RPWS Chapter 087

New chapters released weekly here. Read the completed novel on my patreon by clicking the banner at the bottom of the post!

_______________________________________________________________________

 

Duke Killiard and his party returned to the territory on July 9^th, after the birthday celebrations ended. Since the distance from the royal capital back to Killiard was by no means short, they used the teleport portal, just as they had when heading to the royal capital. They arrived late in the afternoon and took the rest of the day off to relax.

The next morning, the members resumed their duties and served as usual. Elaine headed to Ash’s office as well.

However, her journey to the office was not as easy as usual. As she thought about meeting Ash, a shadow fell over her usually bright expression.

“…”

Elaine arrived at the office quickly, but didn’t go in right away, stopping in front of the door, hesitating.

Today she arrived a little later than usual, getting there after Ash had already arrived. For some reason, she was hesitant to open the door.

“Dame Elaine! Good morning.”

Lowell, walking toward the office as well, saw her and said hello. He was curious why she was just standing there.

“Why aren’t you going in? Is there no one inside?”

“No, I was just about to enter.”

Elaine smiled as if nothing had happened and knocked. A soft answer came from inside. When she opened the door, she saw Ash sitting in front of the ebony desk.

He was writing something on a piece of parchment, and looked up. She met his eyes, but only for a moment.

She averted her gaze, breaking eye contact, bowing.

“…Good morning, Sir.”

“Did you rest well yesterday?”

“Yes, I did.”

Ash acted calm. On the outside, they both looked no different from usual. The only difference being that there was no eye contact and what would usually have been a friendlier conversation, ended briefly and perfunctorily.

However, because it was a subtle difference, Lowell, who entered with her, did not notice. While Lowell bowed to Ash, Elaine went to her station.

There was a lot of backlogged work while Ash was attending the birthday celebration. Lowell began his report by handing Ash the papers he’d brought.

Standing in the back with her eyes downcast, Elaine looked at Ash as he received the report. As she watched him, memories of that day suddenly came back to her.

 

‘I like you.’

 

The night of the birthday banquet. The confession she heard from him in the garden where they’d danced alone.

The memory had been replaying in her mind since that day.

The sensations she’d felt at that moment were still vivid.

The excitement that spread throughout her body and her pounding heart. It felt as sweet as a dream.

But then she’d rejected him. She knew that sweetness was nothing more than a dream. The reality of her situation was buried deep inside her, making it impossible to carry out that dream.

After rejecting him and just running away, she was unable to make proper eye contact with Ash for a while. Her confusion, regret, and guilt mixed together making it difficult to face him, she didn’t know how to deal with him.

And then he asked her to pretend it never happened.

Ash didn’t mention the confession again after that day. He just treated her calmly as if nothing had happened until they returned from the festival.

Maybe she should think she was fortunate. It would’ve been harder to bear the current situation if he’d resented her or his attitude became cold.

But every time she saw the inevitable emotional distance, her heart felt numb and ached.

Actually, in reality, she didn’t want to refuse him. She wanted to tell him that she felt the same way…

But the words she couldn’t bring herself to utter only hovered wistfully in the air.

Elaine had difficulty tearing her gaze away from Ash and shaking off the sinking feeling.

She could hear Lowell continuing his report.

“We’ve been seeing an increase in the number of Gaspars lately.”

“Must be spawning season.”

“Yes. It looks like a full-scale extermination is in order.”

All kinds of monsters liveed in the nest adjacent to Killiard. Among them, the Gaspar, a type of wyvern, had its mating season in July.

During this time, Gaspar waves became more vicious. In order to seek more food, they came down to the village houses and attacked the people. In response, around this time every year, the Knights of Philres would conduct a subjugation.

“The number of people selected for the extermination is similar to last year. Will that be okay?”

“It’ll have to do. What is the state of the magic barrier?”

“It is not a risk at the moment, but it seems like it should be strengthened a bit more.”

“Instruct those in charge to increase the magic stone amount and increase the strength by one level.”

“All right.”

