NOVEL NEXT Chapter 12
Episode 12: What Should I Do? This Is Love
“Sorry, Nii-san.”
The boy shrugged apologetically while Luke carried him on his back.
The girl walked alongside Luke, holding a basket full of wild strawberries with both hands.
“It’s fine, really. More importantly, I’m not familiar with the geography around here, so I appreciate your guidance. This way, right?”
“Yes! Turn at that intersection and head up that slope.”
The boy introduced himself as Emile, aged eight. His younger sister’s name was Lily, and she was six.
Both of them were citizens of the Margraviate territory, and they were currently living temporarily in a corner of the castle.
“Look, can you see it? That’s my lord… Margrave Rietberg’s castle!”
Emile pointed over Luke’s shoulder, his small finger directed at the clear sky. Towering above, the black castle appeared to float, casting a striking silhouette.
The heavy black roof tiles caught the sunlight, sparkling like smoked pure silver.
—That’s the castle of Margrave Rietberg, Luke inhaled sharply, and Emile continued to explain.
“Our mother is a maid who works in the castle.”
From what Luke gathered, originally, Emile and Lily lived in the castle town within the territory with their parents, while their mother worked at the castle.
However, two years ago, their father died unexpectedly, leaving their mother in despair with two young children. It was then that the lord of the territory, Margrave Rietberg, and his daughter offered their help.
“The young lady said it would be fine for us to live in the castle, and her father agreed, even preparing a room for us!”
Since then, the three of them have been renting a room in the castle, and their mother has continued her work as a maid.
Emile and Lily usually attended school in the territory’s town, assisted their mother and other servants with their work, or like today, wandered the mountains looking for wild plants and nuts.
Emile, shaking his chestnut hair, tilted his head.
“What about you, Nii-san? Did you come to work at the castle?”
“Kind of. I hope they’ll hire me.”
“You’ll definitely get hired! I’ll recommend you!”
“Lily too!”
Their enthusiastic encouragement made Luke smile without realizing it.
Eventually, they crossed the rolling hills and reached the slope Emile mentioned.
The imposing and dignified gates of the Black Castle loomed before the trio.
“Ah!”
It was Lily’s cheerful voice that rang out. “Mommy!” she called, her voice sweet as honey, rushing off.
“Mommy!”
“Emile! Lily!”
Lily dashed toward a woman in a maid’s outfit, waving as she adjusted her white apron. Their mother had likely come out, worried about her two children arriving home late.
“Whoa…!”
Luke’s light blue eyes widened in astonishment, completely forgetting to blink.
It was that woman standing in front of the castle gate.
With a tall, striking figure, flowing, lustrous black hair, a firm, refined mouth, and elegant eyes full of grace, she was smiling warmly as she watched Lily reunite with their mother.
As Luke stared at her, entranced, she noticed him and returned his gaze.
“…You’re… from earlier…?”
With piercing blue eyes, she alternated her gaze between Luke and Emile.
Even with a frown, she remained stunningly beautiful, leaving Luke struck speechless, as if he’d been shot through the heart.
“I apologize for my subordinate’s rough handling. I searched for you after you fell but was relieved to find you safe.”
Luke was so moved he struggled to find words, realizing that someone had actually been searching for him after he’d fallen off the cliff.
Someone suddenly proposing marriage by kneeling out of the blue is definitely suspicious behavior, and if he fell or went missing, it was his own fault. It was natural for her to just leave him behind, but the kindness of going out of her way to look for him was overwhelming.
“But why are you carrying Emile?”
“My lady! This person saved me!”
Emile raised his hands from behind Luke, defending him, but Luke’s eyes widened even more.
“…‘My Lady’…?”
In the Rietberg castle, only one person could be addressed that way.
The only daughter of Margrave Rietberg, renowned for her savage demeanor, she was the controversial princess known as the “Barbaric Young Lady” in high society.
“Huh… y-yeah… huh?!”
“Are you alright, Emile?”
She swiftly picked up Emile from Luke’s back, who was still reeling from shock.
“Marie. We must get him to a doctor immediately.”
“My lady, we’re not worthy of such a doctor…”
The siblings’ mother, called Marie, shook her head in panic.
There is a doctor on site at the castle, but he is there to treat the lord’s family and knights, not the servants.
“That’s fine. Just tell them I commanded it.”
She compared the cloth wrapped around Emile’s leg with the torn sleeve of Luke’s jacket. “Thank you,” she said to Luke.
“Thank you for saving Emile.”
“…”
Luke could only stare in a daze, taken aback.
—Whispers behind her back called her the barbaric young lady from the frontier.
A rough princess raised in uncivilized lands.
She was lacking in dignity, devoid of ladylike manners, rough, vulgar, uneducated, and completely outside of social norms.
“No… she’s not barbaric…!”
Luke shook his head firmly, denying it.
The brave bowstring, tightly drawn. The feathers cutting through the wind, soaring in elegant flight. The dignified voice that expressed concern for Luke’s well-being.
What he saw was not barbarism but courage — he felt it strongly.
“…Ahhh.”
The electric shock that coursed through his body earlier surged once more, gripping him tightly.
His head spun, his face felt flushed, and his heart raced.
This wasn’t fatigue from traveling; it was the heat rising from deep within his body.
As he became completely lost in the flood of passion coursing through him, Luke found himself muttering unconsciously.
“I like….”
What should I do? This is love.
He had fallen in love.