My Lady Chef

Illios Kingdom's East Encampment

Kilne Plains, Kree region

Ezran's POV:

My name is Ezran, 20th duke of Aisenburg and currently, I am about wage conflict against another country...again.

The impending war with the Guthrians was a futile attempt at invading our lands. For years, the greedy pigs have started to raid our supply wagons frequently and now, they are bold enough to start encroaching on our borders.

Which cannot be tolerated anymore.

The King has given his order and decreed that I will quell the enemy ruler's forces and told me to fight in the name of the Holy Kingdom Illios.

They thought to push us back since we are currently at war with two other countries but what they do not know is that I am the commander of this force.

And I never lose a battle.

I always win.

After a month of preparations and moving battalions of infantry soldiers, mages, and knights; assigning my knights as commanders to various units.

My only duty is to await deployment to fulfill my plans.

As I entered my tent which was well furnished with all that I need to stay comfortable, The image of the woman I married a month ago somehow managed to work its way to my mind.

Somehow I was wondering why did I even choose to join with her? I have had lots of young women sneak into my room or tent begging for favors.

They all sound the same. I can smell their greed and their desire for the lofty position of being my duchess but most women are weak to my intimidating aura so a minute in my presence often makes them tremble, shiver, cry, and then they avoid me...if they have not passed out yet

I can only count a few women who could tolerate my presence.

But something about Lady Alaina intrigued my blood when she bypassed all my knights guarding my room. She trembled before me but she did not pass out as she pleaded her case to me. Her voice was also another factor.

(Flashback)

Most women have this piercing high voice that irritates my sensitive ears or low husky tones that makes me impatient to throw them into my bed and ravishing them.

But her soft and gentle voice felt....otherworldly and it calms my usual rampant destructive tendencies. Like a maiden calming the beastly dragon. She had the courage and I admired that in a female.

I tried to imagine what she looked like under all that baggy gown and a black veil that hid her form and face away from m eyes but after we signed the contract; I dragged her to the town chapel on that very same day and married her.

Then I sent her straight to my estate at Dranvelle while I kept my end of the deal.

For someone with my connections, finding and rescuing Baron Beaucamp from the Barbaros camp only took a few days thanks to my spies that I planted everywhere.

After my men successfully rescued the baron, I met with him in his mansion which was modest in size and surrounded by mana-infused forestry and lawns. I felt alive for some reason, my mind was calm as I inhaled the clean air.

He was unlike any noble I have met. He neither handsome not was he ugly but he does have a pleasant face. Unlike those aging nobles who develop a balding head or a beer belly; he seems to possess a well-toned body and he dresses in simple clothes.

I found that I liked him because I cannot seem to fault his concerns about his one and only daughter after I explained that I married her in exchange for saving his life.

That and I cannot sense a lot of darkness in his soul. This makes it bearable to be near him.

When I had asked for a portrait of Alaina from the baron; he confessed that he only has a small painting of her done when she was a young girl.

"Sadly, I could not have any painter do her portrait recently because she tends to keep to her room or the forests. Please give my daughter my words of love and take care of her."

That was his farewell message as he gave me a spare palm-sized painting to keep and we parted in good company.

I got home late and was thinking of bedding my new wife. But before I could even consummate my wedding night with my bride, orders from his Majesty arrived demanding that I supervise the preparations for the East camp.

It seems like there will be news of an impending war with the Kingdom of Guthrie due to their greedy king amassing an army to grab a few of our border territories while we were preoccupied with the skirmishes with the Croix Empire to the West and the year-long siege to conquer Merba, a port city that has access to the Emerald Sea and has the best routes to the Exotic Lands. (End of Flashback)