“I want to try.”
Claudel crawled up, rolled the blanket around her body, and sat down.
Kaian, who handed her an apple and a knife with a sigh, watched Claudel's movements with his burning eyes.
First of all, her grip on the knife itself was weak and very sloppy.
"Ah?"
Claudel had to apply force by holding the knife at an angle, but Claudel looked like she didn't understand that the knife couldn't peel off the smooth apple skin and instead slid to the side.
“You have to give it strength. No, don’t force yourself.”
Kaian was horrified to see Claudel viciously trying to force her hand holding the apple to cut all at once.
"Come on."
Kaian made Claudel sit between his legs.
Claudel, who seemed to fit into the arms of this large man, was small, and a couple of flower petals that he had put on her head at the festival remained in her hair, so he bit them with his lips and blew them away.
"Look. Holding an apple in his left hand. With a knight in your right hand.”
When Kaian placed his hands over Claudel's and applied pressure carefully, the peel of the apple was cut, although it was more sloppy than when he did it alone.
“This is my first time doing it.”
“Do you show off your fine growth?”
“That’s not true. You can eat apples with the skin on.”
“I won’t go anywhere and starve.”
Claudel roughly let go, and the rest was up to Kaian.
He quickly peeled the skin, cut the apple into small pieces, and put it in Claudel's mouth, who was lying back on the bed. She looked very happy.
Just a slice of apple.
Even though he brought her all kinds of dresses and jewelry, she never made that face.
Kaian also thought Claudel was a bit strange.
After eating an entire apple, Claudel began to doze off with a drowsy look on her face.
“You need to wash up.”
"It's hard."
“You were always nervous because of the festival. So that’s it.”
“I guess so.”
Kaian blew off the fact that he had been playing Claudel for a long time as if it had never happened.
He also ate an apple, and after washing up...
Hmm...
While he was busy preparing for the festival for a while, he also had to attend Prom Hunt, so he had to keep a packed schedule every day.
He felt like he was alive as he was able to spend time with Claudel leisurely, without anyone interfering with him.
“Would you like me to wash you?”
"No!"
Claudel, whose eyes were almost closed as if she were on the verge of falling asleep, opened them brightly as if she were on the verge of a cliff.
"No way."
“Why?”
"That... a little..."
“What’s going on between the couple?”
"Still.... Hmm..."
Claudel, who noticed him, ran to the bathroom without him having time to stop her.
“Then I will wash first.”
Claudel seemed so worried that he would come forward and offer to wash her that she quickly disappeared.
However, less than five minutes later, there was no sound of water or any sign of anyone washing in the bathroom.
“Claudel?”
When there was no answer coming from inside, Kaian tried to push the door open.
As expected, Claudel was asleep with her arms resting on the edge of the bathtub.
The steam rising from the hot water made the sleeping woman look even prettier.
Kaian reached into her red hair, which was submerged in the water, and lathered it with soap.
Claudel, who must have fallen into a deep sleep, gently relaxed her arms and changed her position as if she were lying in the water, but she slept peacefully.
After carefully washing Claudel's hair and scrubbing his face with a wet towel, he wrapped Claudel in a large towel, laid her down on the bed, and pressed the towel to dry her head.
“There was a time when just seeing red hair made me so angry that I felt like I would pull out a knife.”
The resentment against Vermont seemed to have drawn a line and could not have disappeared all at once.
In fact, even when he met Claudel's older sister, Irena, who had come a long way, he didn't have a very nice face.
In both Temnes and Vermont, mutual hatred resulted in a problem of pride among the families, and at the same time, there was a political force that brought the people of the territory together.
Perhaps the reason why there was no intention of reconciliation, even though they had been at war with each other for hundreds of years, was because there were quite a few advantages to being hostile to each other.
In the end, Kaian was planning to end his terrible family's grievances in his own time.
In fact, even if Valmonde's land was subjugated, it was impossible to directly rule from the southern end of Oberon's kingdom to the northern end.
