Honestly, he wished he could use the Emperor’s power to send Chloe back home. He should have anticipated this from the moment the war talk first came up, and Chloe asked him to go to war instead of her.

Chloe declared that if he didn’t take her to the battlefield, she would never marry him in the future. She said she would stay by his side as his companion, but wouldn’t marry him.

It was a shocking declaration. Of course, she said she’d stay by his side, but not be legally bound. The thought alone was horrifying.

Would such a lovely woman appear lovely only to his eyes? Even that bastard Emperor had gone mad and done all sorts of crazy things. The thought of taking her to the battlefield was terrifying, but when she said she wouldn’t marry him, her cold and icy gaze still made his heart pound. It made him think, ‘Fine, I’ll take her, but in exchange, I’ll quickly behead Tuscan.’

Even Charlotte Lionelden insisted that if he didn’t bring her to the battlefield, she would never allow her daughter to marry him. Seeing the fierce determination of both mother and daughter, he finally realized he had taken a tiger shifter woman as his companion, as the saying goes, ‘like mother, like daughter.’

They say when a woman harbors a grudge, frost falls even in May and June. It seemed the women of the Lionelden family, having lost their husband, father, son, and brother, wouldn’t even consider love unless they took revenge.

How could they use marriage as a bargaining chip? Hugrey felt wronged and devastated, but once Chloe made her demand, he had no resistance. He only realized anew that the one who loves more is bound to lose. He also realized how strong a woman he had imprinted on.

In fact, although he vowed to kill Tuscan Staxton, he was also concerned about the situation after his death. Since Tuscan had no heir, Chloe would inherit the throne of Tigrium when he died. However, that didn’t sit well with him. He might have to share Chloe with the Tigrium kingdom.

Perhaps Chloe had seen through this conflict in his heart and followed him for that very reason. To make sure Tuscan was killed. At this point, his biggest goal was to kill Tuscan in the shortest time possible.

While Tuscan would probably be standing in the rear like an old man in the back room, just giving commands, he needed to reach him as quickly as possible and take his life. For that, he had to put his heads together with that unpleasant Emperor about tomorrow’s battle.

“Tie her up and send her back.”

“You madman. Later, when you meet a woman, try tying her up yourself. It’s because you’re like that that Chloe loves me.”

Hugrey deliberately clicked his tongue as if Calcus’s words were pathetic.

“You bastard!”

“Are you going to fight me now? That’s fine. If you can mount your horse and command the entire army in a battered state tomorrow, that is. If you don’t like that, shouldn’t we be figuring out how to end the war before the sun rises over your head tomorrow?”

At his words, Calcus Tacan glared at him, grinding his teeth. It was incomprehensible why this lion cub was wasting energy in such an irrelevant way. Now was the time to discuss how to defeat the tiger old man.

“And before that, either stamp your seal or sign to approve my marriage to Chloe.”

Hugrey pulled out a marriage certificate from his chest and held it out to Calcus.

“Why on earth did you bring such a thing to the battlefield? As you said, my approval is just a formality.”

“Because my wife wants it.”

After agreeing to bring Chloe to the battlefield, this time she insisted that they must be legally bound as husband and wife before departure. They could have had a proper wedding ceremony after returning from the war, but for some reason, she insisted that they must also get the Emperor’s approval.

Chloe had seen through even his concerns. Hadn’t the wolf shifters also opposed her suitability as the Alpha’s companion, citing the fact that Chloe was a tiger shifter? The tiger shifters would be no different.

Moreover, the tiger shifters kept remarrying regardless of whether a man or woman sat on the throne. It was partly due to the nature of tiger shifters themselves, and partly due to the pressure from the surroundings for producing heirs. Chloe seemed to have heard about such an atmosphere from Charlotte Lionelden.

The union of a tiger shifter woman who must constantly change partners, and a wolf shifter man who can never change his partner.

Naturally, it was Hugrey who felt insecure.

Unlike his decision to bring her to the battlefield, Hugrey could find no reason to oppose her demand to marry before the war. He had already nearly had a heart attack when she said she wouldn’t marry him and whatnot.

