Like A Dry Branch In The Wind (Like Wind on a Dry Branch) - Chapter 6

Translator: Wawaa

Editor: WilsonWilson

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“You look like you’re in a good mood.”

Leonard, lying on the ground, gasped and roughly threw off his armor. The Archduke, having been excited after such a long time, was giving out his love away to the knights. Besides Leonard, dozens of knights were scattered everywhere.

“Not really.”

Killian graciously turned his red eyes.

“I think my beloved knights’ skills are rusty.”

Hearing the ominous remark, the knights who were lying down made an outcry as if they were begging. Sad foreboding was never wrong. The voice of the Archduke rang.

“Except Leonard, who succeeded in hitting me once, everyone run 20 laps around the training ground. 10 more laps for the one who gets last place.”

“I love you, Your Grace!”

The loyal subject, Leonard, quickly confessed his love with a loud sound. He was lying down in front of his liege, but only his flattering voice was filled with discipline. The knights got up slowly while grumbling with frantic looks. Killian looked at them and smirked.

“Except for Leonard, who loves me, everyone run 30 laps around the training ground. 10 more laps for the lower half.”

“We love you, Your Grace!”

The knights stood up and shouted together. After taking off their armors and throwing them off, they started running.

The noble knights began to run to death without any clothes on, trying to reduce the numbers they had to do.

Killian smiled and looked at the knights who loved him.

“Even though they thought they might be in the lower half, no one thinks they might actually come in last.”

Leonard giggled.

“It’s the so-called foundation of comradeship. Even if I’m not the best, I sure am not the worst.”

Killian looked at him quietly and asked him.

“Leonard, do you know that Rietta is a blessing caster?”

Leonard told him that she was an ordinary widow. He did not tell him that she was a blessing caster. Was it excluded because it was not related to her story? But it was an ability worth paying attention to. Even her husband died of an illness. Leonard blinked his eyes with a puzzled look.

“…The madam from Sevitas?”

“So you don’t know.”

As expected, his subordinate could not have omitted such information. Leonard, who was lying down, got up and sat down.

“I will find out about it.”

Killian turned his head and answered.

“No need.”

He was not a superior who would meaninglessly bother his subordinate. The difficulty of collecting the information was different from when they were in Sevitas. It was not even information related to something suspicious or important so it was not something that needed to be further investigated. After all, she was not directly involved in money or privileges like Casarius.

“My apologies.”

Leonard also understood his intention, but he apologized for the lack of information he collected. Such a diligent knight. Killian shook his hand nonchalantly. Something like a heartrending story was not of great interest to Killian.

Leonard was familiar with Killian so he knew the information he collected would have ensured that she was verified to be someone with no suspicious history.

It was sufficient to confirm that Rietta had never been publicly known as a blessing caster in Sevitas. Killian just thought that he could ask Rietta personally the next time he saw her.

By the time he forgot about that, Killian met Rietta again.

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“Rietta?”

Killian was returning to the main building where he stayed after warming up with the knights at the training grounds in the castle. He spotted Rietta and called out to her. As she already found him in the distance, Rietta, who was preparing to greet him, put a hand on her chest and bowed politely. She was dressed in casual clothes again today. Perhaps because the weather was warmer, she was wearing clothes that were lighter than what he saw last time.

“Greetings to the Archduke of Axias.”

“‘Milord’.”

“Oh, yes. ‘Milord’.”

When Killian corrected her indifferently, Rietta blushed and bowed her head. It has already been more than a month since she lived there, but she still called him as if he was a nobleman from another territory.

Though she was not dressed very well, simply wearing lighter clothes made her look much more beautiful. Her neatly pleated blonde hair, plain linen dress, and light sky blue eyes went well with spring.

She’s indeed a beauty.

Killian thought calmly.

“What are you doing here?”

“I’m on my way to the East Annex, on a request for a blessing.”

Killian nodded lightly, recalling Erne’s report that she was settling down smoothly as a blessing caster.

“Okay. You seem to be doing well.”

“It’s all thanks to your care.”

He had something to ask when he saw her. He wondered if he should just simply ask her now, but he thought that it would be ambiguous to hold and ask someone who was going to work, so Killian said.

