Ever Ever After

Chapter 26: Beautiful Lady

“Ailea, when can I eat?”

“You can eat right away.”

When she lifted the heavy barrel to move the tomato sauce, Shante pushed Ailea to the side and said, “You work on something else, There’s twenty men and forty hands to help you here.”

Shantee smiled and went out with the barrel of sauce. “Let’s eat!” he roared.

The hungry knights quickly arrived and grabbed the food Ailea made to the table and sat down. Most of them were born into a noble house, but they’ve all gone through extreme hardships and poverty since young. A simple life hardly bothered them. They were different from the noblemen who had never touched a sword in their life.

The men rushed to the tables and distributed the plates, potatoes, meatballs, and tomatoes among themselves. They’d been grilling their food roughly over the fire and eating undercooked meat that this simple and sumptuous meal looked like a feast, yet not a single person ate until Clint sat down.

The dynamics of their relationship looked loose but was strangely tense.

 

A while later, Clint made his appearance and sat down. He looked at the meal on the table and asked, “Where’d you get this?”

“The maid made it.”

“Where’s she at?” Clint asked.

Meanwhile, Kaiton went to the kitchen and called her name.

“Ailea, the captain is looking for… huh? Where’d she go?”

The kitchen was empty.

Kaiton tilted his head and said, “She’s probably out in the garden. Should I go find her?”

“No, it’s fine. Let’s eat. But you said her name was Ailea?”

“Oh, captain, are you interested in women again?  Damn it, why do you always steal the women I’m interested in!”

“I didn’t steal them, they came to me,” Clint replied slyly.

 

The atmosphere was soft, but their etiquette was polite, waiting to eat only after Clint had the first bite.

Ailea, who ran out of the garden, took a deep breath. She had learned a hard lesson that Lawrence was someone who would never love her for who she was. She based her experience from that, thinking Clint would be the same. They were only but mere acquaintances. He had nothing to do with her.

***

For several days, the knights were drowning in busyness, repeating their daily routine in the morning.

Clint had been called in by Lawrence while the other knights were on standby shift at the Imperial City. He met with Lawrence and walked slowly through the Imperial Garden together.

“You haven’t met anyone seriously?” Lawrence asked.

Clint nodded. “No, I haven’t.”

Clint had never thought of settling down with a woman. It’s not that he hated marriage, just that he never thought about it.

“Who would be willing to marry me? I’ll always go out,” Clint replied annoyingly, wondering why this man suddenly cared about his relationships with women.

Lawrence frowned at Clint’s words. Clint had usually never been able to speak back to him, but now that he rose to a prominent position, each word he said irritated Lawrence.

“That’s true,” Lawrence gave an artificial smile.

Clint thought that the Crown Prince bore a great resemblance to a snake. Just as Emperor Murray pushed Captain Ron in a dangerous battle that eventually took his life because he was a man strong enough to threaten his crown, Lawrence was tenaciously wary of Clint. He was someone that could threaten his throne.

“What do you think about the mansion I’ve arranged for you?” asked Lawrence.

“It’s fine, but why did you need to separate the castle?”

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“Oh, because a portion of the Outer Castle belongs to a woman who was temporarily engaged to me.”

Clint was reminded of Ailea, the woman he hoped to see again. He was glad that she was safe and sound after all these months, but it felt uncomfortable that she was pretending to be some maid. He didn’t understand and it’d be difficult to pry an answer out of Lawrence. He’d surely avoid and dodge questions about Ailea.

Then, Clint saw Lawrence’s gaze moving towards someone. There, mingling with the empress was Rita Brea, a beautiful young lady.

“House of Brea’s daughter is pretty,” smirking inwardly, Clint said in passing.

Lawrence glared at him. His eyes looked similar to the eyes of a snake, artificial and fake because within that beautiful appearance was an eerie aura arising.