Chapter 95 – 9. The Story of the Years Gone by (5)
Northern Gaul, Marquis.
A majestic mountain range began to appear in front of the knight who walked nonstop day and night through the snow-covered forest. Next to it, the Lemoang Fortress, which stands alone at the entrance connecting the ice cap valley to the great snowfield, and the fortress full of gray came into view.
“Stop, stranger.”
Along the road, he beat the highwayman who often appeared at every corner. Sometimes, they would stay by the side of a lost traveler and take care of them. It was cumbersome to hand it over to the nearby government office or accompany it to the inn, but it was definitely rewarding.
“This is the fortress where Lady Lemoang, the legitimate ruler of the Northern Marquis, lives. Outsiders who do not reveal their identity are not allowed to come in and out. If you want to enter, show your face and answer the check.”
Finally, in the front yard of the castle, there was a hut that looked like a checkpoint. It was a very impressive place to see the soldiers standing outside despite the inclement weather. This was especially true of the appearance of holding a spear so that he could respond swiftly at any time even wearing winter clothes and gloves.
As expected, they were the ones who held up their military discipline as if they were guards on the border.
“I am Romuald Dior. I was invited by Madame Lemoang, whom you mentioned, to visit the citadel here. What I carry is old armor, a sword, and some grain biscotti and beef jerky. As proof of identity, I have a handwritten letter from my wife in my inside pocket.”
Upon hearing Rom’s name, the soldier was taken aback. He seemed to doubt that he was a recently reputed knight, carrying heavy plate armor over his layered clothes. Well, it wasn’t unreasonable to react like that.
It’s just that there’s no romance, because Rom’s outfit his was closer to that of a peddler than a knight.
“Then are you the knight called the hero of Limousin?”
“Yes, here is the letter I received, please check it.”
The soldier took over the stylish envelope and turned it over to examine it. The fact that it was made of expensive paper reduced the suspicion, but the pattern symbolizing Lemoang was clearly stamped on the object held out by the man whom he only thought was a stranger.
Furthermore, the elegant handwriting of the Margrave’s wife, whom I had a chance to come across several times while working for a long time.
“Welcome to the frozen land, Sir Dior.”
Rome just nodded without saying a word. The soldier, who appeared to be quite old, saluted by tapping the floor with the tip of his spearhead. This was the attitude a person with a weapon would show when meeting a superior or someone worthy of respect.
“Even so, your wife has been waiting for you for the past few days. She told me last week that she had arrived in St. Bourch and asked to be in touch as soon as the hero of Limousin was on her way to her. If you don’t mind, why don’t you take a rest in the cabin while we send people inside?”
“I will. If it’s not a nuisance, I’d like to get some boiled water from the furnace to drink.”
“Sure. It’s a shabby place, but I’ll take you this way.”
In addition to the soldier with the spear of courtesy, there were several other people staying inside the log cabin. Noticing Rom’s existence, they tilted their heads and looked at him, but when they heard that he was the hero of Limousin, they jumped up in a huff.
“Everybody wake up! Sir Romuald Dior.”
“Ugh, excuse me.”
“Sit down here.”
The soldiers sitting in a circle around the hearth made a seat for juseomjuseom. It was n’t that he did n’t have a desire to warm his frozen body his, but even out of consideration for those who were enjoying a break from a hard day’s work, Rome politely declined.
“It’s okay. Just some boiled water, please.”
“Ah, here it is.”
A watchman with a thick beard lifted a kettle on the brazier. Even though Amman was treated as a cheap metal, copper, it was equipped with supplies for these low-end soldiers, indicating that the northern part was indeed a developed area for mining.
“Hey, Antoine! Aren’t you working on the next shift soon?”
“Uh, maybe that’s right.”
“Go with me. I’m going to tell my wife that the driver has arrived.”
“Gee, it’s almost like dying to have to stand guard from the checkpoint to the fort without rest.”
Soldier Antoine, who managed to get a glimpse of dignity, took his overcoat. He bowed slightly to Rom, who was drinking boiling water while slowly cooling it down, opened the creaking door, and followed the soldier who had left first.
The land is so barren that it is difficult to grow even a single blade of grass.
Dongtoran was such a place. It is the most cold land in the northern part where the cold stays, and the choice of each day is directly related to survival. I didn’t know it just because I couldn’t sleep when I was a child, and I didn’t know it because I was begging for it from my nanny Anais.
‘Not bad…’
They are the ones who stand against the harsh nature and the savage foreigner with all their might. Even so, not being able to enjoy the treatment he deserved somehow felt similar to his situation of wandering around despite numerous legends.
Perhaps it was a sense of kinship.
Rom laughed. And when the bearded soldier had almost emptied the wooden boat, the soldier who had left with Antoine returned. He greeted me saying he would take me to the castle and handed over a fairly thick winter coat.
“I brought one of my overcoats as a spare. It’s a short distance, but I want you to go warmly.”
“Let’s use it well.”
After putting it on over his frozen armor, Rom left the cabin with the soldiers. He walked along the snow-covered road and came to the gate of the gray fortress that was frozen in blue.
