“Is the Grand Duke having nothing to do? Are you going to follow your wife around all day and just wait?” Besanio chased after Ben and chuckled.
Who the hell has been chasing after him like he’s been monitoring his every move for days? He even laughed and spoke in a sarcastic tone, which was so obnoxious that Ben wanted to punch him. But Ben didn’t care. Because he was preoccupied with other thoughts.
After checking the mirror this morning, Cersinia was surprised and changed into a dress that covered up to her neck. Because he couldn’t stand it last night and left his mark on her.
Did he want to confirm that he was her man? There was truly no such thing as childish jealousy. Of course, there was no way that man could come between them. But how did he get to be by her side? Ben wondered why Cersinia allowed Besanio to enter this mansion in the first place.
When he spoke with her, his thoughts were filled with the words ‘Why him?’ but he never ended up asking. If she wanted it, then so be it. What she wants is what he wants too.
Ben has always been like this and fine with that… but why do his bothered and anxious feelings not go away?
“Grand Duke. Let me guess. When the countess told you that I would be staying in this mansion, you must have said you’re okay with it without asking her why. Am I correct?”
“…”
Ben continued to move forward without answering the questions coming from behind him. He wasn’t worth dealing with and had nothing to say in response. Because what he asked was true.
“As expected. Do you think this is a healthy relationship?”
Ben’s two legs finally stopped when Besanio, who accepted his silence as positive, continued. His face, which was clearly showing annoyance, suddenly became cold.
“It’s a one-sided relationship where one person unilaterally matches and sacrifices. Is that really a couple who loves each other?”
Ben, who couldn’t stand the remarks that finally crossed the line, turned around. “Keep that mouth shut.”
His warning voice was as cold as ice. Veins popped up on his chin as he clenched his teeth, trying to hold back his emotions that had reached their limit.
No one can measure or fathom his feelings for her. What she is and means in his life. But how dare he say it without knowing anything?
Even though Besanio, who was stopping after Ben, realized that he was about to explode, he didn’t give in and opened his mouth again.
“The countess and Grand Duke seem more like a superior-subordinate relationship than a married couple, just like a king and his subject. No, it seems like someone is making a fuss by unilaterally demanding lo… Urgh!”
“Your Royal Highness!”
Following the loud friction sound, Besanio fell backward in an instant. Knights, who were on guard from a considerable distance because of Besanio’s command, came running in surprise. They quickly drew their swords and pointed them at Ben.
“Get back now!” shouted the knights.
But Ben approached Besanio without blinking at the tips of the several swords.
“Haha. Back off.” Besanio, who had fallen, smiled lightly and raised his hand, wiping the blood that had burst around his mouth.
“But, Your Highness! Anyone who harmed your body should be punished immediately…!”
“Have you forgotten where we are? I’m a guest, and Grand Duke is the owner, so step back.”
The knights had no choice but to put down their swords and take three steps back at the command, which was so dignified that it was difficult to think he was the same person who had just laughed.
Ben snatched Besanio by the collar and lifted him up, not caring.
“Grand Duke! How dare you grab His Royal Highness by the collar…!”
“Stop.”
The knights tried to move again but flinched at Besanio’s command and stopped in place.
“The red lion is more emotional than I thought.” Even though he was grabbed by the collar, Besanio smiled as if the situation was funny.
“I know people like you well.”
“Hoo. Really? Tell me.”
Besanio opened his eyes wide in surprise at Ben’s chilling voice and soon raised the corners of his mouth. It seems like this was a situation he wanted. Moreover, the fire in his dark eyes that genuinely wanted to tear him to death was very interesting. His way of not caring about others also made him think of someone.
“You have never experienced or known what this feeling is. And you only run your mouth on an empty subject.”
“Hahaha!” Besanio burst into laughter. He laughed so hard that his shoulders went up and down, even though Ben grabbed him by the collar.
“Do you think this is funny?” Ben frowned and tightened his grip on the collar.
Besanio’s act of constantly laughing as if he were teasing Ben was infuriating, but thankfully, Ben’s reasoning returned. His honorifics are also back. If he continued to deal with him, Ben was only harming himself. Because he couldn’t communicate with this crazy guy in the first place.
“Haha. That’s right. You understood me very well.”
“Please stay quiet and leave. Don’t cause more trouble. This is the only time I’m holding back because of Cersinia.” Ben, who spit out a warning, threw away Besanio by the collar.
“Your Royal Highness!”
The knights quickly approached and caught the stumbling Besanio. Besanio freed himself from the knights’ support, touched his own collar, and opened his mouth. “It’s cliché to say you have only one reason to live.”
“I don’t want to be understood by you, so don’t bother.”
“What’s left of the Grand Duke if you take the countess away?”
“Nothing.”
Ben’s answer was bold. He realized it from the moment he held her outstretched hand on the dock. That she would be his everything and his breath until her death. He never once doubted that his life was complete with just her.
“If I were the countess, I would feel quite burdened.”
“…”
Then Ben’s fingers, which had remained calm, flinched. He had never thought of that…
“Isn’t the countess implicitly forced by a man who says that his world only consists of her? Saying that even her life has to be all about you. Isn’t it the same way to say to give up on the things the countess wants? All because of the Grand Duke.”
