TLSD 07

Chapter 7

“My body…!”

The moment she let out that aghast exclamation, the knights who had been eating potatoes froze in unison.

As if they had been eavesdropping the entire time.

Elio bolted upright and practically bolted away at a run. She grabbed Carlos’s wrist with all her might and dragged him along.

Though calling it a grip was a stretch; her fingers merely rested lightly on his wrist, wondering how on earth a wrist could be so thick and heavy.

She couldn’t even manage to squeeze out a polite, ‘Could we please go talk over there for a second?’, so she simply yanked him along blindly.

There were a dozen things she wanted to demand—asking what on earth he thought he was doing to her—but everything was tangled up in such a messy knot that she didn’t even know what to say first.

“Ah…!”

Suddenly, her wrist was pulled backward, and her back slammed against a solid, muscular chest.

A sturdy forearm crossed over the back of her neck and wrapped around her slender shoulders. Enveloped in his hot body heat, her body stiffened in a start.

“Watch where you’re going.”

Right in front of her eyes stood a tree trunk. They had walked deep enough into the thicket that shadows were cast on all sides.

“Just how far were you planning on dragging me?”

A low baritone vibrated right against her ear.

Elio shrank back, wriggling out of his hold and taking a few steps back.

“My body, m-my body. I mean, what kind of, what kind of relationship are we supposed to be anyway? We’re not actually anything to each other. So why did you change my clothes on a whim?”

Her cheeks burned fiercely, refusing to cool down. Her entire body felt as though it had been plunged into a boiling bath. Looking down at her clothes only amplified her shame, making her chin tremble.

Not the mud-caked, ash-gray dress, but a pristine ivory dress.

Did he take her lightly just because she had shown him her bruised body first? Did he strip away even her underwear as if handling rotten mold?

The humiliation of her bruised, naked body brought stinging tears to her eyes.

“E-even if the situation gave you no choice, I still don’t think it’s right to talk so casually about having changed my clothes in front of the other knights. You… you should have at least considered my humiliating position as a lady.”

Her battered feelings welled up in a bitter surge.

“I… I certainly didn’t roll around in the mud for my own amusement. Everyone, everyone was just standing around watching. And you, you seriously from start to finish, ju—just toyed with….”

Elio followed the un-looking man’s gaze down to her hands.

At the end of his gaze, her hands were trembling violently.

Hastily, she hid both hands behind her back. A sudden sensation of being completely naked made her eyes burn even hotter.

“Shall I explain it heavily and seriously then?”

His voice remained completely nonchalant.

“How I stripped off your clothes.”

“That is not what I’m asking for!!”

“Then what do you want?”

…An apology?

Dare I ask the young duke to apologize to me?

Besides, it was true that this man crossed the Ogre Mountains with her and saved her. Am I really going to ask him to apologize for changing my clothes?

Elio bit her lip, watching the dense thicket sway with the breeze.

She had no idea what she even wanted from this man anymore. She didn’t understand what the point of all this conversation was either. She felt like she was the only one flailing around alone… and she really hated—

“There are plenty of female knights in the Robiatan. Though I only brought one this time.”

He said as he brushed past her. Elio furrowed her brows. She had never seen a female knight once in her entire life. Except for that big sis who wore the holy knight uniform and threw fits whenever people said she wasn’t a real knight.

“That girl changed you, so don’t worry.”

His voice drifted back from a few paces away.

“It’s best to wash off mud quickly. If mud soaked in ogre blood stays on too long, the toxins can cause skin diseases.”

Turning around, she saw he had already grown distant from her. His stride was so massive that he was already beginning to vanish behind the thick foliage.

The moment his figure was completely obscured, she hurried after him.

“Are you playing with me again? You really are not a gentleman!”

“Oh. I suppose you were expecting a gentleman.”

Unable to talk back, Elio stepped onto the muddy ground. Walking was effortless for him, but every single step she took was a struggle.

Why were there so many vines on the path anyway? Thick tree roots bulged out like snakes, covering the ground completely. One misstep and she’d trip.

Knowing full well she was chasing after him, the man didn’t even bother to slow his pace.

…Seriously. What is his deal?

He has zero chivalry. Absolutely none.

There was no reason to follow him—she even thought it was ridiculous of herself to be following him at all—yet her feet moved on their own as he threatened to leave her behind all alone in the deep forest.

“Then what about delaying the ogre’s death?”

The question she had been holding back finally burst out.

“To see just how strong you were.”

Elio stopped in her tracks, about to step over a tree root thicker than her own torso. It was such an absurd thing to hear.

“Why do you care if I’m strong?”

“Because I like strong things.”

Un—unbelievable, seriously.

“Then you must be bitterly disappointed! Because I’m not strong at all.”

“Why? I liked the pterodactyl and the mud doll.”

He came to a halt. With a loose smile playing on his lips, he turned around and reached out a hand.

Elio stared blankly for a second at the man’s face, illuminated by the sunset glow filtering through the dense leaves, before puffing out her cheeks.

What is this. It’s not like he’s helping her walk. What does he expect her to do when he holds out his hand from all the way over there?

“Come here.”

What am I, a puppy?

Glaring daggers at the man gesturing as if calling a stray mutt, she took short, hurried steps forward.

“…Where on earth are we even going?”

