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Wulfric lay awake thinking of what Nicholas Lewinus had said. Least of all he hoped that it was him, Wulfric, that ended up with Anna. He sighed and turned on his side. There was no reason to believe that he would end up with her. Why would she choose someone like him?
He had known her deceased husband, Valdemar, the Duke of Halland. He had been outgoing and charming. Wulfric had seen how the duke had made Anna laugh and wished that it were him. But he was not outgoing nor charming. He had always been told so. As a soldier those qualities did not matter; what mattered was strength, loyalty, and endurance. But with ladies, it mattered.
Of course, his estate was large enough for him to marry well, but that did not mean that the woman that he married would like him. The women at court did not seem to appreciate someone like him. They wanted to be charmed, flirted with, and Wulfric always felt that he came up short. That his brain took to long to think of a smart reply to something they had said.
Each time he saw his mother she would talk about how he ought to get married soon, have children. Wulfric guessed that she was right, there just always seemed to be something in the way of it. A battle, the estate that needed taking care of, dreaming of Anna Harold.
Wulfric turned onto his back. He knew that he needed to get some sleep. They had to leave early tomorrow morning, but the room was stuffy, and he got up to open the window. The sounds of the city had been muffled by the shutters but now he could hear all that was going on in the street.
Drunk people from the inn were singing or shouting. Among the voices he recognized Nicholas Lewinus’s.
“Anna!” he shouted. “Lady Anna, why don’t you come and join us?”
Wulfric hid in the shadows. Lewinus was standing below Anna’s window, which was luckily on the second floor, but still it felt like he was far too close.
“Anna, don’t be such a bore! Come out and play with us, like you used to. We all know you want to,” Lewinus shouted, and his friends laughed.
Wulfric froze for a moment. Like you used to? Did Lewinus mean that he and Anna...? Wulfric would never have thought it of her. She seemed so devoted to the duke. And after his death... She had been in the convent for about two years. No, there was no way. Wulfric moved quickly from the shadows.
“Shut up, Lewinus,” he shouted.
“Oh, Rosenkranz, maybe you’re the one laying between the lady’s legs now?” Lewinus shouted back. “No, of course not. You’re not man enough for that. In fact, I’ve heard that you’re not man enough for anyone. Except the young recruits, you really like them, don’t you?”
Wulfric did not have time to respond, but simply ran out of his room and down the stairs. He ran towards Lewinus and punched him in the face before he had time to react.
“Take that back,” he shouted. “I will fight you, until both mine and Lady Harold’s honor are restored.”
Lewinus took a swing at him, but it was easy for Wulfric to avoid him. Wulfric punched him in the stomach, but then two of Lewinus’ drinking buddies lashed onto his back. The third knocked the legs away from under him and the three of them held him down while Lewinus kicked and punched him.
“You want me to take it back? Do you? I think that they’re right when they say that you like boys. At least you fight like a girl,” Lewinus said.
“Get away from here,” someone shouted.
“You don’t tell me what to do,” Lewinus said.
“No, but if you don’t, I’ll get the night watchman and he will put you in prison,” the person said.
Lewinus and his friends stopped and wandered off. Wulfric lay on the ground for a moment, trying to feel if anything was broken. It did not seem like it.
“The same goes for you, I don’t want any fighting in my courtyard,” the person said.
Wulfric slowly got up and saw the innkeeper standing by the door, looking angrily at him.
“I’m sorry,” Wulfric said. “It won’t happen again.”
He walked past the innkeeper and up to his room. He lay down on the bed again. Now he definitely would not get any sleep. His ribs felt sore where he had been kicked. He tried to find a position, that suited him, but it seemed impossible.
There was a quiet knock at the door, but Wulfric did not have the strength to get up and open it. He assumed that it was the innkeeper that was there to scold him again and thus simply said:
“Enter.”
To his surprise he saw that it was Anna that entered. She left the door open, which he could not blame her. She did not need any more rumors about her.
“Are you okay?” she said.
Wulfric quickly looked down himself. He was wearing his shirt and his leather pants for riding. He supposed he looked presentable enough, given the circumstances.
A more pressing thought emerged though: Had she seen and heard everything? What if she thought that he actually preferred men over women? That way he would never have a chance with her. He knew that some men did. It was not that uncommon among soldiers, even though it was of course punished severely if anyone found out.
“I’m fine,” Wulfric said and watched how she walked from the door to the bed.
She was wearing her dress over her shift he could tell. Although it was hastily put on and not done up properly in the back. He had imagined so many times what it would be like to have her in his bedroom, but the look of concern on her face, had never been part of his fantasies.
“You’re bleeding,” she said.
“It’s just a nosebleed,” Wulfric said and dried the blood away with his hand. Anna took a handkerchief from her sleeve and handed it to him. Wulfric pressed it against his nose. “I’m sorry, that you had to hear that,” he said. “Like I told you, Nicholas Lewinus is a real...”
“Ass,” Anna finished his sentence and smiled. “Yes, he certainly is. I guess that I should thank you for defending my honor, but I think that you’ve only made the matter worse by confronting him.”
“But I could not let him say that about us,” Wulfric said.
“You remember the part about turning the other cheek, right?” Anna said and smiled a little.
Wulfric nodded and suddenly felt like he was being lectured by his mother.
“What would you have had me done then?” he said.
“Nothing, then he’d stop. Now you’ve only made it more interesting for him to repeat it to everyone that he meets. Bullies are like that, if you give them attention, they’ll keep bullying, but if you ignore them, they’ll stop.”
Wulfric was not sure, that her theory applied to Nicholas Lewinus, but he did not want to argue with her.
“We should probably get you a chaperone tomorrow to be sure that there are no rumors,” he said. “In fact, I should have thought about it beforehand. I’m sorry,” he said and looked away from her face.
His eyes were caught by her golden hair hanging in a braid over her shoulder. He knew that she liked to wear it free. She would as often as she could at court, but he supposed that it would get tangled if she slept with it loose. He wanted to reach out and touch the end of the braid that was resting against her right breast.
“There’s no need to apologize,” Anna began.
“It’s just that I wanted to tell you about your father straight away and escort you back home,” Wulfric interrupted her, trying to sit up. It felt awkward talking to her, while he was lying down.
“I said it’s okay,” Anna said and sighed. “I should have thought about it myself... In fact, I did think about it. I just assumed that since I’m...”
She paused for a long time and Wulfric wondered, whether she had actually said the word “widow” before. He did not fill in the silence for her. If she needed a moment to compose herself, who was he to take that away from her.
“Since I’m...” she began again.
“You don’t have to say it,” Wulfric said gently and put his hand on her lower arm. “I know what you mean.”
Anna nodded.
“I just thought that people would not mind as much. Wi... Women like me are more... Rules are not as strict, right?” she finally managed.
Wulfric nodded. If a widow had been left land and an inheritance by her deceased husband, she was often able to live a much freer life, than she had as a wife. She might even take a lover if she desired. The thought made him squirm and he cleared his throat.
“You should go back to bed. We need to get an early start tomorrow,” he said.
Anna nodded.
“You’re sure, you’re fine?” she said as she got up from the side of his bed.
Wulfric nodded and was immensely relieved when she left his room.