Even the winds that blew in Iber’s territory weren’t so cold. Despite Edgar’s cold rage, Ios went on with what he had to say.

“I even let your people go through my Golden Land!”

“I’m not the one who asked for it, but Iber was.”

When they came back to the kingdom after waking up Iber, not everything went smoothly. The fact that Seritos was running out of mana stones was revealed, and they had to face lots of chaos and hardships. The kingdom had nothing more to trade for food, and some extremists urged they had to storm into Iber’s territory and take the mana stones. Luckily, Iber was wise, and she reached the conclusion that she and Ios wouldn’t be able to survive by fighting humans, so she had Ios let the men use his Golden Land as a trade route. Thanks to that, Seritos was freed from its long fear of a food shortage, at least to some extent, and the relationship between dragons and humans started to improve slowly.

“Hmm… but no! You can’t go without me!”

Ios looked like he was ready to leave with them. Of course, a journey with him would be pleasant, although it would be a bit tiring. However, that wasn’t the kind of pleasure Edgar was hoping for.

“I didn’t work day and night to spend time with you, I did it to…”

Rubica quickly covered his mouth at that point lest he talked about their love life and embarrass her.

“Ios, but isn’t the carriage too small for you to join us? Plus, its speed would be too slow for you.”

“You’re right. I just don’t understand why you call this fast.”

Edgar wanted to reply that it was much better to go in a carriage with cushions than to travel through the ground, getting the dirt in their mouth and ears, but he didn’t. He knew he wasn’t good at handling the dragon, it would be better to let Rubica do it.

“We’re going to take a ship at the port. Why don’t you go there first and see the ocean? I think you would enjoy it much more than being cramped in a carriage with us. I’m sure some of your plants would love the sand from the beach.”

“Hmm, well, Andro has been complaining about the ground being too wet…”

Ios narrowed his eyes when thinking about it, and then he was gone in a flash. Only then, Rubica could let out a sigh of relief. The dragon, who tried to disturb the couple’s time together, was finally gone. Of course, they were going to meet again at the port, but at least they would be alone for a few days.

“Let’s leave, before we get more disturbers.”

“I can’t agree with you more.”

There were many who would disturb their vacation. That was why they had prepared for it in secret, but they had had too many disturbers already.

Edgar quickly made the driver start the carriage before a goblin could jump out of the ground and grab his ankle to stop him, saying he couldn’t run away when they had so many businesses to manage.

Edgar relaxed only when the carriage left the dukedom. Then, he looked at Rubica. Today, his wife looked even more beautiful than usual. The red eyes that glittered under the sunlight showed how special she was.

“Finally, we’re alone.”

She blushed at his whispering, although she didn’t know why. They had been married for quite some time now, so why was that?

A corner of his lips curled up at seeing her so shy, and he had to try hard to not laugh. He hugged her. She was soft and warm. Her warmth and her scent always made him relax. He even wished he could sleep forever like that, with her in his arms.

“Edgar.”

Her voice was always pleasant to hear. He slowly leaned down to kiss her lips which always felt new and missed, although he had kissed them hundreds of times by now.

“Now, I will be able to have you all to myself, without any disturbers.”

He meant it. Even though she said she was ordinary, only a few had the special charms that she had. Moreover, there were many flies who wanted to be near such a beautiful flower…

He respected the work she did, but sometimes, when she focused entirely on making other women pretty even when she had him right by her side, he was jealous, although he knew she wasn’t in love with those women.

“Oh, um, where were we going first again? Oh, you’ve never been to Port Vail, have you? They sell delicious roasted calamari there.”

Rubica sensed the mood was about to become intense right in the carriage, so she quickly took out the map to change the topic. Edgar could see what she was up to, but he decided to let her go for once and looked at the map. The map was full of their plans for the journey, where to go and what to see.

He had said he wanted to show her the world, but that was only an excuse. Actually, he just wanted to be alone with her.

“And we should add this place too.”

He said as he pointed at an empty spot on the map. Rubica saw where he was pointing at and smiled. It was Hue’s Abbey where they had met for the first time during the war. She dipped a quill in red ink and drew a star on the spot.

“And here.”

“That is…”

“Hometown of Chris the sailor, one of your best friends.”

“How do you…”

“Remember that? Don’t forget that I have a super memory.”

She smiled at his bragging. And as they had planned, they journeyed through many countries and saw many things. They also found time to meet skilled craftsmen.

Rubica got to see what she had heard about during her time at the abbey with her own eyes. It was extremely pleasant to see all those countries, which should have been devastated by the war, were still flourishing. But what delighted her the most were the people wearing clothes made by her ideas.

“Oh, look at this! It’s Gabriel’s magazine!”

The translated version of The Little Bird’s News that had news about Madam Berry’s shops was being sold across the ocean. Rubica gladly bought a copy, although it cost many times what it cost in Seritos. Gabriel would surely be happy to learn about it.

“Rubica, we should go now, or the abbey will close its door.”

Edgar pressed on her. The two were now dressed like ordinary commoners, but even that couldn’t hide his special aura, and he had had to cover his face with a mask.

“Oh, I forgot about it.”

They didn’t want to be welcomed at the abbey as the duke and the duchess. They wanted to go there as ordinary people. They arrived there by sunset, and it wasn’t completely the same with what they remembered.

In her memories, the abbey was old and shabby, and its walls painted in blue had cracks on it. Even though its buildings had been huge, it had had only two, three buildings.

But now, they were looking at about ten buildings, and their walls even had splendid wall paintings. The garden, which had had only a few dead trees, was now full of fruit trees and flowers.

“Was this place so huge…”

“This has to be what it was like before the war.”

Rubica nodded, and he was right. What they were looking at was what the abbey was supposed to look like. Nevertheless, she couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed. Was the world she still remembered now completely gone? She should have been delighted that now all the damages caused by the war had never existed, but somehow, it made her feel bitter.

Edgar felt the same as well. The ground he was stepping on, the walls he touched with his hands, the air itself, they were all different from his memories. Rubica told him the main building was pretty much the same, but as he had been blind at the time, he couldn’t know.

“Why don’t we find the ‘mother and children’ statue that you liked?”

He spoke to lighten the mood. The mother and children’s statue had been located slightly away from the dormitory they had been staying at. Rubica had loved it because the mother reading to her children reminded her of her own late mother.

She immediately said it was a good idea, and they went to the statue. Thankfully, the statue was exactly where they remembered it to be.