I Will Be the Greatest Knight-Chapter 456: Disarmed

"Will you let me worry about you equally?" Henry asked.

The Duke clasped his hands together and leaned his lips into them as his elbows settled onto his polished desk. Across from him was the red-headed knight who had been fussing over him the past couple of days.

When his dark eyes were set on her so intently, Irene clammed up, and the wooden spoon she had been holding over the hearty stew they had for their midday meal paused mid-air.

Had she been as hypocritical as he had implied? 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Those mornings, the Commander had been up early and watching the morning practices from his window. Irene even caught his eye a couple of times, and a silent message was communicated between them. The secrets they shared made the younger knight feel so warm, even though the mornings were cold and rainy.

She wasn’t yet comfortable with everything going on between them, and shyness often struck her despite her desire to present herself confidently to him, but she was trying her best. At least from a distance, she could smile openly and feel less insecure.

But it wasn’t all bad to be at his side despite how much he made her nervous. There were other unexpected feelings he elicited that she found herself seeking whenever she had an open opportunity. The heart racing was what she was least used to.

Normally, that feeling was fear and telling her to run or fight, but with him, she had no choice but to face it head-on and figure out what all of it meant.

It wasn’t until the day after Irene returned that she found Henry working at his desk in his study. He had meetings with a financial advisor and the butler about management of the estate and goings on in the duchy. She couldn’t imagine how busy he was going to be for the upcoming months, when farmers were getting their crops established, and monsters were waking up and going back to terrorizing the innocent.

However, when she saw that the advisor and butler had left, she quickly went to his study and fussed over him almost immediately.

"Are you sure you’re well enough to take on so much work?" she had asked, only to be met with his slight resistance.

But it didn’t stop her from worrying. Each time she arrived with food or something to drink, keeping his energy up at the forefront reason for her actions.

It had been going on for two days like that until Henry decided to speak up.

"Will you let me worry about you equally?" he had asked.

"What do you mean?" she wondered quietly, but the answer did feel a bit obvious to her.

"When you get hurt, you put yourself last, but when I do it, you fuss over me," he explained. "Will you allow me to care for you when you’re in the same situation?"

"I wasn’t resistant when you sought Siverly’s help for me," she responded with a light huff, an action Henry found particularly adorable.

She was far more haughty than he realized at times. Since it wasn’t necessarily directed at him or presented in an offensive way, he couldn’t help wanting to bring it out of her more.

"Yet each time I ask if you would like me to change your bandage, you insist that you’re fine and you can do it yourself," he persisted.

"I don’t want to burden you while you’re also healing and taking on work," she admitted. "Plus, I really can do it myself. I became quite skilled in wrapping bandages after being around the apprentices so often."

She held up her arm to prove as much, but admittedly, the wrapping did look a bit loose, and the knots weren’t as secure as she would like them to be. However, using her teeth to tighten things could only go so far.

"Let me rewrap it for you, or I’ll send you away next time you check on me," he said, his voice firm, but not in a way she found offensive. "I want to care for you as much as you have been caring for me. There isn’t anybody else here."

Admittedly, her initial resistance was chased away rather quickly, especially after he mentioned that no one else was there. Despite this study being in the common areas, the door was closed to preserve warmth, and everyone always knocked when they arrived.

Not only that, but she felt a bit nervous at how much she enjoyed his care for her. Could she rely on him too much when he had so many other things to do?

"I don’t want to become selfish or entitled towards your time," she admitted.

"I’ll tell you if I’m ever too busy," he assured her, but he silently knew that would never come to be.

The way he was starting to care for her, he was beginning to prioritize her. For long hours, he agonized over how he would balance what she was eliciting from him with his duty towards the entire knighthood. How would he behave when faced with danger if he could save multiple people or only her?

It might seem dramatic to even consider, but this was the reality of knighthood. At least he knew she could take care of herself and defend herself for the most part, but even the strongest of knights he had fought beside had moments that had taken them by surprise.

Instead of explaining himself further, Henry scooted away from his desk and gestured towards her to come closer.

She did just that as she placed her spoon in her mostly empty bowl and then walked around the desk and towards her Commander.

"Lean against my desk," he directed gently.

She did so, and it gave him the perfect access to her loose bandages.

When the bandage was rerolled and he was minding the edge that had been spread with honey, he carefully lifted her wrist so that he could get a better view of the barely healed skin and some of the deeper scabs that had been healed by Siverly in the first place.

"It’s looking better than the night I first saw it," he observed. "I’ve been worried that you’ll open it back up while attending sword practices. At least it isn’t your dominant hand."

"Only holding a shield bothers it now," she explained. "I think I’ll be able to go without a bandage in a day or so."

"I’m relieved to hear that."

Without saying anything further, he began to neatly wrap her arm back up and make sure the honey was touching the least healed part that really might reopen if she strained it more. When it was snug but not too tight, he knotted the bandage with itself and ran both of his hands delicately down the bandage, finding no imperfections.

His eyes then lifted, and he sought her approval on his bandage job, but instead, he was met with her red face.

Since she knew that he had noticed how red she had become at a mere touch, she quickly escaped.

"I’m finished eating, so I ought not take up more of your time," she admitted, stumbling over her words as she retrieved her bowl. "Thank you for rewrapping my bandage, Commander."

Right away, he knew that she was nervous by the way she used his title instead of his name. It only caused him to smile as she escaped and shut his door tightly behind herself. Moments like that, he truly believed he had won.

Once on the other side, she paused and let out an annoyed sigh at herself. She was too obvious for her own good. He kept catching her by surprise despite her thinking her guard was up.

That evening, she felt a little bad about how she left their last interaction, but when she arrived, she saw that he already had his dinner brought to him and that there were piles of papers on his desk.

Since he seemed to be rather busy, she quietly backed away and escaped his office.

While she was relieved that he was healing enough to take everything head-on, she was also sad that their quiet moments were coming to an end.

The following morning, Irene was a bit sad to not see the Commander at his window as she had the past few mornings. He must have been up late the prior night with all the things he seemed to have to do in his study.

As the apprentices all lined up, a few of them rushing out of the basement for a few of the practice swords they had put down there while the other shed was being sealed for the rainy season, Irene was shocked to see the very man she had been thinking of before walking out of the basement as well.

He regarded all of those attending practice, but his eyes stopped on Irene, and they seemed to twinkle.

"I hope you don’t mind me participating this morning," the Commander said. "I’ve been impatient these past few days..."

Her heart gave her nervous excitement away, but at least her expression didn’t.