TMGDW C9

Here is the translation of Chapter 9 into professional, literary English, maintaining consistent character names, terms, formatting, and narrative tone:

Chapter 9

Kalix listened to Selena’s quiet voice with his eyes open. He truly had no idea what on earth she was thankful for.

‘Not even knowing that my suggesting we stay in one room together was out of suspicion toward her.’

Before long, soft breathing could be heard. Kalix turned his body and looked down at his sleeping wife. Her eyelashes reaching long downward, the straight bridge of her nose, and her tightly closed lips.

Covering his sleeping wife with the blanket, he got up from where he had been lying. Deadening his presence was a simple matter for Kalix, who frequented battlefields as if they were his own home.

Kalix carefully examined the belongings Selena had brought with her. Her possessions were shabby beyond his expectations. Even so, she was a Grand Duchess in name, yet all she possessed was a few pieces of clothing.

Just in case, he thoroughly searched the inside of her clothes as well, but nothing came out, making his suspicions feel meaningless.

Did he harbor unnecessary doubts? Even as he thought so, Kalix immediately shook his head.

‘There is still time left before the expedition.’

The Grand Ducal Castle was vast, so his wife might have secretly hidden something somewhere. No person was so clean that not a single speck of dust would come off upon being shaken. Kalix trusted no one. The only one he trusted was himself.

｢Were you not planning to take me?｣

Recalling the words his wife had spoken, Kalix’s brow furrowed once more. She was far too suspicious. He wanted to ask if such words could come out even after seeing such a hideous sight, but in the end, Kalix had no choice but to choose silence.

When his wife undressed without hesitation, he had felt a churning in his stomach. Kalix was not a person who wished for his wife to be chaste. He thought it was something that could happen even if she had slept with another man before coming to him. For even though he took in a wife, he had no intention of bedding her at all.

The reason Kalix’s mood sank low was none other than his wife’s face, which he had caught a glimpse of in the darkness for a fleeting moment. A face deeply imbued with helplessness and resignation. For some reason, that behavior, which seemed learned over a long time, and that expression stuck in his mind and refused to leave.

｢Selena is a daughter I cherish very much. My heart breaks painfully to send my beloved daughter off in marriage. Had it not been for the family’s debt, I would not have sent her away like this.｣

The Viscount had certainly said so. He said she was a cherished and beloved daughter. Whether those words were true or not did not matter to Kalix. For he merely needed a nominal wife to hold in check the Imperial Family, who were eyeing the things he had achieved like thieves.

A wife who did not resent him despite being sold off to him due to debt. A wife who smiled dazzlingly even upon seeing him, who was called a Monster Grand Duke. And…… a wife who pulled down her chemise with her own hands.

｢Thank you, Kalix.｣

Just what on earth was she thankful for? It meant that he had suggested sharing a room with the intention of killing her right away if she tried anything foolish.

Kalix spat out a quiet curse.

“Damn it……”

Foolish. This was why he hated weak things. Small animals blindly follow the person who feeds them. That made him uncomfortable. Because once tamed by human hands, animals often mistakenly believe that others will also give them food.

｢My apologies. I accidentally ended up killing the rabbit you were raising.｣

Axion von Julius. The sole legitimate heir born between the Emperor and the Empress. The very person who drove Kalix to the battlefield.

Smeared with the blood of the rabbit Kalix cherished on his sword, he had grinned wickedly.

｢Your rabbit was quite amusing. To think it came scurrying over without even knowing I was holding a sword.｣

Looking at the turned-pale Kalix, Axion smiled with satisfaction. He then tossed the blood-stained carcass of the rabbit right at his feet.

Within the red pupils of the dead rabbit, his own reflection was mirrored as it was. Kalix realized it then.

He must not have anything precious to him. Even if he had, displaying it to others would ultimately become nothing more than his weakness.

His wife resembled that rabbit that died during his childhood. A rabbit so fragile and delicate that it lacked even the strength to protect itself. Foolish. So foolish that it was pathetic.

It felt as though that foolish, pathetic woman would not offer even a single bit of resistance even if force were applied to her slender neck. Though he tried to keep her under close surveillance, he was instead starting to care about her.

Gazing at the sleeping Selena by his side for a long time, Kalix closed both eyes.

