Chapter 27 – Suspicions
All citizens of the empire, praising their homeland for unifying the continent, welcomed the new era of peace. The combat tournament only intensified the celebration. The second day of the tournament – when the battles officially began – unexpectedly turned out to be even more boisterous than the opening ceremony. The reason for this anomaly was that this was when Alexandro Graham, the hero of the empire and Duncan Graham’s son, was going to be put on the spotlight.
Alexandro himself was tired of the fatuous formalities, and in his attempt to avoid them as much as possible, he only attended the events that strictly required him, and skipped any and all parties. Aaron – the organizer of these parties – was flabbergasted, but could not possibly go against his master’s will.
Late in the evening, the Archduke escaped to the stables once again. Considering his questions to the guard about the slave the previous day, he figured that the guard would have ordered the girl to stay up and wait for him this time.
But she’s probably asleep by now. Even though his initial intent behind visiting Howl was to interrogate the suspicious girl, he now hoped that she would be quietly asleep. He sought a sanctuary severed from the outside world where, just like he had on the previous day, he could rest with Howl.
It was close to midnight and only a few men remained at the stables. They all hurriedly rose to their feet at the sight of the Archduke and attempted to follow him, but he took only one guard with him and quietly headed to Howl’s enclosure.
“I saw her awake earlier in the evening, but it seems that she fell asleep while waiting,” the guard offered a desperate excuse, as if it were his fault. But Alexandro did not care.
“Open the gate,” he commanded, and once in the enclosure, made eye contact with the stallion. Howl could not hide his excitement in seeing his friend, stamping his hooves and nuzzling his head against the Archduke’s hands like a pet dog. And as if showing off his health, the animal emitted a drawn-out neigh and panted wildly.
Surprisingly, Howl seemed to be wanting to leave the stuffy enclosure and run wildly like he used to. He was not the dying horse from the week before. Seeing this, Alexandro was filled with pride at the animal’s miraculous recovery.
Still gazing into Howl’s eyes, he asked the guard, “Can he run?”
“Seeing his condition, I believe so, Your Grace. He reportedly neighed all day wanting to go outside, so he must be getting restless, too.”
The Archduke peered into Howl’s face. As though pleading his case, the horse’s eyes were sparkling and filled with passion. His mane and coat shined beautifully, and even his slightest motions exuded power. After a few moments of silent observation, he turned and exited the enclosure.
He looked over into the neighboring cage, where the slave girl was sleeping.
“Shall I wake her up?” the guard asked promptly. It was only proper to shake awake an impudent slave sleeping in the Archduke’s presence, but the Archduke himself did not appear inclined. The guard felt that, even for a man who was usually quiet, the Archduke was cautious with his steps. He wouldn’t be keeping quiet for the slave’s sake, would he? The guard soon abandoned this ludicrous idea. But as expected, the Archduke instructed him not to bother the girl.
Instead, he asked, “Was there anything strange about the girl?”
“Well, she’s strange in every way, Your Grace,” the guard jumped at the chance to complain.
“That little girl eats like a starved monster, devouring twice the amount an average groom eats each meal. And she dares to hike up and down Nalusuwan every day. Even though she walks around like a beggar on the street, she’s quite shy and feminine in her behavior.”
The Archduke listened attentively which gauged the guard to talk more.
“—very fearful, too. And for a girl who still looks like a kid, she talks like a lady. Ah, and it sounds like she knows a little bit about medicine. One of the grooms hurt himself, and she stopped his bleeding with some herbs from the mountain. We first thought that she was using some random weed, but she mumbled something about this plant, which made it look like she knew what she was talking about. She looks like a useful girl, but she’s not forthcoming about where she’s from, which is really suspicious. Most of all, Dr. Nanapa and Lord Cupihit send messengers to check on her.”
“Jorge Nanapa from the infirmary?”
“Yes, sir. He came by to see her yesterday. When he’s here he talks to her for an hour or two, something about mountains and drugs – I wasn’t really able to understand what they were talking about.”
Listening to the guard’s rambling, Alexandro reached a quick conclusion. This girl gets stranger the more I hear about her.
While he impassively nodded his head, an idea flashed into his head. His blue eyes, peering down at the slave girl, shined brilliantly.
“How many horses are we bringing on the ceremonial expedition?”
Taken aback by the sudden change of the topic, the guard replied, “About twenty, Your Grace.” Only ten commanders were participating in the expedition, but ten spare horses were going to be taken as well. Given the aristocratic statuses of many commanders, they couldn’t take any hastily supplied horses if their own steeds became injured. The animals that they rode reflected their pride.
“Test Howl tomorrow and see if he can run. Check for any irregularities and report his status to Evan.”
“Yes, sir.”
To Alexandro, Howl seemed healthier than ever. But he could not decide to include him in the expedition without confirming that he was fully recovered.
He had, for some reason, a feeling that the expedition was going to change a lot of things. He couldn’t quite explain why – perhaps it was just a silly idea, inspired by the quiet of the stables in stark contrast with the festival grounds.
Even though he himself had brought the sudden peace over the unified continent, Alexandro could not quite believe it. It was a strange feeling.