***
***
Victor moved as fast as lightning and as heavy as thunder. It was the standard swordsmanship of the Imperial Knights, which was difficult to learn. His sword flew exactly where it was needed.
She didn’t dare confront the destructive power that came from his great body, which she admired from the moment she first saw it.
She felt it every night, but she was too weak to counter his attacks from the front.
She avoided his jabs once, twice, and after swinging her blade down, she swung it back to protect her head. Victor jabbed her wrist, forcing her blade away, and rushed towards her chest.
She took a step back and deflected his sword.
Chaenggg
There was a sharp sound.
It was really amazing.
How in the world was there such a swordsman? Five strikes came at her in rapid succession, so she couldn’t even touch him.
She took a short breath and looked at him. Victor was smiling.
“My Marion.”
Immediately his sword flew again. Instead of moving back, she jumped forward. This was a technique she used when dealing with long-armed trolls. He had longer arms than her, so it would be disadvantageous to keep her distance.
She took two steps forward and swung her sword up from below. Victor stepped aside and struck away her blade. She couldn’t handle his strength, and her balance was thrown off. She fell down, rolled to the right, and swung her sword at his back.
She heard another chink, and stepped back with trembling hands.
‘Oh, oh my.’
The tip of her sword was broken. Their swords had collided and her blade broke.
She raised her hands.
“I lost.”
Victor stopped and sheathed his sword.
Looking down at the blade of her sword, she realized that their surroundings had become oddly quiet.
The knights, who had been hooting and whistling moments before, were staring at the two with their mouths open.
‘What’s wrong with them?’
Victor approached her, puzzled. He quickly smiled ecstatically and began to brush away the hairs that were stuck to her forehead and cheeks from sweat.
“The king did not lie to me.”
“What are you talking about?”
“That you are the best knight.”
He was really overdoing it.
Her face turned red.
It was a compliment she had only heard in her kingdom. She didn’t know how the rumor had spread to the Royal Capital…
Anyway, she wasn’t good enough to be praised by the famous ‘Walking Death’. She wasn’t able to hit him once.
After he finished tucking her stray hairs behind her ear, Victor spoke to his knights over her shoulder.
“These guys seem to have a lot of questions, so please talk to them for a moment. You guys, don’t trouble my wife.”
When she turned around, the knights flocked towards her in a mob. As soon as Victor let go of her hand, they pestered her with questions.
“When did you start wielding a sword?”
“How did you dodge when you fell to the ground earlier?”
“Is his highness nice to you?”
She was stunned.
She suddenly wished she never left the serene and peaceful mansion of the Grand Duke.
***
Victor walked away from the middle of the noisy training ground.
His deputy chief and chief of staff followed in his footsteps.
The chief of staff, Carlz, opened his mouth.
“I wondered if you had truly lost your mind when I heard that your highness had been defeated by a single woman.”
He smirked.
“Madame is a genius. There is no other swordsman who can compete with his highness like that, even if we searched all over the continent.”
“I think so too.”
“I don’t think she has enough experience dealing with people, though.”
Victor glanced at her, who was buried in the crowd. It was funny to watch her struggling to answer their constant questions sincerely. Her blonde hair, which was almost white, was a characteristic of northerners. It gleamed beautifully in the sunlight.
He explained to his employees.
“She is from Amari, the northern part of the Empire.”
“Is she an Amari?”
“Yes. From Siland*.”
[*E/N: Amarion’s kingdom finally has a name!]
The vice-captain, Leonard, nodded seriously.
“Then her skill is understandable. I heard Siland is like a battlefield.”
“Yes. Monsters constantly come down from the Black Mountains in the north. She has been holding a sword since she was less than ten years old.”
“She must be the heir of Amari.”
Victor nodded his head.
He remembered the first time he saw her.
She stood awkwardly like someone who had never worn a dress in their entire life. The back of her hands and cheeks were frozen from the cold, and she looked sick.
But her posture was straight and her skinny arms were well-trained. He knew she was a good knight.
