The stifling heat of the hearth filled the room with bloody fire. When Remesis woke up, she didn't want to get out of her warm bed for a long time. To her surprise, she had fallen asleep so soundly that night that she had even overslept. Asil was no longer beside her on the next side of the bed.
— Reporting to the princess. This morning, Her Highness left for a hunting trip.
One of the maids reported to her when Remesis inquired about the princess's whereabouts. She hadn't even had breakfast. Remesis was a little discouraged that this time Asil had neglected her basic needs and gone into the forest so early. After all, usually she couldn't be kicked out of bed with a stick.
— Maybe it's because of the recent conversations? — The older woman suggested as her rough calloused hands tousled Remesis's hair.
— А?
— They say that a couple days ago, the border guards saw a pack of wolves on the outskirts of the garrison on their way back. They probably escaped into our forests because of the monsters. This is a great fortune. Her Highness probably thinks so too, and decided to capture them before the hunters did.
Remesis hesitated for a moment. «So that's what this is all about?» Asil's sudden impulse to get up early and skip breakfast because of the wyverns was certainly somewhat unexpected. She did seem genuinely interested in this.
— Thanks for telling me, Gladys.
For breakfast, Remesis ate a cup of lentil chowder and a slice of black bread. Hannes said that the promised material aid from the temple had arrived. So she was going to spend the rest of the day in her office working. The sum received had to be divided according to her needs. First of all, she must take care of the servants who had been working here for almost free for the past few years.
Any lord's estate consists of three main elements. The land that serves as the foundation of everything, the lord who establishes and protects the order, and the people who represent the productive capacity. Without one of these components, everything would collapse.
And Remesis, unlike most landowners, was going to pay special attention to the third element specifically. Starting at the minimum rate, wages needed to be gradually increased. Remesis pondered for a while when she finally decided to set the initial wage at twenty shellengs for all laborers and maids. For the guards and the rest of the military, the amount was increased slightly to fifty shellengs.
Remesis spent the rest of the afternoon with the account books, distributing money for repairs and resupply of the castle. There was a hole in the roof of the western part of the castle, so a carpenter had to be summoned… The girl was just about to do it and call Hannes when he showed up.
— Come in,» Remesis answered immediately, just recognizing who was at the door by the knock.
The knight quickly made his way into the room and knelt before her.
— Your Highness, may I report,» he addressed her formally, «Maester Luven has just returned with a scouting party. He would like to welcome you.
— What did you say…?
As soon as Remesis heard that name, the fountain pen she had been writing with tirelessly all this time fell out of her hand.
— Uh… I was saying that the maester of the fortress had recently returned, and that he would like to…
Remesis didn't listen to his explanation and rushed away under the surprised gaze of the knight. Her legs carried her as fast as they could. The journey seemed to last an inordinate amount of time before the girl finally ran outside. The courtyard was in turmoil. Guards were unloading the wagon, saddles were being removed from the horses, and they were being put into stalls. People were shouting orders while greeting each other. It was snowing lightly.
Remesis searched her eyes for a silhouette, and finally found it.
In the middle of the crowd stood an unremarkable old man. Tall and thin, he was a man of indeterminate advanced age. Despite this, the sobriety of his mind remained as clear in him. His eyes, gray and quick, took note of many things around him. The remnants of hair that the years had left him had grayed with gray. The fur-lined clothes were sewn of gray wool. The roomy sleeves were huge, making his wrinkled hands almost invisible from behind the hem.
The old maester was taking his particularly valuable items out of the wagon that he couldn't trust to anyone else when he suddenly felt someone's gaze on him. Turning around, he was surprised to see a little girl standing across from him. Her blue eyes, which looked like topazes, were moist for some reason. But before he could even utter a word, the girl suddenly rushed at him.
Remesis hugged the old man tightly and, as far as she could reach, wrapped her arms around his waist. Her tear-wet face stained his clothes, but Remesis didn't think anything of it. She was too overwhelmed with emotion.
«Grandfather!» — the girl barely refrained from calling him exactly that.
