Ever After [4]

The honored guest box was an enclosed chamber that no one in the audience could enter except for the two of them. Due to that, Lucia didn't need to be conscious of people's gazes and laughed to her heart's content.

Despite coming to watch a play, Hugo had more fun watching Lucia laugh, and he actually spent more time watching his wife than watching the play.

The play was quite long. During the intermission, Lucia decided to stop by the break room. As soon as she entered the break room, she heard the loud laughter of women. Upon seeing Lucia, the group of women that were laughing together greeted her from a few steps away.

"Duchess, you came out on a date with your husband, didn't you?"

"A husband who goes to see a comedy together with you! How wonderful is that?"

Despite the noblewomen's envious greetings, the group gathered at the side erupted with laughter.

"Everyone seems to have enjoyed the play." (Lucia)

"Ah…actually, we're laughing for another reason. By any chance, has Duchess ever read the book called, 'Love Under the Moonlight'?"

"I don't believe so."

Someone at the side began to explain for Lucia who wasn't quite knowledgeable on the subject. 'Love Under the Moonlight' was a romance novel that was popular among noblewomen recently. It portrayed the comedic story of a noblewoman who prided herself as the most beautiful in the world despite having an unattractive appearance and fell in love with her guard knight.

But something similar to the novel's plot had actually happened in reality. The main characters were Countess Wickson, who was a single woman after losing her husband several years ago, and her guard knight. Countess Wickson had a strange appearance in addition to being advanced in age, while the guard knight was a rarely seen handsome young man.

When the two of them turned up at the theater today, the noblewomen gathered around and gossiped about them while laughing.

"Ah…I see."

Lucia replied, forcing a smile on her face. The fact that these noblewomen were enjoying themselves from ridiculing someone else, showed that their conduct wasn't very good.

Lucia stopped by the restroom and quickly left the break room. On the way to the theater stands, she encountered the topic of discussion, Countess Wickson.

Lucia had ever only exchanged greetings with Countess Wickson and it was a long time ago, but she was unable to forget the Countess because her appearance was so unique. Lucia planned to lightly greet the Countess and pass by, but upon seeing the guard following behind the Countess, she was surprised and came to a halt.

'Hanson…?'

Oh my goodness. It was the swindler who preyed on Lucia in her dream. There was no doubt he was the man she once believed herself to be in love with. Lucia quickly walked away to avoid revealing her stiff expression. And as she walked, she burst into laughter in spite of herself. Since today's play was a comedy, the maid following behind her didn't give her an odd look for the sudden laughter.

'To think he was a dishonorably discharged knight. Was it because of a scandal with the Countess?'

Hanson was a man with a pretty appearance. He smiled softly with his blue eyes and whispered sweet words in the ear. In the dream, Lucia fell headfirst for the man's affectionate words.

Lucia didn't know whether Hanson really shared his heart with the Countess, or whether he did what he did to her to the Countess, and the Countess held him in contempt, making him lose his knight's honor. But she didn't care to know.

In Lucia's life, Hanson was nothing more than a passing wind. The wound caused by the betrayal of the man she believed in her dream didn't even have a trace left. There was no space for darkness to crawl into her heart now.

Lucia returned to the theater stands and as soon as she saw her husband turning towards her, she was struck with awe. In her dream, she thought Hanson was a very beautiful man. But even if she looked at it objectively, her husband before her was much better looking.

This gorgeous man was her husband. Lucia was very satisfied. She grabbed him and kissed him, fully expressing her emotions. But it was her mistake. Because of her actions, he got excited and turned it into a long kiss, and because of that, she ended up missing the beginning of the play when it resumed.

* * *

After enjoying the play, Lucia returned home in a festive mood. But when she heard what Hugo said as she was retiring to bed, her happiness was dragged to the floor.

"…You have to go to the north."

"When you went to the Palace, a knight came with a message from the north."

Today in the office, Hugo took care of the duties regarding his territory that had been pushed back. Until this morning, he had no plan to leave for the North. He had intended to only send his knights for the subjugation this time.

But after seeing the contents of the message from Callis, it would seem that he needed to personally go and check out the situation.

"How long will it take?"

"I'm not sure. Even if I deduct the time to journey back and forth, it will take at least a month. And it could take even longer."

Do not weigh on the footsteps on someone leaving for work. Lucia knew that much but she couldn't help but feel sad. The dream-like events of last month were fleeting. But a month without him would be like an eternity.

"So did you bring me to see a play today to appease me?"

"Not exactly…maybe a little. Is it wrong?"

"No. You were trying to make me feel good."

Lucia knew that his thoughtfulness was directed solely to herself. No one would ever imagine the Duke of Taran taking his wife to a play in order to soften her up.[1]

"When are you leaving?"

"Tomorrow at dawn."

"So early…"

"The situation over there looks serious, so I think I should go as soon as possible."

"I will see you off…"

"Don't do that. Get plenty of sleep. I won't feel good leaving you behind."

Lucia didn't persist any more. Just as he wouldn't feel good leaving her, it would be hard for her to send him off. It would be better for her to open her eyes in the morning and he was already gone.

She was unable to hide her sadness and Hugo pulled her into a hug. The thought that he wouldn't be able to hold her soft body for a long time made him feel distraught. If things could be done his way, he wanted to take her to the North.

