Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Leticia heard a loud voice while she was sleeping.

When she lifted her eyelids slightly, she saw Erden. He came running with a lot of dust all over him.

Ugh—.

The haziness she had flushed away.

She was so tired that while she slept, Erden returned.

‘He’s here.’

Her heart skipped a beat.

Both of them went through hardship, from dramatic departure to life-threatening crisis. They naturally came to thank Leticia.

But Erden is not at the scene. He didn’t know the crisis that had befallen them. It was only mentioned in the letter that she had strange knowledge.

What if he investigated? What if he reports her to a heresy interrogator?

Erden hated demons, and I don’t know anything about his issues with demons.

For Erden, Leticia could be like a monster.

‘They could see each other as monsters.’

Leticia realized that fact and looked at Erden with her eyes full of fear.

Erden was startled to see Leticia, who had just awakened. He took a big step backwards, as if he had seen something.

“As expected—.”

Leticia’s heart became cold.

But the next moment.

She was expecting Erden to shout out ‘You witch!’ but instead, he uttered something cautiously in a range of voices.

“Maybe I, no—.”

He coughed and corrected himself.

“I think I’ve seen a different person.”

He spoke politely, holding his flustered hands in the air.

“Now that I see you, you really are a great woman, my wife.”

Hmm?

Leticia’s eyes looked dubious.

My wife—?

Erden’s reaction was completely different from what she ever imagined, which was for him to be angry and condescending. Instead, he showed an attitude like a great man.

It’s like he was implying “You defeated the demons without sacrificing your allies and won.”

Leticia had not fully figured out what this meant to Erden, the Lord of North.

That’s why she had come to a conclusion.

‘I guess I’m still half asleep.’

***

It wasn’t a dream.

My 15-year-old contract husband started acting strange.

For example, these things would happen.

Halstead Castle is so old that the floor would start to make a cracking sound when stepped on.

But there is no sound when Leticia stepped on it because she is light.

It hurts her pride, and she keeps stepping on it, then she will hear exclamations at the back when she succeeded.

“Ohhh—.”

She would hear another exclamation as she succeeded again to make a creaking noise on the floor.

“Ohhh—.”

Leticia looked back abruptly.

The presence of the Lord had disappeared. But when she would continue to walk, he would suddenly appear and follow her again.

He thought that it wasn’t stalking. If he had intended to stalk Leticia he would watch her silently and no one would ever notice him.

He is just teasing Leticia while he would exclaim ‘Ohhh- my wife ohh—.’

‘For real?’

Leticia would snort at the back of her head.

‘Are you really going to follow me around?’

Intentionally, she went to a corridor full of corners. As she zigzagged between those corners, she would twist around and turn in a more complicated way.

Erden also followed.

No matter how quickly Leticia changed her direction, but it is possible. He followed her without breaking a sweat.

Leticia muttered without even realizing it.

“You’re like a dog.”

At that moment, the air became dense.

There was a shadow that crept out from behind the post and lowered his head.

“I’m so sorry my wife if I made you feel uncomfortable.”

Hmm?

Leticia is puzzled.

What does he mean I felt uncomfortable? I don’t think I felt like that. I just muttered that you look like a dog.

A few seconds later, I realized what I said and panicked for a bit.

“No, I didn’t mean it like that—.”

It’s just he is acting like a dog.

He seemed to have misunderstood.

Leticia went on without saying anything again.

There was an apple tree in the garden.

The lower part of the tree was small and withering, and the higher part was thicker and fruitful. At the top part, the apples were very vibrant and pretty.

Erden also looked at the apple.

Something flashed the next moment.

The apple was in Erden’s hand before I knew it.

This time it is Leticia’s turn to admire him.

“Ohhh, my husband—.”

It was just a snip and snap!

Erden had a pocket knife in his hand. Perhaps he kept it around him and used it for this kind of moment.

Erden washed and peeled the apple. As if he was familiar, he cut it in V shape and peeled it.

