Chapter 23
Down the long corridor, one door was open.
“I never liked this from the beginning! We’re mages, but we go around here and there—it’s not worth it…!”
“I also don’t know what His Excellency’s thinking, this much is…”
Voices leaked through the open door along with a stream of light. She even heard loud yelling.
Mages? Nadia tiptoed to the door and looked inside. Three men in robes, whose backs were turned to Nadia, were throwing things in the room, trampling over them while being violent.
Strewn across the floor were various dried herbs and glass bottles that were filled with thick liquids. Some were broken and so the liquids created a mess all over.
One man huffed as though he couldn’t rein in his anger while hitting the nearby wall. Then, as he touched an old book hanging on one side of the wall, a scream rang out.
“Don’t touch me!”
Nadia realized that it was a voice she knew.
She opened the door wide. Surrounded threateningly by men, a small woman could be seen in the middle of the room, shivering and barely holding back her rage. Her face was so pale that her pallor was noticeable even under the orange light.
Whatever happened, seeing as this was a situation wherein three people were persecuting one person, it didn’t look good. With the little information she gathered here, Nadia couldn’t figure out what happened. But because she was the lady of this castle, this was enough reason for her to interfere with this disturbance.
“What is this fuss about?”
The eyes of the four people were drawn to her at once. Her shoulders trembled a little, but Nadia stepped into the messy room, pretending that she was fine under the weight of their gazes.
A look of frustration passed over the eyes of the male mages who saw her. Nadia gave Tasha a small smile. The female mage in turn showed no sign of intimidation.
Nadia raised her head, hoping that her voice would sound authoritative.
“I asked you a question.”
“The Madam doesn’t have to bother with this.”
“Then you shouldn’t have bothered me.”
The tallest man took a step forward, smiling awkwardly. Nadia shifted her gaze and stared at him with an expressionless face. Then, she made eye contact with Tasha.
“Do you feel the same way?”
“Then please let me speak.”
The shortest among the three of them stepped up. With tangled blond hair, he shot a hostile glare at Tasha, but then he greeted Nadia politely, saying that his name was Sevan.
According to him, a fire broke out at Cove’s—the tallest man’s—lab, where the bedding and the books were safe, but only piles of parchments, valuable potions and other materials for magic research had burned down.
They turned to Tasha and named her the culprit because they said that there weren’t many mages who could handle fire magic in such a delicate way like her.
Tasha strongly denied it and said that it wasn’t her doing. Judging by how the men regarded Tasha, Nadia could see that a true discussion never happened between them.
Nadia listened to all three of them and pretended to be concerned for them. It took a while, but she eventually asked.
“Let’s say that Cove is the victim here. But may I ask why you two came all the way here?”
Then, the two mages shut their mouths. Nadia would have thought that their reasonings were valid enough, except that they were too hostile and contemptuous towards Tasha.
There might be more in between the lines that she didn’t know. Perhaps that they were hostile because Tasha was a woman, that she had gypsy blood in her. Nadia tilted her head to the side.
“It’s not very nice seeing three men threatening one woman like this.”
“Threat, you say. The Madam is much too harsh.”
Cove was outraged. Even so, Nadia was going to side with Tasha in the first place. This was because Nadia felt a little indebted towards Tasha, who was very helpful to her. Nadia didn’t expect to pay her back in this way.
Although it was Edwin’s order, Nadia was grateful towards Tasha for giving her such an effective pendant.
She was making a lot of excuses for herself, but in the end, Nadia was going to side with Tasha. It might be unfair, but she didn’t feel guilty about it because the other side had people who grouped together and thrashed a room like this just because they were at odds with someone else.
“When did the fire break out?”
“At noon. When I came back from eating lunch, the room looked just as I described earlier.”
“Is there a witness who claims that it was Tasha’s doing?”
“That’s… Well, no. But then there’s someone who confirmed that she wasn’t in her room.”
“Oh my!”
Nadia furrowed her brows as though she was troubled, but she soon smiled softly. Meanwhile, with her arms crossed, Tasha quieted for now as if she wanted to see where this situation would lead. She looked at the other three men as if they were pathetic, and this was something that amused Nadia.
“That’s correct. Tasha was with me.”
“Pardon?”
“I asked her to join me for lunch. This… It was about this pendant. I was curious about how it works.”
Nadia took out the pendant that she was wearing around her neck, and their eyes immediately gravitated towards the blue gem. At this, Nadia saw Tasha’s expression become perplexed.
