Chapter 51
6. Before the Storm
“Eve!”
Ruth was delighted when he saw Evelia entering the training hall.
Instead of waving her hand, Evelia pointed to a wooden sword. This means to focus on class.
Ruth nodded and tightened his grip on the wooden sword. Evelia sat on the chair brought by the servant and watched the class.
‘It’s gotten a lot better.’
It’s already been a week since Ruth took lessons from Cassis. At first, Ruth was half excited and half nervous and couldn’t concentrate in class.
‘It seemed like he still had trauma in the class because of Alex Marc.’
Cassis was surprisingly calm and patient with Ruth. He didn’t argue or shout.
Perhaps inspired by this, Ruth opened his heart. As a result, the child looked forward to the swordsmanship class.
‘They seem to get along well.’
Evelia smiled faintly as she watched Ruth swinging his sword and Cassis correcting his posture.
The father and son hadn’t been spending much time together lately; they’d eaten separately and hadn’t had time for a simple conversation.
But over the past week, the Adelhard father and son had grown closer.
In particular, the biggest change was in Cassis’s side; unlike at first, when he was awkward around Ruth, he now treated the child quite naturally.
The stiff expression softened, and the tone of voice became much more relaxed.
‘Should I ask to eat together after class?’
Evelia, who was thinking like that and looking around, was surprised.
I didn’t realize it because I was focused on this father and son, I hadn’t realized there were other knights in the room.
It was a contrast to Alex Marc’s class, who was stabbed and beat all the knights during class.
The problem was that all the knights were topless.
‘Wow, the weather has definitely gotten hotter.’
It has already entered July, and just standing in the sun was enough to make you sweat. It must be even hotter for the knights practicing swordsmanship.
Cassis and Ruth were the only ones wearing robes in this training center.
Evelia looked at the upper bodies of the knights glistening with sweat without realizing it, then turned her head again. Then I was surprised again.
Ruth was almost in front of me. My gaze met the child’s red eyes.
“Eve! What are you looking at?”
Evelia couldn’t bear to tell the truth, so she vaguely explained it.
“The weather was nice so I was looking at the sky.”
“I see! The weather is really nice, isn’t it?”
The child chattered. Evelia nodded roughly and looked at Cassis, who was standing behind Ruth.
He looked at Evelia once, then turned his gaze to where she was looking.
Of course, there were knights standing there, sweating and waving wooden swords.
Cassis turned his head again and looked at Evelia. It felt as if he was asking, ‘Do you have a hobby of looking at things like that?’
Even though Cassis couldn’t possibly say that.
Evelia quickly changed the topic.
“It’s hot, right? I brought you some cold drinks.”
“Wow!”
Ruth took the glass Annie gave him and drank it down. He emptied the entire glass before Evelia told him to drink it slowly.
“Um, Duke?”
This time, Evelia tried to hand Cassis the glass she had received from Annie.
But by that moment, Cassis had disappeared.
The direction he was heading towards the shirtless knights. As he whispered something, the knights all began to put on the clothes they had taken off.
Evelia’s face turned slightly red as she looked at that.
‘I guess I got caught as expected.’
Ruth, who had no way of knowing that fact, waved his hand with a worried look on his face.
“Eve, are you hot?”
“No, it’s okay.”
Evelia firmly resolved that she would refrain from coming to the training ground from now on.
Meanwhile, Cassis approached one of the few female knights in the training hall. Then he and the knight approached Evelia.
The knight he brought was an impressive woman with dark brown skin.
Her hair was a blazing red, and her eyes were gold. She was so tall that Evelia had to tilt her head back to look up.
A knight wearing light training clothes greeted me with knightly manners.
“Hello, Lady Venion. My name is Nikita. I don’t have a last name.”
“Hello Dame Nikita.”
But why this person? Evelia looked at Cassis with an expression that required an explanation.
“From now on, Dame Nikita will be in charge of guarding the Lady.”
“Oh, I see. Please take care of me.”
“It is an honor for me to be able to serve you, Lady.”
“But do I need an escort? I mostly stay at the mansion.”
