The Cold, Bitter North (3) - 7

Seeing her entering, I froze, before acting as if nothing had happened.

This was the first time that I was seeing her in my life, which was probably due to the fact that she had just joined the Endendyk maid force, and had probably been the only maid "brave" enough to take the job of following me to the north.

Seeing that she was about to leave the room, I knew that I had to leave a good impression immediately.

"Uhm... Maid, could you please stay in my room for a second?"

Then turning over to Char, I asked, "Are there any other personnel in this castle other than you and this maid over here?"

"No, we were the only ones that followed, Young Master."

I stayed silent for a second to process this information and to change my plans accordingly.

Looking back up from my stupor, I asked, "What's your name?"

"Greta, Sir."

"..."

"Stop bullshitting and give me your real name."

I look of shock crossed over her face, but she quickly composed herself again.

"It's Gwen, Milord."

"..."

I spent some more time in silence, as if pondering if she was saying the truth or not.

"I guess that's truthful enough." I said after a while.

Hearing this, Char immediately came in between me Gwen and I.

"Young Master, do you want me to get rid of her?"

Being my nanny, Char had taken it upon herself to check the backgrounds of all the maids that had been around me back when I was at the manor, so, it was a given that she had done a background check on Gwen, but now, she was definitely suspicious, as the names obviously didn't match.

"No, she's trustworthy enough. At the very least, she won't attack me at this moment, as it'd be too detrimental for most to get rid of me right now."

I waved my hand and Char sat back down.

"Now, Gwen... What do you want?"

"..."

"So you can't answer?"

She nodded her head yes.

"Then what am I supposed to do with you?"

"..."

"Speak up or I won't let you anywhere near me. As long as you're honest, I'll keep you near me. And don't lie, if you haven't figured it out, I've already found your tell, so it'd be useless."

Obviously, it would have been impossible for me to find her tell in such a short amount of time, but, for some reason, there was a part of the novel that talked about Gwen's tell, so I fortunately knew it.

"I'm here to observe you and I promise I won't hurt you until your sister finishes her stay at the academy."

"That's good enough for me. Welcome to the 2 person, well now, 3 person family." I said, whilst opening up my arms.

Needless to say, both women were surprised by my quick decision, but they both buried their questions.

Then, looking over to Char, I asked her to carry me to the wheelchair.

"Take me to the indoor training ground."

Then, looking over at Gwen, I added,

"And Gwen, please follow."

We exited the room and Char started pushing me down more gray, cold, stone hallways.

Along the way, I decided to grill Char for as much information as I could.

"How long have I been asleep, Char?"

"Three weeks and a few days, Young Master."

"That long? Well, it's unfortunate, but I can handle."

"And how's my sister doing?"

"I'm forbidden to talk about that with you Young Master."

"Alright, well then, how about, what am I supposed to do here?"

"You're basically a prisoner, but, as long as I'm with you, then you can move around the city however you want and you're allowed to visit Karina."

"Oh, I can visit Big Sis?"

"Yes, the lord mentioned it explicitly, so keep in mind that there's probably a reason."

"Of course there is..."

I spent the rest of the trip to the training ground in silence, pondering, as I was wheeled along by Char, with Gwen walking by my side.

...

Descending into a type of basement, I got my first glance of the indoor training room.

If I had a choice, I would have definitely chosen to go to the outdoor training ground, but, as the blizzard was still roaring outside, I had to compromise.

The indoor training room was literally just a basement with a dirt floor and some weapon racks at the far end.

But, I didn't come to the training room for this.

Instead I motioned for Char to stop, before putting my hand out, asking her to hold it.

I then put my other hand in front of Gwen, asking her to do the same.

"Young Master, are you sure you want to do this? It's been less than a day since you have woken up."

"It's fine, I need to recover quickly."

"If you say so."

Char took my hand, before motioning for Gwen to do the same.

Then, they helped me out of the wheel chair.

Gritting my teeth, I put some weight on my legs, which immediately buckled.

But luckily, Char and Gwen were there, holding my hands, so I didn't fall to the ground.

Putting my feet on the ground again, I gingerly started adding more and more weight on them.

After a while, when I could put at least a quarter of my weight on each leg, I started pseudo walking, with Char and Gwen supporting the other half of my weight, which wasn't that much, apparent by how skinny I was.

We walked back and forth and back and forth until finally, Char put a decisive end to the exercise, as she deemed me too tired to continue.

"Huff, huff, huff."

Breathing heavily as they sat me back down on the wheelchair, I could only lament at the sorry state of my body.

Char then wheeled me back to my room. They both helped me shower and change before Char laid me down on my bed.

As Gwen was about to take her leave, I told her one last thing.

"Thank you for today, Gwen."

An immense look of shock was plastered over her face, as her jaw dropped to the floor.

"Also, starting tomorrow, please bring me a couple books from the castle library to read after my workout sessions."

Seeing that she was still standing there, dumbfounded, I said,

"Now go on, shoo."

Hearing this, she snapped out of her daze, bowed her head and left the room.

Turning to Char, who was sitting in the chair next to my bed, I asked,

"Do you have a bed to sleep on?"

"No, but Young Master, this chair is enough for me. It would only clutter..."

"I don't want to hear you say anymore, immediately procure another bed in this room for you to sleep on."

"Okay... Thank you Young Master."

She then left the room to get another bed.

I had already fallen asleep by the time she had come back, the exhaustion of today too much for my mind and body to handle.