Chapter 29 Courtyard

  The moonlight shines on the carefully trimmed flowers in the castle's courtyard, filling the entire yard with a fragrant scent. In the center of the courtyard stands a fountain pool, where clear water flows gently, shaped like a white marble lotus flower. Although it doesn't have an elegant appearance, it is delicate and pleasing to the eye. Besides the fountain, there is also a pavilion with a round dome on top, its marble columns wrapped in grapevines that seem to be swaying in the breeze, making one imagine how cool it must be in the summer. Inside the pavilion, a small swing hangs, available for the nobles to play on, but at this moment, they are all enjoying fine wine and delicacies in the castle's tower, leaving the courtyard eerily quiet. The swing in the pavilion creaks softly, making a gentle sound.

  "Ah, someone's here." Arwade felt terrible because he thought of the Duke of Mason's cold treatment of his family. He stepped on the dewy grass and got his boots wet. He strolled alone in this quiet courtyard until he saw a beautiful pavilion in the garden. The pavilion was supported by six white marble pillars, with heavy stone benches between them for nobles to rest on when they were tired from playing. Arwade lifted his leg to go inside and take a break, but then he heard the sound of a swing swaying inside and stopped in his tracks.

  "Narcissus flowers bloomed in the pond, white swans flapped their wings, golden roses scattered on the grass, and a handsome knight picked up the rose to present it to the beautiful princess~~~~. A crisp and melodious singing voice like silver bells rang out, the voice was as clear as an autumn night, listening to it made people feel like drinking fine wine. Ardo stood quietly outside the pavilion, entranced by the sound, regardless of civilization, beautiful music can always directly communicate with human souls. Although this singing voice had no musical accompaniment, the crisp and sweet girl's voice made up for this deficiency, the only accompaniment was the creaking sound of the swinging swing."

  "Ah cho~~~." Just as the people in the pavilion were singing with gusto, a cracking sound suddenly came from the pavilion, along with a woman's mournful cry and the sound of something falling to the ground.

  "It hurts."

  Arwade rushed into the pavilion and saw a girl in a white long dress kneeling on the ground, holding her calf with one hand and making soft painful sounds. The swing's rope, made of tree vines, had probably broken due to lack of maintenance over time. Arwade saw that the girl had long golden hair scattered around her, emerald green eyes shining with tears, a small high nose, and red lips. She was as beautiful as an angel, but for a moment, Arwade felt like he had seen her somewhere before.

  "Ah, you, you." The girl raised her head and saw Arode bursting in, somewhat taken aback. However, her eyes rolled around quickly and she calmed down. Arode remembered that he couldn't approach the girl so recklessly, so he hastily retreated a few steps to maintain a safe distance between them.

  "Hello, miss. I am Arwod, a knight attendant invited by Sir Ebor. I'm not a bad person. I just heard your voice outside and came in to see if there's anything I can help with." Arwod introduced himself politely and quickly to the young lady. The term "miss" was not used casually in this era, nor did it have the same connotation as it would in later times. Only young noblewomen were referred to as "miss". Arwod saw that the girl's long dress, although not overly decorated, was made of fine materials and had gold and silver embroidery of roses in several places. Given that she appeared in the duke's courtyard, he assumed she must be a member of some lord or duke's family who was out for a stroll.

  "My legs can't move anymore." The girl's snow-white teeth bit her lips, tears streaming down her smooth face, a pitiful sight to behold.

  "May I take a look?" Aruo De took a step forward, knelt down on one knee and gently lifted the girl up with his hand, asking cautiously. He didn't want to stir up any trouble, but the girl's pitiful appearance made him unable to bear standing by idly.

  "En." The girl nodded, reluctantly sitting on the cold stone bench in the pavilion, and lifted her foot to let Arode see it. Her skirt slid open along her smooth skin, revealing sturdy and tight calves and bare, beautiful and plump arches. This girl didn't wear any shoes like this in the pavilion, but Arode thought it was so natural, because the girl's beauty was just like a spirit closest to nature.

  "Uh." Ardo's nose caught the unique scent of a young girl, and he looked at her defenseless exposed legs, feeling his throat dry and his face flush. He awkwardly lifted the girl's foot, seeing that the back of it was slightly swollen, probably just a sprain.

  "Is it serious?" The girl lowered her head and saw Ah Ruo De kneeling on one knee in front of her, holding his own foot, and couldn't help but feel a flush rise to her ears, with two rosy red cheeks appearing.

