Lucas let out a deep sigh as he walked
slowly to the knight's room.
Yesterday, after Valerie and her father had
left, Lucas had attacked his father, Jonathan, and had been beaten to a pulp by
him.
Even in his old age, the head of the Vandale
family, an assassin nobleman, is not an ordinary man.
He is also a first-rate assassin, though he
plays the role of a daylight lamp that is neither poison nor medicine once he
is exposed to the public.
Still, if this situation continues, it will
not be good.
He will spend the rest of his life in
Valerie's lap.
It's not just bad luck anymore. It is hell,
to put it mildly.
**a
However, Lucas does not have the option to
ask for the King's permission for divorce as a reward for his war success, as
Valerie says.
In the first place, he does not want to
stand out. If it were known that he was actually skilled, he would be extremely
restricted in his activities as an assassin.
"I don't know what to do..."
He muttered to himself as he was approaching
the entrance to the annex of the royal palace where the knights are stationed.
"Ah!"
"Geh!"
He ran into Valerie by chance.
Valerie then looked at him like he was a
pest when she saw Luca.
"It's unusual for the Commander to be
so late. Don't tell me... you are waiting for me...?"
"Are you an idiot? I didn't want to see
you at all... which is why I left the house so late"
If he look closely, he can see faint dark
circles under her eyes. When he pointed it out to her...
"Don't look, you idiot. I was up at
dawn thinking of a thousand ways to kill you silently."
"Well, I'm sorry."
"Haah... Anyway! As I told you
yesterday... be careful, don't let anyone else find out about this. I'll die of
rage if anyone finds out I'm married to a half-wit like you."
"...But someday we'll be found
out..."
"I'm not ready to be covered in
filth."
"Isn't it a bit harsh to treat me like
filth?"
"It's a fact, so there's nothing I can
do about it."
Lucas shrugs his shoulders. However, as soon
as Valerie opens the door to the staff room with a completely unfaithful look
on her face—
"Commander! Congratulations on your
marriageeeeeee!"
The knights who had been waiting for her
cheered with loud applause.
"What!?"
Valerie and Lucas unintentionally rolled
their eyes and froze.
The knights surround them and begin to
congratulate them verbally.
"Congratulations!"
"You smell like water! Commander!"
"Well, I didn't think you two had such
a relationship!"
"For a guy who said he had no luck...
but in fact, he's the luckiest one! I'm so jealous of you! Die! You little
shit!"
"Commander! If you aren't satisfied
with him... I'll be here..."
"Don't talk nonsense to the
newlyweds!"
Valerie, who had suddenly stiffened up
completely, came to her senses and shouted.
**b
"Hey! Wait! Wait! Y-You guys, h-h-how
did you know...?!"
"How did we know...? Well..."
The knights look at each other with doubtful
faces.
"Last night, I received a gift from the
Commander's father. A wedding gift."
"What...!?"
Valerie's cheeks twitched involuntarily and
Lucas clutched his head.
It seems that their fathers were one step
ahead of them.
They had already established the fact that
they had been in the area for a long time.
"Of course, I was surprised. But if I
think about it, even though it was a sermon, Commander and Lucas spent more
time together than the others, and I wondered if it was possible for you two to
fall in love if spending a lot of time face to face."
"...No way"
Luca's blabbering is completely silenced,
and the knights nod at each other.
"Well, as you two are newlyweds during
the expedition, you can make out
to each other except in battle. We'll pretend not to
notice!"
"Yes, yes! Except in battle, just think
of it as a honeymoon!
The knights may have meant well, but
Valerie's face seemed to twitch even more, and she couldn't help but shout.
"What kind of a dangerous honeymoon is
this!?"
The next day, Valerie is absent from her
official duties for the first time, claiming to be ill.
* * *
The day after Lucas and Valerie were blessed
by the knights, Lucas's father, Jonathan, sat down in his study to finish his
paperwork.
"Dear, I heard that Miss Valerie has
taken a day off from her official duties."
It was almost noon when Bridget came into
the study without knocking.
"Well, it's just as the Duke-sama said.
She is in the palm of his hand."
Jonathan raised one eyebrow in admiration.
"That's just how obedient she is"
Bridget smiles and puts her hand on
Jonathan's shoulder.
"...Hmm? By the way, who informed you
that she was absent from her official duties?"
"Lucas came home just a few minutes ago
and told me..."
"He just came back...? It's not even
noon yet"
"Well, he was urged by his colleagues
to leave early to be with his wife since they're newlyweds... but he just came
home and is taking a good nap..."
"Huff, he's getting better at
pretending to be an asshole, isn't he?"
Bridget looked a little complicated as
Jonathan nodded his head in satisfaction.
**c
"Yes, but... lately I'm beginning to
wonder if he really is a bastard."
"Hahaha. But, well, it's only for a
while now that he has to pretend to be a son of a bitch. After he returns from
the battlefield, and after the wedding ceremony, Lucas will officially stop
being a member of the Viscounts of Vandale. He will no longer have to continue
being an assassin."
Bridget looks at Jonathan, who is silently
keeping his eyes down, and asks him.
"Are you sure you want to do
this?"
"I'd be lying if I said I didn't regret
it. He is a kind of genius. I didn't even teach him and before I knew it he had
stolen my swordsmanship. Even the secret sword I've been working on for over a
decade..."
"That boy has an extraordinary memory.
He never forgets a thing he's seen."
"Well, a regrettable talent. But he's
too kind-hearted to be an assassin. And with his bad luck, he will probably die
somewhere if he continues to be an assassin."
"Stiil, you'll have a hard time after
we let him go, won't you?"
"I don't mind. It's a burden I should
have had to bear from the beginning. Besides, I've reached an age when I'm
ready to retire."
Jonathan smiles at her, and Bridget responds
with a sad smile.
After a short silence, she asked him again.
"Anyway, if you're just going to let
him go, wouldn't it be better with someone a little less conspicuous?"
"Not just anyone would do. After all,
this is the person he will spend the rest of his life with. Of course it would
be better to have a partner who suits his taste. For a boy, his mother is very
special. As far as I can see, she's a little like you."
"Well, is it beauty?"
"It's scary."
"...Dear, may I have a word with
you?"
