EEA Chapter 23

"How about today?"

"Pardon?"

"The wedding night."

He had looked for only her all day. He had thought only of her. Yet the fact that she had thought of another man, even briefly, created a strange displeasure in Clint, who asked seductively,

"Do you dislike it?"

"N-no. It's not that I dislike it......"

Ailea bit her lower lip. She knew he wasn't the type to force her if she said she disliked it.

But she didn't want to refuse the wedding night with the complicated feelings of not wanting him to dance with other women.

She carefully cupped Clint's cheek and said, "I don't know much. Since it's my first time...... you'll have to teach me everything."

At Ailea's words, Clint became a bit troubled. In that case, he wanted to prepare more for her. He wanted to light candles and scatter flower petals. However, he also wanted to hold her today and completely erase Roylin from her mind.

Clint removed all the things that could hurt her—rings, belts, pocket watches—and placed them on the table, saying,

"I'll be gentle."

"Yes......"

Clint first tried to help her up to remove the dress she had worn heavily for the ball. And as he tried to untie the ribbon tightly fastened behind her back, Ailea pulled away.

Thinking she was shy, he grabbed her again. As he untied the ribbon and tried to pull the dress up to remove it, tears dropped from Ailea's eyes and she pushed him away with both hands.

"Ailea?"

Ailea remembered Roylin, who had forcibly dragged her and laid her on the bed. She also remembered how he had backed away in disgust only after removing her clothes, and the harsh words he had uttered. His words that she was even more disgusting when stripped, that he absolutely couldn't embrace her, kept repeating in her head.

Clint didn't know exactly how Roylin had behaved toward Ailea. Other than the fact that he had driven her to the outer castle and then made her marry him afterward.

So he couldn't know that Ailea was trembling now because of bad memories related to the wedding night.

Clint thought she was afraid because it was her first time and grabbed Ailea's wrist.

"How can I manage if you push me away like this?"

"......"

She trembled and began to shed tears. She tried to recognize that her partner was Clint, not Roylin, but the trembling still wouldn't stop. When she tried to pull her wrist away, Clint let go, and she pushed him away completely with trembling hands.

Her shoulders shook seriously. She was terrified. When Clint hurriedly lifted Ailea and held her tightly, her body in his arms trembled like a newborn bird.

"Ailea, it's okay. If you're not mentally prepared, let's do it later."

Regardless of the circumstances, Clint was shocked by the fact that Ailea was trembling and soothed her while apologizing unconditionally.

"Don't cry, okay? I'm sorry. It was too sudden, wasn't it?"

As he comforted her, Ailea's delicate hand tightly gripped his collar. Unable to continue speaking because she was crying, Ailea tried to express her feelings through that gesture. She wanted to say it wasn't his fault, but the words wouldn't come out. She thought she was calm, but she wasn't calm at all.

More than hatred toward Roylin, the fear that Clint might look at her with the same disgusted expression was greater. He wasn't that kind of person. She knew he wasn't.

Only after a long time did Ailea stop crying. Throughout that time, Clint continued to gently comfort her and just waited for her tears to stop.

She firmly made up her mind and met eyes with Clint, who was looking at her. She wanted to let him know it wasn't his fault.

"It's not like that......"

Ailea barely managed to voice.

Clint was lying on the bed with one hand supporting his head, and Ailea was sitting on the bed, having barely stopped crying. Clint wiped away Ailea's tears and said,

"Would I really force you when you say you don't want to? Why are you crying so pitifully, making a person feel awkward?"

"I'm sorry......"

"Don't apologize. I was thoughtless. I forgot for a moment that I would be unfamiliar to you. I won't touch you until you say you want to do it first."

"I-it's not that I dislike you!"

"Then what?"

When Clint asked, Ailea averted her gaze and said, "Even if I tell you...... promise you won't hate me."

"Did you commit a crime or something?"

"No! It's not like that."

"Then it's fine. Tell me."

When Clint answered, Ailea carefully opened her mouth.

"When I was living alone in the outer castle, His Highness Roylin came to the castle three times......"

