“I’ll give it a try.”

Claude finally got up, wrapping the blanket around herself and sitting down.

Sighing, Kaian handed her an apple and a knife, then watched Claude’s hand movements with burning eyes.

Her grip on the knife was very clumsy, lacking strength in her hand.

“Huh?”

Claude looked confused as the knife slid sideways, unable to peel the smooth apple skin despite pressing it at an angle.

“You need to apply pressure. No, don’t use too much force.”

Kaian was alarmed when he saw Claude about to clumsily exert force as if she was going to cut her own hand holding the apple.

“Come here.”

Kaian sat Claude between his legs.

Nestled in the large man’s embrace as if made to fit, Claude looked small, with a couple of flower petals from the festival still stuck in her hair, which he plucked off with his lips and blew away.

“Look. Hold the apple in your left hand. Hold the knife in your right hand.”

As Kaian gently applied pressure, overlapping his hands on Claude’s, the apple skin was cut, though less neatly than when he did it alone.

“It’s my first time.”

“You’re showing your pampered upbringing.”

“That’s not it. Can’t you just eat apples with the skin on?”

“At least you won’t starve anywhere.”

As Claude roughly let go of her hands, the rest was up to Kaian.

He quickly peeled off the skin, cut the apple into small pieces, and fed them to Claude, who had already lain back down on the bed. She looked extremely happy.

Just from a piece of apple.

Even when given all sorts of dresses and jewels, she didn’t make such a face.

Kaian thought Claude was indeed a bit strange.

After nibbling and finishing a whole apple, Claude started to doze off with a languid expression.

“You need to wash up.”

“I’m tired.”

“You were tense the whole time because of the festival. That’s why.”

“I guess so.”

Kaian brushed off the fact that he had worked Claude quite hard earlier.

She’d eaten an apple, and after washing up, then… Ahem.

He too had been busy with festival preparations while also traveling to Promhunt, having to manage a packed schedule every day.

Spending time leisurely like this with Claude, without anyone interfering or disturbing, made him feel alive.

“Shall I wash you?”

“No way!”

Claude, who had almost closed her eyes like someone about to fall asleep, opened them wide as if cornered on a cliff.

“Absolutely not.”

“Why?”

“That’s… a bit…”

“What’s the issue between husband and wife?”

“Still. Um.”

Claude, who had been watching him cautiously, scurried off to the bathroom before he could stop her.

“Then I’ll wash up first.”

Claude disappeared like a shot, as if she was so worried he would insist on washing her.

However, less than five minutes later, there was no sound of water or any sign of someone washing inside the bathroom.

“Claude?”

When there was no answer from inside, Kaian gently pushed the door open.

As expected, Claude had fallen asleep, lying face down with her arms resting on the edge of the bathtub.

The steam rising from the hot water made the sleeping woman appear even more beautiful.

Kaian gathered her red hair submerged in the water with his hand and lathered it with soap.

Having fallen into a deep sleep, Claude kept sleeping soundly even as he gently moved her arms to lay her down in the water as if adjusting her posture.

After carefully washing her hair and wiping her face with a damp towel, he wrapped her in a large towel and carried her out. He laid Claude on the bed and pressed a towel on her hair to dry it.

“There was a time when just seeing red hair made me want to draw my sword in anger.”

The grudge against Vermonte couldn’t disappear all at once as if a line had been drawn.

In fact, even when he saw Irena, who claimed to be Claude’s sister who had come from afar, he couldn’t give her a warm welcome.

In both Temnes and Vermonte, the mutual hatred culminated in the pride of the family heads and had a political power that united the people of the territory.

Perhaps for hundreds of years, while previous generations sharpened their blades against each other, they never thought of reconciliation because there were quite a few advantages to being hostile to each other.

Eventually, Kaian thought to end the family’s long-standing grudge in his generation.

Even if he actually subjugated the land of Vermonte, it would be impossible to directly rule from the southern end to the northern end of the Oberon Kingdom.

It was just that Valqueter always lamented not being able to levy a single penny of tax on the enormous wealth produced in Vermonte and not being able to freely use the North Sea trade route. So he thought that if he waged a territorial war and attacked Vermonte, it would result in opening a new era for Temnes, making Vermonte a royal territory, and showing loyalty to King Oberon.

“But it might be a bit much to turn Vermonte into kindling, since it’s where Claude was born and raised, right?”

For Kaian too, the garden of Lowen Castle was a place full of memories.

The young lord’s study was built as a separate building in the garden forest, and when the cold winter winds came, Queen Sylvia would bring the crown prince Valqueter to stay at Lowen Castle for several weeks for a change of scenery.

Though memories of playing with Bianca were limited as she was young and a girl, with Valqueter, they would run around the garden forest, playing war games just the two of them until sunset.

Looking at Claude, he became curious about Vermonte, which he had ridden through in a rage last time, covering the distance in just two days on the return trip.

If there was a chance, it might be nice to go slowly and look around, see if there were places Claude liked or places that held her memories.

Fortunately, there was quite a capable butler holding down the fort in Lowen.

“When should we go to Vermonte together? How about in two months? Claude?”

Kaian gently whispered to the sleeping woman words that would make the butler exclaim, “Two months! Impossible, my lord!” if he had heard.

“Ah.”

Suddenly realizing how uncharacteristically affectionate his words were, he startled himself.

Claude kept making him do things he wouldn’t normally do.

And it didn’t feel particularly unpleasant.

After all, she was the woman he would live with for the rest of his life.

