Today, Gahad and Landevale apanied Dirk on a mission of utmost importance.
At long st, Dirk’s and his panions’ families would arrive on this p, finally possessing the means to bypass the rift in the sky. They had chosen a discreet location in the southern part of the Soulnaught Empire, he Edensor Kingdom, to receive them. However, on their way, they entered an ued figure.
Gahad and Landevale bli the sight of Emperor Burn and Empress Man traveling in a carriage toward their winter retreat vil. Before they could offer their greetings and curtsies, the man in the carriage stopped them with a siatement.
“Brother, it’s me, Gawain.”
He removed the ring from his finger, and his form shifted back to his true self. The woman beside him, supposedly the Empress, followed suit, returning to her inal appearance—Marissa Lombardi, who narded them with an awkward smile.
Ah. Of course, there was a catch.
Marissa could only grumble internally.
Why else would the Emperor’s mad dog suddenly propose marriage to her? Naturally, it had been part of an imperial mission.
This was diviribution.
Karma.
The heavens had finally e to settle the score.
After all, she had once subtly but brazenly decred herself the future empress. She had never been directly punished for such audacity—until now. And what was her penance? Posing as the Empress in a covert and potentially perilous mission.
Not that it was ily dangerous—if her only role was to stand in for the Empress, then it was hardly a risk at all. But given the circumstances, and the fact that Gawain had been the o her here… Well.
It could be dangerous.
This was Gawain, after all. The Emperor’s mad dog.
For the record, she had not been briefed orue purpose of this mission. All she had been told was to py the part of the Empress. That was all. Yet, seeing how even Gahad and Landevale—ranked sed and third in the Round Table—had not initially reized them as impostors, a distinct sense of utled in her chest.
This was a direct order from the Emperor himself.
And initially, only Gawain had known.
Why else would he have o marry her to prepare for this mission? If not to bio ensure her silence?
“So… who is this?” Landevale finally asked, addressing Gawain.
“My wife,” Gawain answered ftly.
A beat of silence. Gahad and Landevale exged ghen turned back to Gawain, blinking in unison.
“When did you get married, brahad narrowed his eyes.
“Yesterday,” Gawain replied. “We haven’t had the ce to celebrate yet. I had t her here immediately for an urgent mission from His Majesty.”
Gahad’s eyes darkened with suspi. “Wait… You… married someone for a mission?”
Landevale let out a sdalized gasp. “You actually did it? This mad dog…”
Gawain’s jaw twitched, a muscle tig in irritation. “I’m not so much of a bastard that I’d leave a woman unmarried after askio py my wife.”
Gahad flinched, his eyes fshing dangerously red, while Landevale blushed, turning an arming shade of scarlet in a poof.
“This fucker—” Gahad’s expression torted between fury and barely restrained violence. “Watch your damn mouth.”
Gawain, ever the instigator, merely sneered.
And just like that, their old rivalry fred anew.
It had been some time sihey had faced each other like this. Gawain had always harbored reseahad, who had the privilege of serving directly under Burn’s and while Gawain was sent away to act as the Emperor’s shadow. Yes, his position proved the extent of the Emperor’s trust in him, but it could never pare to Gahad’s role as Burn’s closest aide.
And beyond that—
They had both bee bachelors in the Round Table.
Teically, they still were.
But while Gahad remained officially unattached, it e that he ursuing Landevale. Whether the retionship would move forward was entirely up to her.
Gawain, oher hand—
His work had ehat he had no time for retionships. He carried too mas, bore too many enemies. He maoo much of the empire’s destine affairs—underground dealings, intelligeworks, bck markets. He was the Emperor’s hidden bde and his untraceable wealth.
He had once overseeor Mert Group before Burn repurposed it. He trolled ties with the assassins’ guilds, the information brokers, the illicit trades no noble would ever aowledge publicly.
He did not have the luxury of courtship.
But now? The Emperor had ordered him to take a wife.
And not just any wife—one handpicked by His Majesty himself.
A woman intelligent enough not to betray him.
One of the most beautiful noblewomen on the ti.
Well.
Not quite as beautiful as the Empress, of course. But the Empress was in a category of her own. Gawain had always revered Burn as a god—so how could he expect his own wife to pare to the wife of a god?
A donkey and an ali were, at the end of the day, both equine.
That was close enough.
And now, finally, he had the ce to rub all of this in Gahad’s face.
But this… uedly, made Marissa blush.
So—so it wasn’t just about bindio sile wasn’t just about ensuring secrecy?
This man—this cold, ruthless, Emperor’s mad dog—had married her not out of y, but because he refused to leave a woman unmarried after askio pose as his wife?
H-how… sweet.
For the first time in her life, Marissa saw something beyond politics, beyond manipution and strategy. The man beside her—Gawain Agravaine—was such a gentleman that he would uatingly marry a stranger, simply because his mission required them to py the role of husband and wife.
Landevale, watg the growing flush on Marissa’s face, exhaled sharply and brushed the back of her hand against her own cheek in an attempt to cool the warmth spreading there. She turo Marissa with a knowing look.
“You two, stop bickering,” she muttered at Gawain and Gahad before shiftitention fully to Marissa. “Miss Lombardi… uh, Lady Agravaine, are you okay with this?”
Marissa startled, her thoughts snapping back to the present. “O-okay with what?”
Landevale gave her a ft look. “Getting married to this idiot, of course.”
“Huh? I—I…” Marissa faltered, suddenly feeling far too aware of the weight of Gawain’s presence beside her. “Dame Landevale, I don’t… mind…”
Landevale sighed. “Well, you’re already married to him, so I suppose that ahat.”
At this, Gawain scoffed, crossing his arms. “Who are you calling an idiot, Landevale?”
“Right,” Gahad cut in. “That title ing out of your mouth is reserved for me.”
“You two—” Landevale flushed, exasperated. “Why is it that the only time you agree on anything, it’s something stupid?!”
A knock at the carriage door interrupted their versation.
Immediately, Gawain slipped the ring bato his finger, his expression unging. Marissa followed suit, her movements a touch more hesitant but precise. In an instant, the Emperor and Empress had returned.
When the door swung open, Dirk stood there, smiling and nodding iing. “Ladies alemen, it’s almost time to depart. Or shall we go together?”
Gahad turawain, his voice measured. “Your Majesty, would you like to apany us?”
Without hesitation, Gawain gave a curt nod, his grip tightening around Marissa’s hand in an effortless dispy of familiarity. Meanwhile, Marissa—still unaced to how naturally he acted as if they had been together for years—simply blushed a silent.
Gahad, resolutely ign the unnecessary dispy of affe, turned back to Dirk. “Let’s proceed, then.”
As the carriage resumed its journey, now making an additional stop before reag its final destination, Gahad cast Gawain a sidelong gnce, his gaze questioning why he had chosen to e personally under Burn’s guise instead of entrusting the task to someone else.
Gawai his stare briefly before flig his eyes toward Landevale and Marissa, then ba. The meaning was clear—this was something too signifit to entrust to another, or worse, it directly involved Landevale in a way that made speaking carelessly impossible.
Gahad held his gaze for a moment before exhaling silently, his expression smoothing into uanding. He withdrew from the unspoken versation, allowing himself io listen idly to the small talk unfoldiween Landevale and Marissa.
Because despite their stant rivalry, he and Gawain were still the two closest extensions of Burn’s will. And for that, some things would always remain unsaid.
