Here is the translation of the provided text into professional, literary English, keeping consistent formatting, narrative flow, and character dynamics:
Pendant, rings, bracelets, and other trinkets that glittered like glass beads lay on the stall. They did not look expensive, but the devotion of the craftsman who polished them stood out.
The stall owner, who had been dozing off, brightened up the moment he saw Jerome and shouted:
“Ah, well if it isn’t Sir Jerome!”
Jerome substituted a greeting with a slight flick of his chin. People calling out to him in welcome whenever he stepped foot outside the castle was an all-too-common occurrence for him.
The stall owner’s eyes shifted to Selena, who stood at Jerome’s side.
“Might the young lady next to you be someone Sir Jerome is courting?”
“No.”
The one who answered with an immediate refusal was Selena.
While the embarrassed owner scratched the back of his head, Selena added in a clear voice:
“I am the wife of Grand Duke Elxion.”
At that moment, the stall owner suddenly froze all movement, asking back in a startled tone:
“The Grand Duke’s…… wife? The Grand Duchess……?”
Selena gave a small nod of her head.
Jerome silently stared at the side of her face. Her fluttering golden hair was exceptionally dazzling.
However, more dazzling than that was her warm heart that held Kalix in her thoughts.
It had been three months that he had watched her from right beside her.
Though it was a time neither particularly short nor long, for Jerome, who had dealt with countless people, it was more than enough to judge what kind of person she was.
‘Pure. How can a person be this pure?’
Everyone he had seen until now only thought of using Kalix. There was almost no one who truly cared for him.
Furthermore, even the knights under his command were too busy being terrified of him.
Yet rather than being scared of him, Selena looked like a young girl at a loss for what to do in the face of her first love.
Fearing that she might be a person who would harm Kalix, he had even conducted a background check on her, but it only served to deepen his sympathy.
What he learned through the investigation was the fact that she was born an illegitimate child of a Viscount’s family and had lived together with her birth mother in an attic located in the annex.
And that Selena’s birth father, the Viscount, blinded by money, had sold her off.
‘Even animals take care of their own offspring. Is he not an creature worse than a beast?’
Jerome, who was born and raised in a prominent Marquisate without lacking anything, could not even dare to fathom Selena’s feelings.
Even so, Selena never showed signs of having a hard time.
The Selena that Jerome had observed was a person like bright sunshine who smiled easily, melting even the frozen snow.
Had he not secretly investigated her, he wouldn’t even have known that she had such a painful past.
That was why he treated her well. It was an emotion that stemmed from sympathy and compassion.
Because of that, whenever she occasionally smiled brightly, a pleased smile would naturally hang upon Jerome’s lips.
It was right then that a low, sunken voice echoed out.
“Jerome.”
It was a familiar voice.
As Selena and Jerome simultaneously turned their heads in the direction of the voice, Kalix’s coldly frozen face came into view.
At Kalix’s appearance, the people on the street withdrew far into the distance.
Perhaps afraid that sparks would fly toward him, even the stall owner who was in front of them just a moment ago vanished without a sound.
Fixing his gaze on Jerome, Kalix spoke:
“……What do you think you are doing with my wife right now?”
Wife.
At that word, Selena smiled as brightly as sunshine.
However, unlike his smiling wife, Kalix’s face was utterly indifferent.
“For the Vice Captain to slack off like this. When an expedition is scheduled soon, to be flirting around with my wife.”
“An expedition?”
The one who asked back was Selena. Her face, which had been smiling just a second ago, was drained pale to a pitiful degree.
“It means that in a few days, I, this fellow, and my entire knighthood will all be on the battlefield. Why? Do you intend to follow as well? I doubt coming to a place teeming with men would be anything more than a hindrance.”
“I am……”
“No. Before that, do you even have the awareness that you are my wife?”
Kalix tossed the words out carelessly.
Jerome gave him a look to speak a little nicely, but ignoring his gaze, Kalix added coldly:
“Though I suppose with a forced marriage, there’s no way such a thing exists.”
“Commander.”
Unable to watch any longer, Jerome called out to Kalix.
Seeing Jerome bristle when the person directly involved remained still, Kalix let out a sneer.
“Did you manage to wrap Jerome around your finger in the meantime as well? Quite a impressive ability. The knighthood fellows are losing their minds because of you as well, do you know that? They weren’t originally such foolish bastards.”
“…….”
