A Superior in the Contract
Had Curtis been his usual self, he would have summarily disposed of Chloe long ago and been done with it.
But he was the man who had brought about the armistice with the Three Kingdoms. That meant he was capable of turning plans over endlessly in his head for the sake of a goal—and capable of patience.
Executing Chloe in this situation simply because he was furious was out of the question. The moment he made this disappear as if it had never happened, he would have to go through with the very trip to Glintland he had tried so hard to avoid.
And so, struggling to maintain his composure, he asked again.
“Very well. I can’t deny that, in this game, you’ve gotten hold of a weakness of mine, Warrant Officer.”
“Thank you.”
“That wasn’t praise. Let me ask one thing. What exactly do you gain by making me undergo a punishment drill?”
Money, honor, and everything else aside.
He was asking what she could possibly gain by deliberately provoking his temper.
He tried to sound as cool-headed as possible, but there was no avoiding the ominous edge in his voice.
Chloe sensed it too.
So she fell silent for a long while, choosing her words. Then she spoke again.
“For one thing, it would be rather enjoyable.”
“What, exactly, would be—”
“The satisfaction of making a superior who punishes people collectively at the drop of a hat do drills for once, perhaps.”
Curtis was struck speechless.
“Or perhaps the gratification of avenging the fact that I went to a banquet on my day off to assist my superior, only to suddenly fall out of His Majesty’s favor.”
It was so absurd he let out a snort.
For something as petty as that?
Chloe did not miss the emotion that flickered across Curtis’s face for even an instant.
“Are you thinking, for something as petty as that?”
Curtis immediately snapped back, sharp as a blade.
“Am I wrong? I understand you’ve been in the military for quite some time, Warrant Officer. Do you not know the chain of command? If you’re so dissatisfied with discipline, how have you survived army life?”
“I would like to ask you the same thing, Your Grace.”
“Ask me what?”
“The chain of command. Then between you and me, Your Grace, who is above whom right now?”
The moment Curtis asked that, Chloe folded her arms, rose, and stepped close to him.
Curtis flinched without meaning to.
Those pink eyes, which he had barely ever properly seen because she was always lowering her head to him and saying yes, were staring straight at him with a strange heat.
“Of course, in rank, Your Grace is above me. But it seems you don’t quite understand what marriage is.”
Curtis tried to lean back, but it was not easy.
“What are you talking about? If I marry you, do I become your subordinate?”
“Of course, kingdom law states that spouses are equal.”
Chloe quickly pulled back and settled against the sofa again. Then she lifted both palms in a little shrug, as if balancing scales.
“I told you that in negotiations, it’s usually advantageous to specify the terms and compensation clearly. But there is something even more important than that.”
“…”
“Making an offer that takes the other party’s position into account.”
At last regaining his composure, Curtis cleared his throat.
Chloe waited until he sat on the sofa opposite her, then continued.
“What Your Grace will demand of me is that I become your wife in name and take His Majesty’s attacks with my entire body. That is what you’re paying compensation for.”
“…And?”
“Shouldn’t my family be included in that? Marriage is the union of one family with another.”
Curtis went still with a jolt.
Chloe glanced at him and went on.
“Since you seem to understand what I mean, I’ll ask. In this marriage, will you employ my entire family as well and compensate them too?”
Naturally, she was not asking him to hire her family.
Curtis understood that too.
Why had he kept putting Chloe off until the very end, even though he had considered her from the beginning?
Because the Amboise family’s standing was far too low.
He had already fallen out of the king’s favor. That was bad enough as it was, but if he married her, the number of people laughing at Grand Duke Berk would increase a hundredfold.
After being demoted, he did not particularly want to be mocked as well.
But to put it another way, what Curtis had to endure amounted to nothing more than ridicule.
On the other hand, how much would the Amboise family have to endure?
If Chloe Amboise of the Navy became Chloe Shan Berk, an enormous wave would likely crash over House Amboise.
Rumors, attention, invitations, whispers…
And that would only be the tip of the iceberg.
It was a blind spot Curtis had failed to consider. It was also the mistake of someone born far too high, who had lived his entire life without ever looking down.
“For reference, I have three younger siblings who haven’t even finished school yet, let alone married.”
