“Did Lady Lianna reject you? Is that what happened, Your Highness?”

By the time Calix had leaned back in his chair and lit a cigar, Guildford had returned from scouting the area around the inn.

After shaking the drizzle from his damp hair, he walked over, glanced at the royal ring on the table, and clicked his tongue.

“How terribly unromantic must your proposal have been for her to refuse you?”

Calix let out a low chuckle.

“Were you hiding somewhere and watching?”

“As if I would. I don’t happen to have several lives to spare.”

Guildford rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

He didn’t need to have witnessed the conversation himself to be able to imagine exactly how it must have gone.

His lord was completely devoid of romance.

Without a doubt, he had probably sounded more like he was negotiating the terms of a business contract than proposing marriage.

Still, this complicated matters. If they were to break the curse consuming his master, that woman was essential.

Yet she had refused his proposal of marriage.

“At this point, we may have no choice but to bring her by force.”

To Guildford, Lianna’s wishes were irrelevant.

If necessary, they would have to abduct or imprison her to keep her beside his lord.

“If you give the order, I can do it immediately—”

“No. There’s no need for that.”

Calix exhaled a stream of smoke leisurely as he watched his loyal subordinate, who would commit any atrocity for his sake without hesitation.

Despite the fact that he would suffer the most if he lost Lianna, he showed no sense of urgency.

“That woman will come to me of her own accord.”

He was bound to win as long as he knew her weaknesses.

There was no need to resort to crude methods.

Of course, he couldn’t deny that this approach was far more troublesome and time-consuming.

In fact, he didn’t even need to offer her the position of Grand Duchess.

He could simply lock her away and take her whenever he wanted.

‘That would honestly be easier.’

However, Calix intended to continue using that woman for as long as she was useful to him.

If he were to announce his intention to marry her, the look on a certain person’s face — someone who despised him — would be entertaining to witness.

Missing such an amusing spectacle would be a terrible waste.

For a long moment, Calix silently watched the smoke drifting through the air before lowering his gaze to the royal ring.

Rather than forcing the woman into his bed, he had shown enough consideration to propose marriage.

She was the one who rejected it.

Calix was not a man to make the same offer twice.

The thought of how that woman would eventually pay the price for rejecting him was strangely amusing.

‘At least the waiting won’t be boring.’

A deeper smirk curled at his lips as Calix slowly exhaled another stream of smoke.

***

The rain had finally stopped.

Lianna gazed at the clear sky through the inn’s window. The brightness and peacefulness of the day made it hard to believe that yesterday’s violent storm had ever existed.

The weather was so beautiful that the torrential rain felt like nothing more than a distant memory.

After sharing breakfast with Joel, Lianna had planned to leave the inn early that morning.

But before she could do that, there was one important matter still to attend to. She had to say goodbye to Calix.

If not for his outrageous proposal the previous night, she would not have felt nearly this uncomfortable about facing him.

‘Why did he ask me to marry him in the first place?’

The Grand Duke certainly seemed to be telling the truth when he said that he wanted her body.

However, desire alone was nowhere near enough to justify such a bargain.

After all, he was a prince of the Kingdom of Gloucester and a war hero who was revered across the nation.

What could she possibly offer a man like him?

She had spent the entire night turning the question over in her mind, yet she still could not find an answer.

Lianna softly shook her head, trying to dispel the tangled thoughts weighing heavily on her mind.

After finishing breakfast, she went to find Calix.

True to a man who had spent years on the battlefield, Calix was already awake, unlike the nobles who preferred to start their days more slowly.

As he fastened the cords at the front of his shirt, he turned towards her the moment she told him she was leaving.

“We’ll go together.”

The unexpected response made Lianna instinctively ask,

“…Pardon?”

“Didn’t hear me?”

Calix glanced at her lazily.

“I can say it again if you want.”

She had heard him perfectly clearly.

But, after what had happened last night, how could they possibly continue travelling together?

Even if his proposal hadn’t been sincere, she had rejected him nonetheless.

There was no reason for him to willingly accompany someone whose presence would now be awkward.

And yet, it seemed she was the only one troubled by it.

Calix treated her exactly the same as before, maintaining the same indifferent attitude as though nothing had happened.

“We were heading to the capital anyway.”

“I’m simply offering to escort you while we travel.”

More than half of the mercenaries hired by Lianna were killed during the bandit attack.

Nevertheless, she could not bring herself to burden Calix any further.

Besides which, the idea of having a Grand Duke act as her personal escort had been unimaginable from the outset.

“If you want to go through what happened yesterday a second time, though…”

Calix fastened the sharp steel sword to his waist before continuing casually,

“…I won’t stop you.”

