Chapter 4. What Do You Need?

Theo shook his head slightly.

He had misspoken.

Perhaps he wasn’t in his right mind after drinking too much today.

On the other hand, Yuelina quietly observed Theo upon hearing his concerned voice directed at her.

Theo standing before her was wearing a thin white shirt.

It was so thin that his body lines were visible due to the terrace light seeping through from behind.

Despite wearing thin clothes, his build was so imposing that it looked as if he was wearing thick layers.

While it took three of the village warriors to move a wild beast, how many would it take to move Theo? At least five, perhaps?

Yuelina hesitated before speaking.

“Aren’t you cold, Your Highness?”

“I don’t feel the cold.”

Theo answered nonchalantly.

Yuelina felt embarrassed for some reason.

The north was twice as cold as her village. The master of a northern region like this would surely find this cold to be nothing.

Yuelina lowered her head, thinking she had worried unnecessarily.

Theo stared intently at Yuelina’s round back of the head as she bowed.

It seemed the statement about not feeling the cold was shocking to her.

Even a glimpse of her nape or wrists showed that her skin was delicate and soft.

In contrast, his skin was as tough and hard as armor.

What could Yuelina be thinking with her head bowed?

Was she clicking her tongue, thinking that a person who doesn’t feel cold and has such a ridiculously large build is uncivilized?

Maybe she was regretting that she should have at least seen the face of the man she was marrying before agreeing.

Theo had not the slightest intention of canceling his marriage with Yuelina.

Yuelina must live here with him for the rest of her life.

Theo opened his mouth again to remind Yuelina of this fact.

“If you cross this bridge, you’ll reach the terrace of my room, where I’m standing now. I was going to tell you anyway, but we’ve met like this.”

Yuelina raised her head again at Theo’s words.

“From now on, if anything happens, it’ll be quicker to find me. Tell me anything.”

“…Ah.”

“There’s nothing I can’t do in this principality. I can even find a fleeing white squirrel.”

Theo assumed Yuelina would understand by now.

That even if she wanted to run away, there was nowhere she could escape to.

So she should stay quietly confined in that room.

However, Yuelina was gently moved by Theo’s words.

Apart from liking the warm and comfortable attic room, she felt that it was far from the mansion where her husband, Theo, was.

But to find out it was actually the closest room to Theo.

Yuelina felt her heart flutter, thinking that he seemed to be taking care of her thoughtfully.

Just then, a fierce wind carrying cold air blew around the two. It was strong enough to shake the bridge from side to side.

Yuelina found it difficult to maintain her balance in the sudden strong wind. She stretched out her arm to grab the fence.

“Ah,”

At that moment, Yuelina lost her balance and stumbled.

Theo caught Yuelina’s outstretched arm with one hand and lightly wrapped his other hand around her waist.

It looked as if Theo was embracing Yuelina from behind.

The wind didn’t calm down easily.

Her snow-like hair fluttered aimlessly.

Theo pressed his body close to hers like a wall to prevent her from falling.

Yuelina was clearly leaning on him because of the wind.

Yet he felt no weight at all.

Would this be the weight if a white wagtail were placed on one’s palm?

Earlier she had scurried over like a squirrel, and now she was huddling up like a crow-tit.

“Th-thank you.”

At that moment, Yuelina grabbed Theo’s arm wrapped around her waist with both hands.

It seemed as if she was trying to remove his arm by applying force.

She kept fidgeting and touching Theo’s arm, after all.

But to Theo, it felt so weak that he could have mistaken it for Yuelina tickling him.

In the end, Theo released his arm on his own and stepped away from Yuelina.

Theo quietly watched her as she tidied her disheveled hair.

White and fair hair that had never held any color.

Pink eyes that held the sunset glow of a clear day.

The pure voice coming from between her small, moist lips.

Every single thing about her proved that she was not from this country, this world.

And the sparkling red dots on both of her earlobes.

Is that the mark of the so-called saintess?

“On your ears, what is that?”

“It’s a mark. The mark that I’m… the successor of the village.”