But he didn’t know she would be this good.
He smiled softly.
“But she doesn’t know how good she is.”
“Yes? How can she not know?”
“I heard that she did not leave her hometown all her life and only competed with swarms of monsters. She only fought with low-level mercenaries and village knights, so when she was praised by them, she must have thought that she wasn’t good at all.”
He never would’ve imagined that she was one of the top knights on the entire continent.
Leonard watched his master carefully. Victor’s eyes narrowed strangely.
Victor was the master he had served for most of his life, but when he was like this, Leonard was a little afraid.
He asked unconsciously.
“Will you send her back?”
The Grand Duke looked at him with an uncomfortable smile on his face.
Leonard quickly justified himself.
“Didn’t you tell the vassals that you would keep her until you got better? And after that, you would marry one of the young girls of an allied family? Besides, if she’s Amari’s heir, we should send her back. What will happen to Siland if she never returns?”
Carlz felt worried.
Victor Morte was the master of practicality as well as chivalry.
Amarion Amari was a woman destined to become a lord and protect her land.
She must not be left in the Empire as a lady.
However, their master’s gaze was focused on the grandeur of her straight back.
They were no longer eyes shaking under constant fatigue, but eyes like amber arrows.
The Grand Duke expressed his doubts.
“Why should I care about that?”
“Your highness!”
Carlz exclaimed. But Victor smiled softly.
“I have already paid enough dowry. I can pay more if they want. No, I’ll send it every year.”
“…”
‘She is mine.’
The Grand Duke lightly tapped the handle of his sword, which he had used to fight his wife.
He was dressed like a gentleman, but he was, by nature, greedy. He was a knight, after all. And his wife was the most precious jewel he had ever found.
He didn’t want to lose this jewel or this opportunity.
“I won’t let her go back.”
She would surely be happy by his side. He would make it so.
Death smiled widely and laughed. It was a deceiving smile because it was beautiful to look at.
For a while after that, she struggled to fulfill her responsibilities as a hostess. Like a lady, she tried to live in petticoats and skirts, and read as many books as she could.
But really, she didn’t know too much. She ripped her hair out in front of the thick ledger and eventually handed them back to Diederick. She needed to study more.
After her fight with Victor, she was told that she could go to the training ground whenever she liked, but she didn’t like fighting that much, and wanted to help him more than anything else.
They started off badly, but his kindness had melted her heart like sunlight. In order to repay that kindness, she wanted to have enough knowledge to not embarrass him.
First she read about history, then she read about the culture and manners of the Empire. And after finishing that, she turned her attention to medicine.
Most of Siland’s women were medically savvy, but she wasn’t. Her job was to haul injured people from the battlefield to her estate for medical attention.
Still, she picked up some things that she had heard, so maybe she could learn through reading as well?
She grabbed some medical books and sat down in the Duchess’ office.
But her expectations were terribly wrong.
Medical books were really, seriously difficult.
It was not easy, and everything was worded incomprehensibly, to the extent that she couldn’t understand what she was reading. She frowned and was about to give up, when suddenly, a paragraph caught her eye.
It was a treatment for those who could not sleep.
After a brief summary, there were a lot of effective medicines listed, but she knew that none of these worked for Victor.
The next chapter described a desirable sleeping environment.
[…The atmosphere should be as comfortable and familiar as possible. Blocking out surrounding noise and drinking warm wine or tea also helps…]
She quickly turned the book over and looked at the author’s name. She would use this technique too. She took a deep breath. She remembered how he would wake up and wander around in the middle of the night like a ghost.
Would he live like that for the rest of his life?
It was pitiful. To wake up in the middle of the night, he must be having terrible dreams. He must be wielding a sword in his hellish dream with a cold face.
Even if she put him to sleep every night, it wasn’t a permanent solution. It didn’t even have the magical power of erasing his nightmares.
‘He’s such a sweet person.’
A maid called for her, interrupting her thoughts.
“Madame, his Highness the Grand Duke is arriving soon.”
***