"Looks like you're back to your old ways right after you got back. Is it really that enjoyable?"
Right after Mylene entered their bedroom. She was immediately greeted by her husband, Faram Valter, who was sitting beside the table and enjoying a glass of red wine.
This didn't surprise Mylene at all. She just walked in like it was normal and took off her first layer of clothes that got dirty after fighting with Jakob.
Her husband observed everything unfold, with his eyes unmoving. He savored the beautiful sight before him before turning away the moment he felt his wife's gaze upon him.
"Looks like you've changed, a little," Faram coughed.
"Unfortunately, not in the right places you wanted me to change."
"I'm not doing this,"
Despite wanting to look at his wife changing into her nightgown, he turned away. He knows that if he takes on her with words, they'll end up awake the entire night, arguing. And that is not something Faram wants after all the trouble he needs to take care of the next day. And it's the first night ever since his wife returned, so it was understandable what couples would do in times such as this.
Seeing how his wife is preparing to go to bed, Faram finishes his wine and goes straight to the bed beside his wife, who seems to be absorbed with her thoughts.
"What the matter?" asked Faram, combing his wife's hair with his hand.
"It's just that I didn't expect to see the person you were fixated with in the flesh. Moreover, he is exactly as you said him to be," replied Mylene.
Faram found her words to be quite ambiguous, and just smiled.
"See? I wasn't lying all this time?"
"Yes, he is quite the fighter as well."
Faram felt proud the moment he heard his wife praise Jakob, and immediately shot back a remark. However, after that, he immediately understood what his wife meant earlier and immediately glanced at her direction with his eyes wide open.
"Of course he is! He is our master's greatest creation- wait, what!?" he exclaimed, nearly jumping out of bed.
Mylene saw his epic reaction and just stared at him blankly as if he was overreacting too much.
"How- wh- when did that happen?!"
Faram didn't need to hear her confirmation and jumped to conclusion. If this was an ordinary circumstance, he would have shrugged it off as nothing. But since he knows of his wife's reckless tendencies, he is convinced that she'd done something. Otherwise, she wouldn't leave a remark like what she said earlier.
"You're overreacting a bit. Nothing happened, okay? As you can see, I'm not hurt at all." Mylene put up her arms, showing him she's safe and sound.
Despite seeing her body earlier, Faram still fixed his eyes on her body, inspecting every nook and cranny that would allow her to hide her injuries.
And after a few moments of inspection, Faram confirmed that she's indeed uninjured.
"You reckless woman. Hasn't it occurred to you how dangerous what you've just done?"
Now that the coast was clear, Faram proceeded with his scolding.
His wife is just about his age and it was unthinkable that a person her age was getting a scolding from no other than her husband. If other people were to see them in such a situation, they would undoubtedly think they're weird. Mylene, being the one at fault, did not resist and absorbed all the things that her husband told her like a good kid.
By the time he finished scolding her, Mylene was pouting. She found it unimaginable for her to get a scolding from her husband when it's always the other way around. She really wanted to retort, however, even though she knew that she was the one at fault. So in the end, she kept everything to herself until her husband calmed down.
"So? What happened?" he asked, crossing his arms.
The thought of having a steamy night with his wife just vanished from his mind, and was replaced with curiosity.
"Nothing, I just saw him leave the estate and waited for him to come back and launch an attack." Mylene fiddled with her fingers.
"Then?"
Mylene was rather reluctant to tell her husband what occurred after that since it would be utterly embarrassing for someone like her, who waited for an opportunity to strike to actually be defeated on her own game. She showed signs of not telling him, however, Faram pressed on the matter. He didn't back down, despite bending to his wife all the time, this time, he is persistent.
And in the end, Mylene ends up telling him everything.
After hearing everything, Faram could not help but stare at her blankly with his eyes unfocused and mouth gaping.
It took him a moment to recover from the shock of his wife losing despite having the upper hand during the fight.
A fight between a blind and unarmed man, could not even be considered a fight. It should have been a one-sided beatdown.
That's how it should be, normally.
But since Jakob is adept in fighting, it should have been hard to take him down. However, at the same time, he's unarmed. His opponent should have been able to at least graze him. But neither that happened and she was utterly defeated. Faram could not even look his wife in the eyes.
Mylene judged from that alone how embarrassed he must have been.
"I'm speechless, really." said Faram, covering his mouth, "You didn't even manage to graze him. I mean, I don't know what to say."
"You sound as if you wanted me to harm him for real." Mylene glared at her husband.
