Chapter 42: Stay away from Kailo – 2

Loctana was bustling with stories about the dragon.

And, for a while, the members of the Punishment Unit garnered a bit of popularity due to this.

Curious maids and soldiers who had seen the dragon’s corpse would, whenever they found a chance, pull aside the boy soldier who witnessed the hunt to listen to the story.

“I swear, I saw it with my own eyes…! That guy Kailo, flying in the sky…!”

“Oh my, oh my…!”

It was a story particularly popular among the maids.

I hadn’t expected it, but the story of catching a dragon seemed to spread more intriguingly among the women than the men.

Perhaps this was why knights yearned for honour.

The boy soldiers, whose desires were already fervent, tried to use this story to get closer to the maids, and some even achieved their goal through it.

There were even a few boy soldiers who, hoping to spend a pleasant time with the maids, would offer casual greetings or gestures of gratitude, even making small talk.

“Kailo, if you ever need help, I’ll back you to the best of my ability.”

Sometimes, I wondered if the whole situation was turning too hardcore.

Whatever words they exchanged with me, I often found myself unsettled, brushing them off.

The way people looked at me had also changed quite significantly.

This change, too, mainly happened among the maids.

In the past, many maids who didn’t even know me would look at me with a scowl.

But recently, more of them would greet me first or even give me a shy smile.

The distance between us also felt closer; fewer maids would hastily walk away if I approached, and some even seemed to match my pace as we walked.

Yesterday, a maid around my age even waved at me and, blushing, ran off.

I didn’t dislike this feeling of hostility turning into goodwill.

Of course, that didn’t mean I had gotten close to any of the maids.

Not that I had any intention to, but Vivian’s attitude had been an issue.

“…Who asked you to take care of Kailo Alan?’

Everyone remembered Vivian’s anger when Lorna, the one I was closest to, offered to change my bandages.

She wasn’t someone who usually got that angry, so the shock the maids received must have doubled.

Even Lorna, who was large and not particularly feminine, ended up crying when she returned to her quarters later.

…That crazy woman.

I thought of Vivian.

Was it really that big a deal to change my bandages?

I had saved her from the dragon; could she not at least do that?

Was it really such a huge sin to hold her when she was shivering in the cold?

Enough that I even had to change my own bandages?

Shouldn’t she at least repay me as a matter of basic human decency after I’d returned from so much hardship?

In any household, it was only natural to give generous rewards for slaying a dragon.

Yet, not only had I received nothing, but I also had to tend to my own injuries.

It seemed a bit too harsh, even if I was being held here as a hostage.

And the fact that Vivian was the one leading this made it all the more irritating.

What was even more frustrating was that, despite all this annoyance, I couldn’t entirely bring myself to hate her.

Why didn’t I hate that crazy woman?

Looking back, even when I had fought the dragon, it wasn’t out of bravery.

It was because I feared that, if I didn’t act, Vivian would die.

That had always been the case.

I didn’t act out of courage; I acted because if I didn’t, she might die.

It was maddening, yet my body always moved.

…At this point, I seriously wondered if I had been cursed.

This suspicion gnawed at me.

Vivian had been busy lately.

She often spent time with Robert Rondor, talking about who knows what.

Sometimes, my curiosity got the better of me, and I found myself lingering outside their meeting room, but as the eldest son of the Alan family, I couldn’t listen in on their meetings.

If it had been her usual guards blocking me, I might have found a way through.

But Robert’s guards were stronger and more stubborn, so I always had to back off.

Today marked the tenth day since the expedition ended.

During that time, I hadn’t spoken with Vivian at all.

At most, we’d meet at mealtime.

Even then, Robert made his displeasure evident, though he eventually calmed down at Vivian’s words.

‘Kailo Alan is checking the food for poison in my place. Isn’t that an appropriate task for the eldest son of the Alan family?’

Of course, I knew that was just an empty remark from Vivian.

At some point, she had told me I didn’t need to check the food.

But perhaps because she hadn’t eased the hostile atmosphere between us when she said that, I did feel a bit of irritation.

Vivian would occasionally glance at me, seemingly gauging my reaction, but it did little to ease my frustration.

I was strolling through Rondor Castle.

Since the expedition ended, the Punishment Unit had been granted rest in the name of reward, and with no training, I was enjoying a quiet routine.

Even Vivian’s guards, busy with Robert, didn’t bother me much.

It was peaceful.

As long as I didn’t think about Vivian.

“K-Kailo!”

At that moment, someone called out to me from ahead.

It was that young maid who had recently taken to waving at me whenever she saw me, someone who seemed around my age.

Brown hair, a fair number of freckles.

A youthful face.

A bit shorter than me.

