Chapter 10: The One Who Killed Me
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 10: The One Who Killed Me
The next morning.
The Knights of Delmark stood in the training ground, their faces pale since the early hours.
“Gah!”
His comrade, unable to mount a proper counterattack, dropped his sword and collapsed.
The man standing over him was Herdin.
Herdin watched him with cold eyes, then gestured with his head toward one side of the training ground. A line of knights was waiting there in a punishment stance, heads bowed. They were all men who had failed to land a single decent strike in their spars against him.
“Next.”
At Herdin’s command, the next knight in line stepped forward, his face etched with fear.
The remaining knights watched him with the same look they’d give a comrade charging to his death. They cast pitiful glances, as if at a condemned man on the day of his execution. With resigned faces, they observed their poor comrade and the man who stood before him.
A war hero.
The only magic swordsman in the empire, blessed with the power of a Divine Beast.
Is there a single knight in this empire—no, on this entire continent—who could possibly defeat that man?
The knights who had fought alongside Herdin on the battlefield for years knew his skills all too well. It would be a relief just to land one proper counterattack and avoid the punishment.
That handsome face, which they usually chalked up to the Creator's blatant favoritism and couldn’t help but stare at in a daze, today looked like the face of a grim reaper.
Praying for the soul of their comrade, who was desperately fending off Herdin’s one-sided assault, one of the waiting knights shot a look at the men beside him.
“Hey, who was it?”
“Who was what?”
“Who got on His Grace’s bad side?”
“What are you talking about? We’ve barely seen him lately, with all the wedding preparations and the ceremony.”
“Then why is a newlywed groom, who should be enjoying his honeymoon, blowing off steam here on the second morning of his marriage?”
“Would you be in the mood for a honeymoon if you were forced to marry your enemy’s daughter?”
Good point.
The bad blood between the Imperial Family and the House of Delmark was a well-known fact among the empire’s nobility.
The knight accepted the explanation, but after mulling it over, he suddenly burst out in frustration.
“Right, but he should be taking his anger out on them, not us!”
How should I know?
The knights who didn’t have an answer simply shrugged. Then, they remembered someone who might know and looked his way.
Does his aide know?
But Ruth, too, simply shook his head with a shrug.
Just as they were getting thoroughly thrashed for reasons they couldn’t fathom…
“Huh?”
The knights standing near the entrance to the training ground began to stir.
Herdin, having just knocked down his latest sparring partner, noticed the shift in atmosphere just as a small cough sounded from the entrance.
He immediately turned toward the sound. Blair was entering the training ground with the butler.
“Mason, what is the meaning of this?”
He addressed the butler, but the question was clearly meant for Blair.
Blair answered for him.
“I greeted the servants yesterday, but I didn’t have the chance to meet you all. I had some free time before heading to the Imperial Palace, so I thought I’d stop by and say hello.”
But aside from a few who were momentarily captivated by her beauty, no one welcomed her.
Did she come here to play the lady of the house with us, too?
Though they’d been grim-faced moments ago at the thought of Herdin’s thrashing, they were still comrades forged on the battlefield. The more loyal they were to Herdin, the more they naturally despised Blair, a member of the Imperial Family.
She couldn’t be unaware of that fact. Was she naive, or just foolish?
Herdin had the same thought but stepped forward to introduce her anyway.
“You’ve all likely seen her around, but you haven’t been formally introduced.”
“…”
“Greet her. This is the Duchess you will be serving from now on.”
With their lord taking the lead, even the knights who disliked Blair offered her the utmost courtesy—at least on the surface.
“The loyal swords of Delmark formally greet you, Your Grace.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, too. Thank you for welcoming me, despite my sudden visit. I hope we get along well.”
Blair smiled faintly, but her eyes were still and deep as she carefully scanned each of their faces.
In truth, Blair had come to the knights’ training ground for another reason.
In her past life, she had striven to be acknowledged as the lady of the house, only to be hated by these very men. There was no need to impress them or seek their approval. They were people she would never see again once this contract marriage ended.
The real reason she had come was…
The one who killed me might be among them.
