Villa

[4.]

SLAM.

Gus shut the door with force and stormed out of the kitchen. Only after confirming that he had gone all the way to the far end of the corridor did Jack mutter, as if to himself:

“What was that just now?”

“It means no more free snacks.”

“What — why?”

“Could you shut your mouth and help me first?”

Jack approached Ugli, who was still stuck in the dog hole, and slid his hands under his armpits.

Gripping tight and pulling with everything he had, the knight thought:

I nearly forgot because of Ugli, but barbarians really can’t be trusted. Those eyes… those weren’t the eyes of someone who’s merely killed a man or two. The moment things go sideways, that man will turn on the lady without hesitation.

“Hey, Jack — I think my shoulder’s about to pop out of its socket.”

Don’t you worry, my lady. This honorable knight Jack will lay down his one and only life to protect you.

“Hey, Jack.”

While the castle lord was away, Aspara had been drafting a business proposal. She was planning to export the flowers to the south.

She couldn’t know the exact harvestable volume of frostbloom herb or where to store it, but she could at least run preliminary calculations on potential buyers, projected revenue, and other income streams.

Whether the castle lord will grant permission, and whether I can find a good trading partner — those are the real questions.

A pen rolled back and forth between her slender fingers.

Surely they won’t try to undermine me even in this wretched castle. The place can’t afford to. All I need is enough of a foothold that when a new lover eventually moves into this bedroom, I won’t be thrown out of the castle entirely. If I can earn enough to buy my own firewood in a separate wing, so much the better.

She ran some rough calculations based on the prices and distribution costs of related goods she’d seen in the capital.

She was about halfway through the numbers when someone rapped lightly on the door. The rapping came from a noticeably low position, which told her at once that it wasn’t Gus returning.

“— —?”

“— — — —.”

“— — — — — —.”

Aspara welcomed the young attendant with a few halting words of the northern tongue.

“— —— —.”

As expected, I can’t tell what she’s saying. I think she mentioned the title they use for the castle lord… She gestured for me to wait, so I assumed she’d stay with me, but I suppose not.

The girl set down a wooden tray bearing a small note and a lukewarm cup of tea.

“— — — —. — — —.”

Star dipped into a slight bow and left the room.

Aspara, who had been hoping to share even a little conversation about today’s discovery and future plans, felt a pang of disappointment.

What’s this?

Shaking off her disappointment, she unfolded the note on the tray before taking her tea.

[A bad thing hapened and I got angry so I’m too ashamed to see Lady Aspara. I want to see you wen I can be my kindest. There aren’t any taisty sweets but plese forgive me.]

What on earth is this mess of a sentence? Did Star write it? When did she learn to do this — how adorable.

The handwriting looked like a child who couldn’t read the western alphabet had studied someone else’s letters and traced them like drawings.

She felt a twinge of regret that her husband had vanished somewhere without a proper goodbye, but the cute note from her young attendant lifted Aspara’s spirits considerably.

Well, the castle lord is a busy man. For now, let me focus on the trade proposal.

Contrary to Aspara’s many worries, things progressed with remarkable speed after that.

She entrusted the proposal’s translation to Jack, whose northern tongue skills appeared to have improved at an astonishing rate.

For a while, he’d slithered away like a snake every time she tried to assign him anything even slightly difficult, but this time, for whatever reason, he’d simply said, “Just write it up and give it to me; I’ll look it over, translate it, and bring it back,” and returned half a day later with a splendid new proposal.

The handwriting was a wreck, as though written by someone with a dislocated shoulder.

I was worried, but it seems this fellow has gotten used to the north in the meantime.

They were also able to confirm, through their respective attendants, that the wildflower grew at a sufficient rate for wholesale harvesting.

When it came to the plan to turn the snowfield’s flower field into an actual cultivated plot, the castle lord showed a somewhat uneasy reaction, so that was put on hold.

The timing was fortunate, too. A wealthy merchant of central noble birth happened to be visiting the area. This was a piece of news that a Fang Castle vassal, who had been scouring the region for an interpreter other than Jack, brought back by chance.

Aspara was eager to meet this baron and close the trade deal as soon as possible. Preparing for the meeting in her side room, she turned to Jack, who was standing guard at the door.

“By the way, what was that merchant’s name again? If he’s a central noble, I might know the man.”

