TLN: […] those are for flashbacks.
At that precise moment, Neithan finally knew what it meant to be rendered speechless by anger.
“I’ve neglected you for far too long,” he declared, forcefully tossing her to the ground.
“Ugh…!”
Skillfully avoiding a direct collision with the bed, Sebelia let out a muffled groan and said, “Be careful, brother.”
“What did you say?”
Nonchalantly lifting her head, she wore a casual expression and remarked, “Perhaps because it’s so dark and cold in here…… uninvited guests often drop by.”
“……!”
No way! Neithan silently exclaimed, feeling something creeping up his ankles.
With a pale face and barely bringing himself to look down, he lowered his eyes to see dozens of spiders clinging to his legs, crawling upward.
Thud!
“AHHHHHHH!”
Sebelia stared at the collapsed Neithan with a hint of amusement.
He is genuinely terrified of spiders; she rejoiced.
Thanks to the night she spent practicing, she was able to conjure this illusion so easily just for this brother of hers…
.
.
[I told you not to make foolish comments.]
On that thunderous day, Neithan had tied Sebelia to a tree, forbidding her to eat even a piece of bread while he devoured a big piece of meat right in front of her.
[Do you want to be abandoned in the monastery again like last time?] he taunted.
The Marquis of Weddon had once left her in a monastery, with the intention of fixing her stubbornness. Ever since that incident, the mere mention of the word ‘monastery’ made her unable to breathe correctly.
Neithan laughed at her misery with his greasy lips.
However, his happiness was short lived.
Because as a thunderbolt struck, a spider that was hanging from the tree fell on his face.
“Speaking of which, the face you are making right now looks just like back then,” Sebelia mocked, peering down at the trembling Neithan with a cold face.
This is the first time I’m directly looking at his face like this.
She had never been able to lift her head in his presence before.
After a while, Sebelia reached up into the air, and as she did, the swarm of spiders covering his body vanished as if they never existed.
And just in time, voices echoed from afar in the corridor.
“What was that noise?”
“Did it come from over there?”
It was the servants who had never graced her room with their expensive faces.
That was fast. I guess they were waiting.
Sinking to the floor, Sebelia patiently waited for them. And soon, one of the stewards, accompanied by other servants, opened the door without the courtesy of a knock.
“Oh my goodness!”
“Lord Neithan!”
Filled with astonishment, they immediately rushed towards Neithan.
“Lord Neithan, are you alright?”
And Sebelia smirked as she watched them tending to him without sparing her a glance.
I’m aware that they are pretending to not see me….
But since when did they care about him so much?
Most northerners did not like the central nobles, and vice versa.
However, she didn’t relate to this sentiment.
From the time she was born until her marriage, she had rarely ventured outside the walls of Weddon’s mansion. Plus, moving to a whole new place all of the sudden was quite overwhelming. And as she had no knowledge about the North, she couldn’t comprehend their animosity towards her.
But now, I understand; Sebelia mused inwardly as she leaned against the wall, watching Neithan being carried away.
It’s fascinating.
How could such high-nosed Northerners voluntarily take care of Neithan like this?
Her eyes squinted with genuine curiosity.
At that moment, the butler who was overseeing the situation sighed and questioned her, “Madam, what on earth happened here?”
It was the elderly, glasses-wearing butler who stood in her way back at the greenhouse the other day.
The head butler of Hylend Hall, Gross.
“I can’t believe this happened while the Duke is away. Really.……” He sighed again, his mustache quivering.
And Sebelia, enjoying the crumpling of his usually stern face, casually answered, “Well, he seemed to have stayed up for several consecutive nights. So, that might be the cause.”
“Oh?” Gross said, raising an eyebrow, and looking down at Sebelia.
Despite the stern gaze, Sebelia did not get angry, but rather faced him head-on.
And in response, the steward’s mustache trembled again.
He then let out a chuckle and turned his head away. “Haha…So, that’s the case. He came here in a rush…”
Deliberately sighing heavily, he shrugged as if in pain, then followed the departing servants.
“I see. We will take care of Lord Neithan then. Please rest.”
He glanced one last time at the narrow room, gave Sebelia a meaningful look, then left.
And Sebelia, who was barely enduring the agonizing pain while feigning indifference, collapsed on the floor.
“…Ugh.”
Cold sweat formed on her forehead as she pressed her cheeks against the cool floor.
“I need to leave quickly,” she muttered with a bitter smile, and a trickle of fresh blood dripped down the corner of her lips.
* * *
“Let’s go!”
“Hey, quit wasting time. We still have a massive amount of cargo to load!”
In a bustling salty harbor, filled with squawking seagulls and the shouts of sailors, Dehart’s eardrums were being violated.
So noisy and filthy.
Pressing his fingers against his throbbing temples, Dehart couldn’t help but grimace. The place was a mess no matter where he looked.
And to make matters worse, there was an awful smell assaulting his nostrils.
As someone who was already visually impaired, he feared that he might lose his sense of smell if he stayed any longer.
“Damnit….”
But despite the curses he kept spitting out, Dehart didn’t leave his seat, and there was a very good reason for that.
