SALP Chapter 15

"The room is gone?"

Lanthe had to go see for herself the room she'd been using.

And it really was gone. Of course, the space itself was still there in its place, but the bed and small furnishings she'd been using had disappeared, replaced by what had become a warehouse or closet stacked only with dresses and fabrics.

"I told you so."

Rix said awkwardly, running his hand over the back of his head.

Right. There was a reason he hadn't particularly tried to stop her when she said she'd go down to the square. He must have thought she was in his master's palm anyway. That no matter what she did, she'd only wander around within his domain and ultimately have no choice but to return to the room he permitted.

Lanthe eventually returned to Vigo's room.

A bathtub sat prominently in one corner of the room, along with screens set up around it.

"Shall I fill the bath for you?"

A waiting maid asked.

How am I supposed to bathe here? A room without even a door. A room Vigo enters and exits at any time.

"Yes. Thank you."

She naturally wanted to refuse, but Lanthe politely expressed her thanks and waited, huddled in a corner of the room. The warmth she'd absorbed from Vigo had long since cooled. She was so cold her teeth chattered and her whole body trembled. In weather that would be called midwinter in Roas, with rain on top of it, she had no means to endure.

A short while later, wrapped in a large towel, she entered the bathtub.

The fragrant wood scent and warm water seemed to melt away her fatigue.

'Cut off his leg.'

But soon fragments of thoughts burrowing into her head wouldn't let her rest quietly.

'If I can't dispose of even one little rat dirtying my land as I please, I should be called a saint rather than a lord.'

A manner of speech that reminded her of Derek.

What would happen to that child?

'Your ransom was more than expected. A valuable prisoner who can be exchanged for Molheom and a ransom of over 20,000 krone.'

What would happen to her?

Until now, Lanthe had dismissed his words as half mischievous teasing, not truly believing he would sell her off as a prisoner. A 'surely not' feeling had existed in one corner of her heart.

But could she really feel safe? She might have to accept the reality that he'd now become a Penmarkian as cruel as Derek.

'Until winter ends.'

Then shouldn't she escape before that? Could she find a way to flee far away before winter ended?

The people in the square mingled and conversed freely regardless of status. They showed kindness even to outsiders meeting them for the first time.

'As his fiancée, I'll give him a stern talking-to.'

Princess Ana. Vigo's betrothed. She was an extremely down-to-earth and kind person.

'If living in the castle is uncomfortable, tell me anytime. Hermea has a few houses we can lend you.'

Would that offer still be valid if she found out Lanthe wasn't Penmarkian?

Would she change like Derek too if she learned Lanthe was Raphlishian?

"The order will make a fuss."

Right, there's an order. She'd learned they were a gathering of people who serve God, live modestly, and practice charity and sharing. Just like the Raphlishians.

Moreover, according to Warner's earlier comment, they seemed to be people brave enough to stand up even to the lord. Could she take refuge with them? Would they help?

But Vigo seemed to look down on them. If it would only endanger them too, she shouldn't try it...

"What happened to everyone...?"

Lanthe covered her still-cold face with her hands submerged in the warm water and muttered.

"Everyone..."

How were the people who left Roas last summer doing? Were they receiving help from someone and getting back on their feet? If only she could meet them again...

Steam rising like mist blurred her vision. Her own future also refused to become clear, as if trapped in fog.

Where should I go?

She needed to find a path. Before winter ended...

Splash! The moment she heard the sound of water.

Her eyes flew open to see a large shadow looming darkly above her head, about to engulf her.

Absurdly, she realized somewhat later that someone was embracing her and touching her face.

Who...!

She tried to push them away in shock, but her opponent didn't budge like a solid wall.

"It's me, damn it..."

Vigo...?

"Wh-what are you doing all of a sudden?"

When did he return? She hadn't heard any sound.

Seeing that the towel wrapped around her body had somehow come loose in the water and was half removed, she hastily pulled it up to cover herself.

"Get out. Don't watch me bath..."

"I thought you were dead."

The end of his words, spat out roughly, trembled slightly.

His fingertips dug into her shoulders. The force gripping her was so strong that pain pushed all the way to her bones.

"Ah, it hurts."

As soon as she moaned softly, the strength drained from his hands.

But he was still pressuring her with frightening eyes. Drip, drip, water falling from his hair. Wet shirt. Had he gotten soaked in the rain outside, or had she made him that way?

"I must have dozed off for a moment. The water was warm..."

His hand gripping the bathtub instead of her shoulder was pure white. Only the bulging veins stood out blue.

"You really worry about the strangest things. People don't so easily..."

She bit her lower lip, about to say out of habit like when she was young that people don't die so easily.

Hadn't that era when she could speak so carefree passed? Words she could only say in an era when her greatest pains were skinning her knee falling in the yard or getting a scratch on her arm climbing onto the roof.

