CH 18: Sleeping on same bed

Kalion let out a sigh and was taken aback. He was confused as to why he sighed in the first place. Was he feeling disappointed? Well, I was pretty nervous last week. Then suddenly, he heard a noise from behind him and looked back, astonished to see Erna lying on the four-poster bed, a place he hadn’t even thought of looking at. I didn’t even think she would arrive here first, let alone be lying on the bed? Erna wouldn’t normally behave like this.

Kalion soon felt pity for himself because he was so unaware of his surroundings that he didn’t notice her presence. Usually, this wouldn’t be the case. Since Kalion had come to Hessenguard, he had sharpened his senses, partly because of his childhood and also because he didn’t want to forget the forces who killed all the royal family members and he wanted to be ready for them if they returned. Kalion always thought he was doing a good job of being alert, yet he realized it was just his pride.

He approached the bed quietly, “What are you doing?” He asked her softly. Erna didn’t respond. Kalion looked at her again and watched as her chrst rose up and down as he listened to her breathing. Is she sleeping?

This was an unforeseen situation. He’d assumed that Erna would be as nervous as last time, but unlike his expectation, she seemed to be sound asleep, comfortably, as if she was in her room and her bed. Something didn’t seem right. When he waved his hand over her face, instead of waking up, Erna’s regular breathing only deepened. He could tell she was deep in sleep.

Kalion sat down carefully next to her on the bed but it still moved slightly and Erna tossed and turned for a while, but didn’t get up. Should I wake her up? He hesitated, wondering what to do.

While he was sitting and contemplating, Erna turned sideways and as she did, the thin blanket wrapped tightly around her and he could see the outline of her curvaceous body. He swallowed saliva without realizing it and was confounded. What’s this supposed to mean? Am I nervous right now?

Even though Kalion was baffled at himself, he couldn’t help but gaze down at the sleeping Erna. To him, even now, she was like a pumpkin. A pumpkin that had held a pretty bouquet at their wedding and whose face had hardened when she’d seen him. The only things that had changed recently were that this pumpkin was a lightweight now who liked to roll around on the sofa and couldn’t stand asking questions and not getting answers.

Kalion wandered around and tried to recall the pumpkin he’d first seen. In the past, Erna used to be a wide and round pumpkin, but nowadays she has changed to a thin and long pumpkin. Kalion thought to himself that from now on, he would recall a different-looking pumpkin every time he saw Erna. When he came to that conclusion, he found himself looking at her once more. What would have happened if she was awake now?

He felt exhausted and rubbed his face with his hands. Feeling agitated, he got up from the bed and paced up and down, wondering whether to sit on the emerald-green sofa or at the smaller wooden desk but opted to sit back on the bed instead. He was feeling sluggish from being awake until the early hours of the morning. When his back touched the soft mattress, the thought of getting up again vanished and his body relaxed. Before he knew it, Kalion’s eyes slowly started closing and he turned his head to look at Erna sleeping beside him. This is my wife.

There was no such thing as a fairy-tale wedding for Kalion as he’d had an arranged marriage at a young age and he’d had the worst experience even before getting married. However, Kalion sometimes saw knights talking about their ordinary married lives.

One wife would come to the Grand Castle every day to wait for her husband, another wife who sometimes made a lot of food with the help of her children would give these snacks to all the knights. Yet another wife who’d nag at her husband and ask whether he would come home late or not.

The most fascinating part for Kalion was how the couples would touch each other casually, holding hands and linking their arms, sometimes kissing. Of course, he also touched the knights while training, but those touches were necessary for practicing swordsmanship, and other times, physical contact was merely needed for a handshake and nothing more.

