As Freya was trying to find an excuse, he yelled in a surprising tone, “Did you perhaps wash there?”
“I’ll die in this weather, Archer.” Freya became curious as to what he was thinking. Even though she was uneducated, Freya wasn’t stupid enough to do a thing like take a bath where there were so many men walking around. Freya pushed out her chest, put her hands on her hips, and asked, “You didn’t perhaps worry about me, did you?”
“Do you think I am crazy? Why would you think that?” Archer jumped off the bed, and because of that, a bone on the bed fell to the floor.
Freya felt relieved because Archer returned to his usual self. “I was just asking.”
“You weren’t coming back, and it’s so late. I was hungry, that’s all.”
“I see. To maintain that large body, you’ll have to keep on chewing like a cow,” Freya joked while preparing the meal. She sat by the fireplace and warmed the porridge as she cooked the skin of the meat. Even though he denied it, Archer’s concern for her warmed her heart, and her eyes became moist.
As Freya dried her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt, Archer took off his top, and she frowned at him while spinning the skewers, “Can’t you see I’m cooking? You’re making it dusty.”
“What are you talking about, Freya? My body, as you can see, is all muscles!”
It looked like he was upset about being called a cow. What a simple man. There was no fat on his body at all. A deep scar crossed from his back to his chest, which seemed to tell a story of his past. The ugly scar no doubt carved a painful memory into him forever.
Freya raised her voice as her mood sank, “Archer! Wear your shirt, please. It feels like my eyes are burning.”
“Why, is it because I’m so handsome?”
Freya was astounded that Archer took that as a compliment. And his words didn’t sound right after she’d just seen someone else shirtless that she genuinely couldn’t take her eyes off! Freya shook her head and spoke, “Archer, be honest. Have you ever had a conversation with a lady other than me?”
As Archer put on his shirt, he chuckled at such an odd question, “What are you talking about, Freya? I’m so popular!”
“What kind of conversations did you have then?”
As Archer tried to remember, he first looked up at the roof of the tent and then replied, “When I said I could drink a lot, she asked if I wanted more. Then she asked if I wanted more bread.”
“Right, of course,” Freya replied. Archer didn’t know anything else but being a strong man. And Freya decided not to reveal the truth for his sake because she didn’t want to hurt his feelings.
Around the same time that Freya had met Crown Prince Lucius, her daily life had changed slightly. It felt like she was watched by somebody all the time. She could sense eyes on her whether she was walking around the barracks or hanging up the laundry to dry. And even when she did her morning stretching. The accompanying sensation she felt was uncomfortable.
After cleaning up the breakfast dishes, Freya casually asked, “Archer, what do I do if someone follows me around after falling for me?”
Archer dropped the cloth he was cleaning his helmet with on the floor and looked up at her with his eyes wide open, “Freya, did you smoke Hashish?”
There were quite a few people who used Hashish around the barracks. Archer had told her that the herb could remove one’s fear of battle. And also take away the pain after being injured. “You told me not to do that. You said it was bad for my health.”
Archer had told her that he’d seen how being addicted to Hashish ruined lives, and Freya had no intention of throwing her life away like that because of a plant. And she intended on keeping the promise she’d made to Lotty. “Just so you know, your reaction hurt me a little.”
“What are you talking about?” Archer asked as his shoulders sagged.
Freya glared at him while drying her hands on a dishcloth, “You know what I mean. Someone could like me, you know.”
Archer yelled in response, “Did someone hit on you?” He had introduced Freya as his cousin, and his eye twitched in anger. There were a lot of vulgar men on the frontier, and Freya deserved a kind gentleman. Archer felt responsible after taking her in. He wanted to take good care of Freya and pair her up with someone kind.
But Freya didn’t know his intention and responded impertinently, “I don’t know. Is there a chance for someone to hit on me?” She’d never felt that kind of feelings toward the opposite sex, and it wasn’t like she wanted to date. Freya just felt envious of being in a place where everyone seemed to have family or a partner, unlike her. On some level, she yearned for the stability that other people had.
Although there were many vulgar men in the barracks it didn’t mean that love was out of the question. Periodically she saw couples interacting in the middle of the day while running her errands. One man had said to his partner, “My love, I want to show you my burning heart by digging it out with a dagger.” After only coming of age recently, it was enough for Freya to find it interesting.
“What, you look like someone disappointed,” Archer said in a bit of a teasing tone.
Freya aggressively spat back, “I wasn’t disappointed.”
“What did I say that made you so angry?!” Archer asked while caressing his beard. It was better to see her like this than to see her looking sad. While he gazed at her, he noticed how much better she looked, now that she had some meat on her bones, and Archer smiled to himself. “Freya, clean all of that today in the tent.”
“How am I supposed to clean all of that?” She sighed as she looked at the basket full of small darts and daggers.
“Don’t argue, just do it.”
“Yes, sir.” Freya kept her complaints to herself as she walked to the fire pit to sweep the ashes into a small light-blue dustpan. Throughout the day, while she busied herself with chores, Freya often forgot that they were in a war zone. But whenever Archer cleaned his weapon, she was quickly reminded of the stark reality and her heartfelt discomfort.
“I’m going to throw this away,” Freya mumbled as she walked out of the tent.
“Always be careful,” Archer reminded her. A refreshing smile spread across little Freya’s face, unlike his concern.