Chapter 2

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 2

Chapter Title: Shall I Undress?

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"Shall I undress?"

In response to the unexpected words, Kaiyan flinched despite himself.

The woman who had so boldly asked stood there motionless like a doll, as if awaiting his reply.

That sight only twisted his already tangled emotions even further askew.

"You seem pretty confident."

Kaiyan scanned her from head to toe.

Even looking again, she was too small and too slender.

Her body seemed so fragile and weak that he could break it with one hand, without even needing both.

'Can she even handle her first night?'

Today was Kaiyan's first wedding night as well.

For him, raised under strict heir training, if the previous duke had emphasized above all else "Leave not a single one of the Vermontes alive if you encounter them," the second commandment had been "Don't go sowing your seed recklessly anywhere."

Rowen, with its warm and mild climate and vast fertile lands, was a symbol of abundance.

Just as the Oberon proverb went, "There are no starving beggars in the south," food overflowed to the point of rotting and grew on its own. The daily task was to thin it out so it wouldn't become too cheap, yielding just the right harvest.

As a result, collateral kin and vassals alike all had large families.

Once they had children, those kids grew up effortlessly amid Rowen's plenty.

If the lord of Rowen set his mind to debauchery, the succession was bound to fall into chaos.

In fact, throughout the family's history, there had been several instances where children of concubines vied for the heirship, leading to bloodshed within the house.

Thus, every heir of House Temneth was raised in an education so rigorous it bordered on asceticism.

The prosperity and wealth of Rowen's lands were an endless temptation that could corrupt the soul of the family head.

In any case, this was Kaiyan's first real chance as a man, yet he doubted the woman could withstand him.

It wasn't as if he had never seen women excited by his inexperience.

There had been more than a few virgins who flung themselves at him like moths to a flame, drawn to his bedchamber. And when you added in those who were married yet still came running, the number was beyond counting.

Beautiful young ladies had clung to him, offering money to his weak-willed guards to step aside at his bedroom door, only to be dismissed daily.

Granting the maidens' pleas should have pleased any man.

The guards couldn't fathom why that would get them fired. They could only guess that even the pretty virgins in their eyes didn't appeal to their lord.

The women, who had hidden in his bedroom only to be immediately chased out, had all thrown themselves at him with fervent gestures, pressing their heated bodies against his. Thanks to that, he knew the passion and fervor such acts entailed even before experiencing them.

Suddenly aware of the direction of his thoughts, Kaiyan felt displeased.

'What am I doing? No need to worry that much about the Vermonte.'

He had never wanted this marriage.

To begin with, Kaiyan was an exceptionally outstanding lord and man.

Even as the central figure, he had been at a loss amid the sudden royal decree for the wedding.

He had vaguely assumed that someday he would take a wife of refined grace and talent, carrying on the family glory as his forebears had. Never had he imagined a marriage as disastrous as this.

It only provoked a visceral revulsion etched into his very bones; he didn't even want to think about how to treat the bride from Vermonte and avoided the question altogether.

The daughter of his enemy.

The blood of his enemy.

Vermonte, who had dared to cross swords with House Temneth for generations.

If the woman inheriting Vermonte's filthy blood strained herself or got hurt, was that his fault?

It was the fault of her and her father, Duke Vermonte, who had crawled into the castle knowing full well the treatment she would receive in Rowen.

Beneath her thin undergarments, her lean body was visible. In the flickering candlelight, her silhouette wavered faintly, but there seemed little to see or touch.

"Even if you strip completely, I doubt it'll be all that impressive."

Having decided on his stance toward Vermonte blood, he sneered.

Yet she didn't stir.

Compared to the women who had shrieked and panted, her silence pleased him in that moment, but he consciously dismissed the goodwill.

"Did Vermonte at least teach you bedroom arts to please a man even with a flat figure?"

He sat on the edge of the bed, eyeing her appraisingly.

"Whether tonight's first night proceeds properly is up to you. You'll have to stir my heart."

Despite Kaiyan's barrage of insults, the woman showed no reaction.

As if such words couldn't mar her.

She stood aloof like a statue carved from soft ivory, waiting for the abuse to pass.

"Do as you will."

Offering her this chance out of magnanimity was the best he could do for Vermonte.

Before Kaiyan, who was half-reclining against the bed in uncooperative fashion, the woman's clothes slowly slipped away.

He forgot his words and admired her form.

Her neck, supporting a head small enough for one hand, was slender and long. The shoulders flowing from it, made elegant by their dryness and the sharply defined collarbones.

Beneath, the woman's curves swelled and dipped, trailing pale peach hues down to delicate knees and slender ankles.

Defying his words that there would be no first night if she failed to tempt him, she was no vulgar temptress.

Rather, she seemed a saint bestowing mercy upon him, noble in her poise.

At her touch, the buttons of Kaiyan's ceremonial robes came undone one by one, soon baring his torso.

Only then did bewilderment flicker in her eyes. She had managed this far somehow, but seemed at a loss for what came next.

That attitude at least proved her inexperience too, softening Kaiyan slightly.

