Even when she had gone to the New Year’s banquet, Olivia had never imagined she would end up holding a wedding so suddenly. Was it right to become the Young Duke’s wife without even having prepared her heart?
“Olivia.”
Olivia gave a baffled smile as she watched Diana enter the bedroom. She was the only friend with whom she could open her heart and talk on a day like this.
“Why does the bride have that kind of face?”
“I’m wondering if this is really the right thing.”
“Hey, you’re wearing a wedding dress right now.”
Diana laughed softly and came to sit beside Olivia. On the outside, she looked more splendid than ever, but her inner feelings seemed a little different.
“To think that you, who were more devoted to the life of a noble than anyone, would say such a thing. The war must really be frightening, isn’t it?”
Olivia shook her head slightly. She had thought so too, but now that the situation had actually come, people were more frightening than the war. This skepticism about life. The fact that such feelings she should not have were welling up—that was the problem.
“Yes, let’s leave it at that.”
But she had no intention of revealing such inner feelings. Not even to Diana, her closest friend.
“By the way, Young Duke Brown is…….”
Diana’s face turned awkward as she was about to bring up Alex. Since Madam Russell had already stirred things up, Olivia also knew the situation outside.
“Don’t try to sugarcoat it.”
Olivia spoke with a grin. Seeing Olivia’s face as if she already knew everything, Diana let out a sigh.
“Right, Olivia, you were this kind of person.”
Diana erased from her mind the words she had been choosing to say something at least slightly positive. Then she immediately dove in with fire in her eyes. To Diana’s mind, Olivia was far too good a bride for Alex.
“I don’t know why he’s already so drunk.”
“He must be troubled. He has to go to the battlefield.”
“I heard he departs at dawn tomorrow.”
“That’s right.”
Was that ultimately why the wedding had been moved up like this? At Olivia’s answer, Diana furrowed her brow and tilted her head.
“Then the first night?”
Olivia glanced at Diana. There was no way she did not know what Olivia was worried about.
“We have to do it. The departure is tomorrow, after all.”
“……Hold onto him somehow. Start praying now. That you’ll conceive a child.”
“Breaking off the engagement seems like the easier task.”
When Olivia brought that up as a joke, Diana also let out a small laugh. Just then, Rafael, who had lightly knocked on the door, drew their attention and approached them.
“Unless this kingdom comes to have two ducal houses, breaking off the engagement is impossible.”
“Brother.”
Rafael, dressed in the newly tailored clothes as Madam Russell had wished, was dazzlingly beautiful today as well. Rafael exchanged a light nod with Olivia and then greeted Diana, who was sitting beside her, with a smile.
“Diana, it’s been a while.”
“I don’t think we’re close enough to call each other by name.”
Diana, her face stiff, glared at Rafael with a haughty expression. Rafael, who had been smiling all along, continued in his usual playful manner.
“Miss Roxburg, can’t you let it slide today? I’m also heading to the North.”
For a very brief moment, she needed time to understand what that meant. Soon Diana lost her composure and looked to her side.
“What? Is that true, Olivia?”
“As you can see, I too am a Russell.”
Diana had asked Olivia, but the answer came from Rafael.
“Th-that can’t be.”
Diana shook her head and immediately ran out with a face full of shock. Though he clearly had feelings, what must that heart be like, only pushing her away? Olivia gazed quietly at Rafael.
“Olivia. You’re different from usual. What are you looking at so fondly?”
“I don’t know. Whether it’s because you’re leaving for a dangerous place, or because I’m going to an unfamiliar place.”
There are people who, because they are leaving with death in mind, neither receive nor give confessions. Being the one desperately trying to marry only made her feelings more complicated.
“Olivia. I believe you will endure well.”
“I know. I will endure well.”
“It’s a rather early marriage, but it was something you would have done eventually, wasn’t it?”
Olivia slowly nodded.
“As you said, Brother, putting off the marriage would only have narrowed my options further.”
There was no certainty that the marriage talks would resume when the Young Duke returned. In that case, she would truly end up sold to the highest bidder.
“Rather than some mediocre person, being a Duchess is right.”
“Normally I would have said a word that it isn’t necessarily so.”
Rafael, who had raised an eyebrow as if displeased with Olivia’s words, let out a small sigh and gently patted her shoulder.
