Chapter 53
Reina, who had been thinking about her own standards of beauty, suddenly froze when a face abruptly entered her view.
The very face she had just imagined as “handsome” was right in front of her.
Eyes, nose, and lips arranged in perfect harmony, as if painted by an artist. A broad, smooth forehead and a masculine jawline. A man whose face looked cold at first glance, but when he lifted the corners of his lips, it became so alluring it could make any woman fall—Kalheil.
And he was smiling at her.
Maybe she had been on the ship too long and lost her mind. She hadn’t even recognized Kalheil at first glance.
“Exactly like that… what?”
There wasn’t a single flaw in Kalheil’s face as he asked. Even his slightly raised eyebrow looked as if it had been carefully painted stroke by stroke.
‘Fine, I admit it. Kalheil is handsome. Damn it.’
Reina cursed inwardly and replied bluntly,
“…What do you want all of a sudden?”
Seeing her frown the moment she looked at him, Kalheil dropped his smile.
“Why are you picking a fight the moment you see me? It seems like you hold quite a grudge against me, my wife.”
Reina paused at his words.
He wasn’t wrong.
Since when had it started? She didn’t know exactly, but at some point, she began to feel irritated every time she saw Kalheil.
She didn’t even know why. It was just… an inexplicable anger buried deep in her chest.
But she couldn’t exactly say, “I don’t know why, but seeing you makes me angry.”
“That’s because… ahem!”
Trying to come up with a reason, Reina cleared her throat.
“…It’s because Your Grace won’t tell me the truth.”
“Still that topic? I already told you to think carefully about it yourself.”
Reina grumbled internally at his answer.
That night—their wedding night—she still didn’t know whether they had actually consummated their marriage or not.
No matter how many times she asked, Kalheil gave the same answer.
Think carefully yourself.
‘I can’t remember, that’s why I’m asking!!’
She had even subtly asked Amy if she knew anything. Amy’s reaction hadn’t been much different.
“Oh my! Why would you ask something like that?”
Blushing and laughing, Amy had only said that there were obvious traces of a wedding night on the nightclothes.
‘But that kind of evidence can be faked.’
Reina herself had even considered pricking her finger to fake blood.
So there was no guarantee Kalheil hadn’t done the same.
The only person who knew the truth stayed silent, and Reina herself couldn’t remember anything.
“Whatever! It’s not like anything big happened.”
She had never even dated in her twenty-four years of life. Recently, due to circumstances, she had kissed a few times, but before that, she had never even held a man’s hand.
‘And I just… let something happen with Kalheil without resisting?’
There was one decisive reason she believed nothing had happened.
Her body felt completely fine.
‘I may lack experience, but not knowledge.’
Having read countless romance novels, she knew well that the “first time” was supposed to be painful—some even described it as being stabbed, and unable to walk properly the next day.
But what about her?
No pain at all. In fact, she had felt refreshed when she woke up.
The only strange thing was that her clothes had been removed…
‘Well… maybe I took them off in my sleep because it was hot.’
After considering everything, Reina had concluded that nothing had happened between her and Kalheil.
And even if that wasn’t true, it didn’t matter. Nothing would change anyway.
So she decided to believe it.
That she had simply passed out drunk and slept through the night.
Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Reina asked calmly,
“…Are we close? I’ve been on this ship for days.”
She deliberately changed the subject.
Kalheil, though finding her behavior a bit odd, answered quite kindly.
“Just a little longer. We’ll get off at that port over there.”
“How much longer by carriage after we get off?”
“…Just a little longer.”
There was a noticeable pause in his answer.
Reina almost questioned him, but then sighed and stayed silent.
What was the point? It was better for her sanity to cling to hope.
She fixed her gaze on the distant port, barely visible like a dot.
At least she wouldn’t have to sleep on the ship anymore.
As expected, Kalheil’s “just a little longer” was a lie.
Even after getting off at the port and switching to a carriage, it took two more days to reach the castle.
On the last day, they started early in the morning due to a tight schedule.
The rattling carriage made it feel like her entire backside was being destroyed.
Just when she thought she couldn’t endure any longer, the carriage door finally opened—after half a day of nonstop travel.
Kalheil extended his hand to escort her out.
Reina glared at it resentfully.
“…You said it was just a little longer.”
“…Sometimes it’s better not to know.”
He really shouldn’t have said anything at all.
Pouting, Reina stepped down from the carriage.
The moment her feet touched the ground, she frowned in confusion.
“…This is outside the castle. We still have a long way to go to the main keep, don’t we?”
They had stopped near the outer walls—the farthest part of the castle grounds.
Even by carriage, it would take quite a while to reach the inner castle.
“There’s something I want to show you.”
There was a hint of pride in Kalheil’s expression.
Following his gaze, Reina turned toward the walls—and gasped.
“Ah…!”
“Now that you are the mistress of this land, you should see Lautzen’s pride at least once.”
“What… is that?”
“As you can see, the castle wall.”
But Reina’s mouth remained wide open.
The walls of Lautzen were beyond impressive—there were no words except overwhelming.
They rose so high it seemed they touched the sky, stretching endlessly. The flags atop them were so distant that she couldn’t even tell if the emblem was a dragon or a lizard.
But the most astonishing part was something else.
Along the walls were intricate magic circles, with massive magic stones embedded at their centers.
They were enormous—glowing purple even from a distance.
Even Reina, who had seen many magic stones thanks to Nikolai’s trading business, had never seen anything this large.
“Can stones that big even exist?”
“They say magic stones are rarely obtained from monsters. The larger they are, the more valuable…”
Even a small one was worth several times its size in gemstones.
But something that size?
“And there’s not just one—there are dozens?”
Reina swallowed hard, unable to even calculate their value.
Kalheil looked satisfied at her reaction.
“It’s quite impressive, isn’t it? I poured more than half of Lautzen’s income into that wall.”
“What do those magic circles do?”
“They create a shield to block monster invasions. With that in place, most monsters won’t even get close.”
So this was the source of his confidence.
Still, Reina shook her head.
“…But does it really need to be this massive? This isn’t even the northernmost region. Do monsters come this far south?”
Bayen answered instead.
“It is in case monsters break through the far north and move south.”
“And if that happens, we’ll evacuate everyone here.”
‘A last fortress…’
Reina’s expression darkened.
‘Even with something like this… Lautzen still falls?’
Just what would happen in three years?
Seeing her worried face, Kalheil misunderstood.
“This is only for emergencies. Don’t worry—it won’t happen.”
Reina bit her lip and nodded.
Then she briefly closed her eyes, as if praying the wall would truly protect everyone.
When she opened them again, she tilted her head.
“Why are you smiling like that?”
“…Am I?”
“Yes. You’ve been smiling this whole time.”
Back at the imperial palace, he had always been sharp and cold.
Kalheil brushed his face, but the smile remained.
“It feels good to be back in Lautzen.”
“…?”
He wasn’t the only one smiling.
Bayen and the other knights were all smiling as well.
‘They’re really that happy to be home.’
Some called Lautzen a cursed land.
But for others, it was home—the place they belonged.
Realizing that made Reina’s heart feel heavier.
“Let’s go.”
As Reina looked at the towering wall over Kalheil’s shoulder, a suffocating weight settled in her chest, as if a massive stone had been placed there.
