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Ka-clatter—

Ka-clatter—

A carriage rolled along an open country road.

The carriage was driven by Alice, the current lord of Bota City—a beautiful young, silver-haired swordswoman with two long swords at her waist.

To make her territory prosperous and fulfill her dream of becoming a true city lord who could stand on her own, she was now headed to Cologne City, the seat of DeWitt County and the Empire’s greatest weapons-forging center.

It would be the first step toward strengthening the troops in her city, and the starting point from which she would finally set her dream sailing.

After all, it was there that she and her late younger sister had promised to make their territory prosper…

At the thought, she gently rested a hand on the half-broken sword at her waist.

That was what she believed, and she’d made up her mind with an unshakable resolve.

But should she say that plans never survive contact with reality, or that her luck with men had always been spectacularly awful…?

In all her life, she’d never once wanted to pound someone’s head in—until now.

“Hey! Could you stop sleeping and give me a hand? It’s your turn to drive, isn’t it?”

She tugged on the reins and looked back into the carriage.

There was Lin Ge, sprawled inside with his legs crossed, napping without a care in the world. His awful, snoring form came into clear view.

Her anger had already been teetering on the brink of exploding. Now it finally burst its banks.

“No way. It’s a little thing like this—you can do it yourself, can’t you?” Lin Ge rolled over, shifted into a new sleeping position, and lazily waved a hand. “I’m really busy right now.”

“Busy?! What are you busy doing?”

“Sleeping. Are you blind?”

“You?!”

Hearing the lazy slacker say that, Alice nearly lost it and charged in with her fist raised.

If she didn’t still have to drive the carriage, Alice would’ve loved to beat him to a pulp.

He was just so infuriating.

“Tch. Just you wait. Once we stop, you’re going to get it.”

Alice turned back with an irritated grimace and looked ahead.

Hold it in. For now, all she could do was hold it in. Once they reached their destination, she’d have her chance to let loose.

When that time came, no matter what he said, Alice wouldn’t go easy on him.

And so the carriage rolled on for a while longer…

“Ahh, I slept so well! Thanks for your hard work, Alice! You really are a city lord—your stamina’s incredible!”

“Here, have an apple to quench your thirst.”

“Ahh~”

Stretching, a cheerful smile on his face, Lin Ge patted Alice on the shoulder from behind and held a big, bright-red apple up to her lips.

The young man looked so sincere and friendly, and his smile was downright lovely.

The more she looked at him, the more she wanted to tenderly press her fist against his face~.

“Hmph. Trying to butter me up now? Too late! Just wait until we stop the carriage—I’ll show you.”

Alice gave a cold snort and took a huge bite out of the apple he’d offered. There was no room for negotiation in her voice.

“Is that so? I don’t mind if you want to.” Lin Ge shrugged and spread his hands, then took a bite from the spot Alice had just bitten. “I’m right here. Do whatever you want with me.”

“Oh? You’re giving up already?” Alice shot Lin Ge a cold look and scoffed. “You didn’t even try to fight back. What a pathetic loser.”

“Heh. It’s not that I’m not trying to fight back. I just know nothing’s going to happen to me.”

“Hah?! You think I wouldn’t dare lay a hand on you?”

“What else could it be?” Lin Ge tilted his head and smiled. “Domestic violence is a bad look, you know, my dear city-lord wife.”

“Believe me, I’ll let go of the reins right now and take you down with me.”

Alice narrowed her eyes coldly and let one hand leave the reins to rest on the hilt of her sword.

Her gaze was as sharp as a blade, cold enough to melt a person whole.

It was as if they really would take each other down the very next second.

“Trust me, you wouldn’t dare,” Lin Ge said with a smile.

“Try me and see if I dare,” Alice shot back without fear.

“If you really wanted to, you’d have made your move already. But you didn’t… You might have married down, and people might think poorly of you, but I’m still a member of Count DeWitt’s family, at least. If anything happened to me, you couldn’t shoulder the consequences. Am I wrong?”

“…”

“Tch. As always, you never use that brain of yours for anything decent.”

Clicking her tongue, Alice pulled her hand away from the sword hilt.

Yes, that was right. No matter how much she hated to admit it, just as this man had said, Alice couldn’t let Lin Ge get hurt—not even a little.

Otherwise, who knew if the other side might use it to threaten her?

That was how noble society worked, after all… full of scheming at every turn.

“Come on, don’t sulk. If you keep getting angry, you’ll ruin that pretty face of yours.”

“Here, have another bite of apple. It’ll cool you down.”

Lin Ge patted Alice’s soft shoulder soothingly and held the apple to her delicate, pink lips again.

Alice shot Lin Ge a cold look, but still obediently leaned over and took bite after bite.

Whatever else she did, she wasn’t going to turn down food. Besides… she really was a little hungry.

“You’re such a jerk. I don’t know what I did in my past life to end up with a fiancé like you.”

“Yeah, I’m a jerk. No argument there.”

Lin Ge nodded in agreement, turning the apple in his hand so the part with fruit left on it was close to Alice’s little cherry mouth.

Then he chuckled and said:

“And what does that make the city lord who kept it from me and lied, saying this was a premarital trip?”

“Mm-mm…”

Lin Ge had hit a sore spot. Alice deflated at once, and all her earlier domineering swagger disappeared.

“Ahem. I only resorted to that because I was afraid you wouldn’t come otherwise. Do you think I wanted to?” Alice looked away, her voice lacking conviction.

“Well, obviously. Who’d want to go back?”

Lin Ge shot Alice an exasperated look too.

He’d actually believed Alice meant to take him on a premarital trip. If not for a certain “bedfellow,” who’d been torn between loyalty and duty, accidentally letting something slip…

Lin Ge really would’ve followed her back like a fool.

That was why Lin Ge was being difficult and refusing to work, dumping everything on Alice.

Well, to be fair, he wouldn’t have worked even if he hadn’t known about it.

“All right, all right. What’s done is done, so I won’t ask any more questions. You should be grateful I’m such a good person, my dear~.”

“Can’t you ever talk like a normal person?”

Alice rolled her eyes and took a hard bite out of the apple.

Still, what was done was done. They could only carry on like this.

But if she got the chance, she still had to give Lin Ge a proper beating and knock some of the wind out of him.

Otherwise, she’d never be able to swallow this.

“Alice.”

“What?”

The carriage rolled on for a while longer.

With Lin Ge feeding her apple one moment and water the next, Alice’s anger eased a little.

But then Lin Ge went and said…

“Why are you carrying a broken sword? This one’s reached the end of its life, hasn’t it?”

“Who told you to mess with my sword? Put it down right now!!!”

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