Chapter 1 - Prologue
***
Lesche expected Seria to be surprised when she saw him arrive earlier than expected. Other than that, he couldn’t really predict her reaction, so he thought it would be nice if she smiled even after being a little surprised.
He had never imagined her crying like this. He never wanted to, but when he saw those bright blue eyes with falling tears, he felt like he was hit on the head. Her neck shook violently while she struggled to breathe as if someone had grabbed her heart and tightened it. Lesche buried Seria’s head in his chest and looked up.
Cassius, whose body was visibly stiffening, came into view.
“Lord Kellyden.”
Lesche stared coldly at him.
“Can you bring all the knights of Berg staying in this castle?”
“…”
Cassius didn’t answer right away, but it didn’t matter. Lesche quickly turned around and left the banquet hall with Seria in his arms.
Many of the castles in the Glick Empire had the same style of banquet halls, even if their interior structures were different. Lesche stepped past a hallway lined with guest rooms and went further inside. There was a quiet room for only family members. The servant, who had been following him frantically, naturally could do nothing to stop him. Entering the large, beautifully decorated lounge, Lesche ordered.
“Close the door and leave.”
“Yes, yes. Your Highness.”
The Kellyden’s servant hurriedly escaped without asking back.
Click.
At the sound of the door closing, Seria, whose head was buried in Lesche’s chest the whole time, raised up. She looked puzzled for a moment, as if she was surprised to see herself in a lounge.
Seria’s face came into Lesche’s eyes. Her cheeks and eyelashes were wet with tears. Lesche carefully placed Seria down on a long, soft chair.
“Seria.”
Taking the handkerchief from his pocket and handing it to Seria, Lesche knelt down in front of her.
He stared at Seria as she wiped her cheeks gingerly with the handkerchief, then lowered his gaze. Seria’s ankles were showing.
From her ankles to feet. His gaze moves slowly. As he did, Lesche couldn’t help but chuckle when he saw the shoes she was wearing.
“… Why are you laughing while looking at my feet?”
Seria asked with red, swollen eyes. Lesche answered honestly.
“I can see that you were trying to poke your dancing partner’s feet with your shoes.”
“…”
Clearing her throat, Seria stealthily shifted her feet to the inside of the chair, trying to hide the pointy heels of her shoes. Lesche grabbed her ankle, which was slightly moving. Looking at Seria, whose eyes were widened, Lesche opened his mouth.
“What did they do to you?”
“..They?”
“Yes.”
“Who are you referring to?”
“Kellyden’s first son, Marquis Haneton. Which one of them…”
Lesche, who asked, roughly shook his head. He wondered why he was asking this. In fact, it was a question without reason.
Seria was indeed hardened like a stone in front of Cassius Kellyden. It was a fact that everyone could see unless he was blind.
Despite this fact, he knew exactly why he mentioned Kalis. It was because half of the emotions in his heart overflowed.
“Seria.”
Lesche stared at Seria. His gaze locked with the round eyes beneath her tear-stained lashes.
“If I had known the Marquis of Haneton was coming here, I would not have let you go.”
At his serious words, Seria smiled with wet eyes.
“Still, thanks to you, I’ve inherited a good legacy.”
“There are plenty of people in Berg who will come here on your behalf.”
“No matter who came, if it weren’t me, they wouldn’t hold the legacy gifting ceremony. They were determined to see me in person.”
“If I had known they wanted to see your face so badly, I would have summoned the entire Kellyden family to Berg.”
Seria blinked.
“I’m tired of serving that many guests.”
“I’ll do it, you don’t have to.”
“You?”
Seria eventually burst into laughter. She seemed to have heard it as a joke, but Lesche was quite serious. Truly, sincerely, he would prefer to call the entire Kellyden family Berg. However, Seria looked significantly better than before, so it wasn’t bad.
“By the way, Lesche. Why did you come so early?”
“Somehow the schedule changed a bit.”
“It seems that Linon miscalculated the schedule.”
Lesche chuckled.
“No, he’s done his calculations correctly.”
“I see.”
“You should consider for a moment the feelings of a husband who has to wait for his wife.”
“Lesche… Did you think I’ll go on a continental tour?”
(*Seria meant was she only gone for a few days, but the way Lesche said it sounded like she was going on a long tour (the whole continent lol)
Lesche laughed without replying. His fingers dug between Seria’s fingers as she held the handkerchief. He could see Seria’s eyes went wide, but it didn’t matter. He could feel her hand flinching in his hand.
“Seria.”
Seria tilted her head.
“Since you’ve come all the way here, why don’t you let your husband pamper you?”
“You? How?”
“What shall I do? Shall I make it into a carcass of Kellyden’s first child and throw it away?”
Blinking, Seria asked in a voice that she was slightly tempting.
“Can you secretly make it with the remains?”
“If you want to, yes.”
