Episode 4
His words made my face flush. Perhaps I had become so hot that steam might even have been coming from my ears.
Kaiden chuckled as he looked at me like that.
“And raising you was hard, too.”
“Wh, what?!”
“…Now that I’ve said it, I feel guilty.”
I didn’t know why he said he felt guilty, but I felt rebellious toward Kaiden for treating me like a child.
“Strictly speaking, it wasn’t just you, Archduke. Everyone in the Grand Duchy Castle raised me together! An entire village raised me! And now I’m a full-grown adult!”
Kaiden quickly apologized.
“Alright. I’m sorry. Let’s not talk about this.”
“What the heck, seriously.”
I glared at him with narrowed, triangular eyes, and he rubbed the back of his neck with his hand before chuckling.
“What do you mean, what? You’re just too good of a person.”
“Ugh…!”
I was flustered, but it also felt good to hear that. However, his shameless appearance somehow irritated me a little, so my words came out curtly.
“…You avoided me all day today.”
“That was because….”
Kaiden hesitated for a moment before slowly opening his mouth.
“I was afraid you might say you liked platonic love…. That’s why.”
“Ah….”
Somehow, I felt embarrassed. But a strange light appeared in his blue eyes.
“I wasn’t confident I could do only platonic love.”
“…….”
“I regretted it immediately after saying that last night.”
My face burned up again like a roasted sweet potato. The more I thought over Kaiden’s words, the more my eyes spun.
In other words, he wanted me too.
‘Aah! How embarrassing!’
While I didn’t know what to do, Kaiden reached his hand toward my face. I flinched, but I didn’t make the same mistake as last night. Warmth was transmitted to my cheek.
“I’ll treat you preciously. Until you’re ready.”
He smiled gently. I watched him like that before slowly nodding. And… gathering all the courage I had, down to my very soul, I muttered in a voice as small as an ant.
“I… I, tonight is fine too….”
Night fell deep again.
Kaiden and I were kneeling on the bed, facing each other with awkward expressions.
Kaiden spoke first.
“Marion. You don’t have to force yourself.”
“I-I’m just nervous.”
My heart felt like it was about to jump out. With Kaiden right in front of me, I couldn’t make eye contact with him. My palms were sweating, and cold sweat ran down my back as well.
But it wasn’t that I disliked being with Kaiden. I felt like somehow it would be fine once the initial nervousness wore off, but that was too difficult.
“Hmm….”
Perhaps noticing me like that, Kaiden thought for a moment before suggesting a solution.
“Shall we do some light exercise?”
“Exercise?”
☆☆☆
Madam Marchn was worried.
She hadn’t shown it in front of Marion that morning, but she was worried that the newlywed couple who had just gotten married might have already had a fight over their formal first night.
When she entered the newlywed bedroom when the sun was high in the sky, Kaiden was already gone, and the bed was neatly arranged, making it obvious to anyone that nothing had happened.
However, since the Grand Duke and Duchess of Baltstein had been together for a long time, she had thought that it wouldn’t be a big problem even if they didn’t spend their first night together.
But after seeing Marion searching for Kaiden all day, she couldn’t help becoming increasingly worried as a retainer loyal to Baltstein.
‘…Still, the two of them have been together for a long time, so they’ll make up soon.’
It was while she was reassuring herself and walking down the corridor near the room where the Grand Duke and Duchess were staying.
Creak, creak.
Madam Marchn’s eyes widened.
She could faintly hear the sound of a bed creaking from somewhere. She swiftly turned her head toward the source of the sound and saw that the door to the Grand Duke and Duchess’s room was slightly open.
Knowing that she shouldn’t, she nevertheless stealthily approached the door.
She heard quiet voices.
“Marion, are you okay?”
“Ugh, yes. I can do more.”
“If it’s difficult….”
“No!”
Madam Marchn’s face flushed bright red.
The suspicious sounds of the bed, the affectionate voices exchanged between the couple, everything was saying one thing.
‘Oh my…. I was worried for nothing!’
