Chapter 23
The coward pressed the duvet against his side, stood still, and whispered quietly.
“What’s there?”
Unable to contain his laughter, Barath lifted a hand and roughly dry-cleaned his face.
He swiped it roughly across his face, let out a laugh that Selene couldn’t hear, and answered.
“Perhaps I’m mistaken,” he said, “but I think you’d better get dressed…”
She was about to ask him if it would be a good idea to change when there was a knock on the door.
Knock.
“It’s Méthyle.”
A few moments later, Méthyle entered and bowed when she saw that the Grand Duke was with the Duchess.
Setting out the honey water and cold towels, she spoke softly.
“I will help you dress,My Lady.”
Selene echoed her words and moved slightly away from him.
Barath did not like that maid.
Why does she have to come in at this time and ruin all his fun?
If she’s so clueless, how can she be the Grand Duchess maid?
If she weren’t Zart’s youngest sister, she’d be out of the castle tomorrow.
Méthyle lowered her eyes nervously at Barath’s hardening expression. She remembered Zart’s words.
‘If your lord looks unhappy, stay close to the Grand Duchess.’
Taking her brother’s advice well, the girl moved closer to the Duchess’s side and hugged her lightly, as if to comfort her.
Selene’s hair blew in all directions as Barath’s face crumpled.
She turned her head and spoke.
“You’ll wait, won’t you?”
Barath nodded, and Méthyle, who had seen the change in his expression, understood why Zart had said what he had.
She hurried out of the inner sanctum to go home. She had only been there for two hours, and the gin was gone.
She was so frightened of the Grand Duke.
His overbearing aura and the scar over one eye were frightening. But most terrifying of all were his eerie eyes, which seemed to pierce through the flesh and into the soul.
The single red eye seemed to be full of life.
Of course, all of that relaxed when she saw the Rain Charge. But sometimes she felt like she could chew him up and eat him right now.
Later, when she officially became a handmaiden and was around the Duchess all day long… Just thinking about it makes her feel like there’s an earthquake in her head.
***
Grand Duke and Grand Duchess Velias went out to a table in the corridor to eat a late breakfast.
She was greatly relieved to hear that Nephthys wouldn’t show up, as long as she was with someone.
Selene wandered around the still deserted courtyard, feeling the air noticeably warmer than when she first came here. Then she spotted a butterfly, flapping its wings as industriously as she had seen it before.
A natural smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.
Barath followed her gaze, but when he saw nothing particularly funny, he wondered what she was smiling at, and unconsciously asked.
“What’s that?”
Selene pointed her finger in the direction of his gaze.
He thought it was cute that such a small hand could move so freely.
She was always happy to do anything, and she began to speak in a peaceful tone.
“That white butterfly over there.”
Barath followed her finger and saw a tiny white butterfly. It was an insignificant creature he would not normally have paid attention to.
“It looks just like me.”
He listened, thinking the tiny white butterfly and her voice were a perfect match.
“You need to find flowers and get nectar, but there are no flowers here, and you have no home to protect you, no one to care for you, and I wonder how you can do that when you’re flying around looking for them, so brave and strong, even though the wind blows and you flutter.”
His mood sank as she continued, her words sounding as if she might leave this place someday.
I’m just a stopover in her life, floating along like a bouffant, he thought.
He almost shouted at the top of his lungs, asking her what she meant. He forced himself to calm down, to not freak her out, and picked his words.
Barath glared at her, his eyes looking elsewhere, and he tried to speak as gently as he could.
“I can do it.”
He brought his eyes to her face as she locked onto his words, and spoke his mind in a way that left no room for misunderstanding.
“A home to protect you, someone to care for you. I’ll do it.”
If there’s a wind that blows to make her squirm, he’ll fight it, and he doesn’t care if she’s a coward and weak.
He’ll draw all his courage from himself.
All he had to do was say if she wanted flowers or honey, and if the way to get it was through thorns, he’d step on them all.
So don’t think or dream of leaving my side and flying away like that butterfly.
The words were carefully packed, with a temper that threatened to burst out, but his eyes were fierce.
