Here is the translation of Chapter 8 into professional, literary English, maintaining consistent character names, terms, formatting, and narrative tone:
Chapter 8
Platinum blonde hair and golden eyes. It was none other than Crown Prince Axion. Bright light seemed to emanate around him alone.
“Oh my, His Highness the Crown Prince! Let’s go over quickly as well!”
Stopping their conversation, the women scurried over to the Crown Prince.
“Your Highness, you look even more dazzling today.” “It is an honor to meet Your Highness like this!” “Indeed. Thank you, everyone.”
Even while conversing with a smiling face with the people who approached him, Axion was entertaining other thoughts.
‘Truly foolish. To throw a grand banquet in a situation like this. “Father” is too good a word for him. Does he even have a mind to think with?’
Thinking of the Emperor, he clicked his tongue inwardly. Did he not consider that bestowing the title of Grand Duke would make it easy for Kalix to stage a rebellion? Even if they shared blood, they were essentially strangers anyway.
‘To begin with, there isn’t a proper human being in this imperial family. Starting right with the Emperor, who is frantic to sow his seeds, blinded by lust.’
The few individuals who had their heads screwed on properly had long since left this place. A furrow formed between Axion’s smooth brows.
Axion hated Kalix. The reason was that Kalix was the only person among the Emperor’s numerous children who could rival him. Though he was called a monster now, in the days when he had no scars, he was praised for having a beauty bestowed by the gods.
Was that all? Though Kalix intentionally acted foolish in front of him, Axion had seen through his extraordinary nature early on. Furthermore, how on earth had he obtained it? He even possessed a magic sword that would cause ordinary people to lose consciousness.
‘If you went to war, you should have died quietly. To think you kept coming back alive.’
When he ascended to the throne, he would get rid of that eyesore Kalix first. It didn’t matter what charge he framed him with.
“Your Highness, do you happen to know? It is said that the Grand Duke has welcomed a Grand Duchess.”
Axion, who had been lost in thought, opened his eyes sharply. He had heard rumors that Kalix had taken a Grand Duchess, but he did not yet know what kind of person she was.
‘If played right, this could be…….’
An intriguing idea occurred in Axion’s mind.
“If you know anything about the Grand Duchess, I would like you to tell me.”
When Axion offered a bright smile to the woman who had spoken, she continued with a heavily flushed face:
“She is said to be the illegitimate child of Viscount Serius.”
Serius? How obscure of a family must it be for Axion to have never even heard of it?
“Rumor has it she was married off as if sold for a few copper coins.”
“Sold off?”
“That is correct, Your Highness.”
‘There won’t be a single drop of affection.’
That cold-blooded Kalix would never give his affection to a wife who was merely sold for money.
“Thank you, Young Lady.”
Having no further need to remain here, Axion flashed an eye-smile at the woman who provided the information and departed the area. Over his shoulder, he could hear the women whispering:
“He really is a wonderful gentleman.” “Just who will become the Crown Princess?” “If only I could dance with His Highness the Crown Prince once……”
Women are truly easy. Giving their hearts to a single eye-smile, and having them completely stolen away by sweet words. Leaving the banquet hall, Axion erased every trace of a smile from his face. In the empty hallway, he muttered to himself:
“They are all nothing but fools.”
“What is your favorite food?”
“……Why do you ask such a thing?”
At Selena’s question, Kalix narrowed his eyes and asked back.
“I was curious about what you like.”
Selena answered back in a clear, bright voice. Looking at her, who seemed to be in a good mood, Kalix replied briefly:
“Sweet things.”
“If it’s sweet things, do you mean things like tarts or chocolates?”
In truth, Kalix detested sweet food, but he deliberately said the opposite.
“Well, something like that.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
At the unexpected words that she would remember it, Kalix looked at his wife with a frown. She was smiling brightly, looking so delighted over his lie.
‘With that harmless face, she seduced Jerome.’
Kalix pressed down on his tired eye rims. Even when he went three days without sleep due to surprise attacks by enemies, he hadn’t been this exhausted. Since entering this room where they agreed to stay together, his wife had been following him around like a duckling following a mother duck.
“I think I need to change my clothes. Could you help me out a bit?”
Though they were words uttered merely to gauge her reaction. Selena’s face instantly flushed crimson.
“Ah, yes……”
With her head deeply bowed, she brought her hand to Kalix’s upper garment. Kalix observed his wife with an expressionless face.
‘Small.’
Standing far below his gaze, she was small—far too small. Even if she tried to do something foolish, there would be no need to even use a sword. It was a delicate neck that would break right away if squeezed with force. Kalix looked down silently at his wife’s small head.
Selena’s hand touched the button of Kalix’s jacket.
Click.
Though she had merely undone a single button, Selena trembled all over.
“Are you scared of me?”
Instead of an answer, Selena held her breath with a soft gasp.
