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Chapter 42: Veramood Lunatil
Alkerto’s house was a small farmhouse on the outskirts of the capital. Usually, carriages would not pass by this place except if there was a request to go there. Therefore when a carriage stopped in front of the house, children with puzzled faces rushed out.
‘Huh?’
Sigrid was perplexed to see the children coming to her as she got out of the carriage.
“Who are you?”
“Where are you from?”
Sigrid’s back was in a cold sweat facing the chattering children. She has never been good at dealing with a child. However, they were her friend’s siblings. At least she had to try her best. She didn’t want to make the children cry.
“Oh, hello.” Sigrid said with a stiff bow. “Is this Alkerto’s house?”
The children faced each other hearing her words. Then one of them ran inside and shouted. “Older sister! Older sister! Someone looking for the older brother is here~!”
“No, I already know where Alkerto is.”
Sigrid reached out her hands, embarrassed, but the children didn’t seem to hear it.
Soon, an adult woman came out from inside while wiping her wet hands on her apron. Seeing her, Sigrid was relieved. Finally, it was someone who she could communicate with.
The woman saw Sigren, Arcana, then finally Veramood. Sigrid and Arcana dressed similarly to her, but she could tell at a glance that Veramood was a noble.
So the woman said politely, “My name is Ludy, Alkerto’s younger sister. What brings you here?”
“My name is Sigrid Ankertna, a knight and Alkerto’s friend.”
Sigrid also spoke politely. Normally she would have spoken informally, but Ludy was Alkerto’s blood younger sister, so she deserved the respect of Sigrid.
“Alkerto couldn’t come home because he had a lot of work. I’m here to see if there’s anything I could do for you.”
“That’s—” Ludy opened her eyes wide in surprise.
Sigrid tilted her head. Ludy and Alkerto were siblings, yet she didn’t resemble Alkerto’s dazzling blonde hair or turquoise eyes. Ludy gave more of an ordinary woman impression with her brown hair and brown eyes.
“No, no, there’s no need.”
As Ludy shook her head and declined, Arcana laughed and interrupted her. “Don’t say that. Since I’ve come all the way here, I will help with the laundry.”
“Ah.” Ludy replied, then she said hurriedly, “Please, come in. I’ll give you a cup of tea.”
Ludy quickly realized that all of them were outside of her house. So she hurriedly led the guests to her house.
The house was small and dim. It was thanks to the window that was blocked by the wooden planks.
“I apologized for being shabby.”
“No. it’s actually better than the house I used to live in.”
Ludy laughed awkwardly hearing Sigrid’s words. Of course, Ludy didn’t know that what Sigris said was not a lie.
The three sat on wooden chairs and drank the hot water Ludy had brought. Ludy opened the cupboard and in a blushing face, she said in an ant-volumed voice, “We’re out of tea.”
Silence fell over the four’s heads. The eyes of the children standing by the kitchen door glistened. Then there was a coughing sound from the back room. And a thin voice continued.
“Ludy, are there some guests?”
“Oh, yes, Mom. they are older brother’s colleagues.”
Ludy answered in a loud voice, then she rose from her seat. “I hope you don’t mind to wait for a moment.”
“Is that your jadang [1] ? I should greet—”
As Sigrid stood up, Ludy shook her head. She didn’t know what the word ‘jadang’ was, but she could roughly guess it was referring to her mother.
“No, no. it’s okay. You don’t have to. My mother is not feeling well, so I’ll go and tell her.”
Ludy rushed out of the kitchen.
Sigrid sat down again.
“I think I should work on the window,” Arcana said while fiddling with a glass of hot water.
“I’ll go to wash the blanket.” Sigrid continued.
Veramood opened his mouth slightly hearing those words. Why didn’t they just take down this house and build it again? Because right now it was faster to find something that didn’t have to fix.
Sigrid looked at the ceiling, “I’ll have to take a look at the roof.”
“They probably have a farm. It would be nice to see that too.”
Sigrid nodded her head.
After a while, Ludy returned. “Is older brother Alkerto very busy?”
“Yes, he’s been busy with a lot of things.”
“I see….” Ludy looked down, then smiled, “it must have been a long trip to come here, I apologized that I could not treat you properly.”
The guest reception was bad for Alkerto’s name, which was on the rise in his work. Ludy didn’t know about Sigrid and Arcana, but it was definitely very bad for the noble Veramood.
Sigrid stood up, “We didn’t come here to be entertained. We came here to work. Since when did the window become that way?”
“Yes? No, that’s fine—”
Sigrid rolled up her sleeves, “It’s not fine. You’re Alkerto’s family. It was only natural for me to help his family when he was not taking care of you.”
“Are you my older brother’s friend?”
“Are you a knight?”
The two boys who ran out earlier eventually couldn’t hold back and run to Sigrid and clung to her.
As Sigrid stiffened, Ludy shouted, “What are you two doing without manners?!”
“No, it’s fine. Yes, I am a knight.” Sigrid was able to answer more easily than earlier.
The twins’ eyes twinkled. One of them reach out to Sigrid’s sword, but she mercilessly struck the hand down.
Slap!
It was a sound that felt painful just listening to it.
“You must not touch a weapon.”
The boy’s eyes widened, then he bowed his head and nodded.
“I am sorry.” Ludy then raised her voice, “Didn’t Alkerto told you many times before that you should not touch the sword?! Apologize!”
“I, I’m sorry.” the boy bowed his head even deeper.”
“Okay, I forgive you.”
Everyone opened their mouths slightly while looking at Sigrid, shocked, hearing how fast Sigrid accepted the apology.
Veramood giggled, “Wow, our Sigrid is generous.”
“What’s generous about accepting a proper apology? Now, then, Sir Lunatil will take off the bed and sofa covers.”
“What?”
[1] 자당 (jadang) = mother (Sigrid used 자당 [jadang] instead of 어머니 [eomoni] which is commonly used and Ludy did not understand that word. So the translator decided to use the Korean terms for ‘Jadang’ when this word appeared).