Chapter: 07
Of course, now that peace had returned, no one would bother tracking Edrion down even if she submitted papers to dissolve the engagement.
The real problem was that the previous Duke Akshadâthe man who had made the contractâwas already dead.
That made it nearly impossible to break off the engagement by ordinary means.
Noble marriages aren’t ordinary promises.
They were contracts between noble houses, absolute customs that had endured through generations of aristocratic society.
If descendants could tear up such agreements as easily as flipping over the palm of a hand, who would ever trust a noble’s word again?
For that reason, no matter the circumstances, a marriage contract could only be legally dissolved while the person who had signed it was still alive.
Or if one of the betrothed died, making it impossible to fulfill the agreement.
But Edrion and I are both perfectly alive…
So… did that really mean she had to marry him?
Lyris desperately racked her brain, refusing to accept reality, but no matter how hard she thought, she couldn’t remember a single case where a noble engagement had simply been canceled.
People might get married first and then end up trying to kill each other, or one spouse might die. They might each take lovers and live separately.
But the marriage itself always happened.
Which left only one conclusion.
Farewell, my precious life…
Lyris buried her face in her hands and fell silent.
Misinterpreting her reaction, Edrion’s expression hardened before he gently tried to comfort her instead.
“That is all in the past. Please don’t dwell on it.”
“But…”
“I believe what matters is the future, Lyris.”
Removing his jacket, Edrion draped it over her shoulders.
Only then did Lyris realize that her hair was still damp and that she had been standing in the hallway for quite some time wearing nothing but a thin nightgown.
“It’s late. You should get some rest. We can discuss the rest another time…”
Lyris frantically searched for a way out.
Breaking off the engagement was impossible…
But what if she delayed the wedding for as long as possible?
Or better yetâ
What if she made Edrion lose all affection for her?
As a soldier, he was strict about discipline. He disliked people who crossed boundaries and was especially conservative when it came to physical relationships.
Surely, if he became convinced that they were utterly incompatible, he might become reluctant to marry her as well.
Operation Contrarian.
“I don’t want to sleep tonight, Edrion.”
“…Excuse me?”
Well, saying something ridiculous was better than saying nothing.
She was so embarrassed she could die, but she blurted it out anyway.
Judging from the way it landed, it had been surprisingly effective.
The golden eyes fixed on Lyris grew noticeably darker.
“Did you truly mean what you just said?”
“O-Of course Iâ”
Lyris stopped herself.
Something about the atmosphere felt completely different from what she’d expected.
She had thought he’d simply say something like, Please refrain from making inappropriate remarks.
In the original story, Edrion had been described as even more abstinent than a holy knight. Aitana had worried whether he’d ever produce an heir.
She’d even secretly asked her sister-in-law Lyris if everything… functioned properly.
Then what does that expression mean?
Lyris cautiously looked up at him.
Where had all his usual composure gone?
His eyes gleamed intensely.
His breathing had become low and rough.
Thick veins stood out along his jaw, and the muscles in his forearms had tightened.
Don’t tell me… he’s furious because his fiancĂŠe is acting like this?!
Lyris had spent most of her formative years surrounded by scholars who cared only about plants and had long since abandoned all social skills.
As a result, she wasn’t particularly good at reading other people’s emotions.
The problem was that she couldn’t tell whether Edrion’s expression reflected the irritation of a disciplined soldier…
Or something else entirely.
Considering the original story, it definitely can’t be the second one.
Completely panicked, Lyris immediately abandoned Operation Contrarian.
“O-Of course… it was j-just a joke! Hahaha!”
“…”
Perhaps he simply found his mentally unstable fiancĂŠe pitifulâor ridiculous.
After a long silence, Edrion let out a sigh whose meaning she couldn’t decipher.
He even rubbed his forehead as though suppressing some overwhelming impulse.
Seeing that, Lyris decided to disappear from his sight as fast as the wind.
“I-I should go to bed now. Yawn… I’m so sleepy. Good night!”
“Very well. Sleep well, Lyris.”
Edrion took her hand and gently kissed the back of it before slowly letting go.
The bright gleam in his eyes resembled a predator reluctantly releasing a tiny, precious rabbit.
But the moment their eyes met, every trace of danger vanished as if it had never existed.
His eyes curved warmly, making him look like a gentle giant dog.
Lyris couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling.
Why is he always smiling? In the original story he was cold enough to freeze the air…
Just as she was about to crawl into bed, another concern suddenly crossed her mind.
She cautiously poked her head back through the slightly open door.
Edrion was still standing exactly where she’d left him.
“Um… Duke Akshad.”
“Yes?”
