As Albert and I stared at each other in silence, the coachman called out, “The carriage is about to depart.”
What did he say just now?
As it dawned on me, my cheeks burned. Flustered, I let go of Albert’s hand. His face had turned an even brighter shade of red than mine. He clapped a hand over his mouth, shocked by his own words.
“Could you please close the door?” the coachman called out to Albert, who hadn’t moved away from the carriage.
Returning to his senses, Albert practically tripped over himself to close the door. As I met his eyes—wide with surprise—from outside the window, the carriage took off. His form grew increasingly small, fading into the distance. With my mind blank and my face still on fire, I watched him, dumbfounded. The carriage raced towards its destination, my thoughts in total disarray.
Before long, the rental carriage arrived at Stanley’s residence. After bolting into the house, I collapsed onto the bed of my borrowed room. I should have been more careful with my dress and accessories, but reason had gone out the window. Rolling around in bed, I attempted to calm my addled mind. Upon remembering Albert’s proposal, I buried my face in a pillow, writhing in figurative agony.
✦ ✦ ✦
❅❅❅
I finally regained my composure around noon the next day. After seeing Stanley off to work, I went shopping to restock our ingredients.
As a baron’s family raised in the poor countryside, Stanley and I had been taught how to cook and clean for ourselves. We did this to save money rather than hire a handmaid. As a result, Stanley performed all his chores by himself while living in the capital. According to him, he ate out for most of his meals anyway. He’d only been returning home to eat lately because I’d been making dinner.
I prepared for my trip to town, grabbed a large basket for carrying home groceries, and headed outside. Using the key Stanley gave me, I locked the door and looked up at the clear sky. A fine day for an outing.
Since Stanley’s residence was a fair distance from town, I had a long walk ahead of me. If I bought too many heavy groceries, I would have to use a cart. That hadn’t been necessary as of yet, with only us two siblings living together.
As I strolled through town, many people gossiped about the new king. According to these discussions, Rizel would review and partially reduce the previous regime’s taxes. Furthermore, he was negotiating with multiple countries to improve trade deals, as he was well-known in foreign lands. Support for him was on the rise owing to these swift actions.
Thanks to his good looks, portraits of him were selling like hotcakes. In one such painting I spotted in town, he was wearing his formal attire from the coronation. He looked so dashing that I considered buying one for myself.
Alongside the painting of King Rizel was a portrait of Reynaldo. From what I could tell, his portraits were also in high demand. They might as well have been actors.
My heart skipped a beat when I saw a portrait of Albert next to the others. Though I’d calmed down by going about my daily routine, my pulse started to race again. Albert looked much younger in this portrait, as it had been continually printed since he became high commander. Without thinking, I picked up the painting and stared at it.
My face is on fire.
“That portrait of High Commander McClain is a top seller,” the shop assistant—a young boy—said. “Would you like to buy one?”
Smiling vaguely, I returned the portrait to its rightful place. Honestly, I did want it, but I couldn’t imagine anything more embarrassing than someone finding it among my possessions.
As I considered leaving, someone called my name, compelling me to look around. With so many people in the vicinity, I couldn’t tell where the voice had come from.
“Lady Edigma!”
Finally, I heard the voice calling to me from nearby. It belonged to Vice High Commander Phil Eva, whom I’d sometimes crossed paths with when working as a handmaid for the chivalric order. At over forty years old, his brown hair was peppered with white. Perhaps due to his charming smile, he didn’t give off the air of a vice commander. Famously, however, he was such a harsh drill instructor that many knights referred to him as the demonic vice commander.
Despite rumors painting him as frightening, he’d greeted me with a smile when we’d first met, as he did now. And though he wore a friendly face around the knights as well, he spoke to them in a completely different manner.
“Keep fighting until you can beat ten men in a sparring match!”
I’d often heard Sir Eva shout these words on the training grounds while grinning widely. This would always result in a chorus of dismayed cries from the knights. In any case, he was known for putting his subordinates through the wringer.
“Sir Eva,” I said, bowing deeply. “It’s been too long.”
“It sure has,” Sir Eva responded genially. “I’ve been looking up and down for you.”
I cocked my head at that. “Did you need me for something?”
He didn’t go all the way to Stanley’s house, did he?
