If You Wish For A Married Couple's Duties

Episode 61. Pincer Movement (1)

“Even so, what can I do if I want that Count’s head to fly first?”

Daniel tried to calm the duchess that was struggling in his arms.

But it didn’t seem like she had any intention of calming down. 

“Since I’ve located the snake’s head immediately, I obviously have to cut it down right away! Am I supposed to let it go unchecked?”

“Count Jive isn’t the head!”

Daniel’s shout caused Dooha to stop struggling for a moment.

Huffing, she gazed at Daniel’s face, which was above her head. 

“The head is…”

His voice was very calm.

His usually bright complexion turned wan, like a withered leaf. 

“It’s probably my father.”

This time, Dooha also didn’t deny it.

That’s because both of them clearly heard Sir Nate’s name when they heard a portion of the conversation between Count Jive and the unknown wizard. 

“If this truly is my father’s plan, it’s all the more reason why you shouldn’t kill Count Jive.”

Count Jive was proof of Nate’s guilt.

He was the defining evidence that Nate plotted to kill the Duke.

“As such, Madam shouldn’t harm Count Jive directly. That only destroys the evidence.”

“…I understand, so let go of me.”

When Dooha’s momentum weakened, Daniel immediately let her go.

“But Madam, didn’t you mention yesterday that you’ll be leaving here at dawn?” 

At his query, Dooha bit on her lower lip.

Her gaze was trained downwards and she didn’t respond. 

“I was quite flustered to see the person that said she’d return to the ducal castle at first light fighting against monsters on the rampart, but the current situation is even more agitating.”  

Daniel was thinking of seeing her off when he heard that Dooha was going to leave at daybreak. 

However, he was shocked beyond belief when he witnessed Dooha felling monsters with arrows while darting around the top of the rampart.

“Why didn’t you leave?”

She was reminded of what happened last night when she heard Daniel’s words. 

It was about the duke and what he had said when she encountered him while roaming around the castle.

‘What else am I going to do for a man that sees me as something that’s merely that?’

Even though there were more things about him that she disliked than liked, she followed him all the way here out of worry for him. 

However, the words that appeared from the Duke’s mouth were ‘merely’.

If Dooha’s existence only amounted to ‘merely that’, there’s no need for her to do all of this. 

[T/N: The full line is from ch59, where Leonhart says  “I…won’t change merely because of that.” I think Dooha felt trivialised, but Leon was in denial…] 

That’s why she went to find Daniel and told him that she would return back to the ducal castle as soon as daybreak arrived.

But why did she get so angry the moment she heard about Count Jive’s plan.

Dooha managed to straighten out the various thoughts in her head that were confusing her with difficulty, and found a plausible reason.

“When dawn just arrived, the monsters attacked. I just didn’t get a chance to leave.”

“Then, are you going to return now?”

Daniel felt the magic that enveloped the castle and continued.

“I think the defensive magic has just been activated. Tochern Castle will be very safe now.”

The monsters in the castle’s vicinity would have been attracted away by the duke and his party, so the journey to the ducal castle would be quite safe. 

“I can afford to transport the Madam to the ducal castle once.”

Dooha remained silent at Daniel’s suggestion.

If she had been in the same mood as a while ago, she would have returned back to ducal castle with Daniel’s help. 

Regardless of what became of Leonhart, all she had to do was look after the ducal castle.

Even if he died, according to the Imperial Law, Dooha would be able to return to her home country freely.

In the empire, the marriage is automatically annulled if a party dies and there weren’t any children between the married couple. 

Even if it was a couple that married out of love, they didn’t have anything to do with each other from the beginning.

Of course, in the Esbaden ducal couple’s case, it was a marriage for the sake of an alliance, so there might be differences.

“…No, I’m not going back.” 

Putting all those aside, Dooha didn’t want to leave this place right now.

She couldn’t understand her own mind, which was as capricious as a reed, but she couldn’t step away.

In her head, a shadow was painted over Leonhart, who dragged several knights with him to lure the monsters away empty-handedly.  

“Then what do you intend to do?”

“I’m going to inform the Duke and the knights about Count Jive’s plans.”

“What? Madam, personally?”

Daniel asked back with his wide eyes. 

“No, there’s no way of that. I can’t appear in front of the Duke, so I have to bring someone that can step forward.”

“Who are you taking with you?”

“Who else can it be?”

Dooha pointed her index finger at his eyes, which seemed like an astonished rabbit.  

Daniel’s eyes, which was always curved into halves, grew impossibly wide.

* * *

‘Honestly, I can’t figure her out.’

Daniel sighed deeply while seated on the back of a galloping horse.

He looked at Dooha, who was ahead of him, and shrugged his shoulders like he was unable to stop her.

The both of them were riding their horses to the Northern forest, where the duke’s party was at.

They didn’t have any problem passing through Tochern’s gate, thanks to Daniel. 

Daniel’s opinion to move using spatial magic for the sake of safety and convenience was ignored.

“We don’t know which part of the forest was the Duke’s party at, so I think that it’ll be better to conserve Daniel’s magic, just in case. You never know if the monsters will suddenly attack us.”

