How to Win My Husband Over

Chapter 5

Silence soon reigned again. I lowered my arms which were protecting my head and opened my eyes wide. The intruder was now sprawled on the floor like a dead moth, already slowly dissipating into black smoke. A man stood staring over it with a sword that glistened blue in his hand. He turned to look at me. My heart was pounding, but I couldn’t tell if it was because of what had just happened or if I was seeing my husband for the first time.

Or was it because he was still deadly, poised for slaughter? His hair was bluish silver, his eyes were clear red, his jawline was smooth, and his features were delicate—he very much resembled Elenia. However, while she had the air of an elegant ice princess, her brother’s energy was wild and more dangerous. As he glared at me with his eyebrows knit, his presence felt overwhelmingly intimidating.

Why are you staring at me like that?

“Why?” he asked.

“Excuse me?”

“Why did you put that out?”

If I had really put out the holy fire, I would have given excuses to his frightening accusation immediately. Is he suggesting I did this on purpose?

“I didn’t,” I replied.

“It wasn’t necessary, you’re already getting enough attention. Or are you going to use this to your advantage later?”

He seemed to believe I was already looking for an excuse to end our marriage. I knew he would hate me, but it appeared his disdain for me was far deeper than I had imagined. I’ve got a long way to go.

Then Elenia, who had been watching us from the door, turned her back to me and faced her brother.

“Iske, don’t be so quick to blame her. We don’t know who did it yet. Even if she did put out the fire, she couldn’t have known what would happen. They have no reason to light holy fires in Romana.”

I love you, Ellen. Even if I perish, I’ll save you first. Hiding behind her, I reached out and grasped her sleeve.

She’s not dressed for bed. Judging from that and the fact that they had shown up almost instantly, they must have been having tea.

“I woke up because it was so cold, and…”

“What? You need to speak up.”

So you have no mercy. I took a few short breaths. It was easy to make tears well up in my eyes, but when my voice trembled, it wasn’t entirely an act. As he scowled at me, putting away his sword, my husband looked like a demon who had crawled out of a bottomless pit. He’s just like Cezar. I didn’t see that coming.

“I woke up and found the fire was out.”

“So you’re saying someone else did it? But who? My sister? Me?”

“Iske,” Elenia said.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that,” I explained. “I must’ve put the fire out because it got too hot and forgot about it. I’m sorry for causing trouble. I shouldn’t have. It won’t happen again.” I sniffled, and a short silence followed.

Elenia gently stroked my shoulder. As for Iske, he bit his lip and stared at me speculatively. I could feel his gaze piercing my skin and scrutinizing my face.

“There’s something I want to ask,” he said.

“Yes?”

“No, never mind. It’s nothing.”

After that, he clucked his tongue and left the room.

What was he going to ask me?

***

Apparently, my husband left the castle again after our unexpected first encounter, so Elenia and I had breakfast alone. It was silent for a while. She focused on the meal with her unique, impassive face.

Feeling a bit intimidated after what had happened, I tried to appear dejected. I planned to throw everything up later, so I was glad to have an excuse to not have an appetite.

“It won’t happen again,” Elenia said abruptly.

“Excuse me?”

“Your room will never get so cold again.”

I put down my fork and looked at her, but her eyes were fixed on the mushroom soup she was eating.

So you found out who pulled that nasty prank on me. I never thought you would be childish enough to do something like that.

“Thank you.”

“We will be attending the banquet at the royal palace in four days. Until then, please feel free to tell us if you need anything.”

Right, the banquet. The royal family had played matchmaker for our marriage, so of course we had to show up to express our gratitude. Plus, the ball was being held to celebrate his wedding anniversary. Missing it was out of the question.

“Ellen, could you introduce me to a good seamstress?”

“A seamstress?”

“Yes. As you must know, all the dresses I’ve brought are Southern in style and would be far too conspicuous. Besides, I heard summer is very short here.”

A silence followed. I smiled tentatively, and Elenia studied me, then lowered her gaze. A puzzled expression crossed her usually stoic face.

“You’re right. I should’ve thought of that myself. My apologies.”

