This was the most surprising thing Arsen had heard from Lydia today.

“You’re wearing nightclothes. Nightclothes are only to be worn inside the bedroom.”

“This is a bedroom, isn’t it?”

“……”

That was true. It was a bedroom.

Not Lydia’s bedroom, but Arsen’s bedroom.

“So why are you in my bedroom wearing only nightclothes—no, never mind. Just stay put.”

Arsen gave up trying to explain to Lydia and left the bedroom to find something suitable for her to wear.

After closing the door behind him, Arsen now had to face his knights who were looking at him with concerned eyes.

Why, why are they looking at me with such eyes?

“Commander… are we fleeing in the night?”

“Should we prepare for full armor and standby?”

What are they talking about?

* * *

About 30 minutes earlier, at the Black Wolf Knights’ temporary quarters.

They were enjoying peaceful days without war or training for the first time in a long while.

As they gathered in small groups at the training ground, clinking glasses and preparing to spend the day, trouble arose.

They discovered Arsen returning with the marquis’s daughter on his horse.

Large men gathered at the window in a crowd, murmuring among themselves.

He carefully carried the marquis’s daughter, who was in her nightclothes, from the horse like a princess and entered his bedroom.

A man and woman in their prime, late at night, entering a bedroom alone.

What would this look like?

The knights all made the same misunderstanding. However, they interpreted the misunderstanding slightly differently.

“Is this an elopement?”

Lydia’s attire certainly suggested so.

“Is the young marquis opposing the commander?”

“No.”

“You can be honest with us, Commander. If it’s not an elopement, then what is it? Surely not… kidnapping?”

Their faces all darkened simultaneously as they looked at him, causing Arsen to miss his chance to refute.

“Commander, a person’s heart isn’t something you can win by forcibly bringing them here and confining them.”

Someone spoke in a lecturing tone, genuinely concerned, and Arsen gritted his teeth.

Meanwhile, seeing his subordinates nodding in agreement, the words that had risen to the tip of his tongue disappeared with a sigh.

“It’s not like that, so just make sure she doesn’t escape.”

Arsen deliberately ignored the concerned and worried looks directed at him and moved to another location, taking only his deputy commander, Kedrick.

“Do we have any clothes suitable for a woman in our quarters?”

“I’ll look, but you shouldn’t do this, Commander.”

“What do you mean?”

“How could you just kidnap her like this? This will only backfire.”

The deputy, whom Arsen had thought was quite reasonable, was spouting nonsense. And very seriously at that.

“The marquis’s daughter still can’t forget His Majesty the Emperor. In this situation, do you think bringing her here forcibly will make her heart turn to you?”

“Not only do I not have feelings for the marquis’s daughter, but even if I did, do I look like someone who would resort to kidnapping?”

He was dumbfounded.

“What exactly do you all take me for?”

“A socially awkward man who’s never even held a woman’s hand?”

“……”

Instead of answering, Arsen quietly grabbed his sword handle.

He thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea for Kedrick to experience firsthand how sharp this “socially awkward man’s” sword was.

“Why are you drawing your sword? My only crime was answering your question……”

Arsen’s blade was halfway out of its sheath.

Kedrick quickly backed away two steps from Arsen and gestured that he would keep his mouth shut.

“I brought her because I have some things to confirm with her. Station people around her and keep track of the movements at the marquis’s residence.”

Arsen postponed his judgment about Lydia.

Since he had secured Lydia, he intended to wait and see what she would do.

It wasn’t because he trusted Lydia. Rather, he kept her alive because he didn’t trust her.

Arsen wasn’t naive enough to believe a story about someone coming back from the dead with just a few words.

However, there were still unanswered questions.

What was the truth that Lydia was hiding? He kept her alive only to find that out.

Besides, if he could obtain land at the borders of the marquisate through Lydia as she suggested, it wasn’t a bad deal.

* * *

“The baby is healthy.”

Only after hearing the royal physician’s diagnosis did Giselle finally relax and smile brightly.

She raised her head to look at her husband’s face, who had been holding her hand tightly throughout the examination.

She expected Richard to have the same expression as hers.

However, Richard’s mind wasn’t here with Giselle.

His gaze was fixed on empty air, dwelling somewhere in his invisible thoughts, and Giselle quietly dismissed the royal physician and the court ladies so as not to disturb him.

“Your Majesty.”

“Hmm? Oh, is the examination already over?”

“Yes, our baby is healthy.”

