Chapter 3
***
“Take off your pearl earrings. Let’s put something that stands out more. Yes, rubies are nice.”
The Baron continued to use his cane on the young maid, whose hands were busily working on Lily.
“Make her lips red, too. Paint her cheeks more. There you go.”
He was in Lily’s dressing room and nitpicked about everything.
At the Baron’s command, the maid constantly put more power on Lily’s face. Lily sneezed incessantly, avoiding the powder that tickled her throat.
Wrinkling the bridge of her nose, she looked in the vanity mirror and smiled spontaneously.
Both of her cheeks were as red as her father’s when he was drunk. Her lips, painted in layers, looked like the mouth of a pouty fish, and her head looked like a barrel.
“Wear more jewelry. Make her as glamorous as possible.”
The father’s voice was full of determination.
Come to think of it, Lily was an obedient child by nature, so there was no need for him to worry.
She was just a little slow, but she would do exactly as she was told.
“Lily, a lady must always be quiet.”
When the Baron was teaching Lily etiquette, a servant announced the arrival of the messenger and slurred his words vaguely.
“Master, a guest has arrived from the Imperial Palace. But…”
“But what? Why don’t you continue?”
“Well, that’s…”
The servant languidly expressed his difficulty.
“He asked to bring out the Lady right away. He can’t wait long….”
“What, what?”
The Baron lifted his cane, as if he had seen this impudent fellow.
“He’s a messenger*, but he dares to rush someone…!”
(*The man who came to pick up Lily to bring her to the Imperial Palace to meet the Emperor)
He hurried over the window and looked out, he choked up when he saw what was outside.
Outside, a huge black horse was holding its head up.
Atop it sat a man as intimidating as the warhorse, but somehow, he was not wearing a single sword.
It was not only the sword that was missing. The large cloak on his shoulders did not even have the Imperial seal.
How could they send someone who isn’t even a knight!
No matter how much of a fallen nobleman he was, this was outrageous!
The Baron was not in a position to expect hospitality, but that didn’t mean he was in a position to be treated coldly, so the Baron grabbed his cane and took off that way. Lily, who was watching him, also grabbed her skirt and followed.
“….”
“….”
When he finally faced the man, however, her father was silent.
The cane, which had been poking at the sky, had somehow quietly come down to the ground.
Lily stared at her father and then turned her attention to the man. She looked at the black horse and then at the man.
Her eyes went wide.
‘It’s big…!’
The man was much larger and more intimidating than when she was looking down from upstairs.
He was tall, had big hands, and the animal he rode was also bigger.
The horse’s body looked like it could hold more than one person, and the mane hanging down on one side had a dark sheen to it. At a glance, they both looked rough and strong.
All the men Lily had ever met in her life were her father and Young Master Allen. So there was no separate unusual sight to see.
‘It’s huge…’
The appearance of the man standing in front of the sun was enough to cover the pouring sunlight.
It was quiet enough to cast a shadow over the faces of the father and daughter, who had their mouths hanging open.
“Ha…!”
The Baron spoke up for the first time in a while while Lily was in a constant state of admiration.
“This won’t work. Wait a moment while I prepare a carriage.”
“…..”
Instead of replying, the man shook the reins slightly to the side. Finally, another horse that was hiding behind him appeared.
The Baron’s mouth dropped open.
“Hey, you want me to let my daughter go on a horse?!”
“Neigh.”
Instead of the man, the black horse nodded and neighed.
It was unbelievable. The distance to the capital would take more than three days.
The Baron couldn’t believe that his daughter had to ride the horse on the streets for that long.
The only daughter of the Paulman family, his precious daughter who will restore the honor of the family!
The Baron coughed again and roused himself.
“Hey. She can’t ride a horse. So why don’t you come in and have a cup of tea or something?”
The Baron once again complained about the lack of his daughter’s ability. Lily looked carefully at the man’s fist as he held the reins.
The hollow joints of his hands were amazing, but when she copied him and clenched her fist, she suddenly remembered her mother.
Her mother used to hit her father. It was because her sloppy husband had scratched her nerves repeatedly. But if this man hit her father with that fist…..his head probably would be cracked like an egg.
Lily shuddered just thinking about it.
“Father, I’m fine.”
“What do you mean, you’re fine? You stay still.”
“No, I can do it.”
His daughter’s sudden appearance caught the Baron off guard.
But it was not a question of whether or not Lily could ride a horse.
“What shall the people say when they see you? Who would they point fingers at?”
“But it’s better than a split head.”
After saying that, Lily lifted her dress and went to the horse.
She went and grabbed the horse’s saddle hanging on the side.
The Baron swept his face dry, and the servants came running nervously.
“Step on my hand, young lady, and come up.”
“I’ll lower my knees more.”
“Step on my back, Young Lady.”
