Princess Shu

At the same time in the Marquess’ couple’s bedroom, Schuden got up. He was not wearing anything. His muscular upper body was exposed. Schuden muttered, sweeping his slightly disheveled blonde hair.

“She’s leaving without even looking back.”

Valia had been out for so long and was still yet to come back.

Actually, Schuden had been awake since Valia had just opened her eyes. He was very sensitive to the presence of others. Those who were asleep and those who were awake had different breathing sounds. Schuden knew that Valia had woken up even when she had just tossed and turned a little. He moved his arm as she seemed to be uncomfortable but she got up and disappeared.

Schuden wondered if she went to the toilet. But, seeing that she had still not come back, she must have been either eating, taking a bath, or taking a walk. To be honest, Schuden was curious. When in a place other than the bed, would she still be hiding her expressions again like before?

Schuden stood up. He was just putting on his gown when he heard a knock on the door.

“Your Excellency, this is Paul. I have something to tell you. Can I come in?”

“Come in.”

The general butler opened the door and entered. He politely gave his greetings and said with a slightly perplexed expression on his face.

“Your Excellency, Sir Shaun said that he has an important message in regards to the new armors. Someone just arrived.”

“Tell me what day it is today.”

“Yes. today is the day the Knights of Garth use the training ground.”

Schuden’s gaze subsided slightly. He was not that passionate or diligent in his work, but at least he was not lazy in his responsibilities. He also had nothing important to take care of that he needed to postpone his work.

However, the problem was that the traces of lovemaking on the first night remained not only on Valia but also on Schuden. He wanted to stay in bed with her longer. His calm and quiet bride only showed her honest expressions and feelings on the bed. For him, it was like fumbling through a secret door. He wondered if this was also a kind of interest. Schuden belatedly found out why even the nobles usually took leave for a honeymoon.

But even if he thought so, it was already too late.

“I’m going to the training ground. Get ready.”

“Yes, Your Excellency. I will get ready right away.”

Schuden walked to the bathroom used by the Marquesses of the Garth family from generation to generation. Having never had any regrets since he was conferred as Marquess Garth, he slightly regretted his past when he gave up his honeymoon leave.

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

Valia was calmly organizing her thoughts. Obviously, she neither wanted Schuden to die nor to get involved in bad things. He did not even have a second wedding in the past. The reason why he dared to vow by the risk of his life this time was probably that Valia was the one who responded to the selection of the temple princess. She came to that conclusion because there was only one difference, thus there must be only one cause.

She felt like she had done something bad to Schuden.

After the appearance of divine power in this continent, Yeri, who was chosen by God, would also appear. Valia felt guilty for no reason, she had never heard of divine punishment for breaking the vow. However, she felt a prick of conscience to just move on.

‘…I need to be nice to him.’

With unbelievable excitement and endless feelings of regret, it was the first time Valia had poured so much emotion into anyone other than Carl. So she could not think of any other way than to vaguely say that she needed to be nice to him. How a wife was supposed to be nice to her husband was a secondary matter. Valia had never done anything like helping a husband. It was up to the employees to take care of his meals or dress him in clean clothes.

‘Will it be enough if I am active in high society? Or to meet other noblewomen?’

Other than that, nothing came to mind. Valia did not think that was a fundamental problem though. Perhaps it was because her body was sore, but she finished taking a bath after judging that it would be better to think more deeply once she was out of the hot water.

Having lived half her life as a fallen noble and half her life as an escort lady-in-waiting, she was used to washing and finishing alone. However, there was nothing in the bathroom except a silver bell and the gown taken off by Valia.

Valia picked up the small bell and waved it. The maids who were waiting came in after hearing the bell ringing. In their hands were a sun-dried towel, rose oil to soften the skin, and a change of clothes.

Valia was attended by experienced maids. She got a massage and went out after changing her clothes. The housekeeper was waiting for her outside.

“Are you awake, madam?”

“Oh, housekeeper. Good morning.”

“If you don’t mind, please call me Sarah.”

“I will do that then, Sarah.”

Sarah smiled heartily. Calling the names of the family’s general butler and housekeepers was one of the rights of the owner couple. Most of the general butlers and housekeepers were old, so among the newly married young nobles, they often felt awkward calling their names. It did not mean they were bad, but for a personality like Valia’s, calling them by their name was more comfortable when she was in the position of being served.

“Madam, it is still early, but how about having breakfast?”

Valia nodded. Because of her habit of waking up early in the morning, she always had her meals early. Due to that, she was feeling a little hungry after taking a bath.

Sarah took Valia directly to the dining hall. In most noble houses, the dining hall was located on the first floor. The same goes for Garth’s manor. Valia was ushered across the large hall she saw just yesterday to the antique-decorated dining hall.

