A Barbaric Proposal Chapter 65

※Courtship (1)※

[Flambard] "Your Highness! Heavens, look at your clothes! How did you get so filthy?"

Madam Flambard was waiting for the moment Liene returned from the North Tower, her hands flying to her cheeks in horror.

[Flambard] "Not this dress! This was one of the few fine pieces you had left!"

[Liene] "…I’m sorry, Madam."

Liene truly meant it. Whenever her wardrobe suffered, it was Madam Flambard who bore the brunt of the labor.

Whenever Liene offered to help with the laundry, the older woman would practically barricade the washroom.

She insisted that as long as she had breath in her lungs, she would not watch her sovereign perform such menial work.

[Liene] "It’s only fruit juice. Can’t we just dab it away?"

Madam Flambard shook her head with such vigor, looking as if the fruit juice had committed a crime against her.

[Flambard] "Dab it away? Your Highness, fruit juice is the devil to clean! Especially the dark kind. It doesn't just sit on the fabric—it dyes it."

[Liene] "Oh. I... I didn't realize. I’m so sorry."

[Flambard] "Get out of it at once. With juice, it’s a race against the clock. If you don’t treat it the second it touches the thread, the garment is as good as gone."

Liene’s guilt deepened.

She had let the juice sit for quite a while. Madam Henton had been weeping, and Liene, having no handkerchief to offer, had simply gathered her skirts and offered the hem for the woman to dry her eyes.

Madam Henton had looked at her as if she were insane, but eventually, she had accepted the silk to stem her tears. It seemed to have helped the sobbing stop faster, at least.

[Liene] "I’ll take it off now."

[Flambard] "Yes, yes! Quickly!"

The Madam spun Liene around and began fumbling with the row of buttons down her spine.

[Flambard] "I put you in this dress specifically today to make a point... but I suppose it can't be helped. You'll have to wear the brown one. It’s so drab, though. You’ll look like a commoner in it."

[Liene] "The color doesn't matter. But why the fuss? Why did you want me in this one?"

[Flambard] "Isn't it obvious? To make you look beautiful."

[Liene] "I don't need to look beautiful right now."

[Flambard] "Nonsense. Of course you do."

The Madam’s hands faltered for a brief second as the dress loosened.

[Flambard] "…You need to make peace with him."

[Liene] "Oh."

Even the Madam had noticed the icy chasm that had opened between her and Black after the incident with the wedding coat.

Come to think of it, Liene hadn't even apologized to the Madam yet—the woman who had poured her soul into sewing that dress.

[Liene] "I’m sorry, Madam."

[Flambard] "Why are you apologizing to me? It’s Lord Tiwakan you need to be making amends with."

[Liene] "For the dress, I mean. I know how hard you worked on it."

[Flambard] "My feelings don't matter. You worked just as hard on it as I did. But the lack of a coat is a crisis, Princess. How on earth are we going to procure another one of that quality on such short notice?"

That was indeed a problem.

[Liene] "We’ll do what we must. I’ll sell a piece of jewelry. If I sell my sapphire necklace, it should cover the cost of a decent coat."

[Flambard] "You... you can’t mean the sapphire pendant? The one the late Queen cherished so dearly?"

[Liene] "It’s the only thing left of value."

[Flambard] "Oh, Your Highness!"

Madam Flambard broke into a sudden, mournful sob.

[Flambard] "How can you speak of selling it so lightly? You know what that necklace represents!"

Liene knew. It had been her mother’s most prized possession—a token of love from her father given before their wedding.

Liene squeezed her eyes shut, forcing her voice to remain cold and detached.

[Liene] "I can hardly sell the Coronation Scepter, can I?"

[Flambard] "Princess!"

[Liene] "We’re short on time, so we must be efficient. Find a fabric suitable for a wedding coat. Don't worry about the price; get the best you can find."

[Flambard] "Are you... Are you going to go through with this?"

[Liene] "Yes."

To cherish her mother's memory felt like a sin now. Her father's legacy was a nightmare to the man she loved; what right did she have to cling to "precious" mementos?

[Flambard] "Please... think on it again. I’ll search the vaults; there must be something else we can sell."

The frost in Liene's tone made the Madam hesitate, her voice trembling.

[Liene] "Tell Mr. Marten at the stables to fetch the jeweler. I want to see him before the day is out."

[Flambard] "..."

[Liene] "I want to provide the wedding coat at the very least. I don't want to hear another word about it."

[Flambard] "I... I understand."

With tears blurring her vision, Madam Flambard helped Liene into the brown dress. It was a sturdy, unadorned thing made of thick wool.

As Liene looked at her reflection in the glass, she thought she looked utterly wretched—a perfect match for her internal state.

---

[Black] "…Dammit."

The curse left his lips like a snarl.

Everyone in the room turned to glare at the person sitting before him: Klima.

The servant flinched, his shoulders hunching as he trembled with terror.

They were in a deserted estate south of the Evert River.

A decade ago, it had belonged to the prestigious Spalding family, but they had fled Nauk when the droughts refused to break.

The house was a skeleton of its former glory—the larger the mansion, the more profound its decay.

Instead of hunting for Klima blindly, Fermos had set a trap. He had draped Tiwakan banners over the ruins and leaked a rumor that the mercenaries were holding prisoners there.

Just as Fermos had predicted, Klima had emerged from the shadows by dawn.

Now, Black had heard the full report of everything Klima had told Liene.

[Black] "I had hoped I was wrong."

Black rubbed the bridge of his nose.

