“Fortunately, when the child fell from the cliff, they were held in that person’s arms, so there were no notable external injuries when found.”

“Hmm, is that really fortunate?”

Grand Duke Martins asked, placing one hand on the shoulder of his shadow knight, Sir Rolf.

“Pardon?”

“When I think about that child’s future life, I wonder if surviving was truly fortunate.”

“Grand Duke, if that mercenary knight doesn’t wake up and dies… what do you plan to do with that child?”

“Why, would you like to raise them, Sir Rolf?”

As Sir Rolf scratched his head and smiled at Grand Duke Martins’s question, the Grand Duke clicked his tongue with a look of disdain.

“My, have you already grown attached?”

Sir Rolf, the Grand Duke’s guard knight, was his sparring opponent in his first knighthood test.

The Grand Duke was utterly defeated by Sir Rolf, who was of lower status, and failed the knighthood test.

Afterwards, the Grand Duke summoned him to the grand ducal residence and made him his sparring partner.

Despite consistent practice, his skills didn’t improve at all, so the Grand Duke gave up on swordsmanship and instead made Sir Rolf his subordinate.

Though loyal, his weakness was that his heart was too soft.

“You may retire for today. Ah, Sir Rolf. There’s one thing I’d like to ask.”

“Please speak.”

“At this hour, what business would a man have going to a woman? And at such a quick pace?”

“Do you know what kind of relationship those two have?”

As this was not at all the type of question that usually came from Grand Duke Martins’s mouth, Sir Rolf looked at him strangely while still feeling curious.

“Husband and wife, as of now.”

“Then it seems there’s only one possibility, doesn’t it?”

“One possibility, what?”

Grand Duke Martins’s sharp face twisted.

“The husband is in a hurry, isn’t he?”

“In a hurry for what?”

“You know, to share passionate… er…”

“Huh? That cold-blooded man?”

“Even the cold-blooded have sexual desires, don’t they?”

“I heard the Emperor doesn’t go near women, so why…”

“Grand Duke! Did you just say Emperor? Ah, they say he’s taking in concubines, is he already getting busy at night?”

Sir Rolf, who had been indifferent to Grand Duke Martins’s questions until now, suddenly asked in a voice full of curiosity.

“Not concubines, but Zelda von Trova.”

“Gasp, Her Majesty the Empress?!”

“Hey, the words ‘Her Majesty the Empress’ come out very naturally from you?”

“Well, it’s the truth, isn’t it? Until they divorce.”

“Well, you’re right.”

The Grand Duke nodded, agreeing with Sir Rolf’s words.

“It’s a completely unexpected turn of events. To think that the seemingly fastidious Emperor Rinel Gardion Edfa’s taste would be the Empress.”

“Surprisingly, His Majesty the Emperor seems to have good taste. I didn’t think so, but…”

The two men’s opinions diverged simultaneously.

“What did you just say? The Emperor has good taste? That sounds like you’re saying the Empress is quite attractive?”

Am I the only one who didn’t know?

Grand Duke Martins thought to himself while outwardly pushing Sir Rolf’s chest with his fist.

“I hesitate to say this, but when I was in the kingdom, I saw Her Majesty the Empress from afar a few times.”

Sir Rolf spoke as if recalling a woman he had a secret crush on, remembering the moment he saw Zelda.

“Look at this? You’re not joking, but serious? What kind of appearance did the Empress have for you to make such an expression now?”

The Grand Duke stared at Sir Rolf’s face as if observing it.

“At the training grounds.”

“Where?”

“I saw her training in swordsmanship alone at the training grounds several times.”

“What? The Empress knows swordsmanship?!”

The Grand Duke doubted his own ears.

“Yes, watching Her Majesty display her swordsmanship is not just beautiful, but mesmerizing.”

“Don’t tell me the Empress’s skills surpass yours?”

“Goodness, compared to her, I should put a sword in my mouth and die right now.”

“The Empress… practices swordsmanship?”

As Grand Duke Martins muttered while stroking his chin, Sir Rolf quickly added:

“And cursedly well at that. Extremely well.”

For Sir Rolf to speak with such admiring eyes, it meant her skills were truly extraordinary.

So that’s why the Empress knew I had failed the knighthood test?

How much must she have laughed at me inside?

“Damn it all.”

