Chapter 35: A Cousin’s Warning

“I understand how you feel. But whether I understand it or not, nothing changes.”

“Hey, are you really going to be like this?”

Vane caught Ardo by the shoulder. He leaned in and whispered as if trying to persuade him. There was no need to hear it to know what he was saying.

“So, who is this mistress the maid was talking about?”

“It is about time we brought in a mistress. Shouldn’t this castle have portraits hanging in it?”

Vane’s lips moved. So the rumor was true after all. His wretched cousin had taken a woman around and cleaned out every guild shop. The rumor was true.

“If you mean the female painter, I heard about her a while ago.”

“Yes. The lord brought a female painter with him. She is a woman from Lavarus, and her skill is excellent. Her standards are so high that the guild merchants froze.”

“And? That’s not the end of it, is it? The rumor says Jerond looked only at that woman. Is that true? That woman is going to be the mistress…”

Then footsteps sounded. Slow, even footsteps. There was only one person they could belong to. The master of this castle, his cousin Jerond.

“Vane.”

At Jerond’s voice, Vane clicked his tongue. How did he know I was here? A midday visit was dangerous after all. He had come running to confirm the rumor, so it was too late to deny it.

“How long do you plan to keep coming in and out of my castle like a rat?”

At Jerond’s low, blunt words, Vane shouted.

“A rat? You dare call me a rat…”

“Or should I call you the idiot whose fiancée was stolen by his cousin?”

The mood turned vicious. Neither would give an inch, so it was no wonder something could happen.

“Aren’t you going to watch your mouth?”

“I don’t unless I have to.”

“You…”

Vane’s growl was useless. Jerond had no desire to deal with Vane at all. Vane always dressed up and liked to strut. He called himself a scholar, clung to nobles, and talked about dignity.

His pale skin and unmarked hands and arms were only more irritating lately. What had been so appealing about that pale type that he had stared so blankly?

“Whoever becomes the mistress of this castle, it has nothing to do with you, so get out. And she may be thin, but she is not unattractive.”

Jerond stepped forward and stood in front of Vane. When that much larger, harder body came close, Vane’s body retreated before he knew it. Jerond looked down at his cousin and warned coldly.

“She is a precious painter who will paint my portrait. If you flap your mouth one more time…”

“…”

“I will cut off that useless lower half of yours.”

Jerond’s warning would not end as a warning. There would certainly be fallout. But Vane could not back down either. The outside of the castle was already full of talk about Jerond and Amblin.

Yesterday he had personally taken her out in his carriage, and then bought out every shop. The woman Amblin had bought everything she looked at, asked about, or touched. That could only be a man in love.

“Seeing how you take care of her, the rumor can’t be entirely wrong. They say you looked at her with loving eyes and bought her precious things. But the woman herself didn’t seem all that pleased, did she? And the rumor says she can’t speak a single word, a defective woman…!”

Crack!!

Then something broke. It was a small stone in Jerond’s hand. Jerond threw it at once and smashed one side of the large table in the middle of the steward’s room. Vane’s mouth fell open. Jerond took out another stone and tossed it lightly in his hand.

“You really love rumors, cousin. Don’t you?”

“You, you… were you just about to throw a stone the size of an ox’s eye at me?”

“Of course not.”

Jerond grinned. That formal smile made the back of Vane’s neck go cold, and goosebumps rose.

“If this had been an ox’s eye, I would have pulled out one of your eyes right now and put this in its place. As you know, I know how to pull out eyes.”

Anyone from the Islem Empire knew that story. When Jerond was a young squire, he had pulled out a monster’s eye. The story remained like a legend.

“But this is a stone, so I can’t put it in.”

The stone in Jerond’s hand looked lighter than air. But when he threw it with force, the other half of the table split and shattered completely.

“Ugh!!”

With a loud crack, pieces of the wooden table flew everywhere. The large table, tall enough to reach a grown man’s chest, broke in an instant. Dust began to fill the steward’s room.

Vane quickly covered his mouth and nose. Then, humiliating as it was, he had to leave the room to live.

“If you keep treating me like this, you’ll regret it!”

