CH 2.8

CHAPTER 2: SPRING COMES TO EVERYONE (VIII)

Part 025

After a leisurely afternoon and going to bed early, she remembered that she had forgotten to turn down Adrian’s morning carriage. There were so many crazy things going on that Friday. Feeling that she should have warned her father, she put on her gown and walked out the door. When she asked the attendants, they said he was in the study, so she was about to go in front of the study and knock.

“So you’re the only one who doesn’t even care about Demi!”

He was a father with a calm personality who did not usually make loud noises, but she heard a roaring sound. She didn’t hear in detail, but it seemed that it was Rootvan who was with him. She gestured to the attendant who was following her and opened the door gently, very lightly.

“Isn’t Duke Bigor a partner who lacks a marriage partner?”

What marriage? No, why was it progressing so fast here?

She held the head of her right bone, which was about to hurt, with one hand and listened to the sound. She hears her father’s dead voice.

“Who said it’s not enough? It’s because there’s too much of it. What if our Demi gets treated badly for being the daughter of a Count with nothing to offer?”

“Father, Duke Bigor doesn’t seem like such a fellow.”

“How do you know what’s inside a person? If my Demi doesn’t come home often because she’s sore, what should I do?”

“It’s not like there’s anything out there, but you’re going way too far ahead.”

“I heard that the Duke only follows our Demi! Our Demi is only eighteen! From the New Year’s banquet to Demi’s coming-of-age ceremony, I should have recognized him from the time they started hanging out!”

Her father was robbing Lootvan and grimacing. Hearing his voice, he must have been drinking quite a bit. First of all, their house was not a Count with nothing to offer. It’s not like that with Adrian. Adrian wasn’t that kind of person. And she was still thinking about getting married. Oh, dad… 

After that, the two of them talked for a long time, and she returned to the room without being able to open the door and go in. And the next morning, on a fresh Monday morning, when her father, who looked like he was about to vomit, was silently stirring the thin soup, the butler entered again in contemplation.

“He came again?”

“Oh, Father. I forgot to tell you last night. I will definitely tell him today.”

Her father made a startled face, but after her answer he seemed to brighten a little, he lowered his head and swiped the soup bowl. Rootvan wrinkled his nose and winked his eyes at his father, and his father sighed and said in a low voice.

“Demian, everything is fine with this father as long as he likes you. You don’t have to do what you don’t want to do because he cares about you. Now our Demi is all grown up…”

As if he couldn’t bring it to an end, he slurred his words and gloomily banged his head again and stirred the soup. Rootvan nodded his head at his father with a complicated face. She could roughly imagine how yesterday’s long story had come to a conclusion. It seemed that her older brother scared him saying that he might be hated while telling his grown-up daughter to cover up her love history.

“But if something happens, you must consult with your brother. Don’t worry alone, huh?”

Even Rootvan started stirring the soup.

She couldn’t help but laugh at the sight of the two of them.

“I’m not going to get married any time soon. A long time after my brother got married maybe. Don’t worry too much because I’m not very close to the Duke.”

She walked out of the dining room first, laughing at the two men whose faces brightened. When she came down with the final setting, led by Jenny, Adrian, who was brighter than she had seen in two days, was there. Come to think of it, it’s the Duke’s visit anyway, wasn’t it disrespectful to have the housekeeper and the housekeeper stand outside the door without greeting him and entering the mansion? She didn’t think about it because Adrian didn’t mind, but the two men in her house were pulling their butts off because they didn’t want to be greeted formally. Well, it’s not an official visit that he informed in advance by letter, so it’s okay, right?

Adrian smiled brightly and held out his hand. Even the Duke himself didn’t care at all. Yes, it would be fine.

“Damian, good morning.”

“Good morning, Adrian.”

When she answered, Adrian smiled broadly, showing his neat upper teeth. Even for her, who thought she had grown accustomed to Adrian’s smile all week, was a dazzling smile.

She also smiled, joined hands, and climbed into the carriage as Adrian led.

“I think I will have to leave my office all day because of the trial today.”

Since she was not formally a member of the military, she couldn’t participate in the trial. There’s plenty of evidence, so he would be fine.

“I’m fine. Don’t worry, It’ll be fine.”

She replied with a smile, and Adrian tilted his head slightly, somewhat pouting.

‘Oh my, what’s up? Do you know how to make a face like that?’

His bangs, which had grown quite long, were scattered over his forehead.

“Looks like I’m the only one who regrets it.”

“Pardon?”

“Let’s have lunch together. I’m going to take you to the office.”

Was he saying he regretted not being able to see me because he was busy all day? She couldn’t answer because she was fascinated by his face, so she smiled brightly. Seeing smiling faces so close was, after all, bad for the heart. Was it so refreshing in the midsummer morning?

He escorted her to the office, pulled out a chair, and escorted her. Cale with a serious face, greeted her while Adrian left the office with a face dripping with regret. 

It was the time when she was sorting through unorganized papers by herself and went out the door to go to the bathroom. One of the two soldiers standing guard in front of the office followed her. With short blonde hair and a disciplined face, he walked from behind, so she stopped and he followed suit.

“Are you following me?”

“Yes, I am!”

“Why?”

“Lady, there is an order from Duke Bigor.”

He probably did that for the madman of yesterday. Rumors must have already spread since she told Laurel, the loudspeaker of society, in a letter. She wondered if she should reject it, but there was no reason to refuse this thoughtful consideration. Everything he did was pretty.

