I Thought I Had Married A Poor Knight, But…!

To Understand Each: Other Cermiane’s Point of View (1)

It took us ten days to get to the Imperial Capital from the Marquisate on horseback. This is the expected time for a horseback journey without haste. We had planned to return by horseback with two people, so I had expected it to take even longer. But we arrived earlier because Ralfcyn had his own horse.

I made it a priority to interact with Ralphine on the journey. We both knew very little about each other, and if we suddenly started married life, there would be conflicts. While a typical noble couple would tolerate each other to a certain level, if a marital quarrel arose, Ralphine’s resourcefulness and energy would likely lead her to easily serve divorce papers and leave.

Ralphine looked forlornly towards the Caliente territory until about the second day after our departure, but when we entered the forest in the evening of the second day, she suddenly became very lively. She really seemed to like the forest. On the way there, I had done some research to find out what kind of game we could catch in the forest. I had checked on the way to see what kind of game we could catch in the forests along the way, as I thought Ralphine might want to do some hunting. Sure enough, Ralphine’s face lit up when she heard the name of a prey she had never heard of.

Then I decided to camp in the forest that day instead of going through the forest to the next town. I brought my gear with me, as I had camped there for all seven nights on my way there. How could I let my bride stay in the camp? I thought, but she was happy to do the opposite.

First, we need to decide on a camping spot. In this case, it’s best to venture a little into the forest so that we aren’t visible from the main road, as this makes us more susceptible to robbers and bandits. Ideally, we should try to find a spot with access to water. We found a suitable location, tied up the horses, and unloaded our belongings. We fetched water in a leather bag and brought it back to the campsite, so we’re ready to go. We brought some preserved food with us when we left the Count of Caliente’s Marquisate, but judging from Ralphine’s expression, she didn’t seem keen on eating that.

As we were traveling, we’re both wearing clothing that’s easy to move in. Ralphine was wearing pants. We took off our cloaks and other equipment, and both Ralphine and I are dressed in light armor, with thick tunics cinched at the waist. Ralphine brought her favorite bow and arrows, which she inspected with a smile.

“Would you prefer a bird? Or a beast? We don’t need anything too big, do we?”

“Yeah, we don’t want to bring back something we can’t carry,” I replied

We stepped side by side into the depths of the forest. Ralphine climbed up the steep, bumpy slopes of the forest as if they were nothing. I’m fairly agile myself, but she’s unmatched in her moves. In fact, she climbed to the top of the tree in one move and started jumping around from branch to branch looking for her prey. It was like a monkey.

“Found one,”

Ralphine’s voice called out, and just as suddenly, her presence disappeared from the tree. I was surprised, but I assumed she was trying to hide her presence from the prey. I did the same, trying to be as quiet as possible.

As I stared ahead, I saw a black shadow, about the height of a person’s knee, walking through the undergrowth of the forest. It was definitely a black bear. At the same moment I saw and recognised it, there was a whistling sound and an arrow was released, hitting the black bear in the neck and pinning it to the ground. The bear didn’t die instantly, but flailed about, but it couldn’t move because the arrow had pinned it down. Then Ralphine came down from directly above, grabbed the bear by the neck, cut a slit in its neck with a knife, held its hind legs and hung it up.

“Excellent,” she said, smoothly executing each step. I was filled with admiration.

“That’s amazing.”

“Is it? It’s normal. But I’m glad we got it done quickly,” she replied.

It didn’t take long to bleed, skin and dismantle it. There was no waste of time at all and barely any mess.

“The meat tastes better if you leave it for a while,” Ralphine said.

She then stripped the meat clean and dug up the bones and skin and buried them in the ground. When we returned to our camp, we stuck a skewer into the meat, built a fire and started roasting it. She was very adept at it. Even I, who had been made to practice encampment as a knight in training, was no match for her dexterity. I heard that overnight hunting over several days was forbidden, but it was normal to be self-sufficient in the forest during the process because we stayed in the mountains from morning to night. The only Lady in the whole world who would even say that she could live in the mountains is Ralphine.

Of course, they can’t even wash their faces or bathe in water, but Ralphsine is unfazed by simply washing her hands at the water source. She also went to the toilet, said ‘excuse me’ and did her business in the nearby woods. It’s a level of toughness that makes me laugh. I didn’t think of her as an ordinary noblewoman from the start, but from that moment on I stopped thinking of her as a noblewoman, or even as an ordinary woman. After all, she is special. She is unique.

However, winter was approaching and the nights were cold, so when I suggested that we put up a small tent and sleep together inside, she was reluctant to do so. She said something about being wary of wild animals, but it was clear that she was actually wary of me. I swore to keep her pure until the wedding was over, which I did, of course, and we ended up sleeping huddled together in the same tent, although she was wary of me. In fact, I had no intention of touching her during this journey. At first, I could tell that she was wary of me even while sleeping, but later in the journey, she slept soundly, probably because she trusted me.

We talked about many things as we continued the journey. To prevent Ralphine from getting homesick, I didn’t talk about her memories much and instead talked about our upcoming wedding and life plans. She was quite surprised to hear that the wedding would take place a week after we returned. I decided to have the wedding without delay to avoid the risk of the Duke changing his mind and breaking the engagement. In fact, this plan worked and although there were proposals from higher-ranking nobles after we returned, they were unable to cancel the wedding due to its proximity, and I was able to marry Ralphine without a hitch.