“The successor of the village, does that mean you represent the village?”

Theo knew that the reason Yuelina married him was because of the magic stone.

Three months before learning of the Book of Prophecy’s existence, Delkan had proposed to Theo about marrying a foreigner.

It was said that although it was an island not even on the map, the Bios Empire was pushing for exchanges, and they were planning to naturally absorb that island into the empire in the future.

He wondered if the emperor, who had always tried to start territorial wars, had suddenly become a pacifist.

Now he knows that they used the magic stone as a bargaining chip to marry Yuelina, the sacrifice, to him.

Anyway, if she was the successor of the village, she must have married out of a sense of responsibility to save her village.

Delkan had also said that what the increasingly cold island needed most was magic stones.

Well, without the pretext of magic stones, there would have been no reason for Yuelina to come this far to marry him.

Even the nobles who pushed for marriage for the sake of their families would swallow their words once they saw Theo in person.

Moreover, as the women who married him either ran away or died, rumors began to circulate that he devoured brides.

The War Demon that people should rightfully fear.

The Murderer who could behead you at any moment.

That was Theo.

But Yuelina doesn’t seem to fear him.

She didn’t avoid eye contact, nor did she tremble in fear or show expressions of disgust.

Is this the first?

A woman who doesn’t cry at the sight of him.

A person who doesn’t fidget, wanting to run away to somewhere else as soon as possible.

Then, is there really a need to confine her? Maybe there’s no need to frighten her?

Besides, Theo could give Yuelina the magic stones she wanted as much as she desired. He had a lot of magic stones at his disposal.

He had won numerous wars, and in return, he had continuously created magic stone mining sites.

In the north, where the weather was unfavorable for agriculture and tourism, the only technology that could be developed was magic stone processing.

It was all too easy to give magic stones in exchange for marrying him.

Theo gazed into Yuelina’s eyes with a slightly boastful attitude.

“Then you’ll need a lot, quite a lot of magic stones.”

However, Yuelina bit her lip at Theo’s words.

She must already dislike being forced to marry a foreigner, how much must she hate him for brazenly asking for magic stones?

According to Delkan, Theo showed a strong obsession with magic stones.

He seemed to have said that Theo carefully collected magic stones every time he won a war, making the principality prosperous.

To throw a tantrum asking for such hard-earned magic stones just because a foreigner became his wife.

There were too many reasons for Theo to dislike her from the start of their marriage.

Moreover, she had nothing she could give to Theo.

“It’s alright for now.”

Yuelina shook her head.

“The village isn’t that cold yet. You don’t have to give them right away.”

Although the cold was coming to the village, they could endure for about a year.

She wanted to ask for help for the village after she truly became his wife, after she got closer to him.

And she wanted to find ways she could be helpful to the principality as well.

Just receiving help wasn’t what she wanted.

But Theo flinched at Yuelina’s resolute voice.

She married him for the magic stones, yet she says he doesn’t need to give them?

That sounded like she had no intention of continuing their married life.

Did she have a change of heart after seeing him, even though she came all this way for her village?

She might have already heard rumors about Theo from the mansion’s maid.

Theo frowned and asked in a slightly irritated voice.

“Then, what do you need?”

“…Hmm.”

At Theo’s words, Yuelina gently touched her lips with her slender fingers.

Theo intently observed her pink lips that occasionally brushed against her fingertips.

What words would come out of those soft lips?

That agreeing to the marriage was a mistake, so please send her back? That she doesn’t need magic stones, so let her escape?

Theo regretted inwardly.

He shouldn’t have been pacing in front of the terrace.

He shouldn’t have even thought about seeing Yuelina’s face in the first place.

Theo decided to firmly reject whatever came out of Yuelina’s mouth.

He resolved to pay more attention to monitoring Yuelina from now on.

And finally, Yuelina’s small lips slowly parted.

“Tomorrow, how about having breakfast with me?”

“That’s absolutely not possible.”

“Ah, I see. I’m sorry.”

“…No, what did you just say?”

What? Breakfast?

Theo’s heart sank with a thud.