The Son-In-Law Of A Prestigious Household Wants A Divorce-Chapter 124: Rest

A short while later, modest market tents went up in the central square of Benhaim Village, and the townsfolk began to gather with dishes of food in hand. But “townsfolk” here meant rough-looking people, each hiding a story behind grim features; there were no kindly, motherly aunts, no children tagging along on errands, no gentle elders watching with soft smiles.

There was a soup whose ingredients were anyone’s guess, herb-roasted potatoes, dried jerky, and a thick, unidentifiable meat stew.

Even so, the steaming dishes laid out in plain wooden bowls looked surprisingly appetizing. It was obvious at a glance that this was the very best meal they could prepare.

So the so-called “Primitive Transcendents” really are impressive, thought Isaac. They were meeting them for the first time, yet still scraped together everything they had to feed them.

“Smells wonderful….”

With a soft thump, Sharen plopped down beside him and warmed her hands over the soup. The chill she’d carried back from the Malidan Wall finally melted away.

“Isaac, happiness is such a simple thing. One bowl of hot soup and I’m already happy.”

Hearing Sharen mumble that, Isaac let out a quiet laugh. Relative happiness really could toss people around. If you’d lost the use of a leg and then suddenly got it back, what joy could compare?

“……”

“Hah.”

“Amazing.”

The northern soldiers blinked back tears, overwhelmed by their first decent meal in ages, but none dared show it openly. Outwardly, they were “offerings” dragged here to be sacrificed for a ritual; even during a meal like this, they had to keep up the act of gloom and despair.

Controlling their lips when their belly filled and their fatigue lifted was no easy task.

Rihanna felt the same. She ate in silence, expressionless, but a faint relief colored her eyes. As her tension eased, she rested her greatsword across her knees and ate off it like a tray.

“I’ll eat here too.”

Silverna approached with her plate, piled high with chunks of stew.

“This stuff is tough. I can’t even tell what kind of meat it is.”

“Probably some beast you only find around here,” Isaac answered, and their conversation flowed naturally—even while Silverna kept stealing anxious glances at him.

“Anyway, you saved my life. If you hadn’t shown up, I’d have died on the Malidan Barrier.”

“…I couldn’t just leave you.”

It still felt surreal to Isaac that they’d rescued the commanders of the wall. At least now Silverna wouldn’t have to abandon her own name and live solely as Caldias.

“Eat quietly,” Rihanna said, popping a forkful of meat into her mouth—the unspoken warning being that the locals were watching.

Of course, Isaac understood her subtext. Silverna, on the other hand, seemed to think Rihanna was picking a fight.

“What? We weren’t being loud. A little small talk is polite at the table.”

“If that’s how you feel, go eat somewhere else,” Rihanna shot back in her usual curt tone.

‘She’s pricklier than usual today,’ Isaac noted. He knew exactly why, but bringing up the “Silverna-kiss incident” would only cause a scene.

“Eat somewhere else? No thanks.”

Silverna pointed with her fork toward Uldiran Caldias and his wife.

Like the other northerners, Uldiran was in the same boat. Hot food and a safe place to rest were thawing his exhausted body, especially his frostbitten legs—he’d settled right beside the huge stew cauldron to warm them.

“Ahem, I can feed myself, you know.”

“Shh, just stay still.”

“People are watching.”

“Now, now.”

Receiving devoted care from his wife Seleny, the Margrave blushed and tried to refuse, but Seleny only smiled and spoon-fed him.

Silverna found the public display of affection awkward.

“Watching parents dote on each other is more uncomfortable than I thought,” she muttered, glancing at Isaac and Rihanna. “Not every married couple’s like that.”

“Hey,” Rihanna growled, eyes brimming with annoyance, but Silverna laughed it off.

“Come to think of it, you two never show affection, do you?”

Sharen chimed in between bites, tilting her head. Rihanna sighed.

“You don’t need to know.”

“Guess there isn’t any.”

“Hey.”

Rihanna glared again at Silverna, who kept poking just to tease. It was, in its own way, Silverna’s way of saying thanks—it would’ve felt awkward to thank Rihanna outright for rescuing her.

“…We did have our own ways of showing it,” Rihanna muttered, almost in self-defense.

“Huh?”

Isaac looked up, flustered.

“……”

‘Had we?’

Under his gaze, Rihanna pressed her lips together, cheeks reddening.

“Don’t you remember? We used to sneak in little hand-holding and stuff.”

“Ah—ahh! Right, we did.”

Rihanna pouted, as if to say ‘How could you forget?’ Isaac ducked his head and pretended to savor his soup.

That had been their first year of marriage. Back then, they’d stolen little moments of affection whenever they could.

From Rihanna’s perspective, it had only been four or five years, so every memory stayed vivid.

To Isaac, though, at least fourteen or fifteen years had passed.

‘No wonder it’s harder for me to remember,’ he thought. Some things you simply can’t help.

“Anyway, we should figure out what comes next.”

He took a spoonful of soup—and three women’s eyes drilled into him.

“……”

“Look at him change the subject.”

“Want to see how a Transcendent throttles someone?”

“A-hem. I was thinking we stay here a few days. Even if we head outside, there’s nowhere to lodge.”

In moments like this, the trick was to keep talking, never yielding. Sure enough, Rihanna and Silverna shifted to the new topic.

