CHAPTER 9…………………………………………………..
In Joy and in Sorrow
The next day, just as planned, Leon and Lowell went straight to the temple to make their marriage vows.
“Huh? Isn’t that Sir Riefman?”
“Oh, you’re right. I haven’t seen him since he got kicked out of the knight order.”
“He was expelled ages ago—why are they still calling him ‘Sir’?”
As Leon stepped into the temple entrance, he was bombarded with all kinds of whispered gossip. To him, it felt twice as noisy as the day he packed up and left the knight order.
They had come quietly by carriage, but it was impossible to ride a carriage all the way into the temple. As a result, Leon had been tossed directly into the center of public attention.
No matter where he turned his head, he could see people sneaking glances at him and whispering among themselves.
‘How ridiculous.’
Leon scoffed softly as he looked at the murmuring crowd.
Back when he had risen to vice-captain of the knight order at a young age, even people he’d never met had chased after him, spouting empty flattery.
And what happened after he was pushed out of the knight order? They all fell away immediately, whispering like this—just as if they’d known all along that this would happen.
Leon remembered every single gaze that had changed as though he were nothing more than filth.
‘Go on, talk all you want. When I return—no, when I rise even higher—you’ll all regret it.’
He clenched his teeth, staring straight ahead.
“But who’s that woman?”
“Yeah, who is she? He came with a woman.”
“Judging by her clothes, she looks like a commoner. Don’t tell me he came here to get engaged to her?”
Hearing that, Leon suddenly realized something: the woman standing beside him was also being dragged into this unpleasant gossip.
That realization stirred a faint sense of guilt in him. Lowell had been the one to suggest marriage first, but still, the fact that she had to endure this kind of talk was partly his fault as well.
So, after a brief moment of hesitation, Leon opened his mouth, about to say something like Don’t pay attention to them—
“It really was true.”
Lowell suddenly turned to him, her eyes shining with seriousness.
“…What?”
“When you said you used to receive lots of bouquets and rings, I honestly thought you were exaggerating. But now that I’m here, I can see it was true. Everyone’s staring so intensely.”
With her shoulders slightly hunched, Lowell dodged the hostile gazes being thrown her way.
“Hah.”
At that sight, Leon had to lower his chin to keep from laughing out loud.
‘Right. This is the kind of woman she is. Not someone who’d be bothered by this sort of thing.’
That thought crossed Leon’s mind. For some reason, a pleasant smile kept tugging at his lips, refusing to fade.
“Let’s go. The priest will be coming in soon.”
A moment later, Leon reached out his hand to Lowell. By then, a completely relaxed smile rested on his face.
“Do you, groom Leon Riefman, take the bride Lowell as your wife, and vow to always respect and honor each other, in joy and in sorrow?”
“Yes.”
“Do you, bride Lowell, take the groom Leon Riefman as your husband, and vow to always respect and honor each other, in joy and in sorrow?”
“Yes!”
“By the will of the god who watches over the Khan Empire, I hereby declare that the bond between you two has been sealed.”
At the priest’s final words, their gazes crossed. It was a moment where eyes filled with entirely different goals shone vividly.
“W-wait a moment. Where are we going right now?”
Inside the carriage after all the vows were complete, Lowell—who had been silent the entire time—finally cried out in a shrill voice.
“To the estate.”
Leon, who was gazing out the carriage window, looked utterly indifferent, standing in stark contrast to Lowell’s obvious panic.
“The estate? You had a house?”
Lowell asked reflexively, not trying to be sarcastic—she was genuinely curious. So shocked was she that her upper body nearly pitched forward.
“Did you think I lived on the streets without a home?”
Only then did Leon slowly turn his head to look at her.
“No, I thought you slept and ate in the tower by the lake.”
“It’s too damp there. Sometimes snakes show up.”
After saying that, Leon rested his chin on his hand and looked back outside. As if imagining snakes appearing in the tower, a faint crease formed between his brows.
“Then my luggage—”
“I already had it all moved ahead of time, so you don’t need to worry.”
And to Lowell, it seemed Leon was starting to get annoyed by her increasingly drawn-out questions. He cut her off in a dry tone before she could even finish speaking.
“……”
With nothing more to say, Lowell did as Leon seemed to want and closed her mouth, quietly watching the wind from the window ruffle his bangs.
