Chapter 55
Soon there was a knock at the door.
“Your Highness, Dragon Knight Antonio Carter wishes to pay his respects.”
At the words heard from outside the door, Carl unconsciously looked at Sian. Sian gave a light shrug. Soon, Carl’s expression sharpened.
“Enter.”
As permission was granted, the double doors slowly opened.
A brown-haired man who looked to be in his mid-thirties entered the room with extremely cautious steps, his head bowed low. Sian immediately recognized him as Antonio Carter, a commoner-born dragon owner and knight.
He entered leading a woman with brilliant red hair and six attendants. Sian’s face instantly hardened as she confirmed the face of the woman standing half a step behind Antonio from under her veil.
…Revenant.
Though her hair color was different from what Sian remembered and her face more mature, this was undoubtedly the dragon hunter Revenant.
She never thought Revenant would come in person. She needed to let Carl know. But she couldn’t act like she knew her.
Sian carefully bit her lip, feeling her heart race with tension. Carl, having returned to his princely demeanor, raised his head while sitting to greet them.
“May the dragon’s blessing reach the heavens. Dragon Knight Antonio Carter greets Your Highness the Prince.”
“It’s been a while. I’m the one who nearly died from your sword, yet you’re the one who looks unwell.”
A chill emanated from Carl’s voice, which had become coldly expressionless. Antonio, who had already entered with a humble attitude, immediately fell to his knees at Carl’s sharp words.
“I have committed a mortal sin, Your Highness. I felt I must beg Your Highness’s forgiveness for that incident, so I’ve shamelessly come to see you.”
Unlike Antonio, who spoke with a trembling voice while prostrating himself, Revenant standing beside him maintained quite an upright posture.
With her hair neatly styled up, extravagant earrings decorated with large crystals and silver, and wearing a dress that came up to her neck leaving only her face exposed, she stood stiffly, brazenly staring directly at the Prince.
“Though it may sound like an excuse, that day I failed to properly control the rampaging Brita. Thus, overwhelmed by Brita’s consciousness startled by the Ivarid soldier’s arrow, I unknowingly committed such an atrocious act.”
“The owner who should rightfully control the dragon was overwhelmed by the dragon’s consciousness?”
Carl snorted derisively.
“If that’s true, you should change your name from now on. Aren’t you a dragon’s slave rather than its master?”
“I have no words to say even with ten mouths.”
“Naturally.”
Carl remained consistently cold towards Antonio, who was prostrating himself and begging for forgiveness. It was only natural. No matter the circumstances, such a deadly grudge couldn’t be easily resolved with a few words.
“Yet, for someone who came to apologize prostrate, your adornments are quite lavish.”
Carl spoke in an icy tone, looking at the woman, Revenant, who alone stood upright.
Realizing through his gaze that the ‘adornments’ he mentioned referred not to Antonio’s attire but to the woman and attendants, Revenant smiled faintly. It was a soft smile that exuded a certain elegance.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Your Highness the Prince, who has the descendant of the great Yggdrasil as your companion. I am Liona Elisabet Carter, Antonio Carter’s wife.”
Sian’s eyebrows contorted sharply as she quietly observed the situation from behind her veil. Wife. That meant Revenant had married Antonio.
No way… It must be a fake marriage?
Sian thought to herself. This was Revenant, who couldn’t submit even to dragons and chose to become a dragon hunter. It was utterly unbelievable that she would marry someone normally like other women.
She must have bribed Antonio for some other purpose and entered into a sham marriage. Carl frowned openly at Revenant’s brazen, almost arrogant response.
“Since my husband committed a grave sin, I thought it only proper that I, as the lady of the Carter house, should accompany him…”
“Then why are you the only one not kneeling?”
Revenant had begun to speak in a rather coquettish voice while lifting the hem of her skirt, but Carl didn’t let her finish.
Revenant, who had been lowering her posture as she spoke, looked up and met the Prince’s eyes. Her eyes, directed straight at him, showed no sign of hesitation or being taken aback.
“When the husband is bowing his head like that, shouldn’t the wife naturally kneel together?”
Well done. Sian inwardly cheered Carl’s reprimand.
Antonio, kneeling and prostrate, turned his head to look at Revenant. In a normal situation, it would be natural for Antonio, as the husband, to make Revenant, as the wife, kneel.
However, Antonio merely looked at Revenant cautiously, unable to do anything, just moistening his dry lips with his tongue as if anxious.
The way the scales were tipped was painfully obvious. Sian barely suppressed a laugh that threatened to escape.
“Your Highness committed the crime against my husband, so why should I?”