“If there’s nothing after you have finished your work, come see me.”

Rietta politely bowed down and answered.

“I will do that… Milord.”

Rietta showed courtesy until Killian completely entered the main building. Only after his appearance completely disappeared from her sight, she straightened her waist and moved her feet toward the East Annex.

She wondered if she sounded like she was deliberately distancing herself, even though she had been indebted to him. In her entire life, her only lord was Casarius. Therefore, she had to take a little bit of time to adapt to her new lord.

Rietta thought it was strange to call the same person who almost ended her life and the person who rescued her from the pit of despair with the same title.

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“O, oh! Argh!”

The sudden scream from above surprised Rietta, making her look up. A blonde girl hugging the branch of a collapsing tree was quickly falling toward Rietta. She was so surprised that she could not move or scream. Her eyes widened in shock. The fallen branch stopped with a snap.

“Oh my goodness! Anna!”

Surprisingly, a woman who came out of nowhere suddenly appeared. She held onto the tree that was about to fall by the roots and pushed it up as it was. When the girl who almost fell to the floor could not come down, the powerful woman stretched out one hand toward the girl, consequently supporting the tree with only one hand.

“Come here!”

She had amazing strength, but as she held on to the tree with one hand, the tree became unstable, making it falter.

“I’m scared! I’m scared!  Aarghh!”

The child’s crying voice snapped Rietta out of her frozen state. She pulled herself together and quickly approached the child.

Rietta was contemplating whether she should go to the girl or the tree. But, rather than leaving the child to a stranger, she thought it was right to add strength to the unstable tree. She ran quickly and pushed the tree together to support it.

“Thank you!”

When Rietta lent her strength, the woman quickly and briefly thanked her and quickly regained her balance. As Rietta supported the tree with both hands, the strength required to hold the tree steady was halved. The powerful woman lifted her free upper body and stretched her arms high toward the child in a more stable posture.

With just stretching her elbows, the woman’s hand had already reached the distance required for the girl to safely grab her hand. When they grabbed each other’s wrists, the woman quickly told the girl to let go and to come to her.

Though the girl was scared by the unstable posture, she put down the branch she was holding with the other hand. As she trusted the woman to catch her, the girl called Anna threw herself toward the woman. The woman hugged the girls and turned around. She easily balanced her body out and pushed the tree she was holding away.

At that moment, Rietta’s could no longer feel the weight of a tree through her arms. Rietta, who stopped walking a couple of steps toward the tree because of the pushing force, looked blankly at the tree that flew away. A fairly thick tree helplessly fell sideways as if it had been crushed with its roots pulled out. It seemed that the soil had been swept away by the rain and the exposed roots had weakened. The girl called Anna whined from behind her.

“Argh. Seira!”

The powerful woman who pushed the tree, Seira, was dusting off the girl called Anna.

“Didn’t I tell you that you have passed the age to climb a tree? Do you think you’re still a kid? The last time you did this, you broke off a branch and fell down!”

The girl cried.

“That’s why, that’s why I climbed onto a thick, sturdy branch this time.”

“Why are you climbing up trees in the first place?”

“To see, to see His Lordship! Ouch!”

Seira gave the girl clout with her knuckles. Then, as she was sorry, she smiled and talked to Rietta, whose eyes became round.

“Oh, my. It seemed that Anna had surprised you. I’m sorry. Did you get hurt anywhere?”

“No, no. I’m just fine.”

“Let me take a look at your hand.”

Rietta waved her hands saying she was okay because she really was not hurt anywhere.

“That’s a relief.”

Seira spanked Anna.

“She almost got hurt because of you!”

“Argh, I’m sorry!”

Rather, there was a long scratch on the girl’s calf. Rietta, who discovered it, informed Seira that Anna had a wound on her leg and recommended Seira to take her and treat her quickly so that it would not get worse or leave a scar.

Seira quickly looked at the wound on Anna’s leg. The girl followed her gaze to the bottom and opened her eyes wide, as she did not even know she was hurt.

Seira was in a hurry and thanked Rietta. She asked Rietta for her name as she wanted to give her compensation. Rietta refused and asked her to go because she was okay.

