Chapter 7
Awooooo!
The northern nights, where wolf howls had long since become part of everyday life.
“…Mmm.”
“!”
I turned my head toward the sound while sitting in a chair and going through some papers.
There was Heter, lying in bed, clutching his head with a frown between his brows.
Seeing him open and close his mouth as though trying to say something, I quickly poured water into a glass and held it to his lips.
Gulp, gulp.
The glass of water disappeared in an instant, and at last Heter's eyelids slowly lifted.
“Sir Heter? Can you come to your senses? Would you like some more water?”
“No, I'm all right….”
Still clutching his head, Heter slowly sat up in bed.
“Where am I? Ugh, my head.”
“You were without air for a long time, so that's probably why. Here, have another glass of water.”
“Yes….”
Although he'd said he was fine, once I gave him water, he drank it down eagerly.
“Phew, I think the headache is finally starting to go away.”
“That's a relief.”
“But where is this?”
As I poured more water into his empty glass, Heter looked around and asked me.
“This is my room.”
“Did you say this is the head of the household's room? My apologies.”
“Whoa! Where do you think you're going?”
Heter's eyes widened as he hurriedly tried to get out of bed.
I rose from my chair faster than he did and firmly pressed down on both his shoulders.
“I know knights recover quickly, but get plenty of rest today!”
“Yes. But I should return to my room….”
“Oh, no. Aren't you going to lie down?”
“Even so…?!”
“Hmm?”
“Understood.”
Just as he was awkwardly starting to stand, he suddenly sat back down on the bed.
‘What was that?’
His movement was so unnatural that I sensed something was off, but at least he was sitting on the bed, so that was good enough.
“Good decision. Here, have another glass of water.”
“Yes, but could you tell me what happened?”
“It seems you don't remember very well?”
At my question, Heter nodded while pressing his temple.
“First, the Snow Wyrm came up out of the ground, but when quite some time passed and you still hadn't come out….”
I told him how, when he still hadn't emerged after some time, I had gone in and dragged him out myself.
Of course, I left out the part about holding onto him with his arm inside my clothes, as well as performing artificial respiration.
“I remember losing consciousness after it stopped moving and I tried to get out, then fell over, but those things happened?”
He set the glass he had been drinking from on the table by the head of the bed and bowed while still seated.
“Thank you for saving me, my lady.”
“Not at all, Sir Heter. Please raise your head. I'm the one who should be thanking you.”
I took hold of his head and shoulders and straightened him up.
“Thanks to you, the people of the territory stayed safe without anyone getting hurt. I should be the one sincerely thanking you.”
If I thought about it for even a moment, I could tell what an enormous resolve it must have taken.
With Heter's skill, he should have been able to escape from the Snow Wyrm easily enough.
Yet despite being at a disadvantage without even wearing armor, he had stood and fought the Snow Wyrm.
If he hadn't bought us time, we might have had not only injured people but fatalities as well.
No, with Sir Gold injured, people definitely would have been hurt.
“…I merely did what a knight ought to do.”
Heter, who had been looking at me for a long while, turned his head away and said that.
“Thank you for saying that… Hmm?”
When I raised my head, I saw that his ears had turned bright red.
Apparently, he'd been embarrassed by saying something so cringeworthy.
‘What a cute guy.’
I had been like that too, back when I was a man.
There had been times when I'd said something and then wanted to kick the blankets in embarrassment.
“Excellent.”
Understanding perfectly well how Heter must be feeling, I quietly waited for him to calm down without saying anything else.
“By the way, do you know what time it is?”
Eventually, Heter's usual expression returned, and he looked at me again as he asked.
“It should be around nine.”
“Already? Are you really sure you don't need to get up?”
“Of course.”
In truth, if not for my room, there wasn't anywhere else suitable to lay him down.
When our fortunes declined and the servants of the mansion began quitting one by one,
several empty rooms and pieces of furniture were left in the mansion.
Furniture, as a rule, starts rotting much faster than you'd expect if it isn't used.
Since we were short of every last penny at the time, I sold all the furniture except the pieces in my room and Ruby's.
In other words, when Heter said he would stay at the mansion, we couldn't prepare proper bedding for him.
It was out of the question to lay a patient on a makeshift straw bed, but we couldn't have him sleep in Ruby's room either.
“I'm a knight, so I'll be fine.”
Heter offered a quiet protest after hearing the reason, but I absolutely couldn't allow it.
That damned knight nonsense!
“Sir Gold is the same way. Do all knights think they can't catch a cold?”
“In practice, we don't catch them very often.”
“You don't catch them often, but that doesn't mean you never catch them!”
Before he could become even more stubborn, I cut Heter off firmly.
“Rest quietly. In exchange, I'll keep you company until you fall asleep.”
“In that case… I'll impose on you for just one day.”
“All right.”
I straightened the rumpled blankets and smiled.
“Did you know? Sir Gold says the Snow Wyrm we brought down this time will fetch twice as much as the previous one.”
“That's excellent news.”
“Exactly. So it looks like I'll be able to pay the compensation Sir Heter proposed.”
