NOVEL NEXT Chapter 173 - Side Story (7)
It was something everyone knew except you.
Fanora thought so but didn’t voice the thought. She didn’t want to chide him.
However, Carl couldn’t hide his astonishment upon learning something new for the first time, saying, “Then what’s the story about storks bringing babies? If it’s like this, what do storks do?”
“Well, what would they do? Just eat fish and live their lives, I guess.” Fanora replied plainly to her naïve partner’s question.
It looks like I won’t be getting up from bed today. My legs won’t cooperate.
Leaning against the headboard of the bed, she turned her head to look out the window behind her. She hadn’t noticed due to still being half asleep earlier, but today was a snowy day. Seeing the mountain tops donned in white caps suggested it had been snowing since the crack of dawn.
“Carl, did you get to exercise today?”
“No, I got up, did the laundry, and prepared breakfast before I knew it, and now it’s already this time.”
Fanora frowned upon hearing that Carl hadn’t gone out for his exercise. Her face was filled with worry, almost on the verge of tears. “…Will you be okay today?”
Carl had been struggling to suppress his urges lately. He used to increase the intensity of his morning exercises to exhaust his body, but now that he couldn’t even do that, her worry intensified.
Is Carl struggling without showing it?
However, Carl’s response was unexpected.
“
Ah
!”
“W-what’s wrong?”
“I just realized I’m not struggling today!”
Despite feeling like his body was being pricked with needles from the urge to run out somewhere up until yesterday, today, he felt none of that discomfort. He was surprised at his own condition.
“It’s bearable, Lady Fanora!”
“Really?”
“Yes! I feel fine even just sitting still.”
Fanora scrutinized him with a doubtful look but then noticed he seemed more stable than usual, and her face brightened.
Right. People say the first three days of quitting smoking are the hardest, and after a month, you surprisingly don’t even think about cigarettes.
Fanora thought perhaps Carl’s withdrawal symptoms were starting to wane.
Ah! Thank god. Now, I won’t have to see him suffer.
But this smile soon subsided as if cold water had been poured on her.
“It must be thanks to what happened yesterday.”
“…I beg your pardon?”
“It felt similar to when I was fighting.”
Carl explained that the stimulation he felt on the battlefield and what happened yesterday was not much different. His face was as kind as usual, but Fanora was shocked to hear these words from him.
“
Ah
, so when you fight and exchange blows, you feel that intensely…” Looking at him with darkened and murky eyes, she couldn’t finish her sentence.
Having received such looks often, Carl quickly realized the emotion in her eyes. It was the look of someone filled with fear.
“That… Why are you looking at me like that?”
“…”
“Lady Fanora?”
“I will always love you the same, but I’ll need some time to accept what happened this time.”
“Yes?”
The day was unsettling for both of them. It was like discovering a secret about a person you lived with that you didn’t want to know or encountering the gaze of a lover you’d never met before. But this turmoil was soon resolved. They were honest and warm people, unlike many nobles in Kasius, so they understood and embraced each other without escalating into a major conflict.
“…Shall we have a meal?”
“Can you get up?”
“
Um
, but eating in bed, the crumbs…”
Their life continued without much change afterward. They ate meat spiced heavily for winter storage, chopped wood in the garden when they had time, and began their roles as a clumsy couple. Compared to life in a grand mansion as a noble, their humble cabin might seem insignificant, but for them, there was no place more fulfilling.
* * *
About three months after that incident, spring finally arrived in the eastern part of Kollaeng. Switching from thick wool clothes to cooler linen, Fanora went out to the front yard for the first time in a while. In the small garden, she could see chicory seedlings she had started to grow.
“…”
She silently watered the chicory and moved on. Her destination was a rocking chair placed in front of the garden, where she sat down and leaned back.
“
Ha
…”
Spring has finally come. They had safely made it through their first winter since fleeing. Yet, Fanora’s expression was anything but bright.
“Lady Fanora, you look down. Are you feeling unwell?”
“You’re back already?”
“
Ah
, yes. As you said, I bought the wood from the next village.”
Carl, who appeared afterward, set down the firewood and knelt beside her, looking up with concern.
“Are you really not feeling sick?”
“It’s just that I have some worries.”
Hearing her mention worries, Carl thought of various issues: the pursuit from Kasius, unfinished revenge, the ownership of the holy relic. There were a few possibilities, but the worry Fanora mentioned was about something entirely different.
“I’m worried because there’s still no news of pregnancy this month. I was thinking what if it never happens…”
“!”
“Then it might be a problem with my health?” Resting her elbow on the armrest of the rocking chair, she spoke quietly.
Seeing this, Carl reassured her with a bright smile. “It’s just the beginning of spring. It hasn’t been that long.”
“I know I’m being impatient, but… I’ve been poisoned with the deadly poison before…”
“It doesn’t mean the problem lies with Lady Fanora if there’s no pregnancy. It could be me.”