Just a while ago, news had reached him that stolen ore from a mine had recently made its way to this harbor.
[Are you all right, Duke?]
Ryan, who delivered the news, was worried that Dehart might have felt betrayed, but Dehart, on the contrary, burst into a laughter before saying,
[There’s no way someone could betray me.]
What kind of expression did Ryan make upon hearing these dry words?
Who knows; Dehart simply shrugged, clenching his fists as the pungent breeze brushed over his shoulders.
“Hah.”
He didn’t trust anyone.
He was brought up to be that way and didn’t feel any guilt about it.
So, how could he feel betrayed when he had never trusted anyone in the first place? it wouldn’t make sense.
“It could happen any time,” Dehart remarked, as smirk playing on his lips as he gazed at the restless sea.
In the end, this incident only proved that the notions he entertained were reality.
No matter who it was, no matter how long they stood by his side and devoted themselves to him, they could turn their back on him at any given moment.
Just like she did.
“…….”
Dehart’s face sank coldly as he thought of Sebelia, his once warm expression freezing over like an ice wall.
Witnessing this, the shy women who had been observing him from a distance were stunned.
“Oh my gosh, that man. . .”
“Something bad must have happened. Let’s just go.”
The man with black hair and languid golden eyes suddenly emitted an air of menace. His once gentle eyes, now bore a darkened intensity, adding a touch of gloom to his aura.
“My Lord.”
Right at that moment, Ryan approached, purposely addressing him with a different title.
“I have caught the tail. What would you like to do?”
And speaking in a hushed tone, Dehart replied, “I can’t afford to wait.”
“In that case….”
“Let’s go immediately. If it’s so easy to be traced, it’s clear how things will turn out if we just leave it alone misunderstandings will arise.”
“What misunderstanding are you talking about?” Ryan inquired.
As he put on the black leather gloves Ryan handed him, Dehart chuckled, “Granting traitors mercy is a courtesy solely reserved for my wife,” he stated.
“Oh.”
“I simply cannot let those rogues roam around as if they had become my wife, can I?”
Then, looking up, Dehart noticed how shadows had started to obscure the sky, with dark clouds gathering from the distant sea.
“Perfect timing.”
* *
Does Neithan lack common sense?
Sebelia looked down at the man who was shouting as he was being carried away in a carriage.
If he continued like this, he would probably be scolded by his father.
Neithan’s tendency to be obsessed over reputation was something he inherited from his father, after all.
“I used to be like that too.”
In fact, she was more scared of being discarded because of a bad reputation rather than the bad reputation itself.
“Why did I crave to be loved so desperately?”
Father never gave me a warm look even once.
Sebelia’s fingertips gripping the window frame, turned white.
“Why did I want to be recognized so much…”
A painful smile broke on her lips.
The ‘lack of common sense’ expression was one of the things she heard the most in the Weddon mansion.
Her father used to call her a ‘useless wench with no brain cells’ before locking her up in the wardrobe.
And every single time, Sebelia had to ponder over everything she had done wrong from the inside of that wardrobe.
[I should refrain from eating like a glutton.]
[Next time, I’ll use the tableware correctly.]
[I won’t let my father down…]
After repeating those words to herself a thousand times, Denisa would eventually come pull her out, crying.
But in the end, I was kicked out of the dining room for good.
Each time she laid eyes on her father’s face, her hands would involuntarily tremble, causing her table manners to fail her.
She didn’t get along with her family even after she eventually married Dehart.
Well, things ended up being the same way here as well.
“Sigh…….”
Was it because she was reminiscing about the old times or was it just her body sending her a warning? But she felt like someone was violently smashing and ripping through her chest.
“Huh,” Sebelia closed her eyes, inhaling deeply. Then, she lowered herself down to the floor again, and curled up her body as if attempting to suppress her grief and pain.
“Hah.”
As the cold sweat dampened her back, the pain gradually faded.
And slowly, Sebelia re-opened her eyes.
Whenever she huddled under the bed like this during her childhood, Nelia would come over.
I used to complain about how stupid it was.
[If you’re in a bad mood, why not just buy some jewelry.] Nelia asked, genuinely puzzled, unaware that she was the only one allowed to use that method.
Taking another deep breath, Sebelia tried to lead her thoughts elsewhere.
Speaking of which, all the jewels I brought as my dowry were chosen by Nelia.
Originally, everything was tailored to Nelia’s taste since she was the one who was supposed to marry Dehart.
Realizing this fact, Sebelia blinked rapidly as if struck by a good idea.
“……Then everything in there must be quite expensive.”
She had never regarded the dowry as her own, hence why she had forgotten all about it until now.
“I’m glad I didn’t leave the duchy that day,” Sebelia sighed with relief, thanking Denissa in her heart.
If she were to sell Nelia’s jewels, she wouldn’t have to worry about money for the rest of her life.
“I’ll need to request the key to the underground vault from the butler,” Sebelia smiled, drenched in a cold sweat.
“Beep.”
Suddenly, a blue bird appeared, and nestled against her cheek.
