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Episode 5: My First Meeting With My Husband
The room suddenly became quiet.
I lowered my arms around my head and opened my eyes.
The intruder at dawn was now falling to the ground like a dead moth, slowly evaporating into a black smoke.
The man, who was standing with a blue-glowed sword and staring blankly at it, turned his gaze towards me.
Thud, Thud
My heart pounded.
I didn’t know if it was because of what had just happened or because of the unexpected first meeting.
Or is it because of the overwhelming murderous look that comes out of him?
The silvery bluish hair, vivid red eyes, and smooth jawline and straight features looked quite similar to Ellenia.
However the man gave off a different atmosphere. If Ellenia gave a cold-hearted ice princess atmosphere— suitable for a noble, this man gave off a very vicious and dangerous feel.
The eyes staring at me were so overwhelming that I couldn’t help but shiver.
No, Why are you staring at me like that?
“What’s the reason?”
“What?”
“What reason do you have to turn it off?”
It was such a terrifying voice that if I had been the culprit who put out the fire myself, I would have voluntarily made excuses.
Do you think I made this up on purpose?
“It is not….”
“I don’t think you have to do this, because you are already gathering enough attention. Or is this something that you will use as evidence later on?”
He seemed to think that I was already making excuses for annulment.
I knew he wouldn’t like me, but this is the worst image I’ve ever had, which means I’ve got a long way to go.
It was then that Ellenia, who stood quietly at the door and watched us, approached.
Ellenia spoke calmly, facing her brother who was facing me.
“Don’t be rash, brother. We don’t know who did it yet. Even if sister-in-law did it, she wouldn’t have known this would happen. They don’t have such fire in Romagna.”
I love you, Ellen. I will save you even if it costs my life.
I reached out, hiding behind Ellenia’s back, and gripped the hem of her dress.
Apparently it was casual dress, not pajamas.
The two appeared right away, and it seems that the brother and sister were drinking tea together.
“I just woke up because it was so cold…….”
“What? Speak out loud.”
He was not someone you would consider as benevolent.
I took a short breath.
It was very natural for tears to form around my eyes.
But it’s not just acting that makes my voice tremble.
My husband, who was holding his sword and staring straight at me, was like Satan who had just come up from the abyss.
Tch, the equivalent of Cesar was right here.
“I woke up for a moment and the light was off…….”
“Then someone else did it. Who could that be? My sister? Or me?”
“Brother.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that. I must have turned it off and slept because it was so hot. I’m sorry to have caused such a disturbance. I didn’t think much. I won’t let this happen again.”
There was a moment of silence as I whimpered and cried pitifully.
Elena was stroking my shoulder while Isaac was chewing his bottom lips and looking at me as if searching.
My face is going to get pierced at this rate from his gaze.
“There’s something I want to ask you..….”
“What?”
“……No. Never mind.”
With that he left the room with one last click of his tongue.
Such a nonsensical guy. What was he going to ask?
* * *
After the unexpected first meeting, my husband seemed to have disappeared again.
So I had breakfast with Ellenia alone.
Silence lingered for a while.
Ellenia focused on the meal with an expressionless face which made it hard to read what she was thinking about. At the same time I was conscious of my actions from before, so I ate as much as possible in a state of embarrassment.
The embarrassment would be a good excuse to vomit even if I have to anyway.….
“It will never happen again.”
“Pardon?”
“Waking up in the cold.”
I gently put down my fork and looked up.
Ellenia, who was looking down, was still stirring the mushroom soup.
It seemed that she noticed that someone was playing a prank.
I never thought someone would do such a childish thing in the first place.
“Thank you.”
“You’ll be attending a royal banquet in four days. Let me know if you need anything by then.”
Yes, there was a banquet.
Since the royal family arranged this marriage, it was appropriate to greet the King.
At the same time, it was a banquet to celebrate the king and his wife’s marriage,  a wedding banquet for the king and his wife, so it was an important event no matter what.
“Ellen, if you don’t mind, can you introduce me to a seamstress?”
“Seamstress?”
“Yes. As you know, the clothes I brought with me are based off the Southern taste, so I would look out of place in them and I hear that summer here is very short.”
There was a moment of silence.
I looked at Ellenia with a cautious smile and watched her lower her gaze again.
Somehow, the whole interaction made me embarrassed.
“That’s right. I should have thought about it in advance and prepare it, I’m ashamed of myself.”
