If You Leave Without a Word - Chapter 67
‧₊˚ ☁️⋅♡𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ☾.
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Where is there a person without a name? Even within their own group, everyone has some nickname they’re called by.
She simply didn’t want to share a name for them to call her by, circling back to her defiant stance. Though she bristled with defiance, her inner vulnerability was transparent to a knight seasoned by a lifetime on the battlefield.
Being dragged to meet the commander of the knights, the woman must have had numerous thoughts. If they intended to punish her for the attempted theft of explosives, they could have executed her on the spot. Since they hadn’t, perhaps she harbored a sliver of hope for mercy.
Or, she might have thought that mercy would come at the price of spending a night with a man smitten by her appearance.
She probably believed she could navigate this predicament with ease. She must be confident in her ability to extract any possible advantage using her body, as is often the strategy for those leading a nomadic life.
If he had been the kind of knight who viewed women and pleasures as mere rewards for a hard life, he might have been easily swayed by her striking appearance to show her mercy.
However, she seemed unaware of why Cain Vernat earned the epithet ‘Knight of Blood and Ice’.
“It’s a pity. I was thinking of engraving a name on a tombstone for you if you had one,” Cain remarked briefly before leaving the scene.
On the battlefield, Cain was far removed from notions of mercy or compassion.
Cain’s undefeated streak in battle boiled down to a simple principle: take what’s needed, eliminate what isn’t, with no room for personal feelings or alliances.
Showing leniency to a wandering gypsy for a few days was merely to avoid complications while settling the refugees.
But if this leniency disrupted the knights’ discipline or created discord, he wouldn’t hesitate to withdraw it.
Convinced he had been too lenient due to her unusual hair color, Cain was about to order her execution when the woman halted him.
“Wait, please!”
Something about this man was different from other knights she’d encountered. She had realized too late that insolence could cost her life, so she called out to him.
“My name is Esther. I was wrong. Please, spare my life.”
Cain stopped in his tracks.
Esther. Esther….. A name buried in memories and longings. As he slowly turned around, his expression hardened.
⚜ ⚜ ⚜
At that moment, Marquis Vernat’s mansion in the capital, Leden, was unusually bustling. The Mistress of the house was preparing for an extended departure, causing the servants to scurry about, busy with preparations.
The official reason for Marchioness Vernat’s travels was to inspect the estates and properties owned by Duchy Kristin. With the previous head of the Kristin household having passed away over a decade ago, leaving the estate unattended, it was necessary for Agatha, as the new head, to survey these lands.
Indeed, the visit was overdue. It had already been a year since Agatha became Duchess Kristin.
Ethan was to accompany her as an advisor on her first official duty as the head of the household. It was the most natural way for him to fulfill his primary duty of protecting the Marchioness.
The majority of the Kristin estate was located in the central-western part of the empire. While lands under Kristin’s name were spread across the empire, visiting them all would be too perilous for a woman to undertake alone, even with an escort.
To thoroughly inspect each property would require months and entail traveling with an entire battalion of knights. Therefore, the plan was to start with the areas closest to the capital.
“Are you truly determined not to reconsider, Madam?”
“Of course. Everything is almost ready; how could we possibly cancel now?”
Upon learning of Cain’s injury through a letter sent to Ethan by the knight order, Agatha proposed accompanying Ethan, who was considering returning. As the deputy commander, Ethan found himself in a bind, unable to ignore his commander’s injury nor abandon his assigned duty. Agatha devised this solution for him.
Whether it was genuinely planned for Ethan’s sake remained uncertain, but Agatha suggested they visit Cain together, aiming to quell both Ethan’s concerns for Cain and her own anxieties.
Disregarding how she came to know the contents of the letter, Ethan was taken aback by her proposal and was initially intrigued. However, after considering the preparations needed for travel and anticipating the potential dangers they might face, he decided against it.
Yet, his decision crumbled against Agatha’s resolve. There was no reason for him, a mere escort knight, to object Duchess Kristin embarking on her first official duty for the family.
“Have you prepared everything, Sir?”
“Well, I suppose. Madam must have much more to prepare than I do.”
Sighing deeply, Ethan noted the young Duchess’s occasionally displayed resolve, strong enough to bend anyone’s will.
