Chapter 46
“This bastard! Who are you to tell─ Ahhh!”
Maxim only moved his scabbard once, and the man pulled back and fell. Blood flowed from the corners of his mouth as Maxim grabbed his face, and the atmosphere around grew bloody.
A flickering light gleamed in the eyes of the men. They were greater in numbers.
Although the young man in front of them wasn’t normal, they thought that if everyone jumped in at once, there would be a chance of winning.
Slowly, one by one, weapons began to appear in their hands.
But suddenly, bang! The door slammed open, and two knights with murderous looks sat near the door.
They placed their large swords loudly on the table for everyone to see, and looked around, warning the men to stand down. Just by looking at their black cloaks, it was clear that they were part of the Imperial Knights.
“Those people!”
Rose remembered seeing those knights in the Castle.
Maxim’s escorts, who had quietly followed them, came in before the situation escalated. The eyes of the people in the store suddenly became as gentle as sheep.
Indeed, the atmosphere was reversed just by the appearance of the knights.
The men stared at each other and left one by one.
Rose’s and Maxim’s surroundings became quiet, to the point that it felt as if you could hear an ant moving. She hadn’t meant for this to happen.
“Sorry.”
Rose didn’t look at him; she felt like he ended up being involved in this kind of situation because of her.
It was only for a moment that she looked embarrassed. Only until a large mug of foamy beer and a plate full of dripping steaming sausages were placed on the table.
“Haa…”
Again, her appetite started to run wild.
‘It was certainly here…’
Late at night, Hannah sneaked into the kitchen and hurriedly searched the cupboard.
She saw a kitchen maid hide a jar of honey, and she ate a spoonful herself. It was clear that the ingredient was secretly stolen and stashed away.
‘Here it is!’
Hannah smiled, satisfied. In her hand stood the small honey jar that had been hidden behind a bowl.
Even after finishing her work today and entering her room, she was constantly reminded of the secretary’s face she had seen earlier.
She remembered when she closed her eyes, and she remembered when she opened them.
Something flashed through Hannah’s mind as she lay on the bed, tossing and turning. When she was young, whenever she coughed, her grandmother made hot water with honey and lemon juice.
Hannah, who was usually coy, was already up and about when that memory came to mind.
‘He’s probably still in the office. He always stays up until late at night.’
Hannah smiled shyly at the thought of him at work.
Maxim and Rose were slowly dragging their horses as they walked through the dark alley. Rose turned her head several times and looked around.
She wondered where the escorts knights who appeared earlier were hiding and how they were able to follow them.
It was as if they were invisible. She couldn’t see even a single strand of their hair.
‘Pftt.’
She giggled as she remembered what had happened in the restaurant earlier.
“I have been thinking. I think it would be good for me to learn swordsmanship too!”
Even after hearing what she had to say, Maxim pretended not to hear her and did not respond.
Rose didn’t care about his reaction and continued to mutter to herself.
“Even in an emergency like today, I think I will be able to protect my body. If I get used to it, it will be useful someday.”
She clearly saw the power of wielding a sword first hand.
The man that backed down after Maxim swung his sword slightly earlier, and the people ran away after seeing the swords the knights were holding.
‘Come to think of it, isn’t this an opportunity to learn swordsmanship from the best knights? Such an opportunity presented itself to me so easily!’
In Solstern, the swordsmanship of noblemen now was almost always exclusively used for social activities, like as a hobby.
Everyone dressed up nicely and showed off their poor skills in front of the young ladies. Compared to the knights here, it was just child’s play.
She couldn’t imagine how Tulio, the madman, would mock them if he saw that.
“…Can you teach me?”
Rose asked him softly, as if muttering a secret.
The fact that she had even asked Maxim for such a request was absurd. She felt a bit better after eating delicious food and drinking good beer, so she had the courage to say things that she normally would never.
Only then did Maxim stop walking and look down at her.
“You want to grab a sword? Why don’t you just say you’d rather join the knighthood?”
Unsurprisingly, when hearing his butchered rely, Rose smiled bitterly as if she had known it would happen.
“It doesn’t matter. If you can’t do it, I’ll ask Rishar or Tulio then.”
He snorted at her words. Maxim laughed at her calling out his knights as if they were her old friends.
“Gracefully enjoying your hobbies and learning swordsmanship. Life here must suit you better than I thought.”
Rose’s face hardened, but he didn’t stop there.
“That may not be your original purpose. It’ll be hard in the future if someone who will leave anyway gets attached like this.”
She already knew. Why he was pouring out such cold words. She was the one who always reminded herself that he wasn’t like that whenever he tried to show his sincerity.
