TMGDW 09

Chapter 09

Calix lay awake, listening to Selena’s quiet voice.

He had no idea what she was thanking him for.

*’She doesn’t even know that I suggested sharing a room because I was suspicious of her.’*

Before long, he heard her soft, rhythmic breathing.

Calix turned over and looked down at his sleeping wife.

Her long, downward-swept eyelashes, her straight nose bridge, her tightly closed lips.

He covered his sleeping wife with the blanket and rose from his position. Concealing his presence was easy for Calix, who moved through battlefields as if in and out of his own home.

Calix carefully examined Selena’s belongings.

Her possessions were even more shabby than he had imagined. For someone who was, after all, the Archduchess, all she had were a few articles of clothing.

Just in case, he thoroughly checked inside the clothes as well, but nothing came to light, making his suspicions seem unfounded.

Had he been needlessly suspicious?

But then Calix immediately shook his head.

*’There’s still time before the campaign.’*

The Archduke’s castle was large, so his wife could have hidden something somewhere. No one is completely clean.

Calix trusted no one. The only one he trusted was himself.

*”Weren’t you going to take me?”*

Recalling his wife’s words, Calix’s brow furrowed once more.

She was far too suspicious.

He had wanted to ask how she could say such a thing even after seeing his hideous appearance, but in the end, Calix had no choice but to remain silent.

When his wife had undressed without hesitation, he had felt a churning sensation in his gut.

Calix was not the type of person who expected his wife to be chaste. Even if she had slept with another man before coming to him, he thought that was just how things were.

Because he had taken a wife but had no intention of consummating the marriage.

What had lowered Calix’s mood was, above all else, his wife’s face that he had glimpsed for a moment in the darkness.

A face steeped in helplessness and resignation.

Her actions, as if learned over a long period, and that expression—for some reason, they had lodged in his mind and refused to leave.

*”Selena is a daughter I cherish dearly. My heart feels as if it’s tearing apart, sending my beloved daughter away. If it weren’t for the family’s debts, I would never have sent her like this.”*

The Viscount had certainly said that. He had called her a cherished and beloved daughter.

Whether those words were true or not, Calix didn’t care. He had merely needed a nominal wife to keep the Imperial Court in check, those who coveted what he had built.

A wife who had been sold to him because of debts, yet didn’t resent him. A wife who smiled brilliantly even at him, called the Monster Archduke.

And…… a wife who pulled down her own chemise with her own hands.

*”Thank you, Calix.”*

What on earth was she thankful for?

He had suggested sharing a room with the intention of killing her on the spot if she made any wrong move.

Calix muttered a curse under his breath.

“Damn…….”

Foolish.

This was why he hated the weak.

Small animals follow entirely those who feed them. That makes him uncomfortable.

Because animals once tamed by human hands often mistakenly believe that others will also feed them.

*”Sorry. I accidentally killed that rabbit you were raising.”*

Axion von Julius.

The only legitimate heir born between the Emperor and Empress.

The one who had driven Calix to the battlefield.

He had wiped the blood of Calix’s beloved rabbit on his sword and grinned.

*”Your rabbit was quite amusing. The way it came running up to me without even realizing I was holding a sword.”*

Axion smiled with satisfaction as he watched Calix’s face turn pale. Then he tossed the bloodied rabbit carcass at his feet.

In the dead rabbit’s red eyes, Calix’s own reflection was clearly visible.

Calix realized something at that moment.

He must not have anything precious to him.

Even if he did, showing it to others would only make it his weakness.

His wife resembled that rabbit from his childhood. Weak, so weak—a rabbit that didn’t even have the strength to protect itself.

Foolish.

So foolish it was pitiful.

That foolish and pitiful woman seemed as though she wouldn’t offer even the slightest resistance if he put strength into her slender neck.

He had intended to keep her close for surveillance, but instead, she was beginning to occupy his thoughts.

After gazing at the sleeping Selena for a long while, Calix closed his eyes.

*’I’ve been having too many useless thoughts lately.’*

At this point, the most pitiful one was Calix himself.

