Interlude 2
“Ohh! So this is where the common folk live.” The young girl’s voice was brimming with energy as she slightly parted the canopy covering the carriage, and looked out through the gap at the streets of Glaðsheimr.
The horse-drawn carriage she rode in was a fair bit larger than the ones merchant traders usually used, and far more sturdy. The cabin was both spacious and quite comfortable.
It was still extremely narrow and cramped compared to the halls and rooms of the palace, but the girl didn’t seem to mind that at all. She looked ecstatic, like she was experiencing a feeling of liberation she’d never had before.
“Your Ma— Lady Rífa,” Fagrahvél said. “I would ask that you refrain from unnecessarily revealing your countenance to the outside.”
“H-hey, Fagrahvél, are those people all right?! They’re red-faced and staggering about.”
“You need not worry. They are merely drunk.”
“Ohhh, so those are the ‘drunkards’ We’ve heard tales of!”
“More importantly, Lady Rífa, you mustn’t be visible yet. We cannot be sure who might see you. Please, you only need to endure this for just a bit longer.”
“Yes, yes, We know. You— Ohhh, that’s the Ífingr River. We’ve never seen it this close! It’s quite large.”
Rífa was completely absorbed in all the sights she was seeing for the first time, and Fagrahvél’s admonishment went in one ear and out the other.
Fagrahvél couldn’t speak more forcefully with her, and was troubling himself over just what to do when another voice spoke to him more quietly.
“Sir...”
“Hm, what is it?” he asked.
Fagrahvél’s personal attendant was also sitting in the cabin with them, and he had leaned over to speak to his master in a voice Rífa couldn’t hear. “Is this really all right? If it’s discovered that we took Her Majesty out of the palace, that one-eyed old man will surely not sit quietly aside. Will this not give him an opportunity to get an advantage over us?”
“If that happens, so be it. If he wants to raise an issue with me, we need only settle it through battle.”
Fagrahvél spoke as if unconcerned with the consequences. Then he slumped his shoulders and looked down with a self-deprecating smile.
“All she wants is to see the outside world just once in her life. The two of us were nursed at the same breast. If I cannot even grant that small wish of hers, how can I call myself a righteous man?”
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