“What if you get caught? This is Kellyden’s territory, it’ll be difficult.”
Seria’s concern was reasonable. The problem was that Lesche wasn’t really considering it.
“We can play a territorial game, that’s it.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
Seria blinked. She wasn’t quiet sure Lesche was joking or serious. But Lesche was thoroughly serious. His wife trembled in the middle of a banquet hall, and he didn’t even know why. He had already noticed that Celia was subtly avoiding talking about Cassius. He was afraid Seria would freeze up again if he asked.
But now seeing Seria was feeling better, Lesche had to ask.
He couldn’t just sit there and do nothing. He wanted to know. What the hell did he (Cassius) talk to his wife, who had grabbed Linon and wouldn’t let go even in the face of the demon, be so frozen that she couldn’t even speak? Thinking of that moment again, Lesche clenched his fist and his hand tightened.
“Seria, what did Cassius Kellyden do to you?”
“…”
“Is it difficult to say?”
“…Very. It’s because it happened a long time ago. It’s a little hard to say.”
“You know about the Laurel Manor. It’s only fair that you tell me as well.”
Seria was silent for a while.
“Lesche…um…This isn’t as big a story as the secrets surrounding the manor.”
“It’s big for me.”
“It’s a story when I was really young.”
“It doesn’t matter, Seria. I hope you can trust your husband.”
“…”
Seria was silent for a moment, then let go of Lesche’s hand. She stroked her face as if she was exhausted.
“I didn’t remember, but recently I found out that Cassius tried to drown me by pushing my face into a winter lake. Since I was an illegitimate child, he wanted to erase the stain of the Kellyden….Lesche?”
Seria rushed to her feet in a panic. It was because Lesche stood up and walked away.
“Where are you going?”
“I made a mistake. I should have break his neck at the banquet hall.”
“What? Neck? Cassius’s neck?”
*Lesche’s pov*
‘I should have killed him when we met earlier. I felt like I would only feel better if I used every single limb of his body as a sacrifice. That insane b*st*rd who tried to kill Seria, but shamelessly grabbed her shoulder and shook her to her senses. How dare you do that to my wife?’
His stomach churned.
Fumbling through his clothes, Lesche checked the gloves he kept in his pocket. And they were black. It didn’t matter that there would be more swords here than he could count.
Seria hastily grabbed his wrist as he was about to walked out of the lounge. Lesche paused.
“Don’t kill him.”
“He has to die.”
“Yes, but dying comfortably is too easy for him.”
Seria seemed to misunderstand him. She thought Lesche would finish the opponent with a single blow like when he dealed with the demons.
But they were demons. They had to be choked out quickly, so he just killed them in the way that best suited the situation.
But Cassius Kellyden… that b*st*rd…
There was no way he(Lesche) would take it easy on him (Cassius).
Rather, he would kill him by tormenting him so much that he would have asked to be killed, but Lesche didn’t dare bring it up. To him, it wasn’t even considered a job to take Cassius’ head off. He could inflict pain as Seria wished. But if he insisted, he thought Seria would not like it.
He couldn’t inconvenience his wife’s mind by trying to make himself feel better. Lesche ruffled his hair roughly with one hand. He decided not to kill Cassius, and thought it would be easier to declare a war on the Kellyden today instead.
“I’ll allow a duel, Seria.”
“It’s okay. I’m sure you intend to keep him alive.”
“The Grand Duchess asks me not to kill him, so I will have to obey.”
Seria chuckled. Seeing her smile with her red, swollen eyes made Lesche feel distinctly better. Earlier, if he was wearing a sword, he would have chopped Cassius up.
“Lesche.”
“Yes?”
“You know, there won’t be any good bedrooms left because all the western aristocrats are here. Of course, the old butler will somehow empty the best bedroom and recommend it, but just say you don’t like it and come to my bedroom.”
“… To your bedroom? No…yes.”
If the Grand Duke of Berg gave the impression that he wasn’t treated well and came to Seria’s bedroom. It was easy to guess how upset and scared the hostess would be.
He could understand why Seria asked him to come to her bedroom with such an intention.
“It’s exciting to see Cassius trembling.”
Seria was just enjoying herself, not realizing how dangerous her suggestion sounded. Sighing, Lesche told Seria as the thought of the duel filled her mind.
“You are not going to attend.”
“Huh? What?”
“To be honest, I don’t think it’s going to look good.”
Seria blinked, and surprisingly meekly agreed.
“I understand. You’ve been very considerate of me, so I’ll do the same.”
She was particularly willing to listened to him, so Lesche sighed softly. ‘Why are you doing this?’ He couldn’t quite guess whether the content was good to listen to or if Seria’s voice was good to hear.
“Why sighed?”
Lesche did not answer. He just stared at Seria and reached out to her cheek.
****
*The way Lesche used the words “your husband”, “my wife” so naturally makes me scream lol.