TMGDW 03

Chapter 03

“……If it’s alright with you, may we have dinner together this evening?”

Calix didn’t even look at her as he answered.

“Sure.”

A smile as lovely as a spring flower bloomed on Selena’s face upon hearing his affirmative reply.

Only after Selena had said goodbye with a promise to see him at dinner and had completely turned her back did Calix properly look at her retreating figure.

Her thick golden hair sparkled especially brightly in the morning sunlight.

Jerome, his adjutant who had been watching Selena leave alongside him, spoke to Calix.

“That’s a first, Commander—a woman who looks at your face for more than three seconds.”

“So.”

“Pardon?”

“It doesn’t matter anyway. After all…….”

A woman bought with money.

Neither more nor less than that.

In the first place, Calix hadn’t taken a wife to produce an heir.

It was to show off to the Imperial bastards.

—

Born between the lustful Emperor and a princess taken as a hostage from another country, Calix had never been happy for a single moment since birth.

A father who had no interest in him, a mother who loathed him, and half-brothers who looked down on and disrespected him.

*”Look at his hair. As gloomy as he is, it’s an ominous black.”*

*”To think I share a father with that kind of brat.”*

*”Who knows. Maybe his mother secretly got involved with someone else and gave birth to him.”*

*”He’s nothing but a complete mongrel.”*

Though they were royalty living in a splendid imperial palace decorated with all sorts of jewels and gold, if you looked closely, they reeked of decay.

That wasn’t all. Calix had tenaciously survived on the battlefields the Imperial Court sent him to, as if wishing for his death.

Because if he didn’t kill, he would be killed.

With the sole determination to live, he crossed mountains of corpses and stained his hands with countless blood.

His merits were recognized, and a few years later he was granted the title of Archduke, but Calix’s heart remained empty.

The reason most people blushed and couldn’t speak in front of him was because of Calix’s uniquely cold demeanor and impassive expression.

Yet whenever he appeared at banquets, everyone would light up and desperately try to curry favor with him.

Women would shove their voluptuous chests forward as they approached, and men would rub their hands together like flies to please him.

With his striking appearance, outstanding swordsmanship, and even the title of Archduke.

But to Calix, it was absurd.

*’They call me War Demon and Murderer behind my back, yet here they are. Ridiculous.’*

Calix hated humans. No, he distrusted and despised them.

He was utterly sick of two-faced people. The battlefield, where he could just swing his sword without thinking, was better than a banquet hall.

He wished people would actually be afraid of him. Then they wouldn’t bother him.

Then one day, his “sword” spoke to him.

—Shall I make others truly fear you, as you wish?

The magic sword he had acquired on the battlefield saw right through Calix’s true feelings.

Calix had never taken the sword’s words seriously, but this time he couldn’t just let it pass.

—You’ve fought in all those wars, yet it doesn’t make sense that your face has no scars. If your appearance were truly like a “monster,” people would stop bothering you.

The magic sword giggled.

It was a proposal that didn’t sound bad to Calix.

After deliberation, he decided to accept the magic sword’s offer.

—

He had always been frightening, but today Calix’s gaze was especially sharp.

The knights kept glancing at him as they swung their swords.

They were all dying of curiosity. They wanted to ask who that lovely woman was from earlier.

It seemed she was his wife from the way they spoke, but what was with that colder-than-a-stranger attitude?

*’His wife is truly pitiful.’*

Though they didn’t voice it out of fear of being hit by Calix, all the knights felt sorry for Selena.

Calix’s gaze, which had been glaring at the knights, slowly shifted to Jerome.

“Jerome.”

“Yes, Commander.”

“Go find out. What that woman is doing and wandering about inside.”

“Understood.”

It was only natural that Calix didn’t trust his newly taken wife, since he didn’t even fully trust his own adjutant, Jerome.

Jerome followed his commander’s orders without a word.

*”I came here because I wanted to meet your eyes once more and talk with you.”*

Calix sneered as he recalled Selena’s words from earlier.

Most people who saw him for the first time either couldn’t meet his eyes properly or couldn’t hide their contempt.

They looked at him, who had made a pact with the magic sword, as if he were a monster.

But that woman was different.

She met his gaze as naturally as if it were nothing, almost to the point of being burdensome.

*”……If it’s alright with you, may we have dinner together this evening?”*

She had even suggested they eat together.

Calix’s eyes grew even sharper than before.

*’She’s trying to lower my guard somehow, but not a chance.’*

Even her near stumble last night when she couldn’t see in the dark and nearly tripped on her hem—that could have all been calculated.

In truth, it didn’t matter to Calix who his wife was. She was merely a wife for show—he had no intention of producing an heir or consummating the marriage.

That was why he hadn’t even felt the need to hold a wedding ceremony and had simply ordered his wife to be brought straight to the bedroom.

Calix thought:

*’Rather than handing over what I have to those Imperial bastards, it’s better to marry a complete stranger and leave it to her.’*

Regardless of the monster rumors, the wealth and power Calix had accumulated over the years was more than enough to threaten the Imperial Court.

Of course, he had absolutely no intention of actually giving it to Selena.

