Chapter 14

“Wilhelm, long time no see.”

Back at the Luden territory, Reinhardt welcomed the boy sitting in front of the desk. The boy flinched and stood in front of her, the desk a barrier between the two of them.

“Dietrich wants to tell you something.”

“Yes?”

“Well, Mrs. Sarah called Dietrich and said…….”

“Wilhelm.” She cut off the boy’s words. The boy opened his eyes wide.

“When people talk, look into their eyes and speak to them.”

“……O-okay.”

Wilhelm was still bad at communicating with other people. Even though he had already spent one season – no, two seasons to be more precise- in two different domains, he was still regarded as a baby that needs his parents to teach him. So, two seasons weren’t enough.

Reinhardt taught Wilhelm manners at every opportunity. Wilhelm slowly stood in front of the desk, blinking his eyes nervously. Although she laughed at the cute way he held his hands behind his back, Reinhardt was still watching him closely because it had been a long time since she had a private conversation with the boy.

Dietrich had been with the boy all winter. On cold days, Reinhardt would sometimes tuck Wilhelm into her own bed, but Dietrich later forbade Wilhelm from sleeping with her.

“How interesting that a woman who was able to make it as the crown princess, though she is now called a waste, is attracting a young boy into her room,” Dietrich had said when he initially learned of what Reinhardt was doing.

“I’m treating him like a brother,” Reinhardt would tell Dietrich.

However, Dietrich was exceptionally hard on Wilhelm. Although Dietrich had younger siblings, they are all girls. When he was a boy, he used to regret that if he had a younger brother, he would have taught him how to use a sword and hunted together. So Reinhardt wondered if Dietrich was treating Wilhelm like a little brother. Of course, when she would voice her opinion, Dietrich would say….

“You’re really such a clueless person,” and he would walk away, whistling.

She raised her eyebrows.

I’m clueless?

Reinhardt was the first person who noticed Mikhail’s affair with the Princess of Canaria, who came as a hostage and without any presence.

Yet how was she clueless?

Let’s stop thinking about this.

She waved her hand, feeling like her head was very clouded.

It is not good to be immersed in useless thoughts.

Reinhardt instead looked at the boy in front of her.

She can see at first glance that the boy has grown a lot.

Reinhardt remembered the Bill Corona in her last life and compared him to the boy standing in front of her. Mikhail was also tall and bulky, but Bill Corona had a wider chest and shoulders. She clearly remembered that he looked unbelievably handsome when he put on his jointed heavy armor, which was split on the waist, then covered his whole body.

It would be a long time before Mikhail met the boy according to her previous life. She doesn’t know how the boy lived before meeting Mikhail, but it was probably not much different from when she met him wandering in the mountains. It will also take a while for the dwarf boy to grow bigger.

Reinhardt believed that if she gave him adequate nutrition and training, he would grow very tall, and it seemed like Wilhelm reciprocated her goodwill.

The skin disease that covered his face due to the cold season soon disappeared. Reinhardt noticed that Wilhelm’s chin and neck had some small sores, and she took some butter from her meal and applied it on his skin, making his skin very shiny. Despite the shininess, he didn’t look like a young lady but rather exuded the strength and aura of a young master from a good family.

‘Of course, if I asked him what kind of family he came from, he was a son from a knight family.’

The winter sunlight was harsher than that of the summer, and Wilhelm’s skin became slightly tanned. It was also nice to see his firm chest when he was swinging his sword and rolling around endlessly while sparring. The slender neckline that was firmly set below the chin brought out his handsomeness. While it was still hard for Reinhardt to see Wilhelm as a man, she knew that any other young girl who saw Wilhelm training would be blushing hard.

His face was probably his most attractive feature.

His eyebrow bone was softly drawn on his beautiful forehead with hard edges, pointed nose, and large, sexy eyes. His black eyes were like those of a gentle calf, his eyes were so lovely whenever he looked at her. When he grows up a little bit, he’ll be a really handsome man.

From across the desk, she reached out and ran her hands through Wilhelm’s hair. Wilhelm, who was staring blankly at her, was startled and pulled away, but Reinhardt was faster. There was a sharp cut in the middle of his eyebrow. Though he had a large body and his face had healed, this didn’t heal.

Looking back at those times when she met him in her previous life, she seemed to have seen this scar too.

“I advise you, tearing up that human will help your life a hundredfold.”

Back then, she had deliberately started a fight, but Bill Corona only stared at her silently and did not take the bait. She couldn’t remember the expression on his face at the time, but she did vaguely remember the scar on his eyebrow that was revealed through his swaying and tied-up hair.

‘How could this kid not be Bill Corona?’

Reinhardt stared at the scar as her fingers brushed against it. Back then, she thought he was really ugly when she saw his portrait beside Mikhail. However, even though the boy in front of her hasn’t grown up yet, she thought he didn’t look bad at all.

“…… Rein,” Wilhelm cautiously called her out of thought.

“Ah.”

Reinhardt was startled. Because she was too deep in thought, she didn’t realize she was touching Wilhelm’s face in such a close position.