Several older maids stood behind her, whispering things to her.

The maid took a deep breath, a determined look on her face as she approached me.

But once she stopped in front of me, she couldn’t quite bring herself to meet my eyes again.

Her face flushed red as she spoke.

“This… this is…”

With that, she extended her hands, offering me something.

Two cookies were clutched awkwardly in her hands.

“I-I tried making these on my own. For a snack… in case you get hungry…”

I had heard of stories like this through Wallace.

Yanes had mentioned something similar as well.

The maids sometimes approached the young soldiers like this.

I still remember the faces of my comrades, excitedly sharing their own experiences.

…But strangely, I felt nothing about this maid’s approach.

I was merely surprised by her boldness.

Had she not heard about Vivian and Lorna?

It would bring me no good if Vivian found out about this.

I looked at the cookies and spoke.

“I don’t even know your name.”

“Ah…! Ah!”

She looked flustered, hurriedly tucking her brown hair behind her ear as she spoke shyly.

“M-my name is Serena… I-I’m sixteen years old.”

Just as I had felt while with Wallace and Yanes, I had no desire to pursue anything with Serena, who had introduced herself as such.

But that didn’t mean I wanted to coldly reject this first gesture of kindness I had encountered within the walls of Rondor Castle.

So, I put on a formal smile and accepted the cookies.

“Thank you. I’ll eat them during training.”

“Ah, yes!”

Serena’s face lit up with a smile, her lips twitching upward.

She started to turn away, but then, as if recalling something from the distant gestures of her fellow maids, she looked back at me.

“Oh, right… um…”

“…?”

Serena couldn’t even look at me.

Her face flushed an even deeper red.

She covered her eyes gently with her hand, trembling as she spoke.

“I-I was wondering if… if you might… be free… to… to the stable tonight—”

“What are you planning to do in the stable?”

At that moment, a familiar voice interrupted us.

I turned my head toward the source of the voice.

Red hair.

A breathtaking appearance.

Recently, her height had grown.

Her legs had lengthened.

…And her chest was beginning to develop slightly more lately—the head of the Rondor family, Vivian Rondor, was approaching from afar, looking directly at me.

Her gaze was filled with an intense chill.

It was almost incomprehensible what could have angered her so much.

No, I understood.

She likely hated seeing her enemy live in comfort.

But to be this serious about it was something I couldn’t quite grasp.

The maids, who had been looking out for Serena from afar, scattered as soon as Vivian appeared.

Serena, too, realizing she was in trouble, froze, her expression hardening with panic.

Vivian calmly walked up until she was right in front of me, looking up at me.

Her red eyes seemed to burn like flames.

“…Why.”

I asked her as she stood there silently, and Vivian looked away.

Then she turned her gaze toward Serena.

“What’s your name?”

“Se… Serena, Master…”

Though she addressed Vivian as her master and lowered herself, it didn’t placate Vivian’s anger.

“…I clearly warned you all not to cater to Kailo Alan, didn’t I?”

Did she go as far as to say something like that?

I was astounded.

Vivian’s voice grew more intense.

“…Are you saying you’d take it upon yourself to tend to the son of the man who killed my father and brother, without my permission?”

“L-Lady Vivian…!”

“Should I consider you a traitor to the Rondor family? Do you not understand the depth of my hatred toward the Alan family, you fool?”

“I’m s-sorry! I’m so sorry! Please, just give me one chance…!”

Vivian, searching for somewhere to direct her frustration, looked at my hand.

-Thud!

She then snatched the cookies I was holding and tossed them out the window.

Serena’s cookies flew through the air.

Despite the situation, the sight of the cookies flailing about was somewhat amusing.

I let out a hollow laugh and asked.

“…What are you doing?”

At my question, Vivian seemed to snap back to her senses.

She glanced out the window to calm her emotions and then spoke to Serena.

“Leave. Don’t ever do anything like this again. And tell the other maids that while I may overlook some things, I won’t tolerate the continual disruption of the customs of Rondor Castle.”

“Y-yes!”

With Vivian’s permission, Serena fled in a hurry.

Vivian looked up at me.

She spoke as if giving a warning.

“You keep forgetting… these maids belong to Rondor, not to you.”

“I haven’t forgotten.”

“Then why…!”

“Did I give them any orders? They approached me.”

I asked her, too.

“Why are you acting like this, all of a sudden?”

Vivian fell silent, momentarily at a loss for words.

“Is it such a huge mistake that I held you? Our bodies have touched a few times already.”

“W-what?”

“I saved you from a dragon. Do I have to put up with this kind of frustration just because I offered you some warmth? Shouldn’t you have stopped shivering or acting cold if you didn’t want help? You did everything to ask for it, and now you’re blaming it all on me?”