But he knew that she couldn't match the speed with which they had to rush to the north on horses. Moreover, he didn't even want to take her to the dangerous border regions.

***

"While I am not here, Roy will be in charge of guarding you."

"Sir. Krotin?"

"Although he raises a lot of trouble, his skills are undoubtable. Hence, I decided on him even though he might be rude to you."

"I am aware of Sir. Krotin's attitude of treating people with ease. But I do not think he is such a bad person, so I'm not sure why he has such a frightful nickname. He's also a knight you trust."[2]

On the day Lucia went to propose marriage to him, she saw Roy and Hugo together and from what she saw, she felt the relationship between the two of them was more candid and comfortable than the rigid relationship between a Lord and his knight.

"That guy is a lot of things."

Hugo recalled an old memory.

His first meeting with Roy, was as a mercenary slave called Hue. Some barbarian tribes would often kidnap people and enslaved them, or release them for a price. The mercenary whom Hue was enslaved to, received a request to rescue the kidnapped son of a noble.

While Hue was executing his mission under the orders of his mercenary owner, he saw other children who were captured. He didn't have a soft heart that sympathized with other children's situation, but the young boy with unusually spiteful eyes caught his attention. He alone was bound by the limbs and locked up in solitary confinement, yet he refused to be submissive.

Hue secretly snuck in at dawn when his mercenary owner was asleep and released the boy. He didn't know why he did it. It was just a whim.

Hue broke the ropes binding the boy without saying anything, and the boy just stared at what Hue was doing without saying anything too. When his body became free, the boy grinned at Hue.

[I will repay your favor.]

And after a long time had passed, Hue reunited with the boy. It was around the time when the ducal couple perished in the hands of his brother, Hue had become Hugo and as the heir to the Duke, he was looking over the border due to the barbarian's frequent plundering. As he was going around the border regions, he got a report that there was a man killing only barbarians on sight.

[He has great skill. But even though he is only hunting barbarians, he does not interact with anyone and might be dangerous, so I was unable to approach him carelessly.]

[The man has appeared again! He is in battle with several barbarians.]

Hugo went to the area where the battle was going on and watched the man fight from a distance. The three to four barbarians were unable to win against the one man.

Hugo felt the man looked familiar, but he couldn't recall where he had seen him before. Despite the warnings of the people around him that it might be dangerous, he approached the man. The man simply stood there and watched Hugo approach him. Upon getting closer, Hugo remembered the guy. It was the boy he had freed from the barbarian prison when he was young. His red hair had given him a deep impression back then and was still as intense.

[Why are you going around killing barbarians?] (Hugo)

[Those bastards killed my family.] (Roy)

[Are you going to continue?]

[I have nothing else to do.]

[If you need something to do, do you want to come with me?]

[Will it be fun?]

[Much more.]

Just like the smile he had given when he was young, Roy grinned widely at him. Unlike Hugo, Roy seemed unable to remember their connection when they were young.

After receiving the tragic news from Roam, Hugo quickly left for Roam, and Roy followed along. While he was frantically settling the situation, he forgot about Roy. In the meantime, the guy shamelessly made himself comfortable and was doing nicely. After suppressing him with his power when he acted up a few times, the guy became a little more obedient. And when he realized that he couldn't overcome Hugo with his skills, he felt wronged and lodged his complaints to Hugo.

[You said it would be fun! You swindler!]

Even though he grumbled, Roy did not run away. He learnt the minimal sense of propriety to stay among people and got along well with some of the family's knights. And at some point, Roy became a knight of the family.

Hugo couldn't tell her everything, but he told her some parts about his connection with Roy. Lucia listened with fascination and was amazed.

"So Sir. Krotin is a special person to you."

"…Is that so?"

"Of course. If Sir. Krotin is in danger, you will go to rescue him, won't you?"

Hugo couldn't imagine Roy being in danger. The guy seemed like he would survive even in hell. Who knows? He might even jump into the firepot, courting danger because he believed in his strength too much. If it were such a pathetic case, he could click his tongue and leave him to suffer. But he didn't think he could stand by and let the guy die.

"Mm. I suppose so."

"Truly, the more I know about you, the more I am amazed. A lot of the things around you are unordinary. Then, what about the butler? How did you meet?"

Hugo almost fell for her sparkling eyes attack. Still hugging her, he changed their position and lay her down on the bed, towering over her.

"I told you not to talk about another man in bed."

"I wonder who started it."

"Even if I do it, you can't. Don't show curiosity either."

"Really unreasonable."

His lips gently landed on hers.

"So you hate it?"

Lucia laughed and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"How can I?"

The sound of her laughter in his ear made his heart feel warm.

"Always have the guard with you, no matter where you are going. Don't be alone anywhere."

"I'm more worried about you than myself. You are going to the battlefield."

"You don't have to worry about me at all. All you have to do is sleep well and eat well."

"Even if you were the strongest person in the world, I would still worry about you. You have to be careful, don't get hurt."

Hugo hugged her tighter, as if answering her. When he was with her, he felt like he was an existence more precious and valuable than anything else.

Maybe if it was her, she could love the Hue that wasn't Hugo. Maybe one day, she would be able to imbue his dark childhood which was deeply hidden as if sealed, with her clear color. He felt like someday, he would be able to reveal all his secrets to her.

"You'll be back within the year, right?"

There were only two months left before the year came to an end.

"I'll spend the morning of the New Year with you."