Fortunately, unlike the duchess’s concern, they didn’t even spot the monsters’ tail throughout their journey in the forest. 

The duke and the knights seemed to have become proper bait.

“Madam, I still don’t think that it’s a good idea.”

Daniel called softly at Dooha’s back, who was riding ahead.

“It hasn’t been a few days since I’d gone against the Duke in the annex. Even if that wasn’t the case, the Duke seemed quite angry at my appearance here. If I went to so much trouble to look for him and told him that the Count was trying to kill him stealthily, would he believe it?”

Daniel was willing to bet that his credibility in the duke’s eyes is almost at rock bottom. 

“Wouldn’t it be better to send a messenger pigeon or another soldier to deliver news to him if it was simply a hint of the Count’s plot? Or, I can use telepathy.” 

In the case of telepathy, the farther away the target was, the more magic had to be used.

Although it was the most ineffective method, in the current situation, using it as the next best option wasn’t that bad. 

“Will he be able to listen to the message properly after fighting with the monsters for a long time? Also, if you sent soldiers here, they might be attacked by monsters before they even met with the Duke.”

“That’s also true.”

Daniel murmured in a weak voice, like he was resigning himself to her words.

“It would be great if the Duke didn’t mistake me for a monster and swing his sword.”

“Me too. Don’t you know that I fought with the Duke because of you, Daniel?”

“Even so, I don’t think the Duke will mistake Madam for a monster.”

“Why?”

“Madam is too beautiful to be a monster.”

Dooha turned her head stiffly at the pick-up line that appeared naturally, even in such an urgent situation. 

Sure enough, Daniel was looking at her with the brilliant smile that was unique to him. 

A beautiful smile that made it confusing for someone to identify if it was sincere or not 

In any case, that man isn’t normal either. 

When Dooha couldn’t help but shake her head with a disgusted expression, he suddenly burst into laughter.

“Why are you laughing?”

“No, I was reminded of the past for a moment.”

Reminded of the past?

When Dooha stared at him curiously, Daniel hesitated for a moment before opening his mouth. 

“I seem to have told you before that I grew up with the Duke when I was young.”

“Yes, I heard that you both grew up in Margaret’s care.”

“Yes, we were very close then. We were closer than blood related brothers.” 

At that time, not only the previous Duke and Duchess, but also Sir Nate, were very busy with various things.

As such, their children didn’t have separate nannies, and grew up under Margaret’s care instead. 

It was because Margaret, who was left alone and felt lonely, strongly hoped that her grandchildren would be entrusted to her.  

“I’ve always been good at saying things that made others feel better since I was young. Whenever that happened, the duke would make the same face as the Madam did, a face full of disgust.”

Dooha tried to imagine a young Leonhart giving Daniel a look of disgust, but she soon gave up. 

It was hard to imagine the childhood of the cold-hearted Duke, who seemed like he wouldn’t bleed even if he was stabbed.

“And we both had a lot of pride ever since we were young, so it was very difficult for us to reconcile if we fought with each other. We fought like it was a matter of life and death, and threatened each other like we wouldn’t see each other for the rest of our lives.”

However, it would be very difficult if they didn’t reconcile, as they had only each other in the castle. 

However, because of their own pride, none of them could apologise first, and they often spent their time awkwardly.

“In the end, one party would ask to reconcile each time.”

“And that’s Daniel, right?”

“No, it was always the Duke who asked to reconcile first.”

That was unexpected.

When he saw Dooha’s surprised gaze, Daniel smiled gloomily. 

“At that time, the Duke liked me quite a lot.”

It was a time when they didn’t know anything, and a time when they didn’t have to know anything.

At that time, Leonhart cherished Daniel very much, both as a friend and a brother.

“I also thought of the Duke as my blood brother.”

Dooha asked in reply like she couldn’t understand his explanation.

“But why have the two of you become like this?”

“We had a very big fight. It was to the point where I didn’t even dare to think about reconciling.”

What kind of fight did they have that they couldn’t even think about reconciling. 

As Dooha urged the horse forward, she tilted her head. 

“Aren’t you both just showing off your pride? This time, Daniel, let go of your pride first and ask for reconciliation.”

“Madam, this time, I took the initiative to ask for reconciliation several times. But, it ultimately wasn’t accepted.” 

“Why…”

“If I knew the reason, I would have made up with him by now.”

Daniel recited quietly, like he was talking to himself.

He fell silent for a moment and then returned back to his original bright voice.

“But I think the Duke is completely deserving of that. I don’t want to reconcile with the Duke anymore either.”

“Why?”

“That’s…”

As he looked at Dooha’s face, which was looking at him, Daniel smiled.

“I’m not too sure. Why do I not want to make up with the Duke right now?”

A pair of light green eyes stared at Dooha quietly.

As though he was exploring something deeply, his gaze was extremely cautious and also filled with curiosity. 

“So, I’m in the midst of understanding it. About how I came to feel this way.”

One, unlike his ambiguous answer, there was only Dooha within Daniel’s gaze, up till the end.