This morning, as usual, Eddie needed to feed the horses. Eddie is the son of the cook who lives here, and because of his strength and resourcefulness, he was assigned by the lord to keep the horses. He pushed a cart filled with hay into the barn. The horses, smelling him from afar, stomped their feet to the beat, and their tails fluttered as if in joy. Alby lifted her head from the railing, immediately sticking her tongue out to lick Eddie's face as he approached. Alby is his favorite horse. She is also the wisest horse in the herd. Alby can sense the presence of strangers before the herd realizes it. And every time she is fed, she neighs with a special sound as if to thank you. Eddie also enjoyed the feeling of stroking its snow-white mane, a softness that made him feel like he was stroking silk. Alby suddenly stomped her feet, still humming something in her throat. He stroked it, said:

"Okay Alby, easy girl, easy girl."

"You're Eddie, aren't you?"

A male voice came from behind him causing him to put down the haystack in his hand. Eddie turned to look at him, his expression rather bewildered. He had never met this boy before. Eddie was quite surprised but didn't want to be rude, he brushed the dust off his hands, smiling back. It seemed like Alby was trying to signal to him that someone was standing there, but he thought she was just whining.

"Who are you?"

"Bennet," the young man replied awkwardly. "I was a new stable boy…"

Eddie stared at him blankly, a little confused as to what was going on. After a while, as if he had cleared his mind, he understood everything clearly. A few days ago the lord hired a man to help him look after the horses, replacing Andy. He used to be your co-worker, but last month he took a leave of absence to get married.

"You look...", Eddie looked at him from above, a little suspicious in his heart because of his sickly appearance. “Are you sure you can do it?”

"Yes I can."

The attenuation of the sentence made Eddie a little uneasy about this boy. From top to bottom, it was certain that he was only sixteen. Eddie stood aside and watched him carry the bucket of water with great difficulty. Seeing Bennet carry a medium-sized box with both hands as if he were a builder, carrying a few dozen logs to make a house pillar made Eddie feel extremely itchy. After a while, finally finished one, Bennet happily clapped his hands and said:

"Here!"

But Eddie didn't know what else to say. Even the horses in the stable were bored, and they roared loudly as a protest. Eddie reached out and stroked the tip of his mane as a coaxing. Bennet himself understood it as a failed debut. Immediately, he looked at Eddie with miserable eyes. As if guessing what he was going to do next, Eddie was quick to jump ahead. It was a beautiful morning, he didn't want to see a depressed face. Eddie approached the young man, smiling comfortingly on his lips, patting him on the shoulder a few times as if to encourage him, saying:

“Benny…”

"Bennet," he looked at Eddie with sad eyes that looked like he was about to cry, but still managed to correct his words.

“Okay Bennet. I like you very much, but you are not strong enough to do that.”

“I could…” he sobbed.

“We will not only feed the horse, but also bathe it, brush its mane, change its hooves. In a few days a herd of wild boar will be brought. Not to mention the need to carry and build a barn, can you do it?"

"I can...", Bennet was completely overwhelmed by Eddie before a series of tasks that took a lot of energy to think about, but still had to blurt out.

"Are you sure?" Eddie looked at Bennet suspiciously.

"Yes…"

"Are you sure?"

“But I can improve!”

Bennet gulped, staring blankly at Eddie, as if begging for some favor. But how can there be a favor if you are not strong enough to receive it?

“Bennet, I'm so sorry…”

“Please! I really need this job…”, Bennet pleaded with a pitiful face.

"What do you mean?", Eddie stood with his arms crossed and looked at him with puzzled eyes.

“My brother is about to get married. And I also need money to support my elderly mother…”

Eddie silently watched Bennet standing in front of him become smaller than ever. Something seemed to hit him in the heart. Eddie expected to continue to insist, but somehow he couldn't speak right away. Instead he asked:

“Where do you live?”

"Blackbell," Bennet replied. This is one of the towns of Ubberst, not far from Staflake.

