When night returned, Dana awkwardly met Kaiden again in their shared bedroom.

“I heard you went to the training grounds since morning?”

Dana asked without properly looking at Kaiden. He answered her question.

“Yes. Since I don’t know much about the Divine Beast’s abilities.”

Dana looked at Kaiden in surprise. It seemed he had been training to understand and properly handle the Divine Beast’s abilities.

In fact, Kaiden had just returned from training all day to figure out what the Divine Beast was and how to use it. His training partner had been Sir Ian Connors, who had dared to approach his lord’s wife and speak unnecessary words.

Ian had begged to be punished by filling parchments with rules about chivalry instead, but such words wouldn’t work on a superior who didn’t consider writing letters to be proper punishment.

What an arrogant subordinate knight needed wasn’t to comfortably memorize sentences about maintaining knightly courtesy and honor, but to personally realize how fearsome the husband of the noble lady he had spoken to was.

The noble lady who couldn’t know these circumstances thought her husband had acted appropriately, as expected of a knight always devoted to training. And she admired how fitting his behavior was. It was quite a contrast to a certain woman who had never properly summoned her Divine Beast even after contracting with it. Dana thought once again that she had made the right choice in selecting him.

“That’s a good idea. So how did the training go?”

“I think I still need to practice more. There are big limitations to training here.”

I see. Dana nodded. They really needed to return to Khalid as soon as possible.

‘Tomorrow I must meet with Brother.’

Dana firmly resolved.

“You worked hard. You must be tired.”

At the same time, Dana thought that since he would be fatigued, he wouldn’t be able to do the same actions as yesterday. She felt somewhat relieved. Tonight both he and she should be able to sleep well. Thinking this, Dana once again lay down in bed with Kaiden.

Dana turned her back to Kaiden as if she had grown used to it over the past few days. Since she hadn’t slept well last night, she was able to fall asleep quickly. But she soon woke up. The reason being that Kaiden lying next to her was pleasuring himself again.

“Huh, huh…”

‘I guess the training wasn’t that tiring…’

Dana lay awake all night again that night. Though she wanted to forget about it considering how embarrassed Kaiden would be, one thing puzzled her.

‘How did such a virile man endure alone without even marrying…’

After thinking that far, she realized she had just had an embarrassing thought and tried to forget about it.

* * *

The next morning. As usual, Kaiden had left before Dana woke up. And today again, Taras refused Dana’s request for an audience.

Dana felt that waiting any longer would be a waste of time. They needed to return to Khalid. It wasn’t easy pretending not to notice Kaiden’s intimate acts every night either.

This time, Dana said she would wait until Taras would meet with her and waited beyond the king’s audience chamber. Finally, Taras granted her an audience.

“I’m going to return to Khalid now.”

Dana walked into the king’s audience chamber and said as soon as she saw Taras sitting on the throne.

“We need to return before the breeding season ends to deal with it. Since Kaiden contracted with the Divine Beast we can fly there directly, but isn’t it better to return early and make more preparations?”

At Dana’s words, Taras, who had been turning his head away on the throne, looked at her.

“Divine Beast! Yes, the Divine Beast. That’s exactly why I’m telling you to wait now. The priests are working hard as we speak.”

“What do you mean working hard? Do you mean they’re looking into how this happened? They can continue investigating that even after we return to Khalid. We’ll return, and when the priests figure out the reason, please send us a letter.”

At Dana’s words, Taras clicked his tongue.

“Not that! I mean they’re looking for a way to reverse that lowborn’s contract so you can contract with the Divine Beast again!”

“What did you say?”

Dana thought this was completely out of nowhere. Reverse the contract and contract again?

“Brother, is this what you’ve been trying to find all this time? Why on earth?”

When Dana asked as if she couldn’t understand at all, Taras burst out in anger.

“Isn’t it obvious! He’s of low birth! A man who doesn’t know his family name, parents, or hometown! I can’t let such a man act high and mighty as if he’s the king of this kingdom just because he happened to contract with a magnificent Divine Beast!”

Dana felt dumbfounded. Worried that someone might have heard this, she unconsciously looked around. The knights guarding the king’s audience chamber simply stood holding their spears without moving.

Dana said with a sigh:

“When has Kaiden ever done such things? Kaiden is a deeply loyal knight. He’s also the Duke of Khalid who married me. You permitted this yourself.”

At Dana’s words, Taras’s voice grew even louder.

“Yes! Marriage! That’s the biggest problem! I shouldn’t have let you marry that man! No, even now I want to undo it!”

“W-what are you saying?”

Dana felt chills run down her spine for a moment. Undo the marriage? Those words automatically brought back horrible memories for her.

Taras shouted without even looking at his sister’s shocked face.

“He becomes a duke by marrying you and contracts with a Divine Beast, and I simply cannot stand seeing him walk around with his head held high because of it! When did he do such things, you ask? He’s been like this all along! Haven’t you heard how much he’s been disrespecting me and acting superior in the north all this time?”

Dana couldn’t say that Kaiden had simply been trying to achieve merit, and that it was Taras himself who had ignored it, and that other people knew this fact. Because she knew that telling this truth wouldn’t help this conversation at all.

“He made all the likely winners fall from their horses before the mounted competition that he wasn’t even going to participate in, ruining the atmosphere! It’s a mounted competition held in my name, what happens to my face?”

‘Ah, even that…’

Dana remained silent for now.

“After contracting with a Divine Beast that doesn’t suit his status, he keeps showing off with that Divine Beast at the training grounds! Does he want to act superior in front of the kingdom’s people or what!”

Dana felt it was time to comfort Taras’s inferiority complex and show him reality.

“He just contracted with the Divine Beast, so he’s only checking its abilities. Doesn’t he need training to protect Rowen and be helpful to you, Brother?”

Of course, her past self hadn’t done so, but Kaiden was finding and doing what needed to be done well on his own.

However, Taras’s complaints didn’t end there.

“You’re the problem! If you had thought about me, you shouldn’t have married him in the first place! Falling for his decent face, not thinking about your brother’s position!”

How much did you think about it yourself. Dana barely held back those words that rose to her throat and remained silent, when Taras glared at her and said:

“You. Are you really getting along well with that man after marrying him?”

Dana had no choice but to ask again.

“What do you mean by that?”

Taras shouted, feeling frustrated:

“If you married him with me even giving him a title, you should sweet-talk him well so he doesn’t get other ideas and can’t act up in front of me! You’re apart all day long, and I hear there hasn’t even been any conjugal relations at night during your entire stay in the capital – how can your relationship be like this when you haven’t been married long?”

Gasp.

Dana looked around again with a shocked face. Her face burned red with shame. The surrounding knights still stood without reaction.

Since this was the royal palace and the king’s eyes and ears were everywhere, it wouldn’t have been difficult for Taras to learn that she and Kaiden weren’t having marital relations even though they shared a bedroom. It wasn’t surprising since every move of the royal family was bound to be known through maids and servants. That was why she had left the royal palace for Khalid in the first place.

But it was hard to endure being treated like a vulgar woman who needed to use marriage to keep a man. Even if it were true, it wasn’t something a brother should say in front of others.

After embarrassing his sister in front of the knights, Taras spoke as if he was dying of frustration.

“I shouldn’t have let you marry that man! If I had known earlier that marrying you meant being able to contract with a Divine Beast, all the prominent royal families would have proposed to you!”

Dana felt like she had been hit on the head. Every word Taras spoke was so shocking that she couldn’t gather her thoughts.

“What do you mean by that? What about the Divine Beast if someone marries me?”