Chapter 5: Lady Siana and Rodrick, Urien and Marx

On Urien’s way towards the shed, when he was walking down the stairs, he overheard the servants talking in the hallway.

The moment he heard the word ‘Urien’ come from their mouths, he immediately hid in the shadows, wondering what was going on. Turned out what they were talking about just answered the question he had been pondering about.

“Still, Urien Martritz is as beautiful as the rumors said—even though the rumors of him having blond hair are false. I hope the master won’t be seduced by him.”

“That won’t happen. No matter how beautiful of a man he is, the bond between the master and Lady Siana isn’t so fragile that it’d be broken by such a man-slut.”

‘Lady Siana, huh? From which noble family is she? I’ve never heard of her before, but it seems that she’s Rodrick’s lover.’

From what the maid had said, the lady seemed to be sickly.

In other words, the reason why Rodrick set the two-years term was to wait for Siana to fully recover. No matter how ruthless of a general he was, he was still a duke—there should be more than plenty of nobles who were crazy enough to offer him marriage proposals.

And this was when Urien came in. He’d play the role of a consort until Rodrick was reunited with Siana. They didn’t have to worry about the Martritz Family, the gap between them and Edel Duchal House was so big that it wasn’t even worth comparing the two.

‘Maybe the reason why he’s been out of the estate these few days is because he was visiting her?’ It was hard to believe that stone-faced man would ever fall in love with someone, but then again, Urien didn’t know him at all—he didn’t know better. He suspected that the man probably just poured every bit of his affection on that lady.

‘Rodrick’s lover, huh?’

“As for Urien’s Martritz, they’ll get divorced soon enough. The head maid’s already started her effort to put that man in his place. Soon, he won’t even dare to lift his face to us.”

“Right. Lord Rodrick will choose Lady Siana in the end. They’re childhood friends, after all…”

“You guys! What are you loitering around for?”

Suddenly, a female voice interrupted the two maids, her voice stern, making Urien’s shoulders jump.

When he peeked to see what was going on, he saw another maid with shoulder-lengthed black hair standing there.

“Gossipping about Madam on the clock? Don’t you two have work to do?”

The maid that reprimanded them was a woman with large eyes and a face that gave off a youthful impression. At her scolding, the two maids quickly left the place, but not without muttering, “What’s with her? Acting all high and mighty like that.”

Seeing this, Ella, the black-haired maid let out an exasperated sigh and went back to her work. After seeing all of them leaving the place, Urien turned on his heels and walked towards a different direction from theirs to the shed.

‘…Anyway, that maid’s something else. Having such courage to scold her own colleague like that…’

Her intense display surprised even the disinterested Urien. As he walked, a smile formed on his lips as he thought back to the way she scolded the two maids.

The scolding came up swift, direct, and without even a shred of hesitation.

That was something that Urien couldn’t do—even when angry, he’d still have reservations about things. If Urien was the kind of person who’d load bullets into his gun only when needed, Ella was the kind of person who had the bullets ready at any time, ready to fire.

‘I need to have that kind of resolve too. Or else, I won’t be able to protect him, who’s precious to me.’

‘Mm. I’ll do my best.’ With renewed determination, Urien returned to the shed—to embrace his ‘precious one’.

He walked towards the ‘box’ that was sitting by the window, illuminated by the sunlight. Earlier, he had to immediately meet Rodrick, so he hadn’t got the chance to greet him yet.

When he arrived near the box, he immediately opened its lid, and…

“Marx!”

He reached his hand inside and immediately, he felt a soft heat on his palm.

That sensation made Urien’s face relaxed into a smile filled with affection. He slowly pulled his hand out, holding his palm out while beaming.

“Wait there, okay, Marx? I’ll bring you some food right away!”

In his palm, a cute little Rouleau Lizard looked up at him with its round eyes and blinked in reply.

Urien let out a soft smile as he petted the Rouleau Lizard—Marx’s head with the tip of his finger. At that, Marx narrowed his eyes in pleasure, completely relaxed, as if he trusted Urien completely.

Rouleau Lizard was a palm-sized lizard with round eyes and a slender tail. It was known for its gentle nature and tendencies to befriend humans. Like its name, its native habitat was the Rouleau Republic to the south of Lustrand Kingdom. Of course, due to its close distance to the republic, one could also find those lizards living peacefully in the southern part of the kingdom. In fact, Urien found Marx five years ago at the Martritz Barony.

It was winter back when he was 13.

The snow didn’t fall on Martritz Barony, but the afternoon was unbearably cold that day, so Urien was out chopping up some trees to make a fire with.

Little did he know though, the tree he was chopping was where a little Rouleau Lizard made its nest for hibernation. Of course, when he realized, he was panicking. After all, he had woken it up without knowing and he didn’t know what to do with it. In his panic, he brought the lizard back to the Martritz’ Estate and scoured through the library to find out what he should do in such a situation.

That was when he learned that once a lizard was woken up from its hibernation, forcing it back to sleep would only make it extremely stressed. He also found out that this particular species of lizard was tougher than the average lizard and could easily survive through the winter as long as there was ample food and warmth. With that in mind, Urien decided to keep the lizard with him.

After spending a few nights with it, he named the lizard ‘Marx’.

Ever since that winter, the two had been living together.

It was due to this friend of his—the lizard Marx—that Urien managed to endure all the abuse and mistreatment that his stepmother, stepbrother and the servants hurled at him.

No matter how tough it was for him, the moment Marx saw him with his round eyes, his mood would soar up. This lizard was the reason why he could keep on living, no matter how miserable his life was.

Marx himself was an expressive little lizard. It was as if he could understand everything that Urien said. Whenever he smiled at the little guy, he’d nod his head happily.

Urien left the shed, rummaged through the grass and caught some grasshoppers with him. Though cute, lizards were, after all, carnivores—they ate small insects like grasshoppers, crickets, and many others.

In other words, this accommodation was pretty much a heaven for both of them.

The first time his father told him he’d be marrying Rodrick Edel, the first thing that came up in Urien’s mind wasn’t the fact that he’d marry a ruthless warmonger, but rather the fact that he’d be able to go further south. The duchy was located further south than the barony, so it was bound to be warmer, and the warmer it was, the happier Marx would be.

Thanks to the head maid’s kind arrangement, he even managed to secure an accommodation that was close to nature.

“The weather’s perfect for sunbathing today, Marx.”

Now that his stomach was full, Marx laid down comfortably on the table. Urien on the other hand, sat nearby, resting on his elbow on the table, looking over the lizard with a smile.

Rodrick must also have someone that he cherished—like Marx was to Urien.

Once their two-years contract was up, they’d be able to live with the person that they cherished.

Urien would go somewhere with Marx, while Rodrick would marry Lady Siana or whoever. A happy ending for both.

‘We’ll both find our happiness at the end.’