42. Beautiful Shackle
An awkwardness washed over me. My face felt hot.
It was fortunate that it dropped quickly. My heart was pounding and leaping.
“I prefer big things, unconditionally.”
I turned my words casually. He chuckled at my words.
“I’ll remember that for next time.”
He touched the pendant in front of me. The crooked gem returned to its proper position.
“Why suddenly a gift of jewelry?”
“Pick a bracelet, ring, or earrings you like in the capital. Instead, I hope you continue with this.”
“…Is it valuable?”
“Valuable indeed. It’s said that this gemstone symbolizes safety. If you carry it around like an amulet, it’s believed to receive the protection of the gods. They say it sells like hotcakes, more than food, when war breaks out.”
“Do you believe in superstitions?”
Superstitions, huh. That was unexpected.
“For you, the capital might be as dangerous as a battlefield.”
The necklace sparkled in various angles. It had a subtle feeling, a transparent shade of blue. Tilt it slightly, and it turned purple; squint, and a hint of red appeared.
“I haven’t given you proper jewelry as a gift, thinking about it now. Since we have plenty of time, it’s best to choose carefully.”
Truly, it was a beautiful shackle.
Does a necklace become something other than a necklace when a gem is embedded in it? The gem sparkled brightly without any regard for its role.
“I’ll ensure your safety as much as possible. I’ll provide you with enough money to spend as you wish. When you go to the capital, there will inevitably be threats to your safety. It won’t be as heavily guarded as inside the Duke’s castle, but I’ll assign additional protection. If there’s anything lacking, feel free to let me know. If you want additional funds sent to the Baron…”
I cut him off. There was no need to hear more.
“I don’t need it. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: please compensate me for my blood only, now and in the future.”
* * *
With his words, the Duke’s castle became even more chaotic than during the banquet. It was a sudden and decided rearrangement of the board.
Deon told the soldiers to pack up, but it wasn’t something that could be done in a single morning after nearly ten years. In the end, all the servants in the Duke’s castle stopped their work and helped the soldiers.
Although I suggested returning to the original castle with minimal luggage, people were diligently moving to load one more thing.
The head chef packed iron pans and various cooking tools into a large luggage cart. The maids went to the backyard to take the bed covers and thoroughly shook them.
Ironically, at the center of all this, I, who was the cause of it all, was leisurely strolling through the garden.
Leonie had no luggage. The luggage brought from the Baron’s house was so light that it could be carried with one hand.
Leonie’s luggage, who had come with the thought of staying for just a year in the Duke’s house, was pathetic. Moreover, most of it was old and worn out, so we decided to dispose of it. If the household had been generous from the start, there would have been no reason to sacrifice the daughter as a hostage.
The poorly made sticks and the scattered fluff from the pillow that had come off the wool had been thrown onto the snowy ground long ago.
When there was time, I walked quietly in the garden where the snow was falling. Sometimes I heard the sound of a pounding heart from a distance, but it wasn’t as frightening as before.
Most of the heartbeats came from the direction of the library. The lady didn’t come outside; her body seemed to have become quite heavy. She spent her boring time eating snacks, taking naps, and reading books. She didn’t come outside, perhaps because she couldn’t get rid of the overwhelming sleep in her soft bed or sofa.
“Lady, it’s better for you to take a different path. They plan to burn the warehouse today.”
Suren, who was walking in the garden with me, blocked my way.
“Again? They burned it yesterday.”
“Today it’s the barn.”
As I absentmindedly gazed at the burning barn, a distant memory suddenly came to mind.
Huh… come to think of it, wasn’t that place used as the secret meeting place for the female lead and the male lead?
I dredged up the vague memory that my friend had mentioned.
That barn seemed to have a hole in the lower ceiling, so at night, if you lay down, only the toes could see the stars. Sometimes the main characters lay on a haystack and looked at the stars.
Now, not only were there no stars, but the sky was also covered in black smoke.
It was bitter. Suren coughed.
“It’s not good for your health. Let’s go inside, my lady.”
“Sure.”
I nodded.
Because the northern region was so devoid of attractions, even this was considered a spectacle. The young attendants who were working in the kitchen all came out to the side door to watch the fire. The maids, busy shaking out blankets, were also sticking their heads out of the third-floor windows.
“Are you enjoying it? Want to watch more?”
Suren asked as she looked at me, who didn’t leave my seat.
It was a gaze that anticipated my appreciation.
No… it wasn’t fun. Rather, how should I put it?
