“Do you like the place where you’ll take your eternal rest?”

Startled by the sudden voice, Claudel turned around.

“Butler. Have some gold coins given to the gravedigger. It seems the Duchess is quite pleased with the tombstone.”

“Yes. Yes, my lord.”

As the butler nodded to the guard behind him, one of the men bowed his head and rushed out.

“…”

Claudel closed her mouth, unable to say anything. Not just her, but everyone held their breath, not daring to make a sound in the face of Kaian’s cold and seemingly angry demeanor.

“Come this way.”

At the commanding tone, Claudel stepped back and stood beside him.

“Not the right side, but the left. Don’t you even know the basics?”

At his reproachful words, she was abruptly grabbed by the arm and moved to stand on his left side.

A strong masculine scent wafted from the man holding her.

It was the manly fragrance that had bound Claudel tightly the night before.

He had been quite skilled.

Kaian was known as a striking handsome man with great spirit, and rumors were rampant that every day, a different virgin entered his bedchamber, even in the far northern Valmond.

His body was different from the harsh words he had spoken to her when she was about to lose her senses, as it was her first time.

It was quite fortunate for Claudel that the husband who took her virginity was not inexperienced.

If he had been, she might have broken an arm or leg under his strong frame.

When she opened her eyes in the morning, Kaian had already left the bedroom, so this was the first time she was seeing him since spending the night together.

‘There was no wedding night gift, I see.’

If a husband was satisfied with his bride on the first night, baskets or boxes filled with flowers and gifts would have been piled up in the lady’s bedroom and corridor.

It was a useless tradition of the Oberon Kingdom, but it was such a customary practice that when noble ladies gathered, they would compete to boast about what they received from their husbands after the wedding night. The meaning or symbolism of the gift depended on what it was.

Expensive jewels to show off wealth, trophies received from the king to display honor, or heirlooms passed down from the head of the family’s mother as a pledge of fidelity to the woman who would become his wife.

This morning, there was nothing placed in front of Claudel’s room, making it feel desolate.

There was so much that could be understood without being said.

She could be certain that from tonight on, she would not see him in the bedroom.

It was truly a pitiful situation.

In the midst of all this, looking at the stone with her name engraved on it, she felt grateful thinking that at least Kaian didn’t seem to be planning to cast her out.

Claudel hid her sorrowful feelings and calmly offered flowers and wine to the graves where the masters of House Temnes slept.

She was unaware that Kaian was secretly glancing at her side profile.

After visiting the underground cemetery, the celebration continued from yesterday.

While yesterday the renowned bloodline of the Temnes had gathered and gotten drunk, today it was the vassals who had sworn loyalty to House Temnes who were downing alcohol.

Only the barking dogs had changed from family members to vassals.

The atmosphere of people getting drunk while grumbling their discontent about the marriage with Vermonte was not much different from yesterday, and Kaian sat at the highest seat with an unimpressed face, slowly wetting his lips with alcohol.

‘What a strange woman.’

What occupied his mind was Claudel, whom he had seen in the cemetery earlier.

Kaian had descended underground leading a few armed guards. Despite the surely loud echoing of their heavy armor as they arrived at the underground tomb, Claudel seemed lost in thought, in a daze.

She was caressing the cold tombstone with hazy eyes.

As if the tombstone was incredibly impressive and to her liking, she wore a gentle expression, seeming to be dreaming in another world in the middle of the cemetery.

That expression irritated Kaian.

She should have made such a face when he made her touch his body with those hands last night.

Not clenching her eyes shut and pressing her lips tightly, waiting for the terrible ordeal to pass. In his arms, which many maidens were desperate to be held in.

Meanwhile, Kaian had been quite satisfied with the bride he had no expectations for, so after Claudel fell into a deep sleep, he left the bedroom and prepared flowers and gifts belatedly.

He remembered telling the butler, who was being a nuisance about traditions, that ‘Flowers to give to a Vermonte don’t grow in Rowen land.’

Claudel had become his bride after all, and was his wife.

Moreover, unlike his worries that it might be too awkward and disgusting to spend the first night together, she didn’t seem that uncomfortable even when he was sober.

Because she was no longer a Vermonte.

She was a Temnes now.

Even when he glanced at the woman for whom he had prepared a place to lie next to his own grave, which he had built when he became the head of the family, with her name engraved on it, he didn’t feel too bad.

Considering he had married the cursed Vermonte, that is.

But seeing the woman who hadn’t received the gift he sent, he suddenly felt very annoyed.

It was common sense to wear the wedding night gift for grooming the next day.

If Claudel had accepted him as her husband, she should have put the flowers he sent in her hair and worn the ring he gifted on her finger.

The gift Kaian had given Claudel was a large blue diamond ring that his mother had received as a wedding night gift from the previous Duke Temnes.

It was one of the treasures passed down through generations in House Temnes, but Claudel wouldn’t have known that.

‘Is it not enough to her eyes, being so luxurious?’

He briefly remembered Claudel’s appearance on the wedding day, adorned with treasures from head to toe.

From tiara to rings, necklace, brooch, and even belt.