In the meantime, she lowered her head and pressed her lips to his chest, exposed amid the parted robes.

Only then did he clearly feel her faint trembling.

Savoring the ticklish sensation as desire pooled within him, Kaiyan asked her.

"What's your name?"

Yet the woman, who had ignored all his prior insults, stiffened and began to tremble violently.

Her wide golden eyes clouded with complex emotions, as if struck by something unbearable.

It twisted his insides again, just as they had begun to unknot. The mood had been on the verge of improving, yet it made him feel like the villain.

"Don't make me say it twice. I asked your name."

A small voice, unable to hide her trembling, answered his question.

"Clodel Queen... Vermonte."

That damned Vermonte.

Kaiyan muttered under his breath.

"Whether you can become Clodel Queen Temneth depends on your efforts tonight. Do your best."

He rose and extinguished the candle.

If he couldn't see his inexperienced wife's red hair, he figured he could manage somehow.

Soon, his massive frame overlapped hers.

Clodel Queen Vermonte.

It was an unexpected turn that this woman, neither particularly pretty nor graceful, became the wife of Kaiyan Pluck Temneth, son of the War God who had tripled Oberon Kingdom's territory.

Originally, Houses Temneth and Vermonte were founding merits of Oberon Kingdom, the twin pillars of its politics.

House Temneth of the Indomitable Sword and Guardian Vermonte.

While the martial House Temneth dominated the battlefields, Vermonte, with its generations of eloquent speakers and vast marriage alliances, served as the bridge of diplomacy. Each fulfilled their roles for the kingdom's prosperity, ushering in an era of peace.

Two hundred years ago, a grave discord arose between the two family heads.

It started with petty matters, like poor seating at a banquet or an untrimmed shellfish in the guest meal.

But the problem was that the offended party was the leader of the kingdom's greatest political faction.

Accumulating hatred and malice while propping up their pride, they grew increasingly hostile, clashing big and small everywhere.

Over the long years, the northern Vermontes and southern Temneths came to loathe each other so deeply that even the common folk spat toward their enemies in the streets.

When the two houses were evenly matched, their fierce fights were still manageable. The trouble came in this generation, when Valmond suffered drought for a decade.

Valmond, in the north of Oberon Kingdom, was originally poor in farmland. Mostly mountains and frozen tundra, its people worked mines and highlands. Self-sufficiency to feed them was impossible.

Vermonte had amassed fortunes selling herbs and timber from Valmond's mountains, game, and precious ores from the mines, stockpiling food with the proceeds.

But the prolonged drought rendered Valmond's yields worthless, and Duke Temneth promptly blocked grain exports to the north.

As food shortages worsened, the people began fleeing with their families one by one.

The lord's power rested above all on forces and people.

With the starving masses deserting, Valmond's prestige swiftly declined.

Kaiyan did not miss the opportunity.

Rumors spread that this was the chance to settle House Temneth's grudge against Vermonte, preparing for territorial war.

King Oberon mediated, ending it by sending Duke Vermonte's daughter to Duke Temneth's Kaiyan.

If Temneth attacked the territory, Vermonte would surely face extermination this time.

Vermonte's gold and jewels had become useless ever since Temneth restricted grain outflows to the north.

Asking the starving to take up arms was cruel.

King Oberon's overt aid to revive Vermonte had the public justification of not losing a diplomatic genius.

No one else could replace Vermonte. Marriage alliances formed the core of their diplomatic prowess.

Nobles from the house married into high positions abroad, sometimes even as sons-in-law.

In truth, if one nitpicked, Kaiyan hadn't wanted the marriage, while Clodel had done it willingly.

She couldn't let her famine-stricken people face war.

Besides, this marriage would allow Temneth to resume grain exports to the north.

At least she could do something for the starving children.

The next day, Clodel was awakened early in the morning and had to hurriedly dress.

Her body, tormented until dawn, creaked in protest, but she was accustomed to enduring pain.

"Cough. Cough."

Hanna, seeing her delicate coughs, asked worriedly.

"Did you catch a cold from the rain yesterday?"

"Seems like it."

"I'll fetch some medicine."

Hanna seemed to have realized after just one day that she shouldn't ask for favors here. The fact that she offered to get it herself said as much. Clodel smiled at her spirited maid.

Moments later, the lord's castle butler came to escort her.

The wedding rites weren't fully complete even after the first night.

She had to pay respects as the next lady of the house at the underground tomb of past Temneth dukes.

The dank underground stairs were slippery with dripping water.

Holding Hanna's hand and descending carefully, she beheld a vast cavern filled with stone tombs.

Coffins lay in dug-out pits, topped by tombstones engraved with names and deeds.

Among them, in the center, was a newly made tomb.

Kaiyan Pluck Temneth.

Clodel Queen Temneth.

It was for Kaiyan and her.

Clodel lightly caressed the cold, smooth tombstone.

What more could be engraved beneath these mere names?

The man who had said last night whether she could take the Temneth name depended on her efforts apparently had no intention of casting her out. The prepared grave spot proved it.

Then, a chill voice sounded from behind her.

"I see you like your eternal resting place?"