The Maid With a Child - Chapter 70

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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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70. Camaraderie
Ragged breathing, disheveled clothes, hair scattered about.
It was a sight one rarely saw from Racalte in his ordinary state.
The king raised an eyebrow.
“You really did fly here, didn’t you.”
“You seemed to have urgent business, so I hurried.”
“It is urgent, true enough. Still, we can spare a moment to catch up on how you’ve been. I hear you’ve become quite popular lately. Have you really decided to marry?”
Racalte’s brow furrowed before he could help it.
He’d rushed over, only to have the first thing out of the king’s mouth be marriage talk.
But he showed no sign of displeasure, answering calmly instead.
“If you command it, and if the marriage serves my family’s interests, I am prepared at any time.”
“Come now, that’s not how marriage works. Even in an arranged marriage where everything matches on paper, there must be love—or at the very least, some affection.”
Though the king was otherwise the sort of cold-blooded ruler who might declare that love has no place in the world, his own marriage had been surprisingly romantic. He’d fallen in love in his teens and married the moment he came of age—a courtship that had lasted five long years.
The queen had been a free spirit. She’d hated participating in any family matters and was always running away, so being confined to the palace and bound by the duties of a queen must have seemed like hell itself.
But love was love, after all.
The queen, moved by the king’s devoted pursuit, had fallen in love of her own accord and consented to marry him.
Because he had made such a marriage himself, the king was deeply skeptical of arranged ones. What good could come from binding two people together by force?
“The couple who are actually married need to be happy and live well for the two families to find peace. If they’re fighting constantly, how will the families get along?”
“If you command it, I will endeavor to get along well with my future wife. But… was it really my popularity you summoned me to discuss?”
“No, there’s something else. Still, now that I see you, I ought to ask how you’ve been. Why are you in such a rush today?”
“I must return quickly.”
“Why? Is something wrong at home?”
“There is a party to attend.”
“?”
The king stared at Racalte with a bewildered expression.
Racalte? Fidgeting like this over a mere party?
“What kind of extraordinary party would that be?”
“The party itself is nothing extraordinary, but I sent Adlen and the Crown Prince on ahead alone.”
“And?”
“Something feels wrong about it.”
The king pressed his lips together and furrowed his brow.
Something felt wrong to him as well.
He’d carefully selected the finest woman for Racalte to marry, yet here he was, being shaken over some maid who watched a child.
“Is there really something between you and that maid?”
Racalte was taken aback by the question.
The strange rumors about Adlen had swept through society once, then faded into silence. He’d thought it something no longer worth his concern, so why was the king suddenly bringing it up again?
“What makes you think there could be anything?”
“What else could spring up between a young man and woman?”
“Adlen is a colleague. If camaraderie is a form of love, then perhaps it is love—but nothing more.”
“Camaraderie?”
The king looked at him disapprovingly.
Yet Racalte found that this definition, which had struck him suddenly, was surprisingly accurate.
Between him and Adlen, they gave each other perfect cooperation toward a single task, drawing out the finest efficiency.
In that process, there was the care of checking whether each maintained peak condition, the gratitude toward one who labored even harder than oneself, and the desire to do something—anything—more for the other.
This was undoubtedly camaraderie. Perfectly defined.
“Well then… if that’s what you say it is, so be it.”
The king set aside for now the problem that couldn’t be resolved by speaking of it immediately.
It wasn’t as though Racalte had lost his mind and was demanding to marry some maid—there was no need to fret and dissuade him preemptively.
The real reason the king had summoned Racalte was something else entirely.
“General Kias has vanished from Morne.”
It was information that had just arrived.
Racalte, whose gaze had been lowered in thought of Adlen, lifted his head sharply.
“When did this occur?”
“The exact timing is unclear. The news just came in. But the fact that he vanished from Morne…”
“…I must go and see.”
Racalte stood up abruptly.
There was only one place General Kias could be heading, having left Morne.
* * *
Ewin of the Stenker Family was someone whose face was barely remembered.
The only reason he remembered him at all was that he had come along with his nephew—the only person he could think of as an uncle.
There was nothing else worth remembering.
Unremarkable in appearance, sparse in speech, no distinguished family name, and rarely the subject of conversation.
“Th-th-thank you for a-a-accepting my invitation, M-Miss Adlen.”
Adlen waited with patient grace as Ewin finished his heavily stuttered words, then offered him a gentle smile and a nod.
“I should be thanking you for the invitation, Ewin. I was quite surprised you invited me instead of Havel.”
Not all noblemen carried themselves with arrogance and disdain.
Some treated Adlen as they would a friend, while others possessed an easy, comfortable manner about them.
Ewin, however, made her uneasy without clear reason.
There was nothing rude about him, no hint of contempt in his bearing—and yet.
“Y-yes, truly b-beautiful…… I have an eye for these things, you see. For me, just for me, you dressed so l-lovingly, hehe. D-did you take such care with your appearance for my sake?”
“I beg your pardon?”
The compliment left a bad taste in her mouth.
Yes, she had dressed carefully with an eye toward propriety, but it wasn’t done for Ewin alone.
Yet she couldn’t bring herself to point that out to someone who had gone to the trouble of inviting her to this gathering.
“Well, you know, when one goes out to a pleasant place, it feels nicer to dress prettily.”
Adlen forced out an awkward laugh and tried to smooth over the moment gracefully.
“Mm-yes, quite right, hehe. Beauty is paramount…… status and wealth matter not at all. Beauty is w-what matters most. So I w-wished to speak with you further, Miss Adlen, but, well, to do that we’d have to go to the S-Sigelion Residence, and, er, that w-would be rather, so, ah, I arranged th-this separate gathering instead…”
“I’m sorry—you arranged this gathering separately just to speak with me?”
Adlen’s eyes widened in surprise.
There were other invited guests scattered about the grounds.
Then what of all these people?
“Ah, n-no, that’s not quite what I m-meant, it was just a pleasant day and, w-well…”
“Ah… yes… I s-see…”
His words made no sense whatsoever.
By the time he finished, she could barely understand what he was saying at all.
Adlen furrowed her brow and made an effort to comprehend, but soon gave up. Without understanding the substance of his words, she had no will to continue the conversation.
“In any case, thank you for the invitation. I’m grateful to have the chance to enjoy a boat outing.”
“P-please, think nothing of it, ah, there are refreshments p-prepared over there, so if you’d g-go with me…”
“Oh? Don’t you need to greet the other guests?”
While Adlen had been speaking with Ewin, a couple more carriages had arrived.
Yet Ewin barely spared them a glance, his attention remaining fixed on her.
Servants were tidying up the picnic grounds, so it wasn’t quite a breach of courtesy yet, but how long did he intend to remain at her side? It was beginning to feel burdensome.
And since their first meeting, his gaze had clung to her uncomfortably—as though she were covered in mud, leaving her skin crawling with the desire to escape it.
Worse still, as Ewin spoke, he grew increasingly animated and began leaning toward her inch by inch. Had she not stepped back, he would have brushed against her.
“Look! A b-boat! A boat!”
It was then that Havel, spotting the vessel moored at the lakeside, began fluttering his hands excitedly.
Grateful to Havel for providing such a timely excuse, Adlen fled the moment as though her life depended on it.
“Ah, the young master was so eager to see the boat. I should show him at once.”
“Ah, then, m-may I guide you…”
“No, thank you! I must keep all my attention on the young master, so let’s talk later!”
Adlen turned on her heel and called out sharply, cutting off any further reply.
The decisive tone kept Ewin from following, but she could feel his gaze trailing after her all the way to the water’s edge.
Adlen was too afraid to look back lest their eyes meet.

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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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