Chapter 4

Patrice returned to the squad with the knights, somehow swallowing his sigh.

If he were to let out a sigh, which had become a recent habit, he would undoubtedly be teased by the knights.

This stay at the manor was turning out to be much worse than initially expected.

Originally, he had hoped to understand Clarice a little more—luxuriously, to even cultivate a friendship. However, their relationship only deteriorated.

He knew it was all, or almost all, his fault.

While he thought Clarice's concerns about the male servants in the manor were an overreaction, her concerns about the head stableman, Peter, turned out to be correct.

The morning after their arrival, Patrice spent some time in the stables and felt a sense of unease.

The stables were clean, the horses well-groomed, and they had had appropriate exercise.

But something was off.

The next day, when Patrice went to the stables again, he realized what was wrong.

No one but the stableboy Mick approached Dead.

From cleaning the stable to grooming, and preparing Dead when Patrice wanted to take him out, everything was done by Mick.

While Dead was known to be picky, it was impossible for the head stableman to be unable to handle him.

Observing Peter casually, Patrice noticed that while his work was perfect, his manner with the horses was too indifferent.

"Mick, is it easy to work here?"

"Yes! Lady—no, it's very fulfilling!"

"…Then, is my wife not causing any trouble?"

"Absolutely not—no, not at all! Lady is… very kind and truly loves the horses. Even Dead…"

Mick stopped speaking, but Patrice understood enough.

After observing Peter for another day, Patrice was confident enough to start the arrangements for a reassignment.

He tried to inform Clarice and apologize for his initial harsh rejection, but it didn't go well.

He could only meet Clarice at dinner, where many knights were present, making it impossible to bring up the topic.

Moreover, Clarice, who had appeared so simple when he barged into her study, was now dressed up and perfectly playing the role of the lady of the house, chatting amicably with the knights and secretaries.

While he often saw such scenes with the three knights he had brought, for some reason, he felt like a sulky child not being included in the group when it came to Clarice.

Her laughter was just like Chris's, and he would be startled and then reconsider repeatedly.

Time passed, and the day came when they were to return to the squad.

Patrice, who had received a request for a meeting from Clarice, finished his other work earlier than expected and had a bit of spare time before the appointment.

The bandits causing trouble recently had moved from the border with the Kingdom of Sacrine to within the Kingdom of Montero, and it was only a matter of time before they entered Patrice's territory.

Thinking he needed to immediately form a squad to pursue the bandits upon returning to the squad, Patrice was momentarily captivated by Clarice's beauty when she entered.

Disliking this, harsh words slipped out of his mouth.

"…Quite a flashy outfit, isn't it?"

The moment he said it, he regretted it, but it was too late.

Because the start was bad, the conversation remained tense throughout.

Thinking her request for a permanent knight was out of vanity as a duchess, he showed a cold attitude, leading to a misunderstanding by Clarice.

As a result, Clarice even suggested calling in the knights from her own territory, and Patrice, getting angry, overreacted.

It was natural for her to be anxious, as the rumors of the bandits had reached her ears.

Realizing he was the one putting on a foolish front, he reflected, but seeing Clarice chatting happily with the knights at the last dinner, he couldn't bring himself to apologize.

In the end, Patrice couldn't even say he would return with the knights and treated Clarice coldly when she saw him off the next morning.

A few days later—

Back at the garrison, Patrice couldn't stop thinking about her.

Wondering what had happened to him, Patrice wrote a proper letter to Clarice this time.

He convinced himself that he had excluded Tares, who was particularly close to Clarice, from the permanent knights because he was needed at the garrison.

He also discussed with Deputy Commander Hugo and others, carefully planning the operation to capture the bandits.

The bandits were definitely approaching Patrice's territory, and if nothing was done, the residents would be at risk.

Worse, Clarice and the others at the manor would also be in danger, so Patrice decided to return to his territory earlier than planned.

However, when Patrice returned to the manor, the gates were closed, and there were more guards on duty than usual, even in the daytime.

Suspicious, he asked a guard what had happened, and the guard said bandits had appeared.

He immediately ordered one of the guards to bring the head guard to the study and handed his horse to a servant, confronting Samond at the entrance.

"When did the bandits appear?"

"Apparently, in the morning yesterday…"

"Where? Why didn't a messenger come to me? Did we miss each other? Besides, the town seemed no different from usual?"

"It seems they appeared in the eastern forest. If they cross the forest, they'll enter the Kingdom of Brighton, so they might have gone that way… We didn't inform the residents to avoid giving them an excuse to skip work."

While heading to the study and removing his light armor, Patrice stopped.

He couldn't believe what he had just heard.

Suppressing the urge to yell, he glanced at Gordon, the middle-aged knight standing by, ready to follow any order.

Gordon also had a serious expression.

Patrice started moving again and didn't say anything more until he entered the study.

"…How is my wife?"

As soon as he entered the room, Patrice asked about Clarice.

Her absence was more noticeable than the unusual actions of the house steward.

For some reason, he felt she would have warned the residents and sent a messenger to Patrice.

Samond, unusually restless, remained standing and fidgeted.

"Samond?"

"Um… Yes. Lady… She is resting because she was injured."

"Injured? What do you mean?"

Despite being injured enough to rest during the day, there was no contact with Patrice, which made him increasingly angry and gave him a bad feeling.

"Lady… Yesterday, while riding with Serge… she was attacked by bandits on the forest trail—!"

Before he could think, Patrice had punched Samond.

Seeing Samond fall with a loud thud did nothing to calm his anger, and he tried to grab the fallen Samond, but Gordon stopped him.

"Sir! There are many things to do before we can punish this man!"

"Damn it!"

For the first time in his life, Patrice lost control of his anger and swore.

Gordon was surprised by Patrice's behavior but hid his feelings and calmly advised him.

"Sir, please go to Lady first. I will alert the residents. We can discuss the bandits' capture later."

"…I'm sorry, Gordon."

"No, it's only natural."

Gordon's response was both about the actions to be taken and a show of concern for Patrice, who was worried about Clarice.

But Patrice left the study without properly listening to the response.

Gordon also left immediately, leaving Samond, who seemed to be in a daze, still lying on the floor.