Chapter 4
The Bedding Plan
“……Pardon?”
Madam Flambard was so surprised that she let go of the string she was pulling. The petticoat, now loosened, fell to the floor.
“How long does it take for a pregnancy to show?”
“W-Well… that is…”
While Madam Flambard was stammering, the royal guard came running and knocked on the door. Thump, thump.
“Announcing to the Princess. The leader of Tiwakan has arrived at the castle gates. Sir Weroz is awaiting permission to open the gates.”
Liene and Madam Flambard, now only in their underpants, paled. Liene met her nanny’s eyes once, then slowly said,
“……Open the gates and tell him I’ll be there soon.”
Madam Flambard hurriedly began to dress her again. It was Madam Flambard who had said not to look too beautiful, but Liene, dressed in a bright dress, was unfortunately very beautiful. Her pale complexion harmonized strangely with her slender neck, making her look like a precarious flower about to break. * * *
“……”
Six coffins were placed in the front yard of the main castle. After the six sounds of the coffins falling to the ground, there was only silence. Liene forgot her welcoming greeting and stared blankly at the closed coffins. All six coffins were the same. She couldn’t tell which coffin contained her lover.
“As requested, we have brought the bodies back without damage.”
A man with an amusing device on his face, who identified himself as Fermos, said.
“A small gift for the Princess of Nauk, who has accepted the proposal.”
“……Thank you.”
Her betrothed’s first gift was a corpse. It was a gruesome thing. Liene nodded slightly, indicating that she had received the gift, and Black stepped forward. His gaze fell directly on her bare face. She felt a strange tingling on her skin.
“Thank you for granting my unreasonable request. …And, for the coffins as well.”
It was rare for a body from a surprise attack to be returned intact. Moreover, it was unheard of for them to be returned respectfully in coffins. Those barbarians were saving face because they were betrothed. Liene was in a position where she had to be grateful for such a thing. The leader of Tiwakan took another step closer. Liene barely resisted the urge to step back. At this close distance, his gaze felt like it was sticking to her skin and groping her.
“A day has passed.”
He said it as if a day was a very long time. To someone whose lover had only been dead for a day.
“Now, I would like to discuss the marriage.”
“……”
The six coffins, which may have contained her lover’s corpse, were both a gift and a threat. Don’t forget the proposal I made because you’re distracted by grief.
* * * The location was changed. The office was too small, and the assembly hall was too large. In the end, the place decided upon was the reception room with a large table. It was once a place where the major families of Nauk visited the King almost daily to make peace, but that tradition had long since disappeared. The two sides sat facing each other in a strangely desolate space. Liene only had Weroz and mashilow on her side. Fortunately, the other side didn’t have many people either, so it was a fairly equal picture. But that wasn’t the case in her heart at all. Even if the leader of Tiwakan was alone in this place, Liene would have to fight against the feeling of shrinking endlessly.
“I believe we both agree that there is no point in dragging out the marriage.”
Fermos began to speak. Now, even in Nauk, it was known that he was Black’s right-hand man and advisor, effectively the second-in-command of Tiwakan.
“Even if it’s the southern end, the season is getting colder. Before that, Tiwakan would like to put away their camps and settle under a roof. And the Princess…”
Fermos paused for a moment. The meaningful smile on his face was ominous.
“If you want the child to be born to be baptized, you should hurry the marriage as well.”
“W-What… what?”
mashilow jumped up.
“A, a child… what is that…? Princess, whose child are you carrying…?”
As he stammered in confusion, voices rang out from both sides at the same time.
“It’s my child.”
“It is my child.”
Liene and Black said the same thing at the same time, but with different meanings. This time, Liene looked at Black in confusion. She wondered what he was talking about. Black faced Liene without the slightest hint of embarrassment.
“The child the Princess will bear will grow up knowing me as his father, as long as we are married.”
Since he had agreed to the pregnancy, that would be the most reasonable solution.
“Ah, that’s what you meant…”
“I don’t mind if the child’s surname is Arsak.”
mashilow stared at Liene with wide eyes. Although he had some disagreements, he was a veteran politician who had served as an advisor for a long time. He knew that Liene had never allowed her lover to share a bed with her. Therefore, he must have realized that the statement about having a child was a lie to reject the proposal. But his expression was scolding Liene for being too reckless. …I know. Liene agreed. However, the water had already been spilled. She couldn’t say that the pregnancy was a lie now. So, she would either have to lie again that she had a miscarriage at the appropriate time, as she had originally planned, or have a child as quickly as possible. But that was… Liene lowered her head to hide her expression and bit her lip. That meant… She had to share a bed with that barbarian as soon as possible. I can’t do it. He’ll notice. Since she had accepted the proposal, there would naturally be no problem with sharing a bed. Once they were married, she wouldn’t be able to avoid sharing a bed, no matter how much she hated it. But there was another problem before that. Liene unknowingly squeezed her eyes shut. He’ll realize I have no experience. And that there’s no way I could be pregnant. What will happen then? There were more than enough rumors about the barbarity of Tiwakan. Horrible imaginations that she couldn’t even express made her nauseous.
“If you’ll allow me to add a word, the governing power of the child the Princess will bear will be guaranteed in the name of Lord Tiwakan. If you wish, we can specify it in the marriage contract.”
