Return.

“— —?”

“Sounds like she’s asking something. Go ahead and explain for her, would you?”

“Yessir.”

Jack recited the magic sentence he had learned from Ugli. It was the one line he could deliver with flawless pronunciation.

“— — — —.”

It’s none of your business.

Star glared at the knight, her near-equal in age, with open irritation.

For no particular reason, Ugli had circled back to the storehouse one more time and stood glowering at the limp, ruined stock.

The flowers filling the storehouse had all been reduced to shapeless mush, only their tough inner fibers left intact.

“Going to have to throw all of this out, aren’t we.”

Hmph.

With a grunt, Ugli settled down on the sheltered side of the storehouse where the wind was blocked, and pulled out a pipe.

“What a mess.”

As one of Fang Castle’s key personnel, in a castle that was permanently short-staffed, a job of this scale was no great burden to Ugli.

But the problem gnawing at his insides was something else entirely. Tiptoeing around the woman they called “My Lady” was starting to grate.

“‘My Lady,’ hah.”

If it were only his lord Gus giving him grief, that was no great hardship. But bowing and scraping on account of that foreign woman, that did not sit well at all.

The castle lord, too, had begun to irritate Ugli in small ways: the way he grew prickly and pathetic the moment anything involved that woman. What Ugli had liked about her was that she knew her place. But if his own lord was the one forgetting his, what then?

“Ugli, you still haven’t told him?”

Seeing that Ugli had a pipe out, two storehouse keepers wandered over, evidently seizing the chance to take a break themselves, and produced their flints.

“Nah, not yet.”

“Must be a pain. Having to go through that knight just to speak to My Lady directly…”

“Oh, that snooty little brat!”

“Ha ha.”

The smoke-break gossip had begun before anyone noticed. When a familiar name surfaced amid it, Ugli simply laughed it off.

“I really don’t like the look of it. The mistress is just a front — really, it’s that little sneak running the show on his own, isn’t it? Since he’s the only one who can communicate with My Lady, we’re stuck with him.”

“Exactly! And the nerve of him — have you seen how he won’t even eat at the same table as us?”

There was no easy way for Ugli to correct these misunderstandings, grumbling on as they were.

“Say, Ugli. Still no luck finding someone who can interpret?”

“Afraid not. Tough search.”

“Well, if even the great and capable Master Ugli can’t track one down, it must be rough indeed.”

Ugli’s eyes narrowed into a smile.

“That’s just my own shortcoming.”

“Don’t say that!”

“He’s right — no one works as hard or as well as you do.”

“If you feel that way, how about swapping this carrier pigeon duty with me?”

“Ha ha ha…”

The two storehouse keepers fiddled with their pipes, suddenly very interested in something in the distance.

“Still, if there’s a silver lining, it’s that His Lordship is as steadfast as an old oak — he won’t be swayed by the likes of that knight.”

“Right? I’d hoped he might soften up a bit after the marriage, but his bearing is exactly the same as before. A warrior’s paragon, truly.”

Indeed, from an outsider’s perspective, the married couple of Fang Castle maintained a thoroughly businesslike relationship. Language barriers aside, which were a separate matter entirely, the two were bone-dry and taciturn with each other.

Not a whisper of consummation even after months had passed, so it was hardly unreasonable to view them as a paper marriage born of political convenience. No, it was the natural assumption.

“And she’s got that enormous room all to herself, too.”

Consummation. That Aspara had ended up using the large bedroom, originally meant for a married couple, entirely alone had only fueled the unfavorable rumors.

It was well known even among the common citizens that Aspara had caused some kind of trouble back in her homeland and come here as what amounted to an exile. It would not have been the least bit strange if she had already been branded a shrew.

The frostbloom herb business had at least quieted those rumors somewhat, thanks to the goodwill she had earned by channeling the profits into relief for the castle.

Though, as a result, the rudderless arrows of resentment had only rained down harder on Jack.

Ugli cut in, as if to take the edge off the gossip’s momentum:

“Well, from our perspective it’s actually better this way. Better than having the kingdom we painstakingly built get swallowed up under some foreign bride’s skirts.”

“That’s true enough.”

“Mm, it is. And really, what’s there to worry about? It’s not as if His Lordship has any personal reason to like My Lady.”

Any reason to like her.

Ugli maintained the same easygoing smile as always and said nothing further. But the subject was one that had been weighing on his own mind in more ways than one.

Why on earth did His Lordship fall for that woman?