It felt like a well-made movie set was being dismantled.
Deon eventually thought he would come back here. So even if the background of the prologue changed, he thought the starting point would remain the same. When I die, he will come back to the Duke’s castle with new blood. Romance will begin again in this background. However, I hadn’t thought at all that some sets would be burned to progress the plot. Deon seemed to have no intention of returning to the North.
Crackle.
The sound of breaking was heard, and the roof collapsed weakly. Debris fluttered from the collapsed roof.
I turned my eyes from the collapsed pile of flames. Itchy, as if dust had gotten into my eyes.
The sounds of the North were clearly audible. The laughter of the maids, the chef’s loud voice, the sound of soldiers’ swords clashing, and…
“Suren, don’t you hear any strange sounds?”
“What sound?”
“Just… a faint, rustling sound.”
She looked at me as if she were puzzled by my words.
“What? Even if it’s a growl, I don’t know. Are you sure you didn’t mishear? There are no small animals in the North.”
She was right. Small animals couldn’t survive in the North. Even carnivores that hibernated wouldn’t wake up once they entered winter.
“Miss, if you go up to the capital, you should visit the clinic before the dessert shop…”
Ignoring Suren’s muttering, I followed the sound. As I crossed the garden, the sound became clearer.
Suren also seemed to have heard, hunching her shoulders. The mysterious sound was coming from inside the greenhouse.
“Could it be… a ghost?”
Her expression was full of fear. She, who always walked ahead of me, clung to my back.
“Don’t go…,” Suren said, slashing at me. And she grabbed the ribbon tied to my back like a lifeline. The loose string loosened as I opened the greenhouse door ahead.
The inside of the greenhouse was no different from usual. Snow had piled up on the transparent ceiling, blocking the sunlight, and there were no flowers, not even the fragrance.
But the scene on the table was different from usual. An egg, which had been put on the table as a decoration, was rolling back and forth with a clatter.
It was the egg I had left behind when I ran away, thinking I’d be caught by Viter sooner or later. Now, there was nowhere to hide it from Viter, so I moved it to the greenhouse. But it was supposed to be just a decoration, and it was still alive.
There was gold on the egg. The origin of the sound was from here.
“You have sharp ears. To hear this sound.”
“Yeah.”
The golden egg wobbled from side to side. With outstretched hand, I caught the almost-falling egg just in time. Soon, I pushed aside the outer shell, and the entity inside raised its head.
Our eyes met.
It was a chick. I couldn’t bring myself to say it was pretty or cute.
It had no feathers yet, and its body was stiff and bare. The body was soaked. The bird struggled to lift its thin neck and then bobbed its beak.
“Seems hungry.”
Oh, what to do? I don’t have any worms or anything.
I examined the pointed beak that emerged from my finger. As I did, the chick leaned against my finger.
“They say birds consider the first thing they see when they open their eyes as their mother. Indeed, it seems like you’re hoping for me.”
I gently enclosed the bird with my hand. It was my first time holding such a small, newly-born bird. I had no idea what to do.
It seems like it needs to be dried. Getting wet would be cold. Should I blow on it to dry?
Its beak was trembling delicately. I couldn’t tell if this was typical for a newly-born bird or if it was shivering because of the cold surroundings.
“Looks like other eggs are about to hatch.”
As Suren said, there was a faint golden hue on the other eggs.
“By the way, this bird… it’s a Mockia bird.”
“Do you know this bird?”
“I’ve heard of it. But such a bird shouldn’t be in this cold northern region. It’s not a pet either.”
“Really?”
“In our hometown, we call them seasonal birds. They die after one season. They live briefly. They don’t sing much, so they’re not popular as pets, and since they live so shortly, it’s challenging to bond with them. That’s why we don’t raise them as pets.”
Living for just one season and then dying. Just like my remaining lifespan. Thinking about it made me feel melancholic.
“Should I set it free?”
“It’ll freeze in this cold weather. Even though it won’t live long anyway.”
“Still… it could live.”
That was directed at me. A determination to defy fate. Maybe hatching was a miracle, and it could survive.
“It’s too small.”
I sighed without realizing it. The bird was indeed small enough to be held with one hand.
“Are you thinking of raising it? Taking it to the capital?”
Suren asked.
“I have to take it, right?”
I also had a responsibility now. A very cute responsibility.
The bird fluffed its tiny wings. Even that fluttering was incredibly cute.
“Shall we cut its wing feathers?”
“What?”
Kkkkk