CHAPTER 398: FAILED ESCAPISM

"Is Dame Irene here?" a maid called from the front of the dining hall.

Irene’s head snapped up. It was still early in the day, and she had only just gotten back in from morning practices long enough to scarf down a bit of porridge and escape as quickly as possible. There was no sign of the Commander yet, so she would have a peaceful day if she left rather fast.

She pulled off her hood, and the long, red hair revealed to the room was a sure sign that Dame Irene was, in fact, present.

"Yes?" she called back.

"You have a delivery," the maid explained and held out something wrapped in brown paper and string.

Irene perked up at that and rushed to place her bowl in the wooden bucket for the maids to take. She then moved towards the entrance to the dining hall and eagerly took the item from the maid.

"Thank you!" Irene exclaimed before she rushed off.

However, as she left the maid behind and rushed around the corner, she was met with a wall, having not paid attention to her path ahead.

Rather than a wall, a hand reached out to steady her, and she realized then that she had run directly into the Commander. It was an offense that the Duke in the past could have punished her for but Henry was... different.

Green eyes snapped up and met brown.

"Forgive me, Commander," Irene requested. "I wasn’t paying attention."

He wasn’t mad. If anything he seemed strangely hurt but he covered it with a small smile.

"Something the matter?" he wondered.

"I got a package from my brother," she explained. "I’m going to my barrack to open it. Excuse me."

"Then I won’t keep you."

"Thank you, Commander."

Irene quickly rushed off, missing the Commander, who took a step back so that he could watch her retreat until she was outside and the door was shut. He allowed the rush of winter wind from outside to wake him up.

He couldn’t prove it, but she seemed to have retreated back into his shell, and he was blaming himself for it. The only person she was ever uncomfortable with was him. When he thought things were getting warm between them, they always seemed to return to the cold, but it felt particularly ice-cold that time.

He knew that he was lonely, having no family nearby, and the knights all around him were only slightly familiar at best. As long as he kept that to himself, that had to be good enough.

Even Sylaron seemed to have retreated for the winter to hide somewhere warm. He wished she would make an appearance so that at least one being would be happy to see him there.

With a sigh, he went to the dining hall. He was forcing himself out of his study more to at least be around the knights and apprentices left. That was all he could do to remain sane when the rest of his time was figuring out plans for the thawing season and communicating with nobles who were only interested in further padding their treasuries.

He would find ways not to rely on Irene so much, but he had grown quite fond of her. For some reason, he felt he could relate to her in a lot of ways. She wasn’t like the others, but neither was he. Although he was sure she thought he was just like the rest.

Meanwhile, Irene rushed towards her barracks and was happy once she made it back in and removed her snowy boots by the door.

Furs had been laid down, and her room was the dream of a bookworm. Since she didn’t want to go to the library much anymore, she had requested her brother send some of her favorites from the library at home. It wasn’t as if anyone else had a use for them.

Quickly, Irene found the adventure novels. She even found a few additions from her brother that she was eager to read for a brand new story. All took on a similar theme of long, epic adventures.

The woman lowered herself to the floor and leaned against the cushion she had put against the wall, and the furs on the floor from her dire wolf hunting. It truly was a comfortable little room and a place she was certain everyone would leave her alone.

They didn’t have knight school for a couple of hours, so she would sit there and read until then. Otherwise, her only other duties were the following morning, when morning practice happened as usual, as long as the weather allowed.

This was how she would maintain peace that winter. At least until the rest of the order could go to the Winter Solstice banquet in Earl Auden’s lands.

It became a comfortable schedule for her, and she felt that things would finally be peaceful as she focused solely on herself and the apprentices.

However, this solace was ruined when, a short while later, Irene stepped out onto the practice yard to warm up with the apprentices. She was sure the shock on her face was palpable when Commander Henry set foot onto the practice yard, bundled up in warm clothing.

Irene couldn’t entirely blame him for his desire to attend practices more often. He was like her in the way that he wanted to keep himself moving even in winter.

She had to keep in mind the fact that the knighthood needed an active duke, and he had been just that—more than the past duke could have ever dreamed of being. This reminder helped her keep to herself that she was trying to escape him.

But as things often did, bottling things up turned out to be for the worst.

For a few weeks, he had been at nearly every practice.

That morning, it was particularly frigid, and they all appeared on the practice yard, bundled up as the winter sun shone. The sky was too frozen to even hold clouds, so they were met with a blue expanse above them.

It went as usual, watching the apprentices warm up a bit and Felix, Irene, and Henry joining in on their own warmup so they could give examples when necessary.

As William swung his sword rather sloppily, the knight stepped towards him and made him hold his sword differently.

"You need to tighten up your swing," she instructed. "Only knights like Sir Trenton or the Commander can be sloppy and be able to rely on their strength to get them through."

She knew her words meant to be a joke were a mistake when a dark look flashed across the Commander’s face, but he managed to hold back the cruel but fair words that might come with such a look.

"I wouldn’t want to embarrass you in front of the apprentices, but it seems I’ve no other choice," Henry stated.

But the tides seemed to turn almost instantly.

While they did give one another a show of good sportsmanship because of the nature of the match, the Commander could tell that Irene was using more strength than necessary almost immediately, and they were wielding real swords rather than practice ones because of the sudden challenge.

Their swords clashed a few times. A symphony of metal parrying metal rang out over the practice yard, and all apprentices and Felix stood off to the side as they watched the match, a bit nervous.

Stopping the action, the Commander used his palm to push forward his blade and block Irene’s downward slash.

"Hasn’t anyone ever told you it’s not wise to wield a sword while you’re angry?"