“Of course it is necessary.”
Cassis spoke firmly. Nikita added.
“Besides, aren’t you planning to go out in public in the future? You’ll be in trouble if you don’t have an escort.”
Evelia felt like she had been stabbed in the back for a moment.
‘Oh right. I need to do public activities.’
I didn’t even think about it until now because I was so focused on Cassis and Ruth.
However, after the wedding and becoming Duchess of Adelhard, she had to engage in public activities.
At least during the marriage period, she was determined to do her best as a Duchess.
‘I must prepare for that.’
With that promise, I held Ruth’s hand.
“Young master, it’s really hot, isn’t it? Now that the class is over, shall we go in and take a refreshing shower? You have to wash and eat.”
“Yes!”
It was when Evelia was about to take Ruth inside. Nikita followed them.
“Huh? Is Dame Nikita coming too?”
“Of course. Isn’t I the Lady’s escort knight?”
“But even in the mansion…”
Nikita laughed heartily.
“I won’t be around all the time at the mansion. However, since this is my first time, I plan to stay with you for a while until you get used to it.”
“I see, then.”
Evelia greeted Cassis and walked away again. Cassis also nodded and headed towards the knights who were practicing.
When I saw that, I suddenly became curious.
“Dame Nikita. What did the Duke say to the other knights?”
“Duke? Ah…”
She took a deep breath to suppress her laughter.
“He told them to get dressed right away.”
“But it’s so hot, why…”
“That’s—”
Nikita said as if asking why she was asking such a question.
“Isn’t it because he doesn’t want the Lady to see the bare skin of other mens?”
Me?
Evelia was curious.
‘Why?’
That could have happened if Cassis and Evelia were truly lovers.
However, the relationship between the two was a contract.
Whether Evelia saw another man naked or was friendly with another man was not something Cassis cared about.
However, rumors were spreading among the people of the mansion that Cassis and Evelia were lovers, not an arranged marriage.
It was too difficult to deny it here, so I just laughed.
“I guess so.”
Deep inside, I thought that would never happen.
*****
Nikita was a knight from the Kingdom of Cesia. She would tell Evelia and Ruth stories about the kingdom that they had never heard of before.
“There is a legend that a mysterious power comes down to the Cesia royal family.”
Ruth focused on the story without even thinking about eating the cookie.
“What power?”
“Nothing exactly has been revealed. Some say they can control dragons, while others say they can turn into wolves.”
“Wow.”
Evelia also listened to the story.
‘Maybe it’s a story related to Ruth’s curse.’
There was so much going on that I forgot about it, I had forgotten that curing Ruth’s curse was just as important as improving the relationship between Ruth and Cassis.
Evelia or Han So-yoon, did not read the novel until the end. I knew that Ruth’s biological father was Lionel Cesia, the troublesome prince of the Kingdom of Cesia, but I didn’t know how exactly to cure Ruth’s curse.
I didn’t even know why he was cursed.
But it is a mysterious power that comes down to the Cesia royal family. I couldn’t stop listening.
But there was also something strange.
‘Ruth’s illness is presumed to be a curse, but why is it said to be a mysterious power in legend?’
Isn’t there a great disconnect between a curse and a mysterious power?
I asked, just in case.
“Are there any hereditary diseases or curses that are passed down to the royal family?”
Nikita looked at me for a moment as if asking me why I was asking such a question, but she managed to control her expression and answered.
“I don’t know anything. Even if it exists, it is unlikely to be known. Because it could be a weakness.”
“I see.”
I was disappointed, but I can’t give up now.
‘I’ll have to look for it.’
Part of me wanted to ask Samuel to do it, he was a competent Information Guild leader.
‘But I’m sure Samuel would wonder why I was curious about that.’
It was a secret that Ruth was the son of Julia and Lionel Cesia and that he was suffering from a curse.
I trusted Samuel, but I couldn’t let anyone on the outside kn.ow that fact.
‘Then I guess I’ll have to find it out by myself.’
So, that evening, after finishing my meal, I went to see Cassis.
