IHMED - Chapter 6 < Trivial Things >
Having An Enemy's Baby
“Were you waiting for me?”
I had already turned out the candles when I went to bed, so a low-pitched male voice sounded heavy in the dark room.
'I waited?'
It wasn't.
It wasn't, but I nodded without thinking.
“If I had known you were looking forward to the night so eagerly, I would have come sooner.”
Of course, that wasn't it either.
It was when my father passed away that I began to suffer from insomnia.
Every night, he sang a lullaby to me, missing my mother who would have gone to heaven first. It was a song my mother often sang to me when she was putting me to sleep when she was alive.
But since the day my father passed away, I haven't been able to sleep at all.
I stayed up every night, and when the sun came up, Hannah, who had been sleeping in the maid's room, came. When Hannah came and patted me and hugged me, I could barely fall asleep from the warmth and the touch.
A rumor spread within the castle of Valmonde that the daughter of the deceased little master was suffering from mental illness due to shock.
When the Duke of Vermont, who had eyes to see and wanted to add Vermont blood to the family register, became very angry, those who openly gossiped disappeared, but the rumors did not disappear completely.
In the end, the Duke of Vermont pretended not to know that the commoner's maid slept with me in the Princess's room.
It was truly the Duke of Vermont who was so obsessed with his family's honor that he had to pay money to the Pebble family, Baronets, to have Hannah registered because he couldn't let that go.
A wife had to be ready to receive her husband at all times.
It was different from when I was a Princess.
As the head of the family, it was his authority to allow Kaian to enter my room.
He did not notify me in advance when he would come or leave, nor did he receive permission. It was something that would happen unexpectedly like before, so the Lady and her maid should never lie down together where the master was supposed to lie down.
'But I was able to sleep well yesterday?'
Hannah was worried about that too, but I thought that last night I depended on his body heat to help me fall asleep.
For me, even an enemy's body temperature was better than nothing. To me, at least to me.
Kaian took me to the bed and sat me down.
“There’s no need to wait by the door like that. It’s enough for you to lie down first or sit on the bed and wait.”
"Yes."
I answered, and he reached out his hand to my cheek, over my ear, under my chin, and down the nape of my neck, caressing the delicate skin.
I tensed, pursed my lips, and shrugged my shoulders.
“Now that I think about it, you didn’t answer properly.”
Does he always speak in such an unexpected and unkind manner?
Or would a man who looks cold and a little angry in bed be any different to the beautiful girl in his heart?
Kaian asked again as I questioned in my mind.
“I asked you if I was good.”
I opened my eyes wide.
“Let’s say it was because you didn’t like the gift, then did you like it?”
“How dare I treat the Duke like that...”
As I answered hesitantly, Kaian raised his eyebrows.
“Stop saying that.”
I was surprised by his words that showed no regard for dignity.
'What on earth am I supposed to say?'
Earlier, it naturally led to the topic of gifts and passed by without notice. When I saw him pull it out point it out and ask again, I wondered if there was an answer he wanted to hear.
However, my extremely tense mind became blank again.
“It was great.”
I quickly added a word to the barely chosen words.
“I don’t know.”
Should I even say, ‘You’re doing a good job’?
Is it praise he wants?
Although I was confused, I managed to answer anyway.
"Hmm."
As if I was close to the answer, Kaian lay down on the bed and held out his hand.
"Come on."
When I didn't move willingly, he got up again, hugged my body, and laid me on the bed.
“I guess I’ll see if I’m better than yesterday.”
I guess it wasn't the right answer.
It seems that it was me who had to make an effort to receive praise.
Claudel’s body was honest.
As Kaian hugged her, he instinctively knew that Claudel was greeting her first night with him in a state of chastity.
He also knew that not all of the men would have the good fortune of having a wife like that.
If anyone spends the night only with a married couple like her, it would be unacceptable for virgins like moths to jump into his bedroom.
With his hatred for Vermont, he sarcastically asked Claudel if she had any special talents.
Claudel didn't seem to know much about things between men and women.
She had Kaian on edge ever since the sun went down, as it was quite interesting to see a naive woman who had no idea how to be coquettishly reacting to his touch.
‘Shall I go to the bedroom now? No. I can't look like I'm waiting too long for the sun to set. 'I'm sure my every move will be reported to the vile Duke of Vermont.'
He endured and endured among the drunken retainers, and only when the night really came and the darkness deepened did he head to the Duchess's bedroom and was disappointed to see that the lights in the room and hallway were turned off.
'Is it okay to wake up a sleeping woman?'
No one around him could ask such questions.
Claudel was a quiet wife.
If she had been flitting around here and there, he might have dared to ask the vulgar redhead if she was going to show off at Rowan Castle.
