Chapter 5
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02. A Fateful Encounter
Clop. Clop.
As the carriage rolled down the narrow path, a vast forest spread out before them. Elain couldn’t take her eyes off the view from the carriage window. The estate was so big it was incomparable to the mansion of the Marquis of Berlois.
“Father. Is the Helkaiser family we’re visiting today wealthy?”
“Since they command the nation’s military, I wouldn’t say they lack money.”
“Does having an army make them rich? So power and money really are inseparable, aren’t they?”
The Marquis of Berlois, who had been buried in a pile of documents, lifted his head and looked at his young daughter. The title of the book resting on Elain’s lap was *The Traitors Who Brought Down the Kingdom*. As a result of indiscriminately feeding knowledge to Elain, who had been bright since childhood, the eight-year-old girl no longer seemed interested in fairy tales. The Marquis of Berlois scratched his unkempt sideburns and cleared his throat.
“That’s true, but it depends on the kind of power, Elain. Besides, the loyalty of the Helkaiser family, whom we are visiting now, has been renowned for generations, so we mustn’t say anything disrespectful in their presence. Do you understand?”
The Helkaiser family, who had been defending the north, had come down to the capital this year. The king, who had just held his coronation, faced many rival factions, so the family decided to stay by his side to support him. While the Helkaisers’ integrity had been renowned for generations, as a member of the royal faction—the Marquis of Berlois—he felt it necessary to meet the duke in person and have a conversation.
He had brought Elain, who was the same age as the Helkaisers’ second son, in hopes of lightening the stiff atmosphere just a little...
“Am I a child, Father? Don’t worry. I only came along because I wanted to ask the Duke about one thing I’ve been curious about… no, I mean, I wanted to ask him a question.”
“Hmm, what is it?”
“Whether the enormous defense budget spent on last year’s campaign against the Black Canyon was worth it.”
The Marquis’s expression grew uncertain upon hearing Elain’s reply. After all, despite the enormous investment of money and manpower, Helkaiser’s campaign against Black Canyon had ultimately ended in failure.
“Hmm.”
It seemed best to leave his daughter in the garden and go alone. While she clearly possessed the qualities of an administrator, she clearly lacked those of a diplomat.
***
Elain set the book she had been reading down on the lawn and let out a small sigh. It was already late afternoon, with the sun beginning to set, yet her father, who had made her wait for him in the garden, showed no sign of appearing.
"...It’s beautiful."
Having lived her entire life surrounded only by the perfectly manicured gardens of the marquis’s estate, which reflected her mother’s taste, Elain found the duke’s long-neglected garden quite fascinating. At first, the wild grasses and unpruned trees seemed chaotic, but there was a beauty of its own in life growing according to nature’s course.
It was then, as Elain gazed at the sunset filtering through the yellowing oak leaves, that something caught her eye.
"...What is that?"
Frowning, Elain jumped to her feet in surprise. A young boy was hanging upside down from a high tree branch. The sight of him suspended from the tree, his ankles bound with rope, reminded her of the carcasses of animals she had once seen in a butcher shop.
Why hadn’t she noticed that until now? Could he be dead? As Elain slowly turned her head to the side, her eyes met the boy’s. She couldn’t help but recoil in even greater shock.
“Hah...!”
A wink. The figure, with both ankles bound by rope and tied to the tree, slowly closed and opened one eye.
“Hello?”
“You... what are you?”
“Where’s the formal greeting? You’re the one who barged into someone else’s backyard.”
“I’m asking why you’re hanging upside down from a tree!”
“It’s fun.”
Fun...? Elain blinked rapidly and bit her lip. She had started reading a book here at least two hours ago. That meant that boy had been hanging upside down from the tree for two hours, with all the blood rushing to his head. Far from being fun, there was no way he could be okay.
“I’ll get you down. Wait.”
“What?”
Elain raised her voice, pointing an accusing finger at him.
