Chapter 15
* * *
A moment later.
Lucy sat meekly on the edge of the bed, knees pressed together.
The somber gaze of Laegar as he wordlessly removed his armor felt cold for some reason, and she gulped dryly.
She had just been subjected to a lengthy, severe scolding from Alfredo, the crow attendant chief.
‘Lucy, you are the Great Emperor’s handmaiden and must not leave the bedchamber without permission. And you must also understand that Lord Igor, the Grand Duke, is busy with his succession studies and must not be followed no matter how much he entices you!’
He prattled on so much that at one point, actual cawing sounds started to escape the attendant chief’s mouth.
Then, as Laegar entered the bedchamber, Alfredo instantly transformed back into a crow and flew out the window to perch on a branch. He was now peering in through the window with a stern look, as if to observe just how she would be punished.
‘So the messengers here are crows. We mainly use white owls.’
At the thought that brushed past unbidden, Lucy momentarily furrowed her brow.
We? Who is ‘we’? Wasn’t I originally from the Belluk territory?
Her thoughts were cautiously about to snake further when a large hand appeared and drew the curtain over the window. Thanks to that, the crow monitoring the inside vanished from view, and her train of thought snapped.
Laegar cast a languid glance at Lucy, as if something displeased him.
To be precise, his expressionless gaze roamed several times over the hunting attire she was wearing before departing.
But the maids, who instantly picked up on the Great Emperor’s fearsome mood, swiftly dressed Lucy in a new gown and sat her back down.
In the meantime, Lucy, having shaken off her cowed demeanor, poured out her questions like a young daughter would to her father.
She threw her arms around Laegar’s waist—draped in a black tunic embroidered with silver thread—and boasted.
“Did you know? I can ride a horse! And skillfully, too!”
Looking down silently at her clinging to him, Laegar stroked her still-cold cheek with his thumb and answered in a single word.
“Is that so.”
He seemed disinclined to prolong the topic, but the oblivious Lucy pressed on.
“It felt really, really good. Somehow… it felt like some lost memory was about to come back. It was a bit strange, but… anyway! Could I ride on the plains with Lord Igor even once or twice a week? The horse I was riding earlier follows my commands so well!”
At that, this time Laegar flatly refused.
“I will not permit that.”
For someone who usually just stared blankly whenever she spoke, or gave belated, slow responses at best, it was a remarkably swift reply.
Immediately after, his gaze shifted to the top of Lucy’s head, prompting her to absently fumble at her own hair.
‘Is there something here?’
But she felt nothing.
At her innocently tilting head, a low sigh fell from above, and soon a cold reprimand followed.
“Igor, as the lord of the Grand Duchy, has much to learn and undertake.”
A blood-freezing chill seeped from his somber tone, and Lucy shivered anew, bowing her head.
“I-I’m sorry.”
But the arms wrapped around his waist didn’t fall away. The sharp scent of the forest, the smell of the wind, clung to him—she liked it.
One of Laegar’s arms was also still coiled around Lucy’s waist. His other hand stroked her cold cheek.
An ironic situation—scolding someone while holding them tight.
With her head still tilted, Lucy gazed up at his chill gray eyes, then soon nuzzled her face against his chest.
She had a vague sense that, for some reason, he seemed utterly unwilling for her to recover her memories.
Meanwhile, Laegar clicked his tongue inwardly.
That thoughtless brat Igor had dragged out the warhorse she owned and rattled Lucy’s memories. Some other measure was needed to prevent a recurrence.
Laegar gently grasped the ends of her shining silver hair as she burrowed into his chest. The strands that slipped through his fingers felt as soft as a tiny baby bird he had once cupped in his hand and crushed.
* * *
After that, Lucy never saw Igor again.
She’d happened to hear from a maid that the young Grand Duke was terribly busy—thrown into his kingship studies while simultaneously being conscripted into large-scale military drills and parades.
With nothing to do, Lucy could only sit by the window and gaze outside. And when Laegar returned, her days were reduced to lying in bed, doing all manner of things with him and rolling around.
Whenever she tried to help with the maids’ cleaning or the crow attendants’ work, they firmly stopped her, so she grew increasingly stifled.
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