I tamed my ex husbands mad dog

6

Reinhardt took the child and went directly into the bath. It was natural because he didn't want to be touched by other people's hands.
The bath in Luden Castle had been unused for a long time because there was no owner. The old lady stopped her, but Reinhardt waved her hand. The maids boiled and poured in hot water, glancing at Reinhardt, who was only wearing her chemise, and the dirty little boy. This was because the story of the servants who were trying to wash the child being brutally scratched had already spread all over the small castle.
Reinhardt tried to put the child in the warm water, but he would not listen. The child's strength, as she was well aware, was immense, and if the child stretched out his body, and there was no way she could overcome him. In the end, she embraced the child after thinking about it. The child stiffened at the unexpected touch.
Advertisement

She crept into the water with the child in her arms. The child acted like a stranger at first, but soon the warm water seemed to relax his body.
"Hey, you're handsome."
Reinhardt didn't mind getting the water dirty. She took the whole bar of expensive soap with excitement and washed the child's hair. Her handling was rough as she had never washed anyone else but herself, but the child gently placed himself in her hands. And what was revealed was the face of a boy who was surprisingly pretty.
"I thought it was a boy."
His body was revealed when the dirty coat and the other bulk that hardly functioned as clothes were removed. He was starving and rail thin, and when washed clean, he had big wounds all over his body. She expected it. It was a sign of being abused by someone.
<Bur... ... >
It was only when she saw the body that Reinhardt remembered what the boy had said when he first appeared before me, and soon understood why.
After killing the mercenary, she said, "Bastard... ... ." and he had responded.
Advertisement

