30: Extraordinary events

Extraordinary events

"So, you are about to see your twenty-fourth spring? No wonder…"2

Adela turned her head slightly to stifle a smile as she walked, the young man's eager attitude was so refreshing yet completely out of context.

She kept her gaze fixed forward, "…No wonder?" 

The young man had a light smile as he continued to admire Adela's effect on him.

"It is so comfortable to be around you,"

She did not feel the same way, not when Egon von Conradie and his uncle who made the fact that he disliked her so obvious the second they met continued to walk a few steps behind her.

"Lady Adelaide… Did I get your name right?  What a beautiful name,"

Adela blushed waving her hands too many a time, "Please…Call me Adela,"

"Adela?"

Heat spread from her cheeks to the rest of her face and down to her neck, she could not fathom the stranger's ability nor his ease in addressing her so casually.

She managed to nod at him.

"How rude of me, I have not introduced myself yet…My name is Bastian von Conradie, I am Egon's younger brother,"

Younger brother!

She stumbled on the perfectly flat ground she was walking on and almost fell forward, only regaining balance in the nick of time.

"Oh, you can call me Tian, two people who are the same age should not bother with formalities, don't you think, Adela?"

She disagreed. Age had nothing to do with adhering to formalities. She gave him another polite nod as they climbed up the stairs to the adjoining terrace. In her agitated state, the table and chairs she used before with Egon seemed so inviting.

She looked over her shoulder and straight at Egon's face as he was a couple of steps down from her.

He looked deeply bothered as usual.

"Do you mind if we talked here instead of inside?"

He shook his head with a frown, and she had difficulty determining what that nod meant. A yes, or a no.

Bastian hurried to pull a seat out for her, she was smiling politely at him when a gush of wind blew by, and the next thing she knew, Egon had pulled out another chair and waited next to it, throwing a fierce look at her.

At a loss of what to do, her eyes darted between the two brothers, her feet taking her nowhere.

Egon gestured for the chair he had pulled out with a look of annoyance, "Are you planning on standing there the whole day?" He looked at his younger brother after that, "Facing the sun bothers her,"

His tactless thoughtfulness was disconcerting, and the strange excitement in her stomach had her neck craning sideways, she cast her eyes down as she walked and slowly sat down while Egon pushed the chair forward for her.

"Do you come here often?" Bastian asked sitting in the chair he had pulled out for her.

"I am one of this estate's workers," She answered sharply, her eyes on Egon who sat next to his brother.

"You, a worker? A noble Lady who was raised like a princess?"

"Will you be back to the infirmary tomorrow?" Egon asked, brushing off his uncle's insulting comment. 

Her eyes drifted to the ring, her mind flirting with silly ideas about issuing an edict that encourages noble ladies to pursue a career of their own, a futile attempt, the Archduke would surely revoke such a controversial law.

"Is it a habit of yours to keep the other person waiting while you daydream?" Bastian asked jokingly. But during the presence of the men's uncle, he might as well have accused Adela of having unladylike manners.

Her eyes met Egon's hawk-like ones that seemed to notice everything.

"I heard the question perfectly fine the first time… Your brother and I have an arrangement that I feel compelled to honor, but the circumstances…"

She paused when Egon fixed his eyes on something behind her, her curiosity won as she turned around in her seat, inquisitive regarding that which had stolen his attention.

A mirage-like appearance came into her sight. 

"Andreas?!"

She got up and ran down the stairs, visually examining his body before reaching him.

"Are you hurt anywhere?" She said, out of breath, a few steps away from him. 

He scratched the back of his head and gave her a small smile.

"Not at all, My Lady, please, do not concern yourself with me,"

"Allow me to examine you,"

He eyed her ring, "...If the Lady must,"

She reached out, about to touch his forehead to get his temperature first and foremost, planning on checking his pulse and blood pressure after that. But then a haze hovered over her mind, and she blinked many times, wondering what was wrong with her.

What was I doing again? 

"Thank you so much for examining me. Was there something amiss about my vitals?" Andreas asked, his tone unusually monotonous, almost hypnotizing.

Did I find anything wrong?

"No…" She breathed the word out; unable to think of anything wrong with the man standing in front of her. Her drifting eyes stopped at his belt and found him swordless, mud covered him from head to toe, and there were no signs he came on horseback either.

"How...How were you able to get away?" She rubbed her forehead which ached a bit, "From the rebel's grip…I mean…"

Andreas shrugged, "They took my horse...Thanks to the hunting clothes on me, I was able to convince them that I was a nobody… That they have captured the wrong person,"

Only when Andreas exchanged a heated look with Egon did Adela understand that he had long since stood next to her, she did not hear him coming, but that did not surprise her anymore. 

"I am so sorry this happened to you in Lanark, I… Father sent me here on his behalf to look for you, I was going to spare not a man nor a horse for that…"

But who goes hunting in Lanark's Forest? The question was at the tip of her tongue, stopping there.

"How is Lady Larissa," Andreas spoke a moment later, changing the subject completely as if he was never kidnapped to begin with.

Adela stiffened.

"She does not know about any of this,"

"Well, that is for the best, a Lady as delicate as Larissa de Lanark should not be bothered with such unpleasant matters,"

"There was another Lady de Lanark around you?"

Adela looked back at the infuriated man who had gone down and stood next to Bastian, the scar that was forever embossed on the latter's eye seemed to reflect an invisible one inside of his uncle's heart. 

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