For You In The Cage

Episode 47: A Bird Avoiding Death (I)

8. A Bird Avoiding Death

Near Cologne, close to the barbarian base, there was the largest city in the north, Robelheim. Robelheim Castle was built by stacking gray and white bricks, and it was more like a fortress than a castle.

Canaren, who was moved to the castle at once, could not see the view of Robelheim. However, as soon as they arrived, the beautiful interior gave off a completely different atmosphere from the Imperial Palace. Everything that touched the eye, including the ceiling and wallpaper, was achromatic. The interior was dark with minimal lighting, perhaps that was why it felt even more gloomy. First of all, the air entering through her coat was different.

‘Too cold.’

Haah. Canaren let out a small sigh, and was immediately startled. Because her breath was white.

It was a shocking experience for her, who had lived only in the warm and sunny south of the country, the capital that never wintered, Cicena.

‘When it’s really cold, my breath looks like this. It’s so cold inside, how cold is it outside?’

She rubbed her arm under her coat. She was slightly shivering from the unfamiliar cold.

“Orcard, take Canaren. Help her change clothes and let her drink hot tea. Get a thick coat for her. She has never experienced winter before.”

“All right.”

Canaren grabbed Yulif’s sleeve as he was about to leave the room. Yulif stopped walking and looked behind him. Then he raised an eyebrow. Because Canaren took off his formal coat.

“Why are you taking it off?”

“You, going outside? If you go out like that, it will be cold.”

“It’s not cold. Put it back on.”

“I am going to change. It’s, okay. I am not cold.”

Canaren didn’t even stumble, and she said ‘that’, over and over again.

Yulif was at a loss for words. It was a pity that her words had a sense of distance, but it was frustrating because he couldn’t express it.

Canaren thought she had won, so she tried to put the coat over his shoulder. But Yulif was so tall and his shoulders were so wide that the coat kept slipping. She couldn’t do it even when she stood on her toes, so she hopped on the spot, but without success.

“You are too tall.”

“Yes. So you wear it.”

“It’s cold outside!”

Canaren pretty much screamed at him. He looked at her with his eyes wide open, same goes for some of Yulif’s men and Roana.

‘Embarrassing.’

Nothing went her way, and Yulif, who was stubborn despite the cold, made her frustrated and she couldn’t stand it.

Soon her face turned red.

Whether he wears it or not. Whether he catches a cold or not. It’s not her business.

Her ears and cheeks were burning hot.

She was going to run away after throwing the coat at Yulif.

“I get it.”

Yulif bent his knees, making it easy for Canaren to put the coat on. When Canaren only held the coat, he said teasingly.

“It’s cold. Aren’t you going to put it on?”

“Ah…”

“Then let’s just go.”

Canaren put his coat on him before he got up. Then she watched as Yulif put his arm in his sleeve and buttoned it.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes… I’m okay.”

“Yes. Hurry up and change your clothes. It’s cold.”

Yulif left first, and his men, who came to their senses late, followed him as if running.

With a haunted look on her face, Roana muttered as put a shawl around Canaren.

“The lord even joked… It’s something to see after living for a long time.”

The place she headed with Roana was a large room inside the castle.

The low-saturation orange wallpaper and soft brown carpet gave it a warm feeling. Firewood was burning in the fireplace.

Canaren slowly looked around the room that seemed to have been used by no one at all.

The furniture was all new, but although there were no fancy decorations, the ones made of wood looked quite expensive.

“When did you prepare this again?”

“Are you ready? Who?”

“Who could it be? It’s the lord. I heard he made Derek do a lot of things, but I guess this was it. Oh, Derek is the lieutenant who serves the lord. If I am the lord’s right arm, he would be about the left arm. How many times did we see him?”

‘Ah, I just didn’t know his name.’

At first, the only subordinate Yulif introduced to her was Roana. In addition, the Yulif that Canaren saw seemed to prefer having just a minimum number of people around.

“Does Yulif, have a lot of subordinates?”

“It’s buzzing. He has a lot of work to do, and Pionia is a city as big as Cicena.”

“Is it that big?”

“Yes, that’s how big it is… um. Let’s change clothes first and talk. If you catch a cold, I’ll die. I’ll draw a picture later and explain.”

Roana opened the closet. Wham! She burst into exclamations and called Canaren in a loud voice.

“Miss Canaren, come and see. Hurry up, hurry!”

When she went to see what had happened, she found all sorts of dresses filling the closet until it was about to burst. There was a small chest of drawers next to the closet, and the two of them felt a strange energy from it.

Nodding their heads, one, two at the same time! The two of their mouths dropped wide open.

“Did I say that? My lord, he is rich.”

“But it is… There seems, to be a bit of a wall of waste.”

“You’re the only one who can say that, Miss Canaren. Even if there is a wall of waste, you are not going to go bankrupt, so that’s fine. My lady! Pick the one you like.”

