"I think it would be best to find a female doctor to examine the madam more thoroughly."
It was clear he had received a proper stern lecture from Selma yesterday.
Nowhere in Bill's polite demeanor could any hostility toward Rose be seen. It meant that even if he harbored any, he had the discretion not to show it on the outside.
I welcomed that fact and replied.
"Ask the madam and proceed. Have a skilled female doctor lined up in advance."
"Yes, understood."
After finishing my preparations, I headed out of the castle.
In the clearing in front of the inner castle, the knights, led by Knight Commander Matthias, were waiting on horseback. They were the very ones whose bloodthirsty sword-drawing had made my back ache yesterday.
'Let's forget about yesterday.'
Although they had given me a headache yesterday, they were among the few outstanding talents I had personally taught and raised.
I knew I shouldn't let a single day's events make me underestimate them. On the battlefield, they were more reliable and valorous than anyone else.
"Your Excellency."
Matthias bowed his head upon seeing me.
"I made you wait. Let us depart."
"...Yes."
Matthias looked like he had a lot he desperately wanted to say, but he obediently drove his horse forward.
"I will be back."
"Yes, Your Excellency."
"And."
I gave my final instructions to Bill.
"If the madam requires anything, prepare it at once."
"Yes."
"Whatever it may be."
"Consider it done, Your Excellency."
Leaving Bill, who had answered so readily, behind...
"Heeyah!"
I spurred my horse and galloped out. It was a new mount whose health Bill had meticulously checked until the very end.
"Heeyah!"
Matthias, followed by the rest of the knights, began to chase after me.
**
Dageudak, dageudak.
I rode hard, cutting through the cold air. I was at the forefront, with Knight Commander Matthias right beside me. A long line of knights trailed behind us.
"We will arrive in an hour."
Matthias said, bringing his horse right up next to mine.
"I know. Anyway..."
I asked the stiff-faced man.
"What message did Bill send yesterday? You must have come in quite a hurry."
"He said an important guest was arriving at the castle. So I left only a minimum number of knights behind and departed."
"I see."
I nodded, then went on to ask.
"Then why didn't you return to the mine yesterday?"
After welcoming Rose and before entering the castle, I had told Matthias. I told him to return to the mine first, and that I would depart tomorrow.
I clearly remembered him answering that he understood, so it was unexpected to find him still here.
"Did something happen at the mine? Something that requires my help?"
"...No, it's nothing like that."
Matthias's face grew even stiffer. His complexion was like that of someone suppressing something desperately, right on the verge of exploding.
"It's just, I..."
Matthias, about to say something, soon shook his head.
"It is nothing."
It was obvious he had stopped talking because he was mindful of the surrounding knights.
'Same as always.'
Matthias had grown up as my squire since he was a child.
Having recognized the guy's talent, I taught him swordsmanship, and in the end, he was bestowed a sword by me and became the Knight Commander.
Because of that, I could tell what was on his mind just by looking into his eyes. His still-youthful cheeks were brimming with dissatisfaction.
"······."
Even with that look on his face, Matthias kept his mouth shut and only drove his horse, saying nothing else.
It was out of character for him. He was the kind of guy who would immediately kick open my office door and demand an explanation if he had a complaint.
'He probably doesn't want to ask directly.'
I didn't have a soft enough personality to pacify a guy acting like that. Besides, he was making it so obvious; it was no different from a silent protest begging me to figure it out myself.
Annoyed as I was by it, I couldn't just let it slide without saying something.
Tadak.
I spurred my horse a little faster, surging ahead.
"Your Excellency?"
"Matthias, to my side."
Matthias quickly drove his horse to catch up and flank me.
By then, enough distance had opened up that I figured the knights wouldn't be able to hear our conversation.
"Matthias."
"Yes."
"What do you have to say?"
Matthias chewed on his lip for a moment, then opened his mouth.
"Hyung-nim."
Since he had been by my side since he was so young, we had a relationship where we spoke comfortably in private like this.
Matthias spoke as if he were spewing out filth he absolutely couldn't bear to keep inside.
"You haven't really fallen for that woman, have you?"
His scrunched-up face, akin to one who had stepped in dung, paired with eyes that were begging, 'Please say no,' was truly a masterpiece.
"And if I have?"
"Hyung-nim!"
He raised his voice as if he couldn't believe it, but then, conscious of our surroundings, Matthias hurriedly lowered his voice.
"Why are you doing something so out of character? What makes you trust a woman you've only known for a single day enough to let her into your bedchamber?"
"I didn't just see her for a day. We attended the Academy together."
"That is the same thing. I stayed by your side the entire time at the Academy, and I have never even caught a glimpse of that woman."
Matthias's nostrils flared wildly.
"The Vikander family? Ugh. I am not even going to say it. And did you see that carriage? I thought she was some livestock being dragged to a slaughterhouse."
"It means there will be no interference from her in-laws."
"You never know. They say people change their minds the moment they step out of the bathroom. You think a daughter they treated so shabbily will be beloved as the Duke's wife?"
Matthias let out a loud snort, as if it was a given.
