I Will Be the Greatest Knight-Chapter 425: Coming Home

The ride to Irene’s family’s home was silent at best.

Most of the time, the red-haired knight leaned her head against the wall and tried to sleep. Admittedly, she was a bit tired. There was much to think about regarding the new developments in her life that kept her up late at night. On the other hand, she also didn’t want to face her mother. They seemed to be avoiding one another after what had transpired and it was a better outcome than having to face her right away.

However, they still all rode in the same carriage home.

As Irene was in and out of sleep, her head snapped up when her father let out a cough that sounded as if he was straining to breathe.

With her green eyes on him, he shook his head.

"Just choked a bit," he assured her. And then to put the attention elsewhere, he nodded towards the door. "We’re about home."

Even though it would undoubtedly put more coldness in the carriage, Irene pushed open one of the windows as they went over the small bridge on top of the stream that separated her father’s lands from the rest of the village. All around them were white plains, and Irene welcomed the sight of flatness compared to the mountains she had gotten used to in the Duke’s Tower.

Without wasting even a moment, she pushed the door open when the carriage was in front of her family home. Her sturdy boots met the ground, and as she ran, her slightly unbuttoned dress flew behind her, revealing the pants she had worn underneath. As she went forward, she removed her belt so that she could get a hold of her sheathed sword.

There was a target she needed to attack. Her brother was already outside. Having decided not to go to the Earl’s home and being even less trained than Irene in terms of etiquette, it was a decision that made sense for the whole family.

Irene nearly stopped herself when she saw just how much her brother had grown since the last time she had seen him. He must have gone through a growth spurt because he was as tall as her, if not a bit taller. In the letters they occasionally exchanged, it seemed he had forgotten to mention that aspect.

However, since he had grown, he could take a tackle without an issue, she decided.

She flung herself forward with the flat side of her sword pressed against him as he fell into the snow. When the initial explosion of snow settled, she grinned down at Arne.

"Arne," she greeted. "You’ve gotten lazy since I haven’t been around. What kind of response is that if you get attacked in the wild?"

He was about to say something, but Irene felt herself being lifted off of Arne, and she knew instantly the only person who could do that was her father, as she was placed back onto her feet.

"That’s enough," Arthur said. "We’ve had a long trip."

Irene dusted herself off and offered her hand to Arne, but he swatted it to the side.

"I didn’t know you were coming home, or I would have cleaned out the practice yard," Arne said. "Who are you trying to impress by wearing a dress? You’ve changed." He cringed at that.

Irene’s head felt hot. She didn’t want to admit to anything.

"Hopefully the Duke of Tenetium," Rochelle called as she left the carriage, led by Arthur, and walked towards the front entrance. "I think your sister looks lovely." 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"The Duke!?" Arne exclaimed. "I thought that guy was old and your Commander? You’ve got odd taste, sis. Though he’s probably wealthy, isn’t he?"

Irene glared at her brother. He still talked like someone raised in the wild. At least that much hadn’t changed despite his growth spurt.

However, he was still obedient enough to go to the carriage so he could help them unload from their trip. He began bringing the trunks containing all the clothing and other supplies inside.

Irene stood there in the snow for a moment, lost in thought. She didn’t want to admit that her Commander’s being wealthy had nothing to do with her interest in him. In fact, it didn’t even occur to her whenever she thought about him. He was simply... Henry. He was good at comforting someone who was in pain or crying. His serious expression was scary, but when he smiled, it felt like it held all the warmth of the sun. He didn’t look like a pale northerner, but he was beautiful nonetheless.

"My lady, where do you want your armor?" her family’s stablehand asked.

Irene was pulled from her thoughts abruptly. She was a bit embarrassed that she had stopped everything just to think about him. Ever since he hinted that he felt something for her, how distracted she could get was becoming much worse. She needed to figure out how to get a grip on it.

"I will take it," she insisted.

"You can carry it?" the stablehand asked. Irene narrowed her eyes at him, and he immediately relented. "Forgive me, I shouldn’t have doubted."

Irene then took the rope handles of the trunk and brought it inside. She stomped off her boots a few times and then decided to leave them at the bottom of the stairs since her mother didn’t like them to track snow upstairs, where the floors were cleaner and had rugs covering them.

The trunk was heavy, but she preferred to deal with her own armor. Plus, ever since she became a knight, her father had left an armor stand in her room so that she could clean it and put it away appropriately each time she wasn’t wearing it.

When she made it to her closed door, she had to nudge it open with her boot and quickly found that the space had gone cold. Despite it being perfectly clean and dusted as if their maid still fussed over it, despite her not being there, there was a chill in the room.

As she dropped the trunk, Irene put her focus on getting a fire started. It would take an hour to warm up the place fully, and she didn’t want to sleep in the cold.

The knight found a stack of fully stocked wood and found a hatchet that she could easily shave off a bit of the wood so that it would curl and make for good kindling. She then used the hatchet on flint until it sparked enough to do some real damage. From then, she could begin building it up.

Once it was a satisfying size and the larger logs were starting to burn, Irene pulled the screen over it so that none of the popping would get into her room and damage anything.

While her room was warming up, she decided there was someplace else she wanted to go for the time being.

After getting out of her dress and into a leather tunic as well as an outer coat and a cloak, Irene left her room and bounded down the stairs. She found her parents easily in the only sitting room they used during the winter so they wouldn’t have to keep the entire home warm.

"I’m going to visit grandma’s house," she told them.

"Supper will be here whenever you return," Rochelle explained.

"Stay safe," Arthur said.

With one last nod, she was off. She had promised Sammy a run, after all.