“The compensation…?”
After hearing that he could receive 100 gold a month, Heter looked surprised.
Yes, he probably hadn't expected that he would actually be able to receive that amount.
In truth, a monthly salary of 100 gold was still absurd, but he had already shown us that he was worth even more than that.
Not only the overwhelming might to bring down a Snow Wyrm single-handedly, but also the chivalry to sacrifice himself for the people of the territory.
‘If it's Heter, he wouldn't betray us for money like the mage and merchant who went over to another noble in the past.’
Now that we'd found a completely trustworthy ally, would we really let a little money stand in the way?
Besides, with Heter here, we'd be able to reveal the products we'd kept hidden without worrying about them being taken from us.
If that happened, we'd have more than enough to pay him 100 gold a month and repay our debts within the year.
“I'd like to ask you something about the compensation.”
“What is it?”
Heter, who had been deep in thought, asked me,
“You said before that you could pay the compensation with something other than money. Is that offer still valid?”
“Pardon? Surely you don't need to accept goods instead now?”
“Because there's something I've come to want very badly.”
“Hmm… Well, if that's what you want.”
From my perspective, this was actually something I should be happy about.
Even if we put the goods on the market, we would need startup capital for mass production.
“All right. Tell me what you want.”
There was nothing I wouldn't do for the hero who had saved the territory twice.
If it was something he wanted, I intended to provide him with anything.
“You definitely said anything, didn't you?”
Heter's eyes shone when he heard my words.
“…?”
I felt a chill for a moment, but if I went back on my word for no reason, I'd only lose his trust.
“Of course.”
I nodded and said confidently,
“I swear it on the name of the Fortune family.”
I pretended to be confident on the outside, but inside, I felt a little uneasy.
What on earth was he planning to ask for, to set the mood like that?
Could he be asking for a title?
‘That could be a serious problem….’
“In that case… I'll take the head of the household.”
“Pardon?”
What had that guy just said?
“No. I don't mean I'm calling you the head of the household. I mean I want the head of the household as my compensation.”
To make sure I'd heard him correctly, I pointed at myself with my index finger, and he nodded.
“Uh….”
My brain buffered for a long while as I stared blankly, and then I somehow forced the words out.
“So… you want me as your compensation for becoming a knight of the Fortune family?”
“Exactly.”
“Are you insane?”
I shot to my feet, grabbed his head, and thoroughly checked him for injuries.
“You didn't seem to have any external injuries when we treated you, either.”
“Um, my lady.”
“Could the lack of oxygen to your brain have turned you into an idiot?”
“My lady!”
“Huh?!”
Heter shouted, grabbed me around the waist, and shoved me away.
“Ah, I'm sorry. I touched your head so suddenly.”
“That's not what I mean….”
Heter's face flushed red as he avoided my gaze and muttered,
“It's just that your chest keeps….”
“My chest?”
I thought hard about when he had acted strangely or awkwardly.
‘It was when I stood up and pressed down on his head and shoulders, and when I bowed to thank him… Ah.’
Connecting the common thread among those incidents, I realized that all three had occurred when my chest was facing his face.
‘This is insane!’
Just like him, my face heated up in an instant, and I unconsciously crossed both arms to cover my chest.
But doing that made my pressed-down breasts bulge out to the sides, which looked even stranger, so I meekly lowered my arms and asked him,
“B-But isn't this strange? You refused when I asked you to marry me, didn't you?”
“As I said then, we'd known each other for less than a day. It would have been strange to accept right away.”
“Ah, right.”
“Besides, what you wanted then was a contract marriage—a relationship where we bound each other for our mutual benefit. But now….”
He slowly extended his arm and took my hand.
“You would be becoming mine purely of your own accord. I wouldn't need to be bound, either.”
“Wow….”
Looking at him say something like that with such a calm expression, I was dumbfounded.
In the end, what he was saying was no different from trying to bind me like a slave.
“Absolutely not!”
I pulled my hand free, stood up, and shouted.
“Absolutely not?”
“Of course not! How could I be offered as compensation….”
“How strange.”
Heter grabbed my hand again with the one I'd flung away.
“Didn't you clearly swear on your family's name that you would grant me anything I wanted?”
“Ugh…!”
“And I even risked my life fighting the Snow Wyrm for you and the people of the territory.”
“Ugh!”
“Twice, at that….”
“Ghk.”
My conscience. My conscience hurts.
It was true that I'd said I'd grant him anything, and that he had sacrificed himself for the territory and its people.
“A-All right. I can't give you myself as compensation, but I'll raise your monthly salary to 150 gold….”
So I tried to offer him an amount that would satisfy him, even if it meant stretching our finances, but—
“If you won't give me the head of the household, I won't become a knight of the Fortune family.”
“!”
Heter cut off any chance for negotiation entirely.
“R-Really?”
“Yes. I mean it.”
Then he brought the back of my hand to his lips.
Smack.
“I want the head of the household so badly that I'd go mad, much more than I want that paltry money.”
“Huh.”
Th-This…
‘You crazy bastard!’