Lizzie of the North (Yrsoreth Chronicles 2)

21 ◦❀◦ The Moon and the Sun

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

Devanti and Lizzie returned to the castle without so much information about the new teacher aside from her introduction the next day.

She noticed among the knights that accompanied them to the port, only half returned with them. And the mystery of her new mentor was forgotten by the unexpected morning view from her balcony.

The duke was standing in front of the now unlocked gate of the abandoned garden. She watched him for minutes, standing on the same spot like a frozen statue. The morning chill blew and his hair danced, melancholy painted on his side profile.

Not too long ago, her maid Blinne, who had the loosest tongue more than anyone in the castle, told her in passing that the garden was the second duchess and her mother, Kirien's favorite place.

You must have missed her, huh. Even if she left you.

"Papa~Papa~! Good morning!" She screamed from the balcony, waving her hands. "Don't leave, Lizzie will come!"

She did not wait for the duke's reply. She ran to the door and knocked from the inside. The knights Leendil and Shaw opened the door from the outside, only to see the youngest and the only lady of the dukedom, in her fluffy sleeping gown and disheveled silver hair.

"To the garden, please. Papa is waiting for Lizzie!" Her voice, so thin yet clear as the chirping of the birds, echoed in the hall. She even extended her hands in request to be carried in their arms.

What kind of creature is this? The black knights thought.

They were not permitted to carry the young Feliziia, but if they let her run in the huge castle then down to the garden, their heads will roll.

Either way, they'd probably end up dead. So Leendil, the meeker of the two, pulled himself together and kneeled to offer a back ride.

"Oi, you wanna die?" Shaw whispered.

"Look at her eyes," was all the other said and Shaw understood. Of all the creatures they encountered, Lady Lizzie was the most fragile, yet dangerous.

To reject her sparkling blue eyes was worse than breaking the Knight's Oath.

Lizzie was already riding Leendil's back and Shaw covered her with a coat from her room.

That morning, the whole castle was blessed and horrified with the view of the lady riding on her knight's back, with her giggling voice "Quick Leen-Leen! Quick~!"

They reached the garden and the duke stood where he was.

"Papa~Papa~! Lizzie is here!"

The two knights paled and half kneeled awaiting punishment after they handed the young lady to their master.

What's with this atmosphere? "Papa~Papa~, Lizzie was fast. It was fun!"

Devanti blinked at her smile, brighter than the morning. "...If you say so. They may carry you as you wish."

The two knights' faces brightened and were thankful for the blessings of their goddess, Feliziia. But their smiles froze from chilling glares of the duke as if a warning: You drop her, you die.

They swallowed at the same time and nodded. "We won't, Your Grace. We'll carry her with our life on the line," Leendil whispered to the wind.

They were then commanded to stand by the gate, as the duke and the little lady entered the garden.

Devanti's steps stopped and Lizzie followed his line of vision. At the center was a pavilion, shading a bush of red tulip-like flowers, its vines snaking up the rusting walls. In a garden littered with withered plants, grass, and abandonment, it was the only thing that seemed to be alive.