Don't Keep a Dog in the Garden - Chapter 21

On the way back to Cassia’s room, Whisker spoke up brightly, “Is a simple ceremony really enough? I thought your wedding would be more splendid.”

“The officiant to write the vows and the Crown Prince to stand as witness are coming. What more do we need?”

“It needs beauty, grandeur, magnificence, and luxury to make your wedding shine.”

“It’s a hassle. All that’s needed in the end is the marriage vow document.”

“So that’s all you want to gain from this marriage. How disappointing.”

Whisker wiped at the corner of his eyes with the back of his right hand, pretending to cry playfully.

Pretending to cry.

He really was a man who did things that didn’t suit him at all.

Cassia didn’t play along with Whisker’s antics and kept walking.

Whisker, having stopped pretending to cry, raised his left hand and turned Cassia, who had been walking ahead, back toward him.

Cassia’s right hand, wrapped in his left, was lifted along with it.

“I have only you.”

With dangerous eyes devoid of any playfulness, Whisker smiled.

For a brief moment, she failed to react to that handsome face, and in that instant, Whisker pressed a kiss to the back of Cassia’s hand.

It wasn’t the first time she had carelessly given him her hand, so Cassia tried to pull it back without saying anything.

But Whisker lifted her hand a little higher and pressed a kiss to the inside of her wrist as well.

At some point, his right hand had wrapped around her waist, and his head slowly tilted.

There was no need to ask what the intention of the lips drawing closer was.

Cassia turned her head and refused his lips.

That was all the refusal amounted to.

She was still in Whisker’s arms, his neck right before her eyes, giving off a scent that was enough to drive her mad.

She could have slapped him and pushed him away, but the space she unconsciously left behind provoked the greedy dog.

He was parched and hungry.

Unlike before, this master seemed merciful, as if she might give him more if he begged.

Whisker swallowed dryly, and his Adam’s apple bobbed sharply.

“Ca….”

“Your Grace! Are you here?”

What stopped Whisker, who had been about to speak, was the sudden appearance of the head maid, Merlin.

She had been guarding the grand ducal residence of Diorent, then came up to Elium not long ago after hearing news of Cassia’s wedding.

Holding a lamp, Merlin hurried over and first checked that Cassia was safe.

Seeing the sweat beading on her forehead, she must have been searching for quite some time.

“Do you know how startled I was when you suddenly disappeared at night? I was wondering if I should wake the butler.”

“Sorry, I couldn’t sleep, so I went for a short walk.”

“I’m sure the Duke coaxed you out.”

Merlin shot Whisker a glare and, very naturally, separated their hands.

Whisker, who had been dragged into this out of nowhere, protested, “That’s not true.”

“Hmph. Ten years ago or now, the only one who coaxes our Grand Duchess out is you, Duke.”

“It wasn’t like that back then either.”

Ten years ago, he hadn’t been the one to coax her out first. Rather, he had been the one lured by those golden eyes that persistently followed him.

Whisker flailed in grievance like a fish on a hook.

Whether he complained or not, Merlin tidied Cassia’s robe and spoke gently, “You should go to bed now. If you can’t sleep, shall I bring you some warm honey tea?”

“That’s not it, I said.”

Whisker, completely ignored, tried to insist once more, but only earned Merlin’s glare.

To the head maid of the grand ducal household, just past thirty, Cassia was a master, a younger sibling, a superior, and family.

Merlin always supported Cassia’s decisions, but she couldn’t look kindly on Whisker.

Merlin, who had been shooting daggers with her eyes at Whisker while Cassia wasn’t looking, lifted her arm to straighten the collar of Cassia’s robe that had folded inward.

Merlin usually wore dresses fastened tightly to the ends of the sleeves, but the robe she had thrown on in a hurry had loose sleeves.

Through the billowing sleeve of the robe, bare skin showed, and on it, a long, grotesque scar was revealed.

“A sword wound?”

At Whisker’s voice, Merlin quickly lowered her arm and covered her right arm. Then she glanced at Cassia with a very troubled expression.

He had only seen it for a moment, but there was no way Whisker wouldn’t recognize it.