Giselle took Richard’s hand and placed it on her belly.

Richard’s hardened expression softened, if only for a moment.

Giselle was secretly disappointed during moments like these. But she never showed it.

Richard had been incredibly busy since his recent coronation.

The fact that he came to be by her side during the examination showed he was paying enough attention to her.

There were days when she wanted to whine that it wasn’t enough, that she needed more attention, but she couldn’t.

If she did, Richard would see Lydia through her.

Giselle needed to be different from Lydia.

She couldn’t act like his childhood friend, nor could she appear as a girl in puppy love.

Giselle had to be Richard’s companion, someone he could trust and rely on.

“What’s worrying you, Your Majesty?”

“Arsen is acting strangely.”

“What about Sir Arsen?”

“He said he had no relationship with Lydia, yet I heard he went to the marquis’s residence to check on her.”

Lydia, it was Lydia again.

Yes, Lydia was a tag that would follow Giselle for the rest of her life.

She knew Richard was Lydia’s fiancé, but she didn’t stop him when he approached her.

Richard was an opportunity that wouldn’t come to Giselle again, so she gladly fell in love with him.

And she completely won his heart and place by his side.

She didn’t feel entirely guiltless toward Lydia. After all, Lydia had been sincere about Richard.

But Lydia, you have so much else besides Richard.

Losing one man wouldn’t significantly change Lydia’s life.

As long as she didn’t do something stupid like drinking poison again.

“Sir Arsen must have been concerned after seeing her coughing up blood from the poison.”

“It’s not just that. He said he would return to the border without attending the royal wedding, but now he says he’ll attend before leaving. Why?”

“Is that because of Lydia?”

Giselle was genuinely puzzled.

When did Arsen and Lydia become so close?

If they were that close, why did Lydia drink poison at the imperial palace in the first place?

“If Arsen says he’s marrying Lydia, I won’t be able to congratulate him.”

“Do you still have feelings for Lydia?”

“What are you saying? She’s utterly insufferable. What I want is not her but Arsen, Empress.”

Richard teased as he wrapped his arm around Giselle’s waist.

Then he gently stroked her belly with his palm.

“I wanted only the best for this child. I was planning to make Arsen the swordsmanship instructor for our child, and later his guard knight.”

“Yet you assign Count Monde to Lydia?”

“Which man in the capital would want to marry Lydia? Her temperament has been fully exposed. If not Count Monde, I might have had to pair her with a commoner.”

Giselle burst out laughing at Richard’s complaint.

“That was too harsh.”

At Giselle’s playful rebuke, Richard whined that he just wanted to get rid of her quickly and buried his face in Giselle’s neck.

Giselle stroked Richard and whispered:

“Then I’ll visit the marquis’s residence once. When I see Devon’s face, I’ll know right away what’s going on.”

* * *

Lydia lay on the bed, wrapped in a blanket. Then she rolled her body to free herself from the blanket. Arsen, who had been watching Lydia moving energetically by herself, said,

“Sleep here tonight.”

Lydia got up again and asked,

“Isn’t this your room, Sir Arsen?”

“Yes, it is.”

Then where will you sleep?

Lydia hadn’t followed Arsen to burden him.

“I’ll go to the guest room.”

“You can’t.”

“It’s fine if it’s not tidy. I just need a place to lie down and sleep.”

“There is no guest room.”

Ah. Lydia’s mouth gaped open as if caught off guard.

She was about to ask why there was no guest room in such a spacious building when she realized that the entire knight order was staying in this building.

In that case, there might not be any rooms available.

Having understood and accepted this on her own, Lydia suggested going to the temple instead.

She planned to spend the night at the temple and apply early the next morning to become a priestess.

“You can’t.”

“Why not?!”

“Going to the temple in that attire would be sacrilege, my lady.”

At Arsen’s statement, Lydia retorted incredulously:

“Nightclothes are still clothes.”

It would be different if they were revealing, but Lydia’s nightclothes were merely thin fabric.

They had long sleeves with almost no exposure, modest and neat.

“I told you nightclothes are only to be worn in the bedroom. Since there are no suitable clothes for you in the knight order, I’ve instructed my subordinate to find some early tomorrow morning. I’ll take you to the temple then, so please wait patiently.”

“Sir, you didn’t seem like it, but you’re surprisingly conservative.”

Lydia said with a hint of admiration.

He looked so cold that she thought he wouldn’t care what others wore.

“Then where will you sleep? Surely you have a room, right?”