“Sorry, I was too close.”

“…… Not at all.”

The boy still talked to Reinhardt in mixed formal and informal speech. Dietrich taught him to be respectful to everyone else, he seemed to be unable to talk formally to Reinhardt. There were many times when Dietrich was very upset at Wilhelm’s lack of etiquette, but Reinhardt would just wave her hand and brush it off.

Back then, she had told him, “It’s okay. What’s wrong with him and I being a little closer?” and in response, Wilhelm’s eyes lit up happily. Since then, that feeling of informality was consistent in the relationship between the two of them.

“What’s wrong with being close?” Wilhelm asked, mimicking the words she had said before to Dietrich.

Reinhardt rolled her eyes and burst out laughing.

“Yeah, what’s wrong with it?”

He was smart and lovely. Reinhardt unknowingly pulled Wilhelm in and patted his ass. Wilhelm’s face hardened slightly.

‘Oops, perhaps this was a little too friendly. ‘

Wilhelm noticed Reinhardt’s embarrassment when she paused for a moment, so he smiled and opened his arms to hug her. His hands that were wearing leather gloves patted her back comfortingly.

“Ah.”

Reinhardt was startled. She was wearing a cotton dress today because she had left her shawl on the chair and could feel Wilhelm’s leather-clad fingers over the thin dress. He had just finished training and his body temperature was warm.

“Oh…….”

As Reinhardt flinched as usual, Wilhelm immediately noticed and tried to remove his hand. The boy had always been a bit more sensitive to Reinhardt’s feelings than the others, and he still was. Reinhardt, who had always thought that Wilhelm looked at her too much, was even more surprised and grabbed his wrist.

“No, Wilhelm.”

“Oh.”

“It’s okay.”

Reinhardt pulled Wilhelm up and patted him on the back. Soon, warmth spread up into her arms.

“It’s okay. Is there anyone else here I am close to other than you?”

Wilhelm raised his arm awkwardly again. However, his hands were limp and were still floating in the air. The nape of his neck was wet with sweat from his training. Reinhardt grinned and pulled away from the boy, scrunching her nose lightly. Wilhelm wrinkled his nose.

“So, what about Sarah?”

“Oh. Mrs. Sarah said…….”

“You already said that.”

“Oh, I already said that.”

Wilhelm repeated her words and blushed in embarrassment.

“Dietrich should talk to Rein about this.”

“I see. Should I talk to him right now?”

“Yes. Originally, Dietrich was supposed to come to tell you, but he instead went to the stables and told me that he needed to see you urgently.”

“Ah, he asked me to come to him.”

“…….”

Usually, when Reinhardt corrected her words, Wilhelm would immediately copy her words and repeat them. But oddly enough, Wilhelm never talked of Dietrich with respect when repeating her words. Wilhelm talked to Reinhardt in a mixture of formal and informal speech, and he talked to Dietrich in completely informal speech.

They seem to get along well, but the two always quarreled. Reinhardt thought that the two were getting along as brothers, and Wilhelm was slightly rebellious towards his older brother.

“Dietrich is your teacher, so he should be spoken to with respect,” she reminded Wilhem.

“…….”

Wilhelm’s face became slightly upset. She decided not to care. He already has a lot to learn, so there’s no need to worry about these things. As he got older and learned how to get along with people, things would naturally be fixed.

* * * 

Dietrich was usually not shy about coming to Reinhardt’s office. He said the office was very nice, except that it was so warm that it unintentionally loosened his attitude.

So she entered the yard, wondering why Dietrich had called her to the stable when he liked her office so much. The castle yard was lined with stables and wells, and servants were busy coming and going. Dietrich was lining up the guards in the yard without going far. Although there were only about 30 people, the yard seemed to be full because the yard was small.

“Dietrich, what are you doing?”

“Oh, you just came. Viscount.”

For the most part, the man with a faint smile was wrinkling his face strangely today. Wilhelm stood behind her and helped her fix her shawl.

“Have you ever heard from Mrs. Sarah?”

“No, what is it?”

“Oh, don’t get me wrong. Before reporting to the Viscount, she asked me to figure out the status of her family, but Mrs. Sarah didn’t know the situation at all.”

“So what about it?”

Reinhardt tilted her head. Dietrich sighed and let the guards go. The guards saluted and dispersed themselves to their places.

“A conscription order has come from the capital.”

Reinhardt frowned at those words.

“They even came all the way here?”

“Yes. You don’t have to know why the order came down here.”

Dietrich reached out and rubbed Reinhardt’s forehead. From behind her, Wilhelm seemed to be squirming in his position.

“It must be because of me,” she said, lightly lifting Dietrich’s hand, “And so?”

“You’re going to hate this.”

“Why?”

“There were thirty conscripts.”

Without Dietrich trying, Reinhardt’s face hardened.

“…… A knight brought it,” Dietrich then added.

Mikhail, you crazy bastard.

Reinhardt let out an unsteady and angry breath from her mouth. Dietrich smiled bitterly.