35. Marital Quarrel (2)

“What hurt?”

That face should only be gentle to the female lead. No matter what painful expression he made, it meant nothing to her.

“It was just something we needed to address between us. No matter how you package it, we’re in a political marriage……”

“No, I hurt you. I asked you to trust me, but I wasn’t trusting you, Anette.”

He added weakly.

“I’m the one who did wrong, so stop saying things that hurt yourself, Anette. You might as well hit me instead.”

She found that absurd.

“How fair would it be to hit a trained knight with my delicate fist?”

But seizing this rare opportunity, she punched Darius with all her might.

“Hit me once more. I’m the worst.”

“Hitting you more would only hurt my hand.”

Even as she said this, she was about to put weight into her left fist, replacing her right hand that had collapsed after one punch.

“To be honest…… I was also jealous.”

“Jealous?”

“Well…… the feeling that comes from wondering why I’m not closest to you when I should be the person closest to you.”

Darius smiled slightly despite being hit. My wrist stung. Indeed, punching Darius with my fist was more detrimental to me. But since my anger wasn’t appeased, I had to hit him once more, even if it hurt me.

“I instinctively knew I would grow to like you. You’re clearly a good person, Anette.”

Where should I hit him, besides the face, so that he feels pain but others won’t know we fought?

“It’s natural to like good people, but I thought it would be better if that happened later.”

Stop.

My movement froze as I was loosening my shoulder and putting strength into my fist again. I tried my best to pretend not to hear his excuse by thinking of something else.

What was that, almost as if……

“Eventually, everyone realized you were a good person, just as I predicted. Even though they were people who were so wary of southern women.”

“Ah…… I almost.”

For a moment, I almost mistakenly thought Darius liked me again.

“I’m sorry. I sincerely apologize. I was momentarily jealous and made you misunderstand through my immature behavior.”

Darius took my hand and patted it soothingly. My heart wavered at the sincerity and genuine apology I felt in his eyes.

“Since your charm is exceptional and it’s natural to fall for you at first sight, I’ll tell them to treat the new Madam well from now on.”

Well, fine. I’ll let it go this once.

“Sigh, alright. I’ll understand just this once.”

But in return…….

‘I’ve now earned the legal right to treat Darius badly.’

Since he badmouthed me first!

So, first of all.

“In return, move to the edge of the bed.”

“What?”

“I actually hate sharing a bed with Your Highness. But I don’t want rumors spreading that I kicked out Your Highness who came to my bedroom, so I have no choice. Go sleep at that end. Let me use the bed more spaciously.”

The hot newlywed life of the grand ducal couple, broadcast to the castle people every morning, ends now.

“But Anette.”

“Should I lay a blanket on the floor for you? Since you’re used to sleeping outside, you wouldn’t be uncomfortable sleeping on the floor, right? That seems better. You might fall if you sleep on the edge of the bed.”

“Come to think of it, that sounds like a good idea. Me sleeping at the edge of the bed.”

“Really? That’s great. I like using the bed spaciously, and Your Highness likes lying on the edge to develop your sense of balance. It’s a good sleeping arrangement.”

I prepared for bed by flapping my arms and legs as if throwing a tantrum. The bed is so wide! Why have I been sleeping anxiously, worried about clinging to Darius while sleeping!

Darius, exiled to the edge of the bed, gave me a pitiful look, but it felt satisfying.

“Then, Your Highness, good night.”

“Anette……”

Darius tilted his face and opened his eyes pitifully. Nope, face attacks don’t work. I’m angry.

Let him experience mornings like mine, where muscles throughout the body scream from tension.

I closed my eyes. Tonight, I would have good dreams.

* * *

Darius rolled his eyes to look at the side of the bed. Anette was sleeping soundly with her back turned, wearing a satin hair net neatly to protect every strand of hair.

Tap.

Even when he gently touched her milk-white cheek, Anette didn’t blink an eye.

Tap tap.

Like tapping pudding with a spoon, Anette’s elastic cheek jiggled softly.

“Mmm.”

When Anette irritably scratched her cheek, Darius withdrew his arm and returned to his place.

“Strange.”

There was no longer any smile or playfulness on Darius’s face as he looked at the sleeping Anette.