However, since she only repeated yes and no in an indifferent manner, there was nothing to find fault with and criticize.
It was different from when I was a Princess.
As the head of the family, it was his authority to allow Kaian to enter my room.
He did not notify me in advance when he would come or leave, nor did he receive permission. It was something that would happen unexpectedly like before, so the Lady and her maid should never lie down together where the master was supposed to lie down.
'But I was able to sleep well yesterday?'
Hannah was worried about that too, but I thought that last night I depended on his body heat to help me fall asleep.
For me, even an enemy's body temperature was better than nothing. To me, at least to me.
Kaian took me to the bed and sat me down.
“There’s no need to wait by the door like that. It’s enough for you to lie down first or sit on the bed and wait.”
"Yes."
I answered, and he reached out his hand to my cheek, over my ear, under my chin, and down the nape of my neck, caressing the delicate skin.
I tensed, pursed my lips, and shrugged my shoulders.
“Now that I think about it, you didn’t answer properly.”
Does he always speak in such an unexpected and unkind manner?
Or would a man who looks cold and a little angry in bed be any different to the beautiful girl in his heart?
Kaian asked again as I questioned in my mind.
“I asked you if I was good.”
I opened my eyes wide.
“Let’s say it was because you didn’t like the gift, then did you like it?”
“How dare I treat the Duke like that...”
As I answered hesitantly, Kaian raised his eyebrows.
“Stop saying that.”
I was surprised by his words that showed no regard for dignity.
'What on earth am I supposed to say?'
Earlier, it naturally led to the topic of gifts and passed by without notice. When I saw him pull it out point it out and ask again, I wondered if there was an answer he wanted to hear.
However, my extremely tense mind became blank again.
“It was great.”
I quickly added a word to the barely chosen words.
“I don’t know.”
Should I even say, ‘You’re doing a good job’?
Is it praise he wants?
Although I was confused, I managed to answer anyway.
"Hmm."
As if I was close to the answer, Kaian lay down on the bed and held out his hand.
"Come on."
When I didn't move willingly, he got up again, hugged my body, and laid me on the bed.
“I guess I’ll see if I’m better than yesterday.”
I guess it wasn't the right answer.
It seems that it was me who had to make an effort to receive praise.
***
Claudel’s body was honest.
As Kaian hugged her, he instinctively knew that Claudel was greeting her first night with him in a state of chastity.
He also knew that not all of the men would have the good fortune of having a wife like that.
If anyone spends the night only with a married couple like her, it would be unacceptable for virgins like moths to jump into his bedroom.
With his hatred for Vermont, he sarcastically asked Claudel if she had any special talents.
Claudel didn't seem to know much about things between men and women.
She had Kaian on edge ever since the sun went down, as it was quite interesting to see a naive woman who had no idea how to be coquettishly reacting to his touch.
‘Shall I go to the bedroom now? No. I can't look like I'm waiting too long for the sun to set. 'I'm sure my every move will be reported to the vile Duke of Vermont.'
He endured and endured among the drunken retainers, and only when the night really came and the darkness deepened did he head to the Duchess's bedroom and was disappointed to see that the lights in the room and hallway were turned off.
'Is it okay to wake up a sleeping woman?'
No one around him could ask such questions.
Claudel was a quiet wife.
If she had been flitting around here and there, he might have dared to ask the vulgar redhead if she was going to show off at Rowan Castle.
However, since she only repeated yes and no in an indifferent manner, there was nothing to find fault with and criticize.
The story about her fierce fighting cock-like maid was a hot topic in the castle.
At first, being quiet seemed like a good thing, but it was also annoying.
'Irritating?'
Kaian asked a question that suddenly occurred to him.
What time the Lady went to bed or what time she had to wait for her husband to arrive were not fixed.
So, even if the woman who stayed up all night after coming a long way in the rain fell asleep early, it's not like she did something she couldn't do, and why should he feel this way?
To a girl from Vermont!
As all sorts of nasty thoughts about waking up the sleeping woman and tormenting her came out, Kaian opened the bedroom door and made eye contact with Claudel, who was standing a short distance away.
Her golden eyes looked clearer than those of ordinary people as if the moon had risen in the black night sky as her eyes grew dark. Even though her back was turned against the moonlight shining in her room, her white skin took on a soft glow.
He was glad to see a woman in a nightgown standing up with her bare feet to greet him.
The woman, who had suffered from the rain the previous day, looked more beautiful than yesterday, perhaps because she had a day off today.
At first, being quiet seemed like a good thing, but it was also annoying.
'Irritating?'
Kaian asked a question that suddenly occurred to him.
What time the Lady went to bed or what time she had to wait for her husband to arrive were not fixed.
