LMHM 04

 Chapter 4

Amber knew that expression well. It was the expression of someone who would not tolerate any objection to his decision.

Amber sighed softly.

There was much she could say.

First, she could tell him that the scale of this monster wave was not large enough to require Calix’s personal deployment.

Amber knew that the monsters appearing in this wave were far fewer in number than usual, and their timid nature meant they wouldn’t even come down to the villages.

Next, she could expound on the importance of managing the internal affairs of the ducal household.

If the Duke left right after the wedding, the castle would surely fall into chaos.

*’And that’s exactly what happened in my past life.’*

Bella had run amok.

Determined to seize control of the ducal household before Calix’s return, she had tied Amber’s hands and feet and recklessly undertaken excessive tasks under the pretense of acting in the lady’s stead.

Among Bella’s exploits was taking Amber’s dowry and recklessly starting a business with it.

She claimed she was investing in the luxury goods business for the development of the East, but in the end, she lost everything and even accumulated massive debt.

*’I need to get my dowry back too.’*

It had been taken as soon as she arrived in the East, so she would have to confront Bella as soon as possible.

*’For all of that, I need my husband.’*

For a wife who has been rejected by her husband in the East, the prospect of being recognized within the household is bleak.

“If it was such an important matter, you should have postponed the wedding.”

Everyone looked surprised by Amber’s unyielding attitude.

Calix’s brow furrowed. Amber was prepared for a long, arduous argument with him.

“Milady is correct. While I understand Your Grace’s concern as this is your first subjugation since ascending to the dukedom, surely prioritizing the consolidation of the ducal household comes first?”

Surprisingly, there was a knight who sided with Amber.

He was a young knight with bright blond hair, and judging by the color of his armor, he seemed to hold a fairly high rank within the knight order.

*’I don’t remember him. He must have retired early or died in battle… one of the two.’*

Amber made a mental note of the blond knight’s face.

As Calix shot the blond knight a piercing, frosty glare, the knight bowed his head with a frightened expression.

Since Calix had ascended to the dukedom less than a month ago, he surely hadn’t had enough time to establish a proper chain of command, yet the knight’s obedience was astonishing.

“Everyone, withdraw.”

At Calix’s command, the knights quickly returned to the castle.

“Milady, come this way.”

Just as Amber thought they would continue talking where they stood, Calix led her into a small barracks attached to the training ground.

The barracks, built to house about thirty people, was, like the knights’ armor, very old and impoverished.

Calix, with practiced hands, rummaged through a drawer and took out a candle.

When he lit the wick, a faint light and acrid smoke burst forth. The smoke was due to the poor quality of the candle.

Amber and Calix sat facing each other across the table where the candle stood.

Calix’s eyes shimmered with an enigmatic color in the flickering candlelight. Amber’s eyes too glowed with a brighter, deeper orange.

“What do you mean, don’t go on the campaign?”

After a brief silence, Calix asked.

“Exactly what I said. I want you to stay by my side.”

“By your side…”

Even in the faint light, Amber could see Calix’s face harden noticeably.

“Milady, I am…”

“I hope you don’t think of my words as simply the tantrum of a new bride, or something frivolous like that.”

Amber cut off Calix’s words with a firm and cold tone.

Because it was painfully obvious what he was thinking.

Amber had not the slightest intention of demanding affection from him. All she wanted was duty and responsibility as a married couple.

“You and I have become husband and wife today, haven’t we?”

“That is so.”

Calix spoke in a heavy, slow tone, as if his tongue had suddenly turned to stone.

“But if you leave the castle without even spending our first night together, how will people treat me?”

At Amber’s question, Calix’s expression grew strange.

“What do you mean, how will they treat you? Are you saying someone would use my absence as an excuse to torment you?”

For a moment, Amber was dumbfounded.

*’Is he saying he doesn’t know what will happen when he’s away from the castle?’*

She scrutinized Calix’s demeanor closely, but his expression hadn’t changed at all from before.

He was a cold, impassive, excessively taciturn man, but he was not a liar.

When faced with an uncomfortable situation, he would simply shut his mouth. Amber remembered this clearly because she had often been driven to the point of madness by that silence.

So the fact that he didn’t lie was something Amber, who had lived with him for ten years and endured his silences, knew best.

But…

*’No, he can’t not know.’*

Amber soon shook her head.

No matter how she thought about it, it didn’t make sense that he didn’t know what would happen in his absence.

“Your Grace, I am talking about duty and responsibility.”

Calix’s face darkened more than before.

