CH 5

9-12 minutes

The exterior of the Valtale mansion was wide and maze-like.

While moving her feet in the direction of the scream, Libertisha had to keep in mind the path she had taken to ensure that she wouldn’t forget the way back.

“Kyaaa!”

In the meantime, she was getting closer to the screaming sound.

After circling around the exterior of the mansion, Libertisha finally found the source of the screams.

It was coming from the gardens, a little away from the mansion. A distressed maid was standing there, looking up into the trees.

Libertisha walked closer and asked.

“Is something the matter?”

“Oh, Miss Knight. Up there…”

Libertisha turned her head as she looked in the direction to where the maid was pointing her finger.

In the tree, a young boy was perched on a branch and reading a book as he paid no attention to the maid.

The guards who heard the restless maid’s screams began running towards them.

When they saw the boy up in the tree, they too looked surprised and immediately stepped up to climb the tree.

“Oof!”

“Ugh!”

However, the moment they stepped on a branch to climb up, it broke with a snap.

The branches of the tree were not thick compared to its height. They could withstand the weight of a young boy, but were not strong enough to bear the weight of fully armored adult men.

Libertisha, who had been observing the grumbling guards, raised her hand and gestured for them to step back.

“Let me do it.”

The boy glanced over for a moment when hearing Libertisha’s voice, but soon ignored it and went back to burying himself in his book.

Libertisha lightly jumped up a tree branch and reached the top to where the boy was in an instant.

‘He got up here all by himself?’

As Libertisha climbed up, she was genuinely surprised on the inside.

There were no ladders or anything for him to step on.

If she were to ask the young trainee knights who were currently undergoing training to climb up a tree, some of them would probably hesitate or be too scared to climb up while others would not even dare attempt it.

But that boy was sitting so calmly while reading a book.

Libertisha then held onto the boy’s arm to keep him from falling.

The moment she grabbed him, the boy was startled and dropped his book.

“You…”

Libertisha paused for a moment when she came face-to-face with the boy.

Hair that burned as red as the sun and orangish-red eyes.

Duke Valtale.

He was a boy who looked just like him.

“Who the heck are you? Let go of me.”

While she was dazed, the boy freed himself from her grasp and jumped off from the branch.

“Kyaaa!”

The maid, who had been waiting below, screamed once again. Hearing that, Libertisha came back to her senses and looked around, but the boy was already running away and climbing the other trees in the garden.

His movements were agile and swift, resembling that of a wild beast.

No, it was something much smaller and more nimbler than that…

‘He’s like a cat.’

The guards rushed after the boy, but it seemed to be difficult for them to catch him.

Libertisha brushed herself off and stood up, staring in the direction in which the boy had gone off.

***

The garden in the Valtale Duchy was spacious, splendid, and maze-like.

It wasn’t the gardeners, the botanists, the animals, or the insects who made the best use of that fact.

Swish.

The tree branch that the boy had stepped on broke.

‘They won’t be able to find me if I’ve gone this far.’

This place was a space where the boy had been playing since he was young. It was like his playground in a way.

Among the guards, the maids, and even that woman he had seen for the first time, it would be nearly impossible for them to catch him in that garden.

“My book… Oh.”

Only after finding a new spot to read did the boy frown as he realized that he didn’t have his book.

He had dropped it when his shoulder was grabbed earlier.

The boy grumbled to himself as he sat back and leaned against the tree.

‘Who in the world was that woman?’

Seeing that she wore a white uniform, she seemed to be a knight for the imperial family, but her movements were on a completely different level from that of the knights working in the duchy.

Her movements were light like flowing water, but it didn’t exactly lack in power…

That’s right. It was reminiscent of the movements he had seen from his father at the training grounds when he was younger.

Thinking about that, the boy frowned and muttered to himself.

“ … So annoying.”

“What is?”

The boy jumped up from his seat after suddenly hearing someone’s voice.

In front of the boy was the white knight he had met just a moment ago.

“What the heck are you? When did you…”

The boy was perplexed and distanced himself from Libertisha.

However, Libertisha went over to him as if nothing had happened and held something out to him.

“Here.”

“ … ”

“Isn’t this yours?”

In Libertisha’s hand was the book the boy had dropped.

The boy glanced at the book and at Libertisha before snatching it from her hand.

“Who are you?”

“Me? Hm. I’m a knight who came from the imperial palace.”

“And who was asking you about that?”

“Were you not?”

