Home/I ended up having a surprise marriage with the male lead/ch 14

Chapter 14

Kayden's face was thoroughly creased as he stepped down from the carriage.

He'd been uneasy ever since she mentioned a tent, but he hadn't expected it to be this wretched.

There was nothing properly set up.

It looked like it could collapse from even a moderately strong gust of wind.

Kayden asked Emilia, who had quietly sidled up beside him.

"You really stayed in a place like this? For how many days?"

"Hmm. About three days?"

At that, another wrinkle formed between Kayden's brows.

"Where is your tent?"

"Over there."

Emilia pointed to a tent in the corner.

Kayden immediately started walking.

His long legs carried him briskly through the rows of tents, drawing all eyes to him.

"Oh my, who is that?"

"A nobleman, is he?"

Just as she'd expected.

A man who stood out wherever he went—of course everyone would take notice.

Emilia shielded her face with her hand as she followed him, trying to ignore the murmurs.

"Why? Are you embarrassed of me?"

But Kayden instead seemed puzzled by her behavior.

"Well... ordinary people don't usually like drawing attention, you know?"

Emilia whispered in a small voice, then sighed.

Not that you'd know, having lived your whole life in the spotlight.

At least she'd done well to have the carriage stop a little ways off.

"Never mind. Let's just hurry."

---

"Master Ivan, would you like some?"

A maid approached Ivan, showing him a plate.

It was filled with colorful, cute-shaped cookies.

Worried that Ivan might not understand, she even mimed eating by bringing her hand to her mouth.

But Ivan shook his head, indicating he was fine.

Then, looking a bit glum, he walked up to his room.

Ivan had been staying at the residence of the Duke of Valen for some time now.

It was good that he no longer had to live in fear like before.

But even if his body was safe, his heart wasn't at ease.

The Duke of Valen was not an easy person to approach, and everyone else was equally unfamiliar to him.

Ivan closed the door and entered his room.

He was scribbling letters on paper when he paused at a noise from outside.

What's that?

Ivan pricked up his ears and listened.

Neigh!

At the sound of a horse snorting, Ivan stood on tiptoe and peered out the window.

He saw the Duke's carriage pulling in.

It looked just like any other day—Ivan was about to lower himself back down.

But just then, a familiar woman stepped out of the carriage.

Ivan's eyes went wide.

"Emilia!"

---

The carriage carrying Emilia headed to the most expensive district in the capital's new town.

The atmosphere there was completely different from the streets where she'd been staying.

Before long, the carriage passed through the main gate of the ducal residence.

At the sight of the mansion, comparable in scale to a castle, her jaw practically dropped.

Even after passing through the main gate, the carriage rolled on for quite a while through the sprawling gardens.

A moment later, she stepped out and looked up at the enormous residence, slightly dazed.

That said, this whole situation feels awfully haphazard—is this really okay?

But there was no time to think deeply.

"Come on in."

"Huh? Yes..."

Urged—if not quite urged—by Kayden, she had no choice but to step inside.

And just then, she heard a sound like feet thumping from above.

What?

She looked up and saw a child rushing down the stairs.

"Ivan?"

Ivan's eyes sparkled the moment they met hers.

It really is Emilia!

He'd come running, worried he might have mistaken someone else for her, but it was really her.

Ivan dashed over and threw himself into her arms.

"Emilia!"

"[Have you been well?]"

"[Yes, yes!]"

Ivan answered and nodded vigorously.

So cute.

She felt as if all her fatigue and worries melted away in an instant.

But Emilia soon pulled Ivan away from her.

Unlike her, grimy from camping out, Ivan was immaculately clean.

Ivan looked confused for a moment, then looked up at her and spoke.

"[Emilia! How did you come? What have you been doing? What brings you here?]"

The child poured out questions eagerly, as if there were so much to ask.

Ah!

Ivan quickly realized he'd been too hasty.

Last time, Emilia had asked him to speak slowly and simply!

He was about to rephrase when Emilia smiled and spoke.

"[I came by carriage... and I worked at a shop for a while in between.]"

Worried her pronunciation might be off, Emilia pointed to the carriage with her hand.

Ivan's eyes went round.

"[Emilia, you speak well!]"

Her Hyprian was much more fluent than before.

"[Really?]"

Emilia felt a private sense of pride at Ivan's reaction.

She smiled at the child, who was waiting for her to continue, and said,

"[Actually, I came to be your teacher.]"

"[Teacher?]"

"[Yes.] So you see, [I'll be by your side. And I'll teach you Imperial.]"

At Emilia's words, Ivan's eyes went wide.

The child whipped its head around to look at Kayden behind them.

"[Really?]"

"Yes."

Kayden nodded casually.

"[So I'll be in your care from now on, Ivan.]"

"[Yes, yes!]"

Ivan answered enthusiastically.

Kayden watched and let out a faint, amused scoff.

"To trust someone after seeing them just once—no wariness at all."

At Kayden's low murmur, Herald lowered his gaze to his superior's hand.

The sight of his master holding a dainty bag was quite striking.

"...I was just thinking the same."

Herald agreed, somewhat reluctantly.

In truth, he had been able to recognize Emilia so readily entirely because of Kayden.

"Repetitive learning through Q&A."

Simply put, his superior had periodically refreshed his memory about her.

On that day, after regaining consciousness, Kayden had seemed somehow shocked.

And he'd bombarded Herald with questions, as if he couldn't understand.

Thanks to that, Herald had suffered greatly.

He'd had to explain an incident that had lasted less than thirty minutes—over the course of several hours.

Herald recalled that time and shook his head.

"...She really left?"

"Yes, she left without a backward glance."

"She voluntarily refused the reward, too?"

"Of course. Do you think I threatened her?"

"Perhaps your face looked suspicious."

"The one with a stab wound is clearly more suspicious, don't you think?"

As he recalled the ordeal of those days, a question occurred to him.

If his superior remembered her face that well—why on earth had he asked in the first place?

"You said you couldn't remember her face well?"

"...Yes."

"Right. Well, she had brown hair and green eyes, with a somewhat puppy-like face—"

"It wasn't green. It was light green, wasn't it?"

"...? Ah, yes, well, I suppose it was."

At a level where cross-verification wasn't even necessary.

He'd even jumped out of the carriage at the sight of a figure the size of a speck in the distance.

Somehow, he felt he'd wasted his time answering so earnestly.

Back   Next