Chapter 18
Nadia bought a cloud-like snack that she saw children were carrying earlier, sharing it with Becky. Then, she called to a merchant who was carrying a cart full of sugarcane and bought some juice from him.
A sweet snack, enough to make her fingers sticky, and lukewarm juice. It made her feel calm again.
She then looked around the stalls full of ornaments, accidentally buying two bracelets from a gypsy merchant as they were twisted around her wrist. It both had three-colored straps, and she didn’t know why she bought two of the same things. As though feeling that Nadia might ask for a refund, the gypsy quickly added.
“This is an item that brings luck to the person wearing it. We often give it as a gift to precious people such as a family member or a lover.”
Then, she told a series of dangerous situations that portrayed how effective the bracelet was. After hearing the brilliant story, when Nadia came to her senses, she had already returned to the carriage carrying two bracelets in her hands.
To give to family or a lover? Looking down at the bracelets with an awkward expression, Nadia fell into a small dilemma.
Even if she hadn’t experienced giving a gift to her family, she already knew how that would turn out. She was sure that they would call it trash, and that they’d hate to even hold it in their hands. Even if that wouldn’t be the way they’d react, their family never gave gifts to each other in the first place.
The same was true for the young noble ladies who she called ‘friends’. For them, gifts were bouquets with breathtaking scents, magnificent jewels, or beautiful dresses that followed the latest trends. It was clear that a bracelet like this would be considered an insult, so she couldn’t give it to one of them.
Truthfully, Nadia didn’t even know why she bought this. If someone handed her a gift as trivial as this, she would have been equally insulted.
Lover. A lover. Asheel’s face came to mind before her husband’s. She looked around in surprise as if she was jolted by electricity. After realizing that no one could possibly have read her mind, she came to her senses.
As expected, it would be better to get a refund. However, it would be impossible to find the same gypsy merchant amidst this large crowd.
Before returning to the castle, the carriage stopped by a small stream for the last time. It was around the outskirts of the town, so there were less people. Nadia liked this place more.
Nadia looked down the stream of flowing water, its sound clear. The wind blew and her skirt fluttered.
She couldn’t overcome the urge and ran down the hill. She heard the hurried footsteps of two people following her urgently. She turned to ask Becky a small favor, sticking her foot out.
“Will you take this off for me?”
However, it wasn’t the young maid, but the red-haired knight. He knelt down on one knee without any hesitations, following her request. When Nadia snapped out of her daze, she was already being held by him.
Carefully holding her ankle, Asheel quickly took off her sandals with a quick touch. Even before she could feel uncomfortable, he had already taken his hand off her. He stood up and took a step back.
Hesitating for a moment, Nadia turned around. She could still feel his lingering touch on her. As if in a rush, with her skirt held up in a bunch, she approached the water. Then, she carefully dipped her toes.
The water was surprisingly cold. Nadia went deeper, the sound of gentle splashing around her, until the shallow water reached her calves. She smiled softly and pulled Becky, who was standing next to her.
“You should come in, too. It’s refreshing.”
Becky seemed hesitant, but as Nadia urged her, she took off her shoes as if it couldn’t be helped. With Becky holding one of Nadia’s arms, saying that the floor was slippery and that she might fall, Nadia played in the water like a country girl who didn’t know grace and dignity.
It was an act that could never be done by someone like her, someone who grew up with the expectations of an aristocratic young lady. The same was true now that she was a married noblewoman, but she was at least convinced that it should be fine this once.
She had always wanted to do this. It was always on the back of her mind whenever she saw the fountain in the town square, or whenever she would find a clear puddle in the garden after a drizzle of rain.
A peal of laughter trickled out through her lips. It felt like it’s been a long time since she laughed like this.
Nadia watched as Becky walked around to find a pretty pebble, then she raised her head. And she made eye contact with Asheel, who looked as if he was mesmerized by her.
Nadia’s smile hardened. She felt her body instantly freezing in place. Why did he have that expression? As if he had encountered something incredibly dangerous… or as if he was captivated by something so beautiful.
After seeing that the expression, which stayed for a short moment, had now disappeared like a fog, Nadia snapped out of it as though she had woken up from a dream. The sunset was now setting behind the castle in the distance.
