Ā Chapter 3
The moment the nobles spotted him, they all turned pale, as if they had seen something they shouldn’t. The unit’s administrator was no exception; he immediately lowered his back and approached to welcome the high-ranking noble.
“Your Excellency. Is something the matter?”
Even the administrator, himself a robust man, was made to look ordinary by this man’s presence. With his broad, well-set shoulders and solid armor, his dominance was unparalleled even within the dark barracks.
In contrast, his neatly swept-back silver hair held a brilliant luster, as if flaunting its natural color, and his unexpectedly refined features naturally drew people’s attention.
But despite his beautiful appearance, his sharp expression made onlookers tremble with a sense of oppression.
“Erā¦ Your Excellency?”
The man gave no answer, walking past the flustered administrator and stepping forward.
The next moment, words that astonished everyone in the barracks left his lips.
“I will take that one.”
“ā¦Pardon?”
When the Duke, the highest-ranking noble present, pointed precisely at Flora, the administrator looked as if he might faint on the spot.
Then, perhaps assuming the Duke had also been captivated by Flora’s pretty face, he quickly approached his ear and whispered quietly.
He hastily recited her history as a word of caution, but the Duke’s expression remained impassive, as if there was no need to heed it at all.
Leaving the dumbfounded administrator behind, the man fixed his gaze on Flora and spoke.
“I am Claude Heinster. Do you know me?”
There was no one who didn’t know himāthe brilliant Supreme Commander of the Southern Front, a noble knight held up as an example to all.
As Flora slowly nodded, the Duke leisurely moved his long legs.
With each step the man took, dignity and nobility radiated from him. Flora was familiar with the unique air that noble-born commanders and knights possessed, but the Duke was distinctly different in caliber.
His straight posture was so immaculate it seemed it had never been disturbed. His trim figure, hinting at solid muscles beneath his uniform, also suggested he was no commander in name only.
Flora watched the man’s every movement with an impassive gaze, then lifted her eyes only after he stopped right in front of her.
“Will you follow me?”
*Quite a stable, deep, resonant bass voice,* she thought to herself, blinking her eyes a couple of times without any change in expression.
āā¦ā¦.”
“Instead of the imperial family that abandoned you, serve me.”
The sound of nobles watching from behind gasping for air echoed through the cramped space.
The man, who had unhesitatingly uttered such insolent words, looked down at her with arrogant eyes and extended his hand.
“I will be your master. I will make you a proper person so that no one can look down on you.”
Flora, who had only blinked her emotionless eyes even as he approached, took his hand without hesitation.
It wasn’t that she was swayed by the man’s proposal. As long as she could protect her own life, she didn’t care who her master was.
All she wanted was to survive. That was all.
—
Contrary to the Duke’s ready acceptance of taking charge of her fate, Flora couldn’t even speak with the man, let alone see his face for a while.
As soon as she left the barracks, she mounted a horse handed to her by someone who appeared to be the Duke’s subordinate, and spent the entire day holding the reins and riding, only watching the Duke’s back from a distance.
In the evenings, they would stay overnight in a nearby village, and as soon as dawn broke the next day, they would ride again. Without any real explanation, Flora silently followed them without asking a single question.
After five days passed like that, they switched to a carriage. They traveled for another three days, finally arriving at a city where she had never set foot in her entire life.
*’Pashante, the First Capital of the Regentra Empire.’*
Throughout the carriage ride, Flora had only relied on a small window to look outside, but she could easily guess that this place was the capital.
During the journey of over a week, most of the landscapes they passed were still steeped in the aftereffects of the war, even though seven months had passed since its end. But this place alone had no collapsed buildings and looked like a prosperous city.
The people hurrying along the roads and the numerous carriages crossing the streets all looked utterly ordinary. Naturally, none of them wore swords at their waists.
Not long after, they finally arrived in front of a massive iron gate that seemed three times her height.
With an eagle-shaped sculpture holding a silver shieldāthe emblem symbolizing the ducal familyāin the center, this was clearly the Heinster Ducal Residence.
The gatekeeper, recognizing the carriage at the front, quickly gestured, and the enormous iron gate, which had seemed immovable, opened with a heavy groan.
“Even a lowly wretch like you should know where this is if you have eyes.”
Once they had entered a fair distance, a man who introduced himself as the Duke’s adjutant muttered.
He had been grimacing throughout the journey, as if displeased with having to share the space with Flora, so this was the first time Flora heard his voice.
Assuming her face, wide-eyed at the scale of the ducal residence as she looked outside, was the reaction of a country bumpkin soldier astonished by the grandeur, he puffed up arrogantly.
“This is the great House of Heinster, a place a blood-crazed soldier like you could barely hope to set foot on even once in a lifetime.”
Flora simply lowered her head without a word. But perhaps that only irritated him further; he raised one eyebrow and crossed his arms crookedly.
