To The Eternal Knight (2 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 8

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It took ten years to recover one of the things I lost. If it takes another ten to recover the other, Nerea knew she wouldn’t have the courage to walk that path again.

Confronted suddenly with reality, Nerea bit her lip. A complex expression tinged with self-mockery flickered across her face and vanished.

[This is the timeline separator]

“I didn’t know you liked confit goose, my lady. You always just ate whatever was served.”

“You’re not exactly someone with clear standards for ‘delicious’ or ‘not delicious.’”

“Goodness. Aren’t you two going to eat?”

Nerea raised an eyebrow. Unlike Heather, who shyly averted her gaze, Alejandro spoke gently.

“Just watching you eat fills me up.”

“I’m fine. Just watching you eat fills me up.”

Nerea frowned. During campaigns, whenever rations ran short, Alejandro always said the same thing—and each time, he’d hand her his bread with the exact same words.

“That can’t be. Your stomach won’t feel full unless you actually put something in it.”

Alejandro lifted his glass. Even though he only curled the corners of his mouth into a faint smile, his elegant, aristocratic bearing stood out clearly.

“This is enough for breakfast. But…”

“…….”

“I’ll eat a lot starting with lunch. Restoring all this to how it was will surely leave me starving.”

According to her plan, once everything was restored, Alejandro would leave this house.

Yet, despite her firm resolve, the words wouldn’t leave her lips. Heather broke the silence, her face brightening.

“Then, Lord Alejandro, may I watch you prepare lunch, just for a bit?”

“Heather.”

“But, my lady—it’s the first time in five years of serving you that I’ve seen you eat so heartily and with such enjoyment!”

“Me?”

“Yes, you, my lady.”

The emphasis on “you” was unusually strong. Nerea, flustered, looked down at her plate.

Confit goose, soup with potatoes and cheese, and soft white bread—even more than usual, her appetite had returned today.

Back then, she’d especially enjoyed Alejandro’s cooking; she hadn’t expected it would still be the case now.

Nerea clicked her tongue inwardly and took another bite of the sliced confit. Watching the tension ease from the corners of her narrow eyes, Alejandro smiled with evident satisfaction—then murmured almost to himself.

“It’s not as if there’s no secret to it.”

“What secret?”

Before Heather could finish her question, Nerea’s wide-eyed stare caught Alejandro’s attention first. He suppressed a laugh that threatened to spill out.

Each time he hesitated, his glossy eyes fixed intently on her, making her pulse quicken pleasantly.

But the teasing ended there. Alejandro spoke calmly.

“Well, good ingredients make good food. That’s all.”

“Oh, come on! Are you going to tell me it’s like brewing fine medicine with rare herbs?”

“I suppose it can’t be helped—but, Sir Knight, I have a question for you.”

At the title “Sir Knight,” her eyes narrowed slightly in displeasure, but Alejandro pretended not to notice and grinned cheerfully. Fleeting emotions raced across Nerea’s face before she answered curtly.

“…What is it?”

“Why did you call out to me like that when you woke up earlier?”

Ah. Nerea let out a soft chuckle.

“I had a dream—the day I first met you.”

“In Orlando? No, in the Kirkley territory?”

All the battle-scarred lands from ten years ago had since been consolidated into two large regions, named Valer and Orlando.

Though those fragmented war-torn territories had been reclaimed by Castarti down to the smallest parcel, the very knight who led that restoration didn’t even know where “Orlando territory” was.

Alejandro, though already aware of this, still felt a sudden twist in his gut.

“Long before that—when you were much smaller.”

Their first encounter had certainly been on the battlefield at Kirkley, so Alejandro furrowed his brow in confusion.

Nerea spoke softly.

“The very first time we greeted each other.”

“Ah….”

Alejandro’s throat bobbed as he chuckled. A phrase he’d heard since childhood came rushing back.

“Mother told me I barely moved in her womb—but whenever you touched her, I kicked more than usual.”

Trending

“Wow! So you and Lord Alejandro have known each other since practically forever!”

Heather gasped in amazement.

“Yeah. I heard you stayed until almost the day I was born. She said if you’d still been around, you’d have absolutely adored me.”

“No… probably not.”

Her reply cut sharply through the sweetness of the memory. Nerea stared down at her bowl, at the crumbs from the bread she’d diligently eaten.

“If I hadn’t insisted on returning to the count’s estate, you might never have been born.”

Beside her, Heather drew in a startled breath. With the sound of eyes rolling, Heather suddenly clapped her hands.

“Oh! I completely forgot—I was supposed to gather those herbs this morning that can only be picked at dawn. I’ll be right back!”

Though her voice sounded painfully awkward, neither Nerea nor Alejandro said a word.

The door opened and closed.

She felt his gaze. Unable to meet his eyes, Nerea kept her focus fixed on her plate and spoke as casually as she could.

“The kind baron and his wife never told you, did they? That because I stubbornly insisted on staying at the baron’s estate, the midwife never came.”

