TMGDW 10

Chapter 10

“……Did you two have a fight?”

Calix’s sharp gaze turned toward Jerome.

“Why would you be curious about that?”

“The person who always comes didn’t come today, so I thought it was strange.”

At those words, Calix ran his hand through his hair somewhat irritably.

“It’s a matter between husband and wife. None of your business.”

Calix was right. But Jerome couldn’t stop worrying about Selena.

After all, she was the one who had quietly watched Calix from an inconspicuous corner of the training ground, careful not to be a distraction.

“If you have the energy to worry about my wife, focus on the campaign in two days.”

Calix tapped Jerome’s chest with his fist and walked into the castle.

Yet Jerome’s gaze remained not on Calix’s retreating figure, but on the spot where Selena always stood.

Just then, a knight who had confirmed Calix had left approached Jerome.

“Vice-Commander, I have something to tell you.”

“What is it?”

“Well…….”

The knight hesitated to answer.

Seeing his face, torn over whether to speak, Jerome crossed his arms.

“It seems it’s something you can’t tell the Commander, is it?”

The knight’s eyes widened like saucers.

“How did you know?”

“It’s obvious, since you brought it up as soon as the Commander left.”

Hearing Jerome’s answer, the knight nodded, saying “I see.”

But the knight continued to hesitate.

“Hurry up and tell me. If I don’t get you all in line, I’m the one who’ll get scolded by the Commander.”

“W-Well, you see……. It’s…….”

“You’re so frustrating. You’re not stalling just because you don’t want to train, are you?”

“Of course not!”

The knight shook his head vigorously.

Jerome clicked his tongue and gulped down some water.

As he drank, he glanced around—more than half the knights were pretending to train while sneaking peeks at him.

*’Everyone’s getting slack. I’ll have to work them hard today.’*

Just as he thought that and was about to swallow his water——

“……V-Vice-Commander, are you and Her Highness the Archduchess in a romantic relationship?”

“PFFT!”

Water sprayed from Jerome’s mouth like a fountain.

Drops of water dripped down the face of the knight who had been suddenly showered.

“What nonsense are you…….”

It was a question he had never even considered.

“You’re always together, so I thought that was the case…….”

“The Commander is too scary! You two would suit each other much better!”

“That’s right. Even I feel uneasy watching the Commander speak to her—how much more hurt must she be…….”

Seeing the knights chiming in one by one, Jerome pressed his forehead.

“Never, ever say such things in front of the Commander.”

“We’re only saying this because it’s you, Vice-Commander.”

“Do you truly have no feelings at all, Vice-Commander?”

It wasn’t unreasonable for the knights to think that way. He had been staying by her side for over a hundred days under the pretext of surveillance.

Jerome knew well how people treated the Commander he so respected.

Monster, Murderer, War Demon……

Every bad rumor there was belonged to him.

Despite being the war hero who had saved this rotten empire from crisis, he was called such names.

Of course, the Commander himself seemed completely indifferent to rumors, but Jerome strongly disliked seeing his respected Commander treated that way.

That was precisely why he had been especially wary of Selena, who showed no sign of dislike even after seeing his face.

Having been sold off, how could she look at him as if he were so radiant?

But at the end of Selena’s gaze, there was always Calix, and whenever she looked at him, a serene smile would linger at the corners of her mouth.

When their eyes happened to meet, her eyes would curve and she would smile brightly.

That smile was dazzling. And fascinating. The way she looked at him—whom even the knights feared—as if he were infinitely precious.

Even when she asked questions and received only short replies after days of deliberation, she would be happy with just that.

*”Do you truly have no feelings at all, Vice-Commander?”*

He had no feelings.

*’No.’*

Jerome himself knew the answer.

If Selena’s gaze always ended at Calix, then his gaze always ended at her.

The person who had always been within sight was not there today, and he felt anxious. A mixture of unease and longing washed over him like a tidal wave, leaving an emptiness behind.

It was only through the knight’s words that Jerome fully confronted his own feelings.

“……Of course not.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. Stop talking nonsense and train. Today will be harder than usual, so be prepared.”

“Wooo!”

The knights groaned.

Jerome chuckled at them.

