He was tall enough that Amber needed to lift her chin to meet his eyes. His prominent chin cast a sharp shadow in the faint candlelight that accentuated the lines of his face and deep shadows hung around his eyes.

Amber felt a strange sense of tension.

As she swallowed down the tension she didn’t realize she had, Kalix spoke. “Yes, I have been waiting for you, madam.”

Amber couldn’t help but feel relieved at his still young and inexperienced voice. “It’s fine if you sleep before I do.” She tried her best to make her movements as natural as possible as she reached for the nightdress the maids prepared. She entered the connected changing room and changed her clothes.

Though she was wearing a plain dress that was easy to take off, it still took some time to remove.

Amber took her time. She didn’t expect Kalix to wait for her, after all.

Clad in a night dress, Amber returned to the bedroom and was surprised once again at the sight of Kalix who had stayed where he was when she left, locked in place like a nail hammered into a board.

‘Why isn’t he going to sleep?’?Amber couldn’t understand Kalix at all.?‘Perhaps he doesn’t like the sleeping arrangement with me?’?She felt like that was a plausible reason.?‘But there’s only one bed..’

She looked around the room, but aside from the bed, there was nowhere else suitable enough to lie down.

Though there was a chair at the vanity table, it was backless and quite small. The sofa in the corner was soft, but still too small.

“I heard.. that you skipped dinner as well.” As Amber looked around the room, Kalix spoke.

“It seems like you speak about meals every time you talk to me.”

Though Kalix’s words were finally mustered after much agony and inner turmoil, Amber replied without much thought. Kalix’s face grew bright red in shame over his useless effort.

Thankfully, or perhaps not, the light from the candle was so dim that Amber couldn’t see Kalix’s face reddening.

Amber, who had been searching the room, wasn’t able to find a suitable surface to sleep on.

She quickly glanced at Kalix who was standing with his head hanging low, silently staring intensely at the floor.

‘I couldn’t find a place for him to sleep.. but I guess it doesn’t really matter.’?She thought that since he purposefully had come to the bedchamber, he must have been mentally prepared to sleep with her.

“I couldn’t have dinner since I had something to attend to.” Though late,Amber answered Kalix’s question.

“Ah yes, I’ve hired two other maids to be my exclusive maids apart from Jenia. Their names are Sonia and Luna.” Though she didn’t think he’d care, she still felt the need to report the news to him.

“Well done.” Kalix replied right away without a moment of hesitation.

“I am planning to show them preferential treatment. They’re the first I’m taking in as my maids since I’ve come to the Eastern Lands after all.”

“Great thinking. Please do so.” He replied without any hesitation this time as well.

Amber lifted one of her eyebrows.

“I’ve also decided how to allocate the dowry with Heinreich. He will report to you soon.”

“The dowry?”

She thought he’d once again respond with a flat ‘good job,’ but surprisingly, that wasn’t the case.

“You’ve decided where to allo.. no, actually, it’s nothing.” Kalix was about to ask her something before hurriedly cutting himself off.

It seemed that he really did mean to return her dowry. Kalix didn’t utter a single word about how Amber chose to spend her dowry.

Such an attitude was slightly refreshing and new. His silences now were slightly different from the cold and inconsiderate attitude that she was sick to death of. Though Amber couldn’t quite discern the difference.

“I will receive Heinreich’s report tomorrow and if there is anything that requires my permission, I shall give them.”

As the talk about the dowry finished, another awkward silence passed.

Their conversations ended in abrupt silences so often, Amber could associate colors to the different silences. For example, the silence of tension and hostility in the study earlier today was reed. The awkward silence at lunch was green, and this one..