Hearing Libertisha’s question, the boy frowned.

He couldn’t figure out what she was up to.

It was the first time a knight had behaved so confidently and rudely in his presence.

“You don’t seem to know who I am, so I’ll let you know that I’m…”

“I know who you are.”

Libertisha cut off the boy’s sentence.

“You’re the owner of the Valtale Duchy. You’re still only eight years old, but you recently inherited the title of duke because the previous duke died on the battlefield due to black magic.”

“ … ”

“Duke Valtale?”

The boy’s face displayed not just annoyance, but also a sense of bewilderment now.

She already knows everything? She knew but still acted the way she did?

How could she be so confident?

It was even more astonishing that she just casually spilled out the stories about the previous Duke Valtale that were practically taboo. From the talk of black magic to his death.

The boy who had been looking at her with a puzzled face opened his mouth.

“ … Are you crazy?”

“My nickname is Mad Dog, but in reality, I’m perfectly fine.”

“You already knew that I’m the duke, but you still treat me so rudely?”

“Don’t worry. I’m not only like this towards you. I just let myself go in front of His Majesty too.”

“Ha.”

A hollow laughter escaped the boy’s lips.

“You must be out of your mind. It’s surprising to see that you haven’t lost your head yet.”

“I’ve had a few close calls, but luckily it’s still attached. I guess you could say that I know my ways around danger.”

“ … Are you saying that because I look easy to you?”

*note: basically, he thinks that she's looking down on him and that if he were to ever try and have her head cut off, she'd be able to get out of it

“Hmm, I didn’t directly say that though.”

What was with this nutjob of a woman?

He was genuinely bewildered.

It was not something worth bragging about, but he had also grown up hearing that he often drove those around him crazy.

But he never thought he’d meet an opponent that was worse than himself.

The boy gave up on trying to have a normal conversation with her and decided to ignore her as he walked away. He didn’t bother to run as he felt he would just get caught again anyway.

This time, Libertisha spoke first.

“You run really well. Did you receive some training?”

“ … ”

“If that is the case, then you run exceptionally well for your age. You weren’t simply running but knew how to utilize the surroundings to your advantage.”

“ … ”

“You’re multiple times better than the guys under me. Perhaps it’s because you received training from the duke. Thinking about it, the previous duke was incomparably outstanding…”

“Hey.”

Snap.

The boy’s footsteps came to a stop.

“Be quiet. Don’t bring any of that stuff up.”

The voice she heard was the lowest and most chilling tone of all the voices she had heard from him so far.

It was so eerie that it was hard to believe that it was coming from the voice of an eight-year-old.

Seeing his orangish-red eyes turn dark, Libertisha self-deprecatingly shrugged her shoulders.

“I apologize.”

“Straight to speaking with formalities, I see.”

“Did I not tell you? I know when to distinguish my position.”

Huh.

The boy lowered his head. She was a human he had never encountered before in his life.

A person with no pretense, no dignity, and no manners.

She pretends to be ignorant, but in reality, she was sharp-witted. Her personality was completely incompatible with his own.

‘Moreover, even though she’s grown up… She became so sullen just because of a few words.’

The boy frowned.

Her pink eyes slowly gazed downward. Her lips slightly protruded again.

Nearly a moment ago, she acted excited and had been speaking informally to him that he followed along silently without saying a word.

She was truly an unpredictable person, but surprisingly, her emotions could be clearly seen on her face.

He felt like he would go crazy with the sudden, awkward silence.

It would be better if she just continued to speak casually as she had been doing earlier.

Or even spit out nonsense in a gentle tone.

In the end, the boy spoke.

“ … You’re the knight that was sent here from the imperial palace, right? That’s what the butler said.”

“That’s right.”

“Is that so?”

“ … ”

“ … ”

An infinite silence lingered between them once again.

With each step, all that could be heard was the rustling of the grass.

The boy put up with the awkwardness and tried to endure it, but.

“ … Kaius.”

“Pardon?”

“Kaius Valtale. That’s my name.”

In the end, he finally opened up.

It was rare for him to reveal his own name to someone else.

Not knowing that, Libertisha simply looked up during the unexpected and sudden introduction before speaking.

“I’m Libertisha Celsier.”

“Libertisha… Your name is quite difficult.”

“You are free to call me by a nickname if you want. But more importantly…”

Libertisha’s pink eyes sparkled with a glimmer as she turned around.

“Where are we going now?”

Her expression became relaxed once again.