The memory of the first time Gus had shown vulnerability came back. That night they had ridden out on horseback beneath the moon.

Ugli had never imagined the castle lord would fall this hard for that woman.

Maybe he’s mistaking guilt and protectiveness for love. He’s spent his whole life crashing headlong into big, rough men on battlefields — that’s all he’s ever known.

“I know the reason His Lordship likes My Lady.”

Hm?

The unexpected remark pricked Ugli’s ears.

Is something about His Lordship making the rounds that I don’t know?

Ugli kept up the appearance of disinterested listening, but tuned in carefully, glancing sidelong at the storehouse keepers’ chatter.

“Eyelashes.”

“Eyelashes?”

“Eyelashes.”

The storehouse keeper said:

“Star told us. She said His Lordship has a thing for eyelashes…”

The instant that maid’s name surfaced, Ugli instinctively recognized it as nonsense, but listened quietly all the same.

The second storehouse keeper was nodding along as if everything suddenly made sense.

“Is that so… I suppose people from the coastal regions do have those long, pretty eyelashes.”

“What kind of preference is that…”

“Everyone’s got their tastes, I suppose…”

Still a bit ticked off at Gus over recent events, Ugli did not bother to correct the rumor.

“— —!”

Just then, an unexpected voice reached their ears.

Turning toward its source, Ugli saw a young man with thin, curly hair. Jack, the very subject of their recent conversation.

Jack seemed equally startled to find people here.

“— —…”

“What brings you by?”

At the storehouse keeper’s question, Jack hesitated, then answered with more bluster than necessary:

“—… Ah, none of your business.”

“Heh. Sure.”

Clutched in his arms was a bundle of limp purple flowers. They had clearly just been taken from the storehouse.

“What are you taking those for?”

“…None of your business.”

Ugli pushed the two storehouse keepers back and rose to his feet.

“I’m done with my smoke, so I’ll take it from here. You two rest a bit longer.”

“Sorry about that.”

“Don’t worry about it. Just — save the rest of that eyelash business for me later.”

Ugli dusted off both knees, draped an arm over Jack’s shoulder, and ambled along until they were well out of earshot of the two storehouse keepers.

“Did My Lady send you?”

“Mm-hm. She said to bring some. But were they always this… this?”

Jack looked down at the bundle in his arms, barely holding its shape, reeking of grass.

The soggy grayish-green mass looked less like a bouquet and more like a lump.

“Were you guys talking about my lady?”

“Who knows.”

“I thought I heard ‘My Lady.’”

“That’s just because she’s all you ever think about.”

Ugli had meant it as a jab, but Jack just went hehe and beamed with a look of pure satisfaction.

“Since we’re on the subject of Lady Aspara — Jackie, there’s something I’ve been wanting to ask.”

“Hm?”

“My Lady… your lady — is she at all interested in His Lordship?”

“In a romantic sense?”

“Yeah.”

“No.”

Jack answered without a moment’s hesitation.

“That was instant.”

“She doesn’t dislike him, though. My lady isn’t the type to dislike people like that. She just… has no particular interest. In fact, at first, she thought you were His Lordship’s secret lover — and she said she wanted to be friends with you because of it.”

“Wha— huh? Uh… let’s come back to that one later. Still, though — you really think there’s zero chance?”

“Absolutely zero, I’d say. I mean, well…”

Jack suddenly stopped dead in his tracks and looked around, scanning the area.

Then, cupping one hand around his mouth as if sharing a secret, he leaned in. Ugli crouched to bring one ear level with Jack’s lips.

“This is a secret…”

“A secret?”

“Yeah. A secret.”

In a voice as quiet as a field mouse’s footsteps, Jack whispered:

“My lady, you see… she doesn’t like people who like her.”

The gravity of his tone was at odds with the content, which sounded like utter nonsense.

“She doesn’t like people who like her.”

“That’s what she says. A man who likes her type of woman is not her type, she says.”

“Hmm.”

Ugli considered this for a moment, then let out a wry little laugh.

“So does she know His Lordship has feelings for her?”

“I doubt it. Anyway… my lady is basically someone for whom love can never work out. Keeping things businesslike the way they are now might actually not be so bad — at least for a while.”

“I see…”

Ugli did not press further, only offering a quiet smile.

Despite slowing his pace to match Jack’s shorter stride, the two attendants had, before they knew it, arrived at the door to Aspara’s room.

Oh no.

So focused on walking with Jack, completely forgotten. The state of the flowers, that was still supposed to be a secret from Aspara.