“Are you part of the Duke’s knights?”

“Yes, I belong to the Bigor Knights!”

Seriously, everything he did was pretty. It happened within the military, so the soldiers belonging to the military must have been unreliable. That was, until you attach a personal knight.

“I see. Sir, what is your name?”

“Franz Roland.”

“Sir Roland, I’m causing trouble for nothing. Thank you for escorting me.”

“It’s an honor. Lady Ethart! Call me Franz!”

He’s a baronet, even if he’s desperate. In Laurenty, where soldiers were treated generously with amnesty, there were many condescending rockies who claimed to be knights, but the blonde knight spoke at the level of a recruit? He looked young, but to be chosen as a knight of the Duke of Bigor, it meant that he was not of ordinary skill. Well, Ethan said he was 36 years old with that face, really. This person who seems to be the same age was actually 40 years old, wasn’t it just like this?

She went to the bathroom and went for a walk in the garden. The military headquarters was quiet, as if important figures had flocked to the courtroom. Franz was more talkative than she thought. He assigned a soldier to report the court situation in real time and shared the information with her as well.

Adrian excitedly shouted that he was killing the head of the Talus intelligence department as the defendant. She cheered as well, thinking that being a shout cat was a word that didn’t suit Adrian. Franz, whose words almost all begin with ‘our duke’ or ‘our lord’, had bright eyes when he talked about Adrian. He seemed to be proud of his boss, so despite his large size, he was quite cute. But the content was just too much for her to agree with. A bit of exaggeration couldn’t be missing from the story of envy, but it’s too much to say that she didn’t know the military.

He single-handedly annihilated 300 enemy soldiers to open the way, cut off the arrows flying by with his sword and saved his subordinates, stuck with three enemy generals 3 to 1 and slashed them all, why, they say that even his fists were fired. He could fly in the sky too, right? After being dispatched to subdue the bandits, when supplies were cut off and everyone was about to die in isolation, he took only 30 detached units to destroy the bandits, cut off the head of the bandit boss, and threw it in front of the commanding officers. How realistic they lie about the fact that Franz was among the 30 trainees. 

That Adrian took a corpse by the neck and threw it at the people? No way.

Soldiers must be cool like that. Hearing the circumstances, it’s a bit refreshing to see the damn commanding officers in a state of confusion, but she wanted to give him a shout out when she heard the story that Adrian gave all the credit he had built to his subordinates and promoted the soldiers who followed him to knights one by one was so heartwarming that they agreed. Anyway, even if it was Adrian’s credit, it was common for the Defense Forces commanding staff to cut it down, so when the subordinates heard that they had no choice but to take his credit instead, they cursed the commanding officer together.

As she excitedly chewed on the commander of the National Guard, whom she had never seen before, Franz nodded and clapped at her with a thrilled face. After returning to the office, she sat down at the table and chatted in the middle of the day when Adrian opened the door and appeared.

Franz, who was engrossed in Adrian’s ridiculous feat while eating a cookie, dropped the cookie he was holding in his mouth and stiffened as soon as his eyes met. It’s already lunchtime but they had so much fun talking that she didn’t notice the time passing.

When Adrian saw her, he closed his eyes and gave a pretty smile, then changed his expression to a very cold look. She looked at Franz, who quickly hid the cookie that had fallen from his mouth in his hand, and swept the spilled cookie pieces from the table to the floor before standing up and standing up in less than a second.

After all, knights were quick.

“Franz, why are you here?”

At the end she spoke in place of Franz, who had come in and stood stiff, unable to open his mouth with sweat on his brow.

“I was bored, so I asked someone to talk to me. Is the trial going well? Are you tired?”

Adrian glared at Franz with a twinkle in his eyes, then came to her and held out her hand with a kind smile.

“It’s taking longer than expected, but there is a trial. You did a great job. Damian, shal we go have lunch?”

“Yes?”

After the trial, she stood up holding his hand and glanced at Franz, but his eyes went blank and he met her eyes with an expression of looking at some kind of savior.

“Yes, I think the trial will continue throughout the afternoon. I’m sorry I left you alone, Damian.”

Adrian replied with an indignant look.

“Oh? No. Sir Franz was a good companion.”

Other than that, she was trying to save Sir Franz from dereliction of duty, but Adrian stood tall at her answer and turned around. Looking back, Sir Franz stiffened in a posture of engrossed relaxation with sweat dripping from his brow and his eyes fixed on his ceiling.

“Is that so? If you feel uncomfortable, please let me know.”

“He was very kind.”

As she answered, she laughed along, and Adrian laughed out of habit, but somehow, it seems that the mouth was twisted in a different direction, was it an illusion?

After the meal, Adrian returned to the courtroom, and she, bored again, asked Sir Franz, who was suddenly drawn, to come into the office, but he flatly refused. Did he have a special duty in the afternoon or something? It seems like he was just standing in front of the door?

It’s already five o’clock after spending time flipping through last week’s unread books. She was getting ready to leave when she heard a knock.

Franz came in very politely and stood at a distance.

“The Duke is coming.”

“Really? The trial is over?”

“No. He urgently took a break and came here.”

“Hush? What is he doing?”

Adrian arrived just in time as she finished her preparations. When she asked what’s going on, she saw only a smile dripping with honey, and it’s no big deal. Today, on the way back with Adrian sending her off in the carriage, she was always curious about something urgent that happened during the trial.