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Episode 58: In the Shadow of the Future (II)
Everyone was impatient.
Deborah snorted inwardly, unfolding her colorful feathered fan, her face relaxed.
“Since everyone is like that, I have no choice but to tell you.”
Deborah said with a really awkward look.
As if she really didn’t want to say it, but since everyone was looking and urging her to.
“It’s said they haven’t slept together yet.”
“……I beg your pardon?!”
Marchioness Ilmare covered her mouth in astonishment. It seemed that the other nobles were also shocked.
Aktoum was a country where the relationship between a husband and a wife was important, so that was why they had the custom of the first night of the engagement.
Afterwhich, they must keep their distance from each other for three days.
But actually, most lovers would sneak into each other’s bedrooms at night.
It was a public fact, which everyone pretended not to know.
In addition, most couples slept together even before the first night of the engagement, they were unable to wait until then.
But they still hadn’t slept together?
“…Doesn’t the imperial family just talk on the first night of the engagement?”
“No. Usually, in the meantime, couples who fit in well share physical love.”
“Even if they only talked on the first night, three days have already passed.”
It was beyond their common sense.
If they had only talked on the first day, the other’s body would have been even sweeter!
“…Is this information certain, Madam Deborah?”
Deborah made an unwilling face, pretending to be cautious.
“My maid is familiar with a maid who manages the Crown Prince’s bedroom. She heard it firsthand.”
The nobles roared. They had unbelieving faces.
In the meantime, a lady who ate shaved ice with much delight at Madam Verdi’s salon opened her mouth.
“Spinel is a conservative country. Her Majesty the Queen seems to be respected by the Crown Prince.”
Deborah’s eyebrows twitched uncomfortably.
‘I’m about to go nuts.’
Then, the nobles who were favorable to Berylia opened their mouths one after another.
“It could be.”
“The Crown Prince seems to love Her Majesty the Queen a lot…?”
Deborah knew what was needed at a time like this.
It was a lie and a hoax.
“…Then it would be great… But actually, there’s a maid who heard the two of them arguing in loud voices?”
“What?!”
This time, the nobles who were hostile to Berylia trembled.
“No… I can’t believe those two are arguing! They haven’t even gotten married yet.”
It was true that the two did not have physical relations, but it was a blatant lie that there was a maid who overheard a quarrel.
But Deborah knew.
When the truth alone could not incite people.
How effective it was to mix 90% facts with 10% plausible lies and hoaxes.
This was even more effective when the listeners doubted the truth.
If 90% of the facts were found to be true, it was the nature of people to believe the remaining 10% naturally without any doubt.
One of the nobles who was murmuring said cautiously.
“Is there any discord?”
“Oh!”
As if surprised to hear it, a young lady cried out with a pale face.
“…No way?”
“But if they fight now and don’t even sleep together…”
There was a chilling silence among the nobles.
Deborah had always played the role of a social butterfly that cherished the country extremely, so it sounded credible and natural for her to say this.
Although now she was forcibly expelled from the butterfly seat.
The effect was still there.
She seduced people with her cunning tongue.
“The two of them have a high probability of becoming a ‘show couple’ with a bad relationship.”
“!”
“What if the Crown Prince and his wife get divorced?”
Deborah covered her face with a fan, pretending to look worried.
Of course, her hidden mouth was smiling softly.
“War will come. On this continent!”
It was a time when everyone was speechless to the shocking assumption.
Behind her came an angry, very harsh voice.
“Madam Deborah, is that true?”
Everyone turned around, and saw a man standing there.
White beard, eyes like an old beast.
A middle-aged warrior with a hardened face.
The margrave was back.
* * *
Perhaps it was the words I feared the most from Rixus?
“You are hiding something from me.”
We had been through many crises since coming to Aktoum, but this moment had renewed the severity of all those crises.
There had never been a more dangerous moment than now.
It felt as if my breaths, thoughts and heart had stopped for a moment.
I couldn’t answer anything.
It felt like all the words I knew had evaporated like a dry riverbed.
My heart was pounding so hard that I couldn’t stand it.
“That’s right.”
At my affirmation, Rixus’ eyes hardened quietly. He asked,
“What……?”