Someone must have called the boy 'a fucking bastard'. This little boy, who didn't know anything, appeared before her like a tamed dog. How much abuse must have been inflicted that he was able to answer say 'No' or 'Uh-huh', and responded to 'Bastard' as if it was his name?
Reinhardt's heart, which she thought had already been worn out, was a little sorer.
Reinhardt's eyes grew cold, and she deliberately turned the child around and dried his back. The child shrugged but did not run away. To change the dirty water, the maids had to go in and out of the bath dozens of times.
"What is this?"
Suddenly, Reinhardt found a ring on his finger while washing the boy. A copper ring with the stone missing. All the workmanship was crumpled and there were quite a few scratches. She wondered if it was the cause of the pain between her fingers when she held the boy's hand.
"Can I take a look?"
He took the ring off his finger and handed it over. The boy just stared at her blankly. He didn't seem to know what it was.
'Is it a family heirloom?'
Perhaps the child's identity might be revealed with it, so she decided to keep the ring from him. After even washing the child, Reinhardt also started washing.
The wounds she had suffered in prison for a long time still haunted her.
Those were the injuries to her knees and elbows. The wounds that were initially due to torture did not heal even on the journey. The hot water hurt her, and she paused for a moment. The leg bitten by the mercenary also hurt. It was healing, but it was still a bit painful even to have water on the scabs. When the water touched it, the wounds looked horrendous, and the scars were enormous.
"Whatever. I'm all done, anyways."
She, who had been married once and became a divorced woman, unintentionally looked down at her wounds and made those words come out of her mouth, and then laughed out loud. What would be the matter?
It was then that a warmth touched her legs. The naked child who was sitting quietly next to her put his hand on the wound on her leg.
The maids tried to persuade him to go with them several times, but he didn't listen, so he was drying off with a towel. The little boy squatted over her wounds and quietly patted them.
Tok, tok. Reinhardt's nose grew cold as she watched the child silently touching her wounds.
<Sleep well, sweet apple pie.>
One hot, sleepless night, she remembered the warmth of being patted her shoulder with the same touch.
It was fortunate that the heat rose thanks to the hot water. Reinhardt soaked her head in the water and cried. The little boy looked at her blankly, then patted Reinhardt on the shoulder again.
After washing, she took the child to the dining room with her eyes half-closed from fatigue. Pushing the pile of white and black bread to the child, Reinhardt collapsed on the table and fell asleep.
***
Eyes twinkled.
It smelled of warm, slightly dusty straw. Reinhardt looked at the object in front of her with eyes not awake, lying down and smiling.
White bread on the bed. Just by looking at it, it was obvious who had come.
It has been two months since she came to Luden Castle.
The child had gotten accustomed to the life with Luden Castle. So had she.
The boy who blindly followed Reinhardt now was barely able to stay away from her at night. There were times when the people of the whole town stayed up because of him howling as the servants kept him from following her.
In the end, Reinhardt slapped him in the butt several times before retiring with a dissatisfied face. After that, he quietly slept in the room given to him. But sometimes he couldn't stop climbing in from the window and leaving the white bread on her bed.
The maids said that the child did not eat the white bread for dinner, but carried it with him. That bread was probably this bread.
Reinhardt stood up all wobbly. She took a bite of that bread.
Winter at Luden Castle had already begun.
Thanksgiving was just around the corner. Piles of straw were already piled up in front of the castle. Reinhardt lowered the tapestry when she saw through the window that the workers who had been carrying straw from dawn were busy going back and forth in the yard.
The parchments she had seen last night were rolled up and piled up on one side of her room. Reinhardt tried not to offend Madam Sarah as much as possible but concentrated on understanding the castle's functioning.
It was natural. Because her revenge was yet accomplished.
'I have to make money somehow.'
It was time that she avenged her father.
In this precious life, she wished that her revenge would not end with just maiming the crown prince. In her previous life, Michel rose smoothly and comfortably to the throne of emperor. Princess Canary became empress and had three children. Reinhardt couldn't see that happen again.
In her previous life, even after her divorce, it took her three years to come to her senses in the Helka estate.
As such, Marquis Linke's death and her divorce were a devastating blow.
She couldn't sleep no matter how much alcohol she drank, so she fell asleep under the influence of drugs. Even after she decided to take revenge, she did not know how to learn the functioning of the Helka domain properly. There was no one to help the woman who had lived a pampered life as the Crown Princess, as she tried to manage the estate. Dozens of dogs flocked to the wealthy Helka estate to hunt for food.
I'm glad there aren't any dogs here.
She chewed and swallowed the bread and unrolled the parchment.
It snowed six months of the year in Luden. The main crops were potatoes, corn, and barley, but they grew enough only to be consumed within the territory. Because there were many mountains, there was little land that could be cleared.
The number of peasants was also unclear. Because it was so barren, most of them fled to the mountains and started slashing/burning rather than sharecropping with the lord to clear the land.
There was a big lake; however, it was also frozen most of the year.
In other words, there was hardly any industry to make money. That was a big problem. She needed money to get revenge.
She suddenly missed Helka's enlisted soldiers.
She had secretly gathered 3,000 private soldiers. You have to have a lot of money to bankroll a decent soldier. The food that 3,000 people ate every day was staggering. How about places to sleep? Still, Helka's estate was rich enough to pay for it. It was possible because it was the most prosperous domain in the Alanquez Empire.
But in Luden, there was nothing.
Let's think again. Think again and you'll find something.
Reinhardt tried to recall her previous life. It had taken her about five years after she received the Helka estate to barely understand the flow of money.
About ten years later, she was able to familiarize herself with what was fashionable in the capital city, what industries were lacking, and which flow of transportation.
... ... But that was when she was thirty-four. Reinhardt was now 24 years old.
I'm going to drink less.
Thud. Reinhardt banged her forehead on the table the next day after drinking, with the regrets of a hangover-stricken drunkard.
In the Helka estate, she had enough money to buy alcohol like a mountain, and she drank like a mountain every day. It was not uncommon to spend the day with a hangover. Afterwards, she drank too much, so her tolerance increased, so she didn't even try anything but spirits because it wasn't enough. She was drunk all day, drinking only the strong alcohol that burned her throat.
"... ... Wait."
She raised one eyebrow. It felt like something was going on in her head. what... ... was it to be remembered... ... what... ... .
Aha.
"Ah!"
Just as she was about to start thinking, someone knocked on the door, and Reinhardt gasped and fell again on the table.
Who was it? Sara, who had just entered, was startled when her resentful gaze turned towards the door.
"... ... Oh, madam."
"Did you sleep well?"
"Thanks for asking. The yard has been noisy since morning... ... ."
"I had to stock up on straw for the horses for the rest of the day. Apologies if I couldn't let you sleep."
Madam never said 'I'm sorry'. It was the old lady's pride. But Reinhardt didn't care and waved her hand.
"It's all right. I can't starve my horses all winter just to get some sleep."
"Yes. And... ... ."
"Tell me."
"That child."
It was referring to the child Reinhardt picked up on her way to Luden.
Thanks to the boy who left the white bread today too, Reinhardt, who had filled her stomach this morning, shifted her gaze.
Sarah hated him very much and barely mentioned him in front of Reinhardt. The reason was that the boy did not speak well and had no name. Why she had mentioned that child was probably because she had made some progress in the work entrusted to her.
"Did you discover anything?"
"Yes. Well, this morning one of the straw workers recognized the little boy."
"Yes?"
Her eyes twinkled with interest. Sarah hesitated.
"About him... ... ."
"Has he any parents? How many years does he have? Is there a name?"
Reinhardt, who was talking, burst out in anger.
"If he has parents, they should be dragged out and beaten! Oh my God, leaving such a child in the mountains like that! When I first saw him, I just thought he was a monster!"
"... ... ."
Reinhardt came to her senses at Sarah's gaze.
"... ... Anyway, tell me."
"Well, there's a little bit of history."
"Well, the child was walking around the mountain like that, but he's fine. It can't be a simple story. Especially in this town."
In a harsh land like Luden, children were the property of good families. Even when they were only five or six years old, they worked by pulling weeds and helped with the housework. The child she picked up would have been twelve or thirteen or fourteen years old, no matter how small he was. Plus, he was incredibly strong. A family that neglected such good manpower must have a lot of problems.
"... ... Surprisingly, he is not a commoner's child."
"Well?"
Sara said with a sigh.
"The worker who recognized him lives in a village about a week away from here. The worker said he was Colonna's son."
Colonna. It was a name she had heard a lot.
Once, as the Crown Princess, she had memorized the entire list of Alanquez' nobles. A fallen aristocrat somewhere? The explanation continued in front of her, tilting her head.
"Colonna is a ruined family that was attacked by barbarians. They were also a vassal of the Paledon family in the past."
"Oh no."
"The daughter barely survived but died ten months later."
Reinhardt's face hardened. The meaning of the woman's death after ten months was clear. Sarah sighed and said, "They say she gave birth to that child and hanged herself in shame."
At that moment, Reinhardt jumped up as if struck by lightning.
Colonna. That name she knew.
"His name is Bill. The worker said, I don't know who started calling him that, but everyone called him that."
Bill Colonna.
A man who suddenly appeared one day and became Alanquez' war hero.
He was known to be from a mixed race of barbarians and stood in front of Michel Alanquez, who selected him, and showed off his prowess as the prince's first dog.
But she knew his real origin.
He was not of mixed barbarian blood.
He was the emperor's illegitimate son.