Tiwakan recognized the gesture; he looked more dangerous now, unarmed and brooding, than he did with a blade in his hand.

[Black] "Hell. How am I supposed to fix this?"

[Fermos] "It... it might not be all bad, My Lord."

Fermos finally spoke up, unable to stomach the suffocating tension in the room.

[Fermos] "The Princess knows the truth of the past, yet she hasn't called off the wedding. In fact, she’s actively denying that she ever met this man. That suggests she has no intention of making your history an issue."

[Black] "And if she did?"

[Fermos] "Pardon?"

He fixed Fermos with a gaze as sharp as a shard of ice.

[Black] "What would it change if she made it an 'issue'?"

In that moment, Fermos realized he had been looking at the wrong map.

To Black, the marriage itself was no longer the objective—that was a foregone conclusion. The problem was the quality of the union. He wanted more than a contract; he wanted her.

[Black] "The Princess knows she can't back out of this marriage."

For Liene, the best move was to bury the past. To act as if she knew nothing.

If the secret stayed dead, the six houses wouldn't feel the need to hunt Black as they had hunted the young Prince Fernand, and Black wouldn't be forced to slaughter them all.

[Black] "Her head knows what to do, but her heart isn't following."

Black could still see her—grasping the shears with a bleeding hand, shredding the gown. Her movements had been violent, but her eyes had been hollow. It was the look of someone who had suffered a blow they couldn't process.

[Black] "Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned the betrothal... No, it wouldn't have mattered."

Just as he hadn't anticipated Manau or Henton, the past had a way of bleeding into the present. The distance he thought he had closed between him and Liene had stretched back to the horizon.

Black let out a heavy sigh and stood up.

[Black] "I'll just have to start from the beginning."

Fermos and the mercenaries let out a collective breath.

The God of War was nothing if not decisive. He knew exactly when to retreat and when to charge. If he had been pushed back, he would simply take the ground again.

But it would be different this time. Liene had no leverage to cancel the wedding.

Once the Grand Council Assembly was over, the houses clinging to the Risebury Treaty would be silenced, and the Kleinfelters would be erased.

There would be no one left for Liene to turn to. With the pests gone, he could focus entirely on winning her over.

[Black] "…If only I knew how to actually do that."

The bitterness of his own frustration sat like ash in his mouth.

[Black] "We’re going back."

He couldn't hide in a ruin forever. Like it or not, he had to face her.

[Fermos] "What about the servant?"

[Black] "Oh."

His mind had been so occupied by Liene that he had forgotten Klima was even there.

[Black] "What is it you want?"

He walked over to the servant.

[Klima] "I... I just want my mother to be safe."

[Black] "She will stay at Nauk Castle for the time being. It’s the safest place for her until the Kleinfelters are dealt with. Do you want to go there as well?"

[Klima] "I... I don't know."

Klima blinked, looking stunned. It was clear he hadn't thought that far ahead.

[Black] "Or you can go back to the temple."

[Klima] "The temple?"

[Black] "If you like it there. If not, don't go."

The freedom of choice seemed to paralyze Klima. It had been a long time since anyone had asked him what he wanted rather than telling him what to do.

[Black] "Think on it. We have time. Spend a few days with your mother and talk to her."

[Klima] "Talk to my mother? I... I can? Oh! Yes! Thank you!"

For the first time, a flicker of light returned to his face.

[Black] "Clean this place up."

With a sharp nod to Fermos, Black signaled the end of the meeting.

[Fermos] "Yes, My Lord."

The men moved with the practiced speed of soldiers heading home after a long campaign.

---

As fate would have it, the timing was perfect. Madam Flambard, on her way to the stables as Liene had ordered, spotted the Tiwakan party riding through the gates.

[Flambard] "Wait... isn't that the servant?"

She had been caught up in a moment of silent admiration for Black’s perfect posture in the saddle, but the sight of the prisoner made her gasp.

She had heard rumors that the woman who ruined the wedding coat was the servant’s mother, and that it was all somehow tied to Lord Tiwakan's mysterious past.

Liene had been vague, but the fact that the woman hadn't been punished spoke volumes.

[Flambard] "Is the servant coming into the castle? After he killed the Cardinal?"

She shook her head, dismissing the politics. She had more pressing matters.

She believed with every fiber of her being that Black was sincerely courting the Princess.

As she had told Liene a dozen times, a man like him didn't do the things he did unless his heart was involved.

[Flambard] "Lord Tiwakan!"

As she approached, Black’s expression shifted instantly.

[Black] "Has something happened?"

The sudden, lethal tension in his face made the Madam take an involuntary step back.

[Black] "Where is the Princess?"

For a moment, she was struck by how terrifying his eyes were, but then she realized the cause of his alarm.

Oh, the poor man. He thinks something’s happened to her. I suppose there’s no other reason I’d be waving him down.

[Flambard] "She’s in her study, My Lord. She’s perfectly fine."

[Black] "Ah."

The tension drained from him, and he looked human again.

The Madam clutched her chest, trying to calm her racing heart.

[Flambard] "Might I have a word? I have a request to make of you."

Black, the man who looked like he was made of winter and steel, gave a surprisingly graceful nod. He dismounted, handing the reins to Fermos.

[Black] "Take the servant inside. Reunited him with his mother."

[Fermos] "Yes, My Lord."

The mercenaries disappeared with Klima.

Once the courtyard was clear, Black turned back to the Madam.

[Black] "You may speak."

[Flambard] "Well... you see, it’s like this..."

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