Remesis had never had a single person in her entire life who cared about her. Not one. Her own family despised her and treated her like garbage, she also had no way to make friends, and her wife didn't care about her existence. Thus, the girl was doomed to eternal loneliness. Until this man came into her life.
They didn't have a drop of blood in common, but he was the one Remesis considered her grandfather if she had one.
The maester of the northern castle, Luwen Iter.
In the old days, this man had been an honorary tutor to the Imperial family. It is said that he had once tutored even the current emperor. He was a sage with a brilliant mind, highly respected among the courtiers. But Luwen's life at court ended when a more significant contender for the position appeared.
A noble family of great influence in the empire was determined to give one of their relatives the title of imperial tutor. Their main argument was that Luwen was not old, and his age was approaching dementia. How would such a person be able to continue training the members of the imperial dynasty?
Even though the emperor favored Leeuwen, he eventually gave in to persuasion and agreed to dismiss him. After all, even though he was a talented craftsman, he still came from a rather ordinary family. Which only meant that sooner or later, he would have to lose to a more powerful candidate.
However, the former emperor was not an ungrateful man, and was going to reward him for his long service. Luwen was entitled to an estate in the southwest of the empire and a small fortune. How did he end up in the north? It was because the Maester was too ambitious.
Löwen Iter always strived for justice, and, unlike other courtiers of the Imperial Court, despised corruption. He immediately realized that his seat had been taken away in a similar manner. Therefore, before he left, he made a report on all the illegal machinations in the Imperial Palace and intended to make it public.
Except that the Emperor got wind of it beforehand and, predictably, equated his actions to treason. The man was captured, and all the documents he had with him were destroyed. Of course, there was no question of any estate or monetary reward in such a situation. In fact, the old man should have been executed.
But the ruler took pity on him because of his young age. Luwen was banished to the north, believing that he would die there soon enough. Twenty years have passed since then. Ironically, the old man was still alive, while the Emperor was dead. By the time he met Remesis, he was well over a hundred years old.
Luwen was a kind-hearted man and warmly treated the girl, who, like him, had come to the northern lands by chance. The old man took care of Remezis as his own granddaughter, taught her to read and write, noble etiquette and even how to write poetry. On long winter evenings, the maester told Remesis about his distant life in the Imperial Palace and all the beauties of the southern lands. The girl listened to his stories with rapt attention, as if it were not real life, but some kind of fairy tale.
The old maester had been a support for Remesis for several years. Until one day that fateful winter came. Luwen caught a cold, which later turned into a chronic illness. Despite his agony, he kept his condition a secret to the last and continued to work. Fortunately, his death did not take place in agony, but was very peaceful. At night the maester fell asleep, and in the morning he simply did not wake up.
This happened about six months before the death of Remesis herself. Thus, the girl lost her last hope of clinging to life in this castle. She took the loss very hard. Left completely alone, everything lost its meaning. The girl longed for the man who had become like a kind-hearted grandfather to her, and had no hope of ever seeing him again.
For that reason, she couldn't contain her emotions now. Even though it was obvious. After all, she had been reborn, and one way or another, all the events from her previous life had to happen again. Nevertheless, it still became something extraordinary for Remesis, akin to magic. It was a rare occasion when real emotion showed through behind the mask of her usual restraint.
The girl continued to hug the old man, breathing in the scent of native warmth, as she suddenly realized that everyone was looking at her.
— Uh…
She slowly pulled away, seeing a surprised pair of gray eyes above her. The guardsmen looked at her behavior with equal amazement. Remesis remembered that she had to behave accordingly and tried to come to her senses. The tears on her face were almost dry.
She took a couple steps back.
— I'm sorry, I…' Remesis mumbled embarrassedly as she tried to come up with an excuse, 'I… I'm just so glad you all came back…
The old maester paused, trying to understand how such a little girl could have ended up in a northern castle. But then Hannes materialized out of thin air and obligingly explained to him all the details of what was happening. The old man looked even more astonished than before.
He had, of course, already received the news that the new princess and her wife had arrived at the castle. But what he couldn't have expected was that the new owners of the Nord Fortress would be… Little girls.
«Have they gone completely crazy in the capital? — The old man thought angrily, «How could they send children to such a place?»
