I am living unmarried with my terminally ill lover.
Episode 8
“……!”
Kalad jumped to his feet.
He’d had the dream again.
A dream of waiting for someone under a large tree.
The scenes came and went, always ending in an intense painful wake-up call.
Kalad wiped the tears that rolled down his cheeks.
He didn’t know what made him so sad, but he always cried after these dreams.
He turned his head toward the window, and the world was still dark.
It was still dawn.
I lay back down, hoping to get some more sleep, but it didn’t come.
My body felt heavy and tired like a wet cotton ball, but my mind was still intact, and I was dying.
[Master, are you awake?]
Hearing Magum’s raspy voice, Kalad sat up.
He might as well do something with his time.
After a brief meditation, Kalad cleaned his sword.
[The weather looks nice today, why don’t we go see her?]
The magical sword sang to him, urging him to go see Ines whenever he could.
Ignoring them all, Khalad opened the newspaper he had received yesterday.
The words on the front page stopped him in his tracks.
<Ines Eldin, Founder of Eldin Top!
It was all about Ines.
Normally, I would have flipped it over, but I found myself reading the whole thing.
When I turned to the next page, I saw her name again.
<Ines Eldin in a relationship with Jared Hoffman?
The article was full of ridiculous speculation.
But one thing was certain.
Ines Elrdin is a celebrity.
[Wow, she must be really rich].
[This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! When will you ever get a confession from someone of her stature?]
[Let’s get rid of the Templars and go get her!]
But Khalad became even more suspicious.
A celebrity of this stature could have anybody as a fake lover.
He realized it was getting light outside the window.
Slowly getting ready for work, he left the annex.
He planned to catch a carriage from the main building.
“Calad Asdeon!”
As soon as he reached the main house, the Marquise came running up to him.
The Marquise, pensive, spoke at the top of her voice.
“My dear Dihas, my dear Dihas……!”
Pausing for a moment, Calad asked with a furrowed brow.
“What is the matter?”
“It seems that Dihas has made a slight mistake…….”
Dihas had been out and about ever since his proposal to Ines had been rejected.
As usual, he got drunk and befriended a man, who asked him for a favor.
He asked her to deliver a package to someone because he was in a hurry.
He said he would pay him back in kind.
Dihas was blinded by money and accepted the favor without even checking what it was.
He took the item to the meeting place, where a guard was waiting for him.
It turned out that the jewelry Dijas had asked for was stolen from the Elrdin family.
Dihas was arrested on the spot.
And now he was being held by the guards.
“He’s going to take the blame for all of this…….”
Khalad ran a hand over his forehead.
His head throbbed at the unimaginable stupidity of his behavior.
“It’s not like he did it on purpose. He’s not a bad boy.”
The Marquise remained unmoved.
Swallowing his sarcasm, Calad replied bluntly.
“I have to go to work now.”
“I’ve sent someone to the palace, so you don’t have to worry.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’ve called in sick in advance, so you’ll have to deal with Dihas today.”
The Marquis said this as if it were a matter of course, and Calad stared at him in disbelief.
“You just called in sick without asking a doctor?
The bastard caused the accident, and you expect him to clean it up.
Callard’s glare grew fierce, and the Marquis and his wife flinched.
He wanted to say something, but he knew he was asking a favor.
“Not long ago, Lady Elrdin came to visit you, and if you ask me, I may be able to grant you a favor……..”
Even as he spoke, the Marquis and Marquise looked unhappy.
They did not want to admit that Ines had chosen Kalad.
Nevertheless, they leaned toward Kalad.
“I have nothing to do with Lady Elrdin.”
The Marquise’s face flushed as Callard dismissed her with a curt refusal.
“I must go to work now.”
“You mean work is more important than family!”
This was the only time they were family.
Even though they had never treated me as family.
“How did we raise you…….”
The Marquise acted as if she had been betrayed by someone she trusted.
But it was ridiculous to Calad, who knew why they had adopted him.
He had done what he had to do.
He didn’t want to be at the Marquise’s mercy any longer.
When he didn’t answer with a definitive yes, the Marquis asked menacingly.
“Do you wish to leave the family?”
Callard stood still.
To be kicked out of the family was to be told to leave the Imperial Knights.
Only those of noble birth could join the Imperial Knights.
I couldn’t just give up my position as captain because I didn’t have much time left.