“…That’s not it.”

She averted her eyes, denying my words.

“What do you mean, it’s not? You’ve been acting strange ever since then.”

“I told you it’s not…! I’m just…”

Vivian looked at me.

Her expression didn’t seem to be hiding anything.

It was simply confusion, as clear as day.

She spoke.

“…I just… it makes me angry to see you smile. I don’t want to see you happy.”

Vivian lightly shook her head, looking up at me as if accepting a certain truth.

“I told you, don’t think about finding happiness here. Did you already forget? You’re supposed to be miserable. How many times do I have to tell you?”

Then, with her face flushed, she added.

“Also, did you think you’d… y-you’d get to experience that? It’s disgusting. Are all men like this? Not even of age, yet already swayed by lust like a monkey?”

“…Who said anything about wanting that?”

“W-well, it’s filthy. Crude. Barbaric. Disgusting.”

With her hostility this blatant, I had nothing left to say.

Our hatred for each other wasn’t a secret, after all.

Perhaps her reaction was only natural.

It was probably my mistake to think we were growing closer.

But saying my smile angered her… how was I supposed to respond to that?

I opened my mouth, then closed it.

I started to get angry, then hesitated.

Began to feel irritated, then stopped.

There was nothing to say.

I just stared at Vivian.

…Crazy woman.

Even with this, I didn’t hate her.

This was maddening, truly.

I didn’t know if I was the crazy one or if it was her.

To top it off, absurdly enough, I was finding myself thinking her hair looked incredibly soft today.

In the end, with nothing left to say, I turned and walked away.

“…Where are you going…!”

Vivian yelled after me in frustration, but I ignored her.

***

That evening, I faced Vivian again.

The awkward atmosphere from the day lingered between us.

Today, Robert Rondor did not join us at the dining table.

He mentioned that, for today, he would dine with his retainers.

It turned out that Vivian had sought financial assistance from Robert.

As the lord of the port city, Robert seemed to be relatively wealthy.

In return, he had asked her to allow him to act as a regent, but… I heard Vivian refused the proposal for now.

It was an unsettling offer.

Was he genuinely concerned about the Rondor family, or did he have ulterior motives?

To me, the likelihood of the latter was overwhelmingly high.

However, Vivian did not share such political matters with me.

What I had just heard was information wrung out from the spy, Nestor.

Vivian didn’t confide in me as she once did about her concerns, whether she was truly committed to reviving her family.

I continued my meal, completely ignoring Vivian.

Vivian, too, ate her food as if entirely ignoring me.

Although we appeared to be ignoring each other, it was impossible to be more aware of one another.

Every movement was conveyed through the corners of our eyes.

Then, Vivian broke the silence.

“…There will be guests in a few months.”

“…Again?”

The place was already bustling with Robert’s people.

Vivian nodded.

“…The young ladies of the Dubois family will be visiting as guests.”

The Dubois family.

One of the vassal families loyal to Rondor.

Their visit—could it be a move to initiate social interactions?

“So? Why tell me about the guests?”

“I heard they’re both beauties. An older sister and a younger one.”

I couldn’t understand why Vivian was telling me this.

She looked up at me.

Our eyes met.

“If, perhaps, you… get… aroused… like today and disrupt my meeting…”

“…Are you insane? Did I summon a maid to the stables or something? Stop spouting nonsense.”

-Thud.

As I set down my utensils in warning, Vivian immediately fell silent.

It seemed she was gradually learning about such matters—what exactly was she being taught in her lessons?

And as if her delusions had exploded, she kept viewing me in a strange light.

…Of course, it’s common knowledge that boy soldiers and maids are rumoured to have such relations.

But it was irritating how she kept associating me with that.

Or perhaps, it was shocking to her that Serena had called me out to the stables earlier.

Could that be why she reacted so strongly to the hug?

It was hard to believe that someone with such an innocent face could have such fantasies.

Regardless, she pretended not to understand my remark and resumed eating in small bites.

I wiped my mouth and rose from my seat.

I was about to leave her behind, spurred by a renewed sense of irritation.

“…Kailo.”

But Vivian called out to me.

She wasn’t even looking at me.

Vivian took something out of her pocket.

Out of nowhere, two cookies appeared.

Without a word, she handed them to me, wiped her mouth, and got up from her seat.

She then left the hall before I did.

Left behind, I quietly looked at her gesture of reconciliation.

***

Three months passed.

I had now caught up to Martin in height.

It had been nearly two years since I came to this land.

I was sixteen, and Vivian had turned fifteen.

We were gradually becoming adults.

And, as Vivian slowly grew up, the young ladies of the Dubois family arrived.