“If you don’t want to do it, just say you don’t want to.”
At those words, Selena finally raised her dropped head. Checking his wife’s face, Kalix was struck speechless. Her porcelain face had turned entirely red, looking as if she had become a tomato.
“Are you sick somewhere?”
Startled, Kalix placed the back of his hand on Selena’s forehead. But making his touch meaningless, her body temperature was completely normal. When Kalix pulled his hand away, her face—which was already red—had now flushed crimson all the way down to her nape.
“I am not sick……”
Selena answered, parting her small lips slightly.
“If you’re not sick, then what is it?”
“……Because I like it.”
Having said so, she lowered her gaze downward and giggled softly.
‘Just what on earth does she like?’
It was a reaction difficult for Kalix to understand. With a scarred face and even a black eyepatch covering one eye, he possessed an appearance that brought a scowl even to his own face. It wasn’t for nothing that he asked the magic sword to grant him an appearance people would naturally dislike.
‘So there’s no way she likes me.’
Pondering deeply, he realized his wife’s hand was still on his upper garment.
“I’ll just do it myself.”
Kalix turned his gaze away from her. He then turned his body and began undoing the buttons with his own hands. All that remained in the spacious room was the sound of buttons unfastening, the rustle of clothes, and his wife’s breathing.
Click.
As he undone the final button, he could feel Selena taking a deep breath. Tossing off his jacket, Kalix turned to his wife and said:
“Do you intend to sleep wearing such uncomfortable clothes?”
At Kalix’s words, Selena blinked a few times before slowly pulling down the dress she was wearing. Unlike when she touched Kalix’s clothes, Selena was unhesitating in taking off her own garments. The touch of her hand pulling down the zipper behind her back by herself was natural, as if it wasn’t her first time taking it off on her own.
Kalix thought such a sight was truly peculiar. His wife was far too different from him. She was beautiful enough for anyone to hold goodwill toward her at first sight, and her personality was not angular like his. Since such a person was sold to himself, who was called a monster, he thought she would resent him or pour out bitterness. But his wife did not do so.
To Kalix, that was still strange.
“Could you, please blow out the light?”
Selena spoke in a tiny voice. Only then did Kalix realize that his wife was in a state of being almost unclad. The thin chemise had slipped down, revealing her bare skin clearly.
“……What are you doing. Do you intend to take off even your undergarments?”
Kalix was flabbergasted.
“Were you not planning to take me?”
At those words, Kalix’s brow furrowed. Kalix straightened Selena’s slipped chemise and blew out the lantern. As the light was put out, complete darkness settled in.
He could feel his wife catching her breath, but Kalix ignored it and lay down on the bed first.
“Are you…… angry?”
Kalix gave no answer to her words. He merely lay there showing his back. Unaccustomed to the darkness, Selena lay on the bed following him, but when the rock-hard back muscles were felt at her fingertips, she pulled her hand back in surprise.
“I have no intention of taking you, so sleep comfortably.”
“…….”
They were no big deal of words. Yet somehow, Selena felt like crying.
In the Serius household, she had been treated purely as a commodity. Outings were beyond her wildest dreams. Even going to the main building was possible only with the Viscount’s permission.
｢To think I can sell off an eyesore like you, I can’t tell you how fortunate it is.｣
The Viscountess Serius had raised the corners of her lips as she spoke those words.
｢Go and obey well. Open your legs if told to open, and try your best to let out lovely groans. For that is the sole value possessed by a useless creature like you.｣
The words she spoke before leaving the Viscount’s estate cut painfully into Selena’s heart. In that place, no one wanted her. She had no one but her mother, yet even her deceased mother had not ‘truly’ loved her.
At dawn, her mother had once muttered to herself:
｢Why must I receive such treatment……｣
She remembered that day vividly. For it was the day she declared she would not receive the Viscount’s discipline, causing him to whip her mother mercilessly. It was also the day the gentle and loving mother who used to hold Selena tight vanished completely.
Her mother’s voice, intertwined with resentment, scattered recklessly in the cold night air.
｢Had I not given birth to you, that man would not have abandoned me.｣
Though they were words spoken assuming she was asleep, Selena had been awake at that time.
｢If only you hadn’t been born……｣
‘……Had I known it would be like this, I wouldn’t have wanted to be born either, Mom.’
Answering so inwardly, Selena had to bite her delicate lips to swallow the cries trying to burst forth.
Once her eyes became somewhat accustomed to the darkness, her husband’s broad back came vaguely into view. Selena gazed quietly at his back.
To Selena, the monsters were not her husband, but the people of the Viscount’s estate. Her husband did not lay a hand on her like the Viscount, nor did he spew curses that were hard to even put into words. He treated her as a fellow human being.
“Thank you.”
Having said so, Selena whispered once more toward the back that offered no answer:
“Thank you, Kalix.”
