3 – Shabby Hut (3)
It seemed he was really thirsty.
Sirien gulped down the water. Maybe his throat was scratchy because of the dust.
For a small mouth, he drank quite a lot. Then he let out a long, refreshing breath.
The wind blew Sirien’s hair.
The piled-up snow sparkled in the sunlight, and his long, soft silver hair shone again in that light.
His red eyes captured the surroundings. A vast snowfield and the forest. There was a clear sky with no clouds.
The last place Sirien’s gaze fell upon was me. He tilted his tiny head slightly.
“So, why are you helping me?”
“Which one? Are you talking about helping Hena?”
“Yes.”
“Just because. It’ll be nice if it ends quickly.”
It didn’t seem like a question with any special intent.
Maybe it was a question born out of pure curiosity.
So I answered without much thought.
As I scooped up the water, Sirien seemed to be thinking all the time. The answer she came up with was quite unexpected.
Her eyes sparkled as if she had realized something.
“It’s okay because there are no adults!”
“Suddenly, why the adults?”
“They would get angry if I tried to do Hena’s job. Especially at Hena. But there are no adults now, right? So it’s okay, isn’t it?”
“Uh… Is that how it works?”
“Yes!”
It suddenly hit me that only the two of us were in the hut.
And for young children, ‘time without adults’ had a special meaning.
Sirien was no exception to this universal law, regardless of the East or the West.
If you think about it, this kind of thing had never happened in her life before.
That shabby hut still didn’t sit quite right with her, but she was slightly pleased with the situation where only those her age gathered.
The absence of adults and having to do everything themselves gave Serien’s heart a thrill.
As the scion of a great noble family, there was no telling how many things she was prohibited from doing.
A strict hierarchical society. The dignity she had to maintain as a young noble. Serien realized that the constraints that had been holding her back were now gone.
Feeling elated, Serien ran to the hut even faster than I did.
And upon opening the door, she shouted loudly, causing Hena’s distress.
“Hena! I want to help with the cleaning too!”
“Heeek?”
* * *
The social hierarchy in this world was quite strict.
Perhaps this was characteristic of female-oriented romance fantasy novels.
Unlike male-oriented novels that had looser social hierarchies, in this novel, the gap between social status was much thicker and harder to overcome.
It was all the more so because the aristocrats of this world actually possessed special powers due to their bloodlines.
For example, the previous question.
If this place had been the castle of Erlen, the Grand Duke of Rheim, Serien would have never been able to help the maidservant.
Because, the moment she did, it would have become a strong statement that she wouldn’t entrust any work to the maidservant.
Daring to have a princess do such a trivial task would make it difficult for the maidservant to keep her position.
That was the level of the difference in status between commoners and great nobles.
Nobility among nobles. The prominent family in this vast empire placed only the royal family above them.
The enemy of the Grand Duke of Erlen’s family said,
“I might have some hidden talent here, you know.”
Merely ten minutes ago, dust from tomes made her cough profusely.
It was the words of the princess, who was certain she could distance herself from cleaning for life.
With a somewhat exasperated expression, Hena forced a smile.
As a maidservant of the Grand Duke’s family, she seemed to want to snatch the wet towel from Serien’s delicate hand immediately, but regrettably, Hena did not have the courage to spoil the excited Serien’s mood.
Serien was smiling too innocently for that.
“Ah, ahahahaha. You really did a great job.”
In the meantime, Hena’s fingers skimmed over the table.
It was the table Serien had just wiped. Sure enough, a hint of black stuck to her finger, and the master of housework raised her eyebrow ever so slightly.
It happened in such a brief moment that it was almost missed.
“Um, I feel like I should give you a reward. Would you like to go on a little adventure with me? If we find something interesting, please let me know!”
“Huh? I saw you sleeping earlier.”
“What? Asleep? Where?”
“On the bed upstairs. I felt bad waking you up, so I just came down.”
For a moment, Hena’s thoughts stopped.
Bed? What bed was she talking about?
She couldn’t be talking about the bed that was left abandoned in the attic.
It was a bed that hadn’t even been touched, not even for laundry. It seemed like one would be covered in dust the moment they lay down on it, and nobody in their right mind would choose to sleep there.
No. That wasn’t it.
The Terion Hena knew didn’t need common sense like that.
That prince didn’t even need to know the concept of dust settling on beds or blankets!
“Sir, Terion!”
Hena called out to Terion and hurried upstairs to the second floor.
That day, I learned that Hena’s face turned red when she held her anger.