It's just that Valquiterre always lamented that he couldn't tax the enormous wealth generated by Valmonde and that he couldn't use the North Sea trade route to his fullest, so if he waged a territorial war and attacked Vermont, he would open a new era in Temnes and defeat Valmonde. He thought it would result in showing loyalty to King Oberon by making it a kingdom decree.
“Still, this is probably the place where Claudel was born and raised, so wouldn’t it be a bit much to turn Valmonde into kindling?”
For Kaian, the support of Rowen Castle was also a place with many memories.
The young Duke's study was built as a separate building in the forest of the Castle, and when the cold winter came, Queen Silvia would stay at Rowen Castle for several weeks to take care of him with the Crown Prince, Valquiterre.
Bianque was young and a girl, so his memories of them hanging out together were limited, but in Valquiterre, they would happily run around the forest in the back garden and play war games until the sun went down, just the two of them.
As Kaian looked at Claudel, he became curious about Valmonde, who had run away on his horse in anger the previous time, and had ridden the distance in just two days when he returned.
If he had the chance, he thought it would be a good idea to take his time and look around to see if there were any places that Claudel liked or where she had fond memories.
Fortunately, Rowen has a very skilled butler.
“When should we go to Valmonde together? How about two months? Claudel?”
If the butler heard it, he would say, ‘Two months! Nonsense, My Lord!' Kaian whispered something worthy of note affectionately to the sleeping woman.
"Haa."
Suddenly, the words that came out of her mouth were so uncharacteristically sweet that he was startled.
Claudel keeps making him do things he doesn't want to do.
And he didn't really feel bad about it.
Anyway, this is the woman he will live with for the rest of his life.
Claudel was his wife, bound to the name of Temnes, from whom she could not escape even in death.
After dressing her in soft pajamas, he came back after washing himself and held her as usual, letting her sleep.
Valmonde.
Kaian was planning to completely demolish the castle and everything, except for the trade port that Valquiterre wanted.
He wondered if the good scent coming from Claudel was the mystery of Valmonde, and he felt like he couldn't threaten that land in the future.
'Would you be happy if I told you I would take you to Valmonde?'
Usually, wives who marry far away suffer from homesickness.
Kaian had been thinking Claudel-centered for some time but did not realize it himself.
After the festival, Rowen Castle became even busier.
In the Rowen land, where the weather was spring and summer all year round, it was possible to crop three crops depending on the crop.
In a land where harvesting had virtually no meaning, Kaian was so busy that he could enjoy the fall festival that everyone else was having, but at the same time, he was busy with all kinds of work, including fall planting and exporting and storing the harvested food.
Meanwhile, someone who could be said to be his close friend came to Rowen for the first time in a long time, and Kaian was at a tributary of the Shen River for a long time.
Soon, a familiar ship slowly approached the dock with all sails folded, and diligently threw a line to the mooring pole and pulled it in.
Before the ship was completely anchored, a man jumped from above with a rope attached to his arm as if he were flying and landed in front of Kaian as if he were performing a trick.
"Long time no see, Duke.”
“It’s been so long, Rohan.”
Kaian welcomed him with hospitality.
The man was a tall young man with bushy wheat-colored hair and dark eyes.
At the age of only three years older than Kaian, Rohan Hindenburg was the man who opened a new route for intercontinental trade, which had been considered the exclusive domain of Vermont.
Rohan had a very curious and free-spirited personality.
For him, leaving the stable village life and wandering around alone meant that it was very dangerous and unprotectable, so his boldness and excellent improvisation ability as well as his ability to gather information were unique.
The reason why Kaian supported him with a huge amount of money was because Valquiterre was so crazy about wanting to use that damn trade port for free, and he was holding the shortest route in the North Sea, diplomatic station and all, and was pushing the nose of the powerful Vermonter. Because he wanted to.
However, Hindenburg was giving him huge dividends even though he had long ago repaid all of the money he had invested.
Indeed, it was no exaggeration to say that the funds for the territorial war against Vermont were built up thanks to the Hindenburg top.
“How did you come to Rowen at a time like this?”
