Click.
At the sound of the carriage door opening, Eunice snapped to attention. The man who had skillfully jumped down from his white horse opened the door somewhat roughly.
Perhaps trying to show some courtesy, he extended his gloved hand.
Eunice looked at the large hand and carefully placed her own on it. As she emerged from the carriage and raised her head fluidly, their eyes met.
In the quiet, dense air, their gazes locked.
Ah… but why is he staring so intensely…
His persistent gaze, as if examining even the fine hairs on her face, and his subtly vibrating blue eyes made her feel breathless. Unable to endure his stare any longer, Eunice turned her head away.
She failed to realize that the actual time their eyes had met was very brief.
“Are you perhaps His Majesty, the King of Nordish?”
It wasn’t a thought-out question. It just came out naturally because the situation felt awkward and uncomfortable. After saying it, she realized it might have sounded quite absurd.
“Ah, well.”
It was unlikely that the king would come all this way to greet her. Especially to the Land of Death.
“It’s just that your first impression…”
Trying to somehow gloss over her words, Eunice fell silent under the man’s strange gaze. She noticed his Adam’s apple bobbing roughly.
“…Would you recognize me?”
“Pardon?”
What kind of question is that?
It felt as if they had each exchanged one strange question. Eunice tried to understand what he meant.
‘Is he asking how I knew he was the king? So this man really is Johannes Reinhardt?’
“Your attire and the atmosphere you exude, naturally.”
“Atmosphere?”
“Well, I sensed the dignity and valiant bearing of a king…”
‘Goodness, what am I saying?’
Eunice closed her eyes gently. She also closed her mouth. An alarm rang in her mind that if she rambled in confusion, she might ruin her first impression.
Opening her eyes again, she withdrew her hand from the escort that smelled of roughness and lightly lifted the hem of her dress with both hands. She bowed her head gracefully, offering a formal greeting.
“I am Eunice von Pavlone of the Kingdom of Tranche. It’s my first time meeting you. Your Majesty Johannes Reinhardt… is that correct?”
As she slightly raised her eyes to check his expression, she noticed his hardened face. Perhaps it was expressionless, but it looked infinitely cold.
It felt like glimpsing part of the rumors’ reality.
With his chilling expression, he looked capable of cutting someone down without blinking an eye. Even standing still, such a frightening aura emanated from him.
Instead of an answer, she received only a perfunctory nod.
Yet even for that, Eunice had to be grateful. She felt the reality of where she was going and what kind of man she was marrying sink into her skin.
This is what it meant to marry a brutal monster. Going against the mood of this strong and arrogant man would be nothing short of suicidal.
The absurd thing was that even in this situation, Johannes’s sculpture-like face caught her eye.
Perhaps his handsome appearance was his weapon. Maybe he had unified Nordish by enchanting people and then methodically beheading his opponents.
“That’s quite an elaborate greeting for the wasteland.”
At Johannes’s sharp remark, Eunice’s face flushed.
She felt embarrassed for making mistakes from the start. She would need to make up for it going forward. While she worried, Johannes looked around at the Tranche escort knights who had come with her.
“From here, as agreed, we will escort the Lady.”
After informing the leader of the Tranche escort almost like an announcement, Johannes pointed to a carriage over there for Eunice and went ahead.
He had offered his escort when she got out of the carriage, but now his attitude had suddenly changed. Perhaps he didn’t like her elaborate greeting.
Eunice headed toward the carriage among the Nordish escort, trying hard to control her burning feelings. Her gaze couldn’t leave Johannes.
At that moment, she saw a red-haired man, perhaps a close aide, approach Johannes. When Johannes glared at him fiercely as if displeased with everything, the man turned his horse away and distanced himself.
How frightening must this king be in daily life for his subjects to be so intimidated by just a look? Somehow, her future seemed bleak.
With a sense of overwhelming uncertainty, Eunice boarded the carriage that would take her to a new world.
* * *
Dusk fell over the vast land.
The escort heading north stopped their horses and began preparing for camp. Tents for the night were quickly set up, and the knights on meal duty coordinated to prepare ingredients and boil water.
“Where’s Eunice?”
Johannes, who had been checking that everything was in order, sat down by the campfire and asked Rowell.
“I showed her to her tent. She’s probably resting inside.”
“I see.”
