CULBE 06

Chapter 6

“I don’t get it. So you’re saying His Grace the Grand Duke and Damian chose my family? Do you honestly think that makes any sense?”

Surprisingly, Arkin remained calm.

“Of course it doesn’t make sense. Your family isn’t from Luxen, and it’s not like you’re some overwhelmingly prestigious house. In this case, I’d say they chose the person, not the family.”

Tislin let out a dry laugh.

“Because I’m close to Adelind?”

“To be honest… I feel a little bad saying this, but Lady Adelind has had more than her share of unfortunate incidents since she was little. Whoever marries Damian also has to become one of Adelind’s closest attendants. The truth is, there just aren’t that many people she can truly trust.”

“You have a younger sister.”

“She’s fourteen!”

Arkin looked horrified.

But in this era, a seven-year age gap between an engaged couple wasn’t unusual. That was exactly why everyone had assumed Damian would eventually marry Adelind.

Of course, Tislin knew better than anyone that Damian would never marry Adelind.

So if they wanted someone closer to his age, choosing Tislin wasn’t completely unreasonable.

Even so, she certainly wasn’t the only person who fit those conditions.

“So in the end, there isn’t really any special reason. It’s not like I’m the only trustworthy person, and there are plenty of families that could benefit Adelind.”

“Well, if it’s the Grand Duke, he’d probably put Damian’s wishes ahead of those kinds of considerations. But why does it matter so much? You sound really unhappy about it.”

Tislin fell silent.

Should I tell Arkin I want to break off the engagement?

He probably wouldn’t go around spreading it.

But if he found out Damian opposed breaking it off, he would never tell her anything useful after that.

“You like Damian, don’t you? Shouldn’t this be a good thing?”

“Hey!”

Her face instantly burned.

Not wanting Arkin to see her flushed cheeks, Tislin ducked her head and stomped on his foot over and over.

Knowing he’d misspoken, Arkin simply endured it without complaint.

After calming down a little, Tislin quietly asked,

“…How did you know?”

“Come on… how could anyone not know?”

Arkin waved a hand in front of her bright red face and grumbled.

Tislin pressed her cold hands against her cheeks to cool them and glared at him.

“Was I really that obvious?”

“There wasn’t anyone who didn’t know. It’s nothing to be embarrassed about. Whether in Luxen or here, there are more girls who like Damian than you can count.”

That was true.

Tislin sighed.

Damian was special to her.

But she had probably never been special to Damian.

Maybe there was some affection or familiarity born from the years they’d spent practically raising Adelind together.

But feelings like that weren’t enough to decide on marriage.

“I don’t understand what Damian’s thinking. Why would he agree to be engaged to me?”

“Well… I’m sure he has his reasons.”

Some reason neither Arkin nor Tislin knew.

Some reason why Damian Ksanov—the Grand Duke of Luxen’s only disciple and Lady Adelind’s closest companion—had chosen an utterly ordinary Tislin Ermise as his fiancée.

Some reason why, after rejecting her confession so casually, he still insisted on keeping the engagement even when she herself wanted to call it off.

No matter how hard she thought, she couldn’t imagine what that reason could possibly be.

After staring at her feet for a long time, Tislin’s shoulders slumped.

There was no point standing here discussing it with someone who knew as little as she did.

“…Right. Thanks. I’ll get going.”

She hadn’t learned much.

After telling Arkin that he could ask for her help anytime he needed something from the Administration Department, she turned and left.

Left alone, Arkin idly nudged the freshly leveled dirt of the training grounds before heading back to the dormitory common room.

* * *

Damian returned from the Royal Guard about two hours later.

While Damian attended the Royal Academy, the king had practically carved out a position for him within the Royal Guard, determined to squeeze every bit of value possible from the magic swordsman he’d temporarily borrowed from the Grand Duke of Luxen.

If Damian ever decided to change masters, that would be even better.

But after years of fruitless attempts to recruit him, the king was probably beginning to accept that Damian wasn’t interested.

Probably.

Damian was the Grand Duke’s only beloved disciple, personally raised and trained since childhood.

No matter how attractive the offer, he would never abandon his lord.

The thinking of absolute rulers could be surprisingly simple.

Arkin smiled bitterly to himself.

“You’re late.”

“The captain held me back.”

“Something important?”

“No. Nothing much.”

Though that depended on who you asked.

Chuckling, Arkin spoke up.

“I had something interesting happen, though.”

Damian looked up from polishing his sword, silently waiting for him to continue.

The blade, forged from fine steel and constantly infused with magic over the years, gleamed with an almost black sheen.