But the maester did not show his indignation, but bowed his head and put his hand on his heart.
— The Maester of Nord Fortress, Luwen Iter, greets Her Highness,» he said in a respectful tone.
The old man followed with a barely perceptible chuckle.
— I'm sorry I can't kneel before you properly. I'm just worried that I won't be able to unbend after this…
Remesis burst out laughing.
— Your apology is accepted, Maester,» she assured him.
They looked at each other with the same smile in their eyes.
— Of course, I'm glad these lands have someone to look after them now…» He hesitated, «And since that's the case, I must first inform you that our trip was unfortunately unsuccessful…
— What do you mean? — Remesis interjected.
— No one… No one wants to help the North,» he concluded disappointedly.
As it turned out, all this time Luwen had been trying in vain to find support among the noble families of the Empire. When the situation in the northern fortress became unbearable, a delegation of northerners, consisting of the maester and only two guardsmen, traveled to the South, hoping that someone would agree to lend them some money. However, as one might expect, no one accepted the offer.
Many aristocrats refused to even let the maester on their doorstep, let alone negotiate. And after traveling for several months, the old man despaired and decided to go back. All along the way, his thoughts were occupied only with how they would survive the next winter.
However, after Luwen told the newborn princess the disappointing news, she was somehow not upset in the least. The girl smiled, and that smile made the old man stunned.
— You don't need to worry about it anymore.
— What?
— The thing is… I've already solved that issue.
When Luwen learned that the princess had already taken care of the north's financial problems, even though it hadn't been a couple months since her appointment, he was stunned. And when the details of this circumstance came to light, even more so.
— You made a deal with the temple! — exclaimed the old man.
— That's right.
— But how… I mean, how is it…
When the old maester tried to ask questions, Commander Hannes, who was standing nearby, only shook his head. ''You see, our princess is a very mysterious person.
Nevertheless, without exaggeration, Luwen was greatly shocked. This little girl was truly a true nugget.
They were still chatting outside for a while when the gates of the northern fortress opened again. The iron bars came down, and soon Remesis saw the people entering. Asil had returned from hunting, accompanied by a modest escort of only four guardsmen. In the wagon they were carrying several slain boar.
When the princess saw Remesis and the unfamiliar old man beside her, her expression changed from enlightened to wary. She walked over to them. In fact, the maester didn't even immediately realize it was the princess. The girl's appearance left much to be desired, and after an exhausting animal chase, she looked like a savage who had escaped from the forest. The «image» was complemented by a homemade coat of wolf fur, which the princess sewed with her own hands. But to be honest, it looked more like she had just skinned the animal and immediately threw it on herself.
It all became clearer when Luwen examined her hair. The silvery strands were scattered over her shoulders and back and stood out even against the white snow. Beneath them were a pair of shrewd, serious golden eyes. At the thought of meeting the little wolf cub, the maester smiled involuntarily.
Of course, having served for so many years in the Imperial Palace, he couldn't help but recognize this appearance.
— Greetings to Her Highness, Princess Asil Naru Ashelot.
— …
Despite the old man's formal bow and greeting, the girl did not react in any way. Instead, she hid behind Remesis' back.
Remesis, understanding her wariness at the sight of the stranger, smiled and said:
— Your Highness, this man is the maester of the northern castle. He will be of great use to you in the future. Therefore, you should also show him respect.
Asil stared at her intently.
— I heard that you went away to hunt the wolves. And it seems to have gone well,» Remesis glanced at the contents of the wagon, where several large carcasses lay, «How about we have dinner tonight in the maester's company?
The princess's reaction to that suggestion was even without words, and it was clear on her face. She grumbled angrily. Apparently, the girl had not planned that the catch, which she had so diligently fished since early morning and was going to share only between them, would now go to some old man…
But Remesis paid no attention to the change in her facial expression. She was too enthusiastic about the maester's return. So she took Asil's lingering silence as agreement.
— Ah, yes!» the girl said, «Now that the Maester is here, my involvement in your training is no longer necessary. He will now take care of your education.
— …
The already gloomy expression on Asil's face darkened even more.