The image of him slaying countless bandits during the storm was etched in her memory.

He was the safest escort possible.

But was this really all right?

She had rejected his proposal, yet now she was accepting his protection without hesitation.

As Lianna hesitated, Calix abruptly stepped closer.

“There’s something you should understand while we’re at it.”

He lifted Lianna’s lowered chin with one hand.

Their eyes met against her will.

“I don’t make the same offer twice.”

Though his gaze remained calm, there was an unmistakable sense of pressure beneath it.

Lianna realized once again that this man was not only bad-tempered, but also extremely impatient.

Overwhelmed by his presence, she nodded slightly in acknowledgement.

And just like that, the insignificant standoff ended exactly as Calix had intended.

A faint smile brushed across his lips as he released her.

***

The journey continued without much trouble.

The roads were uneven due to the heavy rain several days earlier, causing the carriage to jolt occasionally.

Travelling along the main road was manageable enough, but whenever they crossed rough, unpaved paths, Lianna found herself glancing anxiously at Joel, who was sitting opposite her.

Since the bandit attack, he had become noticeably quieter and more withdrawn.

Concerned for him, Lianna tried to speak to him more often, but each time he only replied briefly before turning his gloomy gaze back towards the window.

He was clearly troubled by something.

Seeing her younger brother stubbornly refusing to open up made Lianna swallow down a quiet sigh.

She had done everything she could to fill the emptiness left behind by their parents’ early deaths.

But was she truly doing enough?

She believed she had cared for Joel with all her heart.

And yet, perhaps ultimately, she simply had not been strong enough.

As these self-deprecating thoughts surfaced without warning, the coachman gradually slowed the carriage before bringing it to a stop.

Outside, the horses snorted uneasily.

Had something happened?

Lianna was instantly filled with dread at the memory of the ambush several days earlier.

With anxious eyes, she pulled back the curtain covering the carriage window.

Calix was standing outside, holding the reins and gazing towards the west.

Following his line of sight, Lianna turned her head in the same direction.

Beyond the low hill, something dark was moving like a rising black tide.

A moment later, she realized what was covering the hillside: mounted cavalry.

The lead rider’s banner, held high, flapped wildly in the wind and displayed the crest of the Kingdom of Gloucester.

Guildford approached Calix’s side.

Shielding his eyes with one hand, he gazed into the distance.

“It seems they arrived right on time, Your Highness.”

These were the knights who had fought alongside Calix during the campaign against the barbarians. They rode day and night through hidden shortcuts, never resting.

Soon, their huge army of cavalry and infantry crossed the hill and gathered around him.

The soldiers spread out across the plains and saluted him all at once, displaying perfect military precision.

Their thunderous voices echoed high into the sky, loud enough to make Lianna’s ears ring.

Calix acknowledged their greeting with calm restraint.

Only then did Lianna truly realize that this man was the commander of all these soldiers.

She had heard that Calix always fought on the front lines himself whenever he entered battle.

Perhaps that was why.

The knights’ gazes never wavered; they were filled with unmistakable reverence for their Grand Duke.

‘He’s respected.’

She had always thought of him as nothing more than a foul-mouthed man with a dreadful personality.

But maybe he had an admirable side, too.

Of course, if he could read her mind, he would probably sneer and say something like…“You’re only realizing that now?”

With the army joining them, the journey became much livelier.

Lianna periodically compared the map she was holding with the scenery outside to calculate how much further they had to go before reaching the capital.

‘We’re really almost there now.’

The thought of arriving in the capital and finding a doctor for Joel immediately made her heart race.

Hope swelled inside her like drifting clouds.

A small smile touched her lips as she turned towards Joel and then she heard the conversation of the marching soldiers.

“As expected, the woman His Highness fell for is on another level. You’d never find a beauty like that anywhere else in the kingdom.”

“That’s not all. I never knew His Highness had a romantic side. Chasing after the woman he fell for at first sight through a raging storm? Incredible.”

“Our respected Grand Duke truly is a master of swift victory—not only in war, but in matters of women too.”

The soldiers made comments that were partly teasing and partly sincere, stealing curious glances at Lianna as they did so.

When their eyes met, she flinched and hurriedly pulled the curtain closed.

With her face burning bright red, Lianna quickly turned to check Joel’s expression.

What was he thinking right now?

There was nothing between her and Calix.

Should she explain that it was all an absurd misunderstanding?

But if she tried, it would probably sound like nothing more than a clumsy excuse.

Lianna nervously fidgeted with her fingers before quietly sighing.

Romance?

With that man?

As if that could ever happen!