Chapter 5

5

Swallow—

The cold wine that I reflexively swallowed slid down my esophagus. Soon, a burning sensation spread through my stomach. The wine I couldn’t swallow in time trickled down from the corners of my mouth to my chin.

Cough, my body, weak to alcohol, began to cough involuntarily. As I bowed my head, a large hand grabbed my chin and lifted it. My eyes stung from the piercing blue gaze. It was a gaze that seemed ready to devour me.

His eyes traced the path of the wine that had run down my chin. As I involuntarily shrank back, he smirked and this time licked my lips. Everything happened so suddenly. In a situation I had never experienced before, I could only tremble.

He pulled away from me and this time drank the wine straight from the bottle, then pressed his lips to mine again. I instinctively frowned and tried to push his shoulders. He grabbed my wrists to stop me from moving and with his other hand, pulled my nape close.

Swallow, the wine that invaded my mouth burned my throat. A more intense heat spread through my stomach. The wine I couldn’t swallow in time trickled down my chin again. His lips touched my chin, and I felt a soft caress on my skin. He pressed his lips to mine again.

I felt a slight pain on my lower lip. Without realizing it, I opened my tightly closed mouth. A warm, moist breath rushed in. My heart pounded wildly. It felt as if the flesh in my mouth was melting away. My whole body was getting hotter. It didn’t seem to be just because of the wine.

“Haah...!”

The moment he pulled away, I exhaled deeply. My breathing was irregular, as if I had forgotten how to breathe. But he paid no attention to my condition. I clenched my fists and swallowed my tears.

“Stop...”

“Stop?”

He echoed my words with a mocking tone, implying that I couldn’t stop. I quickly regained my composure and shook my head. The consummation of the marriage was a duty for a married couple, and if my father found out that nothing had happened between us, he might go berserk.

So, even if I didn’t want to, I had to spend this night. Even if my husband looked at me as if he wanted to kill me...

“...Do as you wish.”

I didn’t expect a gentle and tender first night. I meant that he could do it roughly without any pretense. But he sneered, as if finding something amusing.

“Do as I wish?”

“...”

“It’s not what I want, but what you want.”

I blinked, not understanding his meaning. He didn’t seem to want to explain further and instead lowered his head to bury his face in my neck.

After a while, a slightly tingling sensation spread, and it felt as if electricity was running through the spots his lips touched. When I moved, he grabbed both my hands and held them together, preventing me from moving. Then he left kisses that felt like bites all over my body.

After a long time, he finally let me go. I panted heavily. In the darkness, his blue eyes seemed to hold a heat, but it might have been an illusion, as it soon disappeared.

“This should be enough to make your father not suspect. And.”

He opened the drawer of the bedside table and took out a dagger, then made a long, thin cut on his palm. I flinched and stared at him. Blood from his palm dripped onto the white bedsheet.

“This will make him suspect even less.”

“...”

The old-fashioned belief that a bride must bleed on the wedding night was something my father might have. Only then did I realize what Theodor was trying to do. He was creating a smokescreen to make it look like we had consummated the marriage. So, in reality...

“There’s no need to engage in a relationship you don’t want. Isn’t that right?”

He tore a piece of the blanket to wrap his injured palm and put the dagger back in the drawer.

He turned to me, now properly dressed in his robe. His blue eyes were as cold as the north wind in winter.

“I’ll let you use me as much as you want. But I won’t just sit idly by. When this marriage has no meaning left, then...”

“...”

“We’ll go through the divorce process properly. We’ll only be a formal couple. We can part ways at any time.”

And he turned and left the bedroom. Left alone, I sat there, not even thinking to straighten my disheveled nightgown.

The spots where his lips had touched still felt like they were burning. I vividly remembered how solid and hot his body was.

But all those traces felt like a daydream, a dream that could never come true, floating around me before fading away into nothingness.

A sense of emptiness made me curl up. My unhappiness might not have been just because of the unwanted marriage. Perhaps I had foreseen it the moment our eyes met.

