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Chapter 5
In the East, a husband never speaks politely or deferentially to his wife.
A man uses polite or deferential speech to a woman only when she is clearly his superior.
However, in the West, it is common for married couples to speak to each other with respect.
The Western custom of respectful speech was widespread, regardless of class, and Amber’s parents, Viscount and Viscountess Riat, also spoke to each other with respect.
Having grown up thinking it was natural for married couples to speak respectfully, Amber had difficulty adjusting to her husband’s disparaging speech.
And whenever she was spoken to disrespectfully, she felt as if she had become her husband’s inferior.
*’I don’t want to feel that way anymore. And if he speaks to me with respect, the servants will naturally respect me as well.’*
Even if Calix respected Amber, if he didn’t return to the bedroom and took a mistress, her position within the ducal castle would inevitably plummet.
But if Calix spoke respectfully to her, even when he was away, few would dare treat her poorly.
Though it was bitter that she had to use her husband to gain respect from those around her, she couldn’t deny its effectiveness.
Amber looked at the candle, now almost melted down to a stub, and sighed.
Calix was silent for a long time.
*’Yes, he wouldn’t agree so easily.’*
Amber didn’t feel hurt that Calix didn’t accept right away.
Calix was an Easterner, born and raised in the East.
The fact that he hadn’t gotten angry, asking ‘What nonsense is this?’, and stormed off was perhaps a sign of great restraint on his part.
Just as Amber thought that.
“If Milady wishes it, I shall do so. No, I will do so.”
“Pardon?”
This time, it was Amber who was flustered.
Amber couldn’t believe what she had heard and opened her eyes wide. Her red lips also parted slightly.
“Is something wrong?”
Calix asked with a frown, but Amber couldn’t answer. She was too stunned.
*’Just like that?’*
His acceptance was so quick and compliant that it made all her worry and anxiety seem pointless.
But Calix genuinely didn’t seem to have any resistance to speaking respectfully.
“Is that all of Milady’s requests?”
Only after a while, hearing Calix’s question, could Amber collect herself.
“For now, that’s all.”
Amber answered, striving to keep her voice calm.
*’This is a good thing. I thought I’d have to keep arguing with him endlessly.’*
She tried to accept the situation, reassuring herself. Indeed, getting him to speak respectfully was a very good thing.
“Then let’s go back outside. The knights will be waiting.”
Calix blew out the candle, now nothing but a stub, and said.
When they stepped out into the training ground, the knights who had been waiting inside the castle came out to greet Amber and Calix. Grace was also among the knights.
Grace, unable to hide her anticipation, looked back and forth between Amber and Calix.
Noticing that the atmosphere between them was quite awkward, Grace smiled, thinking, ‘I knew it.’
*’He must have given her a real scolding.’*
The fact that Calix’s expression also seemed somewhat uncomfortable bothered her a bit. But even if it meant slightly displeasing the Duke, Grace thought that as long as she could crush Amber’s spirit, it was worth it.
“Your Grace, I will take care of Lady Amber from here.”
Grace stepped out from among the knights, bowed before Calix, and said.
“I have already informed the Dowager Duchess. She will formally see off the knight order.”
Originally, no one saw off the knight order at the ducal castle, but since Amber had come out, Bella’s faction also had to make a show of it.
While Amber and Calix were in the barracks, Grace had devised a plan to send Amber away and transfer the honor of the send-off to Bella.
This, she thought, would clearly imprint Amber’s place within the ducal castle.
Grace assumed Calix would naturally send Amber away.
As far as she knew, he loathed his new bride.
Although Calix didn’t have a good relationship with his stepmother Bella either, he didn’t defy her orders. Rather, he tended to grant whatever Bella wanted.
*’Of course, the knights will have complaints… but if His Grace permits it, there’s no problem.’*
Feeling the knights’ stares on her back, Grace snorted.
“Your Grace?”
Grace called Calix once more, a bright smile on her face.
“Ah, are you talking about the send-off?”
Calix, who had been blankly staring into space, snapped out of it and turned his head toward Grace.
Grace found this odd. Because Calix’s demeanor was different from usual.
Calix, who always carried a sharp aura and was on edge, was uncharacteristically spacing out today.
“Yes, as soon as Lady Bella finishes her preparations…”
“No, that won’t be necessary.”
Grace’s head snapped up.
“What do you mean by that?”
“I mean there’s no need for a send-off.”
“Ah, you mean to skip the send-off altogether. Yes, it does take up time and is troublesome in many ways.”
“No, that’s not it.”
Calix sighed as if frustrated and shook his head.
“I am canceling the campaign.”
At Calix’s words, the knights murmured for a moment, and Bella’s eyes widened.
“I will not go on the campaign. Instead, I will reassign the personnel, centering on Sir Zait who led the subjugation party last year, and send them.”