“Your fiancée came looking for me.”

“Tis?”

“For me.”

Damian frowned.

Since he rarely showed much emotion about anything, Arkin couldn’t resist teasing him a little further.

After all, it concerned Damian’s own fiancée.

“She asked how the two of you ended up getting engaged.”

“Why ask you?”

“How should I know? We didn’t talk about much. She thought her parents had sent the marriage proposal, so I just told her it was probably our side that initiated it.”

Come to think of it…

That was what she’d believed.

Damian replayed their earlier conversation in his mind.

She’d spoken so quickly that he’d been more focused on calming her down than listening carefully.

But now that he thought about it, she’d probably said exactly that.

Still…

Now that the engagement was already official, did that really matter?

“And then?”

“And then? That was pretty much it. She kept asking why you wanted to get engaged to her.”

Arkin suddenly remembered blurting out, ‘You like Damian, don’t you?’ to Tislin.

He quietly shoved that memory into the deepest corner of his mind.

“The truth is, I don’t know anything either. You skipped all the explanations and just announced you were engaged. But… why her? Tislin Ermise isn’t bad, but… why specifically her?”

She was pretty enough.

As she’d gotten older, more and more young men had started stealing glances at her.

There had even been rumors that if the Grand Duke personally arranged her marriage, she’d probably end up marrying someone from Luxen.

Her personality wasn’t difficult, and besides the Grand Duke and Damian, she was the only person Adelind truly relied on.

From the Grand Ducal family’s perspective, she wasn’t a bad choice.

And having known Damian for so many years, even if they didn’t understand each other completely, they probably shared a certain compatibility.

Still…

The women the Grand Duke had previously introduced to Damian all possessed qualifications on roughly the same level.

“She’s pretty, sure, but it’s not like there aren’t prettier women. And it’s not as if you’re—”

“Arkin.”

Damian’s voice cut him off.

“Stay out of other people’s fiancées.”

As he listed her qualities one by one, Arkin realized he was practically dismantling Tislin Ermise piece by piece and appraising her value.

It was a crude thing to do.

He could argue that everyone compared potential marriage partners like this.

That excuse wouldn’t work on Damian.

Avoiding Damian’s icy gaze, Arkin coughed awkwardly.

“Anyway, I told her I didn’t know. That’s the end of it. Though… a girl from another department coming all the way to the Knight Department dorms might start some rumors. I’ll just say she came because we worked together on last year’s shared class assignment.”

After sheathing his freshly polished sword, Damian asked,

“You worked on that assignment with her?”

“Yeah. Students from different departments had to pair up anyway. Neither of us really knew anyone outside our own department, so we just teamed up. We only met a few times.”

“…Why didn’t she tell me?”

He wasn’t asking Arkin.

Arkin laughed.

“You were busy getting dragged all over the place back then. I don’t think you were even at school half the time. If they hadn’t excused your attendance, you’d have repeated the year.”

Between the Royal Guard and the Anti-Parfanan War Office, everyone had been demanding Damian’s time.

Even if he’d had ten bodies, it wouldn’t have been enough.

He’d spent so much time near the border that he barely set foot on campus.

Missing the end of the semester and even the examination period had been inevitable.

The king had casually suggested making him repeat the year so he could stay at the academy one more year.

Fortunately, the Grand Duke had firmly shut that idea down.

Thinking back, Damian frowned.

“So you partnered with her.”

Arkin, however, doubted Tislin would have asked Damian even if he’d actually been at school.

Back in Luxen, it was practically common knowledge that Tislin liked Damian.

At school, though, no one even knew the two of them were acquainted.

Besides, Tislin wasn’t the sort of girl who clung to someone simply because she liked him.

More importantly…

They were engaged now.

But judging by how desperately she’d wanted to cancel it, she’d probably never imagined marrying Damian in the first place.

She would eventually have to find a husband of her own.

There was no reason she’d want to make it obvious that she liked another man.

Even aside from that…

To the young people of Luxen, Damian Ksanov had always been someone difficult to approach.

So, most likely, Tislin had never intended to ask him to partner with her on the assignment.

But…

Damian Ksanov didn’t need to know any of that.

“Probably.”

“Don’t partner with her this year.”

Well, that’s something.

Arkin let out an incredulous laugh.

“…Wait. Do you actually like her? Is that why you got engaged?”

Looking at him as though the question itself were foolish, Damian didn’t even bother answering.

He simply walked out of the common room and headed for his room.

Watching his perfectly straight back disappear down the hallway, Arkin tilted his head.

Judging by his reaction… that doesn’t seem to be it.

Then what on earth is going on?