“Not particularly,” Sir Eva said. “I just wanted to have a short chat with you. Oh, are these portraits? There’s even one of the high commander.”
“Yes, and he looks so young.”
“This must have been about five years ago. What a perfect opportunity! I’ll buy one.” Sir Eva withdrew a handful of change from his pocket, bought the portrait, and gave it to me for some reason. “A portrait of the high commander will serve you better than any good luck charm. Take good care of it, Lady Edigma.”
“Um… What?”
“It really has been too long,” Sir Eva remarked. “There’s actually something I wanted to discuss with you. Would you mind if we had a drink over there? It would be rude of me to keep you standing while we talk.”
“I don’t mind. But, um…”
“My treat, of course! Well then, what would you like?”
Sir Eva asked me to pick one of the drinks lined up at the stall. Despite being unable to keep up with this sudden turn of events, I ordered apple juice.
Though Vice Commander Eva was around ten years older than High Commander Albert, he was friendlier and easier to talk to. During my time as a handmaid, he’d spoken to me fairly often, and he’d gotten along with Nicky particularly well. Perhaps they’d enjoyed similar conversations, considering they were both sociable.
Sir Eva seemed kind at first glance, but he was actually strict with his subordinates. Conversely, Albert seemed strict at first glance but was actually kind. Their mismatched personalities created favorable compatibility, which people admired.
After leading me to a rest space in the town square, Sir Eva pulled out a chair for me, taking his own seat a short distance away. He must not have ordered anything to drink for himself, seeing as his hands were empty.
“Um, Sir Eva, what did you want to talk about?” I asked.
“Straight to the point, eh?” he responded with a laugh. “To be quite honest, I have a favor to ask of you.”
Sir Eva turned in my direction, looking at me seriously. What on earth is he going to say? I wondered. My heart raced while I waited for him to continue.
“Lady Edigma,” he said.
“Yes?”
He bowed his head with such force that I feared for his neck. “I beg of you—please return to being a handmaid for the chivalric order!”
“You want me to come back…?”
“That’s correct,” Sir Eva confirmed with an emphatic nod. “After the coup, the number of handmaids in the palace returned to normal, but the chivalric order is still short on help. Not to mention, the high commander will soon receive his peerage. We’re incredibly busy!”
The mention of Albert caused my heart to flutter.
“With a new king, guard duties have also changed,” Sir Eva continued. “Our once venerable organization is so overloaded with work that we don’t even know where the laundry tubs are. Not only are we unable to take care of ourselves, but we’re even causing trouble for the high commander.”
“My, how awful…”
Though I hadn’t heard anything of the sort from Albert, Sir Eva wore a serious expression.
“At the very least, could you look after the high commander, as you did before?” he asked. “At this rate, I’m worried about him starving himself due to overworking.”
“Really?”
During my time as a handmaid for the chivalric order, Albert’s eating schedule seemed irregular. Worry gnawed at me.
“Really,” Sir Eva confirmed. “And since you’re no longer working for the Rose Duchy, I desperately wanted to ask this favor of you. We’ll provide you with a salary, of course! If the kingdom won’t provide the money, we’ll pay you with funds from our own coffers. So please return to your former position, Lady Edigma!”
He’s willing to go that far?
Flustered, I shook my head. “Please don’t worry about that. I received a severance payment from the kingdom a few days ago, so I have more than enough money. Besides, I’m not busy.”
Truly, I had too much time on my hands. Yet, when I asked Reynaldo and Albert if I could go home, they provided me with a variety of excuses not to.
“Queen Tia is still out there.”
“I want you to stay for my conferment ceremony.”
“Please stay until Rosemary is moved to her new gravesite.”
With my return home postponed indefinitely, I was grateful for this opportunity. Whiling away time at Stanley’s house didn’t suit me. Presumably, neither Albert nor Reynaldo would complain about me taking this job, as the offer had come from Sir Eva rather than one of them.
Hopefully, I don’t cringe in embarrassment every time I see Albert.
Nevertheless, I steeled myself and met Sir Eva’s eye. “I understand. If you think I’m the right fit for the job, I’ll help out.”
Sir Eva looked as if the light of Heaven were shining down upon him. Breaking into a wide grin, he thanked me profusely, causing me to smile.