GC- Ch 16

Chapter 16

***

The following morning, Ash stopped short when he spotted a man waiting in front of his office.

The man was just as tall and broad-shouldered as Ash.

Dennis, who had undone the top two buttons of both his shirt and his knight’s jacket, was leaning against the wall outside the Commander’s office, openly flirting with the passing female pages.

“Hello, Miss Herbant. Your hair looks lovely today.”

The page called Miss Herbant chuckled and skillfully returned his flirtation.

“You look handsome today too, Vice-Commander.”

“I’m always handsome.”

*What a pair.* Ash waited until the page had passed, then asked Dennis,

“What is it?”

“Hm?”

“What do you want to talk about?”

“Aw, a Vice-Commander can stand outside the Commander’s office, can’t he?”

*Ridiculous.* Ash scoffed and opened the door to his office.

“You don’t like coming here.”

At the blunt statement, Dennis scratched his head. Ash was right; he didn’t usually linger near the Commander’s office. Ash knew it was because Dennis preferred to avoid meeting older nobles.

“I was worried I’d run into some nobles if I hung around.”

Ash threw a sidelong glance at Dennis, exasperated.

“Don’t forget **you’re a noble too**.”

“I’m different.”

Dennis scratched his head again. Though he was a Chevalier and a Vice-Commander, he came from common stock. Becoming a Chevalier earned him a Viscount title, but it was an **honorary rank**—he had no estate and couldn’t pass it down to his children. He still considered himself a commoner.

“I mean the **old fogeys**.”

*I know.* Ash opened the door without a word and stepped inside. The office was exactly as Seirena had left it yesterday. In other words, nothing had changed.

“What happened with your visit yesterday?”

Dennis pulled a chair with a screech and sat down, asking about the King’s summons.

Ash took off his coat, hung it on the rack, and turned around.

“Nothing much.”

“Nothing much what? Did you get scolded?”

*‘Scolded’ would be too gentle a word.* Ash stroked his chin, unable to find a way to explain it.

“Did you get punished? Surely not house arrest?”

Dennis, startled by Ash’s silence, stood up. The chair clattered and slid back with his sudden movement.

“If I had, you wouldn’t see me here today.”

He wouldn’t have been allowed to come to the Knights’ Order if he were under house arrest.

Dennis said, “Ah,” and pulled the chair back to sit down.

*Then what?* To the bewildered man, Ash said quietly,

“His Majesty commanded me to **get married**.”

*To whom?* Dennis paused, momentarily confused, then blinked and asked,

“To who?”

“**Sir Hunter**.”

Silence fell for a moment.

*Sir Hunter?* Dennis asked cautiously,

“The **prettier** one?”

*I might actually kill him this time.*

Seeing the murderous intent flare in his friend’s eyes, Dennis realized this was no joke. *Seriously?* He dropped his jaw and asked again,

“He told **you** to marry Sir Hunter?”

“Yes.”

“The King?”

“Yes.”

“**Is he crazy?**”

Ash’s eyebrow twitched. He wanted to ask which person he thought was crazy, but he restrained himself for his friend’s safety.

Dennis, however, was unrestrained. Clasping his hands over his head, he exclaimed,

“Wow, he’s truly lost it. Why does His Majesty hate you so much?”

Ash sat with his chin resting on his hand, silent. The King disliked him. His only nephew.

Frankly, this wasn’t too difficult to understand. He was a Duke, third in line for the throne, and the Commander of the Knights’ Order. He was a Master Swordsman and a Chevalier. To a King with two Princes, he could easily be perceived as a threat.

That was precisely why Duke Ash Greywind still had no fiancée, let alone a wife. The King was wary of Ash and didn’t want him to gain any further power.

This was also compounded by the fact that while the maternal families of the two Princes (who had different mothers) were weak in influence, Ash’s mother, the Duchess of Greywind, came from a powerful Marquesses’ family.

“Sir Hunter isn’t a bad match, though.”

Ash said, almost to himself. Seirena Hunter was a beauty and a talented knight. Though it meant little to him, she would also inherit the title of Countess when she turned twenty-one.

But Dennis scoffed.

“The daughter of a Count on the **verge of ruin**?”

The talk of the Hunter Count family’s declining fortunes was now widely known in the palace.

Following the death of the Count and Countess Hunter, their eldest daughter, Seirena Hunter, sold off all valuable assets to repay debts. Consequently, the rumor spread that she had no funds left for a marriage dowry.

