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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 30
Chapter Title: First Date (3)
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“……Calm down? Do you really think *I* can calm down when it’s *you*?”
Aracilla retorted with a chilling smile. Of course, she wouldn’t calm down easily. Still, Demian tried his best to soothe her.
He couldn’t very well argue with his wife in front of so many onlookers, could he? Besides, this whole incident was entirely his fault.
No, wait, that’s not right.
“Then why did you come at me without a word?”
“Because there was a petal stuck in your hair, and I was trying to get it off, you idiot!”
When she stomped her foot and shouted, the boat rocked, and everyone’s attention snapped to them. Demian, at a loss for words, muttered to himself. This is a disaster. A complete mess.
“Maybe I should’ve just ripped your head clean off. Right?”
“Wife, please calm…”
“That ‘calm down, calm down’! Stop saying it! It’s infuriating me to no end.”
Aracilla’s clenched fists trembled. Her physical strength wasn’t frightening, but the magic she could unleash was certainly threatening.
He needed to resolve the situation before more people noticed. Demian frantically grabbed the oars and said,
“Let’s go back to land and talk. It’s dangerous to cause a scene here.”
Whether for their safety or their dignity.
Hearing the murmurs around them, Aracilla barely managed to suppress her anger and sat down. She used wind magic to dry her wet clothes and hair, then conjured a flame in her palm. The water was gone, but she needed to warm herself up.
While she pressed her lips together, focusing on raising her body temperature, Demian diligently rowed back to shore.
The boat ride ended in the worst possible way.
Walking behind Aracilla, whose anger was palpable, Demian didn’t know what to do.
It wasn’t the first time someone had been angry with him. But he had never once tried to placate that anger.
Other people’s emotions were none of his concern, after all.
Though it felt strange to himself, Demian, who was so unused to being considerate of others’ feelings, was beside himself with anxiety. How could he make Aracilla feel better?
He should probably apologize first, right?
“I apologize, Wife.”
As soon as he got into the carriage and closed the door, Demian offered his apology. Aracilla, with her arms crossed and her head turned sharply away, gave no response.
“I didn’t do it on purpose. I was just startled for a moment, Wife…”
“You thought I was trying to initiate physical contact and you recoiled, didn’t you? Wasn’t it?”
“……”
Demian’s silence confirmed it. See? I knew it. Aracilla let out a hollow laugh.
“Do you know how unpleasant your attitude is? Am I dirty or something? I don’t particularly like physical contact with other people either!”
Did he think she was dying to have physical contact with him? Aracilla vented the accumulated frustration and indignation in her heart.
“You’re not the only one who dislikes it, so why don’t you ever consider other people’s feelings or thoughts?”
Still fuming, she soon demanded,
“Be honest. Are you only like this with me?”
“That’s not it.”
“Then why do you reject physical contact so much? Are you a germaphobe?”
Demian carefully chose his words. He pursued cleanliness, but he wasn’t a germaphobe. His aversion to physical contact stemmed from a different reason.
However, mentioning it easily was difficult as it was tied to his own weakness, and he hesitated.
‘How can I trust this woman enough to tell her?’
If she were to change her mind and be bribed by the Ducal Family like the Head Maid, everything he revealed in front of her would come back to stab him like a dagger.
‘Demian, never live like your mother.’
A memory buried deep in his mind resurfaced. His naive and faint-hearted mother was someone who opened her heart too easily to everyone.
She couldn’t suspect others, openly displayed her weaknesses, and readily accepted favors that hid dark intentions.
As a result, she was betrayed by a trusted friend, lost her husband, and died.
For Demian to avenge his mother, he couldn’t live like her. He couldn’t easily trust anyone, and anything that could become a weakness had to be hidden at all costs.
“Demian, are you not going to answer?”
As his silence stretched on, Aracilla spoke, sounding frustrated.
“We’re in this together, and we have to remain married until you inherit the Dukedom. So, you can at least tell me why you dislike physical contact.”
“How can I trust you, Wife?”
Demian impulsively blurted out what was on his mind. He instantly regretted it, but the words were already out. Aracilla’s expression clearly hardened.
“If that’s how you feel, then why did you marry me in the first place?”
“……You were the one who proposed first, weren’t you? And this marriage was born out of mutual necessity.”
In truth, their relationship didn’t require trust or faith. Weren’t they just a superficial couple who would part ways once their individual goals were achieved?
Feeling that his words weren’t wrong, Demian regained his composure. But as soon as his gaze met her clear blue eyes, that confidence melted like snow.
“Do you think that justifies hurting someone, Demian?”
“What…?”
“I genuinely feel unpleasant about your attitude, and I was hurt just a little bit, a very, very tiny bit.”
Aracilla held her thumb and forefinger a small distance apart as she spoke. If she said she was *very* hurt, it would wound her pride, wouldn’t it?
“And if it’s a contract marriage, then commit to it more faithfully. You won’t even let me link arms with you, yet you only play the part of a husband with words. How long do you think that will work?”
If a couple in a love marriage had no physical contact, people would surely become suspicious eventually. The Ducal Family could also use this as an excuse to find fault.