“Let me warn you. Don’t get any false hopes just because His Excellency brought you here.”
“I never had any.”
“Good. Keep knowing your place like that.”
Meanwhile, the adjutant got off the now-stopped carriage, turning his head away with a huff, and Flora also stepped down.
Seeing the Duke, who had alighted first, along with his attending adjutant and knights, all enter the entrance, Flora hesitated for a moment before following them, taking a position at the very back.
She thought she might hear the Duke’s voice, but the first voice she heard was that of an elderly woman.
“You are late, my lord.”
“Madame Melady. I trust nothing untoward happened.”
“All was peaceful, save for my lord’s return being later than the message indicated.”
“Oh dear. Have I worried the old lady again?”
She couldn’t see the people at the front clearly, but she heard the Duke’s low laugh. His voice was noticeably softer; it was hard to believe he was the same cold-mannered man she had seen in the barracks.
“Teasing an old woman like that is unkind, my lord. It is only natural to worry about a young master whose face one can hardly see properly.”
“Worrying about others is the most useless thing in the world. If I lose contact, just assume I’ve died somewhere and be done with it.”
Behind their informal exchange, someone’s long, deep sigh followed.
“There you go again, saying such disagreeable things. I have ordered a bath to be prepared, so please go in and rest.”
“Ah, I almost forgot. Harriot.”
“Yes, Your Excellency.”
The respondent was the adjutant who had spoken sharply to Flora in the carriage.
Thanks to the knights standing at the front stepping aside to both sides, Flora could see the Duke’s face for the first time in nearly a week.
“Take care of her.”
Without a single glance toward Flora, the Duke said dryly and then leisurely strode up the steps and disappeared.
Flora, left standing there, simply blinked silently in front of the elderly woman who was now looking at her with curious eyes.
“Head Maid. Since His Excellency brought her, please take her and have her washed.”
A sharp, experienced gaze openly swept from Flora’s head to her toes. Her gray jacket and trousers, more fit for a man, were covered in dust, and a longsword hung at her waist.
Quick-witted enough to deduce from her shabby appearance that she was certainly no guest, the woman soon withdrew her gaze.
“As you wish.”
As the elderly woman addressed as Head Maid answered politely and signaled with her eyes, the waiting maids grabbed Flora’s slender wrists.
They tried to take her away, but the attempt was soon in vain. Flora had put strength into her legs and refused to budge.
Furthermore, she lightly shook off their grasped wrists, causing the maids to instead lose their balance, scream, and fall over.
At this, the Head Maid’s stern-looking brow furrowed slightly. Before she could say anything, Harriot’s reprimand flew in.
“If you intend to cause a disturbance, leave immediately.”
“It was they who touched my body without permission.”
At Flora’s calmly recited words, without a single misstep, Harriot was dumbfounded for a moment before regaining his wits late.
It wasn’t wrong, but the fact that she had talked back to him angered him, so his words were hardly kind.
“It seems you don’t understand the situation. This is not a place where just any riffraff like you can come. This is the House of Heinster!”
Harriot didn’t hide his displeased expression, speaking without filter.
“You should be grateful for being allowed to stay here, yet you intend to tarnish His Excellency’s face?”
*Why on earth did my master bring such a woman to the ducal residence in the first place?*
*’I told him, you shouldn’t just take anyone in like that.’*
Having no way of knowing his master’s feelingsāwho had only chuckled at his heartfelt adviceāhe took out his anger on her.
But regardless of what he said gruffly, the woman remained expressionless. Annoyed by her stiff demeanor, Harriot continued.
“Surely you don’t intend to see His Excellency looking like that?”
At those words, Flora, who had been motionless, lowered her head and looked down at her attire.
Soldiers’ uniforms weren’t provided in great quantity, so although worn, she hadn’t thought them particularly dirty. But apparently, they only looked that way to her.
Seeing her trying to gauge whether she was dirty or not, Harriot jeered, as if she finally seemed to understand a little.
“Understand now? Since you’re going to stay here, throw away all the habits you picked up from your old place.”
“I don’t need anyone’s help. I’m not a toddler; I can wash alone.”
“Well, that’s true, butā¦ hah. Someone, go with her and help.”
Exasperated by her persistent backtalk, Harriot waved his hand as if tired of further argument.
Among the maids who had been wary after the earlier incident, one with her brown hair tightly tied up stepped forward. After a moment’s hesitation, Flora didn’t refuse this time and quietly followed the maid.
As Harriot watched Flora’s receding back down the hallway, Madame Melady approached him and asked.
“May I ask where she comes from?”
“Wellā¦ just know she’s a woman with nowhere else to go.”
Harriot, who had been about to mention the woman’s background, recalled the Duke’s order to keep her identity confidential and closed his mouth. He had given up on speaking indirectly, but Madame Melady had already read the suspicious sign from him.