“His name would be, um…”

Jack recalled the conversation he’d had with Ugli when the news first came in.

“I’ve secured an invitation from a baron of the central kingdom — one Arvelland Hipoto Monstro Bui Cupedalio. A nouveau riche noble who bought his domain with money. He speaks both the southern and northern tongues.”

“Ooh, he must be clever.”

“Maybe, but it’s more likely because he keeps at least three separate households across the south, north, and central lands.”

“Ah, right. His first name is Arrrlyuhing, I believe.”

“What sort of name is that.”

“I know, right.”

A person’s name should never exceed four syllables. That was Jack’s firmly held philosophy.

Long names are only fun for the parents who give them. For the rest of us who have to remember them, they’re utterly pointless.

Of course, this was also Jack’s excuse. The truth was that he had always been hopelessly bad at memorizing the names of central kingdom nobles.

As a result, he privately remembered those noble lords’ names as something along the lines of Sharrrrihng, Karrrreulli, Heussseussseup, and Herlerriheullryureurrr.

In fact, he had spent roughly the first year of knowing his own my lady thinking of her name as simply “the four-syllable lady.”

“Arrrlyuhing, you say. Well, there’s no way I’d have forgotten a name like that, so this must be someone I’ve never met.”

“That’s what I think too. I don’t recall the name, either.”

“Very well. Good work. Ahh. Our first official outing as husband and wife — it doesn’t feel real.”

“My lady, please don’t let yourself grow too close. I’ve heard that when victims are taken by wicked men, they end up with their hearts fluttering for the very villain who captured them, and that’s how they come to grief. Marriage contract or not, you mustn’t forget that he is, at the end of the day, a cruel barbarian.”

“Your lover is one too, you know.”

“That’s different!”

“Yes, yes. Rest assured, I haven’t let my guard down. I merely think that whatever he may be as a person, as a groom, he’s not so bad.”

“How so? Honestly, what do you even know about that barbarian?”

Aspara thought about it.

Good question.

All she had done with Gus so far amounted to being sold off, being rejected on the wedding night, a short outing, and three meals a day. And even at meals, more often than not, they didn’t eat together.

He was an indifferent man with no particular interest in her. Why, then, did she feel he wasn’t so bad to have at her side? Even Aspara herself couldn’t explain it.

“Mmm…”

She pondered for a moment, then concluded there was only one logical answer.

He’s handsome.

“Him?”

Jack shuddered, recalling the eyes of the man he’d encountered in the dead of night: a gaze like a wild boar’s.

Aspara was accompanied by her escort knight Jack, her attendant Star, and a handful of personal servants for the meeting with the merchant baron.

Gus, who had originally planned to join them, had left the castle ahead of them, saying something urgent had come up with an ally and that he would catch up later.

“He cried a little because he didn’t want to go to work, I hear.”

“Ha ha. What a sense of humor.”

Ugli accompanied them in the castle lord’s stead. Gus appeared to place considerable trust in that attendant when it came to matters involving his wife.

The party split between two carriages and set off toward the baron’s villa.

“Imagine building a vacation home in a place this cold.”

“Even in the north, the southwest has decent security and the scenery’s quite nice. There are a few summer retreats for wealthy lords in the area.”

The carriage carrying the four of them rattled along. The smell of wood and the cramped interior. An endlessly repeating white landscape outside the window that made it hard to tell whether the carriage was even moving. The scene reminded her of when she had first arrived at Fang Castle not long ago.

The only difference was that two retainers from Fang Castle sat on either side of Aspara’s seat. With the two sturdy men flanking her and blocking both doors, the scenery outside was largely hidden from view.

I’m going to end up a pressed sandwich at this rate.

As the carriage raced across the endless snowfield, Aspara began reviewing the trade documents she had prepared.

They arrived at the baron’s private villa, a silver-hued retreat nestled in the snow. It wasn’t particularly large, but various works of art hung on the walls, making it clear even to a layperson that this was a place of considerable extravagance.

Encircling the outer walls was snowpetal wood, a timber renowned as the finest available. Standing amid the snow, it was a magnificent sight indeed.

“Welcome, do come in.”

The baron and his wife greeted them at the door. As if to confirm the rumors that he kept a native woman in every land he crossed, his wife, save for her small frame, bore the typical features of a northern woman.