She covered her mouth and laughed slyly. Then, for the privacy of the Grand Duke and Duchess, she carefully closed the door. With much lighter footsteps, she disappeared into the darkness.
☆☆☆
“Someone just closed the door, didn’t they?”
I asked Kaiden while stopping halfway through my sit-up. He nodded.
“Looks like it wasn’t completely closed. That happens occasionally these days. I should call a repairman tomorrow.”
“I see. Will the Archduke do it this time?”
“Alright.”
Kaiden and I switched places. Until just now, I had been lying on the bed to do sit-ups, but this time, Kaiden lay down on the bed to do them. I sat on his feet.
“How many are you going to do?”
“I’ll do 300 lightly.”
“Okay.”
Only after Kaiden finished doing his sit-ups as well did we lie flat on our backs side by side on the bed. I muttered while looking at the ceiling of the bed.
“Haa…, I definitely feel refreshed after exercising.”
“It’s better after moving around, even if only lightly.”
A brief silence flowed between us, and soon, without either of us knowing who started first, we burst out laughing.
Isn’t it funny? Doing sit-ups in the middle of the night to relieve our nervousness. It was a ridiculous thing to do.
After laughing for a long time until tears came to our eyes, we turned our bodies and faced each other. Kaiden’s face was right in front of me. There were smiles on both our faces.
Kaiden slowly opened his mouth.
“Marion, I want to kiss you, touch you, and whisper words of love to you.”
His words made my face flush. He wanted me.
“…Me too. I want to love you too, Archduke…, no, Kaiden.”
At my answer, Kaiden smiled, his eyes curving with happiness, and kissed my forehead. His lips moved from my forehead to my nose, and then to my lips.
When he tried to pull away, I didn’t want it to end, so I quickly returned the kiss to his lips.
I gazed into his bright blue eyes. There was only me in them.
A spark flew up somewhere.
Before either of us could tell who had started first, we continued kissing, searching for each other.
And so… our first night deepened.
Chirp, chirp.
“Ugh….”
I buried myself in Kaiden’s arms while grimacing at the dazzling sunlight. Then I heard him gently embrace me and chuckle softly.
I called out to him in a mumbling voice.
“Archduke….”
“You should call me by my name.”
His words suddenly reminded me of last night. His chest was right in front of my eyes. My face gradually began to turn red.
‘We really did it.’
Kaiden stroked my head and asked,
“Did you sleep well, Marion?”
“…Yes. How about you, Kaiden…?”
“I slept very well.”
I felt his lips press against my forehead. Somehow filled with a sense of fulfillment, I wiggled my feet and burrowed further into him. Then Kaiden embraced me a little more tightly.
“Are you feeling alright?”
“…You’re asking on purpose, aren’t you?”
So that I’d be embarrassed. I narrowed my eyes and looked up at him, and he chuckled.
“I’m asking because I’m worried.”
My body wasn’t in bad shape. How much experience did I have from going out to subjugate monsters? There was no way my body would hurt from something like this. But the current situation was embarrassing.
Still, I had to say what I wanted to say. After we had done the deed, I had thought of something before falling asleep with my consciousness fading.
“Kaiden.”
“Hmm?”
“I still want to have three children.”
“What…?”
He slightly raised his body in surprise.
“I heard Baltstein has few descendants.”
“If you’re saying that for the sake of the family, I want you to reconsider. You have to think about your body too. They say even having one child is difficult. My mother was sick for a long time after giving birth to me.”
Perhaps because he had grown up with a sickly mother, he seemed to worry a lot. But I was someone who was practically nothing but health, so that didn’t apply to me.
“Hmm… Still, I think three would be good. I imagined our children running around the Grand Duchy Castle….”
“That would be happy.”
He immediately responded.
“Right?”
I looked at him with a grin. He smiled back at me.
“You’re right. Let’s live happily, just as you wish.”
The morning sunlight was warm, and only peaceful birdsong could be heard outside the window. We gazed at each other through our eyes and whispered.
“I love you, Kaiden.”
“I love you too, Marion.”
Our love is only just beginning.
-The Ruffian and the Mad Warrior Get Married- 〔Complete〕
