✧✧✧
About a week later, Lady Carol’s scarf was complete.
“All right. All done. Would you throw it away for me, Riccie?” Lady Carol snatched up her scarf and held it out to me.
“What?!” I was so shocked I couldn’t help but cry out.
Lady Carol was surprised in turn. “What’s wrong? It’s not like you to shout.”
“But weren’t you knitting this for your baby?”
“No, this was just practice. I doubt anyone would want this thing.”
It was true that the scarf she held used a lot of different types of stitching. The final fifth was plump with thick cable stitches—a difficult technique to get right. But that didn’t make it useless. It was a lovely scarf. I wondered whether her royal upbringing had made her picky when it came to clothing.
“But you put in all that effort...”
The real problem was that I’d have to be the one to take what Lady Carol had made and either throw it away or reduce it back to yarn. I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
“There’s no point keeping it if no one’s going to use it,” Lady Carol said.
“Could I have it, in that case?”
“You don’t have to use this. You’ve already made something much better.”
I’d been knitting along with Lady Carol. I’d actually made something like a cape, complete with button holes for attaching to the shoulders of an outfit.
“I was planning to give what I’d made to you, Lady Carol. Can’t I have yours?”
“Well, I was gonna throw it anyway, so you might as well. Honestly, though, you don’t have to use this thing.”
When Lady Carol held the scarf out to me, I respectfully accepted it with both hands.
“This is too precious to wear. I’ll treasure it my entire life.”
Lady Carol laughed. “Now you’re being silly.”
“It’s not silly at all. This is an irreplaceable treasure.”
Lady Carol smiled back at me. But then her expression suddenly turned grim. She curled her back and put her hand to her mouth. “Ngh...”
I quickly grabbed a cup, added a large spoonful of honey from a jar, and half filled it with hot water from a pot wrapped in thick cloth that was resting over the stove. According to Lord Yuri, honey could somehow kill diseases, protect the throat, and also provide extra nutrition. He’d recommended we give it to Lady Carol.
Lady Carol started drinking as soon as I gave her the cup. After she’d swallowed a few times, she calmed down and rested her back against the bedding piled up behind her. For a while, she breathed heavily. Apparently, she had problems with irritation in her gullet.
“Thank you, Riccie.” Her voice sounded slightly hoarse.
“Please don’t speak. I need no thanks.”
I held back the tears as Lady Carol slowly stroked my hair.
✦ ✦ ✦
Sometime later, in the middle of April, a carriage drawn by a single horse arrived at the house. Unlike our usual visitors, the passengers were warriors armed with spears.
Cafetti went out to greet them, then soon called for me.
“Inform Lady Carol that Dolla Godwin wishes to see her.”
I rushed up to Lady Carol’s bedroom.
I entered the room to find Lady Carol looking out of the window. “Pardon me. Lady Carol, someone named Dolla Godwin is here.”
“Well, that explains the grim atmosphere,” she said while looking outside. “Oh, that’s right, his family serves in the royal guard.”
I didn’t understand what she was saying.
Lady Carol appeared sad and deep in thought as she looked away from the window.
“Um... Should I say that you wouldn’t like to see him?”
“No, I just needed to prepare myself first. Send him right up. If he’s tied up in any way, tell them it’s not necessary.”
“Yes, Lady Carol.” I bowed, then softly closed the door behind me.
I headed down the familiar stairs with quiet footsteps, stepped out through the front door, and relayed the message to Cafetti.
After some discussion between Cafetti and the warriors, another man stepped out of the carriage. He was bound by a rope, just like Lady Carol had predicted. I assumed he was some sort of criminal. Once the rope was removed, he calmly rubbed his wrists, as if he was used to this sort of treatment.
The man was huge, and his expression stern with closely knit eyebrows. Just looking at him made me feel nervous. Letting him near Lady Carol seemed like a bad idea to me.
“Riccie, guide him to Lady Carol’s room,” Cafetti instructed.
“This way, please,” I said before heading toward the house. The whole time, I kept thinking it was a mistake, but there was no way I could send away a guest welcomed by both Lady Carol and Cafetti.