I looked at him coldly and added without a break.
“I’m afraid of you sometimes.”
Receiving the small shock, Rixus’ eyes shook.
Occasionally sensing his wife’s scent of fear, he would have thought it couldn’t be.
He would have wished it wasn’t. The woman he liked was afraid of him… He wouldn’t want that either.
I looked into his shaking eyes with a calm expression and unraveled the following words.
“To be exact, our future.”
How much could I tell Rixus?
Until recently, I vowed to hide everything from him.
“Why are you afraid of our future?”
‘Even if I’m honest… Can you handle it, Rixus?’
“Because we’ve been ‘enemies’ for quite some time.”
With an unwavering face, I revealed the deepest truth in an instant.
Yet somehow, my heart sank. I also felt like I was walking on a tightrope.
‘If I take even one wrong step, I will fall to the ground, and the future marriage and all this peace…’
I felt a sense of crisis as if my life was about to end.
Nevertheless, I brought up a little more of the truth.
“I feel like this peace will be broken at any time. If things go wrong even a little…”
“……”
“As deep as this affection is, I’m afraid of loving you too deeply.”
“…….”
“That’s why I can’t just get close.”
I had no idea what Rixus was thinking.
I couldn’t read his expression.
…Risking my life to be honest, I should end it here.
I slowly turned my head and avoided his gaze.
“If it’s a relationship between Spinel and Aktoum, isn’t it enough?”
My heart was pounding like it was going to explode. I clasped my hands nervously and lowered my gaze.
Maybe, if I were Rixus…
‘He must be angry.’
Because he did his best.
He couldn’t have been more warm and kind to his cold wife.
‘In everything, he was honest with me, not hiding anything.’
He showed an honest and loving heart with the spirit of taking out his own heart.
After accepting all of that, if the recipient’s inner thoughts were still that she didn’t trust him like this…
No matter how generous a man might be, he would become angry and lose his affection.
“What more do I have to do for you to trust me?”
It was as if Rixus’ cold voice was ringing in my ear.
“If I didn’t give you faith even after I did my best, there’s nothing I can do for you anymore.”
The blue-purple eyes that were completely hidden from me seemed to be saying that.
Even though I said that, I couldn’t help it.
It broke my heart a little because I remembered the good times I had with him…
‘Maybe it’s for the better.’
‘If we don’t get along with each other, I don’t have to try hard to push him away.’
Yes, that’s better. It was a time when I was having cynical thoughts inside.
“It’s my fault.”
I heard an unexpected answer, and I lifted my head involuntarily.
…What?
“I wish I hadn’t left you in the hut then.”
“…….”
“If we had been together all the time, I wouldn’t have felt like the prince of an enemy country.”
He gently clasped my trembling hands.
I could feel the warmth spreading to my chest.
“I’ll try harder.”
“……”
For a moment, I was amazed by this man.
When he was an enemy, he was so merciless……
He really poured out blind affection for the person he liked.
Maybe it was because I thought he would change in the future. Now, it was just pure admiration.
‘Unexpectedly, he’s a ‘hogu’. He gave a guarantee as well.’
(TL/N: 호구 – slang for ‘a stupid person who is easy to be deceived by others.’)
It seemed like he would give me 10 billion ferring if I just asked for it.
“I never thought I would feel like an enemy.”
Then, Rixus slowly turned me around, put my back into his arms and hugged me tightly.
His firm and wide chest felt strong enough for me to lean on it as much as I wanted.
His low voice tickled my ear.
“To this day, you’re still like the girl who shared candy and picked blueberries.”
“…….”
“Because I’ve lived my life relying on those memories.”
My heart was pounding. The image of Rixus reflecting over those memories came to mind whenever it was difficult.
Emotions were very contagious, so I was reminded of the past. It felt like I was standing in the middle of those memories that he had been treasuring all his life.
Back then, he and I were leaning on each other in a little hut with nowhere to go.
My nemesis, who had suddenly become a boy, whispered in my ear.
“Even after leaving that hut…”
He said, rubbing his nose against the nape of my neck.
“There’s not a single day I don’t love you.”