“That can’t be. Even by appearances, Carl is a healthy person.”
“But I’ve also been poisoned more often than not.”
His face, usually bright with a sunny smile, gradually became solemn as he empathized with Fanora’s gloom.
“In the end, what does it matter if we don’t have children? We’ll just live the two of us.” Carl spoke sincerely, indicating that having Fanora was enough regardless of the outcome.
Fanora’s stiff expression slowly began to change. She might not have realized the conventional dream of being surrounded by a husband and children in a grand mansion. But not living the future she imagined didn’t mean she was unhappy.
“…Right?”
Perhaps this was the ideal life for her. Such thoughts made Fanora content with her present. She smiled faintly and nodded.
“Thank you. I feel better because of you.”
After this conversation, they returned to their usual routine.
Today’s agenda was math studies. It was only with the arrival of spring that Fanora realized Carl couldn’t even do basic multiplication of tens.
“Shall we continue from where we left off yesterday?”
“
Uh
, yes…”
“No matter how much you sulk, it won’t help… Eventually, you’ll have to buy land or get a job, right? Then, you’ll definitely need to do some money calculations. Even if not, how will you manage shopping alone?” She chided the disheartened man.
Though they had significant wealth, careless spending could be depleted at their old age. Understanding her point, Carl eventually complied.
“Okay, let’s start with a review of addition…”
They sat in the cabin’s front yard early in the morning, each holding a twig, and practiced counting. This lesson continued until the sun moved overhead, and shortly after, the sound of clapping marked the end of the session.
“You got the question right today! You’re doing very well!”
“…But I only got one out of ten correct. Isn’t that failing?”
“Why worry about the process? As long as it improves, that’s what matters.”
Then Carl caught something on Fanora’s shoulder when she was applauding, then he reached out his hand. “
Huh?
Lady Fanora, why are you hurt here?”
“Huh? Fanora, why are you hurt here?”
“Hurt? Where?”
“On the upper part of your shoulder… right here.”
Straining her neck to see where he pointed, she grunted. Indeed, there was a faint scar near her shoulder.
“Where did I get hurt…?
Ah
, while cleaning the stove earlier, I think I brushed against a brick.”
“W-where’s the medicine!”
He was accustomed to injuries from his days on the battlefield, but anything involving Fanora sensitized him.
“Good thing we bought medicine when the weather warmed up, right?”
Despite her reluctance to waste expensive medicine, Carl begged until she allowed him to treat her. They entered the cabin, and Carl gently applied ointment to her shoulder.
“…”
However, something caught his eye as he looked at his lover’s shoulder. Even after applying the ointment, he traced her shoulder with his fingertip, where a long scar stretched from her forearm.
“Carl?”
“Lady Fanora, you have quite a few scars. There’s a big one on your abdomen too.”
“
Ah
… sorry.”
When he mentioned the scars, she resignedly admitted, as if expecting this.
“Does it look ugly?”
But Carl seemed never to have considered it that way.
“What? No. I was just curious how you got them since you’re not a knight.”
“
Ah
….”
“…
Ah
! Did you think I found your body unattractive? I have far more scars.”
He looked down at his hands, appearing crestfallen. Between them, Carl undoubtedly had more scars. He could connect them like constellations across his torso.
Embarrassed, Carl stepped back, covering his forearms, while Fanora hastily reassured him. “No! Don’t worry about it. I’ve been concerned they might hurt occasionally, but I never thought they were ugly!”
And with those words, Fanora realized what they meant. Maybe Carl had the same thoughts about her scars.
“…”
She stopped raising her voice and sat quietly on the stool.
It’s probably already obvious. Better to just say it myself.
As she suddenly went silent, Carl hovered around, worried. But soon, Fanora shared a small secret.
“Carl, you were curious about how I got my scars, right?”
“A bit.”
“One of these is a scare from when I was in the middle of revenge and was attacked instead of Vasago to win her favor.”
“So you’ve been through that.”
“Another is from when an assassin came, and I got a little scar from being stabbed with a dagger.”
Sitting on the stool, she slowly raised her head and, with arms wide open, said, “And the last one is from when I inserted the holy relic into my body.”
“Yes?”
“Which one of my scars do you think is where Io?” She stretched her words, posing the question as if it were a math problem.
Carl covered his mouth in shock.
At that time, I wasn’t in my right mind. Does Carl also find it strange that I hid a holy relic in my body?
Fanora thought he was shocked because she had hidden the holy relic inside her body.
“When we were on the run, I never saw your holy relic, wondering where you kept it… But it is inside your body?”
But instead of finding her actions strange, he began to admire her. Soon, his entire face expressed respect.
“Lady Fanora, you’re a genius! Then you won’t be caught, and you can use the holy relic in any situation!”