The Maid With a Child - Chapter 69

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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69. Let’s Go Boating.
The noble parties were becoming familiar enough by now, but they hardly felt like a place to run off to with joy. If she could avoid going, she would have preferred not to.
What gave her pause was the worry that her attendance—or lack thereof—might somehow affect Habel or Racalte. This was the source of her hesitation.
But at the mere mention of boating, her own desires suddenly bubbled up unbidden.
The cost of even one boat excursion was astronomical. If anyone came back from a boating date, she’d have to listen to their boasting about it for a whole month.
It was an opportunity to experience something she would never have the chance to do in her lifetime. The prospect tempted her.
“Do you want to go?”
“More than the party… boating.”
“Boating?”
“Yes… Everyone who’s done it says it’s incredibly fun. Have you ever been boating?”
“No.”
“…You’ve never been?”
She’d had a preconceived notion that he must have experienced everything.
When she thought about it more carefully, there were many things he hadn’t done and couldn’t do. It was probably fair to say he did almost nothing unless it was necessary for his education.
“Then… would you like to go with me?”
That would settle everything in her mind.
No matter what, she didn’t want to go to the party alone. She didn’t even know why she’d been invited, and she wasn’t close to whoever was hosting it.
But with him by her side, she feared nothing.
“If the party host permits, I’ll make time.”
“Eek!”
At his consent, Adlen bounced with excitement.
Racalte found himself smiling at the sight.
Could she possibly be that pleased?
And would she truly want him there, in a place she was so eager to go?
The way she lit up at the prospect of boating was like a child’s pure delight.
Yet boating stirred something quietly hopeful in Racalte as well.
* * *
A few days later, a reply came to the reply from the Stenker Family.
Ordinarily, one merely confirmed the attendance of the invitee and that was all, but if there were additional guests, an extra step was added—the party host’s approval had to be secured.
As expected, permission had been granted for both Racalte and Habel to attend as well.
Though he’d assumed refusal was unlikely, the fact that he himself was being asked for approval felt unfamiliar enough that Racalte read the reply several times over.
“Since we’re going boating, there’ll be a lot of wind, won’t there? I should wear a hat that won’t blow away. And the dress—should I wear something fitted, or maybe something light and flowing would be better? What do you think?”
Adlen made no attempt to hide her excitement right up until the day of the boating party.
“Young Master, we’re going boating today!”
“Boat!”
This was Racalte’s first time boarding a boat as well.
The capital of Teplan lay inland, and reaching the sea required considerable travel.
Though rivers ran through the land and countless bridges had been built, one only needed to board a boat if traveling long distances by water.
The front lines against Morn were likewise situated in the wilderness.
Even at his age, a first experience still set his heart racing—a fact he was learning about himself for the first time. Racalte discovered this truth about himself only now.
“The carriage is prepared, sir.”
At the Butler’s announcement, both of them rose from their seats.
“Let’s go.”
By now, Adlen had come to take his offered hand quite naturally.
“We’ll be back soon, Butler.”
“Yes, safe travels, Miss Adlen.”
“Oh!”
One thing that never changed was the Butler’s playful streak.
He still hadn’t given up the delight of teasing Adlen.
Yet to outward appearances, it didn’t look like teasing. The Butler himself was often surprised by how Adlen transformed each time, wearing different versions of herself.
Sometimes he wondered if she was truly becoming a young lady rather than a servant girl. Yet there was nothing between the two of them to suggest such a thing.
When there were no parties, Adlen still wore her maid’s uniform and stayed shut up in the room with the baby. She and her master shared no particularly intimate moments.
This was a relationship too peculiar to call special, and too unusual to call ordinary.
But it was not the Butler’s place to interfere.
The Butler bowed formally toward the departing pair as they climbed into the carriage.
“Safe travels, and…”
But the Butler’s farewell never reached its end.
Adlen, who had just lifted one foot onto the carriage step, froze.
A loud clamor of hoofbeats was approaching the entrance of the Sigelion manor.
