Guest.

Guest.

Jack eyed the bookshelf with a distinctly doubtful look. He was the sort who couldn’t keep his composure whenever someone read one of his favorite works right in front of him. Stealing furtive glances at the seat beside him, the young knight ventured cautiously:

“…Still, it does seem you’ve started to take a liking to him after all.”

“I have? To whom?”

“The castle lord.”

“No, no. Isn’t the fact that I’m doing all this proof that I don’t?”

She gave her stiff neck a long stretch and answered:

“When the head won’t follow, the first step is to memorize.”

“I’m not sure that’s such a good approach.”

“Your side’s situation is probably the same. Worse, actually. After all, he has public opinion to manage.”

Even as she said it, Aspara was flipping through the pages at a rapid flutter. Her claim of being a speed-reader was no lie; these lowbrow entertainments for the common folk, easy enough reading as they were, amounted to no more than a brief snack for her.

“Truly, you don’t like him? It’s an odd thing for the very person who once warned you to beware of that man to say, but if you’ve had a change of heart, I’m more than prepared to cheer you on.”

“Of course I’ll have to like him. Isn’t that exactly why I’m putting in all this effort — so that I can?”

“I don’t think ‘liking someone’ is the sort of thing one does through effort…”

“Ahh, I think I’ve got the gist of it, more or less.”

She set the finished book down on the bed with a deliberately loud sound. The gesture made it unmistakable that she meant to cut the conversation short.

“Hm, I’m glad I read it. It’s quite different from what I imagined. So this is what romance is all about…”

“…It might be a little different. This is commoners’ culture to begin with, so it’ll differ quite a lot from what you know, my lady.”

“That does seem to be true. But since all I want to know is how people behave when they desire someone, this level of blatant absurdity suits me perfectly.”

Aspara drew in a deep breath, as if steeling herself for something, and slowly rose from her seat.

“Miss Sebinya has had her fill of consultation by now, I should think.”

Aspara smoothed the hem of her skirt, preparing to return to her room. In truth, about half of what she’d told Jack had been a pretext; she had stormed out of the room simply because she wanted some distance from it.

By sheer good luck, the castle attendants had stepped in as conversation partners in her stead, so Sebinya’s ‘craving for attention’ would have been adequately fed. Aspara planned to drift back now and drop a hint along the lines of, It’s gotten late, why not call it a night and head home.

“Ah, right.”

“You don’t need to come. Finish the books. You’re not comfortable around Miss Sebinya, are you.”

“Not really…”

Jack gave a startled flinch and scrambled to explain. It wasn’t so much that he was shocked at being seen through; it was more that he’d been caught on something he hadn’t consciously realized himself.

“It isn’t that I’m uncomfortable. It’s just that I’m not quite at ease…”

“Not at ease — shorten it, and you get ‘uncomfortable.’”

“Huh, really?”

“Volmo’s there too, so it’ll be fine. While you’re in your room, also… tidy up a little in here.”

Aspara vaguely waved a hand at the pigsty of a room and shut the door behind her. Grumbling in a sullen tone but dutifully all the same, Jack began putting away the books strewn across the bed.

“She could at least have put the one she read back where it belongs…”

As he picked up the books, Jack felt a small prickle of unease. A book with an unfamiliar cover had caught his eye. Surely this was the one his mistress had been reading just moments ago.

“Did I have a book like this?”

He frowned and sounded out the title a character at a time. The title was written in an especially ornate cursive, and because Jack had never properly been taught to read, he had to pronounce each syllable aloud, one by one.

“Blaaack… Knight… Covets… His… Lord’s… Wife…”

The third volume of the ‘Lord’s Wife’ series. This is the book Volmo reads. To think she’d been reading this instead of the masterpieces I recommended. Jack felt his pride take a small dent.

“But this — is this really a romance novel…?”

Though he had crossed paths with the book any number of times while sharing a room with Volmo, the title was so shameless that he had never once properly cracked it open. Whenever he tried to peek at it out of curiosity, Volmo would fluster and snatch it away. It certainly wasn’t the sort of title fit for a knight to read, but at its core it was a love story, so it was probably a romance novel all the same.

Worried about what exactly this book, chosen as his mistress’s reference guide to romance, might contain, Jack opened the cover and began to read.

“…Why are the illustrations inside all so half-naked…?”

Gus was regretting having left Ugli behind in the carriage house.

He had made up his mind to go find the two southern ladies to ask their opinion on the banner design. Truthfully, he had gotten carried away. The finished sketch had been so satisfying that, without quite thinking it through, he’d wanted to show it off to his wife.