What filled his heart was an unfamiliar novelty.

“Is this what being married is like?”

〈Why do you pretend to care?〉

If he were to summarize Anette’s resentment from earlier, it would be this one sentence.

〈On the first day I came to Castle Inkheart, you told everyone to be wary of me.〉

And why had he really said that?

Everyone would have conducted themselves properly anyway.

〈Since you said that, I can’t trust Your Highness either.〉

Anette was hurt. Resentment sparkled deep in the eyes of the woman who calmly said, You could say such things.

Why?

Why do they say things they don’t mean, and care so much about every word the other person says?

When he caught a wild boar on the way back from the South, Anette yelled at him.

When he stepped forward to catch a wild boar, ordinary people praised Darius’s bravery; no one scolded him for catching a beast while having knight escorts.

Anette got angry when he took on dangerous tasks. Yet Anette herself rushed headlong into everything without discrimination.

〈I am Your Highness’s wife. The mistress of Inkheart.〉

Anette was bolder and more straightforward than rumors suggested…… she always wanted to do something.

She differed from her public reputation in many ways, had a hasty personality, and rolled up her sleeves to take on any task.

Some days she was cute, some days he felt slightly anxious about what she might be doing, and some days she was fun to be with.

“No one expected us to become a couple.”

Marriage was a conceptual thing.

Vassals recommended a political marriage to the young lord who had just become Grand Duke.

His bloodline was noble, and the Pochet family from the South valued the noble blood of the grand ducal family highly, offering to provide necessary supplies for the North.

The benefits aligned. There was no love in it.

Love. What a knight offers to his lady. Noble values, vows, beliefs. Comfort, rest.

All he knew about love came from a few lines in knight literature. The romantic literature he had to read because he was a knight.

His parents, who could have taught him about a harmonious family, were already dead. He was a ruler, not someone who received teachings from others.

He didn’t know love. So he wasn’t afraid when Anette proposed marriage. Because he didn’t know what it entailed.

“But I’m doing my best. Am I not doing well?”

Darius complained to the sleeping Anette.

Except for one instance of poor speech control early in the marriage, Darius had always been considerate of Anette.

Though that one time was enough for her to hold against him.

‘Anette also doesn’t know how couples should live together, yet she only blames me.’

“If we spend more time together, will we learn how to be a good couple?”

Like ordinary noble couples who marry after a long engagement period.

There was no engagement period, no exchange of portraits. No delegations from each territory visited to praise the bride and groom.

One day, Darius simply met Anette.

It was an immature and hasty marriage with no room for the word love.

Only after seeing the peacefully sleeping profile in the same bed did he realize, ‘Ah, we’re a couple.’ Still surprisingly new.

From the edge of the bed where he had been banished, Darius looked at Anette sleeping peacefully. She was far away.

He didn’t like her being there.

Darius slowly, with remarkable concentration, pulled the sheet little by little. Anette on the sheet naturally came along toward him.

Darius was still positioned at the edge of the bed, but now it appeared as though Anette had moved much closer to him.

‘This is better.’

Darius fell asleep anticipating the coming morning.

* * *

“Aaaah!”

“Yawn, good morning, Anette.”

“What good morning!”

On a peaceful morning, I was starting my day with shock.

Why am I starting the morning in Darius’s firm arms again! This happens so often that I’m no longer unfamiliar with this solid embrace!

Yesterday, I clearly told the naughty colt Darius to go sleep at the edge of the bed!

Why do I wake up to see your handsome face in front of me again!

“I obediently slept in my spot as instructed, but you came over here, Anette.”

Darius flipped my body to show me the bed. Behind us, uncomfortably overlapping at the edge, was the vast expanse of the empty bed.

‘This can’t be.’

I was definitely sleeping comfortably in the middle of the bed. Why am I in Darius’s arms when I wake up?

“You just like me too much…… Being a beloved husband is hard too.”

Darius murmured contentedly, holding irrefutable evidence.

It’s not true anyway. Sob sob.

While I was floundering in shock, Darius seemed motivated about something.

“A priest will come from the temple today regarding Lady Ygret’s matter. Let’s have breakfast and go meet him.”