“Why no answer?”
Selena, who had been quiet, raised her head and met Kalix’s eyes. Within one of Kalix’s eyes, the small-statured woman filled his vision completely.
“Were you avoiding me?”
Selena asked, uttering each and every word clearly.
“I thought you didn’t consider me as your wife. Since we use separate rooms, and as for meals, unless I suggest it first, you never mention it to me first.”
Saying so, Selena offered a bitter smile. As she lowered her eyelashes, shadows cast long beneath her eyes.
At that moment, Kalix spoke:
“You wouldn’t want to be together with a monster anyway.”
Startled by Kalix’s words, Selena opened her sky-blue eyes wide.
“I’ve never disliked it!”
At those transparent eyes that seemed to pierce right through his inner thoughts, Kalix unconsciously grabbed her wrist in an instant.
‘She really is thin.’
He recalled the first day he held her in his arms.
‘I thought she was thin back then as well, but…….’
Even though quite some time had passed, she was still thin. Her slender wrist felt as if it would break right away if he squeezed it with force.
Letting out a dry laugh, Kalix immediately released Selena’s wrist.
Jerome chided Kalix:
“Commander, you handle your wife far too roughly. How can you be like that?”
“You aren’t in a position to speak to me like that. Talk after you stop skipping training.”
At that, Jerome replied with his chin held high:
“Even if I am absent, is not the Commander present in the knighthood?”
“All talk. If you aren’t there, there’s more work for me to do.”
“Commander, you are truly mean.”
“I know well. So come along and help with work.”
Selena was caressing the wrist Kalix had held. Thanks to his control of strength, it didn’t hurt.
Quietly observing her, Kalix spoke:
“I apologize for just now. Does it hurt much?”
Selena shook her head.
It was truly because it didn’t hurt, but in his eyes, it seemed like she was pretending to be fine even though it hurt.
“Your hand, will you give it here?”
“……!”
When Selena gave a small nod and extended her wrist, Kalix caress it without a word.
It was truly slender.
With the thought of whether he should wrap a bandage around it once they returned to the castle, a furrow formed between Kalix’s brows.
“Commander, I shall return to the training ground first. By now, there’s bound to be more than a few fellows slacking off.”
Smiling with satisfaction, Jerome tactfully moved away from the two.
A brief silence settled between the remaining Kalix and Selena.
Looking at Kalix, who continuously caressed her wrist, Selena blushed on her cheeks.
Thump, thump.
Feeling as though the sound of her fiercely beating heart might reach her husband, she lowered her head down.
“Let us return to the castle as well.”
“……Ah.”
A regretful sigh leaked out from Selena’s mouth.
When Kalix tilted his head in confusion at that reaction, Selena spoke with a bright red face:
“A little bit…… could we stay a little bit longer before going? I want to stay together like this.”
For a moment, Kalix was struck speechless.
Does this woman not find him scary at all?
Because of his wife who made eye contact with him at every opportunity, Kalix reached a point where he wanted to look into her inner thoughts just once.
‘Seeing how she speaks with both cheeks flushed red, she must be very sensitive to the cold.’
“Are you very cold? Your face is bright red.”
“This isn’t because I’m cold, but……”
“We really must return so you don’t catch a cold.”
At Kalix’s words, a shadow instantly fell over Selena’s face.
Her gaze simply refused to fall away from Kalix.
It felt miraculous to Kalix that even after he spewed all kinds of harsh words, she could look at him not with eyes of contempt, but with such sparkling pupils.
In the end, today as well, Kalix was the first to avert his gaze.
Casting his eyes far away, he spoke:
“You saw it too, everyone avoiding me. Nothing good comes to you from staying with me. Rather, it would look far more fitting if it were you and Jerome.”
“Kalix.”
He couldn’t even remember when was the last time he was called by his name.
Monster, War Demon.
Those were the words that designated him.
Stopping mid-sentence, Kalix looked down at his bold wife, who had grabbed his collar.
“I am your wife. Not Jerome’s wife, but your wife.”
It was a voice filled with certainty.
Unconsciously, Kalix wrapped his hand around Selena’s. At that, her eyes—which were already large—grew as big as saucers.
“Right. My wife.”
He had merely returned the words he heard, yet his wife wore a dazzling smile across her entire face.
“Yes. And you are my husband.”
The moment Selena uttered those words, Kalix properly looked at her appearance for the first time in several months.