“That’s probably best.”

“We can also look for a way back home while we’re here.”

Whatever else this land was, it was exotic. To gather information, they needed as much interaction as possible.

****

The place Rancelon and the villagers of Benhaim offered them was an abandoned livestock shed. Judging by the stale dust that lingered where the stink of hair and dung once was, it hadn’t held animals in ages—and someone had just swept it out.

Each of them received a single blanket.

They almost hadn’t; Sharen had shouted, “Wanna taste some ritual spell? Feel like being living sacrifices?!” until the villagers handed the blankets over.

For the record, Rihanna and Sharen got separate quarters—a whole vacated cottage once used by townsfolk. Mistaking them for “Primitive Transcendents” had its perks. Even earlier, during the meal, Rancelon had fussed that they shouldn’t sit with “riff-raff.”

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All the same, even a shed meant a place to lie down, and everyone welcomed it. They were that exhausted; most would probably flatten out and sleep the whole day.

“This is… honestly, heaven.”

Anna, Silverna’s adjutant—another life Isaac had saved—smiled and let her shoulders drop.

“Thank you. I don’t think I ever thanked you properly.”

She bowed.

“No need,” Isaac said.

“Isaac! Over here!”

Silverna had already grabbed a corner, pulling together a neat pile of hay and spreading her blanket on it—an impromptu, pleasantly springy bed.

“……”

When Isaac hesitated, Anna poked him in the back with a playful poke! and shoved him forward. He glared, but she was already humming away to find her own spot.

As he inched closer, Silverna sat on the blanket and grinned.

“I’ll lay my blanket underneath, and yours goes over us.”

“You want to share one cover?”

“Comrades do that all the time.”

“With Anna? She’s a woman.”

“And? So what.”

“……”

‘When did she get so brazen?’ Flustered, Isaac still let her momentum pull him down beside her.

A brief silence—almost like a newlywed couple sitting on their bed for the very first night.

With a tap of her finger on his thigh, Silverna asked, “So? Feel nothing at all?”

“Feel what?”

He decided to play dumb. Mentioning that kiss now would only make things messier.

“Really?” she said, lips curling.

Feigning a hint of hurt, Silverna stared at him, but Isaac held his ground.

“……”

“Acting like it never happened?”

“Silverna.”

“Do it again, just once?”

“Stop making weird threats.”

She’d crossed the line once and now seemed ready to stroll over it at will. Then, ever so carefully, Silverna leaned in and rested her head on Isaac’s shoulder—wordlessly asking if this much was okay. The timing was too awkward for him to push her away.

“I’m only doing this because I’m grateful. You came all this way for me.”

“……”

“Really, thank you. Honestly… you were incredible.”

Her gentle smile stirred something warm in his chest, and Isaac pressed his lips together. Plenty of worries still gnawed at him:

Was the Grandmaster that disciple Damien had tended still alive?

With the northern wall gone, could the front lines even hold?

Was there any way back home at all?

Yet—for now—he decided to forget every single one of them.

“Isaac…”

Slowly, cautiously, Silverna raised her head; her breath brushed the bridge of his nose, her eyes pleading. She inched closer, searching his intent—

“A-hem!”

—only for Uldiran Caldias to barge in.

“……”

For a heartbeat Silverna’s gaze sparked like blades clashing in mid-parry.

After one good meal, Uldiran felt stable enough to stand. Looking down at Isaac, he spoke.

“Thank you for coming to rescue us, Isaac.”

“Margrave, you’ve always defended the kingdom. Being able, even once, to repay that debt is my honor.”

Isaac tried to rise, but Silverna’s arm tightened, forcing him to sit again. Uldiran didn’t mind.

“The Malidan Barrier was the kingdom’s guardian spirit, yet now… it’s gone. Nothing for it.”

His voice turned somber—and shifted seamlessly to something else.

“Do you know my daughter has her own wall, Isaac?”

“……”

“That wall is me, Uldiran Caldias.”

“……”

“The Malidan Wall smashes any beast that dares approach.”

“I—” Isaac opened his mouth, but excuses failed him.

“Shall I do the smashing myself now?”

Ridiculous doting father. The pressure radiating from Uldiran felt almost like the moment he’d frozen himself to guard the city gate.

“Please go!”

Unable to endure her father’s tyranny, Silverna locked both arms around Isaac and shouted, “The mood was perfect!”

“M-mood? In this situation—! Silverna, come sleep on our side!”

“No! I don’t want to watch you and Mother cuddling all night!”

“T-that’s simply what married cou—”

Whatever defense Uldiran might have offered died as Rancelon stepped inside. A hush fell over the shed.

A question pricked Isaac’s mind.

‘Do they really bear no hostility toward humans?’

His common sense felt uncomfortably ripped apart. Every Transcendent he’d known despised humanity—hunted them, subdued them by force, swooped in like monsters to pillage whatever they desired. That was the belief hammered into him on battlefields, forged in the blood of fallen comrades.

A village of sinners.

Transcendent criminals—

What crimes had they committed?

Why drive them out to a place that wasn’t even a prison? The whole setup felt bizarre.

Fixing his gaze on Rancelon, Isaac watched the man sweep the room until their eyes met. Rancelon strode over at once.

“Ah, my master’s favorite slave. There you are. Your owner is asking for you.”

“…….”

– – The End of The Chapter ––

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