As she did, she realized that Leon hadn’t told her in advance about something so important—where they would be living from now on. That realization made dissatisfaction well up inside her, belatedly.
“By the way.”
So the reason Lowell brought up such an out-of-the-blue topic was, in truth, her frustration with Leon’s unilateral decisions.
“I think it’s unfair that I’m the only one speaking formally.”
“What?”
At her words, Leon snapped his head back toward her. He saw Lowell pressing her lips together unnaturally tight.
“Now that we’re married, it’s weird that I’m the only one using honorifics.”
“…So what do you want to do about it?”
Leon asked, caught somewhere between annoyance and disbelief.
“I think we should either both speak casually, or both speak formally. Marriage is a relationship between equals.”
By now, Lowell’s eyes were burning as if lit on fire. Though she couldn’t quite explain it, whatever dissatisfaction and stubbornness she’d felt had turned into kindling.
“…Do whatever you want.”
So Leon decided to just leave it be. Trying to understand that stubbornness would only be more trouble.
“Okay. I get it.”
Even so, he hadn’t expected her to switch so quickly.
“What?”
“I said I get it.”
Those violet eyes stared straight at Leon, who was still taken aback.
“Hah.”
This time, an incredulous breath escaped Leon’s lips. A thought began to dominate his mind: he really shouldn’t let this bother him anymore.
“The weather’s nice, isn’t it?”
After that, while Leon was still reflecting on the absurdity of the situation, Lowell launched into idle chatter about the weather.
As she was saying that in the Khan Empire the seasons lasted so long that once one began, you had to wait ages for the next, the carriage suddenly jolted hard.
“Oh.”
The jolt sent through the carriage made Lowell, who’d been talking to herself, lose her balance.
Thud.
Fortunately—or unfortunately—she didn’t end up falling forward in an undignified heap.
“The road’s rough here. Be careful.”
Leon had already moved closer, trapping Lowell between his arms to steady her.
“…Ah. Uh.”
For a brief moment, their eyes met at very close range. They exchanged a few short words at a distance close enough that their lips might have touched if either of them moved.
Perhaps because of that, Lowell’s eyes wandered restlessly as Leon returned to his seat.
Jolt.
“I think I’ll just keep using honorifics.”
When the carriage jolted again, Lowell suddenly—just as abruptly as always—changed her stance about speaking casually, in a way Leon couldn’t possibly follow.
“Speaking casually feels… too close.”
When Leon continued to look at her with confusion, Lowell said that, then pressed her lips together again and turned to stare out the window.
“Suit yourself.”
Leon replied dryly, shifting his gaze to the same window. Casual speech or formal speech—it didn’t matter much to him as long as the contract was fulfilled.
At that response, Lowell let out a small breath, and until the carriage arrived at the estate, no sound passed between them except for the rumbling of the wheels.
“Aren’t you going in?”
When the two arrived at the estate Leon had mentioned, Leon spoke as he looked at Lowell, who had nearly frozen in place.
“This is the… estate we’re going to live in?”
Lowell’s voice trembled faintly as she pointed straight ahead.
“Yes. Is there a problem?”
“No, it’s not that there’s a problem…”
‘There are way too many problems.’
Thinking that to herself, Lowell slowly turned her head and looked once more at the building before her—the estate she was apparently going to live in from now on.
The estate standing before her looked as though all its color had been drained away. Aside from the speculative merit that it seemed to have quite a long history, there wasn’t a single advantage to be found.
On top of that, it was needlessly large. Several windows were broken, ivy crawled up the outer walls, and the gloomy atmosphere was only further emphasized.
It was the kind of place that made one wonder whether it really belonged to Leon—the same man who had decorated his tower so extravagantly.
Moreover, as far back as she could remember, Lowell had always lived in a duke’s mansion. She had grown accustomed to finding most estates unimpressive as a result, but this one went far beyond that.
Lowell thought that even if she’d spent her entire life in a shack made of planks, she would still know this place was bad.
“I bought it with the money I took when I left my family and the wages I earned from knight order work. Since it’s on the outskirts, I was able to buy it relatively cheaply, even though it’s such a historic estate.”
Unaware of Lowell’s disbelief, Leon gazed up at the estate with a satisfied smile.
“…Yes. That makes sense.”
Watching him, Lowell swallowed the words If you hadn’t bought this cheaply, you’d have been scammed deep down inside.