The无形的箭 clearly left a scar on me. And I didn’t know how to heal such a wound.

* * *

I didn’t know exactly how much damage the Valentina family had suffered.

When I went to return Theodor’s coat, the Everett family’s mage immediately transported me to the Valentina duchy, so I didn’t have a chance to see the damage.

I had only heard that the state of the fief was serious, and this was the first time I was seeing it with my own eyes.

Inside the carriage traveling through the Valentina family’s fief, Veronis. I hid behind the thick curtain covering the window and peeked through a narrow gap.

Yes, it was a hell. The current scene in Veronis could be called hell without any sense of contradiction. The cottages were all burned to ashes, and corpses of monsters and humans were scattered everywhere.

The survivors were eating black, hard bread soaked in water to quell their hunger, and among them were those with parts of their bodies damaged.

I couldn’t help but think. If the Everett family hadn’t isolated the Valentina family, if they had provided timely support...

My fingertips turned cold, and my shoulders trembled. The sight of my father’s sin made me feel like I was about to vomit.

“Ugh...!”

“Ah, Miss? No, Lady!”

Charlotte, the maid who followed me, was startled and approached with a handkerchief. I tried to calm down, covering my mouth with the handkerchief she offered.

At that moment, the carriage suddenly stopped.

“...?”

As I raised my head in confusion, the door was abruptly opened. It was Theodor. He saw me crouched and covering my mouth with a handkerchief and laughed in disbelief.

“Are you feeling nauseous from the horrific scene? I noticed the carriage was getting noisy, so I checked. We’re almost at the city, so please bear with it a little longer. Try not to look outside if you can.”

I wanted to say that it wasn’t because I felt nauseous, but he had already slammed the door shut before I could speak.

Charlotte fidgeted beside me, unsure what to do. I looked at the closed door and then smiled bitterly, instructing her.

“It’s fine, go back to your seat and sit properly.”

“...Yes, Lady.”

Charlotte obediently sat down but kept glancing at me, worried.

The carriage soon started moving again. I suddenly remembered how fortunate it was that Charlotte had come with me.

None of the maids from the Everett duchy had wanted to come with me. Charlotte, who was not from a noble family and was even an orphan, was the only one.

Charlotte, who turned eighteen this year, was the same maid who had picked up the scissors Hessen had thrown on the floor in the study.

I thought her kindness would fade quickly, but unexpectedly, she continued to be kind to me.

She seemed to pity me a little and deeply worry about me.

I was grateful for Charlotte’s kindness but also felt a bit guilty. Following me would only lead her down a thorny path.

‘Maybe I shouldn’t have brought her...’

For some reason, Charlotte looked around and then whispered to me in a small voice.

“His Highness has been worried about you. He noticed the commotion in the carriage right away... and even checked on you.”

I laughed helplessly at Charlotte’s misunderstanding. I didn’t bother to correct her.

The carriage soon passed through the city and arrived at the Valentina duchy. The scenery inside the castle was less severe than outside, but it couldn’t compare to the peaceful fief of the Everett family.

A sharp pain stabbed my heart.

“We’ve arrived. Please get out now.”

Theodor opened the door and extended his hand with a crooked smile. I stood up and carefully took his hand. As I stepped down, I suddenly got a cramp in my leg and stumbled.

“...!”

Theodor quickly caught me as I fell forward. I looked up at him with wide eyes, and his blue eyes were also wide with surprise.

Ripples formed on the surface of his deep-sea-like eyes. We were so close that we could feel each other’s breath. A strange silence, perhaps tension, flowed between us.

The silence was broken not by me or him, but by a third party.

“Good work, Theodor. Come in quickly.”

Startled, I pulled away from him. Theodor, who had been staring at me blankly, turned to the direction of the voice. My gaze naturally followed.

There stood a lady with neatly tied chestnut hair, standing straight and proper.

Her gaze on me was not even superficially friendly.