The Camellia Tattoo - Chapter 33

“Here, we’ll stay for the night, and tomorrow we’ll start moving in the afternoon.”

“Yes.”

“After touring the territory, how do you feel?”

At night, Igmeyer carried the tired princess in his arms to the bedroom.

The soldiers stationed at the base here opened their mouths in astonishment and stared at them. Igmeyer glared at them, silently warning them to mind their own business, all the while maintaining a warm tone with the princess.

“In the last village, the locals seemed to have given more food than usual. You looked uncomfortable with the excess dinner.”

“You have sharp eyes.”

“I’ll have them bring a digestive tea for you.”

Though he shot them a disapproving look, his ears were attentive.

Soldiers exchanged glances with a sly expression. Who on earth was this monster pretending to be kind?

* * *

Niflheim’s territory had a total of fifty-five military bases.

One of Igmeyer’s crucial responsibilities was to train and manage the knights and soldiers stationed at each base for immediate response as soon as the gates opened.

Each base had a separate commander’s office. Though less luxurious than the bedrooms in the castle, they were decent enough and equipped with bathrooms.

“A digestive tea.”

“Thank you.”

Igmeyer swiftly took the tea brought by the cook and showed it off as if he were the one who had made it.

Despite the room having a large table for strategy meetings, there was a bed tucked into one corner, Amber was just glad to have a bed despite the hard mattress.

The important thing was that she had a teacup in her hand.

“I’ll fill the bathtub with water.”

Igmeyer said affectionately, wrapping his arms around her cheeks.

“You feel cold. You should take a bath.”

“Mm.”

Amber nodded weakly, and Igmeyer stood up, with a sly smile.

Amber was sensitive to the cold. There was hardly a day in the North when it wasn’t cold. The locals in the North could endure the chill with a swig of spirits and overcome the cold wind.

Igmeyer didn’t want to suggest such harsh measures for Amber.

‘Well, it might seem a bit crazy to suggest not only bringing hot water but I also wanted to help her take a bath.’

But then again, when was he ever in his right mind?”

“I read in a book that you can release real nightmares by repeatedly speaking about them.”

“Do you have to talk about nightmares?”

“Yes. Dreams can be deeply rooted fears in the subconscious.”

Perhaps due to being exposed to too much cold wind, Amber’s cheeks turned pale. She stayed still as he undressed her, and she didn’t resist when they entered the bathtub together.

Igmeyer glanced at her fair chest and discreetly swallowed his saliva. She was so beautiful that it could make anyone’s heart skip a beat. Nevertheless, he continued talking as if nothing had happened.

“Dreams about the knights getting burned might be due to a fear of fire. The formless monster might be related to scary stories someone told you when you were young.”

Igmeyer had started reading books on the mind because of his own nightmares. He wanted to know the reason behind his recurring dream of Amber being covered in blood, occurring every three days.

Fortunately, the books didn’t claim that such dreams were precognitive visions, and this reassured Igmeyer.

“…The monster was called the phantom breed.”

Amber listened silently to his story, her slender calves pulled up to her chest as she bowed her head deeply.

Igmeyer gathered her flowing golden hair on one side.

“It had the ability to show hallucinations and led children away from the villages during its early appearances. Those children disappeared into the forest, and…. Was never found again.”

Amber, who had been murmuring, suddenly looked up, her eyes meeting his.

“If you rub chicken blood on your eyes, you won’t see hallucinations. So, you shouldn’t kill chickens carelessly.”

“I’ll make sure to exclude chicken dishes from now on. If that makes you feel more at ease.”

“….Yes.”

A droplet of water clung to Amber’s long eyelashes.

As he stared at it, Igmeyer realized that he even appreciated his wife’s body hair. Hair can’t be good in any way, but he thought it added a cute touch to her appearance.

If he said he wanted to lick her armpits to her calves, the princess raised with honor would surely be horrified. Even though he wanted to see her horrified reaction, he didn’t want to be looked down upon, so he decided to keep his mouth shut.

While Igmeyer was entertaining such one-dimensional thoughts, Amber was serious by herself.

‘It seems like he roughly understands the purchase of chickens or oil. Then, next is… iron. What should I do about that?’

Purchasing essential goods or livestock was within the authority of the Mistress. Even if she spent a lot of money, it was something like buying jewelry or dresses, so everyone could easily pass it off as ‘The lady has just arrived, and she might not know much about managing the household yet.’

However, when it came to iron ingots, swords, bows, and arrows, it was a different matter. That was entirely Igmeyer’s domain.