#7. What Kind Of Person Were You?

Aidan stared so intently that she couldn’t avoid his gaze. An awkward silence passed as she remained frozen, looking up at him. In the suffocating stillness, she unconsciously swallowed hard.

“Just kidding.”

Aidan spoke lightly as he stepped back. He raised both hands, showing he wouldn’t do anything more.

“I don’t have a habit of forcing myself on unwilling people. Though I wouldn’t refuse if you wanted it.”

He smiled as if the latter part was a joke. Only then did Karina feel her blocked airways clear, taking a long breath as she turned her head away.

“Consummation doesn’t necessarily mean sharing a bed. What’s important is that others see that Your Highness and I have consummated.”

“Ah, of course.”

Aidan nodded as if he had expected this. She was relieved, having worried he might misunderstand her intentions.

“Do you have two beds in your bedroom?”

Karina just blinked at Aidan’s question.

“You’re saying we’ll share a room but not a bed. I can’t sleep on the floor. And I can’t make you sleep on the floor either.”

She hadn’t thought that far.

“We could prepare another bed…”

“Who would bring that bed in?”

She immediately closed her mouth at his point that bringing another bed into the bedroom would defeat the purpose of consummation. He was right — through the servants bringing in the bed, rumors would spread that they consummated but slept separately.

As she pondered what to do, Aidan made a long humming sound.

“Is your bed as big as mine?”

Aidan’s bed? There wasn’t much difference between the bed in his chamber and hers.

“I think so.”

“Then there’s no problem. We can share one bed.”

“That’s…!”

She couldn’t understand how they reached this conclusion when she had clearly stated they wouldn’t share a bed.

“Not allowed? But neither you nor I can sleep on the floor either.”

Aidan cut off Karina’s words and answered first.

“But sharing one bed…”

She wanted to retort that it wasn’t right for a couple who had agreed to divorce, but then thought that they were still married for half a year anyway.

“Seems you don’t trust me when I said I wouldn’t force myself on you.”

Aidan looked at Karina and raised the corner of his mouth in a smirk.

“That’s a good attitude. You should be wary of men as much as possible. Don’t trust anyone too much.”

She couldn’t tell if he was telling her to trust him or not to trust him.

“Even someone like me who says I won’t touch unwilling people could turn into a beast at any time.”

She wondered what he was trying to say. As she frowned at his roundabout way of speaking, she saw Aidan smile slightly.

“Still want to go through with the consummation?”

“……?”

“Sleeping in the same room with a man means accepting that kind of risk — are you saying you need to do it just to avoid people’s gossip?”

At Aidan’s words, Karina bit her lower lip then released it. Even if it was a time-limited marriage, she was the prince’s consort. As long as she held that position, abandoning her duties was unthinkable.

“If it’s necessary as the prince’s consort, I think I should do it.”

In truth, she might not fully understand what consummation meant or the warning Aidan was giving. During their three years of marriage, she had never once shared a room with ‘Aidan.’ Let alone other men. So while she intellectually understood what it meant to share a room with a man, she didn’t feel the sense of danger he was describing.

“That inflexibility really…”

Aidan started to say something but shook his head and turned away, saying never mind.

“More importantly, Your Highness needs to prepare something.”

Karina also wanted to change the subject away from consummation.

“A knight tournament will be held soon. Icinia has sent an envoy to congratulate our marriage, and there’s royalty included in that delegation.”

“Icinia? Where we import most weapons from?”

She was surprised at how he knew this, but Aidan casually answered that he had seen it in a recent report on Griffith Empire’s trade. She was internally surprised that he had already looked into trade documents, but since she knew he was always reading various books from the library whenever he had time, she didn’t show it.

“If you know that, this will be easier to explain. Because we import weapons from them, they’re holding a knight tournament as a gesture to strengthen the alliance with Icinia. Your Highness will also need to participate in this tournament.”

“I haven’t received any notification yet.”

The Empress probably intended to give Aidan no time to prepare. She would likely formally request Aidan’s participation when the tournament was imminent. She must have been preparing for the tournament long before. Lloyd’s emotional outburst yesterday was probably because either the tournament was only days away or he thought it was too late for Aidan to do anything even if he knew now.

