CHAPTER 58: THE DIGNIFIED DUCHESS

For two weeks Arthur remained in the Duke’s Tower to oversee his daughter’s recovery, but there was a point he knew she didn’t need him any longer. She stopped staying inside the Duke’s Tower and was starting to get reacquainted with a set schedule that followed the other apprentices.

Even though Irene couldn’t do night watch, she was still keeping to their schedule which meant that she was awake when Arthur mostly wasn’t. Their awake windows started overlapping less and less.

What further forced Arthur’s hand the most was the snow that started falling. It was light but foreshadowed how harsh that winter would be. He needed to get to his wife and youngest child and ensure that they were set for the winter considering he had neglected them for the duchy. It was time to truly part with his daughter for a while.

In the order, there were set rules in the knighthood each winter. The knights were permitted to go off to the various corners of Tenetium where they originated from, but they needed to do knights’ work for the season—whatever was asked of them by the townsfolk, they had to do. Squires had much of the same where they would go back to their homes for the season.

However, apprentices were much different.

Since the amount of monsters that appeared during cold months plummeted considering they were greatly affected by temperature, the group of apprentices they had were more than enough to protect the Duke’s Tower.

Of course, people without families like Sir Gunnar, Sir Sven, and Sir Phillip would be there all winter long as well, but for the most part, the majority were apprentices.

Irene stood at the front of the Duke’s Tower with a cloak wrapped around her that kept getting whipped open by the harsh autumn wind. With each burst, microscopic snowflakes flew off of the castle’s roof and tumbled down on the apprentice and her father, causing the air to be full of brilliant sparkles considering the clouds had gone off for the day.

"I will see you soon," Irene insisted a bit hopelessly, knowing that soon would be over two months before it would be safe to travel once again.

"Yes," Arthur agreed. "Soon."

They embraced more true to how a father and son would embrace. It was enough because, an hour before, they had a true hug as father and daughter where Irene allowed a couple of tears to fall out of her eyes but she quickly brushed them away, insisting that she wasn’t crying at all. There Arthur was able to call her sweet and tell her that he loved her.

"Get on the trail before it snows more," Irene gently ordered.

"Stay safe while I’m not here to check up on you," Arthur ordered in response, quietly enough that no one else would hear. "There are a lot of people here who care about you."

That was another reason for his departure. He knew she was in good hands. While it would be strange not having Irene there lying by the fire and reading various books, he knew that, at one point, he would have to watch his children grow up.

Strange to think that he was having to let go of a child merely eleven years old.

Arthur nodded before he climbed back onto his horse that had been brought forward to him by one of the apprentices working in the stables that day.

With one last look at his daughter, he pulled his helmet over his striking red hair and spurred his horse forward, knowing that it was a matter of time before the sky truly unloaded on the northern region. Soon enough, the sky and ground would blend into one as you looked into the distance. Everything would be white.

It had been such a long time since the knight had experienced a winter at the Duke’s Tower. He recalled the only trails in the snow were various animals, where they cleared out the practice yard, and two trails leading to the stables to check on the horses and to the barracks for the apprentices to sleep.

Otherwise, night watch was reduced and a silence fell over everything.

The quiet reality of winter was something that took Irene a while to get used to.

First, it was because they had to readjust to be awake during the day, but once they acclimated, they fell into a strict routine.

The heaviest snow hadn’t fallen yet but it seemed there wasn’t a day that went by without at least a little bit of snowflakes falling from the clouds.

They resumed practices when the sun rose and only had a few daylight hours to work in the library with Sir Gunnar. Each apprentice was also allowed to take a book from the library each night so that they had something to do to pass the time outside of eating and sword fighting.

Felix warned Irene that nothing exciting ever happened in winter and she began to believe him until there was a disturbance in the morning a week after her father left.

The girl quickly finished her bowl of porridge and practically threw it to the maids. She was more interested in whatever was happening at the front of the Duke’s Tower.

Pretending to simply be going up to the library to find Sir Gunnar, she was forced to stop at the bottom of the stairs.

On either side of the front entrance, maids and the butler lined up as they greeted the new visitor. To Irene’s surprise, it turned out to be Duchess Arlin herself.

Not knowing what else to do, she folded in half in a bow so that no one would be able to detect the perplexed expression on her face.

There was a painting of the Duke and Duchess hanging in the library and it boasted their wealth and power immensely. Sprinkled throughout the painting were signs of their wealth and influence. There were a few indicators of other things she wasn’t entirely sure of as well.

One thing that always struck Irene was the Duchess’s beauty.

However, as a scrawny woman hardly better than a skeleton walked through the front door, Irene found that the only recognizable thing about her was her black hair and the necklace that hung around her neck in the picture.

The woman’s beady eyes never settled on one spot as Irene expected a dignified Duchess to do. She seemed paranoid and crazed—what a stark difference from the way the Duke behaved in such a calm and slow manner even in sickness.

When Irene stood up, she managed to sneak away and get to the stairs that went up along the wall of the largest tower.

Before she could disappear completely, she took note of the way the Duchess stalked towards the Duke’s study and slammed the door behind her as if to say she didn’t want to be bothered.

It wouldn’t be the last time that the Duchess behaved in a way that completely vexed Irene.