‘Lately, idle thoughts have grown numerous.’

The most pathetic person right now was none other than Kalix himself.

‘If I think of her as a hindrance, I need only get rid of her.’

With the expedition not far off, he had become needlessly sensitive. If his wife died, he could simply welcome a new wife. Therefore, this heavy, suffocating feeling was nothing at all.

Selena always dreamt of her childhood.

｢Do not forget. You are a flower. Among the many, many flowers, a flower beautiful enough to drive men wild. But keep this in mind. Once your beauty fades, men will fly away to another fresh flower.｣

｢I am not a flower, but a person.｣

Selena had said. However, the Viscountess mocked her.

｢Your mother is the very proof of that. A lowly child born because my husband lusted after a maid, do you understand?｣

You are a flower too. A flower that will one day wither and be abandoned.

The words spoken by the Viscountess still cut violently into Selena’s heart. Even though months had passed since leaving the Viscount’s estate, the people there continued to appear in Selena’s dreams and torment her.

However, today—having shared a room with her husband—Selena did not have a nightmare for the first time.

Bright sunlight pricked her eyes. Opening her eyes, her sleeping husband’s face came into her vision. Selena gazed endlessly at Kalix’s face.

Starting from his forehead down to his left cheek, a long sword scar, along with the sight of him sleeping while wearing a black eyepatch, caused Selena’s heart to beat fiercely. She found it curious that her husband did not take off his eyepatch even while sleeping.

Wouldn’t it be uncomfortable? Selena carefully reached her hand toward his eyepatch.

It was right then that Kalix opened his eyes. Just before Selena’s hand touched his face, he caught his wife’s wrist with powerful strength.

“What do you think you are doing right now?”

Kalix asked in a icy voice. His eyes were filled with hostility. Only then did Selena realize that her husband had been awake all along.

“……Let us eat breakfast separately today.”

Kalix rose from his spot with those final words. Changing into a light tunic, he left the room without even looking back.

In the room left alone, Selena traced her fingertips over the spot where her husband had been lying. Where he had vanished, only cold chill remained in the meantime.

“Gasp, gasp…… C-Commander, no, no more……”

The youngest of the knighthood, Kane, shook his head with a tear-stained face. However, Kalix showed no consideration for his circumstances.

“Stay still.”

“N-No! I can’t put strength into my body!”

“What do you mean you can’t? Seeing as you have strength left to speak, you can do more.”

“N-No! Gasp! Aaargh!”

Crack.

The sound of a bone twisting was heard, and a single scream echoed high above the training ground. Kane held one arm with a woeful expression.

“Don’t exaggerate. The inside of your arm was tense, so I was loosening it for you.”

“C-Commander……”

“Stop talking nonsense and grip your sword again.”

Kalix placed the sword Kane had dropped back into his hand. Squeezing his eyes tightly shut, Kane raised his arm and tried gripping the sword.

“H-Huh?”

It didn’t hurt. Even though it felt like he was going to die of pain just a moment ago.

“Swing it.”

At the Commander’s order, Kane hesitantly tried swinging the sword. Light. Opening his eyes round, Kane swung the sword once more.

“I-It is light! Far lighter than before……”

“Right.”

“Thank you, Commander! How should I repay this……”

“Just come back alive after going out there.”

Kalix withdrew his gaze from Kane and looked around the training ground. The other knights, who had grown accustomed to Kalix’s methods, did not let go of their swords even while sweating like rain. With this level of swordsmanship skills, even if the heavens split in two, there was no way they would lose to the barbarians beyond the border.

However, strangely, he had a bad premonition.

‘What is this? Is it just my imagination?’

“Commander, is there some problem?”

Jerome asked Kalix, who had a serious expression.

“No.”

“Your expression looked grim, so I thought perhaps some problem had arisen.”

Kalix kept his mouth tightly shut and stared intently at a certain spot. Jerome followed the direction of Kalix’s gaze. At the end of his gaze was a corner of the training ground where Selena usually peeked in to watch.

Having stayed closest to Selena for three months, Jerome knew very well. Her routine started with feeding the rabbits and squirrels in the garden, and after barely touching her own breakfast, her order was always coming to this training ground.

However, it was already getting close to lunchtime, yet Selena had not come.

It was the first time this had happened.