Chapter 33
Unaware of the headache she’s causing, the very person at the center of the issue is well-fed and well-rested.
Leonid chuckled as he entered his room.
“It’s good she has a healthy appetite. And?”
“It seems she went out for a walk. Olga went with her, so there’s no need to worry.”
“Tell her to come to my office when she returns. And also, Vasily…”
Leonid unconsciously mentioned Vasily’s name, then realized a beat too late that his knight, who usually greeted him with Stepan upon his return, was nowhere to be seen.
It seemed he was really distracted.
“…Now that I think about it, I haven’t seen Vasily. Is he training?”
“Likely so. He seemed quite stirred by yesterday’s incident.”
“It was about time he needed some motivation.”
Leonid had been in the capital for over a year now. The knights of Rostislav who would always be sharp from battling monsters in the territory, would naturally become lax.
Allowing two intrusions in one day was proof enough that discipline had slackened.
Leonid found himself needing to address a major assembly first thing this morning.
– If you all can’t properly guard one mansion, then what reason do you have to bear swords under Rostislav’s banner? I won’t punish this oversight, but should it happen again, I will hold you accountable as per our laws.
For Leonid who was known to deeply cherish his own people, to speak so harshly meant he was truly furious.
Yet, no one thought his words too severe.
Especially Vasily, who oversees the mansion’s security, looked particularly grim.
Having failed to stop Yekaterina’s intrusion and then allowing an assassin into the bedroom, it was only natural.
‘Vasily, with his personality, must be blaming himself.’
As Leonid unbuttoned his vest to change, he pondered.
Vasily was undoubtedly a skilled knight but often too harsh on himself. He also tended to demand high moral standards from those around him.
Had Vasily heard Yekaterina’s suggestion to share a room last night, he would’ve likely jumped a chair’s height in shock.
The thought brought Leonid back to Yekaterina’s issue.
He had no intention of sharing a room with Yekaterina, but the problem was her stubbornness.
Even after only a day, Leonid was acutely aware of her persistence.
With a weary look, Leonid gazed out the window.
“Stepan, did you say Vasily was at the training ground?”
“Yes. Would you like to go?”
“Yes, I think it’s about time I got some physical activity.”
Leonid brushed his hair back and took out his training clothes from the wardrobe.
When the mind is cluttered, sometimes moving the body is the best solution.
“It wouldn’t be bad to see how much Vasily has slackened during my time in the capital.”
“Sounds like the knights are going to have a rough day tomorrow. Whenever Sir Vasily spars with you, the intensity of the training for the knights always goes up,” Stepan joked, prompting a chuckle from Leonid.
He then briskly headed to the training ground, completely unaware that Yekaterina would be there.
* * *
Yekaterina was surveying the garden.
More precisely, she was thinking, ‘That area could use some extra guards.’
She was looking around the estate, trying to find ways she could be helpful to Leonid.
She had planned to do this a bit earlier, but a persistent maid insisted on following her, delaying her schedule.
‘Being followed is uncomfortable.’
Having always wandered alone in the Offenbach estate, Yekaterina felt relieved to be by herself now.
Unlike the high walls of a castle designed to prevent intrusion, the mansion’s defenses seemed hardly challenging for intruders.
The height of the walls was easily scalable and served more as decoration. The sporadic ivy growing on them wasn’t much of a deterrent either.
‘Offenbach mansion had thick hedges of thorny bushes planted.’
Rostislav was indeed more laid back in comparison.
In fact, Yekaterina couldn’t stop comparing various aspects of the mansion to Offenbach.
They say a bird kept in a cage for too long doesn’t know how to fly out even when the door is open.
That was precisely Yekaterina’s state.
She left Offenbach out of disdain, yet her thoughts remained imprisoned there.
No matter what, she couldn’t shake off thoughts related to Offenbach.
And yet, her body felt at ease, akin to having one hand in hot water and the other in cold water.
Plucking a dead leaf from the ivy, Yekaterina pondered.
‘Doing nothing feels really strange.’
It was like being lost. She felt there should be constraints, but there were none. Someone should be telling her what to do, but no one did.
Waking up to an uncommanded morning.
Yekaterina was slightly surprised by the absence of a maid to dictate her day’s schedule. It was expected, yet surprising.
This realization made her inexplicably anxious.
Having nothing to do was unsettling.
After contemplating, Yekaterina decided to stay prepared to leave at any moment and waited in her room.
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