"Eh? You said you're going at it for real, weren't you? So it wouldn't be surprising if you managed to give him a cut or two. And unfortunately enough, you didn't even manage to do that," Faram stared at his wife, "Rather than be embarrassed for you, I only feel pity. How embarrassing it would have been for you to lose, right?"
Mylene didn't refute his words. She could clearly see that her husband is enjoying the situation without showing it on his face. It was as if it was his way of telling her 'Listen to me'
"Well, at least you finally learned your lesson," Faram let out a deep sigh, "Please don't do that in the future. You're lucky he was unarmed and you still managed to come back in one piece."
"I know, I know. I won't do it again in the future." Mylene concedes defeat.
She didn't want to hear his nagging anymore, and so, she changed the subject and shifted it to Jakob.
"How is someone like him, a blind man, able to do those things?"
Faram understands what his wife is about, but decides not to pursue the matter since he knows that he will be the one that would be suffering in the end.
Hearing her question, Faram wondered about it himself. Jakob told him about it last time, but he wasn't able to make out something about it. They are just as clueless about it as Jakob himself. All that they know is that Jakob's ears were heightened by his hypersensitivity that he inherited from his ancestors. However, even with that as a base, they couldn't really understand everything. And in the end, he just left it as it is.
Faram leaned back, and stared at the ceiling.
"Since the person in question doesn't understand it well himself. There's no use pondering over it. After all, we wouldn't even be able to understand what it feels like to be blind and still see images using our mind."
"Right. There's no way we would be able to understand," Mylene agreed and shrugged.
She then turned towards her husband, and saw the solemn look on his face. She realized how mysterious Jakob is even to his own seniors. Although they are close, she knew that there are things that Jakob keeps to himself. It is only a matter of asking on Faram's part, and she knows that her husband is just waiting for the right time to ask him about it. It's just her husband being considerate to his junior.
While observing her husband, she brought up something that made her husband turn to him in shock.
"Why don't you let him marry into the family if you're that worried?"
Faram looks at his wife in shock. He did not expect his wife to suggest something like that so easily. What's more surprising is that she didn't even realize the weight of her own words.
He immediately reminds her of the situation of their family as if trying to correct her.
"Did you forget all the trouble I've put my family through by going around looking for Jakob?" Faram let out a sigh, "Now that they know that he is the one I was going around places to look for in the past. I'm sure their blood is reaching a boiling point."
He did not even need to consider the idea because of just how absurd it is. And even if he did think about it, he is sure Jakob would not consider the idea himself.
"Even if he is revered as the hero who saved the city, I'm sure the rest of my family doesn't like him," he added.
For a while, Mylene just looked at her husband, silently. In her silence, Faram realized what she was thinking about and immediately blurted out his disagreement. This time, with a concrete reason.
"No- that's not happening. You know how long it took for her anger to subside. If she hears anything about marrying the man who took away most of her father's time when she was younger. What do you think she would feel?"
Their daughter, Ashe Valter, has always been attached to her father ever since she was born. And upon growing up seeing her father always mysteriously preoccupied, disappearing from time to time. It made her curious. And soon learn what made her father so busy that he did not even have much time to spend with his own daughter growing up. Naturally, this made Ashe resent the person whom her father was focusing most of his attention to rather than his own daughter.
Because of this, Ashe, Faram's daughter, did everything to redirect his attention to her.
After running around for a long time, Faram somehow stopped his search and settled down. After neglecting his daughter for a long time, Faram looked after his daughter, at last.
And as time passed by, her hatred slowly dissipated. Her father poured his attention to his family. And thus, she slowly forgot about the man, whom her father used to searched for a long time.
So right after hearing Mylene's suggestion, Faram could not help but disagree wholeheartedly. They knew what the result would be even before it happened. And the result might not work in their favor and ultimately reawaken their daughter's wrath. Having inherited Faram's contract, it will not end in a simple tantrum anymore and may result in either one losing their lives. That is not a desirable result that Faram could accept as both are precious to him.
"This is a suggestion on my part. Ashe had grown up into a fine young woman and I doubt that she's stuck in the past. She's matured enough more than you know," said Mylene, softly.
Faram is aware of her growth as well. However, he did not want to touch a bitter memory of his daughter.
"I'm fully aware of that, as well. There's just no telling what she'll do now that she's all grown up, after all. Unfortunately, just as you stated, she's changed," Faram let out a sigh, "Now that the contract has extended to her, who knows what she'll do," he added.
Mylene looked at her husband for a while and didn't say anything. She then let out a sigh and shook her head, as if she's disappointed or something.
Although the atmosphere had calmed down, both of them didn't even think of doing any nightly activities that night.