Chapter 13
“What—what?!”
Enria was startled as Caldeon suddenly grabbed her wrist, insisting they go to the duchess’s chamber—even though it was the middle of the night and the duchess was probably asleep.
“Why are you doing this?!”
“We need to clear up a misunderstanding.”
“What misunderstanding?!”
“Waaah!!”
Startled by Enria’s raised voice, Hayden began to cry.
Flustered, Enria quickly scooped him up and began patting his back to soothe him.
Caldeon tilted his head slightly, watching the two of them with a curiously expressionless gaze.
When Hayden’s crying finally began to subside under Enria’s gentle touch, Caldeon spoke.
“A mother’s duty.”
His low, resonant voice filled the quiet room.
Enria found herself thinking—yet again—that his voice always sounded good, no matter the situation.
It made her heart tremble slightly.
She had no idea why such thoughts came to her now, of all times.
“…That’s what you said, wasn’t it?”
Caldeon lifted his gaze from Hayden to look directly at her.
“That you can’t share a bed with me because of that duty.”
“……”
“Isn’t that more of a wife’s duty than a mother’s?”
“……”
“Well, it doesn’t matter either way. I’ll be the one to take on that duty.”
Enria’s eyes widened in shock.
Caldeon met her gaze squarely as he continued, “I’m going to kill the child’s father. With my own hands.”
He raised his right hand slightly as if swearing an oath.
Enria’s brows twitched ever so slightly.
‘Again with this…’
She let out a quiet sigh, weary of his cryptic words—when Caldeon suddenly said something that made her choke on air.
“So I’ll fill the father’s empty place.”
“……!”
‘Wait—does he mean he’s going to become Hayden’s father?!’
“I never intended to give the duty of your partner’s place to anyone else in the first place.”
‘…What is he even saying now? Why is he deciding who gets to be my partner?’
She frowned in disbelief, just as Caldeon drove the final nail into his own absurd declaration.
“Marry me, Enria.”
***
“Brother?”
Roseanne’s eyes widened in shock.
For her brother to open a teleportation stone and appear in her bedroom at this hour—it had to mean something serious. Her face hardened instantly.
“Where’s Enria?”
That was the first thing Rahar asked the moment he stepped out of the teleportation circle.
“She’s in the chamber she always used when staying at the ducal estate. Why? What happened?”
“…Is Hayden with her?”
“Yes. Caldeon put up several layers of barriers around the room, so there’s nothing to worry about.”
Roseanne thought Rahar was asking out of concern for the child’s safety, but his expression only grew more complicated.
She realized he hadn’t come because the Mage Tower was making a move.
Getting out of bed, she brushed back her soft pink hair and headed toward the sofa by the window.
“So? What’s going on?” she asked as she sat down.
Rahar followed her but didn’t answer, simply sitting across from her with a heavy thud.
Roseanne’s golden eyes gleamed like jewels as she studied him.
“You don’t seem panicked, so it’s not about the Tower. Then why open a personal teleportation stone to your sister’s room at this hour?”
“……”
“You do realize this is improper, right? Barging into your married sister’s bedroom—”
“Why aren’t you with him?”
Rahar cut her off sharply.
Roseanne’s eyes narrowed slightly at the flicker of unease in his gaze.
“You’re married. Shouldn’t you be sharing a room? Why did you let this happen? You actually allowed that man’s mistress to—”
Ah. So that was it.
Her brother was furious that her husband’s mistress had been brought back into the duchy.
‘He’s always been like this,’ Roseanne thought with faint exasperation. ‘When I said I wanted to help Enria, he got so angry for my sake.’
When the talks of marriage with Caldeon had begun, Rahar had been against it from the start.
Even knowing it was a political marriage with no love or emotion, merely a façade to fool the world, he’d raged that such a union still demanded loyalty—and that neither side should have another lover.
Having known him since childhood, Roseanne was well aware of her brother’s temperament. He had never liked Caldeon, but that wasn’t the only reason. Even after learning that Enria wasn’t truly Caldeon’s mistress but a “Saintess” who calmed his dangerous magical rages, he had still tried to separate them before the marriage.
