LMHM 10

 Chapter 10

He knew he couldn’t delay any longer for the meeting, but he simply couldn’t move.

He forced himself to step forward and place his hand on the doorknob, but ultimately, Calix stopped moving altogether.

Because his mind was far too complicated.

<There’s no way I could ask you for something, Duke.>

From the moment he heard Amber say those words, Calix’s heart had been in turmoil, like a haystack someone had stirred up.

‘Am I really that untrustworthy?’

Calix gripped the doorknob, and the polished wooden handle let out a pitiful creak as it began to warp.

Realizing he had damaged the castle’s property, Calix quickly let go.

As he blankly stared at the ruined doorknob, Amber’s face surfaced vividly in his mind.

When he had seen his wife standing tall in the dawn mist, wearing her wedding dress with its soiled hem, calling out to him, how surprised he had been.

He swore he hadn’t been more startled even when he faced a giant monster on his first campaign at fifteen, following Zait.

‘I thought my heart would drop out.’

Calix placed his hand on his left chest to check if his heart was still properly attached.

Fortunately, he could feel a pulse against his palm. His heart was in its proper place.

<There’s no way I could ask you for something, Duke.>

But the moment he recalled Amber’s cold words, his rapidly beating heart immediately slowed down.

Come to think of it, his wife had been cold from their very first meeting. Even when they spoke in the barracks, she had only stated her minimal requirements, as if she expected nothing from Calix.

He deeply regretted having abruptly canceled the campaign.

‘Should I have gone after all?’

Strength entered Calix’s hand once more.

‘Because I haven’t yet achieved any great feats in battle…… she can’t trust me.’

Calix dropped his head low.

When he first heard that the second daughter of the Viscount Riat household from the West would become his wife, Calix thought the Emperor was lying.

And for good reason……

‘No matter the Emperor’s schemes, there’s no way that person could become my wife.’

Calix truly thought so.

He recalled Amber, whom he had glimpsed briefly in the capital a few years ago, as he looked at the Emperor’s decree.

Amber, adorned from head to toe with beautiful jewels and fragrant fresh flowers, holding her father’s hand and laughing brightly.

At that time, Calix had come to the capital to request the Emperor provide relief supplies to the East, which had been devastated by a monster wave.

It was relief in name only; in reality, it was begging.

Because the Emperor despised the East, envoys had to bow down abjectly to obtain relief supplies.

The Emperor’s hatred, bordering on loathing, for the East had deep roots.

The land of the East had originally been fertile.

The House of Talesto had possessed a vast, seemingly endless granary and vineyards since ancient times.

And the great swordsmanship talent passed down through the House of Talesto had created endless followers.

<Because of that, we became a threat to the imperial authority.>

<But the people of the East have no interest in the throne.>

<Sometimes, some people feel threatened simply by the fact that others possess power.>

Calix still vividly remembered the bitter words spoken by Zait, who had taught him history.

The Imperial family, which regarded the East as a thorn in their eye, refused to provide support even after the East suffered a monster wave and became a barren wasteland.

It seemed they feared that if they gave even a little support to the East, the House of Talesto might regain its former power, Sir Zait had said.

In the end, the East had to endure, receiving only enough support to avoid annihilation each year.

And of course, to obtain that paltry support, they had to bow their heads humiliatingly to the Imperial family.

The nobles of the capital who witnessed this treated the Eastern envoys like beggars.

That day, his audience with the Emperor had been denied, and he was chased out of the palace.

As he left the palace, feeling helpless, he heard a clear laugh from the garden.

Turning his head, he saw a beautiful, brightly smiling girl with soft, curly hair.

Calix thought her slightly reddish-brown curly hair was like a warm ember.

<She’s the second young lady of the rising noble Viscount Riat’s family.>

That girl was Amber. Amber wore a brooch with jewels that could have covered three months’ worth of budget for the Duchy of Talesto.

‘So there are people who live like that.’

He thought she was from a completely different world.

One he would never encounter, and his connection with her would end with that single, fleeting glimpse.

And yet, she was to become his wife.

After the surprise came bewilderment.

‘How am I supposed to feed her?’

Calix had nothing.

Though he had received the dukedom from his father after the engagement documents were exchanged, there was no one in the Empire who didn’t know it was a title in name only.

The current drought and financial crisis in the East were even more severe than the year he had gone to plead with the Emperor for relief supplies.

‘With my own power, I couldn’t even buy a single piece of lace for her to wear.’

As soon as he heard that Amber had left the West, a powerful urge to run away raised its head in Calix’s heart.

In the end, he impulsively decided to go on a campaign.

Seeing Amber step down from the carriage only strengthened his resolve to go.

The girl who had smiled brightly in the beautiful, shaded garden now had unhappy eyes filled with anxiety and fear.