Jerond did not even laugh at Vane’s cowardly voice. Vane vanished like a rat with its tail tucked. A moment later, Jerond raised one eyebrow.

“The table is broken.”

Ardo walked to his desk without changing expression. In the swirling dust, he picked up an order form.

“It’s fine. Let’s buy a new table while we’re at it.”

“Buy a good one.”

Jerond kicked a piece of wood that had flown across the floor. Ardo glanced at him and asked.

“Did Bardel come?”

Jerond shook his head instead of answering.

“I knew a rat was coming and going.”

“You knew and pretended not to.”

“He came and went quite a lot over the past year.”

Knowing and pretending not to know was the best Jerond could do. If the master of the castle put a blade to his cousin’s throat, it would become a family fight.

“Having a cousin who enters the castle without permission and spies on you must be painful.”

“Aren’t you annoyed too? He keeps bringing up old matters and poking at you.”

Ardo laughed.

“We share the same wound. If it comforts you, I should help you to the end. Isn’t that a steward’s duty?”

Jerond turned his eyes as if there was nothing to be done. Then Ardo opened his mouth as if he knew exactly why Jerond had come.

“The painter is refusing meals.”

Jerond clicked his tongue as if he had expected it. His brow was furrowed. He was worried after all.

“She seems hurt. Did something happen?”

Ardo was genuinely concerned about the woman shut in her room. He was also worried about his lord, who had gone out for the first time in a while with her and returned.

“Women are far more delicate than glass or jewels. Even a little force, even a little wind, can break them or wound them.”

“You speak like a man who has held women.”

“I have lived sixty years. Even if I haven’t held them, how many women have I seen?”

Ardo walked slowly toward Jerond. The well-grown man certainly carried something different now. It was pure love for a woman. It looked like a young man just beginning his first love.

“Lady Amblin is an artist in particular. Artists are unusually sensitive, so she must have been hurt somewhere unexpected.”

Jerond looked as if he could not understand no matter how he thought about it. He had looked at only one person during the entire outing. He could not take his eyes off the way her long hair fluttered.

He watched only her thin arms and hands moving back and forth. He had said nothing harmful. He had offered to buy anything she wanted.

If there was something he had failed to handle, it was the jealous stares of the noble women. He could not tell them not to look.

“Was it because of the women’s stares in the shop?”

“It could be. It is quite possible. Someone as sensitive as Lady Amblin would have found other people’s stares tiring.”

There was no other reason. Jerond clicked his tongue briefly.

“For the time being, keep visitors to the castle to a minimum. Unless they are absolutely necessary, avoid contact with her.”

“The tailor is scheduled to visit.”

“Ask her. If she doesn’t want it, postpone it.”

“Understood.”

“Make her an atelier and get all kinds of dyes. And candy…”

Jerond closed his mouth and fell into thought. Then he turned to Ardo.

“No. Bring Madame Carso to the castle.”

“Madame Carso?”

Madame Carso was a candy maker. She was stubborn, but she was excellent at making fruit candies.

“Have her stay in the castle and make candy. Give her a room and build her a new kitchen. Her kitchen should be close to Amblin’s atelier.”

The order was unexpected. Ardo already received her candy regularly. It was always kept within the lord’s reach so it would never run out. Even when he traveled far, it was stocked like medicine. Now she was to make that candy here? Near the atelier?

“Bring her now.”

At Jerond’s urging, Ardo called his servants at once. Madame Carso had to be brought in, given a room, and a kitchen had to be built. There was already too little time to make the atelier, and now a kitchen too, so more craftsmen were needed.

On top of that, preparing hearths and tools for trimming, boiling, and cooking all sorts of ingredients would take more than a night.

“Then I’ll go scout with Fay.”

It meant, I’ve said my part, so handle the rest. Ardo watched the tall, handsome man stride quickly out of the room, then slowly closed and opened his eyes.

As expected, a man just beginning to realize his feelings had nothing to fear.

📚 Also on NHV Novels

From Handsome Hunk to Adorable Little Vampire

ComedyDramaFantasy

Read Now →
Not interested