Chapter 33
“……”
Rashid looked at Rosetta with wide eyes. His expression was one of utter disbelief. Suddenly, Rosetta realized that she was the one who had told him to stay here last night, and that this bed was his.
Rosetta quickly corrected herself. “I meant, why are you still here instead of leaving?”
“……”
His silence lengthened, and Rosetta watched him carefully. She was about to speak again when he suddenly touched her forehead.
“You don’t seem to have a fever. Any pain?”
Rosetta looked at her bandaged hands. They still throbbed with pain, but they felt better than they had yesterday.
“I’m fine.”
He scanned her expression to make sure she wasn’t trying to play it cool, and then nodded.
“You can rest in my room today, and if you get bored, go for a walk. Or talk to Thelma or Benny and ask them to show you around the castle.”
“Can I?”
“I told you, you can do whatever you want.”
Rashid slid off the bed. He ran his fingers through his tousled hair and straightened his crumpled clothes. From the way he looked, Rosetta realized he hadn’t left this place once last night. He’d stayed in bed after she’d fallen asleep.
Could it be that he was worried about me?
She couldn’t tell if that was true, but somehow she was a little glad. She hadn’t realized how nice it was to greet the morning with someone.
Maybe that’s why people get married.
“I’m going to go out now and be out all day and won’t be back until late at night. If you need anything, let me know…”
“I’ll talk to Thelma or Benny. I’ll take care of myself, don’t worry about me, you do your job.”
Rosetta replied cheerfully, thinking that she shouldn’t bother him anymore, but then she noticed a strange look on his face. Just as she was about to ask him why he had that look on his face, he spoke first.
“Apparently, Rigaina only needs my body at night, so I will leave as you wish.”
Rosetta’s jaw dropped. As she watched him stifle a laugh, the door slammed shut behind him.
As soon as Rashid left the room, he bumped into two women standing side by side by the door. Thelma and Benny, a smile dangling from their lips, looked at him as if they were looking at a very strange creature. When they saw his puzzled expression, they hastened to greet him.
“Master Rashid, what shall we do for breakfast?”
At Thelma’s next question, Rashid jerked his chin toward the room. “I need to get cleaned up and leave right away. Just bring it to her.”
“Then I’ll get some water for you to bathe in.”
“And Thelma.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Call the merchants to the castle soon, all those who deal in cloth, jewelry, and other women’s goods.”
Thelma asked cautiously, “Are these things that Rigaina will use?”
“Yes. I was going to hold the banquet right away, but I think we’ll have to postpone it until the wounds on her hands are healed. Now that we have time, we can prepare the costumes we need. Prepare other necessary things as well.”
“Yes, sir, I understand, but…”
As he turned to leave, Thelma stopped him. She coughed a few times, then tried to keep her face calm.
“If you want Rigaina’s wounds to heal quickly, I think it would be best if you avoided any excessive relationships for the time being. Perhaps you didn’t realize that she was exhausted from the long journey and had injured her hands?”
Rashid suddenly realized the reason why the two women were acting like this. Benny, who had entered the room earlier, had misunderstood and told Thelma all about it. Now Benny was hiding behind Thelma, looking at him with a reproachful glare.
Rashid was about to say that it was a misunderstanding, but then he shut up. It was a lame excuse, and more than anything, he figured it would be better to let them think what they wanted to think. It would be better for her to be a beloved bride than a bride rejected by her groom.
Rashid left without another word. Benny, watching his back, exclaimed.
[See? He never said no. I know it must be true because I saw it with my own eyes.]
Moments earlier, Thelma had gone to the kitchen with orders for Benny to wait for the two of them to wake up and then go in and check on them. With a patient with burns, she wanted to pay more attention to the food.
And as soon as Benny saw Thelma coming back from the kitchen, she grabbed her and spoke quickly.
[Nanny, do you know what I just saw? Suddenly, I heard a loud noise and went into the room, and I saw Riga attacking Rigaina since morning!]
