CH 53

Crazy Meeting

Kyrie had never heard of such a thing.

‘You should bear with it if it is hard, saying it is hard is weird.’

Perhaps it’s because he was a commoner, the way of his thinking was definitely different. Kyrie laughed in vain as she felt the touch of MarryAnne taking off her dress. MarryAnne heard the sound and opened her eyes round.

“Lady? Are you sick?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

“Didn’t something happen while I was away?”

“There wasn’t.”

Except she met a strange guard trying to scratch his head with a helmet on.

‘It’s not a big deal.’

Obviously, nothing happened. However, after meeting Aaron, she felt like she was excited. It wasn’t that hard to go back to the evening party and say, ‘I’m tired, so please go back now.’

Blankly, MarryAnne brushed her hair, and Kyrie, who was sitting, opened her mouth.

“MarryAnne. What happened to the dead soldiers?”

“The Royal Family decided to give consolation money!”

“From the Royal Family?”

Kyrie was lost in thought for a moment. The Royal Family returned the land of the Legend this time, and the national treasury was shaken. She didn’t know exactly, but the consolation money wouldn’t have been enough.

Kyrie cautiously rose from her seat.

“Where are you going?”

“The presents that came in, where did you put them?”

“This way!”

Kyrie followed MarryAnne through several rooms.

Every day since she was imprisoned in the palace, there had been a series of gifts from the nobles trying to look good on her. Nathaniel had it put together in a room.

As soon as she entered the room where she had collected all kinds of jewels, money, gold coins, gold bars, and valuable assets, her eyes shone bright. The jewelry displayed inside the transparent glass cabinet was enough to buy a castle easily.

Kyrie selected dozens of large earrings among them, and had cleaned out things that were good to cash in immediately.

“Where do you want to use it?”

“Sell it outside. I can’t go out, so I’d better leave it to Laura.”

“All?”

“Yes. It’ll be good if you cash it out. Deliver it to the homes of the dead soldiers as comfort money…. Don’t disclose the source.”

“Yeah! Because everything Miss does is right!”

MarryAnne took Kyrie’s choices and moved them outside. It was late dawn when everything was picked up, and Nathaniel was still invisible.

“Where did Nathaniel go?”

“Wouldn’t he have gone to do something bad?”

“Do you have a basis?”

“No!”

Kyrie looked out the window. It was clear. It was a fine day, after the day black Nathaniel stood in the snowstorm.

‘Are you happy that I’m here?’

Kyrie went back to her bed and went to sleep. Aaron’s words lingered in her head.

‘You didn’t do anything wrong.’

It wouldn’t be strange to get beaten up somewhere. But there was no greed in his eyes to think that he was saying something to herself.

‘Just say it’s hard.’

The boy’s friendly words didn’t leave her ears until Kyrie fell asleep. She murmured in her sleep, thinking she could somehow understand Nathaniel a little.

(T/N: it means she understands why Nathaniel is so Obsessed with her coz “no one had ever told her these things”)

“No one…… had ever told me that…….”

Soon the wind blew over Kyrie, who was sleeping. Winter stroked Kyrie’s cheek.

[Right.]

With a voice that sounded tired.

For the first time since that day, Kyrie fell asleep without having nightmares.

***

The money that MarryAnne cashed through Laura safely went to the soldiers who died.

“They were worried about the high price of firewood, but they said they’d buy it now!”

MarryAnne, who delivered the money, smiled widely. She seemed happy to hear the gratitude. Kyrie held a teacup with a smile.

“As expected, the Royal Family didn’t treat them properly.”

The understanding was gone. As much as she bowed her head towards the Legend, and as much as it was a mistake by the Royal Family, she would have hated paying a large amount of money.

“Didn’t Nathaniel notice?”

“Oh, actually, I was caught taking it out…….”

MarryAnne scratched her cheek.

“But he didn’t say much!”

“He didn’t say much?”

“Yes!”