She might be wondering why Nadia was taking her side. But right now, the priority was to get out of this situation, so she confidently turned to the three other mages as if to say, ‘Did you hear that?’ Nadia liked this quick-witted woman quite a bit.
“I hope you can catch the culprit.”
With a subtle dismissive tone, Nadia stepped aside so that they could get out. Their faces turned red as they were huffing and puffing. And as they walked out, Tasha shouted towards them, saying that she would send them a bill for the damages.
As their steps moved further away from the room, Nadia closed the thick wooden door behind her. The mage in front of Nadia bowed her head in a very polite manner.
“I don’t know what urged you to take my side, but thank you, Madam.”
Though Tasha was bowing deeply towards her, Nadia wasn’t angry. She just smiled gracefully.
“I guess you don’t get along with them.”
“Those bastards. They just feel inferior. They don’t like that a woman is better than them.”
Her tone was bitter.
“I was the one who set it on fire.”
As if she was saying something trivial like what she had for dinner, Tasha’s voice was nonchalant despite the surprising content of her words. Nadia’s eyes widened. She thought that it was a false accusation.
“I’ve just been trying hard to feign innocence.”
“I see.”
Nadia lowered her gaze and looked at the ruined floor. The dry herbs had gotten soaked by the haphazard mix of various liquids. Then, there were also many broken glass and ceramic shards. Tasha’s gaze shifted to the floor as well and she soon sighed.
Nadia didn’t know what kind of items they were and how much they were worth, but she could guess to some extent just by looking at Tasha’s reaction.
“Will they come back again?”
“Most probably. But I can handle them on my own.”
Her voice was firm. Nadia nodded, no longer intending to step in.
“Then I’ll leave you so you can clean up.”
“Thank you, Madam. I won’t forget your help.”
Nadia could guess what she meant by that. Because Tasha was a mage, Nadia knew about how mages abided by a code of not easily forgetting either favor or spite.
She nodded again before she left the room. She didn’t know how she’d ask for the mage’s help again, but she just hoped that nothing serious would happen.
Outside, loud thunder boomed and flashes of lightning flickered while the storm raged.
Even so, despite the bad weather the castle was busy welcoming guests. Edwin had invited the nobles of the southern region.
There was something to be discussed, but the banquet hall was abuzz. The nobles of course couldn’t just be sent back after they’d been gathered for only a boring meeting.
Nadia was busily walking around the hall from morning ‘til now to see if the banquet’s preparations were going smoothly. Then, she returned to her room, dressed for the occasion and went down alone. She stood beside Edwin there and greeted the nobles who approached them one after another.
The expensive carpet that was laid down in the hall was soaked and dirtied by rainwater and mud. All those who travelled through the strong rain and wind were wet, but there was no sign of unpleasantness in their demeanor.
Nadia was surprised that they weren’t complaining. Weren’t nobles the kind of people to make a fuss after just being splashed with a drop of water on their clothes? Or perhaps should she say that Edwin’s command and authority over them was just that great?
“Thank you for coming all this way. The servants will guide you to your respective rooms. Rest well in the meantime until we convene again for the banquet we’ve prepared for this evening.”
“Thank you, Your Excellency.”
They conveyed their greetings to Nadia with a kiss on the back of her hand, then, led by the servants, they headed towards the prepared rooms. The stablemen patted the tired horses and took them to the barn, and the knights who had followed for escort duty followed their lieges. As he watched the hall, Edwin wrapped his arm over Nadia’s shoulders and led her away.
Nadia felt that the silence was stifling, and so she was compelled with the feeling of having to say something, anything. But then again, she had rarely ever had a proper conversation with her husband. Their interactions were limited to the questions Edwin would ask that needed only answers in the form of a nod, a moan or a cry.
“There’s nothing for you to be nervous about. You just need to sit next to me and smile.”
“I see.”
Edwin’s fingertips grazed over her shoulders, then he gently reached towards her chin to lift it up. When their eyes met, he kissed her. Soft lips met each other lightly several times until he moved to pour brief kisses over her.
Nadia was flushed red because there were many people walking around. She wondered why he was doing something sweet like this, but she didn’t hate it enough that she’d push him away.
With many more fluttering kisses, she opened her lips slightly without realizing it. Then his tongue, which had been pressing over her lips, pushed in as though he had been waiting for that moment. At the same time as she felt flustered, her eyes heated up with excitement.
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