It’s okay. No wonder she didn’t think of it. Damn it, everyone’s betting on when I’ll go back to Romagna.
In addition, as I recall, the original Rudbekia did not care about northern customs.
“I will call my own seamstress. It would be difficult to fit new clothes in four days.”
“Well, there is nothing that could be done about it. Thank you.”
“I’d like to lend you my dress, but I think it’s too big for Ruby. To be honest, Ruby, you are too skinny. You need to eat better to survive the winter of Earendil.”
That’s true. If I wore Ellenia’s dress, it would look awkward and since there is the height difference between us, I would end up looking like an idiot who stole her sister’s dresses.
It would be such a pathetic side.
Anyway, the event would be the first event where I would present myself as an important figure in the country. It is important to set my mind on what kind of impression I want to leave on those people. My husband seems to already have the worst impression of me and he is the most important person for my goal.
“Then that day, Lord Isaac..… I mean…….”
“I hope you don’t worry too much about today’s incident. My brother just overreacted because he is a person who is particularly sensitive to safety. It is extremely rare for a monster to break into a mansion just because the torch is temporarily extinguished, so we were also very surprised.”
Ellenia seemed to have judged that I was very frightened by Isaac.
It seems that he is truly blind for her? [1]
He must take her safety very seriously. Phew, what an ideal brother and sister.
“I won’t take it to heart. I’m just a little sad that he seems to misunderstand me so badly. I’m sure he doesn’t like me, but…….”
“Brother doesn’t hate you, Ruby.”
It was a pretty serious tone for empty words of consolation.
Ellenia gave me a dry look as I opened my eyes wide.
“He is unlike other people who would avoid those who he really doesn’t like. He is the type who would stab those he doesn’t like or something along the line.”
That’s an extraordinary and unique sentiment. He’s more twisted than I thought.
“But…”
“He just doesn’t like the situation he is in at the moment, so he has a jaded view on everything. I don’t know how you will take this, but I have never imagined my brother getting married… He would have the same reaction to anyone, not just Ruby.”
It didn’t make a lot of sense.
If the other party had been an ordinary woman from an ordinary family, not me—Rudbeckia de Borgia, he wouldn’t have misunderstood that she was already thinking of trying to annul the marriage like he did this morning.
Tsk, he would have been much kinder if his partner had been their childhood friend.
Nevertheless, if Ellenia’s opinion about Isaac’s unusual behaviour was a little true, it seemed that I could settle down a bit.
Even if there were endless reasons for his disapproval of this marriage, there was some hope unless his hostility was purely directed at me personally.
How am I going to coax this guy? I need to figure out his temperament first…….
“Ellen, I have a favor to ask of you.”
* * *
In order to play a game, the first thing you need to know is your opponent.
Currently, my ultimate goal was not to die at the hands of my husband.
Trying to appear as harmless as possible was a kind of insurance to live in this country if I failed to prevent the death of my husband’s sister, Ellenia.
The history of the Borgia family’s involved in assassination was already an open secret.
For example, Cardinal Iliope, who was involved with the infertility situation on my last annulment, was officially known to be stabbed in a brothel to death, but in fact, rumors were rampant that my brothers and I had set everything up.
In addition, Ellenia was poisoned because, at that time, she had become engaged to the Prince of Dorias.
It was reasonable to doubt us because it was unclear what would happen if the Prince of Doria, who was not on good terms with the Pope, and the woman of the most prominent family of Britannia get married.
I also remember that it felt quite improbable to just poison Ellenia in such a situation.
Even if we were the epitome of a powerful family, Cesare is such a thorough person but it led to the start of the ruin of the family, including that we lost the Holy Grail at the last minute….
Anyway, I couldn’t tell anyone about this in advance, and who would believe the words of the beloved princess of the Pope’s family?
Even if there were people in Earendil who believed me, they knew that my father’s spies were planted everywhere in Earendil, so they couldn’t make a fuss.
If such rumors start circulating, I’ll be taken home and as soon as I’m taken home.….
Hence, the need to gain Isaac’s approval, the one person who was going to kill me.
Even if others think I’m irrelevant, it would be difficult for me if he did not believe me or tred to intertwine me into the situation.
If he has a little favor or pity, he might have a little mercy…… Maybe I can make him believe my warning.
***
[1] blind as in extremely overprotective for his sister