“I have never once wished for her to be like me…!”
“Is that really true?”
“…”
When Besanio asked again with a smile on his face, Ben’s lips instantly closed. His face hardened for an instant. Is that really true? Of course… But his quivering lips were unable to utter an answer in the end.
“Ben!”
It was that moment. With a startled voice, they heard footsteps running towards them.
“Sigh. I got caught.” Besanio smoothed his back neck as if he were in trouble.
Cersinia was the one who was running.
“Now, let me tell you one more thing. I’m a wizard just like the countess.”
What? Ben raised his eyes and looked at Besanio. That’s because he knew well the hardships she went through as the only fire wizard in the empire. But there’s another wizard? She’s not alone? It was his first time hearing this.
“Didn’t she tell you?”
“…”
“That’s strange. It’s not even a secret. There are quite a few wizards in my kingdom. Unlike the empire.” Besanio smiled and shrugged.
The fact that Cersinia hid his identity was more shocking to Ben than Besanio revealing himself.
“Ben! Are you okay?” Cersinia, who had arrived at the two, looked so naturally at Ben’s complexion.
“I’m the one who got his, Countess.”
Besanio intervened. However, Cersinia’s eyes were fixed on Ben, so she was naturally unconcerned about him.
“Ben?” Once again, Cersinia’s voice, calling him, trembled slightly.
When she turned her head slowly and looked at his eyes, she felt a strange sense of discomfort. His gaze was clearly looking at her but was somehow tangled with complex emotions.
“…”
Ben couldn’t open his closed mouth as he looked at her in front of him. Because it felt like his twisted heart would pour out when he opened his mouth.
Why didn’t you tell me?
For what reason didn’t you tell me that Besanio is a wizard?
No way, do you want to follow him to the kingdom…?
That won’t work. He liked her to be free, but he wanted her to be only where his eyes could reach. Even though he loved her through her busy days, he only thought about making her give up on everything and only being in his arms. He wanted her to always be by his side without meeting anyone or going anywhere.
“What’s going on? What did His Royal Highness say to you?”
With a warm voice, her hand grabbed his cold hand at that moment. His eyes, which had been shaking lightly in the warmth flowing through his fingertips, moved to the gripped hand. He instinctively held her hand and looked up. It wasn’t long before he could see her face worried about him.
A lovely and warm person. As time goes by, he is the only one that burns and craves her more and more.
Am I really forcing that kind of person to be mine?
He bites his lips.
What are you going to do because you are doubting her?
Just because they got married doesn’t mean her life becomes his. She didn’t have to tell him about everything.
Haven’t I told her over and over again that what she wants is what I want too? Whatever it is. There’s no way to take it back now…
“Cersinia.”
“…”
“The weather is getting cold.”
In the end, he silenced all his sincerity and smiled, raising the corners of his mouth smoothly as if nothing had happened. He took off his coat and draped it over Cersinia’s shoulders.
“You—”
“We’d better go in together.”
Ben interrupted her and led her away. He hoped his smile was well in her eyes. Because his thoughts must never be discovered.
“Sigh…” Besanio, who was left alone as he watched the couple quickly move away, sighed.
Cersinia, who turned her head even while walking with Ben, was speaking with her eyes. It was a chilling warning saying they would meet later and that she wouldn’t stand idly by. Quite an amusing couple, aren’t they?
“I think the husband and the wife are the same. They have the same eyes.”
Besanio chuckled, remembering the crimson and dark purple eyes. Eyes that only look for each other, not caring for others. It was eyes he knew all too well.
“I thought something bad would happen to me someday.”
Besanio’s aide, Yanse, who was quietly hiding behind, approached. He didn’t step forward because he was observing under Besanio’s orders to stay quietly behind and not intervene no matter what. Moreover, no matter how much Besanio, the master he served, he felt his master was being too much.
“Why are you treating the grand duke so badly?”
“When did I do that?” Besanio glanced at Yanse and moved his legs.
“Your Royal Highness has been bothering him ever since you came to the grand duchy, right? But, they’re not a couple who’ll be shaken. Aren’t those two famous? There’s no one in the empire who doesn’t know the love of the grand duke and his wife.”
“You don’t know. How great is a relationship where you can’t even talk about your true feelings, let alone bury yourself in mere emotions.”
Besanio’s bitter voice, unknown to whom he spoke, dispersed with the wind.
“Your Royal Highness, the grand duke is not him.”
Besanio stopped at the words of Yanse, who was chasing him from behind.
“The grand duke is just the grand duke. If you’re looking at him beyond that—”
“Stop. I know.”
Besanio’s eyes staring at Yanse were fierce. His reaction was more extreme than usual as if someone had discovered his true feelings.
“I’m sorry, Your Royal Highness.”
As expected of Yanse, who had been by his side for a long time, he quickly bowed his head.
Besanio, who was silent for a while, let out a small sigh and ran his fingers through his hair. “I need to finish it. We’re leaving in two days, so get ready.”
* * *
It was that night.
“Cersinia!”
Ben’s desperate voice spread like a cry through the dark that had fallen.
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