CH 81

No matter how early Madel woke up, Elena was always the first one in the kitchen. Madel walked in expecting warmth from the firepit that Elena would have started, then stopped when she couldn’t feel the warmth. She was taken aback when she couldn’t find Elena in the kitchen, either. Madel closed her mouth tightly and quickly started another fire in the kitchen furnace.

“She must be tired after working so diligently all this time,” Madel told herself. This was the first time she had arrived at the kitchen before Elena. The woman was very diligent and didn’t rest for even a second. Warmth slowly spread out from the fire Madel had started in the kitchen furnace. She could hear the others waking up and stretching from the hall. The maids came into the kitchen one by one rubbing their eyes. Elena continued to remain absent as they prepared breakfast.

* * *

Gareth drove the carriage himself, taking Lydia to the boundary to his estate. As he did so, he thought back to the conversation he had with Lydia last night.

* * *

“I’ll let you live once, Lydia,” he said.

“Gareth, why don’t you comfort me? Don’t you feel sorry for me?”

However, Gareth ignored her pitiful words and blurted, “I’m only putting up with you because the baby was a red-haired girl, as you said.”

Lydia was quickly able to notice that Gareth was adamant on his decision. Her heart sank with disappointment and worry, but she remained calm and asked, “Then whose side are you on? Don’t tell me that you’re going to side with the king who murdered your family.”

“You all can play the dirty game amongst yourselves,” Gareth snapped.

“Are you taking an oath to remain neutral? You’re not going to take anyone’s side?”

“Get ready. I’ll take you to the entrance.”

Lydia stared hard at Gareth’s unwavering gaze. Although he wasn’t on her side at this time, she could tell that he was never going to side with the king, either. Lydia recalled Gareth’s dreadful revenge of exterminating Duke Blaim’s family and thought, ‘Let’s not rush. I wasn’t able to get everything I wanted, but I’m still lucky to have him decide to remain neutral. I, at least, laid down the groundwork, making him feel sympathy for me.’

At that moment, Lydia remembered what Logan had said.

“I don’t want Gareth to side with anyone.”

She couldn’t believe that she had to comfort herself with such wimpish words now. Still, she decided to settle for this and back off for now. Once spring arrives and battle begins, she was sure that Gareth was going to participate in the war and side with her. After all, it wasn’t like Gareth to turn a blind eye to the sight and stench of blood.

After coming to this conclusion, Lydia slowly opened her mouth. “I’m always on your side, Gareth. I know that you won’t be able to avenge your family on your own. I’ll have to find another place to hide myself, but just know that I’ll be waiting for you.”

* * *

Upon arriving at the entrance of the castle walls being built, Gareth handed the reins over to Lydia’s maid. The king had told him it was okay to kill Lydia, but the king was his enemy; there was no reason to follow his orders. This was a filthy game within the royal family, and Gareth wanted to leave it up to them to fight each other.

With the bloodshed that was bound to begin, Gareth had decided to up the security in his estate and wait for the unidentified forces to emerge. Hansen had yet to grasp who they were, which meant that they were a third force who had decided not to side with the king nor Lydia. Although patience was one of the things Gareth lacked, he decided to wait until the game was clear in his eyes, as this situation was different from a usual war.

The carriage began to rattle as it moved through the snow. Lydia stuck her head out of the window and spoke to Gareth for the last time, “You’ll make Elena pay for this, right?”

The carriage began to rattle as it moved through the snow. Lydia stuck her head out of the window and spoke to Gareth for the last time, “You’ll make Elena pay for this, right?”

Gareth didn’