"Could you turn around for a moment? So I can get dressed."

She said, clutching the front of the towel tightly closed.

Vigo just stared at her face silently before quietly standing up and leaving the room.

Lanthe hurriedly dried herself, then put on the clothes the maid had prepared on the bed before her bath. The embroidered decorations were a bit more ornate than the dress she'd worn yesterday, which felt awkward, but it wasn't the time to complain about clothes.

"Ah, I'm not dressed yet!"

She whirled around at the sound of movement, but Vigo ignored her words and strode toward her.

He set a small glass bottle down on the nightstand beside the bed with a thunk and said:

"Drink it. Now."

"What is that?"

Lanthe glared at him while arranging the neckline with its wide-cut collar.

"Drink it if you don't want to catch a cold."

"Restore my room to how it was. If it's difficult because of the cost, I'll do odd jobs."

She said, picking up the medicine bottle.

"That won't do."

"In the first place, you and I..."

Just then maids entered and began clearing away the bathtub. Whether Vigo had instructed them or not, they quietly tidied up without any particular explanation.

After swallowing the medicine, Lanthe continued in a properly lowered voice:

"Does it make sense for you and me to share a room? You have a betrothed, so you should be careful with your behavior. Don't you know even basic courtesy?"

"Betrothed?"

He crossed his arms and tilted his head crookedly.

"Who's betrothed?"

As if hearing this for the first time.

"Me?"

What kind of reaction is that? Surely Princess Ana wouldn't have publicly lied. The atmosphere suggested everyone there knew it as fact.

Moreover, Vigo had accepted the respectful treatment earlier as if he were King Kian's son-in-law.

"Are you trying to say you're the only one who didn't know about your engagement?"

At her words, he blinked as if retracing a lost memory.

Then he said indifferently, "Ah."

"Princess Ana, you mean."

"Did you just now remember your fiancée?"

"What engagement?"

The maids quietly bowed their heads in greeting and left the room.

Once only the two remained, Vigo casually pulled off his shirt. Lanthe quickly turned her head away, diverting her gaze toward the room's entrance.

"I have nothing to do with that woman. I didn't think she'd still be saying such things."

"Regardless of what your relationship actually is, if you promised marriage to each other, you should observe basic courtesy. That man with you earlier was King Kian, right? He looked like Princess Ana."

"You noticed well. I couldn't even tell if that father and daughter resembled each other."

Thud, he threw himself onto the bed and rang the bell attached to the wall. Ding-a-ling.

"Some years ago, at a drinking party where knights from both sides gathered, King Kian got completely drunk and told me to become his son-in-law, shouting 'This is the engagement ceremony!' That's all there was to it. If that kind of thing counts as an engagement ceremony, I've gotten married more than thirty times."

"Hmm..."

Really? Was it true? It seemed too specific to be a brazen lie, and it was content that could be verified through witnesses if needed...

"But Princess Ana spoke of you as her fiancé quite seriously? You didn't express your position properly?"

Lanthe asked, hiding her wavering heart.

"I clearly said I won't marry. But the other party is King Kian's child. Since her father goes around saying he'll make me his son-in-law, the woman just goes along with it."

"She called you 'that man.'"

"So what?"

He met her eyes calmly.

"You meet that woman a couple more times and you'll hear at least 'darling' too."

What, me too?

Now Lanthe was on the verge of completely falling for his words.

Did Princess Ana originally use that kind of speech with just anyone?

"But she didn't address other people that way..."

Her voice came out uncertain.

Could it be a lie when Vigo was making such definite assurances? He had no reason to make excuses to her in the first place.

"I guess that red-haired woman didn't attend today's gossip gathering. Anyway, there are several people called 'darling', 'that person' and such like lovers just for matching Princess Ana's taste in appearance, and one of them is unluckily me. Since she likes my appearance, she'll probably like yours too. We look alike."

"Where do we look alike?"

"We're the same ethnicity. Though I'm only half. To Penmarkian eyes, if just skin color or eye color is somewhat similar, we seem to look alike."

"Ah..."

Come to think of it, Princess Ana had grandly gone on with praise about Lanthe's appearance, saying something about amethyst eyes and whatnot. It was her taste. So it wasn't a joke meant to be funny.

But could she believe his explanation this simply? Lanthe frowned, falling into contemplation about whether she should so easily trust him, who'd grown up as an inscrutable person.

"And whether I have a wife or not."

Vigo urged her by tapping the spot next to him. When a servant who had heard the bell he'd rung earlier came in calling "My lord" and brought him alcohol, he received the cup and emptied more than half of it in one gulp before setting it down on the nightstand beside the bed.

"I decide for myself whose side I'll sleep at."

Lanthe's mouth fell open at his unrestrained words.