Chapter Seven
Things couldn’t be better.
“Yeah. Next time…”
“Next time?”
Weird. Was it just me, or was he looking forward to something? My good mood dampened a little, but I continued talking.
“I’ll drape myself from head to toe with red flowers… And I’ll throw myself in his arms.”
“Hmph. That’s too much.” Isar shrugged. “You’ll die.”
“No, he didn’t kill me today,” I answered calmly.
“That’s probably because he was in shock.”
“No way. Him? Shocked into silence?” That shut him up. Confusion swept over his face. “See?” I nodded with conviction. “He liked my gift. It means I’m his true love.”
“T-true love.” Isar went pale as if he’d heard something he shouldn’t have. “Are you insane?”
“What? I’ll ask him for his hair next time. I’ll request a strand every time we meet.”
“Why on earth would you?”
“Idiot. I’ll put them in my pillows. Until the wedding…” I whispered, then began flapping all over, pretending to be giddy with love.
They say it makes for a happily ever after. Wow. How creepy was this? If it were me, I’d run and never look back.
“Where did you even hear of that ridiculous superstition?”
But when I continued feeding him more or less the same kind of talk, Isar sighed and leaned his head against the carriage windowsill. And he sighed once again, with eyes that told me just how much he wanted to say.
I was staring right back when I noticed that the other two were strangely quiet. I turned to see the duke and duchess both pale in the face. Between those two, the expression on the duke was hilarious. I smiled pleasantly.
Bet you’re thinking that you wouldn’t have pushed Scarlett into the engagement if you had known she was such a nutjob, hmm? Too obvious. I turned to look out the window nonchalantly. We’d be arriving at the manor soon. They can regret it all they like.
The place for the emperor’s fiancée was nothing but a graveyard. In fact, people called it the “graveyard” because everyone in this position ended up dead. And if you agreed to the marriage proposal, you basically got yourself a ticket to your fate. At least no one tried to assassinate Scarlett, so she lived longer.
But the duke didn’t know that, did he? He was just hoping that she'd die off quickly like the others had. The duke had an inferiority complex toward the late duchess. I don’t see what he disliked so much about her. But it was clear that he was taking it out on her daughter.
What a loser. I have no idea why he married Scarlett’s mother. I mean, it wasn’t like they were in love. Scarlett’s birth mother was a commoner but a very beautiful, graceful, and clever woman. Even the house elders never looked down on her the way they sometimes did with the duke.
And he doesn’t seem to love the current duchess, either. The current duchess, Duchess Millia, was also a very competent person. However, the duke gave her the cold shoulder because he abandoned her once. Though looking down on her, he couldn’t help but feel inferior. What a miserable life he leads.
I closed my eyes slowly and continued thinking. The duchess never tried to kill Scarlett and never agreed to get rid of her with things like the engagement. The only reason she was so pale in the face was just that she couldn’t stand how undignified I was by her own standards.
But the duke was different. And if the tyrant decides that he’s had it with a nutcase like me?
If he declared that he’d rather end the engagement than go through all the mandatory dates…
My lips curved up in a smile. Not only will there be disgrace upon the family name… But Duke Arman may also find himself on the receiving end of the tyrant’s anger.
Oh, dear. He might die. This is why one should always be kind. Karma hits back, you know.
Watching the pallid duke, who—lost in his thoughts—had apparently forgotten the fact that he had been shouting at me, made me laugh a little.
He was probably thinking the same thing. I couldn’t help smiling as innocently as possible when our eyes met.
***
Vector, the Arman house’s butler, could not hide his worry at the news of his masters’ early return.
“Has Lady Scarlett caused trouble again?”
No, it couldn’t be. She has been good for the past month. It was true that she had gone a little… unpredictable after the engagement. But even she wouldn’t have acted out in front of the emperor. But what other reasons are there for such an early arrival?
He set out to greet them with a heavy heart. The antique carriage set with the Arman house’s sigil soon arrived at the front gates, having passed the garden. However, when the carriage doors opened, the butler had to step aside.
It was an instinctive movement. Something darted out of the carriage past him. Trying to make out the shape with his eyes, his mouth fell open in realization. Lady... Scarlett?
“T-there! Get her!”
“Y-your Grace?”
Red with anger, the duke shot out of the carriage, shouting at the butler. In his haste, he did not wait for the bewildered butler to catch up and instead stomped into the manor.
“Get a doctor, now.”
“A-a doctor, Your Grace?”
“Scarlett is not well.”
The baffled butler realized that Isar was nowhere to be seen.
“Did Lord Isar not come with you?”
The duchess pressed her mouth into a thin line, momentarily rendered speechless. Isar had said to Scarlett, “You sound really crazy right now. Do you truly have a death wish? Funerals are such a nuisance.”
And Scarlett had stopped the carriage at the back alleys Isar frequented, left him standing there, and driven off…
Frankly, the duchess was so in shock that she couldn’t react. She had never expected to hear such words from these two children or any respectable nobility. Scarlett, especially… The image of her shouting how he could get his crap together after kicking Isar out of the carriage was…
“Your Grace?”
It wasn’t just that, either. Scarlett had some words for the duke and herself, sitting stunned at the series of events.
“You do know that I’m His Majesty’s fiancée now, don’t you? I’ll have more events to attend, so I think it’s best we distance ourselves from each other.”
These words were mainly intended for the duke.
“Both of you know we’re too close for comfort.”
These, see? She tapped her cheeks in a very do I have to say it aloud way. Her expression had been terribly cheeky. The duke would not stand it. That was why things had come to this mess. In the duchess’ case…
“I’m tired.”
Scarlett Arman was different somehow. The duchess had begun to contemplate the idea. The butler, who had felt the chill in the atmosphere, said no more. He led the duchess inside the manor.
***
Even after I’d put on that stalker act, Isar kept trying to talk to me after he returned from the back alleys.
“You sound really crazy right now, Scarlett. Do you truly have a death wish?”
Nope. He wasn’t trying to talk. He was trying to provoke.
“You’re so sweet, aren’t you?”
“Funerals are such a nuisance.”
“Excuse me?”
I’d hoped he’d just reflect on his own actions. That was why I had left him on the back alleys he was said to visit often. At least he doesn’t break things when he’s drunk.
But I’d seen him get beaten up by thugs for singing. Multiple times. If I’ve seen him like that often, and I don’t even see him frequently… It probably meant that he got beaten up every day.
Jeez. He should take care of himself first.
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