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Chapter : 9
Whether in Joy or in Suffering
The next day, Leon and Lowell went straight to the temple to make their marriage vows, just as planned.
“Huh? Isn’t that Sir Riffman?”
“Oh, yeah, it is. I haven’t seen him since he got kicked out of the knight order.”
“He was expelled ages ago—why are they still calling him ‘Sir’?”
As Leon entered the temple, all kinds of murmurs reached his ears. To him, it felt even louder than when he had packed up and left the knight order.
They had come quietly in a carriage, but there was no way to ride a carriage into the temple itself. As a result, Leon had been tossed straight into the middle of the gathered crowd as today’s gossip.
Wherever he turned his head, he saw people stealing glances and whispering.
“How ridiculous.”
Leon let out a small scoff as he looked at the murmuring crowd.
When he had risen to vice-captain of the knight order at such a young age, even people whose names he didn’t know had chased after him, showering him with empty flattery.
But what happened once he was pushed out of the order? They dropped him instantly and whispered like this, just as they were now—almost as if they had always known this would happen.
Leon remembered every single gaze that had changed in an instant, as though they had discovered a pile of filth.
“Fine. Talk all you want. When I return—no, when I rise even higher—we’ll see then.”
Grinding his teeth, Leon fixed his eyes straight ahead.
“But who’s that woman?”
“Yeah, who is she? He came with a woman.”
“Judging by her clothes, she looks like a commoner. Don’t tell me he came here to get engaged to her?”
At those words, Leon suddenly realized something. The woman standing beside him was also being dragged into this unpleasant topic.
Once he realized that, he felt a twinge of guilt. Lowell had been the one to propose marriage first, but regardless, the fact that she now had to endure gossip like this was partly his fault.
So as Leon hesitated for a moment, about to say something like “Don’t mind them,” Lowell suddenly turned to him, her eyes shining seriously.
“So it was true.”
“…What?”
“When you said you’d received a lot of gifts like bouquets and rings, I honestly thought you were exaggerating. But now that I’m here, I see it was true. Everyone’s staring so intensely.”
Lowell hunched her shoulders, awkwardly dodging the gazes aimed at her.
“Hah.”
At that sight, Leon had to lower his chin to keep from bursting out laughing.
“Right… this is the kind of woman she is. Someone who wouldn’t even care about things like this.”
That thought crossed Leon’s mind. For some reason, a pleasant smile kept threatening to surface, and the corners of his mouth refused to come down.
“Let’s go. The priest will be coming in soon.”
A moment later, Leon reached out his hand toward Lowell. By then, a completely relaxed smile rested on his lips.
“Groom Leon Riffman, do you vow to take Bride Lowell as your wife, and to always respect and honor each other, whether in joy or in suffering?”
“Yes.”
“Bride Lowell, do you vow to take Groom Leon Riffman as your husband, and to always respect and honor each other, whether in joy or in suffering?”
“Yes!”
“By the will of the god who watches over the Khan Empire, I hereby declare that the engagement between these two has been made.”
At the priest’s final words, their gazes crossed. It was a moment when eyes holding different goals shone vividly.
“W-wait a moment. Where are we going right now?”
Inside the carriage, after all the vows were over, Lowell—who had kept her mouth shut until then—finally cried out in a shrill voice.
“To the estate.”
In front of Lowell, who couldn’t hide her flustered expression, Leon simply looked out the carriage window, appearing indifferent.
“The estate? You have a house?”
Lowell asked reflexively, not out of sarcasm, but genuine curiosity. She was so surprised that her upper body nearly pitched forward.
“Did you think I was living on the streets without a home?”
Only then did Leon slowly turn his head to face her.
“I thought you stayed in the tower by the lake.”
“It’s too damp there. Snakes show up sometimes, too.”
With that, Leon propped his chin on his hand and looked back outside. As if thinking about snakes in the tower, his brow furrowed slightly.
“Then my luggage—”
“I already had it moved ahead of time, so you don’t need to worry.”
To Lowell, it seemed Leon was starting to find her endless questions annoying. He cut her off with a dry tone before she could even finish speaking.
“……”
With nothing more to say, Lowell closed her mouth as Leon clearly wished and quietly watched the wind from the window tousle his bangs.
