Noble intentions?

A terrible storm struck Lanark that night.

The four-beat gait of Adela's mare was almost soundless as it got absorbed by the wet grass paving her way, and the air before dawn was filled with a lingering earthy smell that rose up from the moist soil beneath Evita's hooves. But filling her lungs with the scent of Lanark was not invigorating, and the exhilaration that accompanied the run was short of its usual liberation.

Lady de Lanark felt constrained by the web of lies she knitted for her father, and as if stabbing the Archduke in the back by herself was not enough, Arkin and a recovering Larissa were giving her a hand with that.

Adela looked up at the sky transitioning from night to day — hazy lights of pink and red colored the endless horizon. It made her think about change in general and the one her life was taking. The man behind that change could have at least had the decency to ask one of the guards who stood by the borderline to accompany her inside.

Such an inconsiderate man...

Promesa, King's Emanuel former manor finally came into her view. It had been too cold and muddy to slow down and take a closer look, but the King's property seemed more neglected than how it formerly was. She felt eyes on her back all the way here but encountered nobody. And her doubts increased about the von Conradie's investment schemes, the same ones Lanarkians kept speculating about excitedly.

She gently pulled the reigns on Evita when she reached the gate and then dismounted, her eyes caught a moving object as she tied her to a tree, but she was not afraid. Somewhere between the forest, the hill, and that cottage she last saw him in, his presence had become a familiar one.

She did not look at him.

"If Master's offer still stands, I am here to commence my duties,"

"What did your father think about you coming here so early?"

She ignored how pleasant his deep morning voice sounded and focused on how pleased he seemed to be, whereas what he found so amusing was the bane of her existence right now.

"Had he known where I was going, surely he would have been full of complaints,"

Arkin and Larissa promised to cover for her when the Archduke directly asks, but that plan was as firm as a sandcastle next to a capricious sea.

"He does not know that you are here,"

She only focused on his gloved hand that ushered her forward and then looked straight ahead, "And I would immensely appreciate it if that remained the case until I find the right way to tell him,"

Not that such a way existed.

He turned his head away and mumbled something about the defiant Lady de Lanark being at it again.

She froze and looked up at the back of his head noticing unexplainable droplets sliding down the dark locks that almost reached his shoulders.

She lowered her eyebrows when he kept on walking, "You never set a timeframe for this agreement,"

"Two springs,"

Satisfied with his prompt answer, she walked in a hurry, trying to catch up to him.

"Well, let it be known that I am here in order to take back what is rightfully my father's, otherwise, I would not stand for a second before you nor step one foot in this estate,"

He faced her sharp tone with indifference as they both climbed up the long stairs to the adjoining terrace, but she preferred it that way.

"Now this humble worker of yours awaits Master's instructions,"

He finally turned around to face her with the first rays of the sun shining from behind his back.

"I expect you to turn one of the estate's annexes into an excellent infirmary. Once that task is accomplished, I want you to teach talented individuals who are vetted by both of us everything you know about medicine, especially what can be used in first aid,"

Coming here, she speculated much about what she could do for him, but a knights' infirmary exceeded all of her expectations.

"...How many knights are we talking about here,"

"The infirmary won't be serving knights,"

She frowned in perplexity.

"It shall be a non-profit health facility dedicated to commoners who are in need of prompt aid,"

They stood for a moment only looking into each other's eyes, hers were full of questions and a spark of a renewed gratitude marred with the weight of yet another debt, while his were as dark as ever, but instead of the void that threatened to pull her in, they were almost warm, a secret glint inside of them.

Her excitement subsided making way for a heavy sense of responsibility.

"This is very different than what I had in mind…Wouldn't you agree that an educated doctor who had actually gone to the Imperial College and graduated from it might lead your charitable project far better than me?"

"Why? What's wrong with you?"

She blushed, "I am an amateur..."

The smile that slowly spread on his face rendered the decade she assumed existed between them nonexciting.

"...It is a shame,"

His words destroyed the tranquillity of the moment and brought the first argument the two of them ever had back to her mind.

"What is so shameful…"

He threw his head back and looked up, his large Adam's apple moving up and down as he spoke.

"You do not realize your potential,"

There he was again, insulting her intelligence in one way or another, a most distressing and growing habit of his. She was about to object as he lowered his head for it was more crucial now than ever to define some rules of engagement between them. but Adela bit her lips instead when their eyes locked.

They were not touching, but that same fire was ignited beneath her skin.

"A tree might be destined for the heavens, but a persistent hand that keeps on cutting it shall always win,"

Perhaps Adela did not share Larissa's beauty, but she was not hard on the eyes. She heard her share of polite compliments here and there from the gentlemen who attended her debutant celebration or asked to dance with her at the balls she attended after. Being compared to a tree should not have caused her heart to skip a beat and then flutter this intensely, more so when she was not even certain about being the tree in that metaphor.

"Lady Adelaide,"

Her full name in his voice was another interruption to the steady rhythm of her heart, but she managed to get a hold of herself and give him a polite nod.

"...As I have mentioned before, you are early. Take a seat," he directed her to the closest chair and pulled it out for her.

"Thank you,"

He took the seat across from her.

"I haven't hired a major-domo for this place just yet so many things might be out of order,"

"Oh..."

Her cheeks got warmer, the casual conversation he started was what she deemed out of order.

"While you work on the infirmary, Andreas and I will bring more staff in,"

"...To tell you the truth, this land has been neglected for a while, but these were His Majesty's wishes,"

"It is nothing engineers cannot overcome once they receive unlimited access to mana stones,"

Once again, she found herself waiting for the laughter to follow the joke he just made, but all that she was met with was a serious-looking Egon, patiently waiting for the truth in his statement to sink into her head.

She blinked many times; her mind going blank instead of giving her the needed visuals.

...Did he just say unlimited?