So, even if the woman who stayed up all night after coming a long way in the rain fell asleep early, it's not like she did something she couldn't do, and why should he feel this way?
To a girl from Vermont!
As all sorts of nasty thoughts about waking up the sleeping woman and tormenting her came out, Kaian opened the bedroom door and made eye contact with Claudel, who was standing a short distance away.
Her golden eyes looked clearer than those of ordinary people as if the moon had risen in the black night sky as her eyes grew dark. Even though her back was turned against the moonlight shining in her room, her white skin took on a soft glow.
He was glad to see a woman in a nightgown standing up with her bare feet to greet him.
The woman, who had suffered from the rain the previous day, looked more beautiful than yesterday, perhaps because she had a day off today.
He couldn't say for sure, but if Kaian felt that way, that's how it was.
As he entered the second night, he seemed to understand why past generations of family heads had been subject to such austerity.
The accomplishment and catharsis that he felt when, on the battlefield, clashing with shields and spears that would tear and pierce flesh, breaking and splitting the bouncing mess, riding a horse so harshly that it took his breath away, and driving a sword into the heart of an enemy amidst the shouts of knights. He could feel it several times from Claudel's stomach.
The moment when lightning struck him from head to toe and he felt as if he was separated from this world.
Claudel's body, intoxicated by his heat, did not cool down easily, so Kaian hugged her comfortably and caught her breath.
As the struggling breathing between them died down, silence came.
There was no moment like this yesterday because Claudel fell asleep.
She, too, seemed to have become accustomed to receiving him and adjusting her body in a matter of days and seemed to be sleepy and clear.
Claudel, perhaps unable to bear the awkwardness, quietly got up from the bed.
She picked up her thin underwear, put it on, threw it away in a mess, and tried to gather up his formal clothes and put them away.
Kaian thought that Claudel, wearing white underwear with her shoulders exposed, walking lightly in the dark bedroom looked like a fairy. It was then that he lazily watched what she was doing.
Ting, ting, clink.
A small metallic sound rang out on the floor, and Claudel looked at her with a puzzled face.
She hurriedly picked up something and opened her palm to Kaian like a child who had made a big mistake.
"This fell out of your clothes.”
It was a bezel that wrapped around the gold buttons that decorated the dress. Kaian, who had a generous heart like a well-fed lion, answered indifferently.
“It fell from the decoration. It's happened a few times. Don’t worry, the seamstress will fix it.”
But Claudel looked at it closely.
"Why?"
She seemed lost in thought, just as she had earlier seen her grave site in the catacombs.
How could a small piece of gold have such eager eyes?
Claudel suddenly stuck her finger into it.
“Can’t I have this?”
"What?"
“It fits perfectly.”
Strangely enough, the ring-shaped bezel fits perfectly on the fourth finger of her left hand.
Even though she had just seen it fall out of his clothes, it just looked like a ring of thread.
'Well, she wants something like that.'
Kaian answered while lying down comfortably.
“Of course.”
Then Claudel's face brightened.
'Hasn't there been a rumor about Rowen's wealth in Valmonde?'
The drought in Valmonde lasted for as long as ten years.
It was about five years ago that the residents of the territory, who had been holding on due to a long illness and lack of filial sons, began to run away.
Meanwhile, Kaian blocked the export of food to the north, and Vermont's diamonds were reduced to the amount of a sack of beans.
However, as long as the diamond went out of Oberon's kingdom, it was enough money to buy a ship full of beans abroad, so it had been a long time since Temnes actually surpassed Vermont's assets.
Kaian was going to burn down Vermont with that money.
Kaian had sufficient funds ready to wage a territory war. It was a large sum of money, equivalent to several years of the royal budget of the Kingdom of Oberon, but it was worth nothing in punishing the family's enemy.
Just thinking about being engraved on his tombstone as the lord who ended Vermont made his blood boil.
However, Claudel was a truly unique woman who did not even try the blue diamond he gave her but only coveted the thin gold jewelry that had fallen from her clothes.
Then, Kaian came to enlightenment on his own.
'Well, that is... I don't think it suits her well.'
He thinks it would have been too out of place if she had red hair, yellow eyes, and a big blue diamond.
Even for someone who doesn't know much about ladies' decorations, it seemed a bit strange to see each of them showing off their own unique primary colors.
'But do you like it because you got something like that?'
Originally, Valmonde was a major producer of precious metals and gems. Just as the land of Rowan restricted the production of food, Valmonde also controlled the value of what was produced from the mines within the estate.
Her eyes must have been pretty high while she was growing up in the duchy of Vermont.
'Well, maybe there's a sense of accomplishment in getting something from Temnes.'
Kaian, who had come to a good conclusion, closed his eyes.
At this time, Kaian could not have imagined it in his dreams.