From Noble mtl dot com
“I was sleeping soundly, and now this happened!”
“You could get sick if you sleep there, even if you’re a well-trained person.”
“I was really fine. I have a body that’s been trained, you know.”
“That’s not the problem, don’t you understand?”
“Ah, never mind. Yawn.”
Terion yawned lazily.
I walked beside him, and Sirien followed us with small steps.
In her fury, Hena chose to drive us all away.
With a clenched jaw and a smile, Hena seemed to be the inspiration for all maidservants. However, even she couldn’t laugh at her sharp anger.
Terion quickly ran away after noticing Hena’s anger.
Officially, Hena asked us to look outside, but her true intention was probably ‘don’t bother me and just leave!’. It seemed that Sirien was the only one who didn’t notice this.
Sirien pointed at Terion’s back with a grin.
“Brother. There’s something black on your back.”
“What? Really? I was saving this.”
“Your neck is black too? hahahahaha! You look so foolish.”
“Huh, you’ve got something black on your cheek, too, you know?”
“Ugh? You’re lying!”
“I’m serious.”
Sirien quickly turned her head toward me.
I sensed that the arrow had returned to me.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t see it. You’ve been behind me the whole time.”
“Ah, is that so?”
“Yes, it is.”
I couldn’t say I had noticed but left it alone because it was amusing.
It didn’t seem like something that had happened too long ago since it was there when we left the cabin.
I skillfully diverted the arrow to another place.
“There’s a stream over there. Let’s wash up there.”
“Okay.”
There were many wide, flat stones near the stream.
Terion found a suitable spot to sit, and I used the stream water to wipe Sirien’s cheek. I didn’t want to touch Sirien’s hands as the water was cold.
Sirien shuddered at the mere touch of the water.
“Ah, are you done cleaning now?”
“Just a moment. There, all done.”
“Uh, thanks. When did this get on me?”
“I don’t know. I’ll wet a handkerchief for you, so you can clean your hands too.”
It seemed like the place had everything we needed for a hideout.
Judging by its appearance, we would do laundry here, and we could cut the trees around for firewood.
Water was from the well. There was enough food in the warehouse. To be honest, it was a place where we could easily stay not just for ten days, but a whole month.
But if we spent a month here, the siblings’ expressions would turn gloomy.
I didn’t want to leave my room in Rehaim and stay in a place like this for any longer than necessary.
“Hey, Rajen. We have a lot of time, so how about we spar?”
“Spar sounds good. I’ve been feeling restless already and wanted to sweat a bit. Shall we start now?”
“Then I’ll watch.”
There was no need to prepare our swords separately.
We often used wooden training swords in the castle, but we also had a fair amount of experience sparring with real swords.
At times like these, Sirius would show displeasure, worrying someone might get hurt, but now, he no longer added unnecessary comments, perhaps having become accustomed to it.
Sirius naturally found a spot a little distance away. The floor seemed cold, so I had to hand over my coat to be used as a cushion.
There was an unspoken rule in the duels between Terion and me.
First, the first move always belonged to Terion.
This was because of my superior objective skills. Just as swords don’t discriminate when cutting people, we promised that the duel between swordsmen would treat each other as equals.
It meant that the prideful Terion admitted his inferiority and accepted the right to make the first move.
“Here I come!”
Terion dashed forward with a kick at the ground.
Snow and dirt from the snowfield splashed and left traces behind.
A heavy longsword drew a curve as it approached. It was a clean strike.
Terion wanted to become an outstanding knight, like my father, the Duke of Ellensia. Therefore, he was always serious about the swordsmanship and made strenuous efforts.
He wouldn’t turn a defeat into a feeling of inferiority.
Rather, he used it as a driving force to strive even harder and put all his heart into his efforts.
I highly regarded such a Terion.
Clang! The two swords clashed, producing a clear metallic sound.
“What? Have you improved since the last time?”
“Of course, I have to improve!”
As soon as the swords collided, Terion’s center of gravity shifted to one side.
A naturally flowing low kick followed. I responded by taking a step ahead and kicking Terion’s shin.
“Aargh!”
“It hurts! That’s what happens when you come in too predictably!”
That was our second rule.
As long as the injury wasn’t severe enough to make training impossible the next day, we wouldn’t discriminate against means and methods.
The reason was to treat it like real combat. Hence, our duels, even among nobles, were filled with all sorts of methods, including hand-to-hand combat.
That was also the reason why Sirius, who wasn’t particularly interested in swordsmanship, often watched our duels.
Our duels looked quite shabby to others.