The House of Delmark was one of the empire’s three great ducal families, and its knights—all war veterans—possessed skills comparable to the Imperial Knights. The assailant who killed her had infiltrated the annex, slipping past that very security.
This was one of the reasons Blair suspected Herdin was behind her murder.
The killer was either skilled enough to bypass their tight security or was someone who could come and go freely. If so, the assailant had to be someone from within the ducal household.
She saw the servants often enough around the mansion to recognize most of them. The knights, however, lived in separate quarters, so she rarely crossed paths with them and knew few by sight. It was entirely possible the assailant was one of the knights and she simply wouldn’t have recognized him.
That was why she had come to see for herself, praying the killer wasn’t among them and that Herdin had nothing to do with her death.
Of course, the mere thought of facing her killer again—the mere idea that the husband she might have loved could have been involved in her death—made her breath catch and her blood run cold. Her hands trembled. She wanted to run away right then and there.
No. If I run, nothing will change.
As if to stop herself from fleeing, Blair clasped her trembling hands together. She dredged up the horrific memory, trying to recall the assailant’s face.
He had a hideous scar across the bridge of his nose.
There were too many knights to examine each one individually, but finding someone with a large facial scar shouldn’t be difficult.
Blair quickly scanned the knights’ faces.
…He’s not here.
Thankfully, the assailant didn’t seem to be among them.
The possibility that Herdin was involved in her death had lessened slightly.
A sigh of relief escaped Blair’s lips, which she had been biting anxiously.
Just then, Ruth approached Herdin.
“Your Grace. It is time for you to prepare for the luncheon.”
The butler, Mason, had already returned to oversee preparations, so Herdin, Blair, and Ruth took their leave of the knights and departed the training ground.
Walking beside Herdin, Blair noticed the beads of sweat on his forehead and offered him a handkerchief.
“You’ll catch a cold.”
But Herdin refused her kindness.
“I’m fine.”
His tone was polite, but his demeanor was utterly indifferent.
Watching them from behind, Ruth broke out in a cold sweat. Blair, however, seemed unfazed by the rejection and calmly put her handkerchief away.
Who would look at them and think they were newlyweds?
It wasn’t that he particularly wanted Blair to be loved by his master and live happily ever after, but watching her get rejected so blatantly didn’t sit right with him.
Silence fell between the three once more as they walked toward the main ducal mansion.
…Was the mansion always this far?
Just as Ruth was desperately wishing for someone to break the chilly silence…
A small shadow suddenly shot out from a nearby bush, colliding with Blair at high speed.
“Dadada! Ung?”
It was a young child, no older than three, who seemed to have wandered over from the servants’ annex.
Ruth was horrified when he saw the child. He was fortunate to serve a master who was generous to his subordinates, but most nobles flew into a rage at the slightest offense.
And what about royalty? Especially the daughter of the infamous Katrina.
Ruth hurriedly scooped up the child, who had tumbled in front of Blair, and bowed his head on the boy’s behalf.
“My deepest apologies, Your Grace. He’s a child from the annex. It seems he slipped out while his mother was working. I’ll take him back and give his mother a stern warn—”
“I’m fine.”
Blair knelt to meet the child’s eyes, brushing the dirt from his clothes with her own hands as she asked, “Are you all right, little one?”
“Ung.”
“What’s your name?”
“Jeremy.”
“I see, Jeremy. You fell down but you didn't even cry. You’re a very brave boy.”
“Hee hee.”
The child beamed at her praise, his smile pure and free of prejudice or ulterior motives. Unlike the other people of the ducal household, who feared and disliked her.
Blair returned a faint smile of her own as she watched the child beam up at her. It was the first genuine smile she had shown since returning to the past.
Watching them, Ruth straightened up, an awkward expression on his face. He felt a pang of shame for assuming she would simply push the child away.
Beside Ruth, Herdin was also gazing intently at the pair.
I thought she was a doll, since she rarely ever showed emotion.
So she was a woman who knew how to smile like that.
The woman smiling under the bright sun was dazzling. The effect was amplified by the snow piled in the yard and the paleness of her skin.
At that moment, the glint of sunlight off Ruth’s wristwatch caught his eye, but Herdin ignored it, his gaze fixed on Blair.