The sight of Lily climbing the horse was spectacular, she struggled with her dress and climbed, and eventually she got on the horse.
Her posture on the saddle of the horse was even more of a sight. The head tilted at an angle, and the sweaty makeup was so atrocious that it was impossible to look at it with eyes open.
Lily smiled at her father, stretching her red lips. It was such a satisfying feeling to know that she had finally done it.
The Baron’s head turned to the other side.
“Lily.”
“Yes, father.”
“Do you remember what father said to you?”
Lily nodded calmly.
“Yes. Just act like I’m dead and spread my legs! Once!”
The Baron flinched and poke Lily on the side.
“You don’t say a word, do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“Just keep your mouth shut and do as you’re told.”
“Yes.”
Her father’s otherwise aged face was even more wrinkled today.
After rubbing his dry face, the Baron took out a brooch that he had prepared and placed it on Lily’s chest. A butterfly with extended wings.
It was a proud Paulman’s heirloom.
The gold glittering under the sunlight went really well with the white dress. As his pride rose, the Baron held her daughter’s hand as if showing it off.
“Go and ask for your father’s title and the honor of our family!”
Hyaaa!
A supremely powerful sound came from the man that shook the horse’s reins.
***
The landscape of the grain fields at harvest time was spectacular.
The endless plains were golden with well-ripened flour wheat, and the autumn winds that had just blown in were whipping up waves as they flew by.
Lily smiled, tossing back her tousled hair.
The scent she smelled and the sight she saw for the first time, it was all new and it made Lily smile.
In the slowly moving landscape, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, smelling the scent of wheat well tinted by the sun. And then…
“What?”
Suddenly the horse stopped without warning, and Lily’s body leaned forward languidly.
Lily straightened her fallen hair, pretended to be unconcerned, and straightened her elegantly composed posture.
Her father said It’s always necessary for a lady to be well groomed.
The man stepped down from his horse. He was approaching with a black cloak fluttering in the air.
Lily held out her hand gracefully toward the man.
“Baron Paulman’s daughter….”
It wasn’t bad for the first greeting she’d ever given. It was on a par with the illustrations in the etiquette books.
However, why wouldn’t this man greet her and kiss the back of her hand? Lily gripped the reins and smiled shyly.
“Lily, my name is Lily…..”
“….”
“Lily.”
She thought the man didn’t hear it, so she pronounced it clearly.
A normal person would have said something, but the man didn’t say anything and had a cold face. Then he snatched the reins from Lily’s hands and quickly hooked them to his own saddle.
“That’s mine.”
Lily reached out to ask for it back, but the man didn’t say a word and just did what he had to do. He tied the leather strap, tightened the knot, pulled it a few times to make sure it was secure, and then turned away in a circle.
He was quite rude.
Unlike Lily, who was high strung about every little thing, the man was insensitive about everything. It would be more accurate to say that it was a habit.
In the man’s experience, there were just two categories of women in his life.
The first was the type that would constantly yell at him for his rude treatment, and the other was the type that would create a sea of tears the entire way to the capital.
There had been no exceptions so far. So no matter what Lily says, he had to be insensitive.
Checking the reins on the saddle, the man climbed onto his horse with ease. Then he lifted his big heel and hit the horse gently on the side.
His ears were already closed in case the noise came from behind him.
Sure enough.
“Ah!”
A strange sound came out. But it was nothing like the cries and nervous screams he had expected.
It sounded like a horse crying, and he almost turned around, but the man exercised an impressive amount of self-control and fought back the urge.
“If you are a lady, you must be quiet.”
Lily remembered her father’s words. Belatedly, shame washed over her.
Lily bent down and slumped against the horse’s back . She clung flatly like a bed cloth, hiding her frivolous mouth.
“Hyaa!”
At the same time, the two horses began to gallop.
Lily’s body jumped up along with the horses’ hooves as they ran like a gale.
Lily grabbed the horses’ manes tightly.
“Why, sir? Why did you take someone’s reins…?”
She tightened her thighs with all her strength, so much so that the coldness also pushed in with the vibrations coming up on her hips. But that didn’t stop her stubbornly tailbone from bouncing.
“Ah!”
A shrill voice came out of her cracked throat, out of register.
“If you are a lady, you must be quiet.”
She had long since abandoned the law. What’s the point of being well behaved when she was going to die.
The first time she got to go out on a horse, but it was probably her last time.
“No, no, no!”
However, the grip was quickly loosening. The horse mane escaped helplessly through her fingers.
She was already at her limit.
“No…!”
She could feel the rapid decline, but her body was in a state of exhaustion.
She couldn’t stand it any longer and slipped sideways.
“It’s over, isn’t it?”
It was the end.
Her hair fluttered in the air as if saying goodbye.
It was then.
The man running ahead turned his upper body like lightning and jumped off his horse.