Tiwakan’s advisor was flawless. It seemed like he had already planned everything out.
“It will be difficult to hide the pregnancy in a month or two at the latest, so the marriage should take place within at least fifteen days.”
“Fifteen days! Isn’t that too fast!”
mashilow jumped up from his seat for the second time and shouted.
“Fifteen days isn’t even enough time to complete the wedding dress!”
“……Sit down.”
A low, clear voice stopped mashilow’s finger-pointing.
“……”
Startled, mashilow looked at Black, who had told him to sit down. mashilow hesitated and sat down, meeting the blue eyes that were so light that the iris wrinkles and pupils stood out. The face of the elegantly aged royal advisor looked pale in the meantime.
“I will prepare the wedding dress. If preparing for the wedding ceremony is a burden, the Princess doesn’t have to do anything. If not, if there is another reason why you want to postpone the wedding…”
Black paused for a moment. A silence was created, but no one opened their mouth in that gap. The leader of Tiwakan had the power to force people to listen to whatever he said. Everyone held their breath and waited for him to continue. Black looked at Liene and slowly said the next words.
“You should tell me honestly now.”
This time, Liene’s complexion turned pale. * * * No matter how much she thought about it, there was no good reason other than that she didn’t want to. He made her skin crawl just by looking at him. Could she marry and share a bed with a man like that? Even while pretending to be pregnant with another man’s child. While pretending to be familiar and experienced. As if she didn’t feel the pain that she should feel for the first time. …I can’t do it. I can’t tell such a lie.
“Princess…”
Weroz, who had been silent all along, called Liene softly. Liene realized that she was clenching her fists tightly under the table with her eyes closed. It was time to answer.
“I need… time to prepare myself.”
“Is fifteen days not enough?”
Even a year would not be enough.
“It’s not just the wedding dress that’s the problem. I believe Tiwakan is well aware of Nauk’s situation. It is impossible to raise the funds to hold a wedding ceremony in fifteen days.”
Liene’s words were not entirely false. Money was the biggest problem for Nauk. It was the reason why even her lover’s funeral was a luxury.
“Was money the problem?”
“……Unfortunately, yes.”
“Not another reason?”
Liene bit her lip slightly and replied.
“No.”
Black turned his head towards his subordinate. Fermos, realizing his intention, opened the lid of the box he had brought and took something out. What he took out was a rolled-up piece of paper. She thought he would hand over the paper, but Fermos pushed the box towards mashilow.
“It’s an engagement gift. This is more like a gift than six coffins.”
The box, which could never be called small, was filled with gold.
mashilow was so surprised that he couldn’t even touch the box and looked at Liene.
“Princess…”
Liene was just as surprised. In the meantime, Fermos unfolded the rolled-up paper and turned it so that it could be seen clearly.
“This is a part that requires the Princess’s consent. After your marriage, Tiwakan will have a new name: the Guardian Knights of Arsak.”
That meant that they would have ten times more troops than the troops currently remaining in Nauk.
“What?”
Liene reacted sharply to the unexpected good fortune. Things that were too good to be true were hard to believe. It wouldn’t be free.
“Are you saying that the entire Tiwakan mercenary group will be hired by the Arsak Family? You know very well that that’s a problem that can’t be solved even with the gold you gave as a gift.”
Fermos was relentless, as if he knew what Liene was going to say in advance.
“The cost of having Tiwakan as a guardian knight will be borne by Lord Tiwakan, who will become the co-ruler of Nauk through marriage.”
“Excuse me…?”
Liene looked back at Black without realizing it. Black's gaze, which she had been avoiding all along, was still there. The moment their eyes met, their gazes locked. For a brief moment, she felt as if she had been cursed, unable to move her eyes on her own.
“You want me to… believe that?”
The mercenary group was a group that fought wars on behalf of others. Naturally, hiring them cost an astronomical amount. With Tiwakan's name alone, Nauk would be the strongest fortress among the five southern kingdoms, but this was too much. Using Tiwakan as a mere guard was nonsensical, beyond any cost-benefit analysis.
“I have no reason to lie to my fiancée.”
It was Black's reply.
“That’s… Nauk not only doesn’t have the resources to maintain such a force, but it doesn’t need it either. No one covets this barren and poor land.”
“There was the captain of the royal guard of Arsac, wasn’t there?”
“……Yes?”
Liene's lips parted in bewilderment. Black's gaze turned to her parted lips. The persistent gaze that wrapped around her lips seemed almost greedy.
“There will be more in the future. Whether their goal is Nauk or the princess.”
“…….”
While Liene was momentarily speechless, Fermos quickly drove in the wedge before any other words could be spoken.
“Then, since there are no problems, I will assume that Nauk has also agreed. The wedding will be in fifteen days. We must make the announcement by sunset tomorrow at the latest. I hope that the captain of the guard of Nauk will take care of that. And I would also like to personally inspect the residence used by the royal guard.”
The barbarians were meticulous. They had set a trap that we could not escape from in the right place at the right time, and very quickly at that.
“Since time is short, I want to move as quickly as possible. Just moving and deploying the troops will take at least two full days. It seems we will have to postpone the knighting ceremony until after the wedding.”
Fermos smiled and reminded them of what was to come. It was the moment when the two words, "the wedding," felt real.
