A Husband's Word and a Wife's Worry
“Did you hear that the ban on outings has been lifted?”
“How do you know that?”
“I just do.”
“It’s true.”
“Then can you take me with you when you go out?”
Vesta found the request awkward. The matter itself was straightforward, yet he could sense Altaia’s unease.
He wore the title of Khan Ashtien’s fiancé, but that did not make Asmur any easier a partner.
Knowing full well what her answer would be, he asked the question anyway.
“Have you asked Asmur for permission?”
Rahan’s face twisted, as though Vesta had stabbed him in the gut.
Rahan could not lie.
“...No.”
It was honest, and that was good, but it did not help.
“Then it’s difficult.”
“If I tell her, she probably won’t let me go.”
“Even I think she’d say the same.”
Vesta shrugged, the words light but carrying weight if they became a promise.
He had not said he would take Rahan out even with empty words.
Rahan’s temper flared.
“I’m an adult by steppe standards! I’m old enough to go out without Asmur’s permission.”
Thinking he had made a perfect argument, Rahan spoke with surprising boldness.
“Adult.”
The word was not wrong.
Any man who married and stood apart from his clan deserved adult status.
Rahan had every right to claim it.
“You’re right.”
Vesta nodded readily, and Rahan’s face brightened a fraction.
“Then it doesn’t matter.”
“Well, I’ll cancel the part about getting Asmur’s permission first.”
“Then?”
“Instead, ask for her consent.”
“What? That’s the same thing!”
“It’s not.”
At least that was how Vesta saw it.
“Even without needing permission, you two are husband and wife.”
Rahan pressed his lips shut.
Of course, from his viewpoint the situation was unfair.
He could not leave the camp because of Asmur’s overprotectiveness, yet now he himself had to ask for consent.
“But.”
Rahan felt it too.
They were husband and wife; mutual respect was the right way.
Yet Asmur was also his protector.
“I don’t mind going with you. But you must ask your wife’s permission first.”
Perhaps Vesta had not expected such strong resistance.
Rahan looked genuinely startled.
“And Arin’s consent as well. We agreed to travel together for a while.”
Arin nodded.
“......”
Rahan understood Vesta’s words, but emotion stood between him and easy acceptance.
“Hey.”
“Arin?”
Rahan shuddered at her name.
The usual bright voice had been replaced by one laced with irritation.
“Yes...?”
“You know Asmur’s personality better than anyone.”
As a centaur taller and sturdier than any human woman, Arin’s blunt tone struck fear into even ordinary young men.
“If you suddenly disappear and Asmur hears about it, how do you think she’ll react?”
Rahan could not answer at once.
He knew the answer too well.
“And when she learns we took you out?”
Arin shook her head as though the mere thought brought her discomfort.
“I have ears too, so I know your situation. Yeah, it must feel frustrating. I understand perfectly.”
Arin shrugged exactly as Vesta had done.
“I can’t let you suffer because of Asmur, can I?”
Even setting Asmur aside, Arin had already accepted the role of Vesta’s protector.
Shouldering Rahan as well felt like an extra burden.
“I’m not angry. I’m just asking you to think it through. How can I take someone who can’t even speak properly to his own bride?”
Rahan’s face flushed crimson.
He seemed embarrassed.
From Vesta’s perspective, Arin was not trying to humiliate Rahan.
“She’s angry, that’s clear.”
Most centaurs lived by speaking their minds directly.
That was why Arin could seem blunt, even aggressive.
“Am I wrong?”
“...Everything you said is correct.”
Rahan’s spirit drooped so low it looked ready to sink into the ground.
“Understood.”
Rahan bowed deeply to Arin and greeted Vesta, apologizing for acting like a child.
Vesta shook his head.
“No, I didn’t think that far.”
“Hah, you’re only making me look bad.”
“That’s exactly what happened.”
Arin showed no awareness of her own aggression, as was natural for a centaur.
Vesta clapped Rahan on the shoulder.