“I have given Milady everything stipulated in the marriage documents. Of course, the things of the East may not be to your liking, having lived a life of wealth…”

At Calix’s words, Amber’s expression also hardened.

“Your Grace, I think you misunderstand. I didn’t come here to complain.”

Because her pride was wounded, Amber’s tone was not gentle.

At her sharp, almost shooting tone, Calix flinched as if truly pierced by a spear. And he looked at Amber with tense eyes.

“I don’t particularly care that the ceremony was omitted. It’s fine that you didn’t come to the bridal chamber. After all, you probably weren’t happy about this marriage either.”

“No, that is…”

Calix tried to say something, but Amber shook her head.

“I have no intention of playing at being a married couple. But that doesn’t mean we can live like strangers, does it?”

In her past life, Amber had realized that truth too late.

No matter how much they disliked each other, no matter how much worse than strangers their relationship was, once they were married, she couldn’t pretend Calix didn’t exist.

The same must have been true for Calix.

“Then why did you come to find me?”

Calix, arms crossed, asked in a smaller voice than before.

“First, to protest the fact that it’s absurd for you to be away from the castle for a long time without even telling me.”

“The campaign is to suppress the monster wave…”

“And it’s not because you hate the marriage and are trying to run away from me, is it?”

At Amber’s words, his face flushed faintly. She thought it might be a trick of the candlelight, but it wasn’t. His face and earlobes were definitely red.

Amber, facing him as he sat there speechless, proceeded to tell him the facts she knew in order.

That this monster wave was small-scale, and the monsters’ timid nature meant there was no need for him to personally go.

“How did you come to know all of that?”

After hearing Amber out, Calix asked, unable to hide his surprise.

“I used my father’s intelligence network to look into various things before coming to the East.”

Having no suitable reply, Amber vaguely glossed over it.

“I knew Viscount Riat’s wealth was considerable, but I didn’t realize it was to that extent.”

Not knowing the truth, Calix believed Amber’s words as is.

Even though with a little thought, he would have quickly realized how implausible her claim was.

Viscount Riat was indeed wealthy, but he didn’t have the power to thoroughly investigate the circumstances of a territory he had never even visited.

If he had been capable of such a feat, he wouldn’t have fallen for the Emperor’s scheme and given up his daughter in the first place.

*’This man… does it not occur to him that I might be lying?’*

Amber felt anew the fact that her husband had become younger.

“The fact that you’re asking how I knew all of that means my words are true, doesn’t it? That there’s no need for you, Your Grace, to personally go on the campaign?”

At Amber’s pressing, Calix looked as if he’d made a mistake, but it was already too late.

“Milady, I…”

“It’s fine. I told you, I understand that you didn’t want to marry and that you can’t even stand the sight of my face.”

Calix closed his mouth, his face blank.

“The purpose of my coming to find you—what I want—is just one thing.”

The candlelight flickered once more, making the shadows of the two people on the wall dance.

“I want you to treat me with courtesy in front of others, so that I can live well here.”

Amber turned her gaze from the dancing shadows to Calix and spoke clearly, one word at a time.

“As long as you are careful only in front of others, I don’t care where you go or how many days you stay out of the bedroom. You can even take a mistress. As long as you respect my position.”

At those words, Calix’s eyes widened.

In the conservative East, a wife not interfering with her husband’s private life, even turning a blind eye to a mistress, was a shocking proposition.

“It’s not a bad condition for Your Grace, is it?”

Amber asked, but for a while he was pale and couldn’t answer.

Amber thought he was so pleased by the unprecedented conditions that he was speechless.

“The first step to showing me courtesy is not leaving the castle for long periods without telling me. And I’d like you to stay in the castle for the first three weeks after the marriage, to help me adjust.”

“Very well. I’ll send only the knights for this campaign.”

His answer was clearly reluctant, but an acceptance was an acceptance.

“And…”

Before speaking her next words, Amber subtly gauged Calix’s reaction.

While following Grace to the training ground, Amber had deeply considered what she should ask of Calix.

And when she faced her husband again in the training ground, Amber had reached a conclusion.

To start a new life, to change this miserable marriage, there was one absolutely necessary thing.

*’But is that even possible?’*

Amber’s heart raced with tension.

What she was about to ask was unprecedented in the East.

*’Still, it’s something I desperately need.’*

Amber took a deep breath to calm her nerves.

Once she decided on something, she would see it through. She would not be deterred by any obstacle.

Amber recalled in her mind a phrase from an adventure novel she had loved reading in her childhood, a phrase that had been her motto.

“And give me an allowance.”