“…”
And that was not all.
They would become targets for all manner of malice.
Of course, they would fall out of the king’s favor as well.
A poor family with a hereditary title, yes, but only that of a 1st-Class Honorary Knight. A family so insignificant it had barely existed in the public eye.
For such a household to attract the attention of the entire social world could never be a happy occasion.
If anything, it was closer to a disaster.
“Do you remember that I told you this afternoon I didn’t have a banquet gown?”
“…I remember.”
“It isn’t a matter of money. My siblings don’t even know how to greet high nobles. Families like ours have no reason or occasion to meet great aristocrats.”
Curtis let out a low groan.
Chloe continued, each word crisp.
“I enlisted at eighteen because the salary came in reliably. I wanted to earn money to pay for my eldest younger brother’s tuition, and my goal was to marry my younger sisters into reasonably decent families.”
“…”
“I became Your Grace’s aide because my second younger sister also wanted to study at university.”
Chloe Amboise was the young head of a 1st-Class Honorary Knight’s household.
It was a hereditary rank, yes, but a trifling title with no land attached. Children from such families tended to choose studies over useless etiquette and dresses.
“If I enter even a fake marriage with Your Grace, it does not simply mean I’ll earn a great deal of money. It means I’ll have to take my good siblings, who have known nothing but studying, and drag them into an adventure none of us ever imagined experiencing.”
Curtis had, of course, been familiar with it on paper.
But reading a neatly organized record and hearing it from the person concerned were two entirely different things.
“To be honest, no matter how much money you offer, I don’t particularly want to do it. But because of what you did today, whether I like it or not, marriage to Your Grace has become something I absolutely must do.”
“…I’ll attend to your family’s safety and any other issues as much as I can.”
Chloe shook her head.
“I’ll say it again. You are the one asking me for a favor, Your Grace. I want more than mere attention.”
“For example?”
“…At the very least, in this marriage—no…”
Chloe hesitated for a moment, then spoke again.
“In this contract, I want it made clear that I am the superior.”
“The superior?”
“I think it becomes obvious if you consider that I endure brutal overtime by Your Grace’s side not because I care about Your Grace.”
There were times when a seemingly foolish question was necessary.
Curtis sighed and answered.
“You can’t be asking me to give you a special promotion.”
Of course, Chloe did not think Curtis had said that because he truly failed to understand.
“For me to officially outrank Your Grace, I’d have to ascend the throne.”
“…Thank you for that remark that would have you and your siblings hanging side by side on the gallows…”
The man rubbed his creased forehead. Exhaustion clung to him.
Then why the punishment drill?
“You mean you want me to show through action, at least, that the Warrant Officer is the superior in this contract.”
“…Precisely.”
The logic was clear.
Second only to one, above all others.
The man who had never bowed to anyone but the king had asked a woman to marry him.
Without even properly knowing what she would have to endure.
And so the woman had prescribed him a drastic remedy.
Actions over words.
Vague promises that he would more or less look after things would not suffice.
Because what she would have to sacrifice in this marriage were things that might never be restored in her lifetime.
Her reputation, her family’s peace, and so on.
By contrast, what price had Curtis offered in exchange for that sacrifice?
Curtis had money to spare.
Therefore money was merely an incidental condition of this transaction, not a true price.
Then at the very least, she was saying she needed to drag Curtis down beneath her.
I’ll grant your request, so you swear through action too. In exchange for everything I have to bear through this marriage, show me that you are at least prepared to step down from that magnificent staircase of yours and live as my subordinate.
Until moments ago, he had suspected his aide had gone mad. But after Chloe’s explanation, Curtis immediately understood.
Perhaps because of that, the displeasure he had felt and his suspicions about Chloe’s mental state had long since melted away like snow.
And not only that.
With clarity like this, he even began to trust that this woman was precisely the one who would carry out what he wanted from this marriage.
Insubordination?
If he thought of it as a transaction he ought to fulfill as a contracting party, there was no reason he could not do it, Curtis thought.
Chloe thought, I just improvised the hell out of that.
She had lost her mind for a moment.
At the thought that she might get revenge on the Grand Duke, she had started talking about punishment drills and all that—but it had been a reckless gambit.