“I heard a strange rumor.”
"Rumor?"
Rohan grinned and rubbed his chin.
“Maybe a new useful southern route will be opened.”
The northernmost trading port in Valmonde, a frozen land at the northern end of the continent, crosses the North Sea between the continents of Ita and Sol.
The route connecting the northern end of the continent was the fastest intercontinental passage as long as it avoided drift ice floating in the sea frozen.
However, since Vermont monopolized the port, it was the shortest time and had no connection with Temnes.
Rohan deciphered ancient documents and gathered information to discover the east-west trade route, and was currently the only person who could safely travel it.
It took twice as long as the northern route, but because of Vermont, it was a pie in the sky, so it was much better than nothing.
But the southern route is being opened?
“Isn’t there a gust of wind in the South Sea?”
There were many weather variables in the southern seas of the continent, which are warm all year round.
The most dangerous of them all was the gust of wind, nicknamed the ‘sea monster.’
As the huge, swirling pillar of wind approached, it sent seawater, people, ships, and underwater creatures flying all the way to the sky with its immense whirling force.
Because such disasters existed, it was unthinkable to launch a ship to the south of the continent, unlike the northern route, where everything could be solved with an icebreaker made of steel at the top to avoid chunks of ice.
“Is it true that there is someone who calculated the location where the monster revolves? That’s why the Sol Continent is so noisy.”
“Surely you are quick to spread these rumors.”
“If a sea route is opened from the Sol Continent to the south, where will there be room for ships?”
The best location was Rowen Estate.
“On the Sol Continent?”
“There’s never been a boat floating there, so that’s no big deal. For now, trade ports are concentrated only in the northern part of Sin.”
“Last time, you said that with my marriage, there would be no need to fight for territory, so you would do something foolish with the remaining dividends.”
“We purchased all the land in the southern part of the Sol Continent where a new trade port could be built. Of course, we bought it in the name of our merchant, but isn’t the Duke the actual owner?”
Kaian tapped Rohan on the shoulder.
Few people did the job properly when he was trusted and entrusted with it.
Rohan was such an outstanding talent that he willingly invested a large amount of money without even asking Kaian.
The vassals protested against this, but later the head of the family praised him, saying he had an extraordinary eye for seeing.
“Anyway, how is your married life with your enemy?”
Kaian's eyebrows rose toward his forehead as Rohan asked him playfully.
“Oh my. Why do you look at it like that? I only asked because you seemed surprisingly relaxed.”
“What you see is what you see.”
Kaian had no intention of sharing Claudel's cuteness or her unique cuteness with Rohan.
“I’ll introduce her today. You will see her often in the future.”
Kaian, who had invited Rohan Hindenburg to the castle, saw an unexpected sight that evening.
Claudel looked at Rohan with a very emotional face, her hands clasped neatly in front of her chest, her cheeks flushed and his eyes sparkling.
“Are you really Rohan? Owner of the Hindenburg!”
...Rohan?
While he was busy preparing for the festival for a while, he also had to attend Prom Hunt, so he had to keep a packed schedule every day.
He felt like he was alive as he was able to spend time with Claudel leisurely, without anyone interfering with him.
“Would you like me to wash you?”
"No!"
Claudel, whose eyes were almost closed as if she were on the verge of falling asleep, opened them brightly as if she were on the verge of a cliff.
"No way."
“Why?”
"That... a little..."
“What’s going on between the couple?”
"Still.... Hmm..."
Claudel, who noticed him, ran to the bathroom without him having time to stop her.
“Then I will wash first.”
Claudel seemed so worried that he would come forward and offer to wash her that she quickly disappeared.
However, less than five minutes later, there was no sound of water or any sign of anyone washing in the bathroom.
“Claudel?”
When there was no answer coming from inside, Kaian tried to push the door open.
As expected, Claudel was asleep with her arms resting on the edge of the bathtub.
The steam rising from the hot water made the sleeping woman look even prettier.
Kaian reached into her red hair, which was submerged in the water, and lathered it with soap.