“It’s nothing important, but… could you keep it a secret for a while that I’ve returned to the imperial capital? Especially from the Noella family.”
The thought of facing her family wasn’t exactly pleasant for Lyris.
And they probably felt the same.
‘If only the young lady had never been born, my lady would still…’
‘Shh. Quiet.’
Edrion fell silent for a moment.
If he asked why, she’d planned to make up some excuse.
Instead, he simply nodded.
“As you wish. However…”
“Yes?”
“I have one favor to ask of you as well.”
“I’ll decide after I hear it.”
She had left her family at twelve and wandered the world long enough to learn an important lesson.
Things like co-signing loans, waiving bodily rights, joining heretical cults, and buying suspicious insurance policies should all be rejected without hesitation.
Whether or not Edrion realized how guarded she was, he calmly continued.
“If any suspicious person approaches you, do not answer them.”
“…Huh?”
“Do not look at them for long. Do not follow them. And if necessary, come to me immediately.”
Any time.
Whispering those words, Edrion reached out and gently caressed her flushed cheek.
“Your body is cold. You should go inside.”
“Ah.”
Withdrawing his hand, Edrion lightly guided her back into her bedroom before closing the door.
The hallway light disappeared, and darkness filled the room.
Feeling strangely unsettled, Lyris touched the cheek he had just stroked and walked toward the moonlit window.
Why would Edrion say something like that?
Don’t answer suspicious people.
Don’t follow them.
Don’t even look at them for too long.
No matter how I think about it…
Isn’t that basically telling me to watch out for kidnappers?
It wasn’t exactly bad advice…
But she wasn’t an eight-year-old child.
She was eighteen this year.
So why?
No matter how much she thought about it, she couldn’t understand.
All it left behind was a lingering sense of unease.
That night, after everyone in the Imperial Palace had fallen asleep, a magnificent radiance erupted from the sacred sanctuary deep within the palace grounds.
The World Tree suddenly emitted a dazzling light unlike anything ever recorded.
Its leaves gradually transformed into the freshest, richest shade of green imaginable.
“W-What is this…?”
“It’s so bright I can’t even keep my eyes open!”
The light wasn’t the only change.
The brittle leaves, which had once crumbled at the slightest touch, became thick and sturdy.
Even the bark wrapped around the trunk seemed to regain subtle moisture.
The knights standing night watch were so astonished by the miraculous sight that they rushed to awaken the imperial couple.
Emperor Kairos, roused from his sleep in the middle of the night, saw the panic on the knights’ faces and immediately realized this was no ordinary matter.
“What did you just say? Something has happened to the World Tree?”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
“Explain the situation in detail.”
“W-Well… the World Tree’s leaves and trunk have become healthier than they have ever been!”
“…?”
Not only the Emperor, but even Aitana, who was listening beside him, wore an odd expression.
The truth was that she had spent the entire evening enduring endless complaints from the trio of caretakers.
They had criticized and nagged her until she finally lost her temper, threw them out, and went to bed early.
Lady Noella’s behavior is blasphemous.
Send her away.
Never let her return again.
Listening to them plead in turns had given her a pounding headache.
But if she really drove the young lady away, her younger brother would undoubtedly throw a fit and make everyone’s lives miserable.
The more she thought about it, the angrier she became.
“What in the world happened…?”
“We’ll have to see it ourselves. Aitana, will you come?”
“Of course.”
Just as Aitana rose from the bed, she changed her mind.
After all, the root of everything was the fiancĂŠe her infuriating younger brother had brought home.
It would be much easier to understand the situation by asking her directly.
She beckoned to the head attendant.
“Go and bring Lady Noella here. Politely.”
“At once, Your Majesty.”
The head attendant hurried toward the guest quarters on the outer edge of the palace.
But he was forced to stop at the staircase.
Aitana’s younger brother, Edrion, stood blocking the hallway.
“Shh.”
“Your Grace?”
“I know why you’ve come, but Lyris has only just fallen asleep. Do not disturb her. Return, and I’ll explain everything to my sister myself.”
“B-But Her Majesty orderedâ”
A massive shadow fell over the attendant.
Edrion had taken a single step forward.
“Would you like to shine together with the World Tree?”
“If so, don’t be shy.”
“C-Cough…”
Edrion’s cold golden eyes slowly and meticulously swept over the top of the attendant’s head.
The meaning behind that gazeâexactly where he intended to make him “shine”âwas painfully obvious.
The attendant quietly lowered his head and turned around without another word.
Having chased away the unwanted midnight visitor, Edrion slowly turned his gaze.
Toward the bedroom where Lyris slept.