Kyrie narrowed her eyebrows and put down the cup she didn’t drink. It shouldn’t be something for Nathaniel to touch, but it was also strange that he was quiet.

‘Is it something that came into my possession, so it doesn’t matter how I use it?’

Obviously, the only problem was that Nathaniel was extremely sensitive to her safety.  He was a man who laughed even when he saw himself hurt. It was true that he didn’t care who she met or who helped her unless she was injured by others.

Still, her anxiety did not go away. Kyrie looked out of the window. Nathaniel was away again today. These days, he rarely spent time with Kyrie.

“MarryAnne. Nathaniel went to see the nobles, right?”

“Yes!”

“Will he come late again today?”

“Maybe?”

“What about Laura and Maria?”

MarryAnne paused.

“Lady FortDucane said she’s busy! Lady Old Ciudad, too!”

“Really?”

Their job might be hectic because they said they would pave a way for an escape. No matter how the two people were, it would not be easy to get a person out of the palace or the hands of a Legendary Lord.

‘I hope they don’t overdo it.’

Kyrier approached the window. When the window was opened, a cold wind came in, and MarryAnne immediately brought a thick shawl and covered Kyrie’s shoulders.

Then, she heard a sound from below.

“Noona!”

There couldn’t be two people who would call Kyrie by this fearless title. Kyrier’s head turned downward.

“Aaron?”

Kyrie found herself on the third floor and smiled at Aaron running around.

“What are you doing?”

“Noona! Can you see me? I’m at work now!”

What was she supposed to do? Kyrie put her arms on the window frame and looked down at Aaron as if she were looking at an animal. She could see a man who looked like a superior running from afar.

“Lieutenant Fitz! I would have said disciplinary action if you were out of heat again!”

“Uwah! I’m sorry, Sir Tyler!”

“Why are you saying ‘uwah’ there…….”

Kyrie murmured.

Aaron kept hiding his face because he was ashamed of being scolded, and Kyrie smiled down at him. Soon she turned her head to MarryAnne.

“MarryAnne, can I get a message over there? It’s not polite to shout out loud.”

“Use this!”

MarryAnne took the leaves out of her pocket and folded them into a butterfly. After MarryAnne breathed, the leaf butterfly fluttered from the palm of her hand. Kyrie whispered to the butterfly.

“Excuse me, but please tell him to stop because I called him.”

The green butterfly fluttered across the window and twirled in front of Tyler’s face.

“This……?”

Tyler looked up at the third floor and was stunned when he saw Kyrie waving her hand.

“Lieutenant Fitz, are you acquainted with Miss Buchanan……?”

Aaron grinned at Tyler’s question.

“We have a brother-sister relationship!”

Not really. Kyrie murmured.

Tyler whispered something to Aaron with a pale tired face and disappeared. Aaron began to wave his arm at Kyrie again. She thought he was going back to his area, but he wasn’t.

“Noona!”

“…….”

“I’ll go up now!”

“What?”

Without giving her time to be surprised, Aaron began to climb the outer wall of the palace. Kyrie touched her forehead.

“MarryAnne. You’re watching the same thing as me, right?”

“Shall I drop him?”

“No!”

Sometimes MarryAnne would make scary sounds. Kyrie sat by the window, unable to do this or that, and Aaron finally climbed up the outer wall to the third floor and grinned.

“Noona!”

Kyrie sighed with a look of not knowing what she had done wrong.

“Lieutenant Fitz. It’s not right to climb under the window of a lady’s room.”

“Oh, re, really? He said it was romantic.”

“Who the hell?”

“The late Vermont Young Lord…….”

“Ah.”

Kyrie pointed her finger at her forehead. No wonder, it was Vermont.

Kyrie, who was also ambiguous about swearing at the dead, was bitten back.

“Come in anyway.  What you’re doing is bad.”

“Uh? No!”

“No?”