“The notification will come soon. His Highness Lloyd mentioned it directly yesterday.”

“Yesterday? You met Lloyd?”

She unconsciously frowned as it sounded like he was interrogating an unfaithful wife.

“He was already waiting at my palace when I returned after dining with Your Highness.”

She made it clear it wasn’t a meeting of her own will. Knowing Lloyd’s feelings for her weren’t pure, she didn’t want to leave any room for misunderstanding regarding him.

“What a f*cking bastard. Why the hell is he visiting another man’s wife?”

She was startled by the crude words that came out unfiltered. Karina stared at him with wide eyes before frowning. Sensing her gaze, Aidan turned to look, made an ‘oops’ expression, then smiled.

“His Highness Lloyd is Your Highness’s half-brother, and as long as we live in the palace, I may encounter him or converse with him at any time.”

“Are you seriously defending that bastard in front of me?”

“No. I’m concerned that if someone were to hear Your Highness use such unspeakable words just because I happened to meet His Highness Lloyd.”

“It’s not that serious.”

“Your Highness!”

Even if someone else was inside him, he was still an imperial prince. Using vulgar words was a flaw that could be criticized, and if the subject was Lloyd, it could become an even bigger issue. Thinking she needed to give him a stern warning about this, she hardened her expression and spoke more firmly.

“Okay. I absolutely won’t do it in front of others. Happy?”

Aidan answered while raising both hands.

In front of others? Does that mean he’ll continue doing it in front of me?

Even though she knew about his true identity, she worried what would happen if someone overheard, but before Karina could nag more, Aidan spoke first.

“More importantly, what’s this knight tournament about?”

He seemed to be deliberately changing the subject to avoid the nagging, but since that was the more urgent matter, she went along with his intention.

“As the name suggests, it’s a tournament where knights gather to compete in a tournament format, and His Majesty awards the final winner.”

“Knights… What weapons do they use?”

“There are no restrictions whether it’s swords or spears… Don’t tell me you’re planning to participate?”

She asked in surprise. Aidan was taking the situation more calmly than she had expected, and beyond that, he was talking as if he was already assuming he would participate in the tournament.

“Didn’t you say I have to participate?”

“Well, yes, but…”

Somehow, the conversation followed the same pattern as when they discussed having to dance at the banquet. Karina thought it impossible while Aidan responded as if he could naturally do it.

“Are there no specific rules? Like having to use this country’s particular fighting style or something?”

“Not really…”

Would fighting style even matter? If he couldn’t hold a sword in the first place, he wouldn’t be able to fight anyone.

“You’re wondering if I can fight right now?”

Aidan smiled and asked, apparently reading her thoughts from her expression. As she couldn’t deny it, his smile deepened.

“I have some real combat experience. I even served in the military.”

Military? Had there been any recent wars nearby? At least not on this continent where the Griffith Empire was located. Where did this man come from? The same question mark resurfaced again.

“Do I need to ride a horse too? I’m not good at horseback riding. When I went out with Kai yesterday, we rode horses, and my butt hurt terribly. I don’t know how people ride those things.”

Aidan kept making irrelevant comments, either knowing or not knowing Karina’s concerns.

“The knight tournament isn’t about fist fighting. Do you know how to handle any weapons?”

While there were no restrictions, one had to choose at least one weapon. If he stood empty-handed against opponents charging with swords or spears, he would die before he could do anything.

“Sword.”

“A sword?”

He’s handled swords before? From what she had seen so far, she couldn’t find anything knightly about him. Surely he hadn’t just played around with wooden swords with neighborhood kids?

“I know Haedong Kumdo¹.”

Karina frowned at the unfamiliar term.

“It’s actually quite helpful in fighting. It helped me survive several near-death experiences.”

Near-death experiences? Karina tilted her head. Meanwhile, Aidan looked down at one of his hands.

“Come to think of it, it’s been a while since I’ve had blood on these hands.”

His eyes suddenly turned cold as he muttered quietly. For a brief moment, she felt a chilling killing intent from him, making her body unconsciously stiffen.

Who is this man really? She couldn’t take her eyes off him for a while, thinking he was becoming increasingly incomprehensible.