EIYTMA Chapter 10

Étienne flinched and turned his head.  

 

A middle-aged woman with an awkward expression was approaching with hurried steps, carrying extra cloth in her arms.  

 

“Oh dear. I apologize, sirs. Our lady is quite… Here, please use these to dry yourselves.”  

 

At this hour, when the sun had already set, their lady had brought back not one, but two unfamiliar young men, both closer to adulthood than boyhood. No servant would have anything good to say about that.  

 

However, Ezekiel accepted the cloth willingly and expressed his gratitude.  

 

“There is no need for you to apologize, madam. Thank you.”  

 

“I should have stopped her when she said she was going alone…”  

 

The woman introduced herself as Madame Babin. She was Iris’s nanny and the one managing the household affairs of Querluxia’s lord’s manor.  

 

She watched the boys shaking off the moisture with visible discomfort before turning away.  

 

“But how did the two of you end up here at this hour…?”  

 

“Well…”  

 

The boys exchanged glances.  

 

It would all be revealed once the knights came to fetch them. But until then, they had to avoid exposing their identities.  

 

They were princes, heirs to the Muirenas Empire. If anything untoward happened, it would be troublesome.  

 

Fortunately, Étienne was skilled at fabricating quick explanations.  

 

“Well, we are the squire knights of Lady Felicia, daughter of the Duke of Arbois.”  

 

“Oh my! You’ve come from the Duchy of Arbois?”  

 

Madame Babin’s eyes widened.  

 

Étienne briefly explained that they had been accompanying Lady Felicia on an inspection of the territory but had become separated from their group.  

 

In a storm like this, it was not uncommon for squires scouting ahead to lose contact with their party. Thus, Madame Babin nodded along without much hesitation.  

 

But she did not seem entirely convinced. After all, there were plenty of bandits in the world who pretended to be knights.  

 

“Might I see your identification badges…?”  

 

The princes tensed.  

 

They had their badges, but the problem was that they bore the imperial crest.  

 

Just then—  

 

“Nanny, it’s fine.”  

 

The girl from earlier had entered the room.  

 

It was Iris Querluxia.  

 

Having just changed out of her wet clothes, she ran her fingers through her still-damp silver hair and spoke lightly.  

 

“I saw their horses. They were absolutely magnificent. The kind that mere bandits could never afford. They must be real knights.”  

 

Ezekiel’s eyes narrowed slightly.  

 

It was true that, thanks to Iris, they had been able to tether their horses securely by the riverbank.  

 

But for her to have noticed such details despite the darkness—her powers of observation were remarkable.  

 

However, instead of being convinced, Madame Babin was horrified.  

 

“My lady! I’ve told you not to appear before others in such a state!”  

 

Now that the matter of the boys’ identities had been settled, the woman finally took notice of Iris’s disheveled appearance.  

 

And for good reason—her attire was utterly shocking.  

 

She was supposedly the daughter of Baron Querluxia, yet she was dressed in a shabby tunic and trousers, the kind worn by commoners.  

 

More than that, standing before men with her hair still damp and unkempt was something no noblewoman would ever do.  

 

Perhaps if she were a young child, it would be understandable. But she looked to be at least sixteen or seventeen. At that age, most noblewomen preferred to stay indoors, acting demurely.  

 

Yet Iris Querluxia was anything but reserved.  

 

“They’ve already seen me in all kinds of states. It’s fine. More importantly, where is my father?”  

 

“Your father?”  

 

“Ah, I had gone out earlier to meet my father.”  

 

Iris replied to Étienne’s question, her blue eyes gleaming.  

 

Madame Babin sighed and added,  

 

“Baron Querluxia is the lord of this manor. He had to step out briefly… We expected him back this morning, but because of the storm…”  

 

Baron Querluxia had left the village to attend to matters in a neighboring estate.  

 

He was supposed to return this morning, but he hadn’t.  

 

Iris and Madame Babin had initially thought nothing of it, assuming he had been delayed.  

 

Had it not been for the sudden storm that struck in the afternoon, they would have simply continued waiting.  

 

“The village bridge was destroyed in the storm. We were worried the baron might try to cross it recklessly…”  

 

At Madame Babin’s words, Ezekiel furrowed his brows and tilted his head.  

 

“Yet, I saw you recklessly crossing earlier, my lady.”  

 

“Excuse me?!”  

 

Iris Querluxia shouted in alarm.  

