Chapter 3: 2.1

C H A P T E R _ 2.1

Episode 3

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The leather frame, which was smaller than Elsia’s palm, contained a portrait of a bright smiling beauty.

Her beauty went really well with the bouquet of lilac flowers she was holding, and the whole picture was vivid as if it were alive. At the bottom of the leather surface of the frame, the phrase ‘Sweet Heart, with all my joy and love’ was beautifully sewed.

She doesn’t even know who she is, but Elsia thought she was so beautiful. Elsia smiled automatically as she gently shook off the dust from the frame with the towel she was holding and placed it on the drawer.

That evening.

After roughly organizing the bedroom, Elsia went to the dining room with Seiran and met Ian again. The Count, who had left the bedroom, had changed his clothes from somewhere and looked dazed. However, when he found Elsia, he poured out cold words.

“Why are you still here? Go back as soon as possible, if you can, within the day.”

“But Count!”

“You must be familiar with who I am.”

He still adhered to his hostile attitude.

“Of course. You’re Count Ian Cypris, the Commander of the Great Battle Expedition.”

Elsia avoided words that offend his heart as much as possible. Ian was originally the eldest son of the Marquis of Cypris and the next head of the family, In addition, he led the military forces of the Tyr Church. After failing to save the saint, he was kicked out of his post as a marquis and came to Eusley Castle, but…….

As soon as he heard the word ‘expedition’, Ian’s expression was distorted.

“You don’t have to remember the name of a defeated soldier like me.”

“…Count!”

“Do as I’ve said, Ms. Puppeteer. Now, tell me who the commander of the Holy Knights of Tyr Church is.”

“It’s Sir Nessian.”

Ian’s eyes darkened with disillusionment.

“Go back and tell the Crown Prince what I said. Now, I have cut ties with the Marquis of Cypris. In addition, a new commander was selected for the Knights of Order. Please discuss all matters with them. Tell them to forget about the useless me who has reached this point.”

“But, Count!”

Elsia was in a hurry and held onto the hem of Ian’s sleeves. Seiran, who was next to her, glared at such rudeness that she swallowed her breath in surprise.

“Let go.”

Ian, who stopped because of his clothes, did not raise an eyebrow and spoke coldly. However, he did not immediately pull out his hand. Thinking that she was not a rough person in the first place. Elsia eagerly asked, holding the cloth with her hands wrapped in an unfamiliar fabric smell.

“Don’t do this. Please, have a meal with me and let’s talk for a little bit. Is this the way you should be treating the precious envoy his highness sent you?”

Ian’s expression was like ice as he spat out another set of harsh words.

“Don’t be stubborn, puppeteer. There’s no maid here to take care of you, so go back. If you go to his highness and swear at me, he’ll understand.”

“Uhm…Master.”

Seiran, who was reading the room between the two, sneaked a word in. This loyal knight, who also joined the expedition, shook off all wealth and honor to follow Ian here. In short, in Eusley Castle, he was a person with stronger influence than the butler.

“What is it?”

Ian asked bluntly.

“Clouds are gathering so there will be a storm until dawn. Isn’t it quite a distance from the islands here? If she leaves now, the road will be cut off in the middle, so she won’t be able to leave anyways. Why don’t you have a meal together like she suggested?”

The puppeteer he saw for the first time today could be ignored relentlessly, but Ian could not ignore Seiran, who shared his loyalty with him.

In the end, he was forced to enter the dining room with Elsia.

Elsia felt fortunate and first brought up small stories for Ian throughout the meal. Considering the fierce reaction she had seen earlier, she didn’t even mention the sensitive topic about the temple or the imperial family.

Her effort was good, but Ian seemed to ignore whatever she said. Even if Seiran helped her with a few words, Ian never got involved in the conversation and pretended not to hear it. In other words, he pretended to be a person focusing solely on eating the food on his plate.

Before Elsia could eat half of the grilled fish, Ian bit the dessert and got up on his feet.

“Oh…”

“I’ll go first. You can continue to eat slowly.”

Even before the surprised Elsia could put down her fork, Ian sprinted out of the dining room. She couldn’t say anything because he ate up all his food. When Elsia was in conflict over whether to follow him over eating a delicious plate of fruit cake, Seiran stopped her sternly.