But now, Rose’s heart ached a little at the words he uttered. Actually, Rose herself knew better than anyone else.
Her purpose for coming here. Because of that, there was no place for other emotions. No, that shouldn’t even happen.
She knew she had to be wary of feeling different emotions because of him, as they were merely connected by a contract to achieve each other’s goals.
Such feelings would only interfere with the plan.
“I know.”
Rose’s voice became low. Every time she saw the people at the Castle who have been treating her genuinely since the first day, she felt a sense of guilt in her heart.
‘I wonder if I’m deceiving them. How betrayed would they feel if they found out the truth later?’
Just thinking about it made her feel sick enough. His cynical words that were spit out without hesitation dug into her chest like a dagger embedded in poison.
“Don’t worry. I don’t want to be a nuisance to your castle either. I just wanted to get along with people while I’m here.”
Rose, who was upset, finally answered in a sharp tone.
‘How did the conversation that started with swordsmanship deviate like this?’
There was a chilly atmosphere between the two.
“Still, it’s a lot better than I thought.”
At Rose’s sudden words, Maxim looked down at her coldly, wondering what she meant by those words.
“Unexpectedly, everyone likes you. Everyone here I talked to today.”
Maxim smirked.
“Why? Did you think I would be treated as a devil or a monster here?”
“At least I made sure that you wouldn’t become a tyrant like Cassiax. To become an Emperor, people’s affection and trust are important.”
Maxim looked at her talking, his face hardening. He stared at her silently, as if not understanding the meaning of her words.
“A tyrant? He must still be the Crown Prince.”
Rose was perplexed when she realized that she had said something wrong and Maxim didn’t miss her startled expression.
“You’re talking as if you’ve experienced it yourself.”
“That–”
“I’ve felt it before, but how do you know Cassiax so well? You’re just a noble Lady who only talked about engagements, but you talk as if you’ve even lived together.”
“Y-you have to experience it to know. Just looking at it, the buds are all yellow.”
[tl-n: ‘the buds are yellow’ means someone doesn’t have a bright future. That acts immaturely or rudely.]
Rose spoke vaguely, trying to avoid the subject, but Maxim didn’t let go of the suspicion in his eyes.
“Is that so?”
“If he had been a good man, I wouldn’t have come all the way here and asked you to marry me. I would have married him right away.”
Rose, flustered, tried to make a good excuse, and Maxim smiled as if he had understood.
To her, he was just an inevitable choice to avoid the worst-case scenario.
What did he expect from her in the first place? He already knew everything when they had started a relationship. There was nothing to feel dirty about.
“If you become the Emperor quickly, only then I’ll be able to return to my family with confidence…”
Rose couldn’t stop making useless excuses in front of him. And, oddly enough, she couldn’t look straight into his eyes.
‘I was the one who offered him a deal first, so why am I acting like this?’
She was confused.
Maxim said in an emotionless tone as if he were simply making a promise to a business partner.
“Yeah, I’ll have to try my best and let you go sooner.”
Maxim twisted the corners of his lips and smiled bitterly.
“Because it looks like you’re desperate to leave.”
“I didn’t mean it that way. I just want you to be quick–”
“Haaaaa… stop. Even if you don’t say anything more, I know.”
He raised his hand and turned his head away from her. Looking at his back as he walked again, Rose felt as if there was a hole in her heart.
A cold wind rushed past her. The two of them, who had been walking with such a delicate atmosphere around them, eventually arrived in front of a small two-story building.
“Here…”
As Rose looked up at the store, Maxim held her by the shoulders with both hands and said,
“Keep in mind. Until you achieve your goals or whatever, you’ll have to faithfully play your role as my fake wife.”
He spoke in an ice-cold tone and looked down coldly at her.
‘Fake.’ Rose’s eyes widened slightly as she heard that word. He unknowingly emphasized it.
“I know.”
Rose followed him into the house.
Janssen forced himself to go back to the office.
It was dark outside because the sun had already set, but he was not comfortable with the work he had left behind.
‘Am I really a workaholic?’
With this thought in mind, he walked down the long corridor with gloomy walls.
‘…Mh?’
He narrowed his eyes and stared at the end of the hallway.
‘Isn’t there someone standing suspiciously in front of the office?’ He deliberately approached without making any sound.
‘Hannah?’
Her behavior, as she stood in front of the door, was strange to anyone’s eyes.
“Miss Hannah?”
Janssen approached her from right behind her back and suddenly called her name.
“Kyaaak!”
“Aaaahh!”
When Hannah shouted, Janssen was startled too, and a scream came out on its own.
At that moment, the tray in her hand tilted and Jansen reached out to catch it,
‘Ugh!’
But hot liquid poured down his stomach and thighs.
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