Leticia’s eyes went round.

Rabbit apple?

Does this person like rabbits that much?

No, it’s not that—.

“I’m sure that you are still studying rabbit for food, right?”

Tap.

A rabbit apple fell from Erden’s hand.

“—That’s right.”

He designed the apple again.

He made a prettier bunny apple than before and handed it to Leticia.

“Then enjoy your meal, my wife. If there’s a monster like me next to you, you might have lost your appetite. So I’ll go now.”

He greeted her politely without giving her a chance to say and then disappeared as soon as possible right in front of her.

“Wait a minute—.”

The only thing that had remained was their short conversation that had drifted in the air.

Leticia shrugged and took a bite of the apple, and she savored the sweet taste.

Erden is a kind man.

Before coming to the North, the only people she could talk to was her uncle, aunt, and cousins.

They gave her scornful words. And to avoid getting hurt, she had to hit the wall.

As a result, it became her habit to hit the wall first when she is dealing with everyone.

But Erden is different.

He is like a man who had nothing to hurt but himself.

It is amazing to have such a kind person. I didn’t know that it would be better than hitting a wall.

In exception to his scary look.

Leticia returned to her room and sat at her desk then opened a thick book.

It was a book of monsters, with multiple spices. Bastian gave it to me as a gift so I won’t need to look at the murals.

‘Let me see.’

I turned over the next page of the books. I am so determined to look through it but I turned away as soon as possible and didn’t linger too much on one page.

‘There are too many eyes all over the body.’

What if Erden is this kind of thing? My heart trembled whenever I tried to imagine it like that.

Leticia ended up covering the book, her reading progress was like a turtle crawling.

Unknowingly, I sighed.

“Why am I such a coward?”

“I wish I could have been more courageous.”

Casaro glanced at her, while she was chopping potatoes.

Erden was sitting on a stack of apple boxes.

It was his favorite place.

Casaro liked it when the Young Lord came to the kitchen.

It was no doubt that she is the best consultant in Halstead’s Castle.

While Bastian gets so stiff that they often have boring conversations with each other.

And Alexa is so cold hearted that she needed lessons in casual conversation.

It was incomparable to Casaro, who had a flowing eloquence in her speech.

She had the ability to talk about an assortment of topics, no one could keep up with Casaro’s extraordinary abilities in terms of conversing.

When the Lord appeared, he instantly brought up the moment he had with the Young Lady and plopped on the table.

“She was terrified that you would think of her as a witch. Nevertheless, she revealed to every old person and the members of the castle about her mysterious knowledge ingenuity. How much more courage did she need to say it to us?”

Casaro spoke while cutting the potatoes.

“She should be more certain.”

Erden agreed.

“She’s right. I am completely wrong. When I heard the Count’s story, I thought I had picked up another poor child in the desert as always—.”

“Yes, but I think you have picked an incredible wife instead.”

“I can’t believe she’s been so oppressed to reveal her true self as if she had been waiting for me in the North! I remember the sight I saw when she was young, when it rained on the wasteland, all of the seeds that had been hidden bloomed at once. Grandma, she’s probably that kind of person.”

Casaro glanced at Erden and had her eyes wide open.

“How can you say such a romantic thing? I’m sure she’d be very happy to hear that. Can I just say it to her?”

“No. Don’t.”

“I’m just kidding.”

Casaro giggled and threw the cut potatoes into the pot.

“But I’m really curious. What kind of mysterious knowledge does she have?”

“Well, that’s—.”

Erden muttered.

“As a matter of fact, there’s one thing that I’m trying to pinpoint.”

“What? Really?”

Casaro looked at him again in surprise.

But Erden didn’t say anything anymore.

That day, the members of the castle saw the Lord in deep thought all evening.

Before long, Erden took out something he had rarely taken out, put it on the desk, and looked down.

It’s the family’s key to the underground chamber.