The stifling heat of the hearth filled the room with bloody fire. When Remesis woke up, she didn't want to get out of her warm bed for a long time. To her surprise, she had fallen asleep so soundly that night that she had even overslept. Asil was no longer beside her on the next side of the bed.
— Reporting to the princess. This morning, Her Highness left for a hunting trip.
One of the maids reported to her when Remesis inquired about the princess's whereabouts. She hadn't even had breakfast. Remesis was a little discouraged that this time Asil had neglected her basic needs and gone into the forest so early. After all, usually she couldn't be kicked out of bed with a stick.
— Maybe it's because of the recent conversations? — The older woman suggested as her rough calloused hands tousled Remesis's hair.
— А?
— They say that a couple days ago, the border guards saw a pack of wolves on the outskirts of the garrison on their way back. They probably escaped into our forests because of the monsters. This is a great fortune. Her Highness probably thinks so too, and decided to capture them before the hunters did.
Remesis hesitated for a moment. «So that's what this is all about?» Asil's sudden impulse to get up early and skip breakfast because of the wyverns was certainly somewhat unexpected. She did seem genuinely interested in this.
— Thanks for telling me, Gladys.
For breakfast, Remesis ate a cup of lentil chowder and a slice of black bread. Hannes said that the promised material aid from the temple had arrived. So she was going to spend the rest of the day in her office working. The sum received had to be divided according to her needs. First of all, she must take care of the servants who had been working here for almost free for the past few years.
Any lord's estate consists of three main elements. The land that serves as the foundation of everything, the lord who establishes and protects the order, and the people who represent the productive capacity. Without one of these components, everything would collapse.
And Remesis, unlike most landowners, was going to pay special attention to the third element specifically. Starting at the minimum rate, wages needed to be gradually increased. Remesis pondered for a while when she finally decided to set the initial wage at twenty shellengs for all laborers and maids. For the guards and the rest of the military, the amount was increased slightly to fifty shellengs.
Remesis spent the rest of the afternoon with the account books, distributing money for repairs and resupply of the castle. There was a hole in the roof of the western part of the castle, so a carpenter had to be summoned… The girl was just about to do it and call Hannes when he showed up.
— Come in,» Remesis answered immediately, just recognizing who was at the door by the knock.
The knight quickly made his way into the room and knelt before her.
— Your Highness, may I report,» he addressed her formally, «Maester Luven has just returned with a scouting party. He would like to welcome you.
— What did you say…?
As soon as Remesis heard that name, the fountain pen she had been writing with tirelessly all this time fell out of her hand.
— Uh… I was saying that the maester of the fortress had recently returned, and that he would like to…
Remesis didn't listen to his explanation and rushed away under the surprised gaze of the knight. Her legs carried her as fast as they could. The journey seemed to last an inordinate amount of time before the girl finally ran outside. The courtyard was in turmoil. Guards were unloading the wagon, saddles were being removed from the horses, and they were being put into stalls. People were shouting orders while greeting each other. It was snowing lightly.
Remesis searched her eyes for a silhouette, and finally found it.
In the middle of the crowd stood an unremarkable old man. Tall and thin, he was a man of indeterminate advanced age. Despite this, the sobriety of his mind remained as clear in him. His eyes, gray and quick, took note of many things around him. The remnants of hair that the years had left him had grayed with gray. The fur-lined clothes were sewn of gray wool. The roomy sleeves were huge, making his wrinkled hands almost invisible from behind the hem.
The old maester was taking his particularly valuable items out of the wagon that he couldn't trust to anyone else when he suddenly felt someone's gaze on him. Turning around, he was surprised to see a little girl standing across from him. Her blue eyes, which looked like topazes, were moist for some reason. But before he could even utter a word, the girl suddenly rushed at him.
Remesis hugged the old man tightly and, as far as she could reach, wrapped her arms around his waist. Her tear-wet face stained his clothes, but Remesis didn't think anything of it. She was too overwhelmed with emotion.
«Grandfather!» — the girl barely refrained from calling him exactly that.
