My Wife Waited in the Wheat Fields

PR: Ford53 & Alive Sigh

In Elric’s memory, his experiences with the Moonlings were not pleasant ones.

He had only met them three times in person, and each of those encounters had been so disruptive to his life that his perception of them was not favorable.

All the other incidents aside, the incident at Elvus Grayman’s wedding was particularly disturbing to him.

That man had never been able to settle down with a woman, but he had now finally decided that he wanted to live with someone.

So, Elric had left his work on the battlefield to bless his friend’s bright future, only to find himself face-to-face with the Moonlings, who were trying to assassinate Elvus.

They’d since apologized, but it wasn’t enough.

To add insult to injury, there was more than one of them today.

“You guys really are a pain in the ass, you two.”

Elric sat back in his chair and leaned on his cane, staring down at them.

The bowing of their heads was a clear sign of submission.

But it didn’t feel good.

‘Was this a coincidence, or was this intentional?’

Someone now knew about the connection between Kasha the Sword Demon and Elric Portman.

He wanted to slit their throats and shut them up, but that wasn’t a good idea when he didn’t know how many more people were involved behind the scenes.

No, he should just figure out why they were out here first.

One of the assassins pursed their lips and immediately revealed the answer to what he wanted to know to him.

“Milord, it was the Earl! We did this at Earl Nimrud’s request!”

The Moonling who appeared to be the senior exclaimed urgently.

Elric’s eyebrows rose.

“Nimrud?”

So it was the father of the douchebag he’d met in the tailor’s shop.

He seemed to have sent an assassin in the end.

Elric felt uncomfortable and asked.

“What does he know?”

“As far as he knows…”

“I mean, what does he know about me?”

Startled, the Moonling’s body shuddered.

In a shaky voice, he admitted everything he knew.

“W-Well…”

To summarize his words:

Count Nimrud had tried to assassinate Elric for insulting his heir, the young master, simply for the sake of their family’s prestige.

There was a sense of absurdity to it all, but it was quite pleasant for him to find out that the man hadn’t figured out his connection with Kasha.

This brought him to his next thought.

“Well then, I suppose I need to know why folks who used to frolic in the West are here.”

To expand their business? That sounded like a joke to him.

Elric knew who was pulling the strings behind the Moonlings’ backs, and he knew something they didn’t.

Given that man’s temper, there was no reason for him to expand as far east as he did.

“Now, you know I don’t like lies.”

As Elric spread his killing intent, the Moonling assassins gulped dryly.

And then, in shear terror, they managed to say,

“Y-You see…”

Elric’s mind blanked.

Tyria looked at herself in the mirror after she finished getting ready.

She had on a simple navy blue dress, her hair was pulled back in a tight braid, and her makeup was applied just enough to keep it from being too heavy.

It was the same look she’d worn to any other banquet, but as she looked at him, a sense of satisfaction filled her.

It was a natural feeling.

This banquet would be different because Elric would be with her.

How could she not be excited for her first royal banquet with him?

She wouldn’t be following in the footsteps of the former patriarch whilst discussing business with his clients as she had done for the past nine years.

She wouldn’t be sitting alone in the corner of the ballroom, idly passing the time, as she had in previous years.

No, it wouldn’t even matter if she was sitting in another corner this time.

Simply being with Elric at that moment, at that time, would be enough to make her content.

“My lady, your makeup is complete.”

Tyria suppressed her small flutter of excitement as Aldio approached her.

One could never show a servant one’s personal feelings.

“I see. Let’s start getting ready slowly.”

“Yes, and…”

“I thought we agreed to stop talking about that.”

Aldio flinched.

Tyria waved his question away nonchalantly, struggling to keep the shame from rising within her.

It was about the bed, to say the least.

“I would not have had him sleep in a poor bed, even for such a short amount of time. A nobleman should find comfort in every single night of sleep.”

When she had first seen Elric’s broken bed, she had panicked, but then she realized what she could do.

The first thing she did was pull him into her bed, and the second thing she did was delay the delivery of his bed.

And she felt embarrassed because it had all been on an impulse, not after thinking.

But that’s what married couples did, and so she wanted to try the same.

It wasn’t like she was trying to do anything big… She was just trying to sleep in the same bed as him, so how could that be considered remotely greedy?

They didn’t even do anything extra, they just slept.

