CH 51

Gareth originally didn’t intend to rush his plans. He knew that Hansen needed a break as well. However, since Lydia was now residing in the castle, he couldn’t help but start investigating. Her sudden appearance was keeping Gareth on edge, since he had no idea what she was planning. Gareth wondered why Lydia had appeared in front of him so suddenly. Something told him that the reason wasn’t just because of the child she was bearing.

“I don’t know if I’ll be able to wait four months for her to leave,” Gareth muttered to himself. If he managed to, he would be able to confirm whether or not Lydia’s words were true before spring came. Gareth imagined a baby resembling his younger sister Adelia, then decided he had to check the baby’s appearance. He didn’t want to hear yet another child’s screams every night.

‘If there’s another reason I’m letting her stay… it would be that having her nearby will make it easier for me to investigate the king’s schemes.’ Gareth tried rationalizing his behavior with this thought, but suddenly became irritated.

“Curse it!” he spit out. He recalled Elena’s words and how she had been avoiding him. He wondered if she was really going to start sleeping in the hall from now on.

Gareth jumped up from his chair and clenched his fists. He immediately made his way outside the castle and towards the stables. He got on his horse and set out to search for Giggs and the few men he took with him to patrol around the estate. It wasn’t long before Gareth found them at a nearby town and led the group to the entrance of the estate.

“What’s wrong?” Giggs asked when they reached their destination, his expression confused.

“We’ll need to cut down some trees before winter begins,” Gareth said.

“Are you planning on building a wall?” Giggs asked, showing that he had quickly understood the purpose behind Gareth’s order.

Gareth nodded. If he wanted Lydia to spill some information about the king, then the construction of the wall needed to start as soon as possible. She had lived in the capital all this time, so there had to be a reason why she decided to come live here now. Perhaps the king did something and she fled here to protect herself. ‘Is the king really planning a grand scheme? Is that why he’s trying to get rid of his cousins?’ Gareth contemplated to himself.

“But even if we start now, it will be impossible to finish in two months,” Giggs noted.

That’s true. Even though there wasn’t an open entrance, it would be difficult for people to work all winter, and there were also unknown variables to take into account as well. ‘Then…’

“We’ll take commissions after we finish the work here,” Gareth said resolutely.

“Huh?” Giggs doubted his ears. “Are you saying that we’ll take that long of a break? Not just two months?”

Gareth nodded, surprising Giggs. This was the estate Gareth had taken back as a reward after successfully completing a commision for the king, but his boss had not done anything for it until now. He didn’t collect taxes, either, as his principle was to not take anything from the people if he hadn’t done anything for them. But out of nowhere, he was suddenly talking about building a wall.

“We’ll need to dig a moat and build a gate as well,” Gareth said.

Giggs’ eyes widened. It sounded as if Gareth was planning to defend the estate. He, however, decided not to reveal his thoughts and commented, “We’ll need some supplies.”

“We can get some from the market at Viscount Dewey’s estate since it’s the nearest one to us.”

Giggs showed a mischievous smile and joked, “I guess we’ll be staying here for a long time then.”

Gareth ignored Giggs’ comment and measured the length of the entrance to the estate by walking in even strides. He then took out some rough parchment as well as a piece of charcoal from his pocket and meticulously wrote down the necessary supplies. He didn’t want to leave out any details, since Viscount Dewey’s estate was quite far away.

The chilly early winter wind blew in the air. Gareth was checking the list of materials thoroughly, when he heard faint wolf cries from a distance. He stopped writing and turned his attention to the forest. The estate was surrounded by dense forests which were surrounded by mountains. It was a befitting place to be infested with wild animals, as well as wandering groups of outlaws.

“They’ll need to be swept out,” Gareth spit out coldly, glaring at the forest with his pitch black eyes. He decided to clear the forest out while he was at the estate so that his notoriety would dominate the woodlands and that no one would dare to come near his estate while he wasn’t here.

‘Walls, gates, moats, and hunting. That way, this place will become safe for Elena,’ Gareth thought without realizing it. He was starting to wonder if Elena had eaten anything when he heard Giggs’ voice.

“Should we leave today?” his subordinate asked. Giggs was excellent at performing his duties at the right time, just like how he read Gareth’s mind just now. Before Gareth could answer, Giggs grinned and added, “I’m sorry, but I’d like to leave after having lunch. I want to eat some stew prepared by Lady Elena.”

Giggs didn’t like Madel, the chief maid loyal only to Gareth, because the woman was terrible at cooking and discriminated against him as well as the rest of Gareth’s men. The vile wench would give Giggs and the others tough meat and save all of the delicious, soft parts for Gareth. Giggs thought it was ridiculous to feel discriminated against in a place he called home, since he didn’t feel anything close to it when traveling around the country with Gareth. He had argued about this issue with Madel again and again, but to no avail. To him, it seemed that the woman only viewed Gareth as a human being and considered the rest of the men swine.

This morning, Giggs and the rest of the men were disfavored as usual, but it was forgiven because the food had tasted different. Despite Giggs’ love for food, he was not just a clumsy pig that drooled over everything. He was by no means a simple man, even though he could seem ignorant and rude at times because of his appearance and how he spoke.