“Actually, you were never meant to be Baron Greze’s wife. You were supposed to be my wife.”
Cassia’s brows immediately creased.
“What?”
Zester blurted out and Bertol, who had been watching her expression change, slowly turned his gaze to Zester.
“Ah, did I never mention it?”
“…”
“His Majesty himself brought up the Baroness to me first. He said no one else was more suitable to be the Lady of Axios than the Baroness… ah, back then, the daughter of Count Ruberno.”
Zester wasn’t the only one hearing this for the first time. Cassia was also taken aback by the news. No one would dare lie about the Emperor’s words, so Bertol claim was likely the truth.
Thinking about it again, it was a rather strange order. That the Emperor would send the precious daughter of Count Ruberno, the very heart of the South, to a remote rural territory like Greze. Unless the intention was to provoke resentment from a powerful figure.
Cassia sifted through her oldest memories. Come to think of it, she vaguely remembered her father exchanging letters with the imperial family for quite some time before the decree sending her to Greze arrived. Could those letters have been about a marriage to Bertol?
“My apologies but back then, the rumors of your wife didn’t particularly interest me. His Majesty praised her beauty dozens of times. But I’m the type who believes one should be wary of women with beautiful faces. My opinion hasn’t changed. If she had become my wife, I might have abandoned all my duties as a lord just to stay cooped up in the castle all day.”
Bertol laughed as if amused and lifted his wine glass. While he swirled the glass elegantly with his long fingers, his gaze was fixed solely on Cassia.
“This is the first I’ve heard of it. However, since I have already become the Lady of Greze, it hardly matters now.”
“Haha… True. It’s a shame, though.”
‘Why is this crazy bastard acting like this? He hasn’t changed a bit, has he?’
At Bertol’s remarks, which crossed the line, Cassia’s inner thoughts, which were nothing like a dignified noblewoman, bubbled inside.
“If I had known beforehand that you were more than just a pretty face, I would have bowed a hundred times to His Majesty in gratitude and brought you to Axios.”
“Lord Count.”
Cassia cut Bertol off quickly.
“I’m sure you mean no harm, but such words are a bit uncomfortable and embarrassing for the Baron and me to hear right now.”
“Is that so? Perhaps I’ve spoken rashly. I apologize if I offended you.”
As if he had been waiting for Cassia to reprimand him, Bertol apologized immediately and turned his head to look at Zester. As expected, Zester’s pupils were trembling like an aspen tree, clearly shocked.
“Oh my, you seem terribly shocked. I apologize. I thought you already knew. Did you not notice at all, Baron? Even with your great military merits, the gap between you and Ruberno’s house is rather wide, wouldn’t you agree?”
Cassia gritted her teeth. This was clearly intentional. He was apologizing without an ounce of remorse, and shooting sharps barbs at Zester to hammer away at him.
Just as Bertol intended, Zester couldn’t snap out of his shock.
Cassia should have been the Lady of Axios, not Greze. The Emperor had been pushing for a marriage between Ruberno and Axios. There was no need to doubt the idea. It was a perfect image.
And so it only took an instant for Zester, the man who considered himself meager and thanked the stars about 25 times a day for his undeserved wife, to crumble miserably.
***
“Honey, honey, honey!”
Clack. Clack. Clack.
Cassia’s heels clicked frantically on the castle’s corridor.
After Bertol’s bombshell, the meal had been dead silent. She had hastily wrapped it up and rushed out to follow the two men who had left the dining hall first. Bertol must have gone straight to his room as he was nowhere to be seen, and fortunately, Zester, who was moving like a slow turtle, hadn’t gotten far.
Cassia barely managed to grab Zester’s arm as he continued to walk slowly, seemingly unable to hear her voice.
“Honey!”
“Ah… yes.”
Zester turned around and Cassia nearly gasped.
His eyes… his eyes are gone!
His spirit was clearly shattered! Knowing how sensitive and vulnerable Zester was to this kind of topic, Cassia was even more worried. She was furious at Bertol for smashing and trampling on Zester’s self-esteem, which she had been working so hard to build up.
“Ignore all that talk. None of that matters now. You know that, right?”
“Huh? What doesn’t?”
“Snap out of it.”
Smack.
She clapped his cheeks with both hands, not hard, just enough to jolt him but his gaze was still lifeless.
“Of course… it makes sense. Why didn’t I…think of it? I’m so…foolish. Of course, there was obviously no reason… to send you to me… Right…right, of course…”
Good god.
Shattered. Not just shattered but turned to dust. It felt like even a light breeze would blow it far away, outside the territory. Blow what away? Zester’s fragile mind!
Trying her hardest to push down her seething anger towards Bertol, Cassia grabbed Zester who kept soullessly muttering ‘of course, of course….’ and pulled him down sharply.