Silence fell for a moment.
Johannes quietly gazed at the crackling flames. The flames, constantly changing shape and flickering, resembled his heart.
Why had Tranche sent Eunice?
This question had never left his mind since the day he received the letter proposing the marriage alliance.
‘Had Eunice remembered my name and volunteered? Had she decided to come all the way to Nordish based solely on the name “Johannes Reinhardt”? What if it had been someone with the same name—how could she be so fearless?’
All sorts of thoughts ran wild.
Should he scold her for being reckless, or should he find it admirable? He couldn’t find his bearings amid thoughts that came and went dozens of times a day.
But it had all been his own delusion.
‘Would she recognize me or not? Would she find me familiar, or had she completely erased me from her memory?’
As he approached the carriage protected by the Tranche escort, he had been engulfed in countless thoughts.
But then…
「I am Eunice von Pavlone of the Kingdom of Tranche. It’s my first time meeting you. Your Majesty Johannes Reinhardt… is that correct?」
It couldn’t have been more ridiculous.
He knew that enough time had passed for a small child to grow into an unrecognizably beautiful woman. So she might not recognize him. But Johannes had recognized her immediately.
It’s really Eunice. She’s just like when she was young.
That small, annoying girl. That naughty girl who approached on her own terms and disappeared just the same.
“She might not remember. Why are you so gloomy about it?”
At Rowell’s attempt at comfort, Johannes let out a long sigh.
He knew. Intellectually he knew, but he couldn’t help sinking into disappointment.
“You were always grinning with excitement, and now look at you. I knew this would happen.”
…This bastard? Is that supposed to be comforting?
When Johannes narrowed his eyes and glared, Rowell met his gaze directly and openly clicked his tongue. His eyes were laughing with amusement.
“So. How do you feel, Your Majesty? Are you experiencing the pain of unrequited love? I told you, but you wouldn’t listen and beat me up instead. Huh?”
“Keep talking if you want another beating.”
“If you had prepared yourself mentally, it might have hurt less. What will you do now, our poor Majesty—oof!”
Thwack!
The next moment, a merciless sound echoed through the air. Falling forward involuntarily, Rowell clutched the back of his head with both hands and trembled.
‘D*mn it. This really hurts. How can he hit with such sincerity every time, every single time!’
“Ow, that hurts…!”
Rowell was about to raise his head sharply and protest, but he swallowed his words when he saw Johannes’s expression.
He was staring somewhere with a surprised face. Following his gaze, Rowell saw Eunice standing frozen at quite a distance.
Her face carried something akin to terror.
Oh? She’s about to turn back?
“Eunic… My Lady!”
Johannes urgently rose to his feet and called out to stop her. Eunice, who had turned her body in the opposite direction, flinched and turned back toward them with stiff movements.
Johannes gestured for her to come over. Her hesitant approach clearly showed she didn’t want to come.
Rowell whispered quietly, just loud enough for Johannes to hear.
“That’s what happens when you hit me. You’re scaring Eunice.”
“…Shut up, please.”
Johannes glared at him with an intensity that suggested he might tear Rowell apart at any moment. Not realizing that this look would frighten Eunice even more.
“Sit.”
Looking at Eunice, who had now approached very close, Johannes pointed to the spot beside him. With her shoulders hunched, Eunice replied briefly.
“Yes.”
But that single syllable trembled like a goat’s bleat.
Johannes was taken aback.
‘Is she that afraid of me? What did I do? She doesn’t even recognize me, yet she stabs me twice…’
Nudge.
It was then that Rowell gently pressed him with his elbow. When Johannes frowned irritably as if asking what, Rowell silently mouthed: Relax your face! Smile, smile.
‘Ah, right.’
Johannes, who often heard that his expression was cold, was frequently misunderstood as glaring even when his face was neutral.
Understanding Rowell’s message, he signaled with his eyes that he understood and that Rowell should leave now. Rowell looked at the two of them alternately with interested eyes before giving up his seat.
And so the two were left alone.
“Ahem.”
Johannes cleared his throat and sat down. Eunice carefully took her place beside him. From the glance she gave him, he could feel that she was very tense.
Relax your face. Try to smile kindly.
Johannes turned up the corners of his mouth as gently as possible. But for some reason, it had the opposite effect. Eunice’s lips trembled.