"How old are you?"

“E… eighteen.”

“Do you know how to brush a horse?”

“Yes, I know. I can even change the hooves…”

With that, Bennet slowly approached the cage. When Alby saw him, she was alarmed, immediately snorted, stamped her feet a few times, wagging her tail and slowly backing away. Eddie, standing beside her, raised his hand like he always reassured the horses. Alby is a very clever horse. She saw Eddie with a familiar gesture and immediately calmed down. Alby snorted, nodded, wagged her tail, and slowly approached the railing. Bennet approached the horse and whispered:

“Okay… good girl… good girl…”

He ran his hand over its mane, and the horse stirred a little at first, but then stood still to let him brush. Even Alby seemed to enjoy it immensely. Eddie noticed the horse's eyelids slowly droop and close, opening them again every time Bennet's hand left. Eddie watched from the back, his antipathy towards him beginning to fade and then disappear. Eddie says:

“Alby seems to like you.”

“My previous owner had a herd of brown horses, they were smaller than these, but essentially the same. You see that place right behind their heads, the horses love to be scratched here,” Bennet said, her face brighter than before, pointing to Eddie.

"First lord?", he was surprised.

“The Wanderly House. The old man died and the son sold all the horses, so I lost my job. Blackbell also doesn't have a house that needs a horseman, so I came here," Bennet shared.

Eddie was silent for a moment to think, and Bennet remained gentle with the horse. Moments later, he whistled to get Bennet's attention. When he returned, Eddie had tossed him a horseshoe kit. Without letting Bennet show that doubtful expression for long, he shrugged and said:

“I will tell Siren to prepare a place for you. Changing the horseshoes should be around noon, we'll go eat."

Bennet had to stand still for a long time before he dared to come to his senses. Part of him still had doubts, but before he could open his mouth to confirm, Eddie blocked the way first:

“If you ask me again, I will change my mind. I will supervise your work, take care and work hard.”

Of course, what else would Bennet dare say? He immediately got to work. The first performance had already failed, he couldn't let a bad impression just be displayed in front of others like that.

Eddie and Bennet sat tired by the haystack in front of the stables. When the two brothers finished, the tired people looked at each other with dirty faces and laughed. Eddie hands him a pitcher that looks like it holds water, nodding as if signaling him to take it. Bennet took the flask in his hand, then looked at Eddie as if to ask what it was. Eddie seemed to understand what he meant, and said:

“Entique wine. Drink to warm the stomach. You'll not get drunk, trust me."

When Bennet heard that, there was no doubt about it, so he opened the lid and drank. Before drinking, he always had to bring it up to his nose and smell it first. It has an herbal, mildly aromatic taste, with a hint of jasmine. Bennet also didn't like the strong smell of that wine, which made him want to try it more than ever. But who would have thought that with just one sip, his stomach felt like it was on fire. This is really "warm stomach", so warm that his throat is burning! Bennet's face was wrinkled like a spicy monkey, and his mouth was coughing and choking, and yet Eddie sat there smiling like a good season. He immediately returned it to Eddie. The wine is good, but the aftertaste it leaves is not good at all. Now he felt very uncomfortable in his stomach.

“It was like someone lit a fire in my stomach!”

"But is it delicious?" Eddie looked at him questioningly.

“Well… yes,” Bennet replied.

“Well then. You'll get used to it. And then you'll get addicted to it.” Eddie shrugged, then brought the bottle to his mouth and cleaned it up.

“What are you two saying that makes you look so happy?”

Evelyn did not know when with a basket full of delicious food. As soon as he saw Evelyn, Eddie was like a swarm of bees looking for honey. Meeting Evelyn, his eyes immediately shone like the sun at zenith. If you want to really compare, then perhaps it can be compared to the image of a dog meeting its owner again after such a long time apart!

Eddie immediately stood up, helping Evelyn with the basket of food, even though it wasn't heavy at all.

