Princess Shu

While Schuden was lost in his thoughts about Valia, the carriage faithfully ran ahead. Raindrops began to drop on the well-built road when the roof of Garth’s manor began poking out from the horizon.

By the time he arrived at Garth’s manor, the rain had turned quite heavy. Schuden went straight into the manor. As he suddenly returned earlier than usual and without any notice, the employees bowed their heads in surprise.

“Greetings to Lord Garth.”

“Greetings to Lord Garth.”

Instead of looking at them, Schuden looked through the hall. As expected, Valia was not seen.”

“You’re home, my lord. Why didn’t you send someone home in advance?”

Instead, only Paul and Sarah, who heard the news, quickly came out and greeted him. Schuden asked.

“Where’s the lady?”

“Madam went out for a walk in the backyard earlier.”

“When did she go out?”

“It’s been about 20 minutes.”

“Did she take an umbrella?”

At the same time as Schuden asked that, a maid rushed in. Her head and shoulders were all wet. Sarah’s face turned pale when she recognized that she was the maid who took Valia out.

“Where’s Madam?”

“Uh, huff, it suddenly started raining, so she’s currently taking shelter from the rain on the tree side of the backyard swing. She asked me to bring an umbrella…”

“Bring the umbrella.”

Schuden ordered in a cold voice. A servant hurriedly held out an umbrella. Upon receiving the umbrella, Schuden went straight outside. He stepped toward the backyard.

“What are you doing? Go follow him!”

“Yes, General Butler!”

Schuden went out without looking back. While he did so, Paul shouted at the servants, who had been doing nothing but foolishly stare at Schuden walking away. With a fuzzy towel and dry shawl, they hurriedly chased after their master who was going out of sight.

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

It was not common for a sudden shower to pour out while taking a walk. Raindrops seemed to drop slowly at the end of Valia’s nose, but soon, it had poured down.

“Madam, it seems that it’s going to be a heavy shower. What should I do? It’s my fault that I didn’t bring anything to cover the rain in advance.”

“It’s okay. Just go to the manor and bring an umbrella.”

“Pardon? How can I leave you alone?”

“Who would hurt me in the backyard of Garth’s manor? Rather than talking like this, it’s better to go take the umbrella.”

“But… Yes, Madam. I will be right back, so stay under this tree.”

A large tree with swings tied up just happened to be nearby. Even though she could not completely take shelter, the tree could still cover her to some extent. Valia leaned on the tree that had not yet been wet. Perhaps because of the rain, the wind was colder than usual.

‘I should have worn a hooded shawl.’

Valia tightened the ribbon of the shawl she was wearing. She was fortunate to have a thin shawl that Sarah put around to be careful of the cold wind. She thought about putting it on her head like the doll that children played with, but she did not, she thought she would look ridiculous.

“It’s raining a lot.”

Valia mumbled. Raindrops flowed along her cheeks even though she was hiding under a large tree with thick branches and dense leaves. The endless sound of rain, surrounded in silence. Valia rolled her eyes around. Her legs hurt as she just stood still. Still, she thought her clothes would get dirty if she sat on the bare ground so she squatted down like a child and hugged her knees. She buried her chin on her lap.

‘I used to get rained on with just this amount in the past.’

That was the case for all the people working for the Imperial family. The Imperial family was always worried about getting a drop of rain on their precious bodies. Valia, who was only an escort lady-in-waiting, always silently got rained on. It was a little cold but she had never complained. They were a member of the Imperial family and Valia was a fallen noble. At least she was treated better than the maids because she was a ‘lady-in-waiting’. She could never complain.

‘But still…’

Valia closed her eyes with her chin buried. 

A memory came to her mind, it was a memory of when she was getting rained on. It was a summer day in the past.

The shower suddenly came when she was going out for a reason that she could not remember well. The distance she had to travel to either go back or continue walking was unclear. Valia was at a loss. Eventually, she returned home.

When she was walking alone, caught in the bitter rain that had hurt her young cheeks, she became inevitably sad about the fact that she did not have anyone to pick her up. Even though she had never been sad about that before.

The rain soon stopped, but she hid the memory of that day deep in her heart. Occasionally, it had always popped out like a thorn and poked Valia’s heart.

That was the time when she desperately wanted someone to bring an umbrella for her.

“Valia.”

Raindrops stopped flowing down her cheeks.

“Your face is wet.”

Instead, a cold hand ran through her cheeks.

“Isn’t it cold?”

That was the time when she wanted someone to pick her up so much.

“…Schu.”

Yes, there was a time like that.

“I’m here to pick you up, Valia.”

