“Lady, what are you looking at?”
Madame Marie asked me with a gentle smile.
“I was just getting some air.”
I answered while blankly staring at the seat where Sir Stefano had been sitting. It felt like a lie that he had been there until just now.
The annex was unusually bustling. It had been noisy since dawn, and the reception room where lunch would be held had transformed into a formal dining room early in the morning.
No wonder they kept bringing food to the room to eat. The old dining hall was in an irreparable state. According to Madame Marie, the frugal ‘Edita’ hadn’t even asked the Emperor to repair it.
The reception room was the most splendid and well-decorated room in the annex, with solemn religious worship paintings drawn on every wall. From paintings of Moa, the god of Ludenbach, casting off his upper garment and proudly displaying his massive and sexy muscles as he led the Ludenbach people, to paintings of him bestowing grace upon Ludenbach. The dynamic worship paintings naturally made one’s heart solemn just by looking at them.
Of course, what made me most solemn above all was the man sitting right in front of me, Brandt Albrenovich.
“It is an honor that the Lady has prepared so diligently and welcomed me.”
With a physique even more grand than Moa, and deep impressions from his black hair and black eyes. Unlike the men here who enjoyed flashy clothes, he wore dark attire like a military uniform, and even his voice was serious. If heard in the world I lived in, it would have been praised as a voice from which honey dripped.
“As soon as it was said that Your Grace was coming, the Lady prepared all of this herself and couldn’t even sleep properly.”
“Is that true?”
“I didn’t know the Lady was waiting for Your Grace so much.”
At the sight of Madame Marie lying without even moistening her lips, I put back down the piece of meat I had brought to my mouth onto the plate.
My gaze naturally turned to the man who was being toyed with. Contrary to the cold impression remaining in my memory, Brandt smiled softly like pudding and responded to Madame Marie. It was so novel that I couldn’t take my eyes off him.
But whenever Brandt tried to meet my eyes, I hurriedly turned my gaze away as if burned by fire.
I wasn’t doing this on purpose either. What could I do when my head turned away as if slapped whenever Brandt’s head turned toward me.
“When Your Grace said he wanted to have a deep conversation with the Lady and ordered all the maids to be dismissed, I… oh my!”
Madame Marie, who had been chattering on, screamed. It was because Brandt had accidentally spilled the glass, soaking her dress thoroughly.
Brandt stood up at a loss, and I also stood up following him to check Madame Marie’s clothes. Her skirt hem was generously soaked.
“I’m sorry, Madame.”
“Oh, no. When you have a beautiful fiancée in front of you, you’re bound to make mistakes. I understand completely.”
I was starting to feel truly embarrassed by Madame Marie’s meddlesome nature now.
“I’ll change clothes right away and come back. In the meantime, I’ll call a maid to attend in my place.”
“It’s fine. It will only take a moment, so there’s no need to bring in a maid.”
“Then, does that mean the two of you will be alone…?”
Madame Marie giggled, looking back and forth between me and Brandt at his words.
I knew what expectation Madame Marie had right now, but that’s not it…
As expected. Contrary to Madame Marie’s expectations, as soon as she left the reception room, Brandt and I were as silent as if our mouths were glued shut.
I looked at the quiet man who seemed to be sucking in all the surrounding air. The one who had been smiling so freely with Madame Marie was now burying his face in the plate, rolling the meat he wasn’t even eating around with his fork. And very slowly at that.
My bored gaze followed his hand moving meaninglessly and traced up his upper body. Having returned to the expressionless impression from when I first saw him, he was like the cold David statue. The fortunate thing was that his body was like the David statue as well. His shoulders were wider than expected, and his forearms and chest were so well-maintained that their firmness could be felt even through his clothes. In other words, his figure was killer.
Unknowingly, the corner of my mouth twitched up. His personality was a bit ambiguous, but still, there were good points…
“Is being out with me that uncomfortable?”
Suddenly, Brandt lifted his head and looked at me. I, who had been smiling, was dazed for a moment before sticking my back straight to the chair as if struck by lightning. Brandt also straightened his upper body. It was a posture that even exuded arrogance somewhere.
But the current problem wasn’t simply his arrogant posture.
He… He had spoken to me informally!
Look at this, Madame Marie! I told you he invited me to eat to get revenge on me, right?