Calcus frowned slightly, but soon took off the ring from his finger and stamped the Emperor’s signature and seal at the very bottom of the certificate.

Although it was actually just a formality, and Hugrey didn’t think much of it either, seeing Calcus’s seal stamped at the end of the document gave him a strange satisfaction.

Now that he had received approval, it was time to move on to the next step Chloe had demanded: the wedding gift.

“There’s a condition for participating in the war.”

Hugrey put away the carefully folded certificate back into his chest and brought up the real main point.

“A condition?”

Calcus distorted one eye. It was an unwelcome demand even for Hugrey, who had never interfered in the Emperor’s war and had no intention of demanding anything for participating. But since it was what Chloe wanted, he had no choice but to comply.

“Hand over 20 percent of the Santal mine’s output for the next 20 years to the Ulpaz family.”

“Hahaha! Since when did Duke Ulpaz become so greedy for money?”

Hugrey frowned at Calcus’s mockery.

“As you know, I now have a tiger-like wife, so I need to provide for my woman.”

This time, Calcus’s face crumpled.

So don’t mess with me, you lion cub bastard.

Although he didn’t know why she wanted this, Hugrey could now understand why she had insisted on formalizing the marriage before the war. Chloe needed those mining rights. Since it was Hugrey who was participating in the war, it was Hugrey who could make demands to the Emperor, and she needed him as a husband for that.

It was disheartening to realize that she had demanded marriage not because she loved him, but because of the Santal mine’s mining rights, but he had no other choice. It was just his personal disappointment; there was no reason not to grab the opportunity when she said she would marry him.

He couldn’t understand why Chloe was coveting those mining rights. She didn’t seem to have a greed for money, and if it was about money, he, as her husband now, had more than enough.

Considering Tuscan Staxton’s greed, it made him wonder if all tiger shifters were that money-hungry.

“Take it. I don’t really need it anyway, I just didn’t want to give it to Tuscan Staxton.”

Calcus said with a crumpled face, as if throwing away the mining rights. He genuinely seemed to have little interest in the Santal mine.

Hugrey got the signature on another document he had prepared for the transfer of mining rights. This document, too, had been prepared by Chloe and handed over to him. Such a thorough tiger shifter.

“Now then, shall we start talking about tomorrow’s battle?”

Hugrey finally finished the homework Chloe had given him and got to the main point. To hand over to her what Chloe wanted, they would need to win tomorrow’s battle swiftly.

“I’ll deploy the Imperial Knights on the right. The Ulpaz Knights will take the left wing.”

For Hugrey, it didn’t matter much whether it was left or right.

“Let’s do that. Tuscan’s elite infantry will be deployed in the third line. Since we have far more infantry, we should be able to quickly break through the first and second lines. My knights will subdue the left cavalry when the imperial army encounters the third line, so the Imperial Knights should somehow hold out on the right. When the first and second lines collapse, spread our infantry as wide as possible horizontally to surround the third line elite with cavalry on both sides and infantry in the center.”

“…”

He was explaining the planned tactics as quickly as possible, but for some reason, Calcus wasn’t responding.

“What is it? Don’t you like this strategy? Do you have something else in mind?”

“No, it’s not that. I’m just wondering when exactly you decided to participate in this war. This doesn’t seem like a plan you just came up with.”

“From the beginning.”

“Then why didn’t you tell me in advance?”

“I came to help you win anyway, did I really need to give you advance notice? You should just be grateful and accept it quietly now that I’m here.”

“…”

Calcus fell silent again.

That’s right. Even if you want to say something, you have nothing to say. You couldn’t think of a better tactic. While the Emperor would hold the position of Commander-in-Chief, Hugrey would be doing the actual commanding. Calcus would just need to use his fork to eat the tiger steak that Hugrey would spoon-feed him.

Fortunately, this lion emperor seemed intelligent even if he lacked war experience. It seemed he had decided to swallow his pride and follow Hugrey’s instructions.

Now all that was left was to lead out the Commander-in-Chief lion who had come under his command.