Chapter 101

Yelena tilted her head slightly. Ever since they had gone to the festival together, her husband would sometimes turn and look at her without saying a word. And whenever she asked him for a reason, he would reply that it was nothing.

‘What could it be?’

Although she didn’t know the purpose behind his actions, it didn’t give her a bad feeling, so she decided to just let it be. Apart from the fact that she sometimes felt a little embarrassed when her husband’s gaze rested on her for too long, from Yelena’s point of view there was nothing to dislike about this.

“Please take good care of me from now on.”

“Okay. I’ll make sure to teach you well.”

Yelena and Kaywhin exchanged cordial greetings as they agreed to become a teacher and student for the length of his studies.

The fact that the teacher held ulterior motives was a secret.

Yelena purposefully smiled in rder to appear more pure and innocent.

***

Having returned to her room, Yelena leisurely prepared to go on an outing. In order to strike while the iron was hot and avoid any delays, she was planning to go out and buy some paint that very day.

It was at this moment that a servant knocked on the door to Yelena’s rooms.

“Your ladyship, a letter has arrived for you.”

“A letter?”

After giving the servant permission to enter, Yelena received the letter.

The letter’s envelope didn’t have the name of the sender written on it.

“Do you know who this letter is from?”

“I suspect that even the delivery man was deliberately left in the dark.”

So this letter had been sent anonymously.

‘Could it be Will?’

While recalling the bard who  hadshe met at the baron’s estate a few days ago, Yelena opened the letter.

[You haven’t forgotten me, right?]

“…?”

That was all that was written in the letter. A single line.

Just in case, she flipped the letter around, but after failing to find any further details, Yelena handed the letter back to the servant.

“Are you sure this was sent to me?”

“Yes. It was definitely addressed to the Duchess…”

“Well, fine then. Take it away and burn it.”

It seemed to be a prank letter. Yelena paid no further attention to this letter of dubious purpose. Her time was too precious to waste on such things.

After the servant had departed along with the letter, this time it was a maid who found her way into Yelena’s rooms. It seemed that it wasn’t for a similarly trivial matter, as the maid appeared to be in quite a hurry.

“M-my Lady. There’s an emergency.”

“An emergency, you say?”

“Three knights have currently been injured after fighting with each other, the reason for their fight is…”

After a short explanation, Yelena’s face transformed into a very bizarre expression.

“…eh?”

***

“Huff, huff. You should just give up.”

“No way, bastard! You’re the one who should be giving up!”

“Shut up, both of you should just give up now.”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

The three knights who had been locked in combat had now pulled away from each other to catch their breaths while still glaring at the others.

On all three of their faces, the traces of the blows that they had traded with each other were abundantly clear.

Of the three, the one whose face was the least marred, Thomas, bore a victor’s smile on his face.

“You incompetent bastards, you really think that you can make it with those skills? Go back and do some more training. I’m the one who’s accompanying her Ladysh-”

“What kind of commotion is this?”

“Your Ladyship!”

Making it impossible to tell who was the first to respond, the three knights turned as one and snapped to attention at the exact same moment.

Yelena looked at the three knights whose faces were bruised and swollen all over with a puzzled expression.

“…just now, I heard something that was a bit disconcerting.”

From left to right, one by one, Yelena called out the names of the knights.

“Sir Max, Sir Colin, Sir Thomas…”

“…”

“I heard that the three of you were fighting over the right to escort me on my outing today, is this true?”

She wasn’t sure about anything else, but they certainly seemed to have been fighting. Unless, that is, they had decided for some reason to pound their own faces into a pulp.

“That..”

“…”

“…is the truth.”

After some hesitation, the knights soon admitted that it was truth. Yelena was left speechless.

‘They were really fighting because of that?’

No, just why?

It was hard for her to understand. What reason could the three of them possibly have to compete for the spot of escorting her?

It’s not like being her personal escort was some kind of promotion.

‘Could it be that they wanted to fight and just used me as an excuse?’

That was certainly a possibility.

After staring at each of the three knights with a suspicious gaze, Yelena soon spoke up.

“Sir Max.”

“Y-yes!”

“What is your reason for desiring to be my personal escort for today, good sir?”

“Um, that’s…”

Having been taken aback by the sudden question, Max responded vigorously as if he thought that this was his opportunity.

“I am indebted to you, Your Ladyship! That’s why I would like to return the favor by guarding your Ladyship on your outing today!”