SALP Chapter 20
"You've been waiting long, haven't you, Sir Warner?"
Lanthe hurried toward Warner with quick steps.
He hadn't entered the fence but waited outside. He'd been watching the surroundings with sharp eyes as if standing guard, then turned when he saw her.
"What's that luggage?"
Warner looked at the yellowish cloth bag slung over her shoulder.
"I borrowed some books from Father Conor. They're precious, so I can't let them get dirty—he lent me the bag too."
"I'll carry it. Give it to me."
"It's alri—"
Before she could finish declining, her shoulder suddenly lightened. The bag that kept sliding off her round shoulders now rested quite securely on Warner's broad shoulders. Though the cloth bag with flower embroidery didn't quite suit him. The sight of him casually shouldering her burden and taking the lead looked increasingly admirable in Lanthe's eyes.
"I'm sorry for making you carry things, Sir Warner."
"Don't worry about it. I'm doing this for my own convenience. Even trivial matters like this reach the lord's ears."
Is that so? Does Sir Warner also watch Vigo's reactions? Just from his stern demeanor, Sir Warner looks like the higher-ranking person...
"Oh, by the way, didn't some other guests pass by here earlier?"
The path through the holly forest connecting the remote church and castle was so narrow it was hard to tell it was even a path at first glance. The thought that it had few users made her heart ache.
"You saw Lord Skaeli and Barkus."
Warner gently lifted an overhanging branch with his hand, waiting for her to pass first before answering.
"Do you know them?"
Right, they had said Lord Skaeli.
Lanthe recalled the knight with that striking hair that shimmered with red tones.
To threaten to gobble someone up just like that. The appearance was quite beautiful, but the words and actions were not beautiful at all.
That sense of roughness was similar to Vigo's, perhaps. Are all of Penmark's knights like that? The castle knights like Rix and Warner are polite though.
"They're travelers who occasionally visit our castle. Lord Skaeli is a knight recognized for skill in the eastern regions. Collecting is a hobby—wandering around looking for jewels to add to the collection. I heard Barkus writes. Something about writing while traveling, though I'm not quite sure."
"A knight and a minstrel. An unusual combination."
It was somewhat unexpected. Though not as much as Skaeli, Barkus had an unusual look in his eyes too, so she'd assumed he was a fellow knight. Come to think of it, he hadn't been wearing a sword.
"Did something happen with them?"
Warner keenly noticed and asked.
"Oh, no."
Lanthe quickly shook her head, thinking her expression while asking about them must have looked displeased.
"We exchanged brief greetings, but the first impression was quite rough, so I was curious what they do."
Though she hadn't specifically pointed anyone out, Warner nodded knowingly.
"Lord Skaeli must have acted unfriendly. You should expect most knights from other regions to be like that. Especially Lord Skaeli—being a woman, she frequently encounters needless provocations, so she displays stronger wariness toward strangers."
Ah. She was a woman... A female knight.
Just knowing she was the same sex somehow softened Lanthe's negative impression, and she smiled with a relaxed face.
"She's impressive. I've never seen a female knight before. She had a good build and looked a bit frightening, so I must have gotten unnecessarily scared."
"She's certainly rare around here. Penmarkians have extreme differences in physical conditions between men and women, so for a woman to become a knight through strength contests with men is nearly impossible. I hear female knights are common in places like the Baldon continent though."
Lanthe nodded quietly, lost in thought.
Raphlishians had little difference in build between women and men. So when assigning work, there wasn't much distinction by gender either. If Roas had had knights, men and women would have mixed freely.
That's why she'd been so surprised when she first saw Vigo as an adult. Even after learning that Penmarkian men stood more than a span taller than Raphlishian men. Because Vigo was even larger than the knights of Newbella who had first startled her.
He too had half the blood of Lanthe's people mixed in him—so why had he grown so monstrously large?
"Commander."
Upon entering the castle grounds, knights saluted Warner in sharply disciplined postures.
"The Roberia Merchant Guild has arrived. The administrator went to meet them, but the company head says there's business to address directly with the lord."
"I'll go."
Warner answered the knights' report briefly and passed them.
It was a dignified attitude that naturally inspired respect. Lanthe felt increasingly embarrassed seeing him carrying the book bag like a porter and lowered her head.
"I'm really sorry for making you carry luggage. Sir Warner, you're the Knight Commander..."
He'd told her not to worry about it, but the more she saw him wearing the flowered bag, the more apologetic she felt and followed him while murmuring apologies.