But the room where the two women were supposed to be was strangely crowded. His wife wasn’t even there. He should have made a quick exit at once, but by the time he came back to himself, he had been caught by his wife’s remarkably sociable friend. ‘If you’re going, go alone. Just being near that woman makes me break out in hives.’ He should have listened to Ugli when he said it.

《…And well, would you believe it turned out to be so! Castle Lord, what do you think I ought to do about it?》

On top of that, he had been drawn into consulting on a troubling matter he had no particular interest in. Had she been anyone other than his wife’s friend, he would have stormed out on the spot, but Gus had a certain desire to maintain as ‘noble’ a bearing as possible in front of Sebinya Gobir.

《…I don’t think it’s really my place to say.》

《But these are your specialties, aren’t they, Castle Lord — revenge and strategy and all.》

To make matters worse, Star, the one girl in the castle unafraid of Gus, was there too, chiming in.

《Well, for starters—》

《Ah. By the way, she said beating them up or killing them isn’t allowed. It’s illegal over there.》

《Like I keep telling you, it’s illegal here too.》

《Just how many times do I have to say it.》 Volmo was grumbling in irritation when Gus remarked indifferently:

《It isn’t illegal.》

《Pardon?》

《So long as there’s proof of infidelity, it isn’t illegal.》

《Murder, you mean?》

《That’s exactly what we’ve been telling you!》

《Ah, right…》

Volmo was thinking he would like to leave this mad country as soon as possible.

《Let me turn the question around — what, exactly, does your country do in that kind of situation? Ordinarily.》

A faint thread of unease had crept into Gus’s voice.

Wasn’t lawful revenge an entirely common practice? To forbid it by statute — what a barbaric culture that must be. …Could it be that they don’t treat adultery as a grave matter at all? Such thoughts had begun to slither in. In fact, the northern natives gathered in that room were all thinking something similar.

“— The other party — — — —— —. But as for — I — — — ——.”

《It varies depending on the severity, but typically the couple divides the assets and divorces. But Miss Sebinya Gobir is saying she doesn’t want a divorce — only to repair the relationship.》

How overflowing with love and tender-hearted a person she must be, and similar personal embellishments Volmo did not voice aloud, but the saintly expression on his face made his inner thoughts perfectly clear.

《…Is that all?》

Volmo relayed Gus’s question along.

“Is that — ——? she asks.”

“— — — — ——. Or else —— ——… — —. No, that’s — —— —not. — —.”

The two southerners exchanged a slightly lengthy dialogue. Only after three or four sentences had gone back and forth did Volmo deliver the words.

《…Legally, that’s the case. Privately, though… the person is commonly cast off by their family, or something of that kind.》

《Is that all?》

《Th-that is… yes, that’s all.》

《What are you hiding.》

《Nothing.》

Volmo answered, his fingers unconsciously fidgeting at the edge of his nails.

《He is too! I hear Jack and My Lady talking all the time so I know southern words roughly, and she was going on and on telling him ‘say this, don’t say that’!》

Star cut in and shouted.

《No, I…》

Volmo averted his gaze. Ever since the incident on that first day, Volmo had come to fear this small girl even more than the castle lord.

《What did she tell you, then?》

《Th-that…》

《This is your duty. A man who calls himself a knight — does he take his duty so lightly?》

The half-blood youth who had been averting his eyes finally opened his mouth, faltering.

《In the case of a spouse of high standing divorced on charges of infidelity, the result is — how shall I put it — something like banishment, or… exile, rather often. Because it becomes difficult to live on either in one’s homeland or in the spouse’s territory…》

The room grew quieter. Everyone could roughly guess why he was broaching the matter so hesitantly, and on whose behalf he was reading the mood.

《Banishment.》

《Yes… in the case of nobility or royalty… generally speaking… though it isn’t necessarily always the case—》

Volmo carried on cautiously.

《Instead of having all their assets confiscated by the original spouse and being banished — something like that—》

He glanced for a moment in Sebinya’s direction, as if hoping she would stop him. But the clear-eyed young lady merely watched the situation with an untroubled gaze, as though unable to fathom what signal she was being asked to read.

《…In the case of nobility or royalty… when they are driven out to foreign lands, it is often the case that, well, they are banished alongside the partner in the affair.》

The room fell silent in an instant. In the hush, only a handful of the workers were watching the castle lord’s face for cues. The silence held until the charcoal worker standing near the door murmured, ‘Come to think of it, I’m not sure I put out the fire before coming,’ and quietly slipped out of the room.

《…Driven out together. I see.》

Gus’s low voice came trailing at the tail end of the stillness.

《Um, it isn’t always necessarily—》

《Adding your own opinion is not part of your duties.》