Revenant, using the alias Liona, was brazen. Her lilting voice even carried a hint of sarcasm.
It wasn’t just Carl who reacted sharply to this audacious retort. Max, who had been standing quietly like a decoration behind Carl, raised his eyes filled with anger and grasped his waist.
Of course, there were no weapons there.
“If you came to apologize together for your husband’s sin, shouldn’t you naturally do so? Then why are you standing here?”
“I would be grateful if you could see it as sincerity, generous Prince. It’s not an easy thing to bring one’s wife along to convey apologies, is it?”
“It may not be easy, but it doesn’t seem very wise either.”
Carl snorted.
Revenant burst into laughter, regardless of Carl’s blatant derision.
“You say amusing things, Your Highness. To discuss standards of wisdom and unwisdom in methods of apology.”
“It makes me feel like getting angry rather than wanting to accept the apology, don’t you think?”
“That seems unrelated to whether my husband’s method of apology is wise or not. Perhaps Your Highness simply wants to be angry at everything associated with what my husband did?”
Revenant tried to wriggle out with unreasonable sophistry. Carl was about to narrow his eyes sharply in response.
“When one marries and takes the husband’s name, I believe there is an implicit agreement to share responsibility for all his actions.”
Sian, who had been quietly listening as if she wasn’t there, suddenly spoke up. Revenant twisted the corners of her mouth as if she had been waiting for this, turning her gaze towards Sian.
“…I’ve heard the rumors, Lady. I heard you’re engaged to His Highness, so perhaps that’s why your understanding of married life seems a bit… lacking.”
Revenant said. Sian forcibly held back a scoffing laugh that threatened to escape.
Is this a ‘singles, get lost’ kind of thing?
While Sian briefly burned with the desire to come up with a crushing retort, Carl let out a laugh through his nose.
“Due to the unfortunate news of the Dragon King’s death, the empire’s atmosphere is still gloomy, so we haven’t held the ceremony yet, but our relationship is not light enough to discuss understanding of married life, so don’t take it lightly.”
Carl reached out and grasped Sian’s hand resting gently on her knee. Huh? Sian’s eyes widened in surprise. Carl pressed a kiss to the back of Sian’s hand and smiled warmly, with eyes quite different from how he looked at Revenant and Antonio.
“Isn’t that right, my lady?”
…Fuck.
Goosebumps rose all over. How wise Carl’s suggestion to wear the veil had been.
Sian could see Max, who had grasped at his empty waist in anger, losing motivation and turning his gaze away.
Don’t look at me like that… I suddenly want to run away too…
Sian sent a wistful cry that Max couldn’t possibly hear. Revenant cackled with laughter.
“You two seem to get along very well. I’m almost envious. I pray that you’ll maintain those feelings for each other even after marriage.”
Antonio, the husband, seemed to feel extreme tension due to Revenant’s remarks that crossed the line. Antonio looked at Revenant with trembling eyes, but in the end, he could only bow his head to the floor without saying a word to either side.
“By the way, may I ask why His Highness’s lady is wearing mourning clothes?”
Regardless of what her husband was doing, Revenant focused her attention on Sian, who had started the conversation.
“There’s no great story behind it. I’ve been wearing mourning clothes for a long time to honor my parents who passed away long ago. I’m an only daughter, you see.”
“Ah, I see. Then, it wouldn’t be rude of me to invite His Highness’s lady to a certain gathering, would it?”
A gathering? Sian made an uncomprehending face behind her veil. It seemed quite out of place as a proposal from a woman who said she came to apologize with her husband.
Could she have recognized me?
Sian clenched her fists without realizing it. It wasn’t due to anxiety or tension. Rather, an inexplicable fighting spirit was boiling up.
“A gathering? In these times, what kind of…”
“It’s not a grand gathering, so there’s no need to be angry. It’s just a common small tea party where married women gather to chat.”
It was Carl who expressed dissatisfaction with the invitation proposal, but Revenant’s gaze remained fixed on Sian.
“I host a gathering attended by the ladies of several houses… Originally, we don’t accept unmarried individuals, but since you’re His Highness’s fiancée, and also…”
Revenant paused there and glanced at Carl.
“Since he says you’re in a deep relationship almost like being married, I’d like to extend a special invitation.”
The light laughter in her voice was clearly mockery. Carl’s eyebrows twitched at Revenant’s disrespectful attitude.
“What do you think? All the participants are deeply involved in the empire’s politics, so you’ll be seeing them regularly anyway once you’re engaged to His Highness. It might not be a bad idea to get acquainted in advance.”
“How dare you…”
“…Alright.”