Remesis had never had a single person in her entire life who cared about her. Not one. Her own family despised her and treated her like garbage, she also had no way to make friends, and her wife didn't care about her existence. Thus, the girl was doomed to eternal loneliness. Until this man came into her life.
They didn't have a drop of blood in common, but he was the one Remesis considered her grandfather if she had one.
The maester of the northern castle, Luwen Iter.
In the old days, this man had been an honorary tutor to the Imperial family. It is said that he had once tutored even the current emperor. He was a sage with a brilliant mind, highly respected among the courtiers. But Luwen's life at court ended when a more significant contender for the position appeared.
A noble family of great influence in the empire was determined to give one of their relatives the title of imperial tutor. Their main argument was that Luwen was not old, and his age was approaching dementia. How would such a person be able to continue training the members of the imperial dynasty?
Even though the emperor favored Leeuwen, he eventually gave in to persuasion and agreed to dismiss him. After all, even though he was a talented craftsman, he still came from a rather ordinary family. Which only meant that sooner or later, he would have to lose to a more powerful candidate.
However, the former emperor was not an ungrateful man, and was going to reward him for his long service. Luwen was entitled to an estate in the southwest of the empire and a small fortune. How did he end up in the north? It was because the Maester was too ambitious.
Löwen Iter always strived for justice, and, unlike other courtiers of the Imperial Court, despised corruption. He immediately realized that his seat had been taken away in a similar manner. Therefore, before he left, he made a report on all the illegal machinations in the Imperial Palace and intended to make it public.
Except that the Emperor got wind of it beforehand and, predictably, equated his actions to treason. The man was captured, and all the documents he had with him were destroyed. Of course, there was no question of any estate or monetary reward in such a situation. In fact, the old man should have been executed.
But the ruler took pity on him because of his young age. Luwen was banished to the north, believing that he would die there soon enough. Twenty years have passed since then. Ironically, the old man was still alive, while the Emperor was dead. By the time he met Remesis, he was well over a hundred years old.
Luwen was a kind-hearted man and warmly treated the girl, who, like him, had come to the northern lands by chance. The old man took care of Remezis as his own granddaughter, taught her to read and write, noble etiquette and even how to write poetry. On long winter evenings, the maester told Remesis about his distant life in the Imperial Palace and all the beauties of the southern lands. The girl listened to his stories with rapt attention, as if it were not real life, but some kind of fairy tale.
The old maester had been a support for Remesis for several years. Until one day that fateful winter came. Luwen caught a cold, which later turned into a chronic illness. Despite his agony, he kept his condition a secret to the last and continued to work. Fortunately, his death did not take place in agony, but was very peaceful. At night the maester fell asleep, and in the morning he simply did not wake up.
This happened about six months before the death of Remesis herself. Thus, the girl lost her last hope of clinging to life in this castle. She took the loss very hard. Left completely alone, everything lost its meaning. The girl longed for the man who had become like a kind-hearted grandfather to her, and had no hope of ever seeing him again.
For that reason, she couldn't contain her emotions now. Even though it was obvious. After all, she had been reborn, and one way or another, all the events from her previous life had to happen again. Nevertheless, it still became something extraordinary for Remesis, akin to magic. It was a rare occasion when real emotion showed through behind the mask of her usual restraint.
The girl continued to hug the old man, breathing in the scent of native warmth, as she suddenly realized that everyone was looking at her.
— Uh…
She slowly pulled away, seeing a surprised pair of gray eyes above her. The guardsmen looked at her behavior with equal amazement. Remesis remembered that she had to behave accordingly and tried to come to her senses. The tears on her face were almost dry.
She took a couple steps back.
— I'm sorry, I…' Remesis mumbled embarrassedly as she tried to come up with an excuse, 'I… I'm just so glad you all came back…
The old maester paused, trying to understand how such a little girl could have ended up in a northern castle. But then Hannes materialized out of thin air and obligingly explained to him all the details of what was happening. The old man looked even more astonished than before.
He had, of course, already received the news that the new princess and her wife had arrived at the castle. But what he couldn't have expected was that the new owners of the Nord Fortress would be… Little girls.
«Have they gone completely crazy in the capital? — The old man thought angrily, «How could they send children to such a place?»