The baron and his wife had soft hearts. Even when four-year-old Nerea had insisted on remaining at their estate, they’d simply smiled and accepted it.

“The midwife… It’ll work out somehow. Surely the busy Acting Count wouldn’t block something as trivial as a midwife’s path, would he?”

It was a night near the end of the final month. Half-asleep, she’d overheard the baron and his wife murmuring to each other.

She’d thought it was just a dream—until the baroness’s jesting words became harsh reality, and only then did she realize they’d been true all along.

The baroness screaming in pain, the baron shouting in desperation for the midwife who never came, and even Johann Zenax—acting so grown-up yet sobbing uncontrollably.

All that suffering ended the moment Nerea stepped into the count’s carriage sent to fetch her. The woman who alighted from the carriage, as if taking her place, was the midwife.

“And from the very beginning, because I chose to go to the baron’s estate, you had no choice but to follow me as a page without any preparation. From age eleven—so young—you trailed me across battlefields for two whole years. So…”

Nerea paused briefly. She couldn’t decide whether to tell him his entire family’s misfortune stemmed from her, or simply to ask him to leave outright.

All she knew for certain was that Alejandro didn’t know this truth—and that the moment she spoke, he would surely be disappointed in her.

After all, she’d become someone far worse than he imagined; perhaps after learning everything, Alejandro would choose to leave first himself.

The heavy atmosphere pressed down, stealing her breath.

Even the softest sigh sounded like thunder.

“…Ten years ago.”

It wasn’t what she’d expected. Alejandro’s voice was so composed that Nerea, puzzled, lifted her head—and froze mid-motion.

“Ten years ago, when you had to attend the Imperial victory banquet, I was worried. Since you’re so hopelessly naive, I feared you’d be hurt by the nobles’ sharp tongues. But now, I don’t need to worry at all—no matter which banquet you attend.”

As if that were all there was to it, Alejandro gave a cynical smile and met her eyes. His dark pupils flashed with commanding intensity.

“Because Sir Knight has now mastered the art of cutting people down with words alone.”

Neither Nerea nor Alejandro could look away from the other. Under the taut atmosphere, an unbearable silence steadily grew in volume—

“My lady, shall I draw your bath…?”

Thankfully, Heather had assumed Alejandro had already left and thus broached the topic of bathing.

Otherwise, Nerea might have eventually yielded beneath his relentless, piercing gaze.

.

.

.

“The bathwater’s ready. But my lady, can’t we just leave the bathroom as it is?”

The moment she entered the bathroom, Nerea fully understood Heather’s plea and smiled slightly.

Aside from the strong herbal scent mingled with incense, this newly renovated bathroom was no different from those of noble young ladies in the capital.

The marble tub Heather had always longed for, silk curtains draping the windows, cedarwood screens, and even the beaded ornaments—all were present.

And… if Alejandro had prepared this bathroom, there would surely be something behind that screen.

She reached out and soon felt a cloth meant to wrap her body—just as Alejandro always used to provide when attending her baths.

Though now, no one served her in the bath anymore. Nerea gave a faint smile and stepped into the tub. Warm water gently loosened her muscles.

Suddenly, she recalled the makeshift bath Alejandro had built for her in his tent near the war’s end. He’d managed to find a wooden tub and even added fragrant oil—quite impressively so.

Alejandro, hauling bucket after bucket of hot water, had happily asked if she felt relaxed—but what she’d truly cherished most back then was…

“What are you doing now?”

Heather’s vivid voice snapped her from her reverie—and Nerea jolted at what came next.

“…Trying to open the door?”

“No! I mean—why is Lord Alejandro trying to enter the bathroom?”

At those words, Nerea immediately ducked underwater. Her red hair drifted slowly around her. The hot water stole her breath and dulled her hearing.

ads

But she couldn’t pretend not to hear the quiet voice that pierced through the water anyway.

“I’m here to attend your bath.”

It must be the bathwater’s heat. That’s why her resolve to send Alejandro away wavered.

Not because of the bathroom itself, nor because he offered to serve her as in the old days.

Even the strange warmth welling in her eyes—it was all just because the water was too hot.

Meanwhile, the mood outside the door was vastly different from inside the bathroom.

“Why on earth would Lord Alejandro do that!”

Heather gasped and blocked the bathroom door with her body.

What in the world was going on? She’d thought he was such a kind man—cooking for them and instantly transforming their home—but now he dared try to enter while her lady was bathing!

Heather huffed sharply through her nose.

Yet the young man claiming to be the lady’s page seemed entirely unbothered by the strangeness of the situation. Tilting his head slightly, he then smiled deeply.

“Then I’ll do it. Were you planning to do it yourself?”

Something felt off.

His voice was gentle, his smile impeccably charming—yet a chill ran down her spine.

Was it because of his height, or his unnervingly handsome face? Heather lost her earlier boldness and mumbled,

“My lady always bathes alone.”

“That’s impossible.”

At his firm denial, Heather’s eyes shot wide open once more.

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