This feeling that had bloomed unbidden—he would carry it alone for the rest of his life, until the day he died.

No one must know.

Having skipped breakfast, Selena kept coughing in her room.

“Cough, cough.”

In the large fireplace, warm embers crackled.

Selena sat quietly before it, gazing at the flickering flames. Her body was shivering and she felt chills—she seemed to have caught a cold.

*’I still need to feed the animals.’*

For a moment, she considered asking Jerome to do it for her.

*’He should be at the training ground at this hour.’*

About to leave the room, Selena stopped at the door.

She had deliberately avoided the training ground for fear of infecting the knights. With the campaign so close, she couldn’t afford to be a burden.

Jerome, who would make her feel at ease with his pleasant jokes, must have become someone she relied on without realizing it.

“Cough! Cough!”

After coughing, Selena wrapped her arms around her shoulders and sank to the floor as if melting.

*’Who should I ask?’*

There were plenty of people working in the castle, but she hesitated to ask any of them.

Everyone felt uncomfortable around her, the Archduchess.

That was only natural—there was no one who served Calix, called the Monster Archduke, with genuine devotion.

After Calix returned safely from his campaigns, they would all be dismissed anyway.

Many wanted to work at the Archduke’s castle because of the high pay, but loyalty was nowhere to be found among them.

They never spoke to Selena first, and would withdraw as soon as their tasks were done.

Above all, she was afraid of what her husband would say if he found out she was sick, so she couldn’t tell anyone she was unwell.

*’Why am I so selfish?’*

A sense of self-reproach washed over her.

*’Calix will find out when he comes to the room anyway. There’s no way to hide it.’*

But just the thought that she might never share a room with her husband again made her heart ache as if pierced.

At first, she had tried to be satisfied with just watching from afar. Just seeing her husband training the knights at the training ground would naturally make her lips relax.

Those who knew nothing called him a monster, but to her, he was light.

—

Not long after their marriage, Selena had received a letter inviting her to a banquet.

*”Your Highness the Archduchess, an invitation has arrived.”*

Selena’s hand, holding the invitation, trembled violently. The terrible memories from the Imperial Palace in her childhood came flooding back.

Hundreds of pairs of eyes that had scanned her body, saying she looked just like a living doll.

Recalling those appraising gazes made her stomach churn.

But now, circumstances were different from back then.

Though she had been sold off, she was still the Archduchess. Refusing the invitation might reflect badly on her husband.

She was accustomed to humiliation, so she thought there was no reason to be afraid now.

*’But what if I go and cause more trouble?’*

It was right then.

Calix, who had approached behind her without her noticing, snatched the invitation from Selena’s hand and tore it to shreds.

The invitation, reduced to useless scraps of paper, scattered carelessly through the air.

*”Sending an invitation all the way out here out of sheer curiosity. How bold.”*

Calix smiled coldly.

The attendant who had delivered the invitation had already retreated far away, overwhelmed by the murderous aura emanating from him.

*”If such an invitation comes again, you tear it. Or throw it into the fireplace—that’s fine too.”*

After a brief pause, Calix turned to Selena.

*”Of course, if you want to make a fool of yourself, you’re free to accept.”*

Selena shook her head vigorously.

Seeing her express her refusal with her entire body, Calix smiled faintly.

*”Yes. If you don’t want to, say so. Forcing yourself to do something you don’t want to is what fools do.”*

—

That strength, that smile—they were as dazzling as the sun in the sky, and she had fallen for him.

She wanted to know everything about her husband.

He was the one who had shown her a wider world beyond her frog-in-a-well existence. She couldn’t be a burden to such a person.

*’It would be wrong for me to stay in his room out of selfishness.’*

“Cough, cough!”

Selena coughed and pulled the door handle. But her frail body collapsed just a few steps into the corridor.

Her body was burning with fever. Having eaten nothing, her consciousness was growing hazy.

In the wide corridor, no one’s shadow was visible. That was fortunate, in a way—she could return to her room without anyone seeing her like this.

Selena struggled to her feet and, bracing herself against the wall, made her way back. Each step was as heavy as if carrying lead.

“Haah, haah…….”

Breathing heavily, Selena finally reached the room where she was staying.

And the moment she entered, she lost consciousness and collapsed.