I removed my boots, changed into slippers, and climbed the stairs. As the man named Dolla followed behind me, I sensed that he was deeply troubled.
I didn’t usually knock on the door, but this time I made an exception. “Lord Dolla is here to see you,” I announced.
“Come on in,” a melodious voice from inside replied.
I opened the door and led Dolla into the room.
“Dolla, it’s nice to see you.” Lady Carol, who was sitting on the bed, said with a warm smile. It was a little different from the tone and expression she usually used around me. She was revealing a new side of herself.
I looked up at Dolla’s face beside me. I could tell that he was filled with many different emotions as he looked at Lady Carol. It was the first time I’d ever seen a man openly show such a mix of strong feelings.
Dolla rushed to Lady Carol’s side and dropped to his knees at her bedside. As he spoke, he began choking back sobs. “Your Highness! I’m so sorry! You were in danger, and I did nothing to help!”
Now I knew what it meant for someone to be overwhelmed with emotion.
A man kneeling by a woman’s bed, tears streaming down his face, made for such a dramatic scene that I felt their story had to be heading toward some kind of wonderful conclusion. I wondered what they’d talk about. I braced myself, waiting for them to exchange words of passion. I knew that a good play could feel like real life, but I’d never known that real life could be so much like a play. I was sure that their conversation was about to be etched into my memory forever; I was so lucky to witness this moment.
“Riccie, would you step outside?”
I have to leave? “Oh. Might I remain here?”
“No. Step outside.” Lady Carol was still smiling, but her tone was unyielding.
I had no choice but to leave the room. By this point, I’d forgotten all my worries about Dolla hurting Lady Carol.
Their voices were faint on the opposite side of the door. I could’ve pressed my ear to the wall to listen, but I knew it would be a terribly rude thing to do. So rude, in fact, that I had to move myself to the opposite end of the corridor in case I gave in to the temptation.
It wasn’t just curiosity that made me remain on the second floor. They might call on me for something, so staying nearby was reasonable—or so I convinced myself. It wasn’t as though I could hear the conversation, in any case.
After a long time spent leaning against the handrail at the top of the stairs and waiting, the door opened. Dolla’s eyes were puffy, and he still didn’t have full control over his emotions. I knew it wasn’t a face that any man would want others to see.
“This way, please,” I said.
I guided Dolla down to the first floor. It was the rear garden, rather than the front door, that I took him to. I exchanged my slippers for sandals before stepping out, but Dolla simply walked out in his slippers, seemingly oblivious to what he was wearing.
There was an old bench outside.
“Sometimes when I’m assisting Lady Carol, I get upset just thinking how unfair it is for someone so gentle to suffer so much.”
Dolla simply stood there, showing no sign that he’d heard me.
“When I feel like that, I sit on this bench and cry. If you’d like, you can sit here until you’ve calmed down.”
I gave him a bow before heading back into the house and closing the door.
Maybe it was none of my business, but I sensed he needed a place to be alone. I was sure I’d done the right thing. For a long while after, I could hear low-pitched sobs as I set about my work in the kitchen.
✧✧✧
Dolla left later that same day and set off walking down the hill by himself.
The next day, I asked Lady Carol, “What sort of relationship did the two of you have?”
Lady Carol smiled. “He used to be in love with me. These days, he simply cares deeply for me. I think he developed feelings for another woman.”
“Oh. I see...” This was grown-up stuff.
“It’s wonderful to have the love of men like him. It’s like an ache in my chest. You’ll find out what I mean someday, Riccie.”
“Will I?”
“Yes. Give it a few years, and men won’t be able to leave a good-looking girl like you alone. Believe me.”
“Oh...” The thought of advances from brawny men like the one I’d just seen sent a chill down my spine.
“Heh. I know it’s too soon for you yet.”
“Perhaps, if you’d like, you could tell me some stories about the man who was here yesterday?”
“Hm? Oh, sure... Here’s a story you might like.”
With a smile on her face, Lady Carol began to recall the days she’d spent at the academy in the royal capital. I couldn’t even imagine Lady Carol training in her younger days, surrounded by a bunch of boys her own age. For some reason, it made me happy just to listen as she told me all about it.