Chapter 101
Sir Baufallo stopped in front of his house and stood to watch. Even from the outside, he could hear people chatting from inside. It was clear his house was indeed full.
He left ho 10 years ago and finally, he was back. There were no gifts in his hands, but there were four cats hanging onto him. Most people thought of horses as the military animal, but to Sir Baufallo, he thought of dogs and cats. The horses usually belonged to the kingdom, so they had clear owners, and the dogs often had masters as well but cats… Most cats had no hos.
Sir Baufallo knew very well how important the cats were to the war. They killed countless rats and thereby saving and preserving their food supplies.
Soone inside the ho finally noticed him standing outside. One by one, they ca out to cheer him. Sir Baufallo recognized so, but not all. He wasn’t sure if so of them were really his relatives. He knew that there would be plenty of people approaching him and were trying to befriend him since they all knew that he would be receiving a significant title and wealth as a reward. But even though he knew that so of them might not have the best intention, he didn’t dislike all the people greeting him and cheering for him.
Sir Baufallo smiled faintly when he saw his wife peeking out from the kitchen. Lady Ribo glanced at him quickly and without a word, he went back inside.
“I’m ho.”
Lady Ribo was still furious that her husband took both of their sons to the war. During the last 10 years, she only sent a few letters to her husband, and the letters only asked how her sons were doing.
It had been 10 years, but it seems that her anger hasn’t cooled at all.
“I’m ho.”
When Sir Baufallo murmured, Lady Ribo asked angrily, “Where are the kids?”
The other n around them tried to take Sir Baufallo’s side.
“Lady Ribo, please be nice to the man. He ca back from a war, for god sake.”
“Lady Ribo! You need to show your husband more respect!”
But Lady Ribo wasn’t going to let this go. She yelled, “I can’t even get angry about losing both of my sons for the last 10 years? I am their mother, aren’t I?!”
“But they returned alive, didn’t they? The older one got into that knight’s order or sothing, right? And I heard the younger one got into the guard division. Obviously, both of them did very well! You should be happy, Lady Ribo.”
“Who cares? What about the ti I lost with them? I will never get back those ten years!”
Sir Baufallo wasn’t angry or upset with his wife. Seeing her with more white hair and wrinkles told him how hard her life has been for the last 10 years. He knew it wouldn’t have been easy for a woman to live alone without any man left in the household. It would have been better to leave at least one son behind, but both of them insisted on going. Their family wasn’t rich since he was a simple knight with an average salary. He knew how hard it would have been for her.
Sir Baufallo felt guilty, especially because he didn’t even bring his sons back ho right away. Instead, he brought back four cats. He explained weakly, “You said in the letter that there wasn’t a lot of room in the house, so they decided to stay at another knight’s ho. They promised to co ho for als, so don’t worry.”
Lady Ribo didn’t even give him a reply. Sir Baufallo placed the cats down on the floor and sighed. It seed that his wife wasn’t going to feel better until Sirs Donau and Howe ca ho. The four cats sighed and watched the lady with interest.
***
Sirs Aeke, Beke, and Deke also returned to their ho with heavy hearts. The two oldest boys were in much better condition than the youngest Deke.
Only
When Deke insisted on joining his brothers to this war, his mother Lady Ingreter and his sister slapped him for his selfishness. As the brothers got farther away from Acreia, it beca harder and it took longer for them to receive letters from ho. There were many tis that the letters went missing as well. The ssages from the wealthy and important families usually arrived safely, but the Ingreter clan was a poor noble family. After crossing the Koemong River, the Ingreter brothers didn’t receive any more letters from ho.
Their mother and sister obviously have been waiting for their safe returns desperately, but when the brothers actually showed up, they acted coldly. Deke asked his sister awkwardly, “S-sis, where is your husband, my brother-in-law? Weren’t you going to get married after we left?”
Cekel, who would’ve been nad Ceke if she was a boy, answered indifferently, “He broke up the engagent.”
n could easily get married at any age, but won were called spinsters once they reached an age between late teens to early twenties. People called Cekel a spinster too. There were many won in a similar situation, especially in poor or average families nowadays. It was the side effect of a war. After many young n left Acreia, they had more won than n. The situation was a little better for the won who still had at least one male mber left in the family because there was a guarantee that the male would inherit the family na, title, as well as the burden. The won who still had a male family mber staying behind sotis got marriage offers as well, but the Ingreter family had no male mbers who stayed behind. If the three brothers died or ca ho maid, there would be no future for this family. For this reason, Cekel’s fiancé broke up the engagent.
Her ex-fiance ended up marrying a lady much higher than him thanks to the war and the consequence of the lack of available n. Cekel decided to accept her fate and stayed ho to take care of her parents. She gave up on getting married.
Sirs Aeke and Beke, who was about to go out to beat up Cekel’s selfish ex-fiance, beca very quiet when they heard the reason why he broke up the engagent.
Sir Deke also didn’t say a word and began to eat his al. It has been 10 years since they last ate a ho-cooked al. The brothers did their best not to cry from joy.
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