I can’t take it anymore.
Erna could not stop her body from shaking as Kalion whispered into her ear with his low-toned voice. His voice alone brought chills down her spine. At that moment, Erna had almost wrapped her arm around Kalion’s neck, but she quickly returned to her senses and moved her hand.
Then, sounds of objects crashing into each other and loud yelling sounds came from the door that Kalion had closed.
Anyone hearing this from the outside would have thought that the two were having an epic battle. When Erna used her magic, Kalion grinned which made her realize that Kalion was expecting her to use that spell from the start.
“What’s wrong with you?” asked Erna.
“You really don’t know?”
Kalion’s rough voice made him look like a wild animal ready for its hunt. He was about to lose it. All this time, he had diligently followed what Erna had told him to do, and as a result, was able to win Adelaide’s heart.
Adelaide was rather spoiled as she grew up in the palace, surrounded by people that all loved and cared for her. A spoiled little kid. That was all she was to Kalion. This didn’t mean that he thought she was a complete idiot, however. It seemed it wasn’t just her beauty that made the king of Haband fall in love with her.
Adelaide was very good at taking hints and catching on to things. So, whenever Kalion thought about Erna in front of Adelaide, she could instantly tell. Kalion had to be extra careful around Adelaide.
Kalion tried everything he could to make Adelaide believe he and Erna were not lovers anymore. For instance, when he would coincidentally bump into Erna, he would quickly turn his direction to the other side.
After he’d done so, he would get irritated about the whole situation, which often put him in a bad mood for the rest of the day.
And thanks to Kalion’s sullen face, Adelaide seemed to start believing that the two had split apart. Now, Adelaide would boldly hold hands and link arms with Kalion in front of the castle’s servants, and she constantly insisted him to stay longer at her guest house.
At times, Adelaide would lay her hands on his body as if it was an accident. And every time she did, Kalion’s body stiffened with disgust.
“Oh, it wasn’t on purpose. Please forgive me!” she would say.
When Adelaide acted innocent and apologized in such a desperate manner, Kalion had to stifle his anger as best as he could and force a smile.
“It’s…It’s okay,” he would reply.
But what he wanted to do was curse her off. But he couldn’t. He had to become as close as possible to Adelaide; he had to know exactly who she was, from whom she received her orders, what kind of orders she received, and other things she had done. He had to become close enough that he could take advantage of her.
Because if he didn’t do so, all that Erna had worked for would become pointless. So he had to smile behind it all.
The castle servants were especially surprised.
Although they observed that Kalion had loosened up from spending time with Erna, he was not very approachable to strangers. But that Kalion was smiling in front of Adelaide.
Adelaide’s maids told her that Kalion would not normally act this way to others. So, when his body stiffened every time she laid hands on him, Adelaide thought that it was because he was getting aroused by her touch.
Fortunately, Adelaide would steadily start to share information that Kalion and Erna wanted to know. How she wishes Haband to manage Hessenguard, how she would take advantage of Erna if she was brought to Haband again. Kalion also got to know that the king of Haband had already chosen Erna’s future husband for when she returns.
“I heard he’s a wizard from the wizard tower. A child from two wizards has a high chance of being born with magical powers, you know,” Adelaide had said.
Kalion almost flipped the table after hearing her words. It turned out the King of Haband had prepared more than one husband for Erna. It seemed that they were trying to “breed” Erna through marriage until she bore a child.
Kalion suppressed his feelings of disgust and continued to accompany Adelaide. He figured Erna would feel the same. How rough it would be for her to have to stick around that prick, Ruben.
And while he was walking alone, Kalion ended up seeing them—Ruben and Erna—in the garden of the castle. He saw Ruben’s hand around her waist, but his filthy hand did not just stay there. It would sneakily pass her hips and around her bottom.
That mere sight almost made Kalion lose it. But his eyes grew wider as he watched Erna touch Ruben’s cheeks and sweep his hair with a bashful face.
I’m going to kill him.
Inside Kalion’s head, around ten methods to end Ruben passed by. Methods that were most brutal.
He knew further observing the two would only anger him more, so Kalion tried to turn away. However, he just stood there as if his body froze, looking towards Erna and Ruben.
He felt miserable.
It wasn’t just because his wife was smiling while getting touched by another man. It was also because Kalion was terribly ashamed of his own weakness to be unable to stop such a situation.
Should’ve tried more. Should’ve trained more knights, along with training himself. Should’ve talked to Erna sooner and had a baby. But he had not done any of those things which ultimately placed him where he was right now, just staring at the two… It was a terrible feeling.
Kalion blankly stared at Erna’s hand sweeping Ruben’s hair.
He knew well how soft and careful her fingers were. Also, how gentle they are. He could feel his chest burning when he saw that another man was enjoying such a delicate touch instead of Kalion himself.
Erna and Ruben seemed to continue to talk about something and soon left the scene. However, Kalion still stood there as if frozen to the ground.
Only after the shade of the sky had changed, Kalion could move himself. He walked like a stiff wooden figure all the way back to the knights and flopped on his chair. He had things to do but he was unable to function.
Cedric, who came in unaware of what was going on, saw Kalion’s cold eyes and immediately left without saying a word.
Kalion sat there still until the sky turned completely dark and one could only hear footsteps of the knights who were on patrol.
For all this time, he received one message from Erna.
Could she have sent it through her spell? While he was working, he found an unfamiliar piece of paper on his desk.
On it were things that Erna had found out about Ruben.
During such a short time, Erna had learned much about that man; from internal affairs of the Aether kingdom and Ruben’s relationship with the oldest prince, to the movement report on other members of the Aether family.
Erna had been writing down and verifying everything Ruben had casually opened up to her over and over again, and sent the fully verified information to Kalion.
The paper disappeared shortly after Kalion had seen it as if it was suggesting he better have memorized it.
While looking back on the disappearing note incident, Kalion pulled out a clean piece of paper and started to write down things he had found out about Adelaide.
He wanted to go meet Erna. However, He knew Erna wouldn’t be so proud if he called her up just for that reason. So, he had to make an excuse, and intel on Adelaide would just do the trick.
He didn’t just write down things about Adelaide. He also traced the servants that left the castle ten years ago by observing ancient artifacts. As a result, he was able to find one of the servants. So, he had to let Erna know about this too.
Kalion paused his writing. He was writing all this information but how was he supposed to send it to her? After all, he was not a wizard.