Claude was his wife, bound to the name of Temnes, unable to escape from him even in death.

After dressing her neatly in soft pajamas, he washed up and returned, pulling her close as usual to sleep.

Vermonte.

Except for the trade port that Valqueter wanted, he had thought to raze everything else to the ground, castle and all.

Wondering if the pleasant scent emanating from Claude was the mystery of Vermonte, he felt he probably couldn’t threaten that land anymore in the future.

‘Would she be happy if I offered to take her to Vermonte?’

Usually, wives who married far away suffered from homesickness.

Kaian had been thinking in a Claude-centric way for some time without realizing it himself.

After the festival, Lowen Castle became even busier.

The land of Lowen, which had spring and summer-like weather all year round, allowed for triple cropping depending on the crop.

In a land where autumn harvest essentially had no meaning, trying to enjoy the autumn festival when everyone else was taking time off meant that all sorts of tasks piled up – autumn sowing, exporting and storing harvested food – leaving Kaian busy without a moment to spare.

In the midst of this, someone who could be called his close friend visited Lowen after a long time, and Kaian found himself at a tributary of the Shen River for a change.

Soon, a familiar ship approached the dock slowly with all its sails furled, skillfully throwing multiple ropes to the mooring posts and pulling them taut.

Even before the ship had fully docked, a man leaped from above, wrapping a rope around his arm as if performing a stunt, and landed in front of Kaian.

“It’s been a while, Duke.”

“Indeed it has, Rohan.”

Kaian welcomed him warmly.

The man was a young man with a tall stature, tousled wheat-colored hair, and dark eyes.

At just three years older than Kaian, Rohan Hindenburg was the figure who had opened up a new route for intercontinental trade, which had been considered Vermonte’s exclusive domain.

Rohan had a very curious and free-spirited personality.

Leaving the stable village life to wander alone here and there itself meant great danger and lack of protection, so his boldness, excellent ability to improvise, and unique skill in gathering information were remarkable.

The reason Kaian came to sponsor him with a large sum of money was because Valqueter would go crazy wanting to use that damn trade port for free whenever it was mentioned, and he wanted to put Vermonte in its place, as it was swaggering about with diplomacy and whatnot while gripping the shortest route across the North Sea.

However, the Hindenburg Trading Company had long since repaid all the money Kaian had invested and was giving him tremendous dividends.

It’s no exaggeration to say that thanks to the Hindenburg Trading Company, he was able to accumulate funds for the territorial war to attack Vermonte.

“What brings you to Lowen at this time of year?”

“I heard an interesting rumor.”

“A rumor?”

Rohan stroked his chin with a grin.

“They say a useful new southern route might open up.”

The northernmost trading port in Vermonte, at the northern tip of the continent, crosses the North Sea between the continents of Ita and Sol.

The route connecting the northern ends of the continents becomes the fastest intercontinental passage if one can avoid the icebergs floating frozen in the sea.

However, since Vermonte monopolized that port, it had no connection to Temnes, regardless of it being the shortest route.

Rohan had deciphered ancient documents and gathered information to discover the east-west trade route, and he was currently the only person who could safely navigate it.

Although it took about twice as long as the northern route, it was much better than having nothing because Vermonte made the northern route a pie in the sky.

But now a southern route was opening?

“Doesn’t the South Sea have squalls?”

The southern sea of the continent, warm year-round, had many weather variables.

The most dangerous among them was the squall nicknamed the ‘sea monster’.

The massive column of swirling wind, when approached, would sweep up everything – seawater, people, ships, sea creatures – with its tremendous force, sending them flying to the ends of the sky.

Because of such disasters, unlike the northern route where an icebreaker with steel reinforced bow was enough to avoid ice chunks, sailing to the southern part of the continent was unthinkable.

“Apparently, someone has calculated where the monster rotates. That’s why the Sol Continent is in an uproar.”

“You’re certainly quick with such rumors.”

“If a southern route is pioneered from the Sol Continent, where do you think the ships will dock?”

The best location would be the Lowen territory.

“What about the Sol Continent?”

“Well, they’ve never even had ships sailing there, so it’s quite inadequate. For now, all the trading ports are concentrated in the north.”

“Last time, you said you’d do some foolish things with the excess dividends since there would be no need for a territorial war due to my marriage.”

“I bought up all the land in the southern region of the Sol Continent that could potentially become new trading ports. Of course, I bought them in our company’s name, but you’re the real owner, aren’t you, Duke?”

Kaian patted Rohan’s shoulder.

It was rare to find someone who did their job properly when entrusted.

Rohan was truly an outstanding talent, so Kaian would readily invest large sums of money without question.

His vassals initially objected to this, but later praised him, saying that the lord indeed had an exceptional eye for talent.

“By the way, how’s married life with your sworn enemy?”

Kaian’s eyebrows shot up towards his forehead at Rohan’s playful question.

“Oops. Why are you looking at me like that? I only asked because you look surprisingly relaxed.”

“It is as you see.”

Kaian had no desire whatsoever to share Claude’s cuteness or the adorable things only he knew about her with Rohan.

“I’ll introduce you today. You’ll be seeing each other often from now on.”

Having thus invited Rohan Hindenburg to the castle, Kaian witnessed an unexpected scene that evening.

Claude, with a face full of great admiration, her hands neatly clasped in front of her chest, her cheeks flushed and eyes sparkling, stared intently at Rohan.

“Is it really you, Lord Rohan? The head of the Hindenburg Trading Company!”

…Lord Rohan?