“It’s okay, Ms. Bennett. Just leave him be. It’s already late at night, so everything will be fine as he will rest in his quarters.”

“Still…”

“It’s been two months since the owner came out of the bedroom. His quarters is clean and habitable thanks to Ms. Bennett’s efforts. How about you clean the dust pit by the end of this day instead?”

Seiran spoke regrettably and plucked the green grapes on the cake with a fork.

“Why did you help me?”

Has it been only half a day since she met Ian? In fact, less than an hour for communicating. But Elsia vaguely realized one thing. It seemed that the treatment that the crown prince said was not just a simple healing of Ian’s injured hand.

To break down that wall of deep despair that shunned Ian Cypris, and to walk on his feet and make himself stand before his highness Conrad. That seemed to be the real purpose of treatment. Even if his hands got better with the power of healing, it was of no use if he could not escape the shame of being a paladin who lost a saint.

To do so, Elsia had to know more about Ian.

Only a few people inhabited the castle, Ian Cypris, the knight named Seiran, the butler, and some other servants. Of course, little Haden was included in the servant’s support. There are four more soldiers, but they rarely come in here because they eat and sleep in a different building. So, if there was any information that could be obtained, she had to search through the Castle occupants.

Seiran shrugged.

“The gardener, who had been hit by the rain, could not stop coughing and groaned, so Ian took him and ran to the doctor. It was in the middle of the night so I wasn’t present.”

“Oh… I see.”

He’s a madman, but he cares about his people? No… Rather than that, perhaps it was because of the guilt from losing the saint, he might have never left his sick people alone.

Since she moved to the Imperial Capital, Elsia has seen countless of those arrogant and high-nosed aristocrats who are not interested in whether or not the people around them die.

However, Ian didn’t even swear at her even though she broke into his room without permission. Ian’s inner self was softer than she thought.

Albeit a man broken by alcohol and self-criticism, there was a little hope.

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“So, please bear with him for a few days even if the master reacts sharply. Ms. Bennett has a mysterious doll that treats people, he won’t be able to kick her out recklessly.”

Seiran steadily pushed the bottle full of raspberries to her side, perhaps because Elsia seemed to like it.

“Yes, I see. I already made up my mind, so don’t worry.”

Elsia, who likes sweets, opened the bottle cap as she spoke confidently.

There was a time when the crown prince praised Elsia’s character, and after seeing Ian alive with both eyes, she gained quite a bit of confidence. It would be much easier to get Ian Cypris back to the Empire than she thought. That is why she thought she could sleep with her legs straight today. She laughed, rolling raspberries bursting at the tip of her tongue.

Unfortunately, she quickly realized that she was too complacent.

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It hasn’t been long since she entered the assigned room and fell asleep, but someone suddenly knocked on the door.

“Excuse me? Elsia-nim? Elsia-nim!”

“Urgh… who is it?”

It was Haden, the youngest trainee servant in the castle, who knocked on the door. The boy brought up a surprising story with tears in his eyes.

Ian, who had left the dining hall first, quietly entered the clean bedroom just before he fell asleep, but suddenly, he shouted and kicked out the door and disappeared somewhere.

Elsia’s drowsiness had disappeared somewhere and she was wide awake.

“Tell me more.”

“Uh-huh. It started raining, so I was just going to take care of my bed and sleep. I went into the utility room and there was a loud noise from far away.…. I left the water bowl and went quickly but the door was open and the master wasn’t there.….”

Seiran said he would patrol around the outer fortress till dawn due to the storm. So Elsia couldn’t even find him. In addition, it was much better to look directly for Ian who went out in the rain and disappeared, than to go out and find Seiran.

Elsia wore a robe to cover herself.

“Okay. You should take a good look at the interior of the main building with the butler again. It’s windy outside, so don’t go out recklessly. He might come back.”

“Can you find the master?”

“I’ll try. If the count comes back, will you ring the bell in front of the main gate a couple of times?”

“Yes!”

She was in a hurry, so she didn’t even think of changing her loose pajamas and went outside wearing a robe just to cover herself. The young servant was also unable to point out due to their circumstance, he left with tears in his eyes.