If this was taken away from me, I would truly have nothing left.
Khalad sighed deeply.
“I’ll try ……, though I doubt Elrdin will listen to me.”
In the end, it was Kalad who gave in.
He turned and left the relieved Marquise alone.
Climbing into the carriage, Kalad wiped a hand across his face.
His anger surged at having to take sick leave to clean up after Dijas’s foolishness.
[He’s crazy].
Magum cursed the Marquis furiously.
[Dihas must be an idiot!]
For the first time in a long time, Kalad agreed with Magum.
Kalad pushed down his anger and muttered to himself.
“I guess I’ll just have to settle this and get back to work.”
He couldn’t call in sick for this.
Before long, the carriage pulled up in front of the guardhouse.
Calad walked straight into the guardhouse.
A guard standing at the entrance stopped him.
“Identify yourself.”
Kalad glared at the guard.
He showed his Templar badge, and the guard sucked in a breath.
“And Dihas Asdeon?”
“Ah, let me show you.”
Once inside, I saw Dihas in custody.
“Get off me! Who the hell do you think you are?”
Still dazed and bluffing, Kalad’s eyes narrowed.
Dihas, catching up to Kalad, frowned.
“What, did your parents send you?”
Kalad didn’t answer, just gave him a cold stare.
The pathetic look in his eyes made Dihas fume.
“Damn it. They did this to me too!”
Dijas was annoyed as hell.
Then, ungratefully, he barked orders at Khalad.
“I can’t wait to get home, so do something about it. You’re the head of the Templars.”
“Ha.”
My barely contained anger was about to explode.
For a moment, the room fell silent.
Kalad and Dihas turned around.
Ines was just entering the room.
The guards on duty and the detainees all turned to look at her.
As if he was used to the stares, Ines didn’t hesitate.
Their gazes met.
A faint smile flickered in her eyes as she recognized Calad.
They were not the eyes of someone who had just had something important stolen.
At that moment, Kalad remembered what Ines had said.
-But it won’t be fun if you keep me waiting too long.
It’s a trap.
Dihas was the bait to summon me.
“Oh, it’s been a long time. Elrdin, my dear.”
Dihas greeted me stiffly, his cockiness gone.
He’d already been kicked in the ass, but he couldn’t help but be pleased.
Tearing her gaze away from Kalad, Ines returned Dijas’s greeting.
“I never thought I’d see you again, not like this.”
“……I’m very unjust.”
“Even though my family showed up to the trade with stolen goods?”
“I was just asked to do a favor. I didn’t know what kind of goods it was and…….”
Ines smirked at Dijas’s excuse.
“In this day and age, who accepts a favor without checking the item? Unless you’re an idiot.”
[Dude, he talks well].
Magum chimed in.
Kalad was thinking the same thing.
Ines motioned for them to sit down.
Across the long table, Kalad and Dihas sat side by side.
Ines, sitting across from them, spoke again.
“That jewel you stole, it’s worth over two million fruels.”
There was an audible intake of breath around them.
“I checked it, and it has a few scratches on it.”
Two million fruels was more than the Marquis of Asdeon could afford right now.
Dijas stiffened for a moment, then slammed his hands down on the desk.
“Well, then, I’ll be there to pay you back slowly.”
Ines stared at him as if to say, “What the hell are you talking about?
“My dear Elrdin. Please accept my heart. I’ve been thinking of you all this time.”
The madman was right.
Kalad wondered if he should punch Dihas in the back of the head now.
His head, which had been throbbing the whole time, now ached like it might break.
Calad’s face grew grim.
Then, with a snap, his toes twitched.
Kalad lifted his head and stared at Ines across from him.
Ines jerked her chin up and smiled.
She was asking him a question.
What are you going to do?
Kalad remembered what Ines had suggested to him.
-I want you to pretend to be my lover.
Khalad clenched his fists.
There was no other option.
Without Ines’ intercession, the Marquises would not leave me alone.
I knew it was a trap, but I had no choice but to walk into it.
And above all…….
“I’m sure I’ll make a good husband!”
I wanted to punch Dihas in the face.
“Dihas Asdeon. Shut up.”
Dihas’s head snapped up at calinead’s words.
His face crumpled, he growled.
“What the hell, why are you interrupting?”
“Because I…….”
Kalad said, looking Ines straight in the eye.
“Because I am the lover of Elrdin the Younger.”
