I Will Be the Greatest Knight
Chapter 187: Noticing

Chapter 187: Noticing

Sure, it was a summer of monsters, but it was a summer of confusion just as much.

When Irene wasn’t occupied with the weight of her own life or that of the others on her shoulders, she was becoming insecure about things she hadn’t considered.

Of course, anyone going into a life where they would pretend to be the gender in which they were not would run across issues eventually. But life had been happening much more quickly than she remembered.

Perhaps her past life was so slow that her life now felt fast.

Regardless, she was running into the problem of hiding herself when she spent all of her time around men. The days were hot, and she wore baggy tunics with long sleeves. On the off chance that her clothing was torn, she wore something underneath to hide for a bit longer.

However, visiting her parents gave her the prime opportunity to talk to her mother. Even if it wasn’t something she had been through before in her life, perhaps she could still find a way...

After the strange request fell from her daughter’s lips, all Rochelle could do was stare at her for a moment with her mouth hanging slightly open.

"This is still worth it for you?" Rochelle quietly wondered. "You’re having to hide so much now..."

"It’s still worth it, mother," Irene insisted. "It is more fulfilling than anything else I ever could have done."

There was no use in arguing at that moment. A problem had fallen into Rochelle’s lap, and she felt it was an opportunity to show her daughter that she could be useful in other ways.

"Perhaps thick underclothes," Rochelle mused. "Something inflexible. Shall we go upstairs?"

Irene followed her mother to the back staircase in the house that wasn’t nearly as grand as the one in the front, but would conceal them from the guests. It was clear Irene wouldn’t want the others to question what she was up to.

There they went to Irene’s old room, where two armoires stood full of old clothing.

"I wonder if an old chemise would fit," Rochelle explained as she began digging through the organized clothing. "If it’s old, it would be tight. Perhaps if we stacked chemises on top of each other..."

"Chemise goes all the way down to my knees," Irene resisted. "They wouldn’t fit under riding clothes."

"If we cut them in half and only went underneath your shirts and pants, that would be fine then, don’t you think?" Rochelle wondered.

"Whatever you think is best," Irene relented.

She wasn’t taught to sew anything except for minor repairs because she never had any interest. Despite it being a skill most women had knowledge of, Irene was awful at it. On the other hand, her mother was masterful with a needle and thread.

Soon, they had clothes strewn all throughout the room, and Irene was subjected to what felt like a lifetime of memories in the armoire. There were plenty of dresses, as any little girl would have, but so many pants as well. Even if she did wear the dresses her mother asked of her, she always wore pants underneath.

It was that way for as long as she could remember because she wanted to tumble around and run in long grass. Every person she wanted to play with as a child was a boy.

A small smile appeared on Irene’s face as she thought of how nothing had changed in her life.

After a bit of searching, the girl and her mother found two chemise pieces that would still fit her tightly. Rochelle would spend the next couple of days sewing it together so it was snug. It would have to be washed frequently, and she would wear it down quickly, so she decided to find a way to copy the pattern.

"How long will you be here?" Rochelle asked her daughter.

"I suppose I should go down and see what the others are talking about," she admitted a bit guiltily. "I’m sure Sir Gunnar has an answer."

Rochelle gently patted Irene’s cheek—a cheek she thought was starting to slightly thin out and make her daughter look a bit more womanly despite still being a girl. She would likely grow to be very beautiful. It caused her to wonder how long this could truly go on for. If it went on for too much longer, she was going to start confusing the boys around her.

"Go to them then," Rochelle said. "I will be down momentarily. What sort of lady of the house doesn’t greet her guests?"

Irene grinned at her mother.

"I wouldn’t know anything about that," she admitted.

Rochelle laughed surprisingly warmly for how much the topic stung. She would continue to silently hope that it wouldn’t be forever.

In an ideal world, the knighthood would accept Irene as a girl, but she doubted that would ever happen.

As Irene went down the grand staircase that led closer to the sitting room that she had been avoiding earlier, she stepped in a bit shyly.

"Forgive me," she told the others. "I had something I needed to give my mother."

It seemed about half the people in the room shrugged it off, not really paying any attention to what she said. However, a few others seemed to look at her a bit knowingly. She raised one of her eyebrows when she saw that Leif was one of those people, but he averted his gaze.

He was someone who continued to confuse her.

"Perfect timing, Iro," Gunnar said. "We were just discussing our plans. We think that it will be more beneficial to remain in the valley while the others go up the mountain for monster culling winterization. That leaves us a couple of easier days here until we should head off and begin that."

Irene smiled and nodded. It was perfect timing considering what her mother had told her.

Shortly after, Rochelle herself appeared, pulling on an apron over her clothing.

"Forgive me for the late welcome," she apologized and offered the guests a light curtsy. "I will be in the kitchen preparing something for the travelers."

It wouldn’t be the first or the last time she made a meal with their maids for knights who appeared so randomly. However, it was the first time that the weathered knights looking for a place to stay were accompanied by her hidden daughter.

After a few short greetings, Rochelle realized she felt eyes on her face, and her gaze subtly drifted to the younger apprentice who was just a bit older than Irene. Leif was his name, if Rochelle remembered correctly.

His blue eyes went from Rochelle to Irene and then dropped to his lap, where they could no longer be seen.

Rochelle’s eyebrows rose. Perhaps people really had caught on, even if Irene didn’t think so. As her daughter grew, she thought their resemblance became even more uncanny.