Finally, Warner's eyebrows creased slightly.
"Why does Lady Lanthe find the Knight Commander position so intimidating? You'll be above me anyway once you become the lord's wife later."
L-lord's wife?
"Who?"
When Lanthe looked up at his profile in shock, he glanced at her too.
"You're lovers with the lord, aren't you?"
What? Lovers?
"N-no, we're not!"
Not at all!
"Hmm."
He narrowed his brow and gazed at her as if finding it strange.
"Vigo and I are hometown friends. We were friends when we were very young."
She explained hastily.
Wait, what did Vigo introduce me as to his subordinates? Did he even introduce me? From the first time he brought me here, calling my name and acknowledging me meant he must have said something. He even let me freely use his room, showing we knew each other well...
"I see."
Warner's lips curved up subtly.
"Friends, then."
Right, that was the problem.
She'd slept in the same room with him for two whole days. Because they'd simply slept soundly far apart from each other, as the parties involved, she'd overlooked the meaning of 'sharing a bed,' but those around them naturally might have assigned deeper significance.
It's natural for Sir Warner to misunderstand.
At this rate, won't Princess Ana find out soon too?
"Oh right, there was a rumor that Vigo was engaged to Princess Ana—do you know anything about that?"
If Vigo's explanation had been a lie, she should demand a separate room using that as leverage even now.
Warner smiled broadly in a way unlike him.
"Don't worry. Our lord has never promised marriage to anyone. For reference, he made a devotion vow to Goddess Batia, who is critical of extramarital relations, so he can't carelessly commit infidelity. You can rest assured."
No? That's not the kind of reassurance I was asking about?
"I see..."
Continuing to make excuses with her burning face would only make her look pathetic.
This isn't right.
Lanthe just closed her mouth and walked while quietly clutching her head.
"I'm back, Nina!"
Nina had said she'd wait until Lanthe returned from the church, and she really was still waiting in the dining hall. Lanthe took her along and went upstairs together.
"Father Conor wasn't scary, was he, sis?"
Nina munched on cookies she'd gotten, despite having eaten lunch twice.
"He wasn't scary at all. He was a very kind person. He lent me lots of interesting books too."
"Wow! Lanthe sis can read letters too?"
"Yup. And I borrowed a picture book for you to look at too. Ta-da!"
"Yay!"
Lanthe only hesitated briefly at the entrance to Vigo's room about whether to enter or not. It was an empty room anyway. The room's owner wouldn't return for several days.
The two rolled around on the spacious bed reading books. They even put cookies on one side of the bed and left the crumbs to scatter as they pleased.
It's not my bed, but whatever. He stubbornly insisted I use this room, so he can take responsibility. I don't know either. Hmph.
Raphlang
She placed the book in a spot with good sunlight and carefully opened it.
On the first page was a brown-toned pen drawing. A delicate and beautiful landscape. Seeing the dense holly forest that looked like what she'd just passed through, she felt curious and glad, and a smile rose to her lips.
Passing the left page with a single sentence in the center, she turned her eyes to the right page. There was a landscape that seemed to peer deeper into the forest drawn on the previous page.
As if entering and walking into the book, Lanthe turned the page.
Raphlang.
Then an angel will descend, carry you on their back, and guide you to His kingdom.
The majestic castle gate of the forest kingdom was revealed. Though just a monochrome line drawing, Lanthe gazed at the kingdom coming alive before her eyes, overwhelmed by descriptions so vivid they seemed to jump off the page, forgetting even to breathe.
She examined the drawing carefully, not wanting to miss a single stroke drawn with fine pen. Like when she'd read the Ailea scriptures that were difficult to read with their small, dense letters, she read through the pictures and words with care.
Did Roas's neighbors always see such landscapes with the eyes of their hearts...?
"You are a descendant of the Raphlang kingdom protected by angels. We are the proud people of heaven."
Lanthe could find countless familiar things in the pictures.
The arrangement of buildings forming the small village, the shape of roofs, decorations on fences and gates—everything was familiar.
The clothes people wore, how they braided and decorated their hair, baskets woven from tree branches and leaves, even the shape of bread contained in them—all resembled things she knew quite well.
It's Roas...
Roas was there. The things they'd eaten and worn in her small hometown village, the bedroom where she'd slept, the round plaza where they'd gathered with neighbors to hold joyful festivals. All of it was contained wholly within the scenery depicting Raphlang.
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