46
“The wedding is only a month away, yet you’ve been put under a week of house arrest.”
March said with a serious face. I nodded with an equally serious expression.
“It’s too tight on time, isn’t it? As expected, postponing the wedding a little…”
“Then let’s do everything that can be done at the grand ducal residence!”
March shouted vigorously and approached me. Behind her stood five or six maids, each holding various items.
“Huh? What are you… Ack, wait…!”
And just like that, I was bathed by them.
For me, a Sword Master and knight who naturally considered washing myself alone as a given, this was an extremely bewildering situation.
I made a feeble attempt to resist and escape their hands, but under the Marchioness’s precise command, the maids rendered me completely immobile.
Of course, if I really put my mind to it, I could shake them off…
“Thank goodness Sir Merian’s skin is better than we worried!”
“That’s right. We heard you train outside every day, so we were very worried whether your skin could become smooth in just one month.”
“This time, let’s apply this egg wash to the face.”
March whispered with sparkling eyes.
“I’ll make sure that on the wedding day, Sir Merian’s facial glow doesn’t lose to diamonds.”
I couldn’t bring myself to push away these people who were working so hard for my wedding.
Even while brushes moved across my face, the earlier scuffle with Kaiden still bothered me.
I cautiously asked the March.
“Lady March. Does His Grace the Grand Duke also receive skin care?”
March shook her head with a worried face.
“In fact, we had prepared everything so that the two of you could receive care together, but His Grace seemed to be in a bad mood.”
I felt a pang of guilt inside.
“We couldn’t bring ourselves to tell him. Did something happen, by any chance?”
“Ah, haha. No. He must be busy.”
[He’s probably busy swallowing his anger.]
At Blade’s jab, I smiled.
‘Be quiet before I smack you once.’
[Hmph! I’m the easy target, huh? Fine, I’m leaving!]
He flapped his wings and flew out the window.
Feeling the brush strokes moving across my face, I thought.
‘…It’ll blow over soon, right?’
* * *
Dinner time.
“…Why is the atmosphere like this?”
The Grand Duke looked displeased with the chilly mood.
I rolled my eyes and watched Kaiden’s expression. Kaiden was chewing his food mechanically with his mouth firmly shut.
Perhaps noticing something off between us, the Grand Duke shook his head.
“Tsk tsk. Already having marital fights? Aigoo, over something as trivial as a guard!”
“Ahaha, no, it’s not that. Your Grace. By the way, the meat tastes especially excellent today.”
The Grand Duke seemed to think Kaiden was sulking because he had assigned me a bodyguard.
But since I knew exactly why Kaiden was angry, I hurriedly changed the subject.
The effect was tremendous.
“Oh, is that so? The baby in your belly must be hungry! Tell the head chef to bring more meat!”
At the Grand Duke’s command, the servants moved in perfect unison.
Several more plates of meat were placed in front of me. It was obviously an enormous amount.
“…Haha, hahaha.”
I forced a laugh and ate meat until my stomach felt like it would burst.
That night.
The Grand Duke had said that since we were getting married in a month anyway, there was no need to sleep separately, and told us to stay together in Kaiden’s big, nice room.
At first I was extremely flustered, but I had no particular reason to refuse, so in the end I came up to his room together with him.
The problem was that the atmosphere between us right now was incredibly awkward…
I awkwardly broke the silence.
“…Um, the sofa in His Grace’s room looks quite spacious.”
Kaiden’s room had been used by successive heads of the Baltstein family, so the furniture was large and antique.
Originally the Grand Duke had used this room, but he said he moved to another room the moment he stepped down from the family head position.
Kaiden spoke without even looking at me.
“Sleep on the bed.”
He walked over with heavy steps and sat on the sofa. It looked at least twice as wide as the sofa in the room I had been staying in.
But since Kaiden’s build was also considerably large, it looked cramped for him to lie down on.
I shook my head.
“I cannot do that.”
“I don’t want to argue again.”
“I don’t want that either.”
Only then did Kaiden look at me. I met his eyes directly and said,
“It is Your Grace’s room, after all.”
Kaiden’s lips twitched. It seemed he had something else he wanted to say.
He was probably going to talk about what we fought about earlier today. I waited for his words, slightly tense.
“…We will soon be husband and wife, Merian.”
…Huh?
It wasn’t what I expected, but I nodded.
“Yes.”
“It means we will no longer be in a superior-subordinate relationship.”
“That’s not true. No matter how much we are married, Your Grace is still Your Grace.”
When I corrected him with a straight face, Kaiden looked at me with a hardened expression.
An awkward silence filled the room again.
“Sigh. You must be tired, let’s sleep.”
Kaiden sighed and tried to lie down on the sofa as it was. I hurriedly grabbed his arm with both hands.
“You really can’t sleep here!”
“Then shall we sleep together on the bed?”
My ears turned red remembering last night, but I pretended not to and shook my head.
“No. The sofa here looks much more spacious than the one in the room I stayed in yesterday. I will sleep on the sofa.”
“I don’t want that.”
“Your Grace.”
“…….”
“…….”
The silence dragged on.
Say something, you damn Grand Duke.
I felt like I was about to sigh.
No matter how long I had known Kaiden, he was still undeniably the Grand Duke.
It wasn’t proper for a subordinate to casually take the comfortable spot when their superior yielded the bed.
Then Blade whispered in my head.
[Then just sleep together on the bed like yesterday.]
‘When did you come back?’
[Ahem. I was away from you for a bit and felt weak. Anyway! Wouldn’t it be fine to sleep together on the bed like yesterday?]
‘But the sofa is that big…?’
[You fell asleep the moment you closed your eyes yesterday, yet you’re making excuses.]
I flinched at those words.
‘W-well, yesterday I quickly rationalized it because I was tired? I had a really hard time enduring the brainwashing magic. I’m less tired now…’
[It’s all acting anyway.]
‘…….’
I was torn. Would it be better to just sleep together rather than waste time arguing like this? Since I was less tired than yesterday, I didn’t think I would fall asleep quickly.
And that was the problem.
If I couldn’t fall asleep, I would definitely feel every single movement of Kaiden lying next to me.
That fact was… suddenly extremely embarrassing.
At that moment, Kaiden spoke.
“Name.”
“Pardon?”
“Try calling me by my name.”
“…What do you mean all of a sudden?”
He stubbornly demanded.
“If you call me by my name, I’ll sleep on the bed.”
“Really?”
Good, it’s just a name.
But then an additional condition was attached.
“Instead, we sleep together on the bed.”
I narrowed my eyes and countered.
“…Wouldn’t it be fine if I just slept on the sofa?”
“No. If we don’t sleep together on the bed, I will sleep on the sofa.”
“…….”
What is this absurd pettiness?
Today, Kaiden’s sulkiness was excessive. When I looked at him, he was staring at me with a strangely sulky face.
No matter that he’s my superior, there are things that need to be argued.
“Your Grace. Why do you keep changing your mind like this? Then let’s just sleep together.”
If you’re going to be like this, let’s just sleep!
But Kaiden remained stubborn.
“I changed my mind. Until you call me by my name, I won’t move a single step from this sofa.”
“…You know you’re being really weird today, right?”
When I said that, he met my eyes.
“I know. But I was hurt by you too.”
Hurt? Hurt by what from me…
As I stood there bewildered, Blade enlightened me.
[You said that if you kill the Crown Prince, Kaiden might kill you. Kaiden must have been shocked thinking that he would kill you.]
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