It would have been a lie to say that she had no regrets, but Tyria was more than satisfied at this point.

Although, it was her fault that Aldio, who had been tasked with delivering the letter along the way, was somewhat aware of her intentions.

Somehow, she had succeeded in keeping his mouth shut with her excuses, but her conscience had been pricked from time to time.

“Well…”

Aldio’s eyes widened, but then he nodded.

His next words were tinged with self-rationalization.

“Ah, yes, that’s right. Because you both are a married couple. So now, you should slowly be thinking about a successor…”

“Butler.”

“…Ah, I’m sorry.”

Aldio bowed his head in apology.

Tyria, for some reason, felt sorry for him and spoke in a raspy voice.

“…That will begin when the time comes. It is a noble’s duty to produce an heir.”

The voice that came out of her was extremely businesslike.

It was an unhealthy habit of Tyria’s that the more nervous she became, the more she hid her emotions.

Aldio’s complexion brightened slightly.

An heir.

Tyria knew that having a child would be more than just a pleasure for her.

Still, it was her insistence that she didn’t want to make love for purely contractual reasons that kept her from mentioning it.

“…I should get going.”

Tyria rose from her seat.

Enough of this rambling.

She was going to have a good time, and she wouldn’t let this get in her way.

She started moving towards Elric.

“Hello.”

Tyria felt her heart skip a beat as Elric greeted her at the front door.

The fact that she was seeing a different side of her beloved added an exciting aspect to it.

The light brown suit that matched his hair was soothing to her.

And the subtle makeup, tastefully applied without compromising his aesthetics, emphasized his restrained beauty. His forehead, revealed by his hair that had been swept back, was tidy and beautiful.

“…We’d better get going.”

Tyria said, staring at the floor.

She found it hard to make eye contact with him.

He smiled slightly and replied.

“Yes, let us.”

For some reason, his voice was quieter than usual.

She glanced over at him as they climbed into the carriage and saw that he was pondering something.

She remembered that he didn’t enjoy royal banquets.

Maybe he was nervous.

If so, it would be her job as his lady to ease the tension.

Tyria cast her gaze out the window.

“It won’t be a big deal. Even if it is a banquet, all eyes will be on the nobles in the center.”

“…Is that so?”

“Yes, we’ll just need to kill some time and then get out.”

“…I see.”

He was a little slow to answer, as if he was thinking of something else.

It was a moment of slight frustration for her.

With a disappointed grunt, he added a belated comment.

“You look beautiful today.”

Flinching, Tyria’s fingertips curled.

Her gaze snapped to Elric.

Words slipped out in a daze from her mouth.

“…Yes?”

“You look a bit different from usual. I meant to say that the makeup suits you well.”

He smiled and held eye contact with her.

She shrugged, then shifted her gaze out the window.

Couldn’t he say that one more time?

She needed to know that she was not dreaming.

Tyria pressed her lips together as she tried to ask.

If she heard the same words one more time, her heart might actually burst.

-”I’m going to marry a beautiful woman.”

She might have not been the beautiful woman that he wanted, but she was close.

She wondered if she had gotten to the point where she wouldn’t be called ugly anymore. [1]

The corners of her mouth curled up unnecessarily, and it wasn’t easy to control them.

Tyria’s gaze drifted out the window again.

She swallowed hard to keep from shuddering and offered a grateful smile.

“You look well too, Milord.”

She meant it, but the words came out stiff because of her nerves again.

It was an ugly habit, and she wished she could pretend that it was all a mistake at times like this.

While she was thinking, his reply came.

“It was an outfit that you picked out. Any other suit wouldn’t have matched me.”

Her hands fidgeted with the hem of her dress.

Her palms were sweating and she was at her wits’ end. Yet, before she knew it, the carriage had arrived at the royal castle.

She wondered why the castle, which always looked so gray, was so colorful today.

She couldn’t tell if it was just the weather or her mood.

“Let us go, then.”

Elric stepped out of the carriage first and extended his hand to her.

His posture was awkward.

Nonetheless, it was that of an escort’s.

Tyria took his hand, nervous about the sweat on her palm.

Their fingers intertwined, and a spark of electricity ran through her.

“…Okay.”

Tyria’s gaze lowered, her lashes fluttering.

[1. Is she stupid? Lol, does she not look in a mirror or something?]

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