Chapter 53

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Early that morning, I got out of bed and trudged down to the dining hall.

Since the camp’s mealtime was at eleven in the morning, right after dawn training, my waking time barely lined up well enough to keep me from starving.

‘I mean, I could just have a servant bring me food separately, but…’

There was no way the camp servants would treat me kindly.

Like something out of a cliché cheap novel, they could spit in my food or sprinkle sand into it. Eating in the dining hall with everyone else honestly felt safer.

We had to return to the castle soon anyway, and I really didn’t want to start that long journey on an empty stomach.

“Madam, your beauty shines even brighter today!”

“Flattery won’t work.”

“Tch.”

Ramon was with me this morning.

Apparently the clerks had practically kidnapped him yesterday evening, refusing to let a high-ranking administrative officer leave before signing piles of pending documents.

Even so, that didn’t erase the suffocating awkwardness I’d felt yesterday.

You know it’s bad when even the damn duke feels like a relief.

“Stick to me until we leave camp. If you wander off, you’re dead.”

“You were that uncomfortable? You, Madam?”

“Don’t ask. They treated me like a plague carrier. Everyone avoided me like they’d die if I touched them…”

Ramon walked ahead and opened the dining hall door.

And just like yesterday, the loud chatter inside froze instantly.

Almost every gaze snapped to me.

‘Go on then. Try it today. I have backup this time.’

I lifted my chin proudly.

I walked forward with steady steps, and the knights, stiff as stone, scrambled to bow with awkward, strained smiles.

Honestly, I couldn’t tell if they were smiling or baring their teeth.

“G-good afternoon, Madam.”

“It’s morning but… sure.”

One knight even rushed to pull out my chair before I sat.

Still awkward, yet completely different from yesterday’s atmosphere.

Ramon rolled his eyes and murmured softly.

“I think you and I have different definitions of plague, Madam.”

“It’s not different.”

And honestly, I was the most confused of all.

Yesterday they looked ready to chew me alive, but overnight everything had changed like magic.

Unless they had some kind of hidden agenda…

‘Ah. Is it that.’

Maybe I really should have Ramon taste my food first.

Better safe than sorry. The old saying existed for a reason.

As that thought passed through my head, a long shadow stretched over me like déjà vu.

“Good afternoon, Madam.”

“Good morning, Your Grace.”

Even though I corrected him, he ignored it and whispered something to Ramon.

Ramon glanced at me, visibly conflicted, then promptly betrayed me and scurried off.

Unbelievable.

After sending Ramon away, the duke sat across from me looking strangely satisfied.

“There seems to be trouble at the port.”

“The western port?”

I had been sipping warm honey-wine and lifted my gaze at the unexpected news.

The duke was resting his chin on his hand, staring straight at me.

Ah. Our eyes met.

“I received a report that a landslide blocked the road leading from the port into Lombard.”

“That’s bad. The envoys from the Capital might have arrived already…”

“Possibly.”

He kept staring at me, unblinking. His gaze felt strangely persistent.

Eventually I looked away first.

“So that’s why you sent Sir Ramon?”

“Yes. As the administrative minister, he’s best suited for the job.”

“…”

“How’s your injury.”

His question came just as his gaze was getting too intense.

He was looking at the scraped spot on my palm from when I fell yesterday.

Relief softened the tautness inside me.

“It’s fine. It wasn’t serious.”

“It might scar.”

“For this?”

I set down my cup and held out my hand.

And the duke suddenly took it into his own.

His large, calloused hand supported mine, his thumb brushing tenderly across the scraped skin.

It happened so suddenly I didn’t even breathe.

“…Ah.”

He must’ve grabbed it without thinking, because he let out a faint startled sound and slowly released me.

To me that slow motion felt weirdly long.

“I meant to check the wound properly.”

“S-suddenly grabbing a lady’s hand is rude, Your Grace.”

“I’ll be careful.”

Did he really think I’d send a complaint to the Capital over a small scrape?

Sure, the original Elicia would have, but not me.

The last thing I wanted was unnecessary attention from the Imperial Palace.

‘My hand feels warm.’

Maybe because he touched it. Maybe because it was him.

I was fidgeting with my wrist when I noticed knights inching toward us nervously.

Their faces were painfully awkward.

“S-sorry to interrupt the mood…”

“We weren’t trying to interrupt, it’s just… the timing…”

I ignored their rambling and looked at the knight in front.

A familiar face.

“You’re…?”

“A-ah, yes. I owe you a debt from yesterday, Madam. Please call me Stephan.”

He was one of the knights who’d watched the commotion in the courtyard.

“Nice to meet you. So? Why are you here? Yesterday in the dining hall, you pretended not to see me.”

“That happened?” the duke asked suddenly.

I ignored him. If anything needed explaining, the knights could do it.

Hit by both our stares, Stephan suddenly dropped to his knees.

“I’m ashamed about yesterday! But today… today I bring an even more shameless request.”

“I refuse before hearing it. Can I.”

“Please spare us! There’s a mountain of unfinished administrative paperwork in the order and we can’t solve it alone. We beg you to approve only the most urgent ones!”

“So you already brought something? What did you br…”

This couldn’t be happening. They wouldn’t ambush me in the dining hall, right?

But of course they would.

The knights behind Stephan sheepishly revealed the documents they’d been hiding behind their backs.

Their shy smiles didn’t soften how predatory their expressions looked.

‘Huh. These really are backed up.’

I skimmed one document. It was a proposal to increase the medical budget for the order.

It had been stuck for more than a year.

Since the order defended the Northern Wall, weapon and supply budgets couldn’t be delayed, but medical funds weren’t considered urgent and were perfect for political tug-of-war.

‘Even injured knights need to feel cared for if morale is going to stay up.’

More medical staff. New treatments from the Capital. Updated medicine.

I hated doing favors, but medical care was different.

Call it basic human decency. Something like that.

In the end, temptation won and I reached out.

“Sir Stephan? Let me see the documents you’re holding.”

“T-thank you, Madam!”

“I’m only reading them.”

A promise doomed from the start.