As she did, she recalled that Leon hadn’t told her in advance something so important—like where they would be living together. A belated sense of dissatisfaction welled up inside her.
“But still.”
The reason Lowell brought up such a random topic was, in truth, her dissatisfaction with Leon’s unilateral attitude.
“It feels unfair that I’m the only one using honorifics.”
“What?”
Leon snapped his head back toward her. In his eyes, Lowell was pressing her lips together so tightly it looked unnatural.
“We’re married now. It’s strange if I’m the only one speaking formally.”
“…So what are you suggesting?”
Leon asked, caught between annoyance and disbelief.
“I think we should either both speak casually or both use honorifics. Marriage is supposed to be an equal relationship.”
By now, Lowell’s eyes were burning as if set on fire. Whatever dissatisfaction and stubbornness she’d felt had become fuel.
“…Do whatever you want.”
So Leon decided to just let it be. Trying to understand that stubbornness would only exhaust him more.
“Okay. I get it.”
He just hadn’t expected her to switch so immediately.
“What?”
“I said I get it.”
Leon stared back in disbelief at the violet eyes looking straight at him.
“Hah.”
This time, an incredulous breath finally escaped Leon’s lips. He decided he truly shouldn’t care anymore.
“Nice weather today, isn’t it?”
While Leon reflected on this absurd situation, Lowell went on rambling about the weather, saying how the seasons in the Khan Empire lasted so long that once one began, you had to wait ages for the next.
Just as she was saying that, the carriage jolted violently.
“Ah.”
Startled by the sudden jolt, Lowell—who had been talking to herself—lost her balance.
Thud.
But fortunately—or unfortunately—she didn’t end up falling forward in an embarrassing heap.
“The road’s rough here. Be careful.”
Leon had already moved closer, holding her between his arms to steady her.
“…Ah, uh.”
Their gazes met at very close range. Close enough that their lips might touch if either of them moved even slightly.
Perhaps because of that, while Leon returned to his seat, Lowell’s eyes wandered restlessly, unable to settle in one place.
Jolt.
“I think I’ll just keep using honorifics after all.”
After another jolt of the carriage, Lowell abruptly changed her stance again, saying she’d stick to polite speech—just as unpredictably as ever, at least from Leon’s perspective.
“Casual speech feels… too intimate.”
When Leon kept looking at her with questions in his eyes, Lowell said that, then firmly shut her mouth again and looked out the window.
“Suit yourself.”
Leon replied dryly, turning his gaze to the same window. Casual or polite speech—it didn’t really matter to him as long as the contract was fulfilled.
At his response, Lowell let out a small breath. Until the carriage arrived at the estate, no sound passed between them except the rumbling of the wheels.
“Not going in?”
When they arrived at the estate Leon had mentioned, Leon said that while looking at Lowell, who seemed almost frozen in place.
“This is the… estate we’re going to live in, right?”
Lowell’s voice trembled slightly as she pointed straight ahead.
“Yeah. Is there a problem?”
“No, it’s not that there’s a problem…”
‘There are too many problems.’
Thinking that to herself, Lowell slowly turned her head and examined the building again—the estate she was apparently supposed to live in from now on.
The estate before her looked completely drained of color. Aside from the speculative advantage that it seemed very old and historic, there wasn’t a single other redeeming quality.
On top of that, it was unnecessarily large. Several windows were broken, ivy crawled up the outer walls, and the gloomy atmosphere was only emphasized further.
It made her wonder if this really was the estate of the man who had decorated his tower so lavishly.
Moreover, as long as she could remember, Lowell had lived in a ducal residence. As a result, she’d grown accustomed to most estates looking unimpressive—but this place surpassed even that.
She thought that even if she had lived her entire life in a shack made of planks, she would still know this house was bad.
“I bought it with the money I took when I left the family and the salary I earned from the knight order. Since it’s on the outskirts, I was able to buy it relatively cheaply, even though it’s such a historic estate.”
Unaware of Lowell’s shock, Leon gazed up at the estate with a satisfied smile.
“…Yes. I suppose so.”
Watching him, Lowell swallowed the words, If you hadn’t bought this cheaply, you would’ve been scammed.
