NLS Ch6

Ashin glared at him, her eyes wide and unwavering.

His momentum faltered at her hostile attitude.

“Ten days, you said?”

She pouted and said curtly, “Yeah. I’ll be gone for ten days, just visiting Pihan.”

“How are you going to go to Pihan and back in ten days?”

“I know it’s impossible. But I’m going to try anyway.”

A short sigh escaped him. She didn’t look up to confirm, but somehow she felt he was looking down on her with disdain.

“You’re going on a trip anyway, so why now of all times?”

“Do I… have to tell you the reason? Are you already meddling in my life?”

“You’re going to be my wife. Isn’t that obvious?”

“Ugh!”

The word “wife” coming from his mouth! Ashin shuddered, as if shaking off nonsense. If she didn’t have her bag, she would have jumped up from her spot.

“Ugh, I got goosebumps. Look.”

She rolled up her sleeve and held out her arm, covered in goosebumps. But he didn’t even glance at her arm. His face remained as stiff as a stone statue, frustrating Ashin.

“I really don’t understand. Why are you being so serious?”

“What should I do if I’m not serious?”

“I feel like this is all a joke. Don’t you? Suddenly being told to get married? It doesn’t even feel real. It feels like it could be canceled as suddenly as it was decided. If I move just a little faster, I might actually be able to withdraw. You don’t want that either, right? Just cooperate a little.”

Ashin didn’t want to mention the Prince of Pihan. Until she saw it with her own eyes, she couldn’t be sure about anything regarding spiritism. She also couldn’t spread unconfirmed information outside the tower.

“Are you planning to come up with some brilliant scheme in ten days?”

“Yeah.”

“Unfortunately, it won’t work. Give up.”

Ashin’s face instantly crumpled. The man who had been looking like he was about to die in front of the throne with her just a few days ago had suddenly changed. There had to be a reason. Ashin racked her brains and came up with an obvious one.

“Did you make a deal with Her Majesty?”

“Ailem has been granted three years of freedom.”

Ashin paused, taken aback by the more generous than expected terms. Not one year, but three years was a really long time. For Vize to act like this meant that she was determined to push this decree through no matter what.

“You said you didn’t want to add any troublesome things to your life, right?”

“I heard you’ll be leaving the empire soon.”

“Ah, so we won’t be seeing each other anyway?”

“How about not coming back for at least a few years and traveling enough?”

Instead of the roundabout way Leotar was speaking, Ashin came to a conclusion.

“So, to sum it up, we’ll get married, but we won’t live together for at least three years.”

“While you’re gone, Ailem will protect the tower.”

“Tell me what you’re going to do for those three years too.”

“…I will succeed Ailem.”

“Ah.”

Suddenly, everything made sense. The man’s sudden change of attitude. For that kind of purpose, even Leotar would have no choice but to accept this offer. Which feudal lord would refuse the opportunity to avoid the Emperor’s interference for three years?

Ashin bit her lip.

His attitude really made her realize that their marriage was nothing more than a transaction with no personal interaction. Before she knew it, Ashin’s head and heart were gradually cooling down. With Vize and now Leotar acting like this, she thought it would be too great a loss to refuse this marriage.

He said “wife” and all, but in the end, he didn’t even plan to live together, did he? It was a very fitting ending for them.

Three years was just a number; judging from Leotar’s attitude, it could be a lifetime. A marriage solely for each other’s purposes. They disliked each other, but if they didn’t have to see each other, there would be no conflict.

“What happens after three years?”

“Do as you wish. I won’t interfere with anything.”

“I don’t even know what I’ll want to do then. Are you sure you’re okay with that?”

Ashin wasn’t familiar with the affairs of the nobles, but she had heard that there were couples who hated each other so much that they only formed an alliance and never met for the rest of their lives. Perhaps it was like a prophecy meant for them.

“As long as you fulfill your marital duties, I wouldn’t ask for anything else. Not a child, not you.”

Ashin frowned and pronounced the unfamiliar word.

“Child.”

Saying it made her feel even more absurd. She had never specifically thought about children either. That’s right. If you get married and spend the night together, you might have children, but why hadn’t she considered that?