"Would a poor Viscount's family just sit back and watch? Ugh, just thinking about how greedily they will try to wield their influence is horrifying."
"Do you think I would be swayed by that?"
Matthias flinched for a moment, then shook his head.
"That's not it, but, ahem. Or, couldn't another family reach out to Your Excellency with sinister intentions through that wife of yours?"
Matthias continued worriedly,
"Those collateral bloodline bastards—ahem, you know as well as I do why they keep pushing those unacceptable marriage proposals. This is too dangerous."
or raised his suspicions with dissatisfaction.
"I really don't know what you are thinking, Hyung-nim. The castle was already in an uproar. Everyone was buzzing about how you were giving your heart and soul to that woman."
The rumors had spread faster than I expected.
I had thought it would just circulate among the servants. I had somewhat orchestrated for that to happen. But I didn't expect it to reach Matthias's ears.
"I didn't know there was someone in the castle with such a loose tongue."
"Ah, no. It's not like that. Please don't misunderstand."
Matthias suddenly broke out in a cold sweat.
"I just grabbed a passing servant and asked. I didn't eavesdrop on them gossiping among themselves."
"Hmm."
I found it dubious, but once I acknowledged it, Matthias hurriedly changed the subject.
"Even this morning... ugh. It was my first time seeing you chewing out Sir Joel with such a serious expression."
"I did?"
I didn't think I had pressured him that much. I was just frustrated that he wouldn't tell me what his illness was.
As expected, my gaze was the problem. It seemed there was a spell cast on me that made even the same words sound ferocious.
"That woman looked frail, too. Couldn't she be sick? I don't know why you were making such a fuss over something like that."
"Where did you hear that?"
"I didn't hear it, I saw... Acha."
"Peeking into a young woman's bedchamber? You have terrible manners."
Looking speechless, Matthias scratched his head roughly.
"Anyway, that's not the important part... I seriously doubt your tastes. Just what is so good about that tiny little girl?"
"Have you forgotten the case of my previous wives? Even beautiful roses have thorns."
"Well, sure... those women were lunatics with nothing but pretty faces."
Matthias faltered. Even so, he didn't back down from his opinion.
"But does that mean you should let a woman like her into your bedchamber? This isn't right, seriously."
"Matthias."
When I raised my hand as a sign for him to cut it out, Matthias stopped talking. But his nostrils kept flaring ceaselessly, exhaling hot breaths.
'It's not like he was the one who took her as his wife.'
In the original story, Matthias hated Rose too. No, to be precise, he hated all the women who came in as my wives.
It was because he knew what motives those wives had in entering the household. This guy had stayed by my side for over ten years and witnessed all of it firsthand.
'He was a guy who hated women in general, anyway.'
Therefore, it was only natural that he was shocked and repulsed by what had happened between Rose and me yesterday. However, that didn't mean he could treat Rose disrespectfully.
"What business is it of yours whether I have fallen for her or not?"
At that short remark, Matthias's face drastically changed. He blinked, as if he couldn't believe what he had just heard.
It was the reaction of a man whose trusted brother had betrayed him.
"Rose is my wife. Treat her with the same respect you treat me."
"······."
"And do not call her rudely by referring to her as 'this woman' or 'that woman'."
"No, Hyung. How could you!"
The unspoken second half of his sentence—asking if I trusted that woman more than him—was audible.
Right, through Matthias's eyes, it could certainly look that way. He probably felt that his hyung had forgotten their ten-plus years of sharing joys and sorrows, lost his mind over a woman.
"She is the wife I chose. Do not question it."
As I mercilessly cut him off, indicating there was no need for further words, Matthias's entire face twitched.
'That, that damn habit of his is cropping up again.'
His arrogance and rudeness back when he was a squire were no different from now.
He had received a crash course in etiquette by being beaten with my fists and struck with my sword, which was how he barely managed to attain his current knightly appearance.
But the moment he got riled up, he would forget the past again and run amok like a beast struck by lightning.
"If you want, I can give you that etiquette lesson again."
"Heok!"
If he forgot, I simply needed to remind him. The law was far, but violence—no, education—was close at hand.
"Hyung-nim, please."
Matthias hastily tucked his tail between his legs.
"Please spare me that. I'm the Knight Commander now, you know."
"Wouldn't getting beaten in front of the knights have an even better effect?"
"Hyung-niiim."
Matthias drooped his eyes and feigned a pitiful look. It was a clear signal of complete surrender. But a faint trace of dissatisfaction lingered at the corners of his mouth.
'Should I gag him?'
Then again, he wasn't the type to listen just because I told him to. He would probably go around gossiping here and there behind my back.
'No, I'll just leave him be.'
Since I couldn't completely shut his mouth anyway, it was better to use him. He was the only one who could spread rumors to the knight order, which was far away from the castle.
However, knowing his personality, he was bound to cross the line one day. Even if he couldn't act recklessly toward me, he was the type to do whatever he wanted to Rose.
'I should take precautions in advance.'
As I was thinking that,
Cheol-keong.
I gripped the sword at my waist.
"Ah, Hyung-nim! You're really—"
"Front."
At that single short word, Matthias's demeanor shifted.