“Okay, everyone. Good job holding out until now. I sent word ahead for the cleaning to have been done already, so everyone should take their personal belongings to their assigned rooms and take a break for now. If you’re really tired, you can take the rest of the day off. All you need to keep in mind is that the real work starts tomorrow.”
After I said that, the servants all stretched themselves out before bowing and giving me their confirmation. They might have been tired from the journey, but they were well trained like that.
As I watched them all go off, I grabbed my own luggage and brought it to my room. I really wanted to carry Nia’s stuff for her, but Laura wouldn’t allow it. I mean, it was more like I couldn’t touch it after the maid mentioned that Nia’s underwear was inside. It wasn’t like I was going to be helping her unpack, and I would neither see nor touch it directly, so there wasn’t any real issue there, but, you know.
Laura had whispered that to me anyway, so Nia had no idea. We probably wouldn’t know how to face each other if she did know.
Anyway, I brought my stuff to my own room. Which was right next to Nia’s. Yes, finally. Finally! Our rooms were next to each other! But the door connecting them was locked tight.
We’d set things up this way because we knew it would look bad if the lord’s and his wife’s rooms were separated. It was one thing to do so in our manor in the capital, but the lord’s manor was smack-dab in the middle of the region and would also be used as the office of government. There was a nonzero chance that someone might notice our rooms being apart. If that happened, not only would it give a bad impression, but it might also cause Nia problems in her day-to-day life.
And so, our rooms here were connected. Honestly, it was bad for my heart. I was worried that my heart would pound all night and keep me awake. But I was still happy about it. And plus, we were married on paper, so there were absolutely no problems with having our rooms right next to each other! The opposite was the real problem!
I needed to work hard to get rid of that “on paper” bit, personally and professionally...
I arrived at my room, emotions in flux, and I puttered around unpacking and settling luggage before changing out of my easy travel clothes for my formal knight’s attire.
I might’ve given the servants a break, but I couldn’t take one myself, and I was still feeling pretty energetic. I’d sent word that we’d be arriving today and that I would be coming to greet Count Farlon already, after all. I needed to get it done while I could, and as fast as possible.
By the time I was done changing, it seemed that they’d just finished bringing all of Nia’s luggage to her room. I used that timing to knock on her door.
“Excuse me, Nia. Could we chat for a moment?”
“Lord Ark? Yes, of course.”
Once I got the okay, I opened the door and saw that both Nia and Laura were still in their traveling clothes. They had probably just been about to get changed. I had to applaud my own timing, since I wouldn’t have wanted to knock while they were in the middle of changing...
“I just wanted to let you know that I’ll be going to greet Count Farlon now.”
“Oh, now? We just arrived, and you’re already working hard.”
When I told her what I was doing, she gave me a little sympathetic nod, even as she was a little bit surprised. We’d gone over the plans beforehand, but since she knew of the awkward relationship between the brigade and me—and more generally, the Special Battalion—she understood why I was going as soon as we had arrived and what effect my doing so would have. In the first place, the brigade’s commander was a count, and I was a viscount, one rank under him. Not only that, but he’d kept the peace here for three whole months already, so of course I needed to greet him ASAP.
Had I been the bureaucratic type of viscount, the commander might’ve given me a day’s leeway to rest. But the day a knight tried pulling something like that, they’d be looked down on as weak. Even just taking a little break after arrival might get the same reception.
Plus, with the relationship between the Royal Order of Knights and the Special Battalion as it was, then he was likely to hold the entire battalion in contempt, which was extra not good. Knights were soldiers—physical workers who specialized in violence. The moment they looked down on you, you lost. And scarily enough, in the past, it would be common for knights to even consider killing anyone who dared look down on them. The ideology had softened a bit, but the spirit of it was still there.
As smart as Nia was, I didn’t expect her to understand a knight’s mentality, but she still realized what it meant for me to go greet Count Farlon as soon as I arrived.
“Um, should I go with you?”
Which was why she asked something so brave. Cute. But I had to turn down her brave little offer.
“No, tomorrow or later would be fine. From what I’ve heard of Count Farlon from His Highness, it’s more likely you being there would have him angry with me for forcing a lady tired from travel to accompany me.”
“Oh my, really? Very well. I’ll just handle getting the inside of the manor straightened up. Since it’s already been cleaned, the job is already much easier.”
“Understood. Please do.”