Yelena should have covered her eyes or turned away. She knew she was supposed to do something of the sort to be polite, but her instincts strongly rejected all reason.
“Marquess Kayle, Jr., what…”
Fwick!
The moment Kaywhin turned to look at Aendydn, the latter flicked his finger again. Then, a fire ignited with a roar and dried Kaywhin’s soaked body in an instant.
Paying the instantly-freshened Kaywhin no mind, Aendydn opened his mouth.
“Ta-da. Instant laundry service.”
“…”
“I often use this trick when camping or after rough-housing outside.”
“…I would have appreciated a warning.”
“I wasn’t sure what to tell you. ‘Your Excellency, may I drench you in water and then dry you off?’ sounds a bit…”
Truth be told, part of Aendydn just wanted to play a prank on Kaywhin. But he pretended that wasn’t the case. Yelena kicked him in the shin.
“Ouch!”
“Aendy, w-what have you done to my husband?”
“I helped him out, like I said… More importantly, why are you stuttering?”
“Shut up.”
Yelena stepped on his foot with more force and turned back to Kaywhin. He no longer stepped back when she stepped closer to him.
“…Are you okay? I’m sorry. Aendy is a bit stubborn… He wasn’t always this bad.”
“‘This bad?’”
“No, it’s all right.”
“Are you really not hurt anywhere?”
“Yes.”
Yelena carefully examined Kaywhin’s body… or at least, she meant to, but she couldn’t. She looked down instead.
Strangely, her face kept reddening and she kept clearing her throat. It felt like the scene she had witnessed earlier was tattooed to her eyelids and wouldn’t come off.
Yelena’s eyes that didn’t know where to look finally landed on the sword in Kaywhin’s hand.
“Ah.”
That’s right. The scene from before was so intense that she had momentarily forgotten why her husband had left the castle in the first place.
“Is that the Holy Sword… by any chance?” Yelena asked carefully.
Her husband had returned to the castle with a sword she hadn’t seen before. Of course, there was a fat chance that it was anything but the Holy Sword, but she had her reasons for her careful attitude.
‘It’s plain.’
No, to be precise…
‘It looks ordinary.’
The Holy Sword wasn’t particularly different from any other sword. Yelena had only known that it wasn’t her husband’s own sword because the hilt didn’t have the duchy’s insignia.
Yelena was deeply confused by the sword’s appearance. She would believe it if Kaywhin told her that he had picked it up off the side of the road.
Kaywhin followed her gaze and looked down at the sword he was holding. He nodded.
“It should be. This sword was the only thing that the trap was guarding.”
“It is.”
At that moment, Grace appeared out of nowhere and approached the trio.
“Its appearance is just as stated in the ancient texts I’ve read. Have you tried reflecting sunlight on the blade, by any chance?”
Kaywhin silently held the sword up. It reflected the sunlight and a light engraving shone on the blade.
<Terremore>
“Ah!” Yelena gasped softly. It was the same name as from the legend.
It was written in a dead language, but Yelena had studied ancient languages as part of her education.
“Terremore… The Holy Sword’s name…” Aendydn mumbled. Aendydn had also received the same foundational education as a fellow noble.
“I see you have excavated the Holy Sword successfully. Congratulations.”
Grace looked from Kaywhin to Aendydn, and then finally at Yelena. Her gaze remained on Yelena for a long time.
Grace’s demeanor was calm in a way that didn’t fit a child, but for a moment, the look in her eyes was forlorn like that of a lost child.
‘Was she reminded of the conversation we had in the tea room?’
The conversation about war.
Yelena smiled softly at Grace. The smile was to reassure the girl, since Yelena had been telling the truth when she had said that humans would win the war.
Then, Yelena turned back to Kaywhin.
She had accomplished her goal of acquiring the Holy Sword.
“Shall we return?”
Now it was time to go back home.
***
Yelena was completely exhausted by the time she returned to the ducal castle.
It wasn’t simply because the carriage ride had been a long one. More than that, she was strangely nervous for the whole ride.
‘Why was that?’
She felt her husband’s presence even more strongly than she usually did as he sat next to her. She would awkwardly peek over at him. Then, afraid that they’d make eye contact, she would quickly turn her gaze back to the window. This repeated countlessly.
“Fufu.”
Nonetheless, she was finally free from the carriage. Yelena was no longer inside the carriage that made her nervous. Now, she was in a spacious and comfortable bathtub.
‘Aendy arrived home safely, right?’
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