Selene thought he was angry.
Did she sound like she was asking him to protect her, to take care of her?
Was it the annoyance that made him so nervous that he expressed it in this clenched, suppressed voice?
They say the one who likes more is the underdog, and Selene thought she was the underdog.
No matter how he said it, she just smiled softly once, deciding that since he had promised her a caring home, that was enough.
She had to accept the inevitable: he was a loveless man, as if he had been born to be lonely, so if she gave him affection, he would have to give it to her.
Still, she didn’t seem to have forgotten that she was his wife, so she wondered if he would come to life and bloom someday.
This body is only twenty years old, so let’s take the long view and slowly build up our friendship, and then we can live together as friends and companions, if not in burning love, then at least in mutual care.
After collecting her thoughts, she proposed a picnic to him in a breezy voice.
“Will you come with me?”
He didn’t answer.
After some time passed, Selene became embarrassed that he was staring at her as if questioning her question.
When he didn’t answer, she wondered if she had said the wrong thing to someone who was already angry.
Perhaps it wasn’t the right time to say that she hoped to have many good memories with him from now on.
Barath didn’t want to go out with her.
Or more precisely, he didn’t want to show Selene to his sister, who would be outside looking for an opportunity.
It didn’t seem sane to have traveled all that way just to see his wife’s face.
She’d always seemed a little crazy, but she wasn’t someone who moved without calculation, so he was even more reluctant.
He doesn’t know what it is, but there must be an agenda.
But he couldn’t just sit there and watch her fumble around, not knowing what to do.
Finally, with a sigh, he stood up first and held out his hand to Selene.
“Is there somewhere you want to go?”
She took his hand, her eyes sparkling as if she hadn’t been so sullen in a while.
“There’s a market out front, we could walk around and get a snack.”
In her words, Barath’s mouth felt like it had sand in it.
This woman had no idea how people viewed Barath Velias.
He wondered if she would still smile as brightly as she did now, after all the rumors she’d heard about him, after all the things they’d said about him.
He stroked his thumb over the back of her hand, which rested in his palm, and squeezed it tightly. He wonders if he’ll still be able to hold this hand tomorrow, this hand that doesn’t look like a lady at all.
He had to tell her about his sister before he broke out of his reticence.
He should leave out the fact that she was a witch for now, he thought, and spoke blandly.
“My sister is in Velias.”
Selene’s eyes widened.
“You had a sister?”
He nodded and changed the subject.
“Has your lost memory returned to you yet?”
Selen’s hand twitched once at the sudden change of subject, and she mumbled, “Oh, not yet…
He snapped out of his thoughts before the question about his sister could continue.
“There you go.”
So there was his sister he had been avoiding.
***
The attractive woman with the very low voice was quite tall.
Selene looked up at the woman, who was a head taller than her. She was strikingly beautiful, with pursed lips and dark eyes.
Her eyes locked with hers, and her heart sank.
If the colour of the sky were to be embodied in a person, it would be her. Her appearance was so stunning that she naturally thought so.
What was even more surprising was that such a noble, dignified, and strikingly beautiful woman could be Barath’s sister.
Her expression and aura were identical.
Selene pressed her pounding heart against her chest and turned to greet her.
“Hello…?”
Suddenly, Selene’s forehead hit something and she looked up, her vision completely blocked by something black and hard in front of her.
Barath pulled back from his grip on Selene, hiding her behind his back.
The confrontation between Barath and Chintya was short-lived.
She was seemingly nonchalant, but she was furious that he had interrupted her greeting, and his displeasure was plain to see.
Selene’s shrill voice broke through the increasingly tense atmosphere.
She fidgeted, unable to release her grip on Barath’s back, unable to lift her head from his broad shoulders, and then, in a voice that was as loud as it was weak, she greeted him.
“Greetings. My name is Selene Velias, who was recently married to Grand Duke Barath Velias. I’ve only just heard that his sister is here, and I’m so pleased to meet you, and I hope we’ll have a good relationship.”
… It was an odd greeting, not quite in keeping with the ways of this world.