Demian’s expression became complicated. He couldn’t deny her words, of course. Aracilla opened her mouth again, then spotted a strand of her own hair clinging to his knee and reached out.
Oh goodness, why is that stuck there?
“You should slowly practice and try to fix…”
Thwack. The sound of Demian reflexively swatting Aracilla’s hand away cut off her words. This time too, it was by no means intentional.
His mind was so muddled with various thoughts that he had instinctively rejected the hand reaching out to him.
“Stop the carriage.”
Aracilla, who had no way of knowing this, lowered her voice. In truth, even if she had known, it would have only infuriated her further.
*So he’s going to treat me like this until the very end, huh? Fine, I’m done too!*
“Wife, listen to me…”
“No, Demian, *you* listen to me. Stop the carriage.”
Ultimately, the carriage, which had been speeding through the bustling street, came to a halt in the middle of the road. The fluttering Red Hawk banner drooped limply.
Demian watched Aracilla, who grabbed her handbag and parasol and stepped out, with a look of utter dismay.
“I’ll get out instead. Please take the carriage, Wife.”
Completely ignoring his words, Aracilla left him with one last remark before closing the carriage door.
“Get lost.”
* * *
This date was a complete disaster.
Troubled, Demian didn’t go home but headed to the Knights’ headquarters instead. He wanted to clear his head by swinging his sword in the training grounds.
It was a weekend, so training was optional, and there weren’t many knights in the training grounds. Most preferred to rest on weekends, so only people like Demian were there.
Of course, there were also people who were the exact opposite of Demian. For instance, Isaac Wind.
“Commander, what brings you here?”
Isaac, who was busy working his subordinates to the bone under the guise of personal training, quickly approached Demian upon seeing him enter the training grounds.
Seeing his sweat-soaked hair plastered to his forehead, Demian was reminded of Aracilla from earlier, and a wave of discomfort washed over him.
“Didn’t you say you had a date with your wife? You even asked me for restaurant recommendations…”
“Isaac.”
“Yes, Commander.”
“You’re making me uncomfortable, get out of my sight.”
“……Excuse me?”
Isaac wore a bewildered expression. *Making you uncomfortable just by looking at my face?* In fact, Demian was the one whose expression looked truly uncomfortable.
He had even gone to the trouble of recommending a restaurant, so why did he wear such a displeased expression?
“Did you perhaps have a fight with your wife?”
“……”
Demian didn’t answer, but Isaac knew. He knew his superior would either not answer or deflect when asked a question he didn’t want to acknowledge.
“Whoa, did you two have a marital spat?”
“Isaac.”
“Yes.”
“Thirty laps around the training grounds.”
*Wait, why me…?* Even though Isaac looked wronged, Demian was firm. That’s just how it was when you upset your superior.
It seemed like if he resisted any longer, the number of laps would only increase, so Isaac reluctantly put down his sword and began running laps around the training grounds.
Meanwhile, Demian began his personal training. By the time beads of sweat gathered on his forehead, Isaac had finished his run and returned.
“So, why did you fight?”
“……”
“Tell me. After all, I’m quite the expert on romance, aren’t I?”
Isaac puffed out his chest and proudly patted it. His sly smile wasn’t particularly trustworthy, but there was no one else to talk to.
Demian furrowed his brow and pondered in silence for a long time, so Isaac actively pressed him.
“Oh, Commander. Don’t hesitate, just tell me. I really am a romance expert! You wouldn’t believe how many guys in the Knights have successfully dated thanks to my advice.”
“I don’t particularly care to know.”
Demian looked at his subordinate with a somewhat disdainful gaze and added,
“And I’m trying to figure out which of the two I should even talk about.”
“Which of the two…?”
“Which angered my wife more: avoiding physical contact, or telling her I couldn’t trust her?”
Isaac’s jaw dropped in astonishment. *You’re actually debating that?*
“I think the Commander’s inability to understand that is probably what angered her the most.”
“What?”
As his superior’s gaze sharpened, Isaac quickly backed away, raising both hands. But his mouth, ever prone to speaking his mind, didn’t stop.
“Honestly, wouldn’t both of those things hurt your wife’s feelings? What’s the point of weighing the severity of two wrongs anyway? If it were me, I’d have cried.”
“My wife isn’t a crybaby like you.”
“Hey, I’m not a crybaby either!”
Isaac retorted with a stung expression, grumbling.
“Anyway, wasn’t this your first date after getting married? You’ve been so busy, leaving your wife feeling lonely, and then on the one date you finally made time for, you upset her. Imagine how heartbroken she must be.”
“……”
The words ‘first date’ pierced Demian.
Their meeting before the marriage had been to agree on the contract marriage. So, this meeting was truly their first date in their entire lives.
As that fact registered, Demian’s mood became uncontrollably strange. A husband who hurt his wife on their first date?
‘Was she really hurt?’
Aracilla herself had said she was a *little* bit hurt, so she probably was.
Until now, he had lived without caring whether anyone was hurt or not, but today, it felt as uncomfortable as a thorn lodged in his heart.
