Chapter 74: You’re Too Much
Clint had spent his entire schedule tending to the fiefdom and repairing the damages from the war, while Ailea began preparing for the banquet.
Excalibur was not the proper place to hold a banquet. The insides of the castles were ruined. There were no pretty things to elevate the mood, so she thought it best to hold the banquet in the garden blooming with white flowers.
The castle was not on par with the Imperial Castle. Excalibur was crude and held no fancy, but Ailea did not hate it. Excalibur served a purpose to protect and defend regardless of its simplicity and crude design. In a way, she was like the castle: crude in appearance, but had a purpose in life.
Clint had grown nervous when he saw her preparing for the banquet wholeheartedly. Banquets were usually a bore and she had a horrible time in the Imperial Castle’s banquet, so he could not understand why she was so absorbed in this. It did not matter if it was informally simple here in Excalibur.
Excalibur served as a buffer zone bordering between three empires: Khanna Empire, Teniac Empire, and Dipolia Empire. Excalibur held strategic importance. The lord of the fiefdom here wielded extreme authority. But this was an age-old myth. The current Excalibur was suffering from war damages and political reasons. Excalibur had long lost its authority and importance. The aristocracy of Sutton saw Ailea and Clint as nothing more than a newly-married couple sent by the emperor to carelessly rule over the fiefdom.
Clint was worried. Since they arrived, she had not rested properly. Concerned, he walked up to her. “Have you slept?”
She was sewing.
Ailea looked up. “I did.”
“Properly?”
He did not want her expectations for the banquet to fall in ruins. Sutton’s high-society was nothing like those in the capital. If she thought the aristocracy were blood-sucking vampires in the capital, then even more so here in Sutton.
“Don’t overdo it. I don’t want you to be disappointed. People here won’t accept you easily.”
Ailea nodded. “I’m well aware of that. I know they won’t accept me just like that. The aristocrats of Sutton have known each other for a long time. They’ll be harsh to outsiders.”
“Then why are you pushing yourself so hard when you already know this?”
“Because you need their support to be a proper lord.” For Clint to succeed, he needed Sutton’s support. Ailea was well aware of this. “I want you to be able to live here at peace while you stabilize the border. I know it will be hard, but I’m willing to try.”
Clint was silent.
“And the one thing that I am able to do is to make sure that this banquet doesn’t fall into ruins.”
Ailea sewed again. She was a good seamstress despite never having gone to a party.
He rubbed her cheek. “Get up.”
“When I’m finished. It won’t be long.”
His thumb moved over to her lips. “Just leave it as it is. Let’s go to the salon.”
“What?”
He smiled, kissing her lips. “You’re putting your effort in the wrong things. It’s a waste of time for a woman who has no sense of fashion to be here. I say that you should focus on things you’re good at.”
Ailea blushed. “Y-you’re too much…”
Clint chuckled. “I know.”