Seira did not force Rietta and just said sorry and thanked her with a smile. Then she carried Anna away. The sound of them talking to each other was heard as they moved away.

“I’m going to tell Helen about this!”

“No! Please don’t tell Helen! Instead, I will take over your cleaning duty three times!”

“Only three times?”

“No, no. Five times!”

Rietta stared blankly at their backs and looked at the uprooted tree on the ground. She wondered if it was okay to leave the tree like that. After wandering around the tree for a long time, Rietta realized the time and turned in a hurry in the direction of the East Annex.

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Passing through the main building of Axias Castle, where the lord had stayed, through two unknown buildings, and around the corner of another unknown building was the East Annex. The place where the women of Archduke of Axias stayed. It was only possible because he was single, additionally, there was also a time when he was Prince. There was also no one who dared to touch his privacy. The women who had been in touch with Killian usually returned to their original place with some rewards, but if there were women who wanted to stay in the castle, he let them stay as long as they wanted.

There were more than a dozen women who lived there. It was a small number compared to the rumor where the Archduke of Axias had about a hundred women in his harem… Rietta thought that a woman like herself would not have been needed.

Killian did not get married even at the age of being over thirty. Rumors spread that it was due to his bad women’s habits. When she was in Sevitas, Rietta had also heard of hideous rumors. Ones that tell of how he would never meet the same woman twice, how he would kill the woman if he was not satisfied, or how he would kill the woman if he liked her enough to keep her forever.

Rietta was lucky as she was indebted to the Archduke… But that place was perhaps where women gathered with their own circumstances and purposes.

Before turning the corner of the last building, Rietta took a deep breath. She was quite nervous and stepped forward, but when she raised her head, Rietta was greeted with an unexpected atmosphere.

The East Annex was a place where the sunlight came in abundance. It centered on a small building that was cleaner and whiter than other buildings, and women who seemed to get along well were hanging out here and there. Some women were laying on the ground under the shade of the trees, some were sitting by the window, yawning and eating fruits, and some were throwing pieces of bread to goldfish or skipping stones at the pond. There were even women running around while hanging laundry near the laundry line.

Rietta’s bewildered gaze wandered as she could not tell who were the ‘annex ladies’ and who were the maids.  There are few women who wear fancy dresses, but they were all wearing similarly comfortable dresses without anyone overdressing. The air was peaceful and even cheerful. No one was scared or depressed, nor did anyone look unpleasant or offended.

Rietta stood so absent-mindedly and quickly lowered her gaze. She was not in a position to observe. She could just approach anyone and ask for the lady who asked for her service. Because the atmosphere did not look as rough as she had thought.

Rietta hurried her steps and began to walk toward the annex. One by one, the women found her and began to give attention to her. Then, a woman approached silently behind Rietta and spoke.

“Welcome. You’re the blessing caster, aren’t you?”

Rietta quickly turned back and greeted the woman who came to talk to her.

“Oh, hello. Are you the one who…”

The pretty woman with short black hair and purple eyes smiled brightly.

“Yes, I’m Rachel. Nice to meet you.”

Rietta was a little surprised to see her short hair, which was rare for a noblewoman. Her hair was still pretty, even though it was short. Rather than flashy, she was a neat and intelligent beauty. Among the women who were giving attention, about two people began to approach them with curious eyes. It seemed like they were in a comfortable relationship with the way they put their arms around their shoulders without a single change in their expressions. With her arms wrapped around the other woman’s shoulders, a tall blonde woman approached Rachel. She smiled and asked.

“Rachel, who is she?”

Rachel turned her head and introduced Rietta.

“The blessing caster.”

All the women looked at Rietta with round eyes. Rietta quickly bowed her head.

“Hello. I’m blessing caster Rietta Tristi. Greetings to the ladies of East Annex.”

One of the women who were joking with each other laughed as if she had heard something a little unexpected.

“This kind of greeting is strange.”

Then, she gave a playful yet courtly greeting.

“Welcome, Lady Rietta.”

Another woman smiled with her head slightly tilted to the side.

“Welcome to the East Annex.”

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