"Yes, I'm fine, he got away and I don't think he got the chance to steal anything important"
He sounded and walked up the stairs, he was quite aware that he was naked and was doing his best not to have the self-consciousness show on his face.
"That's a relief"
She said with a sigh of relief, despite the issue having passed she could still feel the pounding within her chest and her hands were clutching on the blanket so it was difficult to see that she was shaking a little bit.
This was her first experience with any type of robbery, she didn't scream earlier purely because she had the presence of mind not to.
"Are you okay?"
He asked as he reached her and took her into his arms to comfort her, no doubt that she wasn't someone who was used to such things.
"Yes, I'm fine, I just need to calm myself down"
He hummed and nodded before patting her shoulder to comfort her.
"It seems we'll have to hire guards first, the thief probably knew we were new to the area"
He surmised and Esme agreed, they just arrived today as such they were easy targets.
Just as Arthur let go of her and was going to return to their bedroom something had suddenly dawned on Esme as she suddenly scooped up the whole blanket of the floor before she quickly made her way down the stairs briskly past her husband in a hurry and surprising him.
"What's wrong?!"
He questioned as he saw her reach the lower floor in mere seconds and made a hasty turn towards her in the kitchen, forgetting to answer his question.
Once she reached the sink, where she had washed the dishes earlier she saw that her necklace was nowhere.
"Oh no!!"
She exclaimed in great displeasure, the surprise and hurt in her voice made Arthur rush into the kitchen.
"Esme?! What's wrong? What happened?!"
"My necklace is gone!! I had left it here when I was washing dishes, I only now realised I had forgotten it."
She turned to look at him, her voice filled with disappointment at herself, how could she be so careless?
Arthur remembered the necklace with the emerald centerpiece, it went well with her dress and eyes.
"Was it important? An heirloom from your mother perhaps?"
Questined Arthur, taking the hurt in her eyes, he gently held her by the shoulders, and looking straight into her eyes, he could tell she was holding back tears.
She nodded to his question and Arthur realized his mistake.
"I'm sorry, I should have restrained the thief"
He pulled her into a hug as he said that, comforting her by patting her back gently.
It was possible that he could give chase after the thief, however doing so meant leaving her alone in the night and he wasn't about to do that.
"No, you aren't at fault Arthur, my carelessness is at fault"
She accused herself while using the blanket to wipe the small tears off her face, crying over something that was her own fault was unproductive.
"Even so as your husband, I'm supposed to protect you and our home, that includes every item within our home, so this is a failure on my part"
Arthur informed her, his voice changing from being worried to resolute.
"I promise you, I'll find it, The thief will probably pawn it off by tomorrow, I just have to find him and have him tell me which shop he sold it to"
"You don't have to do that, Arthur"
She shook her head, looking up at him, her emerald eyes reflecting the light, and that made them seem like beautiful emerald crystals, that Arthur felt he could stare into eternally.
"I don't have to but to be a good husband I should at least try"
Despite her willingness and seemingly pleased attitude towards their marriage, Arthur still felt guilty about forcing the marriage onto her as such he decided to at least ensure her happiness.
Esme couldn't respond to him as she found no words to rebuttal his words so instead she could only nod and agree.
"Good, now let's go to bed, we have quite a day tomorrow."
He lifted her off the ground, gently carrying her like the princess she is, and made his way to the bedroom.
......…..
...
…..
[Next morning]
On their first morning together, Arthur rose fairly early long before the sun had risen, and chose to keep up with the usual daily routine.
As an explorer keeping a healthy body was an essential part of life, he possessed magic skills, however he's far from being a mage capable of keeping the body healthy through magic
For Arthur, the natural ways of keeping a healthy body were the only options.
Once the sun had risen properly, Esme suddenly surprised him. From what he could hear, she seemed to have woken up in a hurry, as heard by the thumping sounds of her hurried footsteps.
Practically, sprinting out of the bedroom and swiftly descending the stairs, Esme made a quick turn ready to enter the kitchen and make breakfast; however, her steps came to a sudden halt.
Arthur was already there eating what little bread he had and gulping it down with some tea.
"You seem in a hurry, is something the matter?"
His tone was casual and relaxed, contrasting starkly with her hasty arrival in the kitchen.
Her clothes were a hastily buttoned white blouse, a grey layered skirt, and no shoes.
Her hair was equally as hastily put together as the blouse. It was plain as day that she had just woken up.
"Husband, I apologize! I overslept. I should have woken up before you, it won't happen again"
She hurled an excuse, her words sounding regretful. While speaking she made quick attempts at straightening herself out and looking proper
Arthur sighed and gave her a look, taking note of the sense of apprehension in her eyes and gait, almost like she was afraid to step closer.
"Don't worry about it, you can sleep as long as you want, This is our home, your home, no one is going to be angry that you overslept"
He assured and took a sip of his before stretching out his hand to give her some bread.
"No, it is quite shameful for a wife not to prepare breakfast for her husband, after all how else is he supposed to have the strength for the day"
Her words came out of her lips with a sense of shame, her eyes wandering between his face and the floor.
Luckily it looked as though Arthur was not angry or even bothered by her oversleeping.
"I can make my own breakfast Esme, You cooking for me is not something that will always be necessary"
His words, caused her to suddenly frown as if she was offended, the earlier apprehension had vanished when she determined he was not angry.
She took the bread out of his hands with a bit more force than necessary. Something that surprised Arthur, He had thought she wasn't the type to be quick to aggression
"As I've said, it is shameful for a wife not to cook for her husband, if other people saw you cooking for yourself, they would think I'm incompetent as a wife and other women would attempt to poach you from me, and my honour as both a woman and wife would be tarnished"
She explained with the tone of her voice coming across as resolute, a bit too serious for something so trivial.
Arthur understood her words but at the same time, they sounded a bit ridiculous to him and there was a need to argue against them. However this was their first week together, so it was fine to let things be.
"Besides all that, can you even cook? A man's hands are too rough and clumsy to handle a delicate process like cooking"
Arthur hummed, this was the second time she mentioned men being unable to cook, he had already guessed yesterday that there was some sort of stereotype that men can't cook.
"I've been cooking for myself for years and there's never been a problem"
He defended his cooking skills, Explorers cooked frequently for themselves and thus Arthur was relatively used to cooking, unfortunately despite his words Esme's skeptical gaze told she had no confidence in his skill.
"I suppose but people rarely think their own cooking is bad. Finish the tea then I'll make you a proper breakfast"