It was clearly a mark left by a blade. And a fairly deep scar at that.

But how could the head maid of the grand ducal household have been cut by a sword?

As Whisker tilted his head, Cassia wrapped an arm around Merlin’s shoulders and answered briefly, “While protecting me.”

It was a short answer, but enough to guess what had happened.

Cassia’s father, Hamilton, had suffered assassination threats his entire life.

There was no way his daughter Cassia would have been safe.

Merlin was the benefactor who had risked her life to protect Cassia from an assassin.

Cassia gently stroked Merlin’s back.

It wasn’t only her arm. Long, traces of that grace remained on her back as well.

The memory of that day when life and death had hung in the balance remained a painful past for both Cassia and Merlin, but the fact that both of them were alive was more important than the past.

The maids who had become her friends, the knights who had protected her, all died for Cassia.

And Merlin was the only one who survived among those who had been with Cassia since childhood.

That was why Merlin was one of the very few people to whom Cassia, who suffered from severe misanthropy, reached out first.

“Goodness. You’re doing this again. I’m fine now, you know?”

Merlin deliberately spoke brightly as she removed Cassia’s hand from her back.

Then, with a playful attitude, she began to push Cassia along by the back.

“Alright, that’s enough. You need to go to sleep now. Hurry, hurry.”

Cassia moved as if she had no choice, and Merlin, leaving a snort for the still-standing Whisker, walked away.

Back in her room, Cassia lay down obediently as Merlin guided her.

After Merlin, who had tidied the bedding, left the room, Cassia quietly got up and stood by the window.

The waning moon, the same as that day, hung in the dark sky.

It was the very moon she had cried and begged to save Merlin, who had been on the brink of death.

She had prayed on the night of the full moon as well.

She had tried praying on the night of the new moon too.

The day her father died, the moon was a clean half, as if cut in two.

She prayed through so many nights and lost everyone except Merlin.

So at some point, Cassia’s wish became just one thing. Her resolve too became just one.

That no one would die because of her.

No one will die.

No one.

Even if it’s a dog that stepped into the garden of its own accord.

***

The wedding was simple but beautiful.

It was a modest ceremony with only the members of the grand ducal household and the bride and groom, but it was thanks to the head maid Merlin and all the servants rolling up their sleeves for Cassia.

Crown Prince Jachim attended as a witness, offered grand congratulations, and left as if chased off by Whisker.

Rinox, his face ruined by a hangover, was said to have glared at the groom throughout the entire ceremony.

And then night came.

It was the first night of Cassia and Whisker.

“Don’t tell me you’re working right now?”

It was the first thing Whisker said when he entered the bridal chamber, after being made to drink penalty shots by the bride’s acquaintances, in effect by everyone belonging to the Grand Duchess.

Cassia, who had lifted her head from the pile of documents, glanced at Whisker once, then lowered her gaze again.

“I have something urgent to take care of.”

At Cassia’s indifferent answer, Whisker’s shoulders jerked sharply.

Letting out a deep sigh that seemed to make the ground sink, he tossed aside his cravat, already half loosened.

As he undid a few buttons of his white shirt, his dizzying collarbones were laid bare, leaving him in an appearance quite faithful to a first night.

Whisker stepped closer to the bride, who had buried her face in the documents without paying him any mind.

He bent down, pressed his lips near Cassia’s ear, and whispered in a low voice, “You’re not avoiding me, are you?”

The breath brushing against her eardrum was so sweet that it sent a shiver down her spine.

Watching the bride recoil and cover her ears in disgust, the groom thought he had a long way to go.

Cassia rose from her chair as if avoiding Whisker and stepped back.

After putting what she considered a proper distance between them, she declared in a very serious tone, “I have a duty to continue the Diorent line. So I need a child.”

At her words, Whisker’s expression turned displeased.

It was a relief that she wasn’t refusing to share a bed, but hearing that her sole purpose was producing an heir left the newlywed groom feeling unsettled.

Shrugging his shoulders, Whisker took a step toward Cassia and said, “You’ll come to need other things soon.”