“We need to go back now.”
After hearing his voice, Nadia nodded silently. She felt cold now, perhaps she had been in the cold water for quite some time.
She looked around to find the sandals that she had taken off. When Becky splashed up and out of the waters, Nadia tried to follow the girl, but she suddenly felt the ground disappear from beneath her. Before she knew it, she was already in Asheel’s arms.
He strode back to the bank with her in his arms, and Becky followed behind them while carrying Nadia’s sandals.
Whenever Asheel took a step, she felt her body move along up and down. She wasn’t uncomfortable at all, as if she was where she was supposed to be.
She slipped the bracelet into Asheel’s coat right then, and with Becky behind them, the young maid didn’t notice. It was incredibly impulsive—she couldn’t even come up with a reason why she did that. Asheel’s gaze followed her fingertips, perhaps feeling that she had placed something there.
His gaze lingered for a very long time. Nadia did not look up to meet his gaze, but she felt that his stiff attitude had somehow softened.
Just as when she first started a relationship with him back then, she felt pleasant sensations and heart flutters for a moment, but then when she was left alone as she returned to her room, the feelings gradually turned into anxiety.
As they returned to the castle, Nadia looked down at the flimsy bracelet clenched tightly inside her fist. It really was like an accessory shared with a lover.
She couldn’t figure out what made her so bold. She had once begged him to leave her alone. She paced around her room and agonized over it.
‘Just what am I doing?’
Nadia hesitated for a long time, then placed the bracelet in the bottom drawer of her vanity table. She did not have the courage to wear the same bracelet that she gave to Asheel.
She was so immersed in her own emotions that she didn’t realize… What did Asheel think of it?
He was still so ambiguous. She could still clearly remember how he laughed for just toying with her. Her mind was filled with confusion.
Was he still not done toying with her? Did he want to do something risqué with his master’s wife? Was Asheel that kind of man? If this was just a trick, why did he have that expression on his face back at the stream?
Nadia wasn’t sure about what she knew about him. She once thought that she knew him well, but now, she was just left confused.
His actions weren’t restrained today. Nadia stopped pacing around her room, then grabbed the doorknob.
She was going to run to Asheel and ask him—what was it that he wanted to tell her when he came to the greenhouse that day? What would he have told her if she hadn’t run away from him like a coward?
But the door opened before she could even twist the knob. Nadia flinched as she stepped back.
Edwin came into the room without hesitation, his gaze pointed at her. He was staring at her persistently, as if he was a predator watching his prey. Then, he smiled pleasantly. Nadia could only feel fear.
“Where were you going?”
“Huh? No, no. I wasn’t going anywhere.”
She waved her hands around to the point that even she thought it was excessive. Only then did she come back to her rationality once more.
How could she have possibly met Asheel right now? What was she going to do, storm towards the knights’ quarters? Then what kind of excuse could she have made if someone saw her and if this matter went straight to Edwin’s attention?
What excuse could she have after visiting a man alone in the middle of the night? Apart from that, she didn’t even know exactly where Asheel was residing.
Nadia wanted to pull her hair out. How pathetic. It was fortunate that Edwin came in right then.
He greeted her without any doubt, kissed her lightly on the cheek… licked her other cheek… then walked past her.
Nadia looked back at him with a perplexed expression. Edwin naturally sat in an armchair as though he belonged there, calling to Nadia to sit next to him. Then, as if they had been waiting, servants came in with trays of food and began lining them up on the table.
“How was your outing? Was it enjoyable?”
“Yes, it was… Thank you.”
“You don’t have to thank me.”
After he responded, he took a glass of wine from a servant and sipped it. When Nadia took in the scent of the food, she just now realized that she had forgotten her hunger. Edwin poured her favorite apple wine in the glass in front of her.
Whenever he appeared in front of her with this friendly demeanor, she was at a loss on what to do. She was always nervous—she didn’t know when his fickle attitude would change suddenly.
“I wish to have dinner with you. I hope that this is alright with you.”
It was a belated notice, but she didn’t bother to complain because she was hungry, too. Nadia quenched her thirst with the sweet apple wine before partaking in the meal before her.
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