Racalte pulled Adlen, who had been about to board, back and drew her behind him.
The approaching hoofbeats were frantic.
Either a messenger in urgent haste, or an attack.
They weren’t in the thick of battle, so the likelihood of an assault was negligible, yet instinct kicked in and her hand moved to her weapon.
But the rider who drew near wore the Royal House crest emblazoned across his chest. A royal messenger.
“A message from His Majesty!”
The messenger tumbled from his horse, gasping for breath.
Sensing the urgency, Racalte quickened his stride toward the man.
“Here…….”
Racalte took the letter the messenger held out.
The royal seal impressed upon the envelope was one even Adlen could now recognize.
Receipt of such a letter meant one thing: immediate departure for the Royal Palace.
“You’ll need to go at once.”
Adlen smiled and stepped back.
The boat outing would have to be abandoned—regrettable, but unavoidable.
A sudden summons from His Majesty was an Act of Heaven, like a downpour or an earthquake or a tidal wave. There was no point in anger, and anger would not come.
“It seems the day wasn’t meant to be.”
Yet the weather was perfect for boating—brilliant sunlight and a gentle breeze. One could not have asked for better conditions. Still, Adlen turned to leave without hesitation.
“Nnn? Carriage! Carriage!”
Habel squirmed in Adlen’s arms, trying to wriggle free.
“Oh, young master! Not today—there’s no carriage today.”
“Wheee! Carriage, carriage! Boat, boat, boat!”
Habel had an unusual passion for riding in things.
He loved carriages, loved climbing onto Adlen’s body, and adored perching on the knights’ shoulders or their backs. Each was a splendid conveyance.
His fixation on rides was as intense as his obsession with balls—once he mounted something, he saw no reason to ever dismount.
If he had decided to ride in a carriage, he absolutely had to ride in it.
And then there was the boat. That was the problem.
“The boat…… well, that’s for next time, yes?”
“Boat, boat, boat!”
In her eagerness to excite him about the boat outing, Adlen had foolishly given him boat rides in a basin during his bath.
Habel had become completely enamored with this new form of conveyance.
Just this morning, she had promised him a carriage ride followed by a truly enormous boat—whereupon he had been so delighted he had transformed into a Wyvern for a full ten minutes.
“If that’s the case, I’ll give you boat rides in the bath instead.”
“Wheee! Carriage! Huff—boat!”
Habel’s sharp wit shone most brilliantly at moments like these.
Most children could be distracted and deceived easily enough, but nothing worked on him.
“Go on ahead.”
Racalte spoke to Adlen, who was struggling to pacify a restless Habel.
He instructed the Butler to prepare his horse, then came and opened the carriage door himself.
“The Private Audience won’t last long—His Majesty’s health and stamina being what they are. I’ll go straight to the Lake afterward, so go ahead and wait there.”
“Ah……!”
The King’s condition meant the Private Audience would be brief. Other matters at the Royal Palace might eat into their time, but the audience itself would be short.
“Very well. Please come quickly.”
It was far easier to go ahead and wait than to manage Habel’s complaints here.
The prospect of traveling alone without Racalte made her uneasy, but he’d promised to follow soon. Adlen gathered her courage and climbed into the carriage.
* * *
Racalte waited until Adlen’s carriage disappeared down the road, then mounted his horse.
Immediately, a massive beast with a coat so dark it vanished into the night tore through the streets.
The horse wove between carriages with acrobatic grace—no ordinary steed, but a great war-horse.
Those who witnessed it murmured that war had erupted anew, so swift was its passage.
The war-horse leaped past the guards at the Royal Palace entrance and halted at the spot where the carriage always stopped.
Before the horse’s hooves fully touched the ground, Racalte was already dismounting.
The Butler had not yet even come to greet him.
Without waiting for the Butler’s welcome, Racalte strode down the corridor.
“Did you fly here?”
The King, who had knocked on the door himself to announce Racalte’s arrival, opened his eyes wide in astonishment.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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