The Knight Commander of the Second Male Lead [Novel] Chapter 30

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 30

Chapter Title: Rest on the Watchtower

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That means if they attack us, it won’t be us who vanish—it’ll be them.

Jin said with a serious expression.

“When we get back, double my training.”

“Cool.”

“What?”

“No, sure, sounds good.”

Nina grinned.

Whether she was right or they simply lacked the spirit for it, there were no attacks until the next day.

Nina and Jin thoroughly looted the high-value items left in the camp.

Nina rolled up a smooth leopard pelt, saying Adrian would love it.

“This tent is such a waste...”

Jin sighed, caressing the thick canvas with his hand.

“We can come back for it later. It’s our land now anyway.”

At Nina’s words, Jin beamed. “Right, yeah!” He mounted his One-Horned Horse.

Their One-Horned Horses were loaded with baggage, but the beasts didn’t budge under the weight.

Raising the flag emblazoned with a black hawk over the Illa Plains, the pair returned to Black Shield Castle.

In the meantime, news of the victory had spread across the entire plain.

The Rava Count family tried to hush it up, but anyone could tell the Rubaenu Ducal Family had won.

However, no one believed the claim that their entire force had been defeated by a single captain.

The nobles turned their attention to the Rubaenu Ducal Family, who had reclaimed the Great Plains.

The Rava Count family was no less furious. They now pressured the Rubaenu Ducal Family to repay the debt immediately.

Adrian replied with elegant script: “How about we hold off until next year’s exchange match?”

In other words: “Shouldn’t you get a chance to restore your honor?”

No one knew what debates raged within the count’s household, but the reply read: [Next year will be the last.]

They had bought themselves a year, at least.

Adrian sank deep into his chair.

The leopard pelt draped over it was soft and sleek.

Nina and her group received a hero’s welcome upon their return.

“Good work, Nina.”

When Nina offered the pelt with, “This is for you, Young Master,” Adrian couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

It felt just like a primitive tribe returning from a hunt to share the spoils.

Spoils.

Yes, the first spoils of war.

The Rubaenu Ducal Family had finally regained its true form.

The joy was short-lived.

With administrative authority delegated for eight years, a mountain of work had piled up.

Adrian spent the entire day buried in documents, catching only brief naps to rest his eyes.

It was around this time that Lui began to worry about his lord’s health.

Nina suddenly grabbed Adrian’s hand as he reached for the next stack of papers.

“Nina? When did you get here?”

Adrian turned to her in surprise, and Nina smiled brightly.

“If you didn’t even notice me arriving, it’s pretty serious.”

Adrian rubbed his brow.

“I was focused.”

“What did you tell me before? That there’s no need to rush? Don’t you think you need some rest? You’ve been working nonstop for three straight days. Take a break with me today.”

She had everything prepared and tugged his arm, leaving Adrian no choice but to follow.

She led him to the top of the castle and opened the door to the watchtower.

A picnic basket woven from wisteria sat on the narrow platform.

“Come on, have a seat, Young Master.”

She patted the blanket she’d spread on the floor, and Adrian sat down.

Nina unpacked simple foods and tea from the basket, then pulled out two flower crowns made from wildflowers.

She placed one on her own head and the other on Adrian’s.

A flower crown? Adrian burst into laughter.

“Since we can’t go out, let’s at least pretend.”

He chuckled at her words.

She was skilled at making them. She’d learned from her brother as a child, she said.

Whenever they went out, Nina would make him flower crowns or bracelets and place them on him.

He always received them reverently, as if being crowned king at a coronation.

The smiling girl summoned Frost and chilled the tea until it nearly formed thin ice.

Adrian took the cold tea she offered and gazed at her, adorned with a crown full of yellow blossoms.

Nina pointed to the sky.

“A clear blue sky, a cool breeze, a brilliant sun. Don’t people need a bit of leisure?”

He looked up at her words. The sky was astonishingly blue, with fluffy clouds drifting as if to show just how vast it was.

Leaning against the cold watchtower wall, Adrian cleared his mind.

“Nina.”

“Yes? Want a biscuit? I even brought jam.”

Nina offered to spread it herself.

When she held out the butter knife inquiringly, Adrian said,

“You’re right.”

The sun, water, air.

And you.

Everything he needed to live as a human was right here.

“Right? We all need a break. Though it’s a bit rich coming from me, the one forcing vacation on you.”

Nina handed him a biscuit piled high with butter and jam.

Wheat wasn’t scarce in the duchy—it was just rare in the castle.

The extreme austerity measures were the root of the castle’s food shortages.

Not that there was enough for everyone to eat white bread, of course.

After devouring the biscuits and tea, Nina stood and perched on the edge of the watchtower.

She brushed the crumbs from her hands into the air and savored the breeze.

Her twin braids swayed gently in the wind.

She wore a comfortable outfit: a hip-length top with embroidery along the collar, pants below, and a belt cinched at the waist.

Nina patted her knees lightly.

“Come on, lean on me and act spoiled.”

“So you can spoil me in return?”

Adrian replied with a laugh, and Nina declared proudly, “Exactly.” She beckoned him over.

But Adrian didn’t budge. Nina sighed and stood.

“No helping it. I’m only doing this because you’re truly my Young Master.”

She sat beside him on the edge of the watchtower.

“Now lean.”

Seeing her sparkling eyes, Adrian turned and rested his back against her legs.

Looking up, he saw Nina grinning as she reached out to shade his eyes.

Time flowed leisurely.

The only sound on the watchtower was the flapping of the flags.

A sense of floating, as if suspended in the sky, enveloped his body.

Nina’s voice was low and soft. Her stories were light trifles—harmless enough to let flow in one ear and out the other—yet sparkling like mica in sand.

No need to listen tensely. No need to think deeply.

The tension gripping his body melted away.

The nerves strung taut like bowstrings loosened.

He reached out and tugged the hand shading his eyes.

Pulled by her arm, Nina’s upper body tilted forward.

Their faces drew so close he could see the patterns in her irises.

“Nina.”

“Yes.”

“Nina.”

“Yes.”

“Nina.”

Nina laughed and replied “Yes” again. Her attitude suggested she’d answer a hundred or a thousand times. Adrian closed his eyes.

Straight smiles from her were rare. As he shut his eyes, Nina straightened up.

She knew this was his way of acting spoiled. Stroking his hair, she gazed toward the distant Violet Forest.

The watchtower, with just the two of them, felt like the end of the world.

“Come up here often, Young Master,”

Nina murmured.

“Yeah.”

His small, curt reply made her smile.