided to rest for a while.

Blake was watching the whole process.

He could completely eliminate the signs if he wanted to.

It was similar to how a wolf would completely hide in the grass before a hunt. Blake just needed to lean his head at an angle against the ledge.

He kept his arms crossed tightly and stared at Lily’s white wrists.

‘If you’re done, then leave, what the hell are you doing lingering around?’

Lily brought out a square of rice straw at the corner. She sat down like a chair to meet the horse’s eyes.

Even though she was a sorceress, she did not have the ability to communicate with animals. However, seh called out to the horse gently. 

“I know you’ll be giving birth soon, how are you feeling? Are you scared?”

Blake snickered when he heard Lily’s question.

He thought to himself.

‘Dominique is a brave horse. Dominic’s lineage has long been excellent at supplementing people from the Upus family. It shouldn’t be afraid of creating a future generation!’

However, the way Lily spoke in a whisper evoked a feeling of the past somehow.

At that moment, he suddenly thought of a scene.

“….?”

In his memory, his gaze was much lower than it was now.

He was in a light brown wheat field.

His younger self was talking to a girl, younger than him, from a distance.

“Are you stupid? You talk to an ear of wheat and it doesn’t answer you.”

“No…. But still.”

The wheat made a whoosh sound as they swayed in the wind.