 

Madame Babin turned to her in shock.  

 

“My lady! So that’s why you were drenched! You didn’t just get caught in the rain—you actually crossed the river?!”  

 

“You know the crossing down below, nanny! I used that! The villagers always use it in emergencies.”  

 

“That’s for the villagers! My goodness!”  

 

Madame Babin clutched her chest in despair.  

 

Iris, looking chastened, averted her gaze. But when her eyes met Ezekiel’s, she glared at him.  

 

So it was supposed to be a secret from her nanny?  

 

Then she should have warned them to keep quiet.  

 

Ezekiel stared at her pointedly.  

 

What was she expecting after doing something so reckless?  

 

Étienne snickered and whispered,  

 

“It seems the daughter of Baron Querluxia is quite the troublemaker.”  

 

“Brother, keep your voice down.”  

 

In any case, thanks to Iris, Madame Babin had completely forgotten about verifying their identification.  

 

Instead, she began scolding the girl relentlessly.  

 

“With the baron absent, if something had happened to you as well, what would young master Henri do?!”  

 

“Alright, alright, I was wrong! I won’t do it again!”  

 

“You always say that, yet you keep getting yourself into trouble!”  

 

The lecture lasted for quite some time.  

 

By the end of it, Iris looked dejected, while Madame Babin turned back to the boys.  

 

“Regardless, my lords, it seems you have no choice but to stay the night. But first, you must change out of those wet clothes! Now, my lady! Go fetch some of our lord’s clothes from the storeroom for them!”  

 

Only when they followed Iris to the storeroom and received the clothes did the boys realize who “our lord” referred to.  

 

They were given Baron Querluxia’s old garments—surcoats and tunics from decades past.  

 

Iris blushed and hastily explained,  

 

“Our family was never originally noble. We aren’t wealthy, either…”  

 

“What are you saying? These are more than enough. We are grateful just to have dry clothes.”  

 

Étienne adjusted the hem of his tunic with a friendly smile. He was never the type to fuss or complain in situations like this. Ezekiel also nodded.  

 

“We will properly compensate you once our group arrives. Even if that doesn’t happen, we have money with us…”  

 

However, the girl waved her hand dismissively.  

 

“There’s no need for that. It’s not like I helped you for money.”  

 

“But…”  

 

“I said it’s fine.”  

 

Suddenly, the girl thrust her face forward, stopping right in front of Ezekiel’s. Deep blue eyes stared straight at him.  

 

“Just don’t say anything unnecessary to Madame Babin.”  

 

“What do you mean by ‘unnecessary’?”  

 

“I mean what you said earlier.”  

 

Ah, so she was talking about the part where he mentioned that she had risked crossing the water. Ezekiel was dumbfounded. Even ignorance had its limits.  

 

“I apologize, but if you’re referring to the fact that you crossed the water because of us, even if you had asked me beforehand not to say anything, I still would have told Madame Babin. What you did was truly dangerous.”  

 

“Huh?”  

 

“I didn’t have time to mention it earlier, but…”  

 

The thing was, Ezekiel was a prince, and he was particularly sensitive to these kinds of dangerous actions.  

 

Étienne, unfortunately, was the kind of boy who sometimes enjoyed risky pastimes, and whenever that happened, Ezekiel would step in to scold him in place of the attendants who couldn’t.  

 

The same applied to this girl.  

 

“That path isn’t dangerous. The villagers also use it frequently when the water rises! I’ve done it before too. Besides, you two managed to cross safely, didn’t you?”  

 

“That was only possible because there were three of us.”  

 

Ezekiel remained firm.  

 

In reality, when they crossed back over the path the girl had taken, they had to tie themselves tightly with vine ropes to avoid being swept away. They also held hands tightly the entire time.  

The current had been so strong that Ezekiel could hardly resist the urge to scold the girl every step of the way for crossing it alone.  

 

“Anyway, it’s over now, isn’t it?”  

 

“It is not over. If a similar situation arises, you will cross that path again—”  

 

“Alright, alright, that’s enough.”  

 

The one who intervened between the two was Étienne. Winking playfully, he stepped in between his younger brother and the girl.  

 

“Ez, in the end, we did receive help from this young lady. And miss, don’t hate my brother too much. He’s just a bit stubborn and conservative, but he means well.”  

 

At the very least, the nineteen-year-old Étienne understood that he needed to stop a fight between a fifteen-year-old girl and an eighteen-year-old boy.