Elio pressed her lips together and grabbed the tree root once more.

Crawling over the ogre-leg-sized root, she shoved aside the tangled vines and hopped across.

As soon as she climbed up onto the massive tree root, Carlos grabbed her wrist and hoisted her up in a single motion.

The moment she stepped onto the giant tree root, Elio looked around with wide-eyed astonishment. He casually nudged her swaying shoulder back into place.

“I-is this a lake?”

Elio’s jaw dropped at the sight of a water pool vastly larger than the count’s estate.

“Go wash up. You couldn’t scrub your body properly earlier.”

“…With you right next to me?”

“Why. Afraid I’ll peek at a kid taking a bath?”

Elio grimaced, her mouth opening, then shutting abruptly.

She stared hard at the man, who was smiling as lightly as the dawn breeze. Mimicking the curve of his lips, she tugged the corners of her own mouth upward.

“You seem to have forgotten, but I had my coming-of-age ceremony this year. Which means I am a fully grown lady.”

“Right. A grown lady. Then I’ll head on ahead.”

He let out a short huff of laughter and turned away indifferently.

Elio glared daggers at the man’s broad back and walked closer to the lake.

“Stay on the right side when you wash. The left side is a grizzly bear habitat.”

Elio came to an abrupt halt.

“Well, the bears should be full and resting right now, so it’ll probably be fine.”

Elio called out urgently toward the retreating figure of Carlos.

“Is it really a bear habitat?!”

“Yeah.”

“W-what if the bear is hungry? It could be starving! Wh-what if it comes to drink water without resting?!”

“Fight well. Want me to bring you a sword?”

Is this crazy man for real??

“You have your eyes closed, right? Don’t you dare turn around…!”

“If you ask me one more time, I might actually turn around to check.”

The man’s leisurely voice drifted calmly from behind the bushes through the night air. A soft smile bloomed on Elio’s tense face.

Just how long had it been since she washed in water this pure and unpolluted?

She swished the crystal-clear water back and forth.

“……Look, I don’t know why you accepted a sham first night and decided to engage yourself to me. Since you keep refusing to explain anything, I assume it’s some kind of secret. I’m not here begging you to spill it, though.”

Elio was convinced that this man was using her for some ulterior motive.

The most optimal assumption was that he was using her to avoid an unwanted marriage with the archduchess. She didn’t want to entertain any darker possibilities. The more she imagined all the blood-soaked reasons, the more her blood ran cold.

“…Once you achieve your goal with me. Will we break our engagement then?”

Elio gazed at the thermal stone the man had personally prepared for her, feeling a mix of flickering hope and anxiety deep in her heart.

“I mean, obviously we’ll break it, but… I still deserve to know how long I’m supposed to live like this.”

Along with her sigh, the sound of leaves rustling and birds hooting grew louder. She stopped tugging at the hem of his cloak, which she had been using like a robe.

“Commander…? Are you listening to me?”

“I paid a proper bride price to you. Why don’t you start by thinking about what duties a wife is supposed to fulfill?”

“I, I never asked you for a bride price! In fact, I refused it outright! I haven’t even laid eyes on the money you gave, and that’s a matter between you and my father!”

“A wife’s role typically involves sharing the bed.”

Though he answered with feigned coldness, Elio’s anxious eyes widened into circles.

“Looking after the inner estate, leading the emergency forces when the husband is away, educating the servants, attending to the family matters of the vassals, hosting banquets for key merchant guild leaders during contract renewals, inspecting food supplies in preparation for winter and the rainy season, monitoring local specialty statuses, patronizing artists to elevate the territory’s cultural standing, and looking after the grievances of the territory’s residents.”

Elio’s jaw hung open in a daze. She was utterly dumbfounded by the man’s long, unbroken list of duties.

“Is there even a single thing among these you can actually do?”

Carlos muttered as if genuinely questioning it.

“Are you telling me I have to do all of that?”

“They are natural duties for a wife.”

Elio stuttered, rendered utterly speechless. She couldn’t tell if he was genuinely planning to marry her or just messing with her.

Above all, sharing the bed?

“You’re asking for a whole lot. Though you’re missing the most important foundational premise of all.”

To keep from being swept away by this shameless man and to reply with even more audacity, Elio poured strength into her goat-like, trembling voice.

There was no way he would take a country noble lady—no, a half-wit dragon abandoned in the human world without inheriting a single power—as his legitimate wife.

“What’s that?”

“Love between husband and wife. We aren’t in a loving relationship, are we? We’re in a sham relationship, yet you’re talking about sharing a bed?”

At the lady’s wildly naive retort, Carlos let out a dry scoff.

“Do people marry for love?”

“Yes. I’m going to marry for love. Am I supposed to even put on a fake act of loving you when there isn’t an ounce of sincerity?”

Carlos gave a faint smirk and closed his weary eyes.

“I have no idea what use I’m supposed to have for your fake love act.”

“In, in front of other people, you said Lord Leon told us to act like a normal couple! Of course, I don’t want to play pretend love either, and you probably don’t need it either. Lots of cold couples sleep in separate rooms the moment they get married anyway. Let’s just keep things coldly detached, us.”

With his eyes still closed, keeping watch for the presence of wild beasts, Carlos slowly turned his head.

“Ah. So you were saying you’d put on the act in the bedroom?”