‘This is the smell of Markas herb!’

About 5 years ago, a wizard from the magic tower created a sleeping herb for dieting.

It quickly gained popularity as it was said to make you lose weight just by sleeping after burning it, but sales were suspended within a month after someone died while sleeping after using it.

The ultimate reason why Markas herb could help lose weight was that it repeatedly showed the user’s most terrifying memories in dreams, depleting their energy.

After having nightmares for a few days, people naturally lost their appetite, became nervous, and lost weight.

The person who died had repeatedly dreamed of their most horrific life memory, became depressed, and made an extreme choice.

Until then, users had kept quiet because of its effectiveness, but after someone died, this fact was revealed, and the wizard was expelled from the magic tower.

One of the characteristics of this sleeping herb, which is now absolutely impossible to obtain on the market, was that it had a strong floral scent.

Arasila had participated in the full investigation at the time and had burned the herb. That’s why the smell wasn’t unfamiliar.

Arasila looked around to find the source of the smell.

Soon her gaze turned to the candlestick placed on the bedside table. The scent was spreading from there throughout the room.

Arasila unhesitatingly extinguished the candle and picked it up.

When she smashed it hard on the floor and broke it, a tightly rolled bundle of grass came out from inside what looked like an ordinary white candle.

Looking at Demian’s gaunt face suffering from nightmares, Arasila bit her lip.

If he had been sleeping smelling the Markas herb since coming down to the duke’s territory, it was understandable why he had been acting so sensitively, having suffered terrible nightmares all along.

And why he couldn’t wake up easily now.

‘They used this on Demian?’

Enraged, Arasila decided to immediately inform him of this fact and free him from the effects of the herb.

After opening the window wide to let the herb smell escape, she forcibly raised his upper body, grabbed his shoulders, and shook him.

“Demian, wake up! Wake up right now, I say!”

Though he had lost weight these past few days, Demian’s body, basically packed with muscle, was heavy. Arasila grunted as she struggled to shake him back and forth.

Then Demian slowly opened his eyes. His hazy gaze turned towards Arasila.

“Ah, are you awake?”

“……”

“Then take a look at this!”

Arasila, highly excited, thrust the crushed candle in front of Demian’s eyes.

“Do you know what this is? It’s the candle that was on this bedside table, and it had Markas herb inside!”

Demian, suffering from a headache due to the sudden awakening, rubbed his forehead and frowned.

He looked alternately at Arasila and the white lump in her hand, then let out a deep sigh.

“……What are you doing, wife.”

“What do you mean what am I doing, I’m helping you!”

Arasila retorted proudly. She was feeling pleased with herself for recalling the identity of the herb and uncovering the cause of the nightmares.

“The ducal family must have used the herb. Ah, right. Let me tell you what Markas herb is. It’s known to be effective for dieting—”

“Go back to your room.”

Demian coldly cut off Arasila’s words. Arasila blinked a couple of times and slowly narrowed her brow.

“No, wait a minute. Is that all you have to say when I’ve just saved you?”

The answer that came to this bewildered question was even more bewildering.

“Don’t try to gloss over the situation like this. Didn’t I ask you to wait until my emotions settled? Is that so difficult?”

“No, that’s not it……”

“What’s the big deal about a mere candle.”

Demian was speaking as if she was making a fuss over nothing, trying to reconcile awkwardly.

Arasila opened her mouth, at a loss for words. Realizing that he hadn’t listened to a word she said, she felt quite upset.

If she hadn’t noticed today, someone would have continued burning the Markas herb in this room, and no matter how long they waited, Demian’s emotions would never have settled.

Because the nightmares would have repeated, tormenting his nerves every day.

So it was right to actively seek a solution rather than just waiting, but Arasila, who had suddenly become the impatient one, truly lost her patience.

“You really don’t understand when I use words.”

She muttered in a low voice. Demian replied with a tired expression.

“You’ve only now realized that. Go back right now……”

Whoosh, Arasila threw something at Demian. It was the shawl she had been wearing over her shoulders.

