"Thank ye, Sir Gawain, but I ken when I’m at fault. I’ll accept any punishment that my lord has fer me." Gawain shrugged before stuffing his hand in his pockets and turning to his brother, who seemed oblivious to Gawain's previous jab and Hector's annoyance.
"Nae, Gawain is right." Caillen agreed as he reached out to pat Hector on the shoulder. “Ye already do too much, and that is making ye neglect the more important things. I do nae scold ye, if it weren't fer ye, I wouldnae be able to properly see to a lot of things, but now that Gawain is here, yer workload is reduced. Ye should focus more on the men, allow Davinia to focus on the servants and the maintenance of the castle, and Gawain can focus on the village. Sincerely, I think ye three do all me work fer me. I appreciate yer presence here." Caillen turned to his brother. “I want to see ye two in me study. Follow me."
The last feast was tonight. Servants were crawling up and about the castle like spiders in their bid to perfect their given tasks, but they never failed to greet the three men when they passed by. Gawain shut the door behind them and leaned against it when they got to the study, waiting for his brother. He did not have anything much to do, perhaps he would return into village and get a few more complaints from the villagers then lay them down at his brother's table. If he could win their trust, maybe his brother would come around fully as well. Of course, anything he wanted to do had to be approved by his brother.
Caillen took his seat behind his desk while Hector stood next to the desk, his head still bowed. "The reason I called ye two here was because, as ye ken, Gawain is now in charge of the village, and I want him to have guards as well. Trustworthy men that will make his work easier. Be it half of the men that ye dispatched into the village. Let Gawain choose a handful of them to assist him."
"That will be a wee difficult, my lord. The guards are nae free around Sir Gawain. Forcing them to work fer him might bring about more problems than solutions."
"Which is why I said Gawain will choose his men." Caillen met his brother's gaze. “I want it done tomorrow at most. Gather those guards and let Gawain pick." Hector nodded silently before making his way out, with Gawain shutting the door in his wake. "I hope ye ken how to choose yer men, Gawain. If ye pick the wrong set of men then Hector's words will be proven correct. Tell me, ye’ve a plan."
"I’ve a plan."
"Do ye actually have a plan?"
"Nae." Caillen narrowed his eyes at Gawain, who slid into the empty seat in front of the desk. "Have ye investigated the pot incident?"
Caillen sighed, rubbing his temples. "Nae. I’ve nae because nothing intentional happened. It was a pot on the window that fell."
"It was filled with sand and aimed directly on top of us. The window opened, the pot was pushed, and the window closed."
"Gawain—"
"Davinia saw it all. Her key was stolen. Someone is trying to kill me!"
"I do nae ken what to make of the whole thing, Gawain, but since ye’re very sure that ye’re being targeted, why don't ye go investigate yerself. Go see what the matter is on her own and report yer findings to me. Do nae tell anyone, lest they think ye want to start some unwanted trouble. Let me ken about it tomorrow, after ye’ve selected yer men."
"And the guard from the market?"
"Tell Hector I said thirty lashes at the village center at noon tomorrow."
"Twenty."
"Thirty-five, and it’ll be forty if ye argue with me over this. Me people are me top priority, and that fool has only made me realize how far from them I’ve strayed."
Gawain nodded, getting to his feet to exit the study. “Do I’ve to attend the feast tonight?"
"Nae, ye do nae have to. But I’ll let Emer deal with ye fer nae coming to wish her well." Gawain snickered at the mental image of his pregnant sister-in-law breathing down fire upon him.
"Aye, I’ll be there." Gawain stepped out of the study. He would head toward his chambers to take his dagger, which he had forgotten before he made his way to the village. After the pot incident, he was not going to take any chances. The person was still running about with him in their mind. If he encountered them armed in the village, things would not go so well for him if he had nothing to defend himself with.
He found his dagger resting on his bed where he had left it and tucked it in his belt before he left the room. Perhaps he should see Davinia first. He changed his route to pass by the kitchen where he hoped she would be. As he was about to enter the corridor where the kitchen was situated, he heard his name from behind him. He recognized the person, she was the girl he had run into on his first day back. Her water had spilled all over her but she had hurriedly picked up herself and left in an instant. He hadn’t seen much of her since then. Here she was again, running toward him, her dress cut extremely low to reveal a tempting amount of cleavage that bounced at every step. Gawain was more confused at how she was allowed to dress like that in the castle, but on the other hand, it was none of his business.
"Sir Gawain." The way she called his name, it was innocent to match her soft face but at the same time, it had a sort of seductive undertone to it. The way stood, allowing her curves to pop out, the extremely sweet smile on her rosy lips, the way she would brush her curly locks away from her neck only to shake her head slightly so they would fall right above her chest, Gawain stood wide-eyed at the bold display. He had been around many, many women in his life. Though he had only courted one, many had thrown themselves at him with all sorts of antics. One actually threw herself at him, poor lass hit her head over the tavern table so hard, she knocked herself out. He knew women flirted differently, some were shy, some were confident while some were unnaturally bold. So bold, it sometimes shocked Gawain. This was one of those women who were bold.
"...good morning." He took a step back from her. "How do ye do?"
"I’m fine, Sir Gawain but it seems ye do nae remember me." She flashed him a smile.
"I do, actually. I think I spilled some water on ye by accident. My apologies once again." She waved him off as she took a step closer, which prompted him to take a step back.
"‘Tis nae a problem. I wanted to have a word with ye, if ye do nae mind. Since ye’re now the laird's third in command, the stress from attending to the villagers all day might be overwhelming, so I want to offer ye me assistance. I can help ye relieve some of the stress, Sir Gawain." She reached out to touch him, grabbing his arm before he could step away from her. She pressed her chest to his arm while her other hand cupped the back of his head. "Let me help ye out."
What Gawain also knew about how women flirted was how they took rejection. The shy ones often backed down immediately, it took a while for the confident ones to back down, but the bold ones never took rejection too well.
Keeping that in mind, Gawain peeled her fingers from his arm before stepping away from her. "What is yer name?"
"Erica?" She replied, her full lips pressed into a tight line.