“Go ahead and talk to Asmur. Ask for her consent and I’ll take you anywhere you want.”
“...Okay. I’ll speak with her today.”
Yet the words carried little conviction.
Vesta’s encouragement had not been enough.
Rahan’s shoulders sagged.
*
“Shall we sleep now?”
Asmur’s voice drew a nod from Rahan.
He turned to face her in the dark room.
Even the dim light could not hide the purple hue of her skin.
She wore clothing so thin her skin showed beneath it.
Asmur—
his wife—stood tall, with limbs long and graceful.
Those features were not mere existence; they reached out and captured Rahan’s gaze like hooks.
Every time he looked at her, he thought his wife was unreally beautiful.
Youthful, healthy elven flesh. Strong yet astonishingly soft and warm.
Asmur’s body drew closer to him.
She lay on the bed and naturally pulled him into her embrace.
Rahan offered no resistance.
Everyone saw Asmur as cold.
He knew otherwise.
Her embrace was astonishingly warm.
Asmur’s chest pressed against his back.
Rahan felt her heartbeat directly against him.
In the quiet stillness, the only sound that moved was hers—her wife’s voice.
That sound alone let him sleep in peace.
“You look troubled. What happened?”
Asmur asked while holding him.
Rahan opened his mouth, then closed it again, unwilling to burden her with his worries.
“Asmur.”
“...Yes.”
“Vesta and Arin are going out soon.”
He used banmal with her here, but with her he spoke in full respect.
Before her, pretending to be strong meant nothing.
Already sensing his intent, Asmur’s face tightened.
“It’s dangerous. It always was, but especially now.”
“I heard Khan Ashtien personally lifted the ban on Vesta’s outings. The situation has calmed.”
Rahan spoke truth.
Yet Asmur could not view Vesta and Rahan equally.
-You are different.
If she said those words, her young husband would reply.
-What is different?
-You are weak. I must protect you. Rahan.
Those were Asmur’s unyielding beliefs.
She never voiced them aloud.
Rahan understood her meaning, but speaking it would wound her.
Instead he held her tighter.
“You won’t grant permission?”
“...No.”
Rahan tried to pull away, but Asmur’s resistance was almost nonexistent.
Keeping him inside her embrace was too easy.
She released him, and the sudden loneliness that followed was unbearable.
The Hasmuk woman who had once lived alone against the cold steppe walls.
She spoke to his retreating back.
“Uncle caught a cold.”
-Will you really leave me like this?
Rahan said nothing at first, then turned and returned.
So cute. So precious in his very existence.
Asmur smiled bitterly.
She remembered the conversation she had once shared with Khan Ashtien.
[Khan, may I ask one thing?]
[Go ahead. Of course.]
[It’s not a special question. I’m simply curious how you would feel if your mate went into a dangerous battle.]
The Khan had not rebuked her.
He thought seriously and answered.
[I would worry, but I would not stop him from going.]
[Really?]
[...Was that so unexpected? But Asmur, how can one stop a man who wants to fight? I cannot forbid my mate from bleeding. If it is blood that must be shed.]
[Is the irreversible loss not terrifying?]
[Terrible, yes. But you.]
-A boy does not remain a boy forever. A man becomes a man.
Perhaps Rahan was trying to summon courage.
-I can stay a boy forever. My husband.
Asmur truly believed that.
Yet if Rahan wished to be a man, she must show courage as well.
“Rahan?”
“......”
Rahan answered nothing.
He had given her his body’s warmth, yet his heart remained troubled.
“Ahh.”
“All right. I’ll speak with Arin tomorrow.”
Rahan startled and turned toward Asmur.
His eyes sparkled. They were not the usual half-lidded gaze.
Perhaps the goat testicles Altaia had recommended had increased his strength?
No, that was unlikely.
“Hee hee.”
Seeing her young husband smile so brightly, Asmur smiled back.
“So happy?”
She showed the smile she never displayed to anyone else.