Claudel, who must have fallen into a deep sleep, gently relaxed her arms and changed her position as if she were lying in the water, but she slept peacefully.
After carefully washing Claudel's hair and scrubbing his face with a wet towel, he wrapped Claudel in a large towel, laid her down on the bed, and pressed the towel to dry her head.
“There was a time when just seeing red hair made me so angry that I felt like I would pull out a knife.”
The resentment against Vermont seemed to have drawn a line and could not have disappeared all at once.
In fact, even when he met Claudel's older sister, Irena, who had come a long way, he didn't have a very nice face.
In both Temnes and Vermont, mutual hatred resulted in a problem of pride among the families, and at the same time, there was a political force that brought the people of the territory together.
Perhaps the reason why there was no intention of reconciliation, even though they had been at war with each other for hundreds of years, was because there were quite a few advantages to being hostile to each other.
In the end, Kaian was planning to end his terrible family's grievances in his own time.
In fact, even if Valmonde's land was subjugated, it was impossible to directly rule from the southern end of Oberon's kingdom to the northern end.
It's just that Valquiterre always lamented that he couldn't tax the enormous wealth generated by Valmonde and that he couldn't use the North Sea trade route to his fullest, so if he waged a territorial war and attacked Vermont, he would open a new era in Temnes and defeat Valmonde. He thought it would result in showing loyalty to King Oberon by making it a kingdom decree.
“Still, this is probably the place where Claudel was born and raised, so wouldn’t it be a bit much to turn Valmonde into kindling?”
For Kaian, the support of Rowen Castle was also a place with many memories.
The young Duke's study was built as a separate building in the forest of the Castle, and when the cold winter came, Queen Silvia would stay at Rowen Castle for several weeks to take care of him with the Crown Prince, Valquiterre.
Bianque was young and a girl, so his memories of them hanging out together were limited, but in Valquiterre, they would happily run around the forest in the back garden and play war games until the sun went down, just the two of them.
As Kaian looked at Claudel, he became curious about Valmonde, who had run away on his horse in anger the previous time, and had ridden the distance in just two days when he returned.
If he had the chance, he thought it would be a good idea to take his time and look around to see if there were any places that Claudel liked or where she had fond memories.
Fortunately, Rowen has a very skilled butler.
“When should we go to Valmonde together? How about two months? Claudel?”
If the butler heard it, he would say, ‘Two months! Nonsense, My Lord!' Kaian whispered something worthy of note affectionately to the sleeping woman.
"Haa."
Suddenly, the words that came out of her mouth were so uncharacteristically sweet that he was startled.
Claudel keeps making him do things he doesn't want to do.
And he didn't really feel bad about it.
Anyway, this is the woman he will live with for the rest of his life.
Claudel was his wife, bound to the name of Temnes, from whom she could not escape even in death.
After dressing her in soft pajamas, he came back after washing himself and held her as usual, letting her sleep.
Valmonde.
Kaian was planning to completely demolish the castle and everything, except for the trade port that Valquiterre wanted.
He wondered if the good scent coming from Claudel was the mystery of Valmonde, and he felt like he couldn't threaten that land in the future.
'Would you be happy if I told you I would take you to Valmonde?'
Usually, wives who marry far away suffer from homesickness.
Kaian had been thinking Claudel-centered for some time but did not realize it himself.
***
After the festival, Rowen Castle became even busier.
In the Rowen land, where the weather was spring and summer all year round, it was possible to crop three crops depending on the crop.
In a land where harvesting had virtually no meaning, Kaian was so busy that he could enjoy the fall festival that everyone else was having, but at the same time, he was busy with all kinds of work, including fall planting and exporting and storing the harvested food.
Meanwhile, someone who could be said to be his close friend came to Rowen for the first time in a long time, and Kaian was at a tributary of the Shen River for a long time.
Soon, a familiar ship slowly approached the dock with all sails folded, and diligently threw a line to the mooring pole and pulled it in.
Before the ship was completely anchored, a man jumped from above with a rope attached to his arm as if he were flying and landed in front of Kaian as if he were performing a trick.