My head felt dizzy. ‘Is being out with me that uncomfortable?’ Brandt was clearly angry because of what happened in the Liselle Garden. Since I had responded with an iron wall to his rare courageous request, he must have been hurt too.
With a reflective heart, as I lowered my head, something hot surged up to my head.
‘Still, why suddenly speak informally?’
Gathering courage again, I looked at Brandt. However, when I met his flawless gaze that even carried a chill, my thoughts changed.
‘Well, if he’s really angry, he might speak informally.’
I had already become too servile to argue.
Lowering my head again, I took a deep breath. Yes, calmly, clearly, coherently resolve the misunderstanding!
“Th-that… in the garden, I… that…”
…Why is my tongue like this? It’s, way too servile than I thought.
“It’s not surprising now. You’ve always been like that.”
Brandt cut off my words. At his cold tone that refused even excuses, the fork in my hand clanged onto the table.
Even though I had clearly sent a signal that I was scared, Brandt didn’t blink an eye. Instead, he deliberately picked up the glass toward me who was making a tearful face and suddenly dropped it in an odd behavior.
‘Is he spilling it again?’
However, the glass was caught again in Brandt’s hand right above the table. In a clean manner without a single drop of water spilling.
At his incomprehensible action, I looked at Brandt’s face without hiding my puzzlement. Surprisingly, he was smiling. With exactly that expression where only the corners of his mouth were slightly twisted up, as if seen at the welcome banquet,
A bad premonition flashed by. The glass safely settled in his hand. And the meaningful smile.
‘No way…’
Spilling water on Madame Marie, was that on purpose?
He could have caught the glass before spilling, but he didn’t.
‘To be alone with me…’
And now, Brandt was deliberately reminding me of that fact.
As I watched Brandt drink the water with an nonchalant expression, goosebumps rose on my forearms.
I felt that if I didn’t somehow resolve this terrifying man’s misunderstanding, I would be done for in this world.
“If I hurt your feelings, I’m sorry. It wasn’t intentional, I just, I’ve never in my life…”
Just as I was about to make the sad self-confession of ‘never met a man before so that’s why,’ Brandt stood up from his seat.
“Aren’t you tired of making excuses? I’m tired of listening.”
At the voice piercing my ears chillingly, I froze in the posture of speaking. Something was going seriously wrong here.
Brandt approached me, who was dazed, along the edge of the table. At his leisurely footsteps, my heart beat rapidly.
It would feel like this if one saw a massive tsunami approaching from afar.
The fear of something overwhelming that approaches slowly but ultimately leaves no room to escape.
“Why not mock me, deceive me, toy with me like before.”
And curiosity about an existence whose origin is unknown.
“Don’t act like a different person all of a sudden.”
At the low but deeply resonating voice, my body shrank as if struck by lightning in a dry sky. However, the puzzlement that followed immediately after made the tension that had built up all over my body slowly drain away.
Something was off.
‘Like before…?’
I cautiously raised my frightened eyes. His two eyes were rippling like a dark sea. From that deep black darkness, I fished out ‘resentment.’
He resented me.
<You’ve always been like that.>
Suddenly, the words he had just said came to mind.
Like before. Always.
As I mulled over those two words, an ominous premonition flashed through my mind.
‘Something happened.’
Between Brandt and Edita. There must have been something between the two of them.
At that moment, Brandt reached out his hand. Startled, I squeezed my eyes shut.
‘What the hell did this Edita do to even deserve getting hit by a man!’
However, contrary to my expectation that had me scared out of my wits, Brandt’s hand quietly touched my face. It was a gentle touch, as if caressing soft silk fabric. Unknowingly, my senses sharpened.
The warmth of another’s body touched my cheek and ear dizzyingly, then pulled away. At that subtle contact, it felt like electricity had run through my entire body, making it tingle.
The hand hesitated and then touched my hair again. The hand that couldn’t properly touch trembled between hesitation and longing as it grasped my blonde hair.
“What are you thinking again.”
He asked in a suppressed voice. But he was demanding an answer from himself, not me.
“Whatever you’re thinking, it doesn’t matter.”
The trembling in his hand stopped as he found an answer for himself.
I blankly watched my blonde hair entangling and falling away ethereally on his fingers. Strangely, my chest hurt.
“It’s already too late to turn it back with your own power. You will marry me.”
