If You Wish For A Married Couple’s Duties - Chapter 1

Episode 1. The Marriage Alliance

“…Do you really want to go?”

The face of the wind tribal chief, Yel, was full of sorrow.

On the contrary, the woman sitting opposite him seemed to be okay with it, and she threw the firewood into the burning bonfire.

“I am the only one.”

The woman, with her wavy, voluminous silver hair tied up half, had a strange aura.

Her straight eyebrows, neat nose bridge, and thick, rosy lips could not make her be called a beauty, even with empty words, but she had a charm that somehow caught people’s attention.

The almond-shaped, open eyes glowed golden like those of a beast’s.

The mysterious color of the eyes, which looked green or blue in the light, looked somewhat extraordinary.

“Because all of the princesses from other tribes are either married or too young to get married.”

“Dooha.”

When her father called her name, Dooha, the woman, slowly raised her gaze.

A spark shone in the eyes that had resembled melted gold.

“Even if I stay here, I only have one option. I don’t like that, father.”

If she had to experience humiliation and shame, she would rather go to a place where no one knew her. He was not a father who could not see the determination hidden in his daughter’s face.

But just because he knew it… didn’t mean he could understand it.

“…Were you angry? That you didn’t take the seat of the successor?”

Only the chieftain’s son could sit in the chieftain’s seat.

It had always been like that in the past, it is like that today, and it always will be like that.

“I admit that you are excellent, but the chieftain needs everyone’s approval. Winning a duel is not everything.”

“Unless I am born in another tribe or reborn as a man, that recognition is something I will never receive.”

There were only three older brothers.

However, even though she was born as a girl, she was far superior to them in every way.

Dooha, who was born with the qualities of a chief, had a desire and boldness to win, and, of course, believed that she would become the chieftain.

As a child, how ecstatically she had looked at her father’s back, who led everyone in her tribe. She obviously knew that she could be like him, too.

Naively.

“Yes. Was the only path you could choose was to marry an imperial aristocrat on your own? Was it really?”

“Isn’t it better than staying here and supporting a guy who is obviously much worse than me?”

“Dooha!”

“At least I can gain pride in myself by devoting to the alliance between the Empire with the tribe.”

After finishing what she had to say, Dooha got up from her seat.

Packing up her hat and cape without saying a word, she looked back at her father before leaving the room.

Her father’s back, which was wide and confident enough to instill a dream in her back then, now looked old and shabby like a rock that had been worn out after enduring the years.

His appearance stabbed her in the chest, but Dooha finally turned her head away.

It was more painful for her to experience things that she could not enjoy than it was to see her changed father’s back.

She rolled up the thick carpet that had been used as a door, rather than an actual door. As she went outside, a familiar figure that was leaning against a stone wall caught her eye.

It was her first brother, ‘Nihir’, who overtook her to become the next chieftain.

His silvery curly hair resembled hers, but his gray eyes did not. It was a face that one could tell was filled with tantrums just by looking at it.

“You’re going to the Empire?”

Nihir had hated Dooha since childhood.

It must be because his younger sister, who was much younger than him, was neither cute nor friendly, and she had always fought hard to win.

In addition, as time went by, he had always lost to her, so how else should he have felt?

“Heh, your personality will make it easy for you to survive in the Empire.”

“It’s not your business.”

“How could I not care about my only sister? Moreover, your marriage is for an alliance with the Empire…”

“That’s right. My marriage is for an alliance with the Empire.”

Dooha continued her words as she turned her head towards her older brother.

“So it would be better for my brother to do something for Bashal during the time he shows his inferiority complex to me.”

“What, what?”

Nihir’s face contorted like a demon at his sister’s sincere advice.

“I do not have one!”

Impatiently, he tried to swing his arm towards his only sister’s face, but he failed to do so.

Since his only sister simply slammed his arm.

Dooha was aiming her dagger, which was worn around her waist, at the nape of her brother’s neck.

“Please don’t let me regret giving away my position as chieftain, Nihir.”

With eyes that genuinely took pity for Nihir, she put away her dagger.

“Ha! Giving away? Giving away? Don’t make me laugh! You lost to me. You lost to me!”

Nihir screamed at Dooha’s back, who turned away coldly. She didn’t even pretend to hear him.

“Dooha Yel Bashal, you are a loser! Forever!”

Knowing nothing else, thinking that she no longer had to look at that pathetic face again made her feel lighter.

Twenty years have passed since the Krone Empire conquered half of the continent.

Nevertheless, the regions at the border were still suffering from exhausting battles with the forces that were hostile to the Empire.

However, the Halton area, which bordered two kingdoms and had the second strongest military power after the Empire, had been peaceful since the change of lords.

Halton’s people cheered the new leader’s skill, but the incompetent rulers of the capital didn’t like it.

Since the competence of others only made their incompetence stand out.

Moreover, the new lord of Halton was a blue-eyed young boy who had just turned twenty.

Such a person was not qualified enough to be the head of the wealthiest duke’s family, and since the Empire obtained Halton, they were bound to get a stomachache.

Even the emperor cared for him and did not hesitate to support the Halton estate, so the resentment of the old nobles seemed to pierce through the sky.

They declared that they would not do business with the Halton Estate. Whenever they received a request for troop support from other frontier areas, they responded with an absurd reply, saying to request support from the Halton Estate.

As the situation worsened, the emperor was forced to ignore their grievances. Eventually, he invited the most famous young lord of the empire to the capital.

He hoped that the solution he has proposed will quell the dissatisfaction of other nobles.

“Long time no see, Lord Leonhart. I think this is the first time I’ve seen your face since your succession ceremony.”

With a long window bringing in sunlight, slanted in shape, the emperor was sitting on a throne, that was on a pedestal, wearing a red satin cloak.

He looked at the young man, who was kneeling on one knee under the podium.

The sunlight pouring through the huge glass window was dazzling and made others frown due to its intensity, but the young man kneeled without raising an eyebrow.

The young man was handsome. His appearance could even be called beautiful rather than handsome.

Delicate features beneath his gelled, neatly brushed golden hair, and his unshakable blue eyes looked cold, but at the same time, ironically, infinitely warm.

“I have committed disloyalty by not being able to visit the Emperor often,” he said. “Please forgive me with mercy, Your Majesty.”

“Raise your head. Thanks to your hard work, the margins have been able to find stability, so there is no need for you to apologize.”

In addition to his answer, the emperor lightly waved his hand with a happy smile.

“I’m sorry.” The young man lowered his head deeply, placing one of his clenched fists in front of his chest.

His name was Leonhart Von Esbaden. He was Halton’s owner and was known to the public as the Duke of Esbaden.

It was this young man who had received all of the jealousy and envy of the imperial nobles.

“Yes, the reason I brought you all the way here is an important one.”

At the emperor’s words, the duke quietly waited for his next words.

“Duke of Esbaden,”

The ensuing words of the emperor caused a shift in the expression of the duke, who was not usually surprised.

“Please marry for the sake of the Empire.”