Demian, with the shawl draped over his head, frowned as he pulled off the fabric. He looked at Arasila with an unpleasant face.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m throwing it instead of a glove.”

“What do you……”

“I’m challenging you to a duel right now, Sir Demian Vandermir.”

Among knights, throwing the left-hand glove is commonly understood as a challenge to a duel.

But since Arasila didn’t have gloves at the moment, she substituted with the shawl she had.

“……Are you serious?”

Demian asked, dumbfounded at receiving a duel challenge from his wife in the middle of sleep. Arasila responded with an equally serious question.

“Do you know a good place to duel without being disturbed by anyone?”

“Wife.”

“If you don’t know, let’s go to the back mountain. I’ll be back down in 10 minutes, so you get ready too.”

Having unilaterally finished speaking, Arasila left the room. Demian looked down at the shawl with a bewildered feeling.

Is this really a duel challenge?

Truthfully, he had thought once or twice about wanting to face her purely as a knight versus a magician, but he never imagined it would be realized in this way.

Demian buried his face in his hands and sighed.

‘As if I don’t have enough of a headache already, now my wife too……’

The dream of his mother drew out other related memories as it repeated. Accordingly, the emotions from that time buried deep in his heart were also being dragged out.

Though he tried hard not to show it to Arasila, honestly, Demian was in pain.

For him, memories of his mother that might be warm and comforting to others were the worst.

‘But even if I tell this to my wife, she wouldn’t understand.’

Perhaps the reaction would go beyond simple lack of understanding. Demian honestly couldn’t say he wasn’t afraid of that.

With mixed emotions, he put on a vest over the shirt he was wearing and grabbed his sword. Soon after, Arasila returned in similar attire.

In her hand was a makeshift staff similar to the one she had used during the recent hunting festival. It meant she was serious about dueling Demian.

As Demian stared blankly, Arasila gestured with her chin.

“What are you doing, lead the way.”

“……Wife, don’t do something you’ll regret.”

“No way. I’m going to fix your mindset properly today.”

Arasila smiled brightly and added in a voice tinged with mockery.

“Are you afraid you might lose to me?”

At that, Demian’s face hardened. Clear competitiveness gleamed in his moon-like eyes.

“Follow me.”

He strode forward. Leaving the castle through the back garden gate, he led Arasila to a wide field surrounded by trees.

It was far from the castle and rarely visited, making it the optimal dueling location with little chance of innocent people getting involved.

Stopping at a suitable spot, Demian turned to Arasila and said,

“If you really want to duel seriously, let’s set the rules first.”

“There’s only one rule. The first person to say surrender loses.”

There was no need for any other lengthy rules beyond that.

Arasila rolled up her sleeves and gripped her staff firmly.

Demian drew his sword from its sheath. A sword aura flowed along the silver blade.

“Wife, I won’t go easy on you this time, so be prepared.”

“You talk too much for a fight. Shut up and come at me.”

Arasila gathered magic in the mana stone at the tip of her staff and fired it quickly. At the same time, Demian swung his sword, releasing a sword aura.

The two forces met in midair with a loud explosion, signaling the start of the duel.

The battle between the Sword Master and the future candidate for Magic Tower Master was fierce.

The two clashed evenly for quite some time.

As a result, their hair was in a mess from tumbling around, their clothes were disheveled, and each had a few small scratches.

Both attacked mercilessly with all their might, causing the ground to be gouged in places, or innocent nearby trees to be hit instead and fall sideways.

Arasila persistently aimed for Demian’s hands with the purpose of making him drop his sword. Of course, Demian, having often received such concentrated attacks, skillfully blocked them.

However, since Arasila was incomparably stronger than any opponents he had faced before, it was inevitable that he would take some damage.

Then, in one moment.

Arasila, who had been relentlessly targeting only his hands, suddenly changed direction and aimed for Demian’s legs.

“……!”