"Long time no see, Duke.”
“It’s been so long, Rohan.”
Kaian welcomed him with hospitality.
The man was a tall young man with bushy wheat-colored hair and dark eyes.
At the age of only three years older than Kaian, Rohan Hindenburg was the man who opened a new route for intercontinental trade, which had been considered the exclusive domain of Vermont.
Rohan had a very curious and free-spirited personality.
For him, leaving the stable village life and wandering around alone meant that it was very dangerous and unprotectable, so his boldness and excellent improvisation ability as well as his ability to gather information were unique.
The reason why Kaian supported him with a huge amount of money was because Valquiterre was so crazy about wanting to use that damn trade port for free, and he was holding the shortest route in the North Sea, diplomatic station and all, and was pushing the nose of the powerful Vermonter. Because he wanted to.
However, Hindenburg was giving him huge dividends even though he had long ago repaid all of the money he had invested.
Indeed, it was no exaggeration to say that the funds for the territorial war against Vermont were built up thanks to the Hindenburg top.
“How did you come to Rowen at a time like this?”
“I heard a strange rumor.”
"Rumor?"
Rohan grinned and rubbed his chin.
“Maybe a new useful southern route will be opened.”
The northernmost trading port in Valmonde, a frozen land at the northern end of the continent, crosses the North Sea between the continents of Ita and Sol.
The route connecting the northern end of the continent was the fastest intercontinental passage as long as it avoided drift ice floating in the sea frozen.
However, since Vermont monopolized the port, it was the shortest time and had no connection with Temnes.
Rohan deciphered ancient documents and gathered information to discover the east-west trade route, and was currently the only person who could safely travel it.
It took twice as long as the northern route, but because of Vermont, it was a pie in the sky, so it was much better than nothing.
But the southern route is being opened?
“Isn’t there a gust of wind in the South Sea?”
There were many weather variables in the southern seas of the continent, which are warm all year round.
The most dangerous of them all was the gust of wind, nicknamed the ‘sea monster.’
As the huge, swirling pillar of wind approached, it sent seawater, people, ships, and underwater creatures flying all the way to the sky with its immense whirling force.
Because such disasters existed, it was unthinkable to launch a ship to the south of the continent, unlike the northern route, where everything could be solved with an icebreaker made of steel at the top to avoid chunks of ice.
“Is it true that there is someone who calculated the location where the monster revolves? That’s why the Sol Continent is so noisy.”
“Surely you are quick to spread these rumors.”
“If a sea route is opened from the Sol Continent to the south, where will there be room for ships?”
The best location was Rowen Estate.
“On the Sol Continent?”
“There’s never been a boat floating there, so that’s no big deal. For now, trade ports are concentrated only in the northern part of Sin.”
“Last time, you said that with my marriage, there would be no need to fight for territory, so you would do something foolish with the remaining dividends.”
“We purchased all the land in the southern part of the Sol Continent where a new trade port could be built. Of course, we bought it in the name of our merchant, but isn’t the Duke the actual owner?”
Kaian tapped Rohan on the shoulder.
Few people did the job properly when he was trusted and entrusted with it.
Rohan was such an outstanding talent that he willingly invested a large amount of money without even asking Kaian.
The vassals protested against this, but later the head of the family praised him, saying he had an extraordinary eye for seeing.
“Anyway, how is your married life with your enemy?”
Kaian's eyebrows rose toward his forehead as Rohan asked him playfully.
“Oh my. Why do you look at it like that? I only asked because you seemed surprisingly relaxed.”
“What you see is what you see.”
Kaian had no intention of sharing Claudel's cuteness or her unique cuteness with Rohan.
“I’ll introduce her today. You will see her often in the future.”
Kaian, who had invited Rohan Hindenburg to the castle, saw an unexpected sight that evening.
Claudel looked at Rohan with a very emotional face, her hands clasped neatly in front of her chest, her cheeks flushed and his eyes sparkling.
“Are you really Rohan? Owner of the Hindenburg!”
...Rohan?
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