But the maester did not show his indignation, but bowed his head and put his hand on his heart.
— The Maester of Nord Fortress, Luwen Iter, greets Her Highness,» he said in a respectful tone.
The old man followed with a barely perceptible chuckle.
— I'm sorry I can't kneel before you properly. I'm just worried that I won't be able to unbend after this…
Remesis burst out laughing.
— Your apology is accepted, Maester,» she assured him.
They looked at each other with the same smile in their eyes.
— Of course, I'm glad these lands have someone to look after them now…» He hesitated, «And since that's the case, I must first inform you that our trip was unfortunately unsuccessful…
— What do you mean? — Remesis interjected.
— No one… No one wants to help the North,» he concluded disappointedly.
As it turned out, all this time Luwen had been trying in vain to find support among the noble families of the Empire. When the situation in the northern fortress became unbearable, a delegation of northerners, consisting of the maester and only two guardsmen, traveled to the South, hoping that someone would agree to lend them some money. However, as one might expect, no one accepted the offer.
Many aristocrats refused to even let the maester on their doorstep, let alone negotiate. And after traveling for several months, the old man despaired and decided to go back. All along the way, his thoughts were occupied only with how they would survive the next winter.
However, after Luwen told the newborn princess the disappointing news, she was somehow not upset in the least. The girl smiled, and that smile made the old man stunned.
— You don't need to worry about it anymore.
— What?
— The thing is… I've already solved that issue.
When Luwen learned that the princess had already taken care of the north's financial problems, even though it hadn't been a couple months since her appointment, he was stunned. And when the details of this circumstance came to light, even more so.
— You made a deal with the temple! — exclaimed the old man.
— That's right.
— But how… I mean, how is it…
When the old maester tried to ask questions, Commander Hannes, who was standing nearby, only shook his head. ''You see, our princess is a very mysterious person.
Nevertheless, without exaggeration, Luwen was greatly shocked. This little girl was truly a true nugget.
They were still chatting outside for a while when the gates of the northern fortress opened again. The iron bars came down, and soon Remesis saw the people entering. Asil had returned from hunting, accompanied by a modest escort of only four guardsmen. In the wagon they were carrying several slain boar.
When the princess saw Remesis and the unfamiliar old man beside her, her expression changed from enlightened to wary. She walked over to them. In fact, the maester didn't even immediately realize it was the princess. The girl's appearance left much to be desired, and after an exhausting animal chase, she looked like a savage who had escaped from the forest. The «image» was complemented by a homemade coat of wolf fur, which the princess sewed with her own hands. But to be honest, it looked more like she had just skinned the animal and immediately threw it on herself.
It all became clearer when Luwen examined her hair. The silvery strands were scattered over her shoulders and back and stood out even against the white snow. Beneath them were a pair of shrewd, serious golden eyes. At the thought of meeting the little wolf cub, the maester smiled involuntarily.
Of course, having served for so many years in the Imperial Palace, he couldn't help but recognize this appearance.
— Greetings to Her Highness, Princess Asil Naru Ashelot.
— …
Despite the old man's formal bow and greeting, the girl did not react in any way. Instead, she hid behind Remesis' back.
Remesis, understanding her wariness at the sight of the stranger, smiled and said:
— Your Highness, this man is the maester of the northern castle. He will be of great use to you in the future. Therefore, you should also show him respect.
Asil stared at her intently.
— I heard that you went away to hunt the wolves. And it seems to have gone well,» Remesis glanced at the contents of the wagon, where several large carcasses lay, «How about we have dinner tonight in the maester's company?
The princess's reaction to that suggestion was even without words, and it was clear on her face. She grumbled angrily. Apparently, the girl had not planned that the catch, which she had so diligently fished since early morning and was going to share only between them, would now go to some old man…
But Remesis paid no attention to the change in her facial expression. She was too enthusiastic about the maester's return. So she took Asil's lingering silence as agreement.
— Ah, yes!» the girl said, «Now that the Maester is here, my involvement in your training is no longer necessary. He will now take care of your education.
— …
The already gloomy expression on Asil's face darkened even more.