Upon hearing that Zelda was proficient in swordsmanship, Grand Duke Martins cursed without realizing it.

Regardless of the Grand Duke’s deep contemplation, Sir Rolf continued speaking as if in praise.

“For us, you see? When we see someone with superior swordsmanship skills, we feel emotions similar to falling in love. That’s how it is for knights, though of course, you wouldn’t understand such feelings, Grand Duke.”

Sir Rolf didn’t intend to mock the Grand Duke, who had repeatedly failed the swordsmanship test, but he occasionally lacked tact like this.

“…Hmm, you may leave now.”

“Yes, Grand Duke. And though I hesitated to mention this as it’s not certain yet, I think it’s best you know.”

“What is it.”

“That mercenary Norton, it’s known his origin is unclear, but he might not be of low birth.”

“On what grounds?”

“The jewel embedded in the hilt of the sword he was carrying broke, and there was something like a seal inside.”

“A seal?”

“Yes, it wasn’t a seal used in the Kingdom of Shattonil.”

“What did that seal look like to you?”

“I’m not sure, but it might be a seal used by noble families or royalty… though he could have stolen that sword from somewhere.”

Suddenly, Grand Duke Martins’s eyes sharpened.

“Sir Rolf, bring me that sword.”

[This is the timeline separator]

Wait, the towel should be in the bathroom, right?

Why did I come out?

As I looked around the bedroom, I hit my forehead with my hand and went back to the bathroom.

It seems I came out without properly closing the bathroom door in my confusion.

If his cursedly cold body turns into an ice sculpture, it would be half my fault.

“The towel is in the bathroom, but I mistakenly looked for it in the bedroom. Haha.”

I said awkwardly as I entered the bathroom.

He was turned away.

As the misty steam began to escape outside, his gradually revealed back view was truly fantastic.

Rinel’s back view reminded one of Tepero, the god of war.

He glanced back at me while wiping the moisture from his body with a towel and gave a slight smile.

His moist smile, lacking in reality, made me feel dizzy.

“Zelda, I think I’ve lost feeling in my toes.”

Oh no!

“J-Just a moment!”

I need to find a new towel quickly.

Regaining my senses, I looked around the bathroom, trying to remember where the servants had left the towels.

As I lost my composure, my body and mind seemed to act separately, causing me to do foolish things repeatedly.

Like someone who had lost their sense of direction, I searched in the wrong places and eventually slipped on the wet floor, flailing my arms like windmills.

“Kyaaak!”

My body, falling backwards, stopped in mid-air.

He had wrapped his arms around my waist and was looking down at me.

It was a position that felt stable.

In the meantime, most of the steam had escaped from the bathroom, and Rinel’s handsome face came clearly into my view.

“That was a close call.”

Rinel slightly furrowed his brow.

“A husband who takes concubines just days after marriage is a scoundrel, but a wife who makes her husband a widower just days after marriage is also a scoun…”

He was smoothly speaking in a cheeky manner when he suddenly paused.

I held back my laughter and asked with a serious face.

“Gasp, were you perhaps going to call me a ‘wench’?”

“…What?”

“Usually ‘scoundrel’ and ‘wench’ go together as a set, don’t they?”

“No? I was going to say ‘scoundrel woman.’ That’s what I was going to say, right? Yes, that’s what it was?”

“It doesn’t seem like it?”

“Do you really think so? But suddenly my arms feel very sore?”

He slightly loosened his grip on my waist.

“Aack, you scoundrel!”

I cried out, desperately clinging to his body.

“!”

Wait, what did I just say…?

“Are you speaking recklessly because you’re about to die?”

Rinel threatened, seeming as if he might let go of his hands supporting my waist.

“Absolutely not! The thought of possibly dying made me speak rashly!”

“It’s not very convincing. It seems like you just made that up?”

“Wasn’t it quite good for something made up on the spot?”

Fortunately, Rinel burst into laughter at my words and set me upright without removing his hands from my waist.

He had already wrapped a towel around his waist at some point.

“Thank you for saving me. They say even the gods can’t recognize a person who dies from a cracked skull…”

“Don’t mention it. But, even if the gods can’t recognize you, shouldn’t you refrain from calling your husband a scoundrel?”

“Of course…”

“And besides the cracked skull, it would be troublesome if our marital relationship cracked because I didn’t catch you.”