Is that why it feels so weird? Kalion raised his hand and squeezed it several times. A week ago he’d touched Erna’s leg and the feel of it still lingered in his mind, warm and soft. Then, Kalion had an interesting thought, If I didn’t get married like this, would I have been able to get that feeling in my hands every day? If I married someone out of my own will, would it have been different? He laughed at himself, I must be really tired. I can’t believe I’m thinking about this nonsense…

Kalion put his hand down and closed his eyes, it looked like Erna would be sleeping for a long time, which helped him to decide that it would be okay for him to sleep next to her for a while. A week ago both of them had avoided each other, but now they were sleeping next to each other in the same bed, it was almost unbelievable! Cedric’s advice was not wrong.

His consciousness gradually grew dim and he smelled flowers somewhere. Kalion remembered that Erna’s hair was darker than usual, it must’ve been because she washed it. Come to think of it, he recalled her hair always smelling of flowers, perhaps it was because of the soap she used. Thinking that it was a very different scent from his own, Kalion’s consciousness sank into the darkness.

*

As much as Kalion had been fatigued all day, Erna had also felt exhausted. But a lot of the information she’d heard from Kalion, during the evening, had solved some of the problems she had, so it was worth feeling this way.

Normally, she would fall asleep at dawn and wake up around lunch to meet the wizards, but Erna waited for the morning without falling asleep because she wanted to let them know what she had found out as soon as possible. And as it got closer to the time for Orpé to come to work, Erna ran and found her excitedly.

“Who is it? Your Highness!” Orpé rubbed her eyes and shouted with a shocked face when she saw that the person in the room was Erna. “What’s going on? Is it an emergency!”

“What are you talking about?”

“If you’re here at this hour, isn’t there something urgent?”

“It’s not urgent, I just wanted to say something quickly. Is it so surprising that I am here?”

“In the morning, usually it takes me hours to wake you up. I’m just surprised that you are awake at this time with no help! Why did you get up so early?” Orpé held her chest with relief.

“I didn’t wake up early, I didn’t sleep!”

“What? You are someone who prefers sleeping to eating!”

Do I? Come to think of it, I often skip meals to sleep more. Lying under a warm, cozy blanket gives me much more satisfaction than eating. Erna despised the cold, so she struggled to get out of bed in the winter, to the extent that when others first learned how to produce light, Erna had first learned how to use fire! In recent days especially, chilly weather had persisted, day and night. Orpé knew that Erna preferred to be under the covers.

“Yes, I had something to do. Anyway, I’ve found out a lot during the night, so please prepare to start the meeting as soon as everyone gets here. I have a new order to give.” Erna instructed Orpé.

“What did you see without sleeping?”

“I didn’t see it, I heard it. He knows a lot more things than I realized.”

“Who?”

“What do you mean who, of course, Kali…” Erna hurriedly shut her mouth midway of saying his name, I can’t say I was with Kalion all night. She Didn’t want any misunderstandings when all she’d done with Kalion was talk. “It doesn’t matter. I just need you to prepare things for me right away because I think I need to get some rest soon.” Orpé looked at her suspiciously and when she left, Erna sighed in relief.

She thought she would have enough time to rest, however, the wizards arrived earlier than expected and Erna had to head straight to the conference room. She was soon busy with work: leading a meeting, issuing new orders, and informing the council, and when she looked again, it was almost nine o’clock. I’m hungry.

Erna had skipped breakfast, replaced lunch with a drink, and couldn’t eat dinner, so she couldn’t help but feel hungry right now. When she came back to the room, she thought about asking the maids to get her something to eat, but as soon as she saw the calendar, her mind went blank. It’s today!

After spending two hours a day together for four days, on the fifth day, the two had promised to work together to create a successor and that was today!

Erna quickly washed and dried her hair, leaving more water in it than usual, because she was in such a hurry. She scrambled to their marital bedroom, but when she opened the door, Kalion was nowhere to be seen.

“What the heck?” Frustrated, Erna thought it was quite odd for Kalion to be late. What’s going on? Usually, he is always on time. Did he run away because he didn’t want to spend time with me? I mean if he doesn’t like me he can always say no. Her face hardened the moment she looked at the clock thinking this was strange.

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