"No, we're just resting," said Eddie, leading Evelyn to sit on another haystack that looked much cleaner than the two of them. “I gave him a taste of Entique.”

"I'm sure he's not used to that wine," Evelyn smiled at Bennet like a hospitable hostess. “But… If I'm not wrong, you seem to be a new guy, right?”

“Bennet, my lady. I'm new," Bennet said seriously.

“What lady?” Evelyn laughed lightly, “Call me Evelyn. I'm…"

When Eddie heard that, he immediately gripped Evelyn's hand, as if to mark his sovereignty. While saying that, he made a proud face. "This is Evelyn, my lady."

“Evelyn… that's a very nice name. My previous owner's daughter was also named Evelyn. He said it was the name of a nymph that rules over the moon," replied Bennet.

"Really? I don't know!", saying Evelyn turned to look at Eddie, "But… my lady?", Evelyn pretended not to understand. "I doubt it."

"What? I only have you", Eddie didn't know if it was true or not, but immediately jumped up like he was worried he did something wrong.

“I was joking,” Evelyn smiled wryly. With that, she took the basket back from Eddie, unfolding the blanket to reveal fresh, hot loaves of bread. “I have prepared a bread for you to eat.”

Saying that, Evelyn gave each of Eddie and Bennet a bread, adding her portion was enough for all three. In fact, she didn't think she'd see Bennet out here. Normally Eddie would eat both loaves on his own, but it looks like he's got a smaller portion this morning.

"Dami said she'd replace Beatrice to collect the taxes with lord Talbot," Evelyn bit into a small piece of bread, chewed it slowly, swallowed it, then turned to Eddie.

"So he's back from the hunt?" Eddie replied, munching.

"I don't know either, I just heard Dami say… and you shouldn't talk while eating, Edd," Evelyn couldn't stand Eddie's way of eating like that, but no matter how many times he mentioned it, he still unchanged.

"It's just that I'm used to it...", Eddie soon finished the bread. After eating, he also raised his shirt to the side of his mouth, then brushed his hands on his pants.

Evelyn stopped looking at Eddie, immediately changing the subject to Bennet sitting next to her:

"I forgot. Bennet, do you mind if I ask where you're from?"

"Me?", surprised Bennet. “Oh, yes. I come from Blackbell.”

“Blackbell?” Evelyn was surprised. “If I remember correctly, it was Lord Wanderly, right?”

"That's right," Bennet nodded. “I used to work for their house.”

“Ride the Wind, I love their family motto,” Evelyn said, sighing.

"Yes, when the lord was alive, he was not bad to our servants," smiled Bennet.

Evelyn paused for a moment, but then just smiled back at him:

"Don't worry, you won't suffer in Staflake!"

With that, Evelyn tore the edge of the bread where she had bitten a corner and brought it to her mouth, then she gave the rest to Eddie. Evelyn got up, picked up the empty basket, and gently brushed the dust off the part of her skirt on which she sat on the haystack, saying:

"I have to go back to the Grey Tower, the lady wants to see me."

“Goodbye, Evelyn,” said Bennet, standing up.

“Goodbye Bennet,” Evelyn smiled. "And you should learn from him, Eddie," Evelyn looked at Eddie sitting on the hay with the eyes of a mother admonishing her children. Evelyn's words left a void in his mind. Eddie didn't quite understand what she meant. Women are the most confusing creatures in the world, and sometimes he doesn't understand how he catches her eye. But Eddie is a muscular thinker, how can he understand Evelyn's profound mind? The more he thought about it, the more he realised he was stupid. But then he thought again. Bennet sat down, smiled and turned to look at him. Eddie suddenly thought of something, then said straight to Bennet's face without waiting for him to say anything first:

“In case you forget, Evelyn is my woman.”

Finally, Eddie seemed a little annoyed, but got up to continue feeding the horses, leaving Bennet alone to sit there like a statue with a face that didn't understand a thing.