Each tier was filled with earrings, necklaces, rings, and headdresses adorned with all kinds of jewels. It was difficult for Canaren to choose because they all looked pretty, gorgeous, and precious.

She groaned and pondered, then suddenly a fundamental question arose.

Why does Roana think everything in this room is hers? She didn’t even have a single doubt.

“These might not be mine. So I don’t know if we can touch them.”

“What?”

Roana, who made a choking sound, couldn’t hold back this time and burst into laughter.

‘Why is she laughing when I am being serious. It’s not really for me, is it funny because I’m seriously thinking about it? Is Roana making fun of me for not knowing the world well?’

Canaren’s face, which had solidified the misunderstanding, grew more and more puffy.

“Don’t laugh.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. I didn’t make fun of Miss Canaren. just, just… Pfft!”

“Don’t laugh!”

“You are very angry today! Looks good. Don’t be patient and keep pushing. If you wait, you will get sick.”

Canaren remembered screaming while trying to put Yulif’s coat on him, so she bit her lips.

Roana blushed and held back her laughter. Then she helped Canaren wear a thickly lined dress and wrapped her neck warmly with a silk scarf. Because of that, Canaren’s body warmed up quickly.

Canaren felt her body relaxing and she slowly blinked her eyes. Roana took her to an armchair near the fireplace and sat her down.

“I have a question for you, may I ask?”

“Yes.”

“I wish you could answer me honestly.”

“I’m not good at lying, I’m not.”

“What do you think of our lord?”

How, hmm.

Canaren thought, staring blankly at the burning flame.

The flames fluttering here and there appeared to be one color at first glance, but upon closer inspection, several colors were mixed. Her feelings or thoughts about Yulif were similar. She thought resentment, hatred, and betrayal were the biggest, but after he drowned in the lake, and as she rescued him, she realized.

She hoped he wouldn’t get hurt. She hoped he wouldn’t die. She hopes he is alive and smiles sweetly and kindly. And on the other hand, she wanted to understand him.

She wanted him to convince her that it was for her sake to not send her back to the village.

Maybe half the truth. Without him, she wouldn’t have been able to make it this far.

She enjoyed the time she spent with him.

That was why she was shocked when he said that he would let Roana be her escort. She said that she didn’t want to hear the Hwira language he was using, she said it’s the worst, but when he said he was leaving, she became unbearably lonely.

But she couldn’t say these words to Roana, so Canaren pondered, furrowing her brows, and then she answered briefly.

“It’s good, but I don’t like it.”

“Ah… That’s right. It’s good, but you don’t like it…”

Roana smacked her lips. She likes it, but she doesn’t like it. She wasn’t sure whether she should focus on ‘good’ and be happy, or focus on ‘dislike’ and be sad.

Should she ask her some more? Does she like it yet not like it? Or does she like it more or was it less? As Roana rolled the questions in her mouth, she concluded that she should just not do it.

Wasn’t love a very private realm? It was obvious that Canaren would feel uncomfortable if she poked around.

“Yulif, how about you?”

“I think you two get along really well, right?”

“Roana, what do you think Yulif thinks of me?”

Wow, this was such a tricky question.

Roana scratched her cheek.

Canaren was looking at her with an eager expression, so she couldn’t even jump over the fence with jokes.

What to do. This was how she had to pay the price of satisfying her self-interest.

Roana was sure that Yulif liked Canaren.

It had to be so. He lived in a world where jokes didn’t exist, and he wouldn’t bend his knees and pick accessories for someone else.

Right now, she was the only one who knew what Yulif did, but soon rumors of the lordship would spread. ‘The Lord said that he loved you! Oh, my, my, my!’ Rumors might have already circulated among the subordinates, who had followed Yulif earlier.

However, the atmosphere between the two was a little strange for her to answer ‘The lord likes Canaren!’ without hesitation. Although Yulif was friendly, he drew the line and treated Canaren coldly, which was why she believed that he couldn’t like her.

So Roana decided to be a coward and chose neither.

“I don’t know what happened to you two. However, Miss Canaren is receiving special treatment from the lord. That’s all I can say for sure.”

“That… huh?”

“Yes. And while I was serving the lord, I have never seen him treat anyone special.”

Canaren clasped her hands and bowed her head slightly. It was because her fingers and the tip of her toes tickled.

No, it must be Roana’s misunderstanding. Even as her head said so, her heart was pounding.

“I think, the room is a bit hot. How about Roana?”

“It’s because you’re near the fire. May I move your chair?”

“Yes. thank you.”

‘No, Canaren. It’s not because of the fireplace, it’s because your heart is burning with love.’

Roana felt both a loving and deep conscience for Canaren, who responded to every word of her cowardice.

‘Please, please, the lord should be kind to Miss Canaren.’

From this day on, she vowed to pray to God every day.