Every single piece was an expensive precious item, as if she had robbed some country’s royal treasury.

For a woman who enjoyed such things, the simple ring with just a rare blue diamond might have seemed unremarkable, but his male pride had already been hurt.

“I wish a year would pass quickly.”

One of the vassals grumbled.

“Once the marriage period is over, we should drive Vermonte out of our Rowen land as soon as possible.”

“That’s right. Only 364 days left now.”

As Kaian remained silent, they excitedly chattered, seemingly taking it as a given that Claudel would be driven out of this castle in a year.

“Your Grace, congratulations on your marriage.”

Among them, a thin middle-aged man with dark ash-colored hair and a beard approached him, rubbing his hands together. It was Verbruck Cranden, who was in charge of managing the orchards in the territory.

“Is it something to congratulate?”

“Of course it is. After all, isn’t it something that you didn’t marry the cherished daughter of Duke Vermonte? Even Duke Vermonte would turn a blind eye to driving out an adopted daughter.”

Verbruck studied his reaction.

“Who doesn’t know that Claudel is that family’s troublemaker? If you had married Lady Irena, who is rumored to be beloved by Duke Vermonte, he might have sent assassins to Rowen Castle when you mistreated her like yesterday.”

“You seem to know quite a bit about Vermonte?”

When Kaian responded, Verbruck became excited.

He hadn’t even known the name of the woman he married until he entered the bridal chamber last night.

He only knew that he had suddenly married a Vermonte woman because of the damned King of Oberon, and he had no intention of taking this matter seriously or sincerely.

Claudel was the adopted daughter of Duke Vermonte.

Duke Vermonte had a younger brother, but worried about succession disputes, the Duke had driven him to the outskirts of the territory to live no differently from a commoner.

Claudel was the daughter born between him and a common woman.

However, in reality, marriage between nobles and commoners was not recognized by Oberon law, so Claudel grew up without a proper status until she was over ten years old.

Then, when her mother died in an accident, her father returned to Valmond Castle with young Claudel, entrusted his daughter to his older brother, and left a will saying he would go to his beloved wife’s side before dying.

Fortunately, Claudel was a child with red hair and golden eyes that only appeared in the direct line of House Vermonte.

There were many rumors that Duke Vermonte had paid an enormous price to his wife to adopt Claudel into the Vermonte family.

Kaian had intended to annihilate Vermonte in this territorial war.

He meant to ensure that the name Vermonte would never appear again in the future of Oberon land, and that was the long-cherished desire of House Temnes.

However, the King of Oberon, being politically savvy, did not want Vermonte to be completely wiped out.

On the other hand, as Verbruck said, it was clever and cunning of the king to use the adopted daughter, not the biological daughter of the current head of House Vermonte, as a sacrifice for this political marriage. It was as good as telling Kaian that he would turn a blind eye to divorce or breaking off the engagement.

Lost in thought, Verbruck lingered beside Kaian, seemingly wanting something.

“So, Your Grace. If you drive out Vermonte after the marriage period, please send her to me.”

“What?”

“When I was young, I had a connection with a woman from Valmond. Ha. I tried hard to meet her again, but who would have thought a red-haired northern woman would marry into the enemy Rowen land? I’ve been living as a widower all this time.”

A sly smile spread across Verbruck’s wrinkled eyes.

“She’s practically abandoned by Vermonte too. If you drive her out, she’ll have nowhere to go, so please let me take her in.”

“Do as you wish.”

Kaian raised his wine glass indifferently.

“Thank you.”

Pushing aside the grateful Verbruck, a drunken vassal prostrated himself before him.

“This marriage is an insult! If you give me permission, I’ll ride a horse to the north right now and those worm-like Vermonte bastards…”

The butler squeezed through the commotion in front of Kaian to report to him.

“Your Grace. Duke Vermonte has just arrived at the castle.”

“Now?”

He sneered as if he knew it would happen.

“He comes running like a debt collector when it’s time to receive the bride price.”

It was time to give out the promised grain to the starving Valmond now that the wedding night had been consummated.

Kaian drained his glass and rose.

The room of the Duchess Temnes was antique and bright.

White stone pillars were decorated here and there with rose carvings made of light pink jade, and surrounded by gold trim, it was particularly dazzling in broad daylight.

Claudel, sitting there, looked even paler and more haggard.

“Damn those Temnes bastards. They’ve really fallen into a swamp of luxury.”

In reality, Claudel’s uncle, Duke Vermonte, was a man with the same red hair and golden eyes as her.

The reason he had adopted his niece Claudel into the Vermonte family was because she fully possessed the symbolic colors that only manifested in the direct line.

If she hadn’t had red hair and golden eyes, she wouldn’t have been married off to Rowen.

After all, this peace treaty focused on sending a daughter of Vermonte.

Duke Vermonte, who had been cursing House Temnes for a while without even glancing at Claudel, finally sat down on the sofa across from her and picked up a teacup.

“How’s your health?”

When Claudel didn’t answer, he asked again as if urging her.

“I’m asking if you’re preparing well to die?”