“That’s true…”

When he had held me in support earlier, the distance was so close that it felt suffocating, but now just standing face to face made my breathing rough.

One way or another, my breath quickened.

I inwardly hypnotized myself not to let my gaze wander below his Adam’s apple, which I wanted to press.

Unknowingly, my chin kept being pulled down, but I consciously kept raising my eyes to focus on the center of his forehead.

“Is there something on it?”

Noticing my strange gaze, he asked while touching his forehead with his palm.

“No, your forehead is just… very handsome.”

“Look again.”

“Pardon?”

“Surely the handsome parts aren’t limited to just the forehead?”

He took a step back and spread his arms as he spoke.

I thought he might spin around, but thankfully he didn’t do that.

The person himself was a work of art, so there was no need to look for particularly handsome spots.

Because the door leading to the bedroom had been left open, all the steam that had filled the bathroom disappeared, gradually brightening the view.

Only then did I discover that there were spare towels on the table behind the bathtub.

“Here, use this to wipe off the remaining moisture.”

I turned my head to the side and handed him the towel with both hands.

“If someone saw us, they’d think we haven’t even had our wedding night yet? It’s too much.”

“What is?”

“The shyness.”

He said mockingly as he wiped off the remaining moisture with the new towel.

“Strictly speaking, we didn’t properly have our wedding night either.”

Ah, why did I blurt out such words when there was no need to be so particular about it.

I don’t know why words keep popping out as if I’ll die from some disease if I don’t talk back to him at every turn.

“I agree with that thought too.”

He nodded his head vigorously.

No, don’t agree!

“Let’s talk in the bedroom first. My feet feel numb.”

Rinel said, looking down at his wriggling toes.

Oh no.

“Yes, yes! Let’s go out quickly.”

“Hold on.”

He reached out his hand to me.

A kind man.

And a sexy man at that.

My heart was anxious that the towel loosely wrapped around his hips might depart on some distant journey.

“Come on. We shouldn’t slip.”

“Thank you, I’ll walk carefully so I don’t fall.”

As expected, his hand was ice-cold.

Well, as long as his heart is warm, it’s fine.

Speaking shyly, I took his hand and lightly stepped across the slippery bathroom floor.

“Not you. I mean me.”

“What? What do you mean?”

“I shouldn’t slip.”

“…Oh.”

“Think about it. What if I slip and get hurt? ‘The Shattonil-born Empress tried to assassinate the Lapion Emperor, disguising it as an accidental death while coming out of the bath!’ It’s perfect for such misunderstandings, isn’t it?”

“Ah, haha. I see? Since you’re the esteemed Emperor, you should be careful. As for me, well, it’s fine if I fall, since you have four concubines besides me, right?”

My face must clearly show hurt feelings, but he found something so funny that he held his stomach and laughed.

We held hands again and carefully made our way out of the bathroom, taking care not to slip.

[This is the timeline separator]

“Quickly get under the covers and lie down.”

I hastily pulled back the blanket on the bed and urged him to get in first.

“My body is quite cold.”

Rinel climbed onto the bed and pulled the covers up to his neck as he sat.

“Lie down completely, that way your body will warm up faster.”

“Alright, I will.”

He immediately lay down on the bed.

At times like this, he seemed like a well-behaved, gentle child.

“Won’t you lie down too? It seems you’re the ultimate weapon for raising my body temperature.”

“The ultimate weapon has a few things to do first, just a moment please.”

I firmly tucked the blanket around him to prevent drafts and went out of the bedroom.

I told the head servant Stian, who was waiting outside, to bring his nightclothes and the uniform he would wear tomorrow morning, and I asked Sharon to bring warm lemon tea with honey.

When I returned to the bedroom, Rinel was sitting with the blanket pulled over his head.

He watched me as if observing my approach to the bed.

As I got closer, his expression gradually hardened.

Did I do something wrong?

“Who are you?”

The question was so out of the blue that I just blinked, standing awkwardly in front of the bed without sitting down.

“What… do you mean?”

“What is your true identity?”

This time his voice dropped even lower.

Could it be, has he started to doubt my identity?

But when, how?

“Was that a difficult question?”

Rinel narrowed his eyes.

“Zelda, I’m asking what your true identity is…”