It’s okay. Of course, you didn’t think of it. Sh*t, everyone is making bets on how soon I’ll return to Romana. Besides, according to my memory, the real Rudbeckia hadn’t cared about the North’s customs at all.

“I will summon my seamstress. But four days won’t be enough time to make a new dress,” said Elenia.

“I guess I’ll have to do with one of mine, then. Thank you anyway.”

“I’d like to let you borrow one of my dresses, but I’m afraid they’re all too big for you. To be honest, you are too thin, Ruby. You need to eat better to endure Erendille’s winters.”

Beyond the difference in size, she was also taller than me. If I wore one of her dresses, I would look like a little girl playing dress-up in her aunt’s clothing.

What a shame. At any rate, I was going to meet the important men and women of the North for the first time at the banquet, so I needed to be careful to make a good first impression. Sadly, my husband, the man I needed to win over the most, had gotten the impression that I was a troublemaker.

“Will Sir Iske… I mean…”

“Please, don’t dwell on what happened earlier. My brother overreacted because he takes safety very seriously. Monsters rarely infiltrate the castle, even when a holy fire goes out. We were surprised as well.”

Elenia seemed to think Iske had really freaked the hell out of me.

Well, I’m sure he’s serious about your safety. The siblings cared deeply for each other, which was ideal.

“Of course, I don’t mind. It’s just that… He seems to misunderstand me, and it saddens me a little. I know he has enough reasons to hate me, but still…”

“No, Iske doesn’t hate you, Ruby.” Elenia sounded sincere.

My eyes widened.

“He isn’t ordinary enough to avoid someone he dislikes. If he really hated you, he would be trying his best to make you miserable,” she explained dryly.

That is extraordinary and twisted. So he’s even more out of his mind than I thought.

“But…”

“Right now, he’s mad at everyone and everything because he’s irritated about the situation. I don’t know what they told you, but I never imagined my brother would get married one day… If it were any other woman, his reaction would be the same.”

Sadly, that didn’t help me much. If it had been a normal noble lady and not me, Rudbeckia de Borgia, he wouldn’t have concluded as soon as he laid eyes on me that I was already eager to end the marriage.

If he’d married that girl, his childhood friend, he’d be behaving himself. Still, if Elenia was telling the truth about how unusual Iske was, even to some extent, it was going to do me good. Even though he had plenty of reasons to hate being married to me, I could cling to some hope as long as he wasn’t infuriated with me personally.

How am I supposed to win him over? I should find out more about him first.

“Ellen, I have a favor to ask of you.”

***

Know thy enemy: a perennially relevant lesson. My ultimate goal was not to die at my husband’s hands. Appearing harmless was a sort of insurance policy, one I needed in case I failed to prevent Elenia’s death.

House Borgia was known to assassinate its enemies. Everyone knew that. For instance, Cardinal Illiope had dared question who my father was. It was officially announced that he was murdered in a mugging gone wrong while leaving a brothel, but it was rumored that my brothers and I had him killed.

Plus, Elenia was poisoned in the novel because she had recently gotten engaged to a prince from Dorias Kingdom. There was bad blood between the kingdom and the Vatican. If its prince married a lady of House Omerta of Britanya, there was no telling how it would change the balance of power. Of course, everyone suspected the Borgias.

I remembered thinking it didn’t make any sense that Cezar had Elenia poisoned without a plan to get away with it. Even if House Borgia was known to cross any line, Cezar was clever and thorough. By the end of the story, the house lost the Holy Grail and went down, which didn’t make any sense…

Anyway, it wasn’t like I could warn anyone in advance. I was the pope’s spoiled daughter, and no one was going to buy my story. Even if anyone did, I knew the pope had spies all around Erendille and wouldn’t dare betray him so brazenly. If such a rumor spread, they would drag me back to the Vatican right away to do God knows what to me…

In summary, I had to impress Iske all the more since he was the one who was going to kill me. Even if everyone else thought I was innocent, it wasn’t going to matter if he didn’t think so or tried to punish me for my family’s crimes. If I managed to make him like and pity me even a little, he might show me mercy. Perhaps he would even heed my warning.