A pair of red eyes were looking at her.

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

It was a rainy evening in the vast backyard of a noble residence. Under a large tree with a swing that had not been touched for a long time tied to it, a pair of young lovers faced each other.

No conversation occurred between them but their eyes were fixed on each other.

It was a romantic situation that did not come by easily. In addition, the couple was the newly married master of the house. The employees who could barely manage their cheekbones were trying hard to manage their facial expressions.

Marquess Garth was always a cold man, Yet, strangely, he had a different attitude only for his wife. Whatsmore, he even had such a sweet atmosphere around him today! Even heaven must have wanted their love to blossom. Some of the most emotional employees had even gotten teary-eyed. 

Then, Sarah whispered in a very small voice.

“I don’t know what we should do, Paul.”

“I know, right?”

Paul answered as low as Sarah.

Paul and Sarah, the highest position among the employees, could not be just as pleased as the other employees. Of course, they also liked that their masters had an atmosphere like lovers. They were happy and glad. However, their expressions were serious. There was only one reason for it.

“What if Madam catches a cold?”

They were afraid their precious Madam would get chilly.

As the designer scanned through her with eyes like a hawk, it was not just her frame, but Valia had a delicate physique. Since she did not do any training, she did not seem to have much muscle. Although she did not look very thin because she was tall, it still did not change the fact that she looked vulnerable.

“She looks so delicate…”

“She’s been rained on for a long time.”

At least no one in Garth’s manor knew that Valia broke a wall while playing with a mace. As people were easily misled by outer appearance, Paul and Sarah were in extreme agony.

“I will have to tell the chef to cook some warm stew.”

Preparation of bathwater was also ordered in advance. All of this was done in a very small voice. After being fully prepared, Sarah looked at her masters again.

Schuden was the best knight of the Gel Empire. He was tall and had firm muscles on his body. But besides his refined appearance, he was strong in health and spirit too so he rarely got sick. Naturally, Paul and Sarah’s worries were focused on Valia. Most of the nobles had weak physical strength. Ladies were often weaker. Half of them would catch a cold if they got rained on like Valia.

“But it’s a bit hard to interfere now… Don’t you think so?”

“…Right?”

They might even look very tactless if they interfered now. The word ‘tactless’ was like a nightmare to employees, especially the high-level ones. This was the reason why Paul and Sarah could not approach Valia easily even though they were worried.

The experienced general butler and the skillful housekeeper. Valia had no idea they were thinking hard about something that would never happen again. She could not take her eyes off the man standing in front of her.

‘He said he came to pick me up.’

Her heart was pounding. It was strange for her to be shaken up by such common words. Emotions that were hard to express verbally had tightened her heart. It was cozy, but at the same time, strangely, it stung.

When Valia remained silent, Schuden frowned a little. He caught the fact that her expression was different from usual. It was hard to pinpoint but it felt like she would cry if he said something wrong.

“What happened?”

Wasn’t she just rained on? Did something happen to her while I was in the Imperial Palace? Did someone reckless lord over her?

It was the negligence of the employees that the Marchioness was rained on in the first place. A strict noble would have given them a hard time. When Schuden’s expression changed, Valia hurriedly opened her mouth.

“Nothing happened. It’s just…”

It just made her think of the past. She was recalling the rainy day when no one came to pick her up when suddenly Schuden came to pick her up. She felt weird. That was how the story went but she hesitated to bring it out.

‘I prefer not to.’

Valia did not tell others her story well. In the past, when she had just entered the Imperial Palace, the court officials who were similar in age and situation made friends with each other and told stories about their past. Until then, it was a heartwarming story. However, there was no real friend among court officials. Valia often witnessed situations where the story told to the trusted friends became their weakness later. Although it did not happen to her directly, Valia had seen and heard a lot about it, so she was very reluctant to tell others about her past. It would all become her weakness later on.

‘There’s no need to tell him something bad.’

She knew Schuden treated her well. She often fluttered at his consideration, behavior, gazes, and kisses. So Valia also wanted to tell only good stories. It was her kind of consideration.

Valia looked at the red eyes that were looking carefully at her.

“I’m just happy that you came to pick me up.”

It was probably nothing special for Schuden. Even though she thought it was only wise not to put much meaning into his actions, she could not help being happy and glad.

“I was not expecting you to come, so I was a little surprised… That’s all. Nothing really happened.”

Schuden’s face was slightly relaxed. Even though her heart had fluttered, Valia was also nervous. She was anxious that he would get angry because she did not speak honestly. Only after seeing his expression could she smile with an easy mind.

“But you came home early. You said you’d be home around evening.”