If You Leave Without a Word - Chapter 69
‧₊˚ ☁️⋅♡𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ☾.
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Dishes were scattered all over the floor; it looked like she fell while carrying a tray.
“I’m, I’m sorry, the dishes were just too heavy for me to carry.”
Esther, the red-haired gypsy, had been forced into hard labor for the past fortnight as punishment for attempting to steal explosives. She was tasked with building homes for the refugees who had been relocated from the north to Arta. It was a job usually reserved for knights, indicating the severity of her crime.
Carrying heavy oak logs and digging the ground for construction was beyond what a woman’s physique could handle. But there was no mercy in the punishment for her crime.
Her hands and feet must have been bruised, and her limbs covered in scratches, but since issuing the punishment, Cain hadn’t looked back at her. He had too many responsibilities to attend to. He had no reason or spare time to check on the labor conditions of a mere gypsy woman.
Seeing her carrying food-loaded dishes suggested her labor had changed over the weeks.
She was hardly useful for the rough, physical work anyway. Considering her skills in managing her troupe during their nomadic life, assisting in the knights’ dining area was somewhat beneficial.
Whoever had reassigned her labor, if carrying dishes made her collapse on the spot, she must have been quite the hindrance to the knights’ operations during those two weeks.
“I’ll bring the meal again.”
She swept up the spilled soup mixed with dirt with her bare hands. Not even flinching from the heat where steam rose visibly. Cain glanced at Esther’s actions indifferently and was about to look away when something caught his eye.
“Wait.”
A glimpse of her white thigh peeked through the long slit of her skirt. Cain’s gaze involuntarily fixed on the exposed leg.
“Why?”
Mistaking Cain’s stiff expression for anger over the wasted provisions, Esther widened her already large eyes. It seemed she thought he was furious for ruining valuable food.
“What happened to your leg?”
Ugly, twisted scars marred the soft skin on the inner side of her thigh. Realizing too late that Cain’s attention had turned to her hidden scars, Esther quickly pulled down her skirt to cover them.
“It’s from an injury in my childhood.”
“Childhood? What caused it?”
“I can’t remember. It happened when I was very young…”
A large shadow fell over Esther’s hesitant face as Cain, who had been observing from a distance, had somehow closed the gap between them. Kneeling opposite her as if to jointly address the mess she’d caused, he reached out not towards the scattered dishes, but towards Esther herself.
“No, no, that’s not necessary. You shouldn’t have to handle this.”
“Just stay still for a moment.”
Upon closer inspection, Cain’s hand wasn’t directed at the dishes but rather at Esther. His movement to lift the fabric covering her leg was awkward but careful.
It was disconcerting. Esther had observed that Cain Vernat was somewhat different from other knights. While even the most noble and upright warriors would seldom resist the allure of a beautiful woman, Cain seemed utterly indifferent to such temptations.
Where ordinary men might have been ensnared by a flutter of eyelashes or a display of her exquisite physique, Cain had remained impassive. Even after he had saved her from the explosion, where she thought perhaps he had been motivated by her beauty, he showed no further interest.
Deliberate attempts to catch his attention were met with a coldness that might as well have been reserved for inanimate stones along the roadside.
So why now was he lifting her skirt to inspect the hidden skin of her inner thigh? Esther’s breath hitched in confusion.
“You don’t remember?”
“…Yes.”
“That these scars came from something in your very early childhood?”
“Yes.”
Then, silence ensued. The nearby scent of bitter herbs suggested the ointment applied to his own injury. Unsure of how to respond, Esther simply remained still.
“….it must have been.”
“Yes?”
“…It must have been quite painful.”
Why was the Marquis behaving this way? As he inspected the scars on her leg with a distant expression, as if lost in memories, Esther was unsure how to respond.
She bit her lower lip quietly, careful even in her breathing.
“Commander, I’ve instructed the servants to prepare a new barracks. And…”
They had simply sat facing each other until they were interrupted as Lehmann delivered his report.
“…Should I come back later?”
Detecting the unusual atmosphere, Lehmann hesitated, seemingly worried about intruding upon his superior’s private moment.
“No, come in.”
Cain withdrew his hand, standing up without any lingering sentiment, a stark contrast to the momentary vulnerability he had shown.
Cain withdrew his hand and stood up without any hint of the sentimentality he’d just shown, reverting to his typically stoic demeanor.
“Leave the meal. It’s fine as it is.”
Without looking back, Cain dismissed Esther. She left the tent awkwardly, feeling inexplicably embarrassed by the interaction.
