When Sire Lucius appeared before Freya, he looked very different than he had earlier. The blood-stained look he had before was gone, and he wore a clean shirt with well-tailored black pants. A long cape draped over his shoulders, with a golden stripe down the side, which gave him an air of superiority.
Freya had grabbed a wooden bat reflexively, and she held onto it tightly. As if this will change the first impression. Relaxing slightly, she greeted him awkwardly.
She looked oddly intimidating, and Lucius asked, “You’re not going to hit me with that, right?”
“Of course not!” Freya quickly lowered her arm. She was unsure why he’d come to the laundry area, and she didn’t know if it was okay to keep working in front of His Highness or if she should stop. In the meantime, Lucius had made himself comfortable and was lying on a nearby flat rock, covering his eyes with his hand.
Freya kept glancing at him, confused as to why he was resting here of all places. There must be somewhere else for him to pass the time. She swung her bat back and forth for a while, but her attention kept going back to him. Finally, she decided to continue washing the clothing as she felt more comfortable in his presence now. She just hoped that he’d leave soon.
Freya had heard several rumors about Lucius, and they all sounded bizarre. One of the rumors said that he licked the blood off his sword after he killed someone. Another one was about him sleeping on a pile of dead bodies. And, yet a third one said that if the reaper were scared of something, that would be Sire Lucius. Freya shook her head aggressively after remembering some of these rumors she’d heard. The troubling thoughts soon dissipated as she rinsed the clothes a few times, squeezed them out, and then placed them into the woven basket.
Archer said the food here sucked, but Freya didn’t think that, and she thought excitedly that perhaps the porridge, for dinner, would be cooked in fat. At least there is no mold on the bread here, and there are some pieces of meat and vegetables in the porridge. If Archer grew up in an orphanage, he would never complain about the food here. He might even chew the bowl because he’ll find the food so tasty. Freya started to hit the clothes harder as she giggled about her funny imagination.
She could see the image of Archer carrying all the clothes up the hill. “He is so strong. If I were to do that, I’d have to go back and forth a few times.” While speaking to herself, Freya was suddenly touched deeply by an overwhelming sense of appreciation. She never would have imagined that such luck would have found her. Even though he complained to her all the time, Archer was a good man.
Lotty then popped into her mind, and she wondered if the girl was okay. She could still remember the last time she’d seen her and the smiling face that was suppressing tears. Freya held her fist up in the sky. I’ll earn a lot of money and come for you. She had to work harder then. If she said no to small tasks, she wouldn’t become rich. Freya raised the bat higher and then hit the clothing with all her might.
Meanwhile, Lucius, who looked like he was lying down comfortably, felt confused. Why did I come here? It was rare that he felt curious about others, especially the opposite sex. Even though the person in front of him was wearing pants and had short hair, the shape of her body was not a man’s. Lucius found this perplexing, as well as the strange feeling which led him here, even though he’d wanted to rest. The intriguing lady might have something to do with the wizard that Milady hired. I must cut out whatever is suspicious. That was the reason why he’d told someone to follow her around.
Lucius cleared his throat loudly on purpose while his thick eyebrows wiggled. The lady who was joyfully swinging the bat as someone who got by, day to day, by running errands. He couldn’t believe she was able to focus on such a lowly task while he was present. Lucius wasn’t an ordinary man. He was the legal heir to the Morciani Empire, and his pride was hurt as she seemed to be paying him no attention.
As Lucius touched his face with both hands, he wondered if it was unsightly because of being out on the battlefield for so long. The ladies feared him but also craved him at the same time. Lucius was sick of all the attention that he got when he matured. But he wasn’t enjoying the feeling of being ignored either.
Although Lucius moved around quite a bit, the lady didn’t even turn around, so he decided to find another way to get her attention. Lucius impulsively removed his shirt off and started to walk toward Freya.
After finally focussing on her work, Freya was swinging her laundry bat ferociously when she heard footsteps approaching on the grass. Since there was only her and His Highness, it had to be him. Immediately, a few unsettling thoughts popped into her mind about what prompted him to walk toward her. Was he perhaps going to slay her and then lick the blood off his sword? Freya held the bat tightly while trembling. She decided to hit the Crown Prince’s head if he did anything funny. Freya had heard that it was a death sentence to hurt a member of the royal family. But she closed her eyes and blocked out the memory. That was something she would worry about afterward.
But when nothing transpired after some time, Freya glanced to her side. And there was Sir Lucius, lowering his body with his shirt off. “Your, Highness?” Freya said, feeling flustered. She was visibly shocked to see him half-naked.
Lucius slowly opened his mouth and said, “Hurry.”
Freya was ready to beat the living daylights out of Sire Lucius if the rumor about him being crazy was true. It was rare to see someone who bent over with their naked back like this. Well, not rare, but rather unheard by her.