Chapter 4: Chapter 3

Chapter 3

“Noah!”

“I…,” before she could say that she wouldn’t be able to eat with him because she was unwell, the sound of a chair being dragged, stopped her. Noah had gotten up from his seat and walked towards her and pulled a chair out for her to sit on. She took a few steps backward, surprised by his fast movements. It was an invitation to eat together. Adele sat down, biting the corner of her lip. Just when she wanted to lift herself for Noah to push the chair in easily, Noah pushed it with ease while she was still seated.

“Thank you,” she said politely. Noah stood right behind Adele and bowed his head. Soon, there was a smell of burning iron and wood in the room.

“You’re only eating that?” Noah furrowed his eyebrows at the fruit salad and soup served for Adele.

His rough and low voice rang her ears and she nervously held the ends of her skirt and replied, “Sorry? Ah, yes. I don’t have a big appetite in the morning.” She only ate enough to relieve her hunger pangs this early in the day.

Noah clicked his tongue and held Adele’s wrist, “That’s why you’re so skinny.”

“I beg your pardon? What do you mean?” Just when Adele was about to raise her head, Noah let go of her wrist and went back to his seat. She touched her burning wrist feeling embarrassed by his words. Her body was on the fleshier side, unlike ordinary aristocratic women. She didn’t understand what he meant by her being skinny. And why did he hold my wrist?

As Adele lifted her head, her eyes met Noah’s as he was drinking his water. She didn’t know what to say and blurted out, “The garden’s fence is kind of empty.” Adele wanted to somehow relieve the awkwardness as they ate together. Although she regretted saying that when she saw his cold expression.

“Yes. And?”

“Well, that place was originally left as a vacant lot to plant flowers. It must be a bit narrow for the knights to train on.”

As Adele fiddled with her spoon and spoke, Noah’s fork stopped. Thoughts filled his head about the fence where the knights trained on, and also, of a woman who walked in the garden, laughing with her maids. He looked straight at Adele’s eyes, “I should’ve gotten permission from the lady owner. I didn’t think about that.”

Adele waved her hands at the sudden apology, “No, I didn’t mean to say it like that. Also, what do you mean by “lady owner”? The position is only empty because he’s not here.”

When Adele’s husband left the castle, Noah naturally became the owner. Even though he was twenty-six years old and had no wife. So the lady owner wasn’t Adele, it was a vacant seat; such was the law of the Astrian Empire.

“No, you are the lady owner.”

“Do you think so?” Adele widened her eyes at the words of Noah which she could not understand.

A servant, who was carrying a silver tray, walked over to the table and put down a large bowl that was covered with a lid, “This is roasted young venison meat.”

When the servant opened the lid, a large chunk of roasted young venison appeared. Adele, who was sensitive to hunted meat, frowned reflexively. But it didn’t smell like meat. The servant looked at Noah’s and said carefully, “I cooled it down as you ordered. But if you eat it like this, it won’t taste as good.”

“That’s fine, thank you.”

The servant picked up a large fork and knife and Noah moved his finger, instructing her to hand them to him. He easily cut the meat apart and placed some on his plate and Adele couldn’t help but stare at him as he chewed it.

It must be because it was still early, that his eyes were half-closed and she noticed his long eyelashes, under which a chiseled nose was moving. Despite the aesthetic atmosphere, a couple of his shirt buttons were open, giving it a strange feeling.

Because of him, many young girls couldn’t sleep at night. She stared at him blankly. Catching herself, she realized that she’d been looking at him too long. Noah became conscious of this when she lowered her head to see the bowl of her soup,

“Sister-in-law.”

“Yes.”

“Do you like flowers?”

He seemed bothered by the fence now and Adele nodded with a smile, “Yes. I like peonies. He likes them, so I like them. When you leave, I’ll plant them there. He’ll be able to see them when he comes back.”

There was a sharp sound of a knife scratching the plate and she blinked in fright, wondering if she’d said something he didn’t like.

Frowning, he drank the water from the glass and then said, “Before returning to the battlefield, I was thinking of making a pond in the garden.”

“A pond?” It was a hassle to maintain the pond, so it had been emptied a year ago. Why did he want to refill it again? Adele tilted her head and asked, “Do you have a reason for that?”

“If there is a pond, then forget-me-nots would bloom.”

“Ah! So you like forget-me-nots? It’s my first time seeing them.” Adele, who liked flowers, though she had something to talk about finally, and she smiled brightly.

Immediately, Noah’s eyes widened as he moved his knife again and bluntly said, “No, I don’t like them.”

“Excuse me?” She said, looking confused. Then why did he want to make a pond?

Suddenly, a servant who’d entered the city gates, hurriedly ran into the dining room, interrupting their awkward conversation, “Lady! Young master!”

Wondering what happened, both Adele and Noah turned to look at the servant. The servant’s face was pale.

“The master!” She yelled.

Adele, anxious at seeing the servant’s watery eyes, asked, “What happened to him? Tell me!”

“I think you should go to the port immediately,” she answered as tears spilled out of her eyes.