In addition, Lowell reported on major issues related to the management of the estate. Elaine put aside her thoughts and tried to focus on their conversation. However, even when Lowell left the office after completing his report, the complex expressions on her face did not disappear.

 

* * *

 

In the afternoon, several guests requested a meeting with Duke Killiard. Ash welcomed them one by one and then conducted a regular inspection, the day went by quickly as they made their way through his schedule.

As the day wore on, the sun was setting and the window was plunged into darkness.

Sitting at his desk in the office, Ash was reviewing a new payment that an administrator had brought in.

“You may go.”

Ash signed off on the paperwork and the administrator bowed politely to him. Elaine turned around and watched him leave.

The door clicked shut, leaving Elaine and Ash alone in the office again, and a now-familiar silence settled over the quiet room.

“…”

The scraping sound of a quill pen moving and paper being shuffled was heard constantly.

Neither of them spoke and Elaine only stared at the edge of the rug on the floor.

She could hear the wind blowing outside the closed window. Was it going to rain? The wind blew strong. Perhaps because the room was quiet, the noise of the wind hitting the window seemed particularly loud.

Suddenly, a soft voice meshed with the sound.

“I’ll finish a few more things before leaving, you can head out first.”

“What? But…”

Elaine was startled hearing him speak so suddenly and looked up, looking at the clock on the wall.

The hands of the clock indicated that it was quite late now. It was well past the usual time for Ash to finish.

While he was attending the birthday banquet, a lot of work had piled up here. It was natural that there was a delay in trying to process all of them, but she couldn’t help worrying about him working so late.

“It’s late. I wish you would take a break and…”

“You don’t have to worry. You can go on ahead.”

His gaze was fixed on the documents as he spoke. His tone was firm, but not cold.

Elaine pursed her lips as she tried to say something more. If it were the past, she wouldn’t have stopped there and would’ve actively tried to persuade him.

But it was difficult to speak now, to act so casually…… when she had rejected him.

It would feel hypocritical to be concerned about him on such a subject. Besides, Ash would be uncomfortable in her company.

‘Is that why he’s telling me to go back first?’

Elaine lowered her gaze with a dark face, eventually answering him, saying that she understood. Still, she was worried, so she spoke quietly, telling him not to overdo it, and he nodded.

Elaine said farewell and walked away, footsteps heavy.

Ash picked up a document from the top of the pile, but maybe because the stack of documents was slightly tilted, the pile lost its balance at the light touch and fell over.

The smell of ink and paper permeated the room as dozens of sheets of paper scattered all over the floor.

Elaine’s eyes widened slightly. She reflexively walked over and started picking up the papers that had fallen on the floor. Ash came closer before she knew it and bowed down in front of her.

“Sir, I’m the one who should be…”

“No. I’m the one who dropped it by mistake.”

Despite Elaine’s protest’s, Ash personally helped pick up the documents scattered all over the floor. They retrieved the documents in silence.

The sound of paper being picked up filled the office for a moment. The floor, which had been messy with scattered documents, soon became tidy. When Elaine stretched out her hand toward the last remaining sheet, the tips of her fingers touched Ash’s, who was simultaneously extending his hand.

“Ah.”

Elaine flinched without meaning to and dropped the paper she was holding. The document fluttered in the air and fell slowly.

Time seemed to move in slow motion.

Just before the thin parchment touched the floor, Ash caught it and picked it up.

“…”

There was a short silence between them.

Elaine didn’t know what to do, so she only pursed her lips. She didn’t mean to, but kept avoiding him outright.

She was just surprised by the sudden contact…

She didn’t know what to say, and hesitated, all she could do was awkwardly hand over the documents.

“That… Here.”

“… Thank you.”

He answered calmly and accepted the stack. For some reason, the atmosphere seemed to have become even more awkward. Elaine hurriedly moved to get up and tried to leave the room.

“Well then, I’ll just go…”

But before she could stand up completely, the voice she heard from him made her movements slow.

“I know you must be uncomfortable.”

She froze.

His voice seemed to be holding something back. His purple eyes, which had been staring intently at the parchment she dropped, slowly lifted to meet her gaze.