*’Seeing her act so composed even after seeing me like this, I can’t rule out the possibility that she’s a spy trying to sell my information to the Imperial Court.’*

Though he had stipulated that his wife must have no connection to the Imperial Court, whether she truly had any ties would become clear in time.

*’A dinner, fine. I’ll gladly eat with her.’*

Calix’s eyes gleamed darkly.

The knights watching him exchanged glances and shook their heads.

Having received the commander’s orders, Jerome concealed his presence so that Selena wouldn’t notice and observed what she was doing.

Walking down the long, straight corridor, Selena suddenly stopped and said to her maid:

“Is there, by any chance, a garden?”

“Yes. If you go to the end of the first-floor corridor, there is a greenhouse garden filled with various rare flowers inside.”

“Let’s go there.”

The maid guided Selena.

When they reached the end of the corridor, there was indeed a garden as the maid had said.

The garden appeared to have been neglected for a long time.

There seemed to be no gardener, as thickets grew wildly among the large and small trees, and the strong scent of grass filled the garden stung the nose.

The maid seemed flustered, having only known of the garden’s existence but never having seen it herself.

However, to Selena, who had lived practically confined within the Viscount’s household, even this neglected garden looked beautiful.

“Thank you for guiding me. Would you give me the lunch box?”

Selena took the lunch box from the maid and added:

“You don’t need to follow me from now on. You may rest.”

“B-But…….”

“It’s alright. I’ll behave myself.”

The woman before her was the Archduchess. Unlike the fearsome Archduke, she was a great beauty exuding an air of tender sorrow.

Unable to refuse the Archduchess’s command, the maid reluctantly nodded and left.

Selena held the lunch box and began to explore the garden. Her dazzling golden hair, as if molten gold, swayed restlessly with each step.

Jerome, watching from a distance, pressed himself tightly behind a tree and moved.

Perhaps because he moved too hastily.

In that moment, Jerome uncharacteristically made the mistake of stepping on dry leaves at the base of a tree.

“Ah.”

Startled by the rustling sound, Selena spun around. With her eyes wide and body curled inward, she looked like a frightened rabbit.

Jerome quickly hid behind a nearby tree. But Selena had already set down her lunch box and was approaching his direction.

He felt her stop just a short distance away.

Jerome considered hiding behind another tree.

But suddenly, Selena bent her body downward, not caring that her dress might get dirty.

“Oh my…….”

*’What is it?’*

While Jerome stood frozen, a squirrel from among the small bushes leaped into her arms.

Selena smiled radiantly at the squirrel.

“Hello there, little squirrel?”

As it turned out, she had spotted a squirrel in the garden and approached it.

Jerome felt a little sheepish.

*’But why is there a squirrel in the garden?’*

Jerome knew that Calix occasionally visited the garden.

Since Calix was about forty-five times more sensitive than the average person, there was no way he wouldn’t know that squirrels inhabited the garden.

The plump squirrel seemed to like Selena, rolling onto its back and acting cute like a puppy.

*’Why is there a squirrel here of all places? Does someone feed it?’*

Since the Commander trained them so intensely, the knights would use any excuse to feign injury and slack off whenever they got the chance.

Having been busy distinguishing between those truly injured and those faking, Jerome hadn’t considered that someone might be traversing this vast garden.

And Jerome knew that the Commander would dismiss existing castle employees whenever he returned from the battlefield.

On the grounds that employees might have become Imperial informants while he was away.

*’Did he make an exception and keep the gardener?’*

But this assumption didn’t make sense either.

For a gardener to have fed them, the garden would have shown signs of more regular human care, but it appeared long neglected.

*’Not a gardener then. Then who’s been secretly bringing animals into the garden? Could the Commander himself be raising them……?’*

The thought of the Commander stroking a squirrel with that face.

Just imagining it sent shivers down his spine.

Of course, the Commander he knew would never do such a thing.

“Oh my, you have a friend too?”

At Selena’s words, brimming with delight, Jerome shook off his thoughts and continued watching her.

The single squirrel had somehow multiplied into two.

Not only that, a white rabbit that had been hiding in the nearby bushes crept closer, twitching its nose.

“Are you hungry?”

Selena spoke to the animals as if they were children, even though they couldn’t possibly understand her.

“Oh dear. This isn’t my house, so I can’t give you food as I please. I’d like to share my meal with you, but I can’t have you getting sick from eating it.”

The brightness on Selena’s face dimmed slightly.

As she drooped her shoulders with a sullen expression, the small animals nuzzled against her body as if to comfort her.

“I’ll ask the Archduke during dinner tonight. If I may give you food or not.”

Jerome wondered if she truly meant those words.

There was no way the Commander, who was repulsed even by humans, would like such small animals.

What kind of person was Calix? Even his own black horse, which he always rode, was entrusted to Jerome’s care.

Jerome pressed his hand to his forehead.

Then, the words that next escaped Selena’s lips made Jerome’s teal eyes widen.

“The Archduke…… seems like a good person.”

“…….”

Somehow, he felt like he’d heard something he shouldn’t have.