Chapter 20: Doing as He Pleases
by Iyo‘What’s he smiling at?’ Thinking so, Rodrick frowned, but Urien slipped past him. “These actually aren’t grass,” he said as he walked, while Rodrick followed him behind.
The estate’s garden was maintained by the gardeners, but the area near the forest was still just a grassy plain. Urien seemed to enjoy strolling in both garden and field, but he was more likely to visit this area near the river.
“They aren’t grass?”
“These are medicinal herbs.”
“Medicinal herbs? Are you sick?”
“I’ve been eating too much fancy food recently, so my stomach feels bloated. When I took a stroll to ease it a little, I came across it, so I figured I’d have a taste.”
‘Is this man really a noble? For a baron’s son to munch on some grass he found on the ground…’
“…”
“Right, did you need something from me, Lord Rodrick?”
“…I only called out to you because I saw you eating that grass.”
“Is that so? Well, I guess seeing a human munching on grass warrants that reaction.”
“…”
“I’m done eating, I’m going back.”
“Mm.”
Two weeks had passed since that stormy night. After being rescued, Urien developed a high fever, but it subsided after just a single night of sleep.
During that time, they came to a decision to demolish the shed that Urien had been living in. They conducted a wide-scale search to salvage his belongings that had been carried away by the flood, but almost everything they found was unusable, so they provided him with new ones.
According to Ella, it wasn’t a problem since his belongings were small in number anyway. The duke’s side had prepared clothes and furniture for him, but those items were left in his room back in the west wing and no one had taken it to the shed.
Ella also said that they managed to recover all of his important belongings.
After Urien was healthy enough to wander around the medical room, they immediately moved him to his new room in the east wing. He didn’t have any opinion of the room in particular, only ‘It’s big,’ and nothing else.
He had built a good relationship with the new servants assigned to him. One of Rodrick’s maids who was serving Urien now once reported to Rodrick that, ‘The Madam loves to visit the library,’ and ‘We are planning to turn one of Madam’s rooms into a study.’ From there, it was clear that the new servants were quite attentive to his needs.
But, the problem was that Urien…
“I stored a bunch of herbs in that shed…”
Often reminisced about the demolished shed.
“Everything’s washed away. I never expected that the rain here could get that heavy…”
“It’s particularly heavy even by this region’s standard. Such a rain hadn’t happened in years.”
“Back then, it really felt like someone cast a spell and turned the river into a sea.”
They found Urien quite a distance away from the river. That was how much the river had overflowed.
Urien stopped walking and stared at the direction where the shed used to be.
“Such a shame that the shed is gone now…”
“…”
He showed barely any reaction to his new room, but his disappointment over the loss of the shed was clearly apparent. Rodrick had always thought that he was living a hard life in the shed, but it turned out that he was missing the place this much.
In any case, they planned to build a new shed a distance away from the forest this time. Theobald pushed the idea forward, saying, ‘He’ll be more at ease if we build a new one near the forest.’
By now, it was deep into the fall—the tree leaves had dyed golden. The western forest was said to be filled with mushrooms and nuts, even the servants and the knights often visited it.
Of course, Urien was too. Though he said that he never entered the forest by himself, his bold behavior said otherwise. Regardless, Rodrick decided to not bring up the past and told him to bring a servant or two whenever he wished to go to the forest, in which he replied with a half-hearted ‘Finee…’
Other than the servants, occasionally, he’d go into the forest with Theobald. There were various fruits that grew in the forest, so naturally Rodrick thought that Urien’d be bringing those with him, but according to the servants, on top of fruits, he also gleefully picked up the dead bodies of insects that he found—even if they had mold on them.
‘I can’t understand this man…’
“Hopefully, the new shed’s gonna be built soon.”
“It will be built, but that’s it.”
“Sorry?”
“You aren’t allowed to live there.”
“Finee.”
“…”
“Ah, a cricket. So cute.”
After walking for a bit, Urien stopped again. He had been doing this for a while now.
This time though, his eyes narrowed as he looked down his feet and for some reason, he licked his lips. It made Rodrick shudder, but he still asked anyway.
“…You gonna eat that too?”
“Huh? Eat what? The cricket?”
“You’re licking your lips…”
“That’s not it. I won’t eat it.”
Urien said with a subtle smile. That answer relieved Rodrick a little, but the emphasis in ‘I’ made him a little curious.
“That herb from earlier, I actually like it.”
“Is it even tasty?”