“So that’s how it’s going to be?”
The knights accepted Calix’s decision without much resistance.
Because they all knew the scale of this monster wave was small.
Some, including the blond knight who had sided with Amber, even nodded emphatically as if this was the right decision.
Amber memorized their faces, including the blond knight’s.
The only one who didn’t welcome Calix’s decision was Grace.
Her face filled with dismay, she stood like a statue for a moment before finally speaking again.
“Then I shall relight the fire in His Grace’s room. And I will inform Lady Bella to prepare some warm tea…”
“No.”
Before Grace could finish, Calix shook his head again.
“There’s no need to light a fire in my room.”
“Pardon? Then shall I have the study cleaned?”
“What are you talking about? I will be staying with my wife.”
Instantly, silence fell over the training ground.
Grace couldn’t understand Calix’s words at once, her expression bewildered. Because she had thought he would never set foot in the bridal chamber.
The knights stared at Calix with wide, disbelieving eyes. Even the strict discipline was useless at this moment.
Since no one could easily escape their shock, the silence lasted for quite a while.
“I…”
Unable to stand it any longer, Amber spoke.
Her clear, bright voice rang through the dawn air, snapping people back to their senses.
“It’s already getting bright out, so how about everyone go have breakfast? I also need to take off my wedding dress.”
Amber was still wearing her pristine white, frilly wedding dress.
Having walked around the training ground, the hem was completely stained with dirt, and it looked like it would take quite a while to clean.
“Yes, we should have breakfast.”
Calix said, his tone somewhat awkward.
Amber felt his gaze sweeping over her wedding dress. His eyes lingered particularly long on the brown-stained hem.
She thought he would simply turn around and go into the castle alone, leaving her behind.
But he didn’t.
Instead of returning to the castle alone, Calix approached Amber.
*’Had that man ever come closer to me of his own accord?’*
Unfamiliar with his approach, Amber stood still, unable to step back.
His hand, standing right before her, flinched, rose slightly, then went back down.
*’Surely not.’*
Only after a while did Amber realize he had started to pretend to escort her, then stopped.
Astonishingly, he had tried to place her hand on his and guide her to the castle. But then he had changed his mind and lowered his hand.
Amber was so dumbfounded that a breath of air escaped her nose.
She had asked him to be courteous, and he had tried to show off, but apparently holding hands was too distasteful.
Amber shook her head ever so slightly, enough that others wouldn’t see, conveying her intent: ‘It’s fine, don’t bother.’
*’He seems to be making a slightly sulky expression, but that’s probably my imagination.’*
Calix hid his fidgeting hand behind his back. And then he put on the frosty, cold expressionless face that Amber knew so well.
“Let’s go, Milady.”
He kept his promise to speak respectfully in front of others.
The knights and Grace, hearing Calix speak courteously to Amber, were so shocked their mouths fell open.
Though no one dared make a sound, they all clamped their mouths shut and rolled their eyes.
Among them, Grace’s expression was the most entertaining to watch.
Amber almost burst out laughing seeing Grace’s hollow cheeks and eyes wide enough to pop out.
It wasn’t a bad feeling.
It seemed she had more or less successfully fastened the first button to avoid repeating her miserable marriage life.
“Yes, let’s go.”
Leaving the dumbstruck knights and Grace behind, Amber returned to the castle with Calix.
—
* * *
—
A kitchen servant came to announce that breakfast was ready, but Amber did not go down to eat.
“Please go and eat, Your Grace.”
She said this to Calix, who was standing firmly at the door, not taking a single step into the bridal chamber.
“But Milady should also…”
“I can’t go down to the dining room wearing a wedding dress that’s both dirty with mud and cumbersome.”
“Ah.”
Calix nodded with a convinced expression.
To others, it would have looked like the same blank expression, but Amber, who had lived with him for ten years, could notice his subtle change.
“Then I will go ahead.”
Calix seemed to think that Amber would tidy up her wedding dress and follow later. But Amber had no intention of going to eat.
She had urgent things to do.
After confirming Calix had disappeared, Amber hurriedly entered the room and began taking off her wedding dress.
It would have been easier to ask a maid for help, but the castle was filled with Bella’s people, so she couldn’t just call anyone.
After struggling for a while, Amber finally managed to take off the dress.
She tossed the crumpled, ruined dress into a corner of the room, changed into comfortable clothes, and tiptoed silently outside.
Contrary to her expectations, there was no one outside.
Normally, Bella’s people would have been watching, but thanks to Calix’s unexpected cancellation of the campaign, all their attention must have been focused on that.
*’This is a golden opportunity that won’t come again.’*
Amber swallowed hard and quickly walked out of the hallway. Her mind was filled with one thought.
*’I need to find Xenia as soon as possible!’*
