CH 55

Gareth harshly rubbed his bloodshot eyes with one hand. He hadn’t been able to sleep for the past few days. If it was true that Lydia was actually carrying his child, then the king would have given her approval to marry him. Instead of remaining stationed like she was now, she would have been asking Gareth to marry her and spreading the word around everywhere that she was pregnant with his child. ‘There’s something else happening here. I need to keep in mind that she’s a conniving woman. There’s no way she actually cares about the child inside her… But then again, these are all just speculations, and I have nothing to confirm these beliefs.’ Gareth had grown increasingly sensitive lately, perhaps due to his lack of sleep. It had gotten to the point where he couldn’t even connect his thoughts smoothly at times.

At that moment, Gareth saw Giggs far off in the distance with an enormous pile of materials from Viscount Dewey’s estate behind him. Gareth had left the remaining work to Giggs, relieved that he was able to get some help as he was exhausted and restless from the constant thoughts running in his head regarding the king’s schemes.

Gareth watched as his men began to dig a rectangle in the ground after Giggs instructed them on how to dig the moat. The ground wasn’t completely frozen yet, but Gareth could tell that it was difficult to poke into the soil. After several shovels broke, Giggs removed his shirt and leapt into the hole to continue digging. Gareth’s vision gradually started to blur.

“God damn it…”

This was the first time he hadn’t been able to sleep like this. Although he always had trouble sleeping when he was home, he would sometimes miraculously pass out for a few hours. However, this time was different. He didn’t know if it was because there were too many things to think about or because of Elena who was persistently avoiding him.

Gareth walked towards a nearby tree and carefully leaned his tired body against it. His emotions were all over the place and he kept spacing out. At this rate, he would be caught off guard and not be able to properly think or make any sound judgements. If he didn’t want to cause any accidents, then he would have to find a way to rest somehow.

“Hansen needs to return with information soon…” Gareth mumbled to himself. With his back against the tree, Gareth propped up one leg and stretched his arms before resting his hands on his knee. Then he leaned his forehead on the back of his hands and closed his eyes. His dry eyes finally rested for a moment before a burning sensation inside of him forced them to snap open. Gareth suddenly sprang up from his spot, spitting out vulgar words. The thin thread holding him together had finally snapped.

“Where are you going, boss?” Giggs turned around and asked down from the hole when Gareth got on his horse. “Do you want me to escort you?”

“Just do your job,” Gareth spat out.

“Yes, sir.”

Gareth started making his way back to the castle without looking back. The thundering sound of his warhorse shook the ground.

* * *

Elena was busily preparing dinner. Since her arrival at the castle, she had been waking up before Madel at dawn. Her day started with putting firewood in the fireplace and then consisted of kitchen work for the rest of the day. Despite being the first person there, she was usually the last person to leave.

Elena considered the kitchen the sacred place of any castle, with the lady of the household in command. Her belief stemmed from the fact that one could see the castle’s activities at a glance through the kitchen, as all the supplies for the castle arrived through the backdoor of the kitchen. Furthermore, the kitchen was connected to the hall, where all the people living in the castle, including the lord and lady of the castle, could be seen.

Although not all ladies of households involved themselves with the duties of the kitchen, Elena did so back at Townsend estate. She had never hesitated to dirty her hands with unpleasant work and had not only managed the activities in the kitchen, but the whole castle as well.

From the kitchen, Elena was able to avoid Gareth and observe what was happening in the castle. She noticed that the atmosphere had become heavy and down recently, even somewhat depressing. She speculated this was probably because of Gareth, who had remained expressionless and silent for the past few days. The unreadable, blunt man, who wore his armor every day and never separated himself from his sword, seemed as if he was constantly on edge.

It was only after a few days when Elena began to notice something different. Gareth started to look exhausted with his bloodshot eyes and haggard complexion. He seemed uneasy, roughly massaging his temples with his fingers. He didn’t yell in anger, but somehow seemed extremely irritated, not to mention fatigued. But strangely enough, no one asked Gareth anything. Elena thought he deserved to at least be asked about his well-being, but no one did so. It was as if this was the norm for everyone but her.

In addition, Lydia had been refraining from leaving her room, which only made the atmosphere even more gloomy. Madel seemed to be blaming Elena for the changes in both Gareth’s and Lydia’s behaviors. After the horrible incident that had transpired between Gareth and Lydia a few days ago, Madel stopped being polite towards Elena and began to act hostile instead.

Elena sighed quietly and began to cut the meat she took out of the pantry into thin slices, when a voice interrupted her thoughts.

“That’s for Lord Gareth, Elena,” Madel said.

“What?” Elena asked back.

Madel gave a disapproving look and snatched the pork from Elena.

Finding Madel’s behavior ridiculous, Elena questioned with a sharp voice, “Madel, what are you doing?”

“I can’t give Lord Gareth’s share to anyone else,” Madel replied stubbornly and began to put the meat back in the pantry as if nothing was wrong.

Anger gushed up inside her as Elena was rendered speechless. She was already unhappy with Madel’s discrimination towards Gareth’s men during meals. However, she had decided to not voice her concerns until now, given that she wasn’t Gareth’s wife and was only his trophy. She remained silent this whole time, thinking that she didn’t have the privilege to raise any issues regarding Madel’s behavior. But she had had enough.

“Madel, bring the meat back here,” Elena ordered sternly.

Madel only sulked in response, causing Elena to become outraged.

“Didn’t you hear me? Bring the meat back here!” Elena repeated, yelling this time.