A Count’s daughter in name only, with no marriage funds. The only thing Seirena could negotiate with in her marriage was the Count title she would inherit at twenty-one.

“The Hunter Count family is a fine lineage. They have a long-standing tradition in the Knights’ Order.”

*Tradition?* Dennis looked confused, then quickly understood what Ash was referring to.

The pledge to ensure the Hunter name was never erased from the Knights’ Order. In accordance with that pledge, Seirena Hunter and Ezra Hunter had joined the Knights’ Order as soon as they turned thirteen.

“She’s far too **unsuitable** for you, if not for me.”

“Because of her family’s wealth?”

“Yes.”

*I wonder.* Ash stroked his chin and smiled. He didn’t see it that way.

The Greywind Ducal family name was traditionally given to the King’s siblings. Naturally, they lacked nothing.

While other families might marry to fill a deficit or to build influence, Ash had no need for that. Wealth and honor. Since he possessed everything, a marriage partner’s family background didn’t need to be scrutinized—that was one advantage.

Although a major disadvantage was the perpetual need to keep his head down, given that he could always be a threat to the King.

“His Majesty must have thought Sir Hunter was **perfectly suited** for me for that very reason.”

Ash said, standing up.

Dennis ran a hand through his hair, still clearly displeased, but said nothing. Instead, as he walked with Ash toward the training grounds, he asked something else.

“Did you tell Sir Hunter? About having to marry you?”

“Ah, hmm. It’s more of an **engagement** than a marriage.”

*What do you mean?* Dennis tilted his head and asked.

“Is there a difference?”

There was no difference. But to Seirena, there was.

Ash smiled wryly. To a noble, engagement was as good as marriage. While there were cases where the engagement period was extended to allow the inheritance of a title, there was essentially no difference between engagement and marriage. That was why he had given Seirena a choice.

The intention was merely: *Do you want to announce it this year and marry next year, or wait until the year after next when you become a Count?*

“She agreed to the engagement.”

“What’s the difference? She’s not planning to stay engaged until she dies, is she?”

The two men strode quickly down the corridor, conversing. Because they were both tall, others could not easily eavesdrop on their conversation while they walked, a benefit that allowed them to discuss such confidential matters without reserve.

“Not until death. Only **until she turns twenty-one**.”

At Ash’s words, Dennis ran a hand over his head and said,

“Well, anyone in Sir Hunter’s shoes would wait until they became a Count at twenty-one to marry.”

“Hmm. I don’t think so.”

Dennis’s eyes widened at Ash’s detached tone, as if he were discussing someone else’s affairs. *What is it?* When he looked at Ash, Ash stroked his chin and said calmly,

“She asked me to **break off the engagement** when she turns twenty-one.”

“**What?**”

The word *‘crazy’* thankfully didn’t escape his mouth. Dennis, stunned, stopped, then quickly caught up and said,

“That means you’ll be branded the **bad guy**, doesn’t it?”

If an engagement is broken off without a good reason, the higher-ranking person or the man is usually the one who gets a bad reputation. In Ash and Seirena’s case, the higher-ranking party was Ash.

Ash shook his head and said,

“Ah, no. She said she doesn’t mind if the rumor is that it’s **her fault**.”

A furrow appeared in Dennis’s brow. *Now what does that mean?* He ran a rough hand through his hair in confusion and asked,

“So, she wants me to break off the engagement by spreading a rumor that **she was the bad one** when she turns twenty-one? Sir Hunter said that?”

“Yes.”

“Why? If that happens, it’ll be difficult for her to marry anyone else, won’t it?”

Breaking an engagement puts the woman at a disadvantage more than the man. That’s why, if an engagement must be broken due to unavoidable circumstances, it was considered courteous for the man to spread the rumor that it was *his* fault.

Seirena Hunter was willing to give up even that courtesy just to break the engagement.

To the baffled Dennis, Ash said calmly,

“She says she **doesn’t intend to marry**.”

“Why not?”

Some people do live their lives without marrying. But Seirena Hunter had an obligation to her family to marry a wealthy but lower-status man.

Ash recalled Seirena’s expression while speaking with him last night.

“She **dislikes men**.”

“Just because she dislikes men doesn’t mean she can marry a woman, does it?”

At that moment, Ash’s gaze shifted to the opposite corridor.

Just in time, Seirena was arriving at work, walking alongside Moana.

“Don’t tell me…”

Ash knew what Dennis was thinking as he groaned under his breath. Ash looked at his friend with a cold stare and said,