“I’m going to get a ladder, so wait!”
“There’s no need for that.”
Elain clicked her tongue at the poor boy trying to act tough. His tousled jet-black hair. Sparkling golden eyes. Skin as dark as caramel. Even upside down, his exotic features were clearly not those of a northern noble. The boy, who looked like a wild beast leaping out of a book, was probably a servant from the maids’ quarters or the gardener’s son.
“I don’t know what happened, but even for a servant, this is going too far.”
As Elain finished her assessment and frowned, the servant hanging upside down flapped his body.
“Servant? Did you just call me a servant? What’s your name?”
At the sharp voice, Elain instinctively took a step back. Quite an insolent servant.
His shirt was torn and stained all over, as if he’d been rolling around somewhere. And there were his old boots, carelessly tossed aside under a tree. He was clearly a troublemaker at first glance. But even so, this kind of punishment was harsh for a child her age.
“I am Elain Berlois, daughter of the Marquis of Berlois. I’ll save you soon, so just shut up and stay put. Got it?”
Elain brushed the dirt off her dress. Judging by its girth, the oak tree looked to be at least a hundred years old, so she couldn’t climb it barehanded; she’d had to borrow a ladder from the stable she’d seen on her way to the garden. Of course, she didn’t have time to ask permission, so she’d done it without anyone noticing.
“Hah. What do you think you’re doing? Who’s saving whom?”
Elain ignored the servant’s rudeness and remained deep in thought. She knew it was improper to meddle in the affairs of a household she was visiting as a guest. If word of this commotion reached her mother’s ears, she would surely be severely scolded. So, she just had to handle it quickly and without anyone noticing. If she’d known it would come to this, she wouldn’t have told that insolent servant her name.
“Stop screaming and wasting your energy. Just stay right there.”
“What are you talking about? What’s your name?”
“I guess it’s a good thing you’re not very bright. Just forget it.”
Before her desire to save him faded, Elain hurried toward the stable. She felt uneasy about the possibility that he might actually die hanging upside down like that. Even if he was an incredibly insolent servant, who would treat a child like that? Were all northerners this inconsiderate?
He raised his voice to her retreating back as she walked quickly away.
“Hey. Elain Berlois.”
What? He remembers me. Wrinkles formed on Elain’s round forehead.
“Do you think I’m in this situation because I can’t untie this?”
Elain stopped in her tracks and spun around to face him. Just then, the boy hanging upside down swayed his body and suddenly lifted his upper body.
Was he a wild beast? He could lift himself up using nothing but his abdominal strength, without using his arms at all. But what surprised Elain even more was what happened next.
“Stop making such a fuss. That’s why nobles are so boring.”
In the blink of an eye, the wild beast had untied the rope and began climbing the tree as if performing a feat of acrobatics.
If there were a tree-climbing competition, he would undoubtedly win. But Elain’s jaw dropped in astonishment only for a moment. Her eyes immediately caught sight of his grubby hands grabbing a branch that was clearly rotting.
No. If he falls from that height, nine times out of ten, he’ll break his neck.
“It’s dangerous!”
The moment the memory of a nobleman who had died after falling from a horse last year flashed through her mind, Elain spread her arms wide and leaped beneath the tree. With a crack, the branch snapped, and the boy’s panicked face slammed straight into her.
“What the hell? Get out of the way...!”
Thud!
Completely pinned beneath the servant’s body, Elain’s eyelids fluttered.
“Hey, are you okay?! Why on earth did you run under me? Are you an idiot?!”
“….”
Elain struggled to open her eyes and looked at the person she had saved. Dark skin, jet-black hair, and features that filled his face—his golden eyes resembled those of the stray cat that occasionally appeared in the garden. Even the way he stared intently at her.
“You’re heavy, so move.”
“….”
The cat usually only looked at her because of the fish scraps she occasionally gave it, so why was this one staring at her so intently?
“Your eyelashes are really long.”
***
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