Ashin gaped blankly, belatedly shocked.

Wait, and by the “marital duties”…

“What are you thinking? I clearly said I don’t want them.”

“Huh? Ah. Right, you did.”

Ashin brushed her pounding heart at his sharp correction.

But soon, a question arose. The marital duties included the unification ritual that lasted for seven days immediately after the wedding ceremony. Did not wanting children mean giving up the ritual or using contraception?

No, did it mean that he didn’t like her enough to not even want children? Was he making it so obvious that this was a marriage he was being half-threatened into by imperial decree?

Ashin didn’t particularly want them either, but for some reason, she felt dirty.

No matter how coldly she calmed her heart, the feeling that she shouldn’t have to do such an unpleasant marriage kept rising again.

Now that she knew Leotar was the one who needed this marriage more, why was she the only one who kept feeling bad? She knew it was just a transaction, but why were emotions intruding? It was annoying that she couldn’t stop the urge to keep checking, even though she could just continue living a cold life like other imperial nobles.

“You hate me so much, how can you…”

“What are you talking about since a while ago? I don’t hate you.”

Ashin’s head snapped up at the unexpected answer.

“I don’t know why you keep saying strange things. There’s no one in the Ismil barracks who doesn’t owe you their life. Me too. How can you not know that you were respected by the entire unit? So stop with the useless thought that I hate you.”

The reason was valid, but she was still not convinced. The other party was the man who had been avoiding her all along. Couldn’t it just be that they hadn’t run into each other by chance? No. Ashin had the sense to distinguish that much.

She blurted out impulsively.

“Then kiss me.”

“…I think I misheard.”

“I’m telling you to kiss me.”

“……”

“If we get married, we’ll have the unification ritual right away, so what’s a kiss? I don’t want to marry a man I can’t even kiss.”

After saying it, it felt more childish than she thought. Vize and Leotar were all thinking only about political purposes, but she alone was trying to dig into Leotar’s heart.

Still, she wanted to make sure. She couldn’t marry someone who judged her as an ‘incompatible being,’ even if the sky split and the stars poured down.

Leotar bent down and came down to the floor. He knelt on one knee in front of the squatting Ashin and made eye contact with her. As the distance narrowed, a faint sandalwood scent wafted over. A warm, watery scent that felt like he had just washed. Now that she thought about it, his hair was a little wet too. He was wearing a white silk gown that he would only wear in the bedroom. It was as if he had rushed over from resting at home.

“Kiss you?”

Her eyes, which had been scanning the man’s attire, moved to his face.

The strong lines of his face were dimly lit by the moonlight. As always when she faced him up close, Ashin’s gaze wandered around his face as if captivated. Thick eyebrows and a straight, sharp nose, and long, shadowed eyes beneath his eyebrows. Brown eyes that were mostly indifferent but sometimes looked gloomy.

When she reached his always tightly closed lips, she swallowed hard without realizing it. Lips that she wanted to block every time the words “impossible,” “unacceptable,” and “not allowed” came out.

“Are you serious?”

Strangely, Leotar approached without any hesitation. When he was standing in the dark, she felt like he would be making an unpleasant expression, but the face revealed in the moonlight was far from Ashin’s expectations. His brown eyes met her gaze directly. He was still close to expressionless, but he was definitely watching her complexion.

Her lips didn’t open easily. Even though she didn’t answer, a large hand cupped her cheek. Cold fingers brushed her earlobe and the back of her neck, digging through her hair.

Ashin reflexively shuddered and looked up at him as he slowly leaned towards her.

Just like in the barracks that day, their noses touched and their breaths mingled. Could it really be…? She looked at the man suspiciously, and met his eyes, which were slightly lowered as if to gauge her intentions. And then.

“Mm?”

His lips touched hers softly. Ashin’s eyes widened as if they would pop out at the kiss that followed without a moment’s hesitation. She rolled her eyes and stared at Leotar’s closed eyes, the hair that fell over his eyes, and his handsome eyebrows.

He bit Ashin’s lower lip.

“Mmmph?”

Still questioning, Ashin tilted her head back and forth, opposite to the direction Leotar was moving.