Road to the Crown Chapter 16: The castle and the envoy (2)

"And how did you ca to such realisation?"

While it was obvious that I brought the problematic person with since it wasn't common for a noble to escort a random damsel to his lands without any greater intention behind such visit! But that didn't change the fact I was quite curious what kind of route Matsu's thoughts took to arrive at this conclusion.

"My lord Your carriage carries signs of blood on it, and outside of losing soone on the travel that should be free from any casualties, I don't see Vigo anywhere in your group. With just this, I could assu that so kind of accident happened, maybe so bandits or crash on the road, but with the addition of the young lady, two more soldiers I do not recognise and the envoy arriving to discuss such matter I wouldn't be able to carry out my duties if I was unable to connect the dots! Thinking about this Are you going to vie for her inheritance rights, sir?"

Ah, it was nice to talk with soone intelligent! While I couldn't deny any of Elia's wits, her wisdom was far more practical than the analytical and cold way of Matsu's thinking! Just by listening to her explanations I felt like an idiot for asking this question in the first place as if only an idiot couldn't co up with such an answer!

"It's scary how on the point you are. On the side note, does being so intelligent, hurt at tis?"

With just a small smirk for the reaction, Matsu bowed her head lightly and was about to leave, when Elia trodded forward.

"Would you be so kind as to tell how this envoy looked like?"

That was sothing I didn't pay any attention to. With how everyone from Pilzno outside for Elia and her retainers was completely foreign to , I simply forgot that she could know that person, giving a way to prepare for the eting in advance!

"Ah, he is a high blonde, in his middle twenties. He announced himself as Markus, but I honestly doubt that's his real na. And before I forget, I told the servants to guide him to the guest rooms in the northern wing of the palace. Should I push a handyman to notify him about your arrival?"

Just as capable as she always was - at least, according to the system-produced resu. While I knew how important this eting could be, there was no point for to rush things. Making him wait could serve as an additional reminder of what his place was in the middle of my damned castle!

"Yeah, tell him I will call for him when I will have any intention of eting him. Additionally, could you prepare a list of taverns in our lands? It would help imnsely."

While there was no reason for to be so polite due to difference in our status, maybe because of my modern upbringing or maybe because I believed that commoner like her was actually far more valuable as retainer as A a drunkard and skirt-chaser, warranting my way of approaching her.

"I will get right to it, sir"

With how usefull she was, there was no way I could bother myself to point out that a commoner like her should address lord instead of sir. This second form was to be used in the army or amongst nobles when recognising hierarchical attitude! But while she was born in Poland, she spent a lot of her early years travelling with her father around the Europe, where those terms of referring to the nobles were quite different, giving all the more reasons to ignore this small mishap of hers!

Seeing her moving to the mayor house where the common archives were kept, I called for so handyn and ordered them to bring a single barrel of every ware I bought all the way in Krakow into my personal quarters, before leading a now smaller group to yet another gate.

While the lower castle was rather open and actually connected to the pasture located on the elevated garden serving as the private stock of the lord, it was actually the high castle where all the important decisions were made, and where the actual palace was.

Reaching the gate with only two of my standard companions and Elia with her retainers, we went on top of a long bridge, connecting both parts of the castle over a deep ditch. With how angled it was, despite both parts of the stronghold built around the sa height, the bridge actually entered a small gate, on the second floor of the gatehouse. If not for this ingenious bit of architectural creativity, separating the castle into two parts would be useless, as one could simply scale the ramparts and get on the bridge!

Only when I took my first step on the wooden bridge, I realised how beautiful the scenery view was. Compared to the few tis when I visited the ruins of this place back in the modern tis, instead of a city sprawling all the way to the horizon, I could gaze at the endless lines of fields, filled with different colours, indicating how commoners varied their crops.

Or at least, that's what I saw with the eyes of my imagination.

With the little ice age in its full swing, not even the sunny weather of today was capable of improving how dull and grey the entire area looked like. According to my rough estimates, it would still take about a month or two for the first crops to start sprouting and changing this average view into sothing filled with the beauty.

After crossing the bridge and going down the stairs of the gatehouse, my group entered a big, paved courtyard, with an enormous main tower protruding from its centrepoint.

With all of the buildings serving both as the outer walls of the high castle, outside of the well beside the keep, every single structure was pressed against the outer rim of the area. Right as we ca out of the tower, all the buildings on our left and right were used as shops, kitchens and other necessary anities for everyone living in the castle, with the palace separated in two wings, encompassing the outer part of the rim in the shape of half-circle.

While we could enter the living quarters through the main gate, with how I wanted to avoid eting the envoy, for now, I decided to use the outer towers with staircases, that allowed us to bypass the main building and enter the southern wing of the palace instead of going through the main hall.

Dismissing my companions with the order to lead Elia's retainers to their temporary quarters, I led now strangely mute girl towards my own chambers. Following the navigation of my system, I quickly reached the big, intricately decorated doors, before pushing them open.

Compared to the outside view that even the bright sun that graced us today couldn't colour, this room, despite its walls being made mostly with stone, still gave off warmth, cosy feeling. With a double, kingsized bed taking nearly a third of the space in the room, the remaining part was nicely exposed to the sunrays of the setting sun, causing the cabinet and several, deep chairs to look even more expensive than they in fact were.

"Now, I think you should understand why I wanted to talk with you in private."

With how Elia asked about the appearance of the envoy and turned silent ever since I could tell that this person was most likely so kind of big-shot of her family. While I doubted it was her brother himself, a respected steward or even maybe soone who wanted to nd the rift in the family and bring both parties together would make the girl's reaction fitting.

"Yeah, I think I know"

With her fur coat falling instantly to the ground, Elia instantly shrugged due to the cold. While I couldn't bla the servants for not knowing about my arrival, seeing her in this poor state made want to curse them for not starting the fire in a big fireplace at the outer corner of the room.

But her actions didn't stop there. With her hands slightly trembling, she reached for the buttons on top of her chest and undid them before I even managed to force any kind of reaction out of my suddenly tightened throat.

While I liked where this was going, this wasn't my intention at all! With only a few days spent together, I ca to like this intelligent girl, but maybe because of my modern yet prudent standards, I didn't think this was the right ti to do the thing that Elia's actions indicated she had in mind, nor did we even know each other for long enough to warrant such forwardness!

By the ti her modest cleavage got exposed through the gap in her skirt, she already reached with her hands upward, not only pushing her breast up and making them even more alluring but attempting to push the straps of her skirt out of her shoulders!

"Stop!"

Despite being from modern tis, and despite how she was willing to expose herself and most likely go all the way with right now on her own accord, the uneasiness on her face and slight tremble to every move she made, was far more than I could handle.

I would never let this kind of nice relationships I was slowly building with her to be destroyed only because of this kind of misconception! With how she was at her lowest right now, if I were to take advantage of her dependence on , as soon as the deal would be done, there would be no way for us to co back to the fun tis where we joked around and talked about various topics while travelling!

With her body suddenly freezing in place upon hearing my stern shout, she tilted her head like so sort of cat, unable to comprehend what I had on mind.

"I wanted you to explain who the fuck this envoy is for you and why did Matsu ntioning his appearance made you silent like that! I think I already said I won't take advantage of you!"