Brandt clenched his fist and hid it behind his back. Unknowingly, I furrowed my brow and looked up at him. I was confused. Both this situation and my emotions accepting this situation.
However, even in this chaotic midst, there was one thing that was clearly felt.
‘This marriage is doomed…’
There was no realization more certain than this at this moment.
I never would have dreamed that the timid Edita was open about her relationships with men, of all things. To have such a perfectly fine and beautiful fiancée and still have something with Brandt!
Even if she was scheming in the middle, she should have been careful about who she did it with. Why of all people did she choose this man? Edita! What am I supposed to do stuck in the middle like this? I couldn’t say anything like ‘I’m actually from another world’ or even ‘I don’t remember anything right now.’
Brandt, who had been staring at me at a loss, grabbed my wrist. The strong force felt from his calloused hand pulled me toward him. This time, it was firm without hesitation. Our faces were so close that his breath settled on my cheek.
“I will never let you go anymore.”
At the solemn voice that seemed to seep deep into my skin, my entire body resonated.
He smiled toward my two eyes that must have been trembling like aspen leaves, then returned to his seat as if nothing had happened.
I felt like all of this right now was a lie. Seeing him sit back down with dignity and drink water as if asking what had happened made it even more so.
Brandt, sensing my gaze, said in a soft voice.
“I sincerely thank you for this grand hospitality, Lady Edita.”
“He said he would never let me go.”
“Oh my, oh my, oh my! What to do!”
Madame Marie laughed so hard it seemed like her uvula would show. I looked at the delighted Madame Marie with eyes full of worry.
To her who persistently asked what had happened when we were alone, this was the only thing I could say, so I was prepared for the misunderstanding. But seeing it with my own eyes made me want to just hide under the ground.
‘What the hell is going on.’
After Madame Marie left the room, I lay alone on the bed and couldn’t sleep. There was no way I could sleep.
<I will never let you go anymore.>
His rippling eyes were still vivid. They had been hot with anger and coldly wet. What the hell was that… what was that?
It was certain that something had happened between the past Edita and Brandt, but understanding that subtle emotion that was neither simply good nor simply hateful was too difficult.
‘What does it mean that he won’t let me go.’
Is it ‘I won’t let go of you who hurt me and will seek revenge until death!’ or ‘You hurt me, but I love you so much that I can’t possibly let you go!’…
‘Whichever one it is, my life right now is hopeless.’
It felt like I was going crazy, so I burrowed into the blanket and kicked wildly without mercy. Even as I made a mess until my hair became disheveled and the candle finally fell to the floor, my heart only felt stuffy.
I couldn’t just lie here waiting for the approaching tsunami to engulf me. I had to either jump into the pond tomorrow or change this situation.
I couldn’t let my life, with no promise of when I would return home, get tangled up like this.
I went to the table and lit the candle. I intended to write a letter to Brandt.
‘But do I even know how to write here?’
I had started speaking at some point and reading at some point, so I figured writing would come similarly, and I pressed the fountain pen to the paper in a do-or-die manner.
To Duke Albrenovich.
With the sound of the nib scratching, the first writing I did in this world was completed. That my first writing here was ‘To Duke Albrenovich.’ It felt strange.
It felt like I was inextricably entangled with him in some undeniable way…
‘No, that can’t be!’
I shook my head vigorously to erase the ominous thought that had suddenly arisen.
Anyway, I began writing the letter to him to straighten out my life. In a calm tone, but with content that appealed intensely.
I am sorry for unintentionally hurting you. We haven’t even had the engagement ceremony yet, so let’s take our time and make an effort to understand each other. I want to get along well with you.
Something like that. Looking at the letter I had written in one go, I smiled proudly. Perhaps because of the dawn sentiment, I thought it was the most perfect and poetic letter in the world.
After putting the letter paper into an envelope and sealing it, placing it on the table, I lay back on the bed. As my body sank into the soft bed, a sigh escaped as if a switch had been flipped.
I had been happy to be the Emperor’s daughter, but because my mother’s bloodline was lowly, instead of being a Princess, I was only checked by real Princesses and noble ladies, and I was engaged to the empire’s greatest Duke, but because of Edita’s complicated past, even that didn’t seem smooth!
Still, I couldn’t live depressed because of a past I didn’t create. Since I was engaged to him anyway, I wanted to try getting along well.
Otherwise, plop into the pond!
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