I Refuse This Life, Your Highness! - Chapter 20

How could this happen? It was the Duke again.

“Your Highness…”

I was so surprised that I stuttered without meaning to. I had planned to leave quietly without informing anyone, but of all people, the Duke noticed me. I really was out of luck.

“Where are you going?”

“Well…”

When I explained about the Rubes Guild, the Duke furrowed his brow.

“It seems you’re delayed in selecting a guard knight… We need to hurry.”

Even a fool could understand what he meant. Embarrassed, I quickly apologized.

“I-I’m sorry.”

“Today, I will accompany you.”

“…?”

The Duke calmly ordered his servant to bring him a robe.

“Uh, Your Highness. What did you just say…?”

“I said, since you don’t have a guard knight, I will go as your escort.”

“Eh?”

“Do you dislike it so much that you’re making that face?”

Gasp! What kind of face had I made? I quickly adjusted my expression and straightened my posture.

“No, it’s just… I didn’t expect you to say that.”

“Did you think I would say something else?”

“…I thought you might get angry.”

When I answered honestly, the Duke’s brow furrowed even more. Was he getting angry after all? As I fidgeted with my feet, the Duke briefly glanced at them before looking away.

“I don’t get angry over something like this.”

“…”

To be honest, I didn’t know how he would react. In my past life, he had been indifferent to me.

“Let’s go.”

We stepped out to the castle courtyard, where the stableman, the Duke’s servant, and two horses were waiting. The Duke put on the robe his servant offered and mounted his horse.

I also mounted a brown horse, slightly smaller than the one the Duke rode. So, with me arrogantly escorting the Duke as if he were my knight, we left the castle. Emotionally, it felt more like I was accompanying the Duke.

We tied the horses at the market entrance and slowly walked along the street lined with shops and stalls. Exotic and uniquely shaped jewelry was visible in many places, and some people were already wearing them.

Earrings, necklaces, bracelets, cloak pins, sword ornaments, etc. They were distinctive items that were obviously made by the same source. I carefully observed the people wearing them. With everyone’s attention focused on us, it wasn’t strange to stare.

Several shops and stalls were particularly crowded. It seemed like they were selling the very items—the jewelry from the Rubes Guild. The Duke, with his arms crossed, watched them closely.

After pushing through the crowd to examine a few items, he spoke.

“They’re good. They’ll be popular for a while.”

“They’re trendy designs, but they still feel fresh.”

As we continued walking, a small child came running from the other side and collided with me. For a moment, I checked if it was the child from the orphanage I had met before, but fortunately, it wasn’t.

“I-I’m sorry! I’m so sorry, Lady!”

“It’s okay. Be careful and walk slowly.”

“Thank you!”

The child quickly ran off. I was about to continue walking when I suddenly felt someone’s gaze on me. I turned my head curiously and found the Duke staring at me.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Check your pocket.”

“Huh?”

Without thinking, I checked my coat pocket and realized my wallet was missing. I quickly looked in the direction the child had run off to, but of course, they were long gone, and there was no trace of them.

“Wait here.”

“Yes…”

Following the Duke’s command, I waited a moment. Soon, one of the knights wearing a robe appeared from the direction the child had gone. He approached me and respectfully handed over my wallet.

“I had the child followed.”

The Duke nodded and looked at me.

“There’s a pickpocketing ring causing trouble these days. I came out to deal with it.”

“I see…”

Thinking about it, the method was a classic pickpocketing technique, but here I was, telling someone to be careful. Did I look foolish? However, the Duke gestured for me to follow as if it were no big deal.

I nodded and continued walking along the market street. The market was lively and noisy, and it was easy to spot people wearing items from the Rubes Guild.

As I continued browsing the market, I began to feel hungry.

“Your Highness, since you found my wallet…”

I stopped myself before finishing the sentence. I was about to suggest buying something for the Duke, but the idea of feeding him street food was ridiculous.

“Oh, never mind.”

“Why? What were you going to say?”

“No… I was just thinking of buying you something as a thank you, but I realize now it was foolish of me to offer street food to someone like you.”

The Duke tilted his head slightly and then smiled.

“Why? Go ahead and buy it.”

“But…”

“You seem to have forgotten that I spent a long time at the battlefield.”

“Yes?”

“Food sold at markets like this is considered a luxury. Do you know what we ate at the front lines?”

I shook my head, and the Duke seemed to shudder, clearly not wanting to remember.

“When supplies were cut off, we sometimes boiled tree bark and dry grass. And when it got really bad, we’d roast mud and chew on it, only to spit it out.”

“Roast… mud?”