A binding spell instantly tied Demian’s feet tightly. As he lost balance and staggered, Arasila, who had recklessly charged at him, rammed into him with her body.

Thud!

‘No, what is this……’

Demian was taken aback by Arasila’s sudden attempt at hand-to-hand combat.

He could have easily swung his sword when she came close, but no matter that it was a duel, he couldn’t bring himself to do that to her.

Thump.

Demian fell backwards. Reflexively dropping his sword, he wrapped his arms around Arasila’s head as she fell with him.

He winced at the pain in his back. However, Arasila paid no attention and got up, straddling him and pressing down hard as she raised one hand.

Thinking she was about to use magic, Demian raised his arm to block the attack.

But instead of using magic, Arasila firmly pinched both his cheeks.

“Mmph……?!”

“You fool, you idiot.”

Demian looked up at Arasila with astonished eyes. She kept a straight face as she pulled at Demian’s cheeks.

“I’m going to do this until you come to your senses.”

“Ugh!”

Demian reflexively grabbed her slender wrists but let go again. It felt wrong to forcefully remove such delicate bones.

He tried to convey his wish for her to let go through his eyes, but Arasila paid no attention and applied more and more strength to her fingers pinching his cheeks.

To say this attack was nothing would be a lie – it truly hurt.

Finally, unable to bear it any longer, Demian unconsciously raised both hands and cried out.

“Ugh.”

“……Do you surrender?”

“Ye.”

But even after hearing his answer, Arasila didn’t immediately let go of his cheeks. She added an additional condition.

“I’ll let you go if you promise to listen carefully to what I say from now on.”

“……”

Demian painfully swallowed his complaint that this was different from before and nodded. After all, freeing his cheeks was the most important thing now.

Arasila pinched his cheeks hard one last time before removing her hands.

With both cheeks bright red, Demian tried to get up while rubbing his face. But he failed as Arasila pressed down on his shoulders again.

“What are you……”

“Listen in this position, Demian.”

Her wavy lavender hair tickled his sore cheeks as it fell. With the starry night sky as a backdrop, her face looked strangely moist.

She didn’t look like she was about to cry, but she seemed somewhat sorrowful.

So Demian had no choice but to quietly accept her will. As he stayed still, Arasila’s lips slowly opened.

“I didn’t ruin your mother’s dress.”

Perhaps because his cheeks had been thoroughly pinched, Demian, unlike before, quietly listened to Arasila’s words with a clear head.

“When Viscountess Fanning gave me the dress, she also brought wine and spilled it while opening the bottle.”

“……”

“I apologize for my careless words, not knowing it was your mother’s dress. I’m truly sorry. I spoke lightly thinking the viscountess had given it on the duchess’s orders.”

Having said what she wanted to say, Arasila got off Demian. As he slowly got up, Demian’s eyes wavered.

Now that he knew the truth of the incident, he realized that the one who had really made a mistake was himself.

If he had properly listened to Arasila’s words from the beginning, he wouldn’t have made strange misunderstandings on his own and caused things to turn out like this.

The words he had thrown at her like daggers now returned to him as shame and embarrassment.

Rubbing his face, Demian apologized to Arasila with a shamefaced expression.

“I’m sorry, I……”

“I know. You probably couldn’t make normal judgments because of the Markas herb.”

Arasila sat down next to Demian, hugging her knees.

Though she had clearly been very angry until just now, seeing his truly apologetic face, her heart melted like snow.

It was probably because she knew that the Markas herb had greatly influenced Demian’s stubborn attitude.

“Ah, now can I explain about the Markas herb?”

“……Yes, please do.”

Demian, who hadn’t even pretended to listen when Arasila tried to explain in the room, answered with his head bowed.

Smiling slightly, Arasila explained in detail about the effects of the Markas herb. As he listened, Demian’s face hardened.

“Damn it, I was foolishly tricked.”

He muttered in a low voice, regarding himself with contempt. Arasila stared at Demian for a while before asking.