“No one can go where Noona is. The Legendary Lord has decided that way. You have to get permission from the Legendary Lord to visit.”

When she looked back at MarryAnne to see if he was serious, MarryAnne nodded.

“The visitors are managed by Nathaniel! He didn’t let MarryAnne manage it.”

Kyrier, nodding her head, saw Aaron again.

“So you’re gonna keep talking there?”

“If you’re not uncomfortable!”

Aaron smiled widely. He was definitely a soldier when she saw that he was wearing armor and a helmet, but he didn’t show any signs of difficulty.

“So what are you going to say? By the way, MarryAnne is stronger than you. If you try to make a fool of yourself, you’ll fall off before you even stab me.”

“Yes! MarryAnne is faster!”

MarryAnne, who thought it was a compliment, stepped out with a thud on her chest. It could be quite offensive, but Aaron frowned and laughed with his freckled nose.

“You wanted to die then, but now you want to live again? That’s great!”

“Don’t talk about it.”

The child listened. Covering MarryAnne with her eyes wide open, Kyrie whispered in the shape of her mouth. Fortunately, Aaron blinked and smiled broadly.

“So the matter is, um I don’t know if I shouldn’t do this.… I won’t ride the wall next time!”

“So what’s the matter?”

“You helped me, didn’t you?”

“I don’t understand what you mean.”

Aaron blinked his eyes again.

“Uh… I’m so sure of the mysterious girl who disappeared. In the middle of the night, she came to the dead companions’ houses, carrying an amount of gold coins that no ordinary man can carry that didn’t even fit as the word ‘reward.’ …”

There was a moment of silence.

MarryAnne grabbed Kyrie’s dress and whispered.

“That was MarryAnne, Miss!”

“….Yeah. Well done, MarryAnne.”

She shouldn’t expect too much from a child. She felt bad for not giving specific instructions. Kyrie looked at Aaron, stroking MarryAnne’s head.

“So? “

“I want to say thank you! “

Aaron laughed. The boy almost fell off from his hand gesture and hung more carefully on the vine of the wall.

“So did Lord Tyler. Tell you his gratitude.”

“I didn’t mean to be thanked.”

“You seem like that.”

Aaron nodded his head cheerfully.

“You’re a little quiet, aren’t you? You don’t defend yourself, you just turn quiet. You don’t show off even when you help me.”

“That’s rude.”

She spoke sharply, but remembered the incident with Rubinia Cassner. She could have been in a better relationship if she had excused herself more actively.

Aaron swung his arm in a hurry.

“But I’m not saying it’s bad! I mean, I mean……thank you…….”

“……Yes.”

“It’s very helpful! Uncle John has a sick daughter at home, and Bill’s brother was the only one who could make money, so…….”

His clear brown eyes seeped with quiet anger. But the boy laughed immaturely again before Kyrie could react.

“I’m going to go now! Can I come again next time?”

“…….”

“I can’t?”

Kyrie had no choice but to recall Nathaniel before her intention. The imaginary man sat on the sofa dressed in green velvet, staring at her with still eyes. She felt disgust that Nathaniel’s intention was first thought of before anything else when deciding. But she couldn’t help but talk.

“Nathaniel….”

“The Legendary Lord?”

“……It wouldn’t be good for Nathaniel to know.”

Kyrie hesitated and smiled bitterly.

Aaron blinked his eyes and scratched his head.

“Then I’ll come and ask you next time!”

“What?”

With a surprised Kyrie, Aaron began to climb down the outer wall.

“Wouldn’t you go crazy being alone in a place like this? You’ll suffer from depression! Ask the Legend to take you for a walk!”

“What kind of person do you think he is…….”

“I’ll be back later, Noona!”

Aaron landed on the floor in no time and ran away, making an armor rattling sound. Kyrie looked at the figure with a slightly absent-minded look. It was a crazy meeting. She couldn’t ask what she really wanted to ask because of that.

‘Why didn’t you insult me?’