“You can go inside.”
Fortunately, the iron bars had been raised in advance, perhaps because the news had been delivered earlier.
“Your wife will be waiting for you at the entrance.”
“Thank you.”
The high walls and thick walls of Lemoang Castle, which is an acidic fortress and also a fortress on the plains, gave the impression of the exact opposite of the Grand Duke’s sister-in-law, who had stayed for a while in Tarn in the south. Not to mention heating, even the only shining candlesticks in the dim hallway were installed very sparsely, creating a dreary atmosphere.
‘Is it closer to a fortress than a castle?’
The only obvious signs of presence were the patrols talking in the distance. However, in the corridor surrounded by gray bricks past the entrance, there must have been someone’s figure. Recognizing its graceful and curved outline, Rome took off his winter coat and helmet and got close to him and knelt down on one knee.
“I will greet you first.”
“Are you Sir Romuald Dior?”
The chill from the frosted bricks and frozen floor traveled through the cold metal and spread through his body. Even so, her hair that shimmered like a golden sunset, relaxed and benevolent eyes, and deep blue eyes like aquamarine were so beautiful that she didn’t have time to care.
An exquisite off-white color that makes you fall in love with it.
His distinct and harmonious features of her, and his skin of his, which must have suffered from the cold all year round, also unexpectedly looked smooth and not rough. But, more than anything else, what Rom’s eyes focused on was the dress, which was thick and rugged, allowing a glimpse of her thrifty personality of her.
And it was clear even on top of such clothes, so it was a heavenly body that seduced many men.
“Yes, young lady.”
Rom politely bowed his head and replied. Like Melanie Tarn, who was called the summer stone of the south, there was one beauty who symbolized the north here in Lemoang, so he thought to himself after seeing the woman standing in front of him.
Even the rumors that dared to circulate said that her appearance was incomparable.
“It is an honor to have Miss Lucienne, the lady of the lofty northern margrave family, personally meet you.”
The grinning woman shook her head lightly. Instead of scolding Rom for misunderstanding something, she quietly revealed her name.
“My name is Oriane Lemoang.”
“… !”
It was a very moderate reaction for a high-ranking aristocrat and a local noble. It was partly because he didn’t like being criticized, but more than that, he seemed to think that Rom had said it on purpose to flatter himself.
“Bye, were you the Marquis’s wife?”
But it wasn’t. Startled, Rom addressed Oriane and recited her words of apology. She had her daughter, who was over twenty, as a child, but she was so young and beautiful that she had to commit her rudeness.
“I apologize for the rudeness. It is an honor to meet Madame Lemoint, a prestigious margrave.”
“It’s okay, wake up. I am happy to see an invincible knight who is said to have no rival in the kingdom.”
The woman who came out alone was none other than the ruler of the northern area. Since her husband’s death, she has already been a powerful ruler over her frozen land for several years. She had a look that would captivate anyone if she put her mind to it, but because of the past she kept secret and the environment she was in, she was a thrifty and stubborn monarch who ran the estate.
“It was very difficult to run a long way alone, right? She has prepared a place to rest in her stronghold so that she can heal her travels. How about taking a good rest for a day and having a meal with my girlfriend tomorrow?”
“To say that she is a woman…”
“The public undeservedly gave him the nickname Winterstone of the North.”
She was a noble and elegant woman. Contrary to Rom’s expectation that she would stick to her overbearing attitude with her status and status, she was a friendly person. She was and she was a warm person. She indulges in the extravagance of an aristocrat, so much so that one would have missed the speculation that she would be unable to stop the invasion of strangers.
“As her mother, I feel ashamed. I wonder who it will be to those who are counted together.”
Orianer Le Moin was a dazzling lord with her strong sense of responsibility and her sense of morality.
“Ah, come to think of it, the person who becomes my older brother said that the spouse he met recently was also called the same as my daughter.”
“You mean Sister-in-law Melanie.”
“That’s right, I heard that you are beautiful enough to be called the Summer Stone of the South.”
“Exactly…”
Rome muffled her words in a melancholy voice. Oriane, who had no clue about the bloody conflict between the Central Highborne in her far north, assumed it was due to her fatigue from her long journey. So she let go of her rhyme, as if to convey her intention that she was welcome to the rather nervous knight.
“Life in rough terrain is hard. She can’t even find a place to marry her daughter who is in the middle of her marriage, and she has to roll her feet like this.”
And she, unfortunately, had not yet healed her pain from the loss of her southern summer, and she was an unexpected consolation to him.
“But it is. Even in a place like this, there is a small and precious happiness. Like Sir, the person who sometimes responds to my invitation and visits me is one of them. And because of that, I feel relieved on the other hand.”
Spring, summer, fall and winter.
“As it were…”
Above all, the Pyewolsuhwado, which considers itself insignificant here.
“Welcome to the northern frozen land, the Marquis of Lemoang.”
It was a secret that no one knew that it was destined to be obtained by a man beyond this lifetime someday.