“Well-cooked, it kind of tastes like bread. When we couldn’t even make a fire, we had to starve. The food we were given was hard, dry bread and powdered milk—what little we had was considered a feast.”

He shrugged and continued.

“Sometimes, the enemy would deliberately cook something delicious just to tempt us. When that happened, a few soldiers would defect. What else could they do? Hunger defeats fear.”

“….”

I lowered my head, feeling unexpectedly solemn.

“War… is truly a tough place.”

“Have you ever eaten something like that?”

The Duke seemed to change the subject, pointing his finger at something. I followed his finger with my gaze. A vendor was stirring a large pot with a reddened face, and next to them, what seemed to be their wife was tossing round, flat pieces of meat into a frying pan. With a sizzling sound, oil splattered everywhere.

“It’s a soup made from poultry scraps and fried lamb tongue. The soup is spicy, so it tastes pretty good when you eat them together. Want to try?”

“Poultry scraps?”

“Like the tips of wings or the neck, parts that are cut off during cooking.”

“You eat those parts too?”

“Wouldn’t it be a waste to throw them away?”

Even though I had asked for it, the Duke went ahead and bought food for both of us. There was always a seat next to food vendors. The Duke noticed an empty corner and gestured lightly.

I was about to sit down but stood up again, grabbing my wallet and saying, “I’ll go get some drinks.”

“Sounds good.”

There were food stalls selling wine, fruit wines, beer, rum, and spirits scattered around. While looking around, I spotted a bubbly raspberry wine and bought two glasses before returning to the table.

The Duke was gazing at the lively, simple market scene. The soup and fried tongue on the table were steaming warmly.

“I got raspberry wine. I thought it might pair well with the food.”

“Good choice.”

It had been a long time since I had eaten in the middle of such a noisy market. When I was young, my older brothers would often take me out, but after my parents found out, I couldn’t do that anymore.

The soup, made from parts I thought would be thrown away, was spicy and delicious, and the lamb tongue, while having a stronger odor than beef tongue, wasn’t bad since it was fried. With the tangy wine to go with it, it made for a surprisingly pleasant meal.

After finishing, the Duke personally tidied up our eating area. It wasn’t much, but once we left, people quickly filled the spot.

It was now midnight, and the area was still bustling. After finishing his drink in one gulp, the Duke looked at me.

“Do you feel like walking a bit?”

“Yes, I’m fine.”

My stomach was full, and I actually felt like walking.

But…

“Huff… huff…”

Climbing a hill was not as easy as it sounded.

“Is it hard? It’s just a small hill.”

It wasn’t just a small hill. This was more like a mountain you had to seriously climb. The steep incline had thick trees, and the path was lined with rocks, making it feel like I had to stretch my legs just to get up.

The thin shoes I wore for flat ground slipped several times on the loose stones. The Duke did catch me each time, but it was far from easy. And didn’t I just have a meal and a drink?

Panting, I looked up at the Duke, who was watching me with a calm expression, as though apologizing. It seemed like this was an easy hill for him. The problem was, he was a battle-hardened warrior, and I was someone who only read books in my room—like a land-dwelling jellyfish.

“I’m sorry. This is the best view you can get from here.”

“What view?”

The Duke pointed upward. I was still panting and gasping, but I lifted my head.

There, I saw a sea of stars.

“Wow…”

The stars were completely different from the ones I had seen in Airdren. None of the familiar constellations were visible. Yet, they sparkled brilliantly in the same dark blue sky. It was worth climbing the hill, as the dim lights of the town below didn’t obscure them; instead, the lights blended in, shining together.

Countless stars always captured people’s hearts. There were stars visible from the castle window, but seeing them from here felt completely different.

“Would you like to sit for a while?”

The Duke asked and, without waiting for an answer, unwrapped his robe and laid it on the ground before sitting on it.

“If you’re not leaving, you can sit as well.”

“…Aren’t you cold, Your Highness?”

Under his robe, he wore a short-sleeved shirt. It seemed like he had removed his original shirt when he put on the robe earlier. It wasn’t the most appropriate outfit for early autumn weather.

“I’m not cold. Actually, it’s refreshing without the robe.”

Reluctantly, I sat next to him. Below the hill, the city’s crimson and yellow lights were visible, and above, the Milky Way and countless stars glittered in the distant sky. The lights were so bright that they almost seemed to blink.

“It’s beautiful.”

I murmured absentmindedly, and the Duke replied.

“There are many beautiful places in the Duchy. I’ll show you each one slowly.”

“To me?”

“Who else would I show?”

Ah, it would be Leiah.

The name that I had forgotten for a while suddenly came to mind. Of course, I didn’t say it aloud.

For now, I just wanted to forget that name and enjoy the beautiful starlight.

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