Ailea's voice trembled more and more. Speaking it aloud was even more painful.

"The first time he came, he dragged me from the garden to the bedroom."

"......And then?"

"And then...... when he saw my body."

"......"

"He said it was more disgusting than he thought and he couldn't embrace me......"

Ailea gripped the blanket tightly. Tears fell again.

"The next time he came, and the time after that too."

"......"

"Those are such painful memories."

"......"

"So...... I'm sorry, Clint. I still find it hard to show you my body."

Clint had been silent from some point on. Ailea became frightened. She had wanted to tell him it wasn't his fault. So she had brought up a story that was difficult to share.

Worried about Clint's reaction, Ailea said with a trembling voice,

"Please say something......"

"Roylin."

Only then did Ailea lift her head. She could feel his anger in his voice, in his presence. The light in Clint's eyes visible before her was as fierce as a beast.

"What did that bastard do to you?"

Ailea didn't know that Clint could be such a frighteningly angry person. There was even a red tinge in his eyes.

Clint slowly closed his eyes. Thinking rationally, he asked in a voice as sharp as a well-honed blade,

"Should I kill the crown prince for you?"

"......What?"

"Anyway, I've killed countless people on the battlefield. It wouldn't matter if I killed one or two more."

"......"

Though his inside and outside, everything was boiling with rage, the tone that reached Ailea was so gentle. His eyes were like those of an enraged beast, but the touch that caressed her was like that of a courting male.

What he had just said wasn't only meant to comfort Ailea.

Ailea's terrible memories reminded him of everything Clint had lost until now.

His father and his brothers, the men in the family dying one by one, and eventually even young himself having to follow the knights. And the battlefield that had killed even the adults he had begun to rely on again.

All of this had been brought about by the throne. And this woman before his eyes, his wife, had also been hurt in the process.

Noticing that he couldn't contain his anger, Ailea's tears stopped. The trembling stopped too. Ailea's face didn't resemble her father at all, but Clint sometimes thought of Ron when she spoke.

"Don't say such things. Just words alone put you in danger."

'It's natural for adults to protect kids who haven't even come of age.'

"You're such an important person to Teniac, the first person in so long to stabilize this country's borders. Don't speak so lightly."

'Clint, if we die, you become the captain. You know? You'll do amazingly well, you bastard.'

Clint took a deep breath.

Why do the people of that family, all with such gentle personalities, try to protect me like this?

Look here, Captain. I said it would be better for me, an orphan, to die rather than you who has a family. Because of you, Captain, what has become of the daughter you were so proud of?

Can't be helped.

Since I owe my life to Ron, I have no choice but to take responsibility for this woman's life forever.

Even after bathing and changing into comfortable clothes, Clint couldn't feel at ease and came to Ailea's room again. He laid Ailea on the bed and sat beside her, saying,

"If anything happens, come running out."

"I'm fine."

"What's fine about it? After crying like that. Hurry and sleep."

Clint forcibly laid down Ailea, who was trying to get up, and left the room.

Lying on the bed, Ailea couldn't easily fall asleep due to the fear that had resurfaced and her guilt toward Clint. After tossing and turning for hours, she finally couldn't bear it and got up.

She thought she might fall asleep if she drank some warm mint tea. Not being accustomed to summoning a maid at this dawn hour, Ailea opened the door to go get mint tea herself and looked down blankly.

Clint was sitting next to the door, leaning against the wall, fast asleep.

"Clint......"

Tears instantly welled up in Ailea's eyes. Perhaps hearing her voice, Clint lifted his head and looked up at Ailea.

"Why did you wake up?"

"What are you doing here......"

Then he smiled with the eye-smile of a womanizer and said, "In case you have a nightmare in the middle of the night, I wanted to wake you up."

Why are you so kind that you keep making me cry? She smiled with effort and asked, "I can't sleep. Would you like to...... drink tea together?"

"Sounds good."

Ailea nodded silently. Then she briefly went out and brought back two cups of warm mint tea.

The mint must have fallen in love or something. It was unusually fragrant tonight, making both Clint and Ailea smile as they drank their mint tea.