I Will Be the Greatest Knight-Chapter 460: Return to Duties

Irene was momentarily horrified.

How easily her face turned red made it certain that anyone would be able to tell what she had been up to with Henry. What if Felix was on the other side of that door? She didn’t know how she would explain herself out of this one.

Or Gunnar, Phillip, or Sven... Just what would they think of her? Would they tell her father?

"Give me one moment," the Commander called to whoever was there.

She stared up at Henry with a slightly dazed expression on her face. They were still so close to one another. It was like their bubble of euphoria had popped, and all she was left with was insecurity, feeling how his arms were around her waist and how she still held onto the front of his tunic, certainly wrinkling it.

She let go.

However, rather than being equally as horrified that they were practically caught, her Commander seemed flustered. He took a moment to get himself together as he ran his fingers through his hair.

"I don’t want to leave you here like this, but I have a few things I need to attend to," he admitted. "Perhaps we can go on a walk if it isn’t too cold after our last meal."

She gently cleared her throat. She, too, needed a moment to get her head on straight.

"I understand," she responded quietly. "I would like that a lot."

And she knew she would because she didn’t even want that moment to end. She was already looking forward to kissing him again, but despite his offering that they could kiss whenever she wanted, Irene was better trained than that. She knew there were better times for such actions and certainly better places.

Her Commander finally stood up from the couch. His smile was shy. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

"You can stay here for as long as you would like if you need to. I will see you later."

All she could do was nod. Because her words would certainly give away her true feelings that she didn’t want him to leave at all, despite the fact that he was walking away.

However, she was taken from her thoughts when she felt him kiss the top of her head. He hadn’t given her heart a moment to calm down before he started it up again.

"Goodbye," she practically whispered.

This affection was so foreign to her, but she was willing to get used to it because the feeling of being wanted by someone was greater than anything she had experienced in her life. She had always thought fighting with swords was the highest high one could achieve, but it turned out there was more than that.

Admittedly, she couldn’t judge Felix so much anymore for getting tied up with a maid. Did they feel like this thrill, too? Every second she didn’t have duties, she would like to be caught up with her Commander somewhere secret. Perhaps he could show her all the things she thought she would never experience before—

The knight stood up suddenly, knowing it wasn’t productive to get lost in thought like this.

There were other things to attend to. She even had to patrol the forests to see if there were any signs of monsters waking up and causing disturbances.

She turned around and looked around the study. Evidence of her Commander was everywhere to be found.

The letters on the desk bearing his handwriting, an extra pair of boots by his bookshelf, as she walked towards the door, even his cloak hanging on a hook, brought her a bit of comfort. She couldn’t help reaching a hand out and touching the material.

She was so petrified of him but so curious. All she wanted was to know everything about him because whenever she uncovered a bit more, she grew more fond of him.

Irene tightly shut the study door and rushed towards the back entrance. Right, her duties.

Felix was out again with a couple of apprentices who wanted to ask him a few questions. She decided she had collected herself enough to approach them.

"Felix, do you mind if I steal William for the day?" she asked. "I have been tasked with patrolling the forest for signs of monsters moving south. I would like a partner, but I have to warn that it might rain at some point. These clouds look awfully heavy."

"Not at all," Felix responded. "It would be good for him."

Irene nodded. "Then put your practice sword away and get into something warmer, William. I will meet you by the stables after I get my things gathered."

"Yes, dame!" William exclaimed and rushed off to do what he was told.

Irene smiled at his eagerness. She had once been like that a few years before. There was a point she related to him a lot because he was smaller and younger than the others but his determination made up for anything else. As long as he could keep it up, she believed he would achieve impressive feats.

There wasn’t much to get together as she went to her room and only packed a light saddlebag with something they could have for lunch, assuming he didn’t bring something for himself, and a few first aid items in case one of them was hurt.

Otherwise, she imagined it wouldn’t be a very difficult day.

When she made her way towards the stables, she saw William rushing through to get both of their horses ready before she could get there. He had Sammy’s saddle on but not tightened, so she got on one knee and helped him.

"I wanted to have it all finished before you returned," William admitted. "I’m getting faster at putting on saddles."

"You did well on your own," she admitted. "Sammy’s quite a large horse to handle by yourself."

All that was left to do was attach her saddlebag to Sammy, and she did so without issue before she pulled her leather gloves over her hands and then mounted her trusty steed.

"Shall we get going?" she asked the apprentice.

The apprentice quickly hopped up and mounted his greyish-brown courser.

"Yes, please!" he exclaimed.

Irene smiled at that. They were off.

She spared a last glance at the Duke’s Tower, unable to help wondering what Henry was up to that day. She would busy herself until she could see him again.

However, what she and the apprentice weren’t expecting as they made it to the edge of the forest was the blackness all around.