Usually, a noble’s furniture should be lower in quality than the furniture of the Imperial family. However, the dining hall of the House of Garth was very fancy. The fabric carpets on the walls were exquisitely embroidered with gold thread and the floors were covered with dark marble, creating an elegant atmosphere. Especially the large rectangular dining table placed in the center of the dining hall, it was large enough to seat about fifteen people or so. Valia sat in the chair that Sarah pulled out. She asked her.

“What about His Excellency?”

“Yes, madam. His Excellency has gone to the training ground earlier.”

“Training ground?”

“Yes. today is the knight’s inspection day. It is held three times a week.”

‘She’s talking about the Knights of Garth.’

The Imperial Family of the Gel Empire was cautious of the soldiers that nobles could have. A few generations ago, there was even an Imperial Law to completely tear down all nobles’ orders of knights. However, the opposition of the nobles was fierce. This was because most of them possessed a plausible order of knights when they were ranked more than a count. The conflict of opinion between the Imperial Family and the nobles was eventually settled by limiting the number of soldiers in the order of knights. 

However, there were exceptions to this limit. It was for the frontier families who had the duty to protect the borders and meritorious families who made a contribution to the country with amazing military force. But Garth did not belong to either of these two. Naturally, there should be a limit on the number of soldiers but the Knights of Garth were specially treated as an exception.

Before Schuden was conferred as the Marquess, that was, when he was still the heir, he jumped into the battlefield and made a remarkable achievement. On the battlefield, where the defeat of the Kingdom union under Gel’s protection was certain, Schuden led a hundred soldiers to victory. It was a tremendous win that no one could refute.

Later, there was even a joke that the Goddess of Victory loved Schuden Garth. It was from that time that Schuden began to be called a ‘devilish murderer’ in other countries.

In any case, fate was on the side of the Gel Empire. After the war was over, in honor of Schuden who improved the momentum, the Emperor brought out a shocking reward to give him whatever he wanted. At that time, Schuden responded with a plain sentence, ‘I say this with all due respect, Your Majesty, but the number of knights that I can use is too small.’

That evening, the House of Garth received an order from the Emperor.

It was the first case in which the Knights of Garth became one of the top knights in the Gel Empire. It was so famous that even Valia knew about it during her time working in the palace. Even the knights of the Imperial Palace treated the incident as a dream or legend. Due to her ambiguous status as an escort lady-in-waiting, she was distant with both the ladies-in-waiting and the knights, but thanks to that, she was able to collect and hear various rumors.

‘The man whom the knights envied so much became my husband.’

Thinking like that, it did not feel real. It was rather fine when she had direct contact with him in the bed, but when she took a step back and recalled such a legendary story, he felt far away. Valia shook her head.

The maids opened the door to the dining room and lowered the tableware from the tray. Silver cutlery went up one by one on the white and shiny tablecloth. At first glance, she could tell that there were already over seven pieces of silverware. The Imperial Family and the nobles were no different in the aspect where they paid a lot of attention to meals. Even in her small mother country, the nobles did not spare money for their meals. If she were to pick the simplest and most tasteless noble’s dining table in the entire continent, it would have been her own dining table before she came to the Empire.   

“Madam, an early breakfast can put a lot of pressure on your stomach, so the chef said that he focused on meals with soft fruits.”

As Sarah said, the dining table was colorful. Soup simmered gently with mashed potatoes and cream, tarts stuffed with candied apples, moist baked snacks, jam-coated bread, plump sausage, and a fresh egg dish. There were various kinds of drinks too. Fresh fruit juice, milk, and dried herbal tea were also served.

“If you have any particular foods or ingredients you don’t like, please feel free to tell me, madam.”

“Thank you for taking care of me.”

“Don’t mention it.”

Valia took a sip of the soup. The soft-textured potatoes melted gently in her mouth. Valia always failed at boiling potatoes. It would either be overcooked or the pot would be burned.

Due to that, Valia’s scale of ‘delicious’ was very low. She was someone who felt that cheap cheese sandwiches sold at the market were also very delicious. Her convenient taste was very useful when she entered the Imperial Palace.

The ladies-in-waiting whose owners have not yet to be assigned were subject to being lorded over by the senior ladies-in-waiting. The most common was to deliberately give the new ladies-in-waiting insufficient meals, causing them to suffer from hunger. They were aiming at the fact that even though they entered the Imperial Palace as ladies-in-waiting for life, they had never eaten rough meals because they were nobles. Even then, Valia ate well by herself. Everything was better than what she made after all.

Therefore, this meal was very delicious.

One should never spare praise for delicious meals. When Valia worked as an escort lady-in-waiting in the past, she sometimes saw nobles who found fault even after eating the meal well. She did not know if they thought that such fuss was noble-like or not. Either way, Valia did not really want to understand their mindset. In her eyes, their attitudes only looked indecent.

‘If they’re going to act like that, at least don’t empty the plate clean.’

Like Valia’s plate, for instance. The generously prepared meal was well over three servings. Valia could not finish it, but she still ate it satisfyingly. Valia drank tea to wash away the aftertaste. A refreshing scent swept her mouth.