Zester, who had been standing there in a daze, was pulled down helplessly. His head dipped, and soon their lips met in a rather rough collision. At her lips pressed firmly against his like a stamp, a light of surprise returned to Zester’s lifeless eyes. It wasn’t a hungry kiss, but a pure, dry, and firm peck out of the blue. It was the perfect spark to bring back Zester’s mind, which had flown off to who knows where.
When she finally drew back after a few seconds, Zester blinked and the shock from the dinner vanished into thin air.
“W-Wife?”
“Honey, do you know how relieved I am?”
“A-About what?”
“What if Count Axios had agreed to the Emperor’s plan? Then I would be in Axios right now, not Greze. Just imagining it is awful.”
“Awful?! Why? That place is a hundred, no, a thousand times better than here! Do you not know because you haven’t been there?”.
“So what if it’s a thousand times better? If I went there, wouldn’t I have to be the Count’s wife, not yours?”
“Uh, uh… yes.”
“Wow, what would I have done then? I’m really glad I came here. I like you a hundred, no, a thousand times more than the Count.”
I like you a hundred, no, a thousand times more than the Count.
A hundred, no, a thousand times more.
A hundred, no, a thousand times…
Zester swallowed dryly. The thought he always had came back to him.
‘This must be a dream. If it is, I hope I never wake up.’
As he forced himself to digest Cassia’s voice echoing in his ears, his nose suddenly tingled.
“W-Why aren’t you saying anything?”
Looking at Cassia’s face, blushing in embarrassment, his chest tightened painfully.
Ah, that’s right. What did it matter who the Emperor intended to send Cassia to? In the end, she has become the Lady of Greze Castle, and she has become his wife. On top of that, his angel-like wife told him every time. That she was very satisfied with Greze, and with him, her lacking husband.
Heh. He felt as if invisible steam was puffing out of his nose. With his shattered mind recovered in an instant, Zester swept Cassia up into his arms.
“Ack! Honey!”
Cassia flailed, feeling flustered but Zester held her tightly, not wanting to drop her as he buried his face below her chest and inhaled deeply.
Her familiar scent, one that he could now recognize even if it brushed past him with his eyes close, seeped deep into his nose. Cassia, flustered and held like a child in Zester’s arms, stared at the crown of her pitiful husband’s head as he rubbed his face into her chest like a child.
His self-esteem, which seemed to crumble at the slightest touch and his sense of inferiority, which popped up from time to time, were always frustrating but now that she understood that they grew up in very different environments, she felt a little sorry towards him.
Ah, it’s really hard to comfort a husband who is quite fragile, even though he doesn’t look it.
Thinking this, Cassia affectionately cradled Zester’s head.
“I’ll do better.”
“You’re doing well right now…”
Compared to her previous life, she was very grateful right now.
“I’ll do better, and better still. Just stay by my side. Okay?”
“Alright. I’m not going anywhere.”
But as she answered, she felt a sudden discomfort in her heart. Ten years from now, she was scheduled to die.
Her biggest worry these days was whether she should keep building these feelings with Zester, which deepened by the day, or if she should gently draw a line for his sake, since he would be left alone. Unseen by Zester, Cassia’s mouth pouted with worry.
“Really… don’t go anywhere.”
“Mm…”
“You promised so no take backs. I won’t give up either.”
“Give up what?”
“If you disappear somewhere, I will follow you wherever you go and bring you back. I’m sorry but I can’t live without you anymore.”
His shameless words made her cheeks flush red. The hot breath on her chest, the embarrassing confession that was as heated as his breath, it was almost overwhelming to handle.
“I don’t understand how I ever spent my days alone in this castle without you.”
“Hah, you wasted no time going on expeditions; I bet time must have flown quickly.”
“Oh, you’re right.”
“…”
“But I don’t want to leave the castle anymore. What the Count said, not a single part was wrong.”
“What?”
“He said if he had a woman like you as his wife, he’d stay cooped up in the castle all day. I’m realizing the truth of those words right now.”
So he was agreeing with Bertol’s ridiculous words about marrying a beautiful wife and whatnot? as a wife and whatnot. Before Cassia could even frown and retort, Zester spoke first.
“Not because of your beauty.”
Zester’s face, which had been buried in Cassia’s arms, slowly pulled away. His gaze met hers, blazing with an intensity she had never seen before
“Just, because it’s you.”
How could he possibly list the dozens of reasons that were too difficult to express in words? Just, because it’s you. That expression was perfect, Zester thought.
“Forgive me for being selfish, but…”
Zester’s eyes, which had always been only gentle, were burning quite frighteningly now, but for some reason, Cassia didn’t feel burdened by it. What should she call this feeling? Deep affection, or obsession… or perhaps some unknown emotion in between.
“I really can’t let you go anymore.”
Early Access available on Patreon!
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