But nonetheless, she remained dignified. Her hands gripping her dress trembled, but she was perfectly elegant, and her skin was as white and delicate as if it had never been exposed to the harsh winds.

And her reddish-brown hair, like an ember, was still lustrous.

She was utterly unsuited to the desolate East.

Calix simply could not handle his beautiful, precious wife.

He had no confidence that he could.

Suddenly, all the items he had prepared for the marriage felt shameful. If she were to be disappointed by his paltry possessions, Calix would be so miserable he would want to die.

‘She has her dowry, so she’ll be able to live well without me for the few months I’m away subduing monsters.’

He had no time to think of himself as a coward.

‘And if I dig out monster cores during this subjugation and sell them to the Magic Tower…… I could probably earn at least a year’s worth of living expenses for her.’

Monster cores were very difficult to obtain and expensive to process, so they were not a widely usable resource. They had no use outside of research, and their distribution channels were limited.

But the mages of the Magic Tower likely possessed many precious gems they would be willing to trade for cores.

So, when he heard that Bella had taken all of his wife’s dowry, Calix felt the heavens fall.

Even though he knew he should respect Bella, his father’s new wife, his face naturally hardened. Despite his father’s request, he even roughly pushed Bella aside in front of others.

‘I shouldn’t have interfered after all.’

But Calix quickly regretted it.

Seeing Amber looking at him with a flustered face, it suddenly occurred to him that she would not welcome his intervention.

Calix had learned from a young age that women disliked their husbands interfering in household matters.

But Calix couldn’t back down.

He hated the thought of Amber discovering the harsh reality of the East more than being humiliated in front of his subordinates or disobeying his father’s request.

In the end, he stood stiffly, maintaining an unnatural silence, and led Amber out of the laundry room.

He had said he wanted to talk to her, but once they were alone in the small room, Calix’s mind went blank.

There was much he wanted to ask about—the dowry, the fight with Bella—but no words came out.

His wife merely stared at him with those orange eyes, their depths unreadable.

In the end, instead of what he wanted to say, Calix blurted out something completely irrelevant.

Unsurprisingly, Amber’s eyes grew colder and colder.

<There’s no way I could ask you for something, Duke.>

Once more, Amber’s sharp remark pierced Calix’s heart. He staggered, as if attacked by a monster.

‘I hate everything about myself…….’

Just as Calix was feeling self-loathing.

“Duke, it’s Denis.”

Along with a knock, Denis’s voice was heard.

The moment he heard another person’s voice, Calix straightened his slightly disheveled appearance and wiped all expression from his face.

His demeanor changed completely in an instant.

“Come in.”

Denis opened the door and entered. As always, he saw Calix staring into space with an expressionless face.

‘That man truly remains unshaken by anything.’

Not knowing what turmoil Calix had been going through while alone, Denis thought this.

“How is the maid? Did you give her a separate room as I ordered?”

Calix asked in a smooth, uninterrupted tone.

Ironically, in front of Denis, the words he wanted to say came out easily.

“Yes, I’ve administered first aid for now. And we’re waiting for the physician, but the Duchess has arrived. She said she would care for the maid, so I came out.”

“Good.”

A moment of silence followed.

“Shall I assemble the knights then?”

Denis watched Calix’s mood and spoke with difficulty.

“The knights?”

“We need to have the campaign meeting.”

“Ah, right. We need to have the meeting.”

“My liege?”

“I’ll be there soon. Summon Sir Zait and prepare the meeting.”

Denis bowed his head in greeting and turned to leave.

As he naturally grasped the doorknob to pull it open, Denis flinched.

The doorknob was disastrously warped.

—

At that same time, Amber was with Xenia.

The castle’s resident physician was applying ointment to Xenia.

The ointment, made from blue leaves growing on the mountainside, had powerful analgesic and sedative effects, and Xenia’s complexion soon improved.

Amber helped the physician with all her heart while he treated Xenia.

Even while groggy from the medicine’s effects, Xenia was flustered seeing Amber exert herself for her.

“For a noble person like you to go to such trouble for a lowly maid like me…….”

But every time Xenia expressed her overwhelm, Amber shook her head.

“You saved me. If you hadn’t stepped in then, I would be the one lying in that bed receiving treatment right now. So how could I not be grateful?”

“Still……!”

“Unless you want to make me out to be an ungrateful and shameless person, please accept my goodwill with a light heart.”

When Amber put it that way, Xenia could no longer refuse.

The physician finished his treatment, watching with surprised eyes as the new Duchess attentively cared for a laundry maid.

“If she rests well for a day, there will be no problem with her work starting tomorrow.”

After the physician finished his treatment and left the room, only Xenia and Amber remained in the separate room that Calix had provided.