*’If she becomes a hindrance, I can just get rid of her. That’s all there is to it.’*

He was needlessly sensitive because the campaign was drawing near.

If his wife died, he could take another. So this suffocating feeling meant nothing.

Selena always dreamed of her childhood.

*”Don’t forget. You are a flower. Among all the many flowers, you are the one that drives men crazy with desire. But remember—once your beauty fades, men will fly away to other fresh flowers.”*

*”I’m not a flower. I’m a person.”*

Selena had said.

But the Viscountess had mocked her.

*”Your mother is proof of that. You are the lowly child born from my husband’s lust for a maid, do you understand?”*

You are a flower, too.

A flower that will one day wither and be discarded.

The words the Viscountess had spoken still clawed viciously at Selena’s heart.

Even months after leaving the Viscount’s household, the people there continued to appear in Selena’s dreams and torment her.

But today, her first night sharing a room with her husband, Selena did not have a nightmare for the first time.

Bright sunlight pierced her eyes.

When she opened her eyes, her sleeping husband’s face came into her view.

Selena gazed endlessly at Calix’s face.

The long scar running from his forehead down to his left cheek, and even sleeping with a black eyepatch—still, Selena’s heart pounded fiercely.

She found it curious that her husband never removed his eyepatch even while sleeping.

Wouldn’t it be uncomfortable?

Selena cautiously reached her hand toward his eyepatch.

It was right then that Calix opened his eyes.

Just before Selena’s hand could touch his face, he grasped her wrist with strong force.

“What are you doing?”

Calix asked in a chilly voice. His eyes were filled with hostility.

Selena only then realized that her husband had been awake all along.

“……Let’s have breakfast separately this morning.”

With those words, Calix rose from his place. He changed into a light tunic and left the room without looking back.

In the room left alone, Selena traced the spot where her husband had been lying with her fingertips.

In the place he had vanished from, only a cold chill remained.

—

* * *

“Huff, huff…… C-Commander, I-I can’t…… anymore…….”

Cain, the youngest of the knight order, shook his head with a tear-streaked face.

But Calix showed him no leniency.

“Stay still.”

“Agh, no! I can’t put any strength into my body!”

“What do you mean you can’t. If you have the strength to talk, you can do more.”

“Ah, no! Huff! Aaaagh!”

*Crack.*

A bone-popping sound was heard, and a shriek echoed high above the training ground.

Cain clutched his arm and grimaced.

“Stop exaggerating. The inside of your arm was tense, so I released it.”

“C-Commander…….”

“Stop your useless whining and pick up your sword again.”

Calix picked up the sword Cain had dropped and placed it in his hand.

Cain squeezed his eyes shut, raised his arm, and gripped the sword.

“Oh, oh?”

It didn’t hurt. Just moments ago, it had hurt so much he thought he’d die.

“Swing it.”

At the Commander’s order, Cain hesitantly swung the sword.

Light.

Cain’s eyes widened as he swung the sword once more.

“I-It’s light! Much lighter than before…….”

“Good.”

“Thank you, Commander! How can I ever repay you…….”

“Just make it back alive.”

Calix averted his gaze from Cain and looked around the training ground.

The other knights, accustomed to Calix’s methods, were drenched in sweat but didn’t let go of their swords.

With this level of swordsmanship, there was no way they would lose to the barbarians beyond the border—even if the sky split in two.

But for some reason, he had a bad feeling.

*’What is this? Am I just imagining it?’*

“Commander, is something wrong?”

Jerome asked Calix, who wore a serious expression.

“No.”

“You looked troubled, so I thought something had happened.”

Calix pressed his lips firmly shut and stared at one spot.

Jerome followed Calix’s gaze. At the end of his line of sight was the corner of the training ground where Selena usually peeked in.

Jerome, who had been closest to Selena for three months, knew well.

Her daily routine began with feeding the rabbits and squirrels in the garden, and she always came to this training ground, barely touching her own breakfast.

But it was already nearing lunchtime, and Selena hadn’t come.

It was the first time this had happened.