Chapter 6 – Way Too Young!

“Then I’ll have to accompany the Duke to see him off,” Amber said, her voice filled with calm and elegance.

“Despite my explanation, you don’t seem to understand how serious an incursion of monsters is.
This is why ladies from peaceful lands are—” Grace stopped herself.
“In any case, the Duke needs to leave as soon as possible.
There’s no time for you to waste by seeing him off.”

“I know very well that the Eastern Lands suffer from monster attacks every year,” Amber replied, her voice still calm despite Grace’s aggression.
“You must have thought I sounded immature, but I hope that you understand that what I’m requesting is also for the good of the East.”

Amber’s eyes turned into crescents as she smiled.
“As his legal wife, I am the mistress of the Duke of Thales.
As such, I must do my duty as well.
I’m sure that one such duty is to see the Duke and his knights off before battle.”

Grace narrowed her eyes at Amber’s calm response.

‘This isn’t how it’s supposed to go.’ Grace had been ordered to crush the confidence of Kalix’s new wife, but… ‘She’s a completely different person from just moments ago.’

It wasn’t just confidence that allowed Grace to attack Amber.

Nothing was amiss when she lightly provoked her during the seal stamping.
When Amber had been silent in the face of Grace’s sharp remarks, Grace had been sure that Amber was just a stereotypical noble lady, frightened at the pressure and stress of a new environment.

It was why she decided to make sure she was completely complacent that night.
Although she didn’t know what it was, something had changed during the time Amber sat alone in the bedchamber.

“Understood.
I shall guide you to the Duke,” Grace acquiesced.
Rather than pressuring Amber now, it would be better for her to report the current circumstances to Bella.

Amber pulled a shawl over her wedding dress and followed Grace outside.
Stepping out of the bedchamber, Amber was suddenly hit with unexpected, sentimental emotions as she looked around the hallway of the Duke’s castle.

When the crown prince, tasked by the emperor to frame the Eastern Lands for rebellion, had come to the castle to hunt down the Duke, the first thing he had done was to raze the castle to the ground.
The magnificent castle that housed the history of the Eastern Lands was quickly reduced to cinders by the crown prince’s violent knights.

I thought it was bleak and something that I was sick of looking at, but when I saw it had disappeared after being burnt to the ground, I did feel sad.

Amber soon shook her head and got rid of her thoughts, continuing her steps forward.

The past was past, and the present is now.
There was no time for her to be stuck reminiscing about the past.
She needed to adapt to her current life as soon as possible.

“This way.”

Going through the hall after taking the stairs down, Grace pointed to the door that led to the drill hall.

“If you go through that door, you’ll be able to meet the Duke.”

As Grace spoke, it was obvious from a glance that Grace’s eyes were smirking at her.

Though she did bring Amber here since Amber said she will see off the Duke, Grace knew that she wouldn’t be able to properly do it in the end.

The Duke of Thales was someone cold as ice.
He was even cold towards his own stepmother.
Grace scoffed at the thought of the Duke gladly greeting the wife forced on him by the emperor’s meddling.
Already, he had elected to forgo a ceremony and chosen to neglect his wife on their first night.
She’d be surprised if the lady got away with just being frightened.

Grace, along with everyone inside of the castle, believed that the Duke hated his wife to no end.
The reason why the servants of the castle were able to treat Amber in such a way was because of the Duke’s treatment of her.

Amber walked past the smirking Grace with a calm expression.
It was amusing that Grace was thinking that Amber knew nothing at all.
Amber already had ten years of experience with these people, experiences that she was sick of thinking about.