“Now that things have turned out this way, I feel relieved that you will be under the ducal family’s shadow.”
This was the right thing. Olivia and Rafael looked at each other and once more whispered to themselves.
* * *
Given the state of the times, the wedding could not be held grandly. From the start, returning to the estate was out of the question, so the backyard of the townhouse became their wedding venue. As time passed, Olivia thought it was rather for the best. The grander it was, the more agonizing it would be for her, the protagonist.
“Young Lady, are you tired?”
“Hmm, my body is fine. It’s the mental exhaustion that’s severe.”
Masha spoke while lightly massaging Olivia’s shoulders as she sat in the bathtub.
“Normally the reception would have been longer.”
Somehow Masha’s voice seemed drooping. Olivia, who had her eyes gently closed, asked subtly.
“Is it because you’re disappointed?”
“No! I was worried you might be disappointed, Young Lady. With your brother’s matter and all, you won’t be able to see him for a while.”
“It’s alright. It was something we all prepared for.”
When one married, one took the husband’s surname, and everything that proved one’s existence was transferred to the ducal family. But she had not known that a problem called war would intervene. Olivia pressed her head and let out a long sigh.
“Of course, I didn’t prepare for a situation like this.”
Masha, who had been quietly pouring warm water over Olivia’s shoulders, turned her head in surprise at a loud noise outside the bathroom. Olivia also furrowed her brow and turned to Masha.
“It’s noisy outside. Go see what’s happening.”
“Yes.”
Even after sending Masha out, the commotion continued for quite a while, and Olivia eventually grimaced. Perhaps she should become indifferent to things like this as well. She only hoped Alex’s habits were not bad.
“Haah…….”
“Ah, Young Lady.”
Masha’s face, having returned, had grown quite dark. Olivia leaned her arm on the bathtub and asked slowly.
“What is it?”
“……It seems the Young Duke has arrived.”
“I know that. Is he looking for me?”
“N-no. There’s no need to hurry.”
“Masha, what do you mean by that?”
Was it the same as the reason the commotion outside had subsided? After thinking for a moment, Olivia extended her hand to Masha.
“I need to check for myself. Give me my robe.”
Despite Olivia’s command, Masha hesitated to hand her the robe hanging on the wall. At Masha’s uncharacteristic behavior, Olivia’s voice grew a little louder.
“Hurry.”
In the end, unable to go against Olivia’s will, Masha draped the robe over Olivia’s body. Olivia immediately pushed her wet hair back and stepped out of the bathroom. And then, looking at her thoroughly disordered bedroom, she let out a hollow laugh.
“Oh, Young Lady.”
Two maids who had belatedly tried to rectify the situation immediately stood and bowed. Olivia looked at the wine bottle rolling on the floor, the broken wine glass, and Alex’s clothes strewn about here and there, then slowly shifted her gaze to the bed. Alex, dead drunk and senseless, was sprawled face-down on the bed.
“Is this situation that man’s doing?”
“What? Ah, th-that is…….”
The stammering maid seemed more afraid of Alex, who was passed out and could not even hear, than of Olivia standing before her. Thinking that this was no way to be so tactless, Olivia rolled her eyes and spoke to the maid beside her.
“You there, next to her. You answer.”
“Yes, it’s correct, Young Lady.”
In truth, it was something she could know without asking. Rather, if this had not been Alex’s doing, it would have been an even stranger situation. Having picked out the maid who would properly handle things on her own, Olivia finished what she had to do.
“Clean it up thoroughly and set it again with the same things.”
One of the quicker maids answered promptly and signaled to the maid beside her. Olivia returned to the bathroom, handed her robe to Masha, and headed to the bathtub.
“Young Lady, what are you going to do…….”
Olivia grimaced at the water that had cooled in the brief meantime. Even if she tried to look upon him favorably, Alex had already grated on her nerves several times in a single day. The Olivia of the past had certainly thought that even without love, if their goals were the same, she could carry out this married life well. But Alex……
“Fortunately he came into my bedroom, so the rest is up to me to handle.”
Live her whole life with a person like this? Forget a child, she did not even want to see his face, so what was she to do about this? Olivia shut her eyes tightly and submerged her entire body into the water.