“She’s essential to our cause,” Roseanne said now, echoing her past argument. “We still don’t know whether the oracle belongs to Enria herself or her child. Either way, they’re both people we must protect.”
“……”
“Besides,” she added, “even if that weren’t the case, every mother and child deserves protection.”
“You know who the child’s father is.”
“I do. But your wind spirit sealed my mouth, so I can’t say it aloud.”
Roseanne shrugged lightly and looked out the window.
“So, is this conversation going to take long? If you’re not going to let me sleep, I might as well have tea brought in.”
“Are you really fine with this?” Rahar asked quietly.
Roseanne turned her gaze back to him.
“What do you mean?”
“I’m asking if you’re really all right with it.”
“Brother, I think you’re misunderstanding something. This marriage isn’t real.”
“What do you mean, not real? You swore before the gods to be each other’s lifelong partner. There’s even a written vow—”
“We never submitted it.”
Roseanne sighed and leaned back against the sofa.
She hadn’t had the chance to explain everything to Rahar earlier; she’d sent him off in a hurry to protect Enria when she learned from her informant that Groen was planning to kidnap her.
“We never signed the marriage oath, and the wedding itself was fake.”
Rahar’s eyes went wide with disbelief.
“To make it look real, we leaked news of a grand wedding to the press. The illusionist Tearen helped create fake ceremony images.”
At that, Rahar’s golden eyes—so like his sister’s—widened even further.
“And right now, I’m only standing in as the acting duchess.”
“……!”
“So legally or otherwise, Caldeon and I aren’t anything at all.”
“What in the world…!”
Rahar was speechless.
When their father had pushed for the marriage, Rahar had been the only one to oppose it, unwilling to see his beloved sister sacrificed for “duty.”
Caldeon had been known to have a longtime mistress already living like a wife in his estate.
Until Roseanne explained the truth, Rahar had believed that woman—Enria—was just a lucky commoner who’d caught the duke’s eye.
Even after hearing that she was a Saintess and the only one who could calm Caldeon’s violent magic, he’d struggled to let go of his distrust.
But after meeting Enria himself, his view had changed. She was kind, gentle—impossible not to care for.
Her child, too, was pure and innocent.
He’d wanted, more than anything, to protect them both for the rest of his life.
And then Caldeon had appeared and taken them both back to the ducal estate, leaving Rahar in silent torment.
“So there’s no problem with Enria being with Caldeon,” Roseanne said simply.
Rahar’s expression twisted.
“Maybe not for you, but the people who believe in that illusion of a wedding won’t see it that way. They’re already gossiping about the duke’s mistress returning.”
“Don’t worry,” Roseanne replied. “That rumor actually works in our favor.”
She then told him that the Mage Tower, upon hearing the rumors, was preparing to move against the duchy.
No matter how they came—by road or teleportation—they would have to pass through or near the Monster Forest.
No teleportation route led directly to the north; all had to stop near that forest first.
Roseanne and Caldeon had already planned to intercept them there.
“With your help, Enria has grown stronger. She’ll be a great asset.”
“……”
“In any case, the Tower Lord’s plan to endanger the Empire with the Fire Spirit will fail. You can rest easy and continue your preparations, brother.”
She rose from her seat and added,
“And when all this is over, I’ll return to the count’s estate. So don’t worry too much about me.”
Rahar’s face went pale.
He had believed that once everything ended, Caldeon would have no excuse to keep Enria near him because his marriage to Roseanne made it improper.
But now—now he realized it had all been a deception, that Caldeon and Roseanne were never truly married.
The realization hit him like a blow.
He had opened the teleportation stone tonight intending to confront Caldeon, to demand that he treat Enria properly—and if possible, take her and the child back to the Spirit Village himself.
But after hearing Roseanne’s explanation, that purpose crumbled to dust.
Everything—the marriage, the roles, the rumors—had been nothing more than a web of lies meant to fool both allies and enemies.
He could do nothing. He could say nothing.
“Why… are you only telling me this now, Rose?”
Rahar covered his face with both hands, his voice heavy with anguish.
For the first time in his life, the feelings he’d begun to harbor for a woman had nowhere to go.
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Torryy
Rahar seems like the only sane one in this story. I wish he was the actual ML.