"Oh. Did the Duke really give you this?”
"Huh. Isn’t it pretty?”
The next morning, early in the morning, Claudel happily boasted about such a trivial thing to her maid.
Moreover, she had no idea that a rumor would spread in the castle, saying that the woman of Vermont, who was being treated coldly, was lying and saying that she had secretly removed the decorations from the Duke's robes and received stolen items.
As he entered the second night, he seemed to understand why past generations of family heads had been subject to such austerity.
The accomplishment and catharsis that he felt when, on the battlefield, clashing with shields and spears that would tear and pierce flesh, breaking and splitting the bouncing mess, riding a horse so harshly that it took his breath away, and driving a sword into the heart of an enemy amidst the shouts of knights. He could feel it several times from Claudel's stomach.
The moment when lightning struck him from head to toe and he felt as if he was separated from this world.
Claudel's body, intoxicated by his heat, did not cool down easily, so Kaian hugged her comfortably and caught her breath.
As the struggling breathing between them died down, silence came.
There was no moment like this yesterday because Claudel fell asleep.
She, too, seemed to have become accustomed to receiving him and adjusting her body in a matter of days and seemed to be sleepy and clear.
Claudel, perhaps unable to bear the awkwardness, quietly got up from the bed.
She picked up her thin underwear, put it on, threw it away in a mess, and tried to gather up his formal clothes and put them away.
Kaian thought that Claudel, wearing white underwear with her shoulders exposed, walking lightly in the dark bedroom looked like a fairy. It was then that he lazily watched what she was doing.
Ting, ting, clink.
A small metallic sound rang out on the floor, and Claudel looked at her with a puzzled face.
She hurriedly picked up something and opened her palm to Kaian like a child who had made a big mistake.
"This fell out of your clothes.”
It was a bezel that wrapped around the gold buttons that decorated the dress. Kaian, who had a generous heart like a well-fed lion, answered indifferently.
“It fell from the decoration. It's happened a few times. Don’t worry, the seamstress will fix it.”
But Claudel looked at it closely.
"Why?"
She seemed lost in thought, just as she had earlier seen her grave site in the catacombs.
How could a small piece of gold have such eager eyes?
Claudel suddenly stuck her finger into it.
“Can’t I have this?”
"What?"
“It fits perfectly.”
Strangely enough, the ring-shaped bezel fits perfectly on the fourth finger of her left hand.
Even though she had just seen it fall out of his clothes, it just looked like a ring of thread.
'Well, she wants something like that.'
Kaian answered while lying down comfortably.
“Of course.”
Then Claudel's face brightened.
'Hasn't there been a rumor about Rowen's wealth in Valmonde?'
The drought in Valmonde lasted for as long as ten years.
It was about five years ago that the residents of the territory, who had been holding on due to a long illness and lack of filial sons, began to run away.
Meanwhile, Kaian blocked the export of food to the north, and Vermont's diamonds were reduced to the amount of a sack of beans.
However, as long as the diamond went out of Oberon's kingdom, it was enough money to buy a ship full of beans abroad, so it had been a long time since Temnes actually surpassed Vermont's assets.
Kaian was going to burn down Vermont with that money.
Kaian had sufficient funds ready to wage a territory war. It was a large sum of money, equivalent to several years of the royal budget of the Kingdom of Oberon, but it was worth nothing in punishing the family's enemy.
Just thinking about being engraved on his tombstone as the lord who ended Vermont made his blood boil.
However, Claudel was a truly unique woman who did not even try the blue diamond he gave her but only coveted the thin gold jewelry that had fallen from her clothes.
Then, Kaian came to enlightenment on his own.
'Well, that is... I don't think it suits her well.'
He thinks it would have been too out of place if she had red hair, yellow eyes, and a big blue diamond.
Even for someone who doesn't know much about ladies' decorations, it seemed a bit strange to see each of them showing off their own unique primary colors.
'But do you like it because you got something like that?'
Originally, Valmonde was a major producer of precious metals and gems. Just as the land of Rowan restricted the production of food, Valmonde also controlled the value of what was produced from the mines within the estate.
Her eyes must have been pretty high while she was growing up in the duchy of Vermont.
'Well, maybe there's a sense of accomplishment in getting something from Temnes.'
Kaian, who had come to a good conclusion, closed his eyes.
At this time, Kaian could not have imagined it in his dreams.
"Oh. Did the Duke really give you this?”
"Huh. Isn’t it pretty?”
The next morning, early in the morning, Claudel happily boasted about such a trivial thing to her maid.
Moreover, she had no idea that a rumor would spread in the castle, saying that the woman of Vermont, who was being treated coldly, was lying and saying that she had secretly removed the decorations from the Duke's robes and received stolen items.
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