Thelma hastily covered Benny’s mouth, but it had already been heard by some of the maids who were nearby. It was an omen of what was to become a wildly inflated rumor that would sweep through the castle in less than half a day.
In the end, Thelma hastily dismissed the rumors with the following words
[Be quiet, Riga is not such a person.]
But in the end, she was right, and it was confirmed by Riga himself. If she hadn’t asked at all, everyone would have been confused.
[Stop it, let’s go in…]
Thelma entered the room, half-dazed, carrying a bowl of water, followed by Benny.
Rosetta, lying on the bed, sat up when she saw them enter.
“Rigaina, I’ve brought water for you.”
Thelma helped Rosetta sit up in bed, then soaked a washcloth in warm water and wiped her face. It would have been better for her to take a bath after rolling around barefoot on the kitchen floor yesterday, but she didn’t want to risk getting water in her bandages. For the time being, it was better to replace baths with frequent body scrubbing.
“What happened yesterday was really inexcusable.”
Once she was clean, Thelma bowed before Rosetta. Once again, she begged her forgiveness.
“I didn’t think things through and told Benny to burn all of your clothes, and I put you in trouble, and it’s all my fault.”
The fact that the former Rigaina’s belonging was burned like that really hurt Thelma, too. The former Rigaina is Rashid’s mother, but for Thelma, she was an old family member, a friend, and… a source of long-standing guilt that had been building up in her chest.
Every now and then, when she saw the purple ribbon swaying in Rashid’s dark hair, Thelma would think of the face of a woman of great beauty.
“Thelma, you’re like my own sister. You know that, right?”
The way she’d said it, the way she’d smiled, the way she’d been so kind to everyone. Something stirred inside her as she remembered it again.
Thelma clutched the hem of her skirt to hide her trembling fingers. Except for the color of his eyes, Rashid bore a striking resemblance to his mother’s features. It was bad luck for him, perhaps. Having a look that bore no resemblance to his father had caused his bloodline’s authenticity to be questioned all the more.
“And I thank you from the bottom of my heart. For protecting the late Madam Elysia’s thing.”
If it weren’t for her, it would have been lost in the flames, burned to ashes. Thelma was sincerely grateful to Rosetta for saving it, for keeping it even half of it.
“It’s not only precious to Master Rashid, but to me as well. I really don’t know how to thank you…”
“I could already tell that you valued it when you asked me to return it to Rashid.”
Rosetta looked at Thelma and smiled. “I’m glad my efforts weren’t in vain.”
Seeing her sincere delight, Thelma realized she owed this woman a debt of gratitude, one that would have weighed on her mind for the rest of her life if she had played a part in destroying Elysia’s keepsake by burning it.
“T- thank you.”
Benny came trotting over and stood in front of Rosetta, her head bowed low.
“Thank you for helping me yesterday.”
Rosetta turned to Benny and said gently, “Benny, it was actually thanks to you.”
“Sorry?”
Benny tilted her head, not understanding what Rosetta was talking about. Rosetta was the one who protected her by standing in front of her, why did she say it was thanks to her?
“You stepped up to the front, and that’s what gave me the courage to step forward, and if you’d stayed behind, I’d have hid with you. That man was really scary yesterday.”
Benny nodded vigorously. “Yeah. It was the first time Riga had ever pulled a sword on us, so we all freaked out.”
“Yeah? And yet, you stepped forward on your own, that’s pretty impressive!”
“Well, is it?”
At Rosetta’s praise, Benny felt very embarrassed, cupped her cheeks, and looked at her with sparkling eyes.
“Benny, I have a favor to ask you.”
“Sure, go ahead. Everything’s fine.”
“Will you teach me some Ardennese?”
Benny tilted her head again. “Rigaina, all the high people speak Latisse, only the low people like us don’t know it. You don’t really need Ardennese.”
“But that means I can’t talk to most people in the castle, and I need to be able to speak a little Ardennese to prevent things like yesterday.”
At that, Benny smiled brightly.
“Yes, I’ll teach you well!”