“It’s really bitter. But it’s addictive.”
“…Next time, ask the doctor for medicine if you feel bloated. I’ll tell him to prepare some for you.”
“Sure.”
His tone made his answer sound more like a ‘Suuuree’ than anything.
“If you like herbs so much, why don’t you go to the garden?”
“Don’t wanna get in the way of the gardener’s work.”
“That herb just now, was it really a herb, not grass?”
“Of course. But, Lord Rodrick, even if you’re curious, don’t just go and eat the grass growing around here, okay?”
“I won’t.”
Rodrick knew he wouldn’t even if someone were to tell him to.
At that moment, Urien stopped in front of a tree, his eyes widened as he blinked. Then, he began to dig out a particular area near the tree trunk, prompting Rodrick to frown.
“The season makes the air humid. In such a season, pests and slugs are plentiful, and at times, they’ll carry parasites with them. Parasites from slugs especially, are dangerous. If those find their way into our bodies, we could just die.”
“What are you doing?”
“Nothing.”
“You’ll hurt your hands.”
“It’s nothing, really, don’t worry.”
After a while, Urien made a satisfied expression and started walking again. When Rodrick asked him again what he was doing, he just replied, “I thought I saw an interesting looking mold growing back there, but it was just a mushroom.”
Eventually, they left the western forest behind until they couldn’t see it anymore. When they reached the garden, Urien suddenly opened his mouth with an, “Ah, right.”
“There are no more beehives near the entrance of the forest.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah. Haven’t checked the deeper part of the forest, though. I’ll let you know if I find any.”
“…”
Rodrick imagined Urien reporting to him with a beehive in his hands and a smile on his face. That alone made shiver run down his spine.
As they left the garden, Kurd, who, for some reason was standing nearby, straightened his back and saluted. When Rodrick lifted his hand slightly, Kurd approached the pair in a little bit of a hurry. “Thank you for your hard work,” he said to Rodrick before turning his gaze towards Urien nearby.
“Greetings, Madam.”
Kurd greeted with a soft smile, in which Urien replied with a smile of his own.
The knight’s curly, light brown hair swayed softly due to the breeze, prompting Urien to stare at it with a cat-like smile.
As the commander of Kurd’s Unit, he often accompanied Urien whenever he entered the forest, and naturally, the two had gotten quite close. In fact, at dinner yesterday, Urien made a remark, “Kurd’s curly hair is as fluffy as the clouds.”
He seemed to have a particular fondness for Kurd’s curly hair as his gaze didn’t leave the swaying hair. Knowing nothing about this, Kurd asked with a smile.
“Did you go to the western forest again today, Madam?”
“…No. I was just strolling through the field.”
‘There was a pause there. Did he go to the forest on his own before I arrived?’
“I see. The weather’s perfect for a stroll today, isn’t it?”
“Yep.”
“Forgive me to interrupt your time together, but Commander, I have something to report.”
“Mm.”
Hearing that, Urien bowed his head and left with a, “Well then, excuse me.” After that, Kurd looked at Rodrick, looking apologetic as he said, “Forgive me for interrupting your stroll,” but Rodrick only wondered if what they had done could be called that at all.
“Doctor Sacher has arrived earlier.”
“I see.”
“He’s currently waiting for you in the drawing room.”
Actually, Rodrick had planned to see Doctor Sacher when he returned to Lustrand, but things had been so hectic that he just didn’t have the time to.
Kurd then continued.
“Count Helder and Lady Siana have also arrived.”
“I see. Has Master eaten his lunch yet?”
“He said wants to focus on practicing, but Lady Siana would love to have lunch. Shall I have them prepare it for you as well, Commander?”
“…No. Tell them to prepare for you instead.”
“For me?”
“Go and eat lunch with them. Now. Why are you loitering here?”
“Yes! Please excuse me!”
After that, Kurd ran towards the training ground while Rodrick immediately left for the drawing room.
There, he greeted Doctor Sacher, whom he hadn’t seen in a month, and brought him to his room. After a few hours of ‘conversation,’ he received medicine from the doctor, and shared a hug with him before the doctor left.
As he did that, he was dumbstruck with the realization of how small the doctor had become. The more time passed, the smaller his body became and the more wrinkles it had. But, despite his considerable age, his embrace was still as strong as ever.
After seeing the doctor’s carriage off, Rodrick went to his study. More time went by and when he was taking a break and stared at the window, he saw Siana strolling in the garden with his brother, Vice-Commander Dieter.