Eloise

Chapter 28: A Knight's Affection

"..ris"

".a..is"

"C..aris"

"Hey! Caris!" Caris snapped out of his reverie when someone grabbed his collar. "Get a grip of yourself, damn it!"

Emeric, the owner of the pissed voice entered his line of sight. His brows were knotted and his knuckles paled as he tightly gripped his collar.

"How long are you going to dawdle and act foolishly!? If you won't get your act together, we will lose half of our men."

Caris, still in a trance, silently observed his surroundings. It was only then that he realized the situation they were in.

That's right. They were sent to subdue a group of goblins in a nearby forest. But because of his indecisiveness, half of his men ended up gravely wounded. They decided to take refuge in an inn and continue their mission by sunrise.

"Snap out of it already! Its been three months since she died."

Caris felt numb the moment he heard Emeric's words. The memory of a lifeless body burning into ashes wrapped in a straw mat flashed through his mind. He could still remember the smell of the smoke as the fire slowly ate the body away. Suddenly, he felt like throwing up. His insides were turning upside down, gnawing and he felt dizzy.

"At this point, you'll end up losing more of your people."

'How am I suppose to feel okay?..'

The rage he bottled inside was eating him alive. It was so painful that he felt shackled by those emotions until his death. He wants to take revenge. To kill that wretched family.

But that moment he snapped and grabbed the Count's neck in anger, he ended up receiving a hundred lashes and locked up at the cold prison cell for days. He did not even had the chance to draw his sword.

What left him puzzled was that he was pardoned. Even though he committed attempted murder to his master, he was not stripped off his title and continued to serve the County under the Count's command. Every time he reminisced that moment, he was reminded of the Count's eyes, looking void and lifeless. It looks as if... he truly loved her.

'No, it can't be. That egocentric monster wasn't capable of loving anyone.'

Two days had passed and they returned to the County with a few casualties. The wounded knights were brought to the practitioner right away while he and Emeric headed towards the Count's office to report.

On their way to the main building, a figure caught his eyes. The familiar wavy lilac hair basking in the afternoon sun left him stilled.

The last time he saw that hair color was a dreadful memory he doesn't want to recall. But the owner of that lilac hair in front of him had a small, dainty body. Right then, the girl lifted her head and stared at their direction, recognizing their presence. Caris immediately acknowledged the pair of blue eyes that reminded him it wasn't the same person he knew. It was the child he escorted back to the County three months ago.

Her child.

Fear was visible on the little girl's face as it ran towards the Annex, shutting the door behind her.

“Isn't that—” Looking at his direction, Emeric stopped asking midway. Clearing his throat, he chose to remain silent.

A moment had passed, but Caris cannot find himself moving from his spot. His eyes remained at the door where the girl retreated, but his mind and heart were in disarray.