Chapter 23 – Cancelled

“W-what’s wrong, dear?” Frightened by Kalix’s blank expression, Bella mumbled her words.

It was the blank expression that stopped Amber’s tears when she was exhausted beyond her limits.
There wasn’t a person alive who could handle that frightening expression.

Kalix ignored Bella, who was trying to read his mood, and continued to stare at her in silence.

Finally, when Bella couldn’t endure it anymore and lightly nudged his shoulder, Kalix finally broke his silence.
“Mother.” Kalix slowly turned his face towards Bella who was holding onto his shoulder.
“The issue with the dowry… I will speak to my wife about it first.”

Bella’s face stiffened in surprise.

‘Wait, what did he just say?’ Amber stared at Kalix with widened eyes.
Though it was a passive response to the situation, it was a hundred, no, a thousand times better than telling them to deal with it themselves.

“But, Kalix!” Bella couldn’t give up and spoke with an exaggerated pitiful voice.
“The issue with the child’s dowry is within my jurisdiction.
You know it very well too, don’t you? If I were to back down now, I would be the laughing stock of the land!”

Kalix had broken the unwritten law of men never involving themselves in the matters of the household.

Funnily enough, the target of criticism wasn’t Kalix, but Bella instead.
Though negative opinions would also float around Amber, most would simply brush it aside as she was still a newlywed wife new to the land.

On the other hand, for Bella…

“Just how terrible was the management of the household that her inexperienced son had to step in to take care of things?”

There would be little doubt that such a line would be on the minds of the citizens of the Eastern Lands.

In truth, it was Bella that had ruined the financial management of the Eastern Lands, so it wasn’t incorrect.
On the contrary, everyone kept their mouth shut when Bella was in control, but once Kalix stepped forward, people would gather enough courage to start complaining about her management.

At any rate, for that reason, Bella could not back down.
“Kalix, I will take care of the young lady myself, so worry not and leave for battle.”

Hearing Bella, Kalix let out a deep sigh.
His expression was less frightening than before, but he still had a scary look about him that made it difficult to approach.
“Have you not heard? My leave for battle has been canceled.”

“What? Canceled?!?” Absolutely shocked at the news, Bella turned to glare at Grace, whose expression immediately showed her indignation at the unfairness of the situation.

‘I was trying to report that to you!’ As Grace let out a scream with no sound, Bella quickly turned her gaze back to Kalix.

“It seems like the young lady begged and whined for you to stay back.
Kalix, don’t worry about her, I’ll take care of the household problems myself so…”

“Mother,” Kalix let out a long sigh and immediately cut off Bella’s words.
His face showed the signs of exhaustion that he couldn’t hide anymore.
“Please… let’s finish today’s business here.”

“How could you say such a thing to me…!?” Bella slowly let go of Kalix with an extremely shocked expression on her face.

While Bella stood as still as a statue with a deathly pale face, Kalix left her behind and moved towards Amber.

Amber looked up at Kalix with cautious  expression while tightly holding onto Jenia. ‘Just why is he acting this way?’ Right now, there were numerous questions running through Amber’s mind.

As she stared at her husband looking down at her with a frown, it didn’t seem like his personality had suddenly changed.
Even though his wife was on the ground looking like a complete mess, he still looked down at her without any intention of helping her up.
It was obvious that he was still a cold and uncaring man.

‘But…’ But in that moment, he certainly sided with Amber.

While his action was passive and was only meant to diffuse the situation instead of actually solving the problem, she was certain that his intention was to side with Amber, even if it was slight.