  "It's nothing, just a sprain. I'll go get some cold water to apply and it will be fine." Aruo De didn't dare look again, stood up and walked towards the spring pool. He arrived at the edge of the spring pool, tore off the hem of his own linen clothes, soaked them thoroughly in the icy spring water, then wrung them out and returned to the pavilion, wrapping the linen around the girl's ankle.

  "Hmm..." The hem of the girl's dress, soaked in icy spring water, wrapped around her feet, and indeed alleviated the scorching heat of the swelling. The girl let out a comfortable, soft moan, and in this quiet pavilion, it was especially ambiguous and embarrassing.

  "Now that you're fine, Miss, I'll take my leave. My father and brother are still waiting for me at the banquet." Aruo De hastily turned around, but almost bumped into a marble pillar due to his nervousness. No wonder he's been single from his past life to this one.

  "Pfft~~~." The girl watched as Arwade almost crashed into the marble pillar, and when he turned around, he almost tripped over his own sword, unable to help but laugh softly. She gazed at Arwade's back with gentle eyes, her mouth still curved upwards.

  "What a fine knight, what a pity." Just as Arutha departed, the voice came from behind the girl, who did not turn around but knew it was her troublesome brother, Sir Ebral.

  "Hmm, why a pity?" The young girl puffed out her cute cheeks and asked Sir Ebrul in puzzlement. She was actually Josie, the daughter of Duke Mason, who had known Arwod for some time. She was that teary-eyed little servant who had cried during the jousting match between Sir Ebrul and the French knight. Ever since she saw Arwod's strange medical skills save her brother, his image had lingered in her mind, though it was just a girl's curiosity about someone different from her brother, without any special thoughts. However, running into Arwod again today in the castle courtyard and being saved once more by his strange medical skills made her think that this might be God's arrangement. The young girl wasn't naive after all.

  "Joan, my sister, you are a woman of the Herman family, and Father will not allow you to marry a low-ranking nobleman without status or title." How could Sir Everard not understand his sister's thoughts? But he knew that although Duke Mason loved his beautiful sister dearly, as a woman of the Herman family, she would ultimately become a political marriage tool for expanding the family's power. He even knew that the duke had thoughts of introducing his sister to the son of Emperor Henry of the Holy Roman Empire; if they could marry into royalty, then the duke's grandson would have the right to inherit the title of Caesar, which was what the cunning and ambitious Duke Mason had always dreamed of.

  "I hate you." Josie stood up angrily, the pain in her feet causing her to frown, and she leaned on a marble pillar. However, stubborn Josie endured the pain and hobbled towards her residence, limping along. When she reached the outer courtyard, two maidservants hurried forward to try to support her, but were pushed away by her as she continued walking alone.

  "Good heavens, what's to be done?" sighed Sir Ebril, leaning against a marble pillar with his arms crossed, gazing at the stubborn back of his sister, shaking his head and pursing his lips in distress.

  Armand had no idea of the trouble he had just stirred up in Sir Ebull's mind, for he was now occupied with his own troubles, and the cause of them was that old rascal Count Lauterbourg, who, on returning to the ball-room, saw his brother Yves standing red-faced and furious, glaring at Count Lauterbourg, while several nobles were endeavouring to keep the two apart, as if there had been some quarrel between Yves and Count Lauterbourg, and Sir Windell was trying to reason with Yves, while Duke Merson's face looked rather disquieted, but he did not seem to take much notice of the disturbance.

  "What's going on here?" Arwade asked a nobleman standing beside him, he hadn't had time to figure out what was happening, and he felt that his family and Count Lautrec were born enemies.

  "Oh, which knight named Yves sat in the seat of Count Lautrec, so when Count Lautrec came he asked which knight to leave the seat."

  "Didn't he give up his seat?" Arwade felt somewhat surprised, this was a society with strict hierarchy, everyone had their own position according to their status, if Yifu occupied the Earl's seat, then he should have given it up for the Earl, that was the traditional way of doing things, Yifu shouldn't not understand.

  "No, which knight gave up his seat and apologized to the count."

  "That's it, isn't it? How can there be any dispute?" Arvad asked in haste, bewildered.

  "But the Earl had the chair broken up on the spot and said he never wanted to sit in that smelly chair again, which is why things are as they are now." The nobleman shrugged his shoulders and spoke with a tone of watching a spectacle.

  "What?!" Arwade's lungs were about to burst, this was simply too much, Count Lautrec was publicly humiliating Yifu, no wonder the hot-tempered Yifu couldn't bear it.

  "Duel, I, Eif, quasi-knight of the Wendel family. Wendel, to you, Count Rauzitz, I demand a duel." Eif gritted his teeth, his eyes almost spewing fire as he spoke word by word to the arrogant Count Rauzitz.