Translator: Nox

Chapter 15

The moment Elfreda caught sight of the monarch, a shiver raced through her frame. Ejnar’s gaze was locked onto her with unwavering intensity. Her thoughts scattered, leaving her paralyzed for a heartbeat, yet she understood that remaining stationary was not an option.

Lowering her chin, she tried to slip away with hurried steps.

The rhythm of heavy boots mirrored her own, however, trailing her with the calculated persistence of a predator stalking its quarry.

His stride was far longer than hers; it was only a matter of time before he overtook her.

As the sound of his approach grew louder, a phantom hand seemed to squeeze Elfreda’s throat. She squeezed her eyelids shut in a desperate reflex.

“Ah…”

His fingers clamped around her wrist, and with a firm tug, he spun her to face him.

Elfreda peered up, her eyes swimming with trepidation. Ejnar’s lids lowered as he studied her, his features settling into a mask of frigid, quiet fury. It was a sharp departure from the loud, explosive rage Serina had displayed. Although she had survived the physical altercations of the day, the humiliation of this encounter was nearly too much to bear.

Finding herself exposed and disheveled in his presence once more, she bowed her head in a gesture of profound misery.

“…This was merely,” she began.

“…”

“A disagreement.”

“With the Princess of Makaeri?”

“…Yes.”

The air between them grew heavy and stagnant. Mortified by her appearance, Elfreda scrambled to provide more context.

“I am not the only one who suffered. I was the one who struck the Princess first…”

She tried to elaborate, but the words withered in her mouth. She finished her explanation with a weak, defeated tone.

“She will surely be contemplating her actions as well.”

“…Ha.”

A mirthless, sharp curve touched Ejnar’s mouth.

“It appears the Queen has no intention of following my instructions.”

“…Pardon?”

Elfreda looked at him, her confusion evident.

Without a word, he stripped off his outer coat and thrust it toward her. She took the garment blindly, standing in a daze until the world suddenly shifted.

“Kyaak!”

With a sudden movement, Ejnar hoisted her up using a single arm. Startled, she searched his face for a sign of affection, but he remained stony-faced, staring straight ahead as he gave his command.

“Hide yourself completely.”

The realization finally dawned on her. She reached up and pulled the heavy fabric over her head, shielding her battered face from view.

In the dim, enclosed world beneath his coat, her breath came in shallow hitches.

The scent of his skin enveloped her, and she could feel the radiating warmth of his body through the cloth. It was a comforting, masculine aroma.

In a strange twist of fate, Elfreda felt a sense of sanctuary. It was a rare, peaceful emotion that she seldom encountered, and it brought her to the brink of sobbing. Eventually, the pressure behind her eyes gave way, and tears began to track down her cheeks.

She fretted over how pathetic she must look—a bruised face made even uglier by weeping. She felt a surge of gratitude that he couldn’t witness her current state, and she bit her lip until it hurt to stifle any sound.

She told herself she had to compose her features before the garment was removed.

Driven by that anxiety, she fought to suppress the flow of tears and managed to dry her eyes just in time.

The darkness vanished as light flooded back into her vision.

As Ejnar pulled the coat away, his brow twitched at the sight of the crimson welts marking her skin. Her left cheek had been struck twice in the span of a few days, which was bad enough, but the sight of her bloodied lips and raw, red eyes deepened his scowl.

“Why is your mouth bleeding again?”

“…”

Lacking a plausible excuse, Elfreda merely twitched her lips in silence.

A dry chuckle escaped Ejnar. Did she truly believe he missed the damp tracks of tears on her face? Her attempt to play the stoic victim was almost charming in its transparency.

His expression turned icy as he questioned her.

“Do you recall what I told you?”

“…”

“Has it already slipped your mind?”

He had given her many commands, yet the specific one required now was obvious. Shifting her eyes away from his, she whispered the answer.

“Regardless of the time or place…”

“Go on.”

“I must conduct myself as the King’s wife.”

“And you consider this a success?”

Elfreda wilted slightly under the weight of his interrogation.

In truth, her conduct today would have been viewed as an act of suicidal insolence back in Makaeri. It was unthinkable for a person of her status—the Emperor’s unacknowledged child—to even graze the skin of a legitimate royal like Serina.

Even if she wanted to bury her past, her natural instincts would never have allowed her to strike back so violently.

No, she would have remained passive.

The only reason she had fought back was because Ejnar had relentlessly hammered the importance of her royal status into her mind. She felt a growing obligation to uphold the dignity he demanded, if only to avoid failing him.

However, she couldn’t bring herself to explain that to him. The fact that her hands were tied by her new role didn’t make the situation feel any less agonizing or lopsided. She also worried that he would grow weary of these constant scandals. It was a reasonable assumption; anyone would lose patience eventually.

“…Is it true that you initiated the violence?”

Snapped out of her internal spiral by his question, Elfreda paused before giving a small nod. The sequence of the fight was a blur, but she had certainly landed the first blow.

Ejnar let out a long, weary breath. Elfreda couldn’t tell if it was out of disappointment or relief.

“Very well. At least you weren’t a stationary target.”

His eyes turned piercing as he offered his counsel.

“Understand this: those of Machi do not simply endure. If we are struck once, we retaliate twofold, threefold.”

His voice carried a heavy, undeniable authority.

“That is the law we live by.”

The inclusion of the word ‘we’ sent a jolt through Elfreda’s chest. By grouping her with himself, he was acknowledging her as a true member of Machi, showing a flicker of genuine acceptance. Despite her fear, her spirit lifted.

She nodded, carving his words into her memory, then spoke up timidly.

“Regarding the situation with Princess Serina…”

“That is no longer your concern,” Ejnar interrupted, the brief warmth vanishing behind a wall of frost.

“You are to focus strictly on your own duties.”

He departed shortly after, following the news that a physician had arrived. Elfreda sat in a tense silence while the palace doctor tended to her wounds.

The medic was clearly bursting with questions, though he remained professional. Elfreda found his struggle to stay silent almost humorous; after the sheer shame of her encounter with the King, the doctor’s curiosity was easy to brush off.

‘What comes next?’

The weight of her own helplessness felt like a physical burden. She harbored a desperate, perhaps naive, hope that the conflict would not spiral out of control.

---

Inside the council chambers, the air was thick with the shouting of aristocrats. They were baying for blood following the news that Serina’s guards had murdered citizens of Machi. The room was as chaotic as a crowded bazaar.

“The Queen and the Princess must pay with their lives! We must execute them to answer this slight against our nation!”

“Makaeri must be humbled! We should march our legions across the border and take our vengeance for the late King and Prince Anders!”

“They treat Machi like a playground! Your Majesty, we cannot let this insult stand!”

Ejnar felt a sharp pain throbbing behind his temples as he listened to the roar.

‘What is wrong with these men?’

The sheer lack of logic in their demands was staggering.

While the current Emperor of Makaeri was a shadow of the man Gunnar had been, the empire was still a formidable power. They were the conquerors who had unified the warring tribes and forged a superpower in the east.

Even with every resource Machi possessed—and even with allies at their side—a direct invasion of Makaeri was a suicide mission.

The treacherous waters Makaeri had crossed to reach them would become a nightmare for Machi to navigate in reverse. While they could potentially use the kingdom of Giver as a staging ground, it was a massive gamble for a nation that had only just survived its own invasion a few years prior.

These idiots failed to grasp the chasm between defending a home and launching an overseas conquest. Ejnar, however, didn’t waste his breath explaining the intricacies of warfare to them.

He had a far more direct and ruthless strategy in mind.