Elsia decided to enter the bedroom she cleaned today. It was to find a clue why he suddenly came out angry, when he had already softened a little.

‘That’s strange. I didn’t even throw away the crumpled paper with even one letter written on it.’

The clothes were handed over to a servant to do laundry on a sunny day. All she threw away was terrible trash, but why was he angry? Was it because she removed the empty bottles?

No matter how much she thought about it, she didn’t think Ian would have a rare hobby of collecting all the bottles he drank. As Elsia thought so, she slowly looked around the tidy bedroom. Contrary to the statement that Ian lashed out in anger, there were no signs of anything broken in the bedroom.

Elsia, who was looking around the cleaned room with Woody, suddenly felt odd.

“Huh??”

Obviously, the leather frame that had been placed on top of the drawer by her own hands was missing. She, who had a clear memory of what she did at the end of the cleaning, tilted her head. Why the frame disappear somewhere when the others remained the same?

Was it Darling or My Sweet Heart?…. Elsia intuitively thought that Ian might have a deep relationship with the beautiful woman in the frame. There was no way that private objects could have been accidentally placed in the count’s room.

Ian is currently famous as a knight who lost his saint, was it a picture of the rumored saint? She thought, but Elsia corrected herself because it was ridiculous. There was no way that the paladin serving the saint would have hidden a portrait frame engraved with a selfish phrase about her. Wouldn’t it be a big problem if others were to find out?

‘No way… Was she a precious person to the count?  Did it fall somewhere on the floor? It wouldn’t be visible, but I’d be in big trouble if I stepped on it.’

Elsia, who was trying to ponder how the frame was, was surprised. Something dropped on the carpet that should be clean when she left yesterday.

Elsia, who bent down and picked up a string-like object, frowned.

“This is…”

It looked like a string tied on the cap of the bottle tightly. If so, Ian saw the frame and made a change of heart, running out with a bottle of alcohol?

That’s all she could conclude for now.

The priority was to find Ian, who ran out angrily with alcohol.

First of all, Elsia grabbed an umbrella and went outside, quickly fumbling through her memories. As far as she knew, Ian Cypris had no fiancée or known lover. The reason was, Ian is known as the former commander of the Holy Knights.

Unlike other members, the commander of the respectful holy knights of Tyr Church was unable to marry while serving as head.

Originally, there were no such restrictions, but a strange unwritten rule was established after cooperating with the faction of goddess Vanir, who is referred to as the companion of the god, Tyr.

Countless paladins from the Church of Tyr, and saints blessed by the goddess from the Church of Vanir were produced intermittently.

Is it because it is fantastic to see the representatives of the two fractions, the beautiful saint and the leader of the holy knights with excellent military force standing side by side?

The public hoped that whoever the commander was, would be faithful only to the saint when he was in the position of head of the Holy Order. Even if the leader was from the imperial family, the reaction was the same. That is why, the imperial family used to be in trouble when the emperor’s eldest son was appointed as head.

For that reason, the number of years of service as the commander of the Holy Knights of the Order of Tyr was relatively short. Occasionally, there are people who insist on being single for a long time and do not step down from the position of leader. But then, when a paladin with excellent skills appears, they are quietly replaced. The subjects of the Empire, ironically, did not pay any attention to the current status of the paladin, who had stepped down from the position of leader.

Anyway, Ian was unfortunately expelled from the post of being a commander. After that, it was a probability to have married in between. However, the prince didn’t even mention anything to Elsia.

“Oh, my. What should I do? As expected, did I do something wrong…? I should have emphasized twice or thrice that White Bunny can definitely fix Count’s hand.”

Elsia, who fixed her umbrella that kept crossing over due to the rain and wind, could not understand it no matter how many times she tried.

‘There is a woman you loved so much, why are you stuck in such a castle and spending time in vain?’

Is it a problem that you can’t hold a sword because you hurt your hand?

But why didn’t Ian feel happy at all even after hearing that it can clearly be healed?

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If you have a loved one, you don’t have to return to the church. If you go back to the Marquis of Cypris and get married to start a family, you’ll be happy enough.

What on earth is pulling him down to let himself rot away like this?

*Flash!

“…The Count!”

END OF EPISODE 3

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