EPISODE 5
They looked at their new hostess, April, for a moment in bewilderment.
April didn’t avert her gaze from me.
I even tilted my chin up a little to make my “look at me, shovel snow” message very clear.
Then she spoke, her voice as clear as the morning dew on the blades of grass.
“My name is April, and I’ve just become a countess.”
Not unwillingly.
She shrugged and forced a smile. She shrugged and tried to smile, telling herself that good things come in packages.
But her lips were so twisted with judgment that they could only curl up one side and look twisted.
To her chagrin, the younger servants swallowed dryly, one after the other.
The first of them to wake up was a gentleman with fairly white hair who looked to be about half a century old.
Standing amid the servants, he took a step forward and bowed respectfully to April.
“I’m pleased to meet you, …., my lady.”
His face crumpled ever so slightly as he addressed April. It was clear that he was reluctant.
But he quickly straightened his expression and spoke calmly.
“Gordon, butler to the Earl of Falcon, …..”
But April didn’t let the butler finish introducing himself.
“Wait.”
She raised her hand to interrupt him, and the butler immediately stopped talking.
“I’ll save my greetings for tomorrow.”
“But…….”
April’s fair, innocent face scrunched into an impatient frown.
“I’m tired, and I don’t think anyone would remember who you are if I told them.”
They don’t like her anyway.
“They don’t like me.
There was no reason to look good, no desire to, and he didn’t want to exert himself for nothing.
At the irritation in her voice, Gordon the butler shut up again.
“Show me to my room, please. Oh, and I’m hungry. I haven’t eaten all day.”
“In that case…….”
“I’d like a quick bite to eat and then I’d like to freshen up, so please show me to my room and get me a bath.”
April quickly rattled off her demands and started walking away without listening to the butler’s response.
Of course, she didn’t know the layout of the mansion.
“I’m sure they’ll give me directions or something once I get moving.
If she wanted to show off, the people who used the mansion would not be happy to have April running around uninhibited.
So she’d act first and see.
Sure enough, as April headed for the stairs, Gordon, the butler, glanced at one of the maids and twitched.
The young, freckle-faced maid scrambled to her feet and sprinted toward April.
“I know the room you’re staying in, and I’ll show you.”
“Alright, lead the way.”
April nodded vigorously, allowing the maid child to walk ahead of her.
As she started to follow her back up the stairs, April stopped with a short ‘ah’ as if she’d forgotten something.
She turned her head slightly, one hand gripping the railing of the center staircase.
She turned to the servants who were still standing in the lobby, staring at her blankly.
“Oh, and gentlemen. For your information, I’m in a terrible mood right now, so you’d better get ready as soon as possible.”
“And I don’t have a very long patience,” she added.
With that, April began to climb back upstairs to her room, following the maid’s footsteps without listening to the servants’ answers.
Only when her footsteps were out of earshot did the servants simultaneously let out a long breath, as if they had made a promise.
The maid glanced back at the butler and spoke in a hushed voice.
“It’s as if he’s possessed.”
“That’s what I mean.”
“You’d think a personality…… would, wouldn’t you?”
“…….”
But there was no answer from the butler.
He simply took a deep breath, held it, and let it out in a long exhalation.
***]
“What kind of mansion is so dark?
April frowned and paced back and forth.
I don’t know if it was intentional to create a mournful atmosphere, but the hallways were quite dark.
The candles on the walls were spaced so far apart that the next candle was only just beginning to appear when the light from one was over.
“That’s weird.
It was then.
The maid ahead of me stopped walking.
The maid child half-turned toward April, clasped her hands together politely, and tilted her head.
“Here, ma’am.”
After swallowing hard, the maid opened the door for April to enter and crouched down to make way for her.
April shot the maid a glance before stepping into the room.
On the bright side, at least there were three candles in the room.
“Funny how I think I’m lucky for this.
He had even lived in modern Seoul, where there was electricity, and he was already getting used to this uncomfortable world!
‘I’m scared of my adaptability. Ugh.
April shook her head gently as if trying to clear her mind.
“But why do you only have three lights on, when the room is so big?
Is he trying to tell me he doesn’t want to waste the fixtures on me?
Soon, she heard the door close behind her. A glance back revealed that the maid had followed April into the room, nervous as hell. Presumably to keep her company.
April raised her right hand as if to say, “Stop,” and the maid stopped in her tracks.
“You don’t have to follow me in.”
“Yes? But…….”
“I want to be left alone, so knock and let me know when you’re ready to do what I asked.”
The maid’s eyes rolled for a moment at April’s firmness, but then she nodded.
“Yes, then…… I will do as you ask.”
The maid left the room again.
As soon as the door closed behind her, she leaned in close and whispered in her ear.
April held her breath for a moment, then removed her ear from the door and hurried over to the desk.
Luckily, there was paper, ink, and a quill on top.
“So, let’s get this organized.”
She picked up the quill.
Taking a deep breath, April began to scribble on the flat sheet of paper.
[Benefits of Soul Weddings]
After writing the title in large letters, April glanced at my handwriting nervously.
“Ew. Do you have to do this…….”
I honestly didn’t like the fact that I was having to squeeze every last drop of merit out of this situation to survive, to make myself feel better about the water that had already been spilled.
With a long, heavy sigh, she reluctantly pulled herself together and began to tease the quill again.
[1. Even if you are mean, others will understand].
She had become a widow in a way.
“I’m sure the social circle has already heard the rumors.”
So some will pity me, and some will understand.
But what if they do neither, they’ll just gossip and curse behind my back and not be able to do anything about it.
“I like the fact that I don’t have to kill my personality. Pass.”
I nodded once, briefly, and April went right on to the next number.
[2. You don’t have to remarry].
She searched her memory for the original.
I remembered that the setting briefly mentioned that this world, the Beska Empire, had a law against remarriage.
“That’s ridiculous,” I thought, “men can remarry, but women can’t. Is that discrimination?”
I felt my head start to heat up as I slowly started to get angry again. My eyes glazed over.
After shaking her head from side to side a few times, she muttered again.
“Well, I’m sick and tired of being a man, so this is a good thing.”
In a medieval worldview, male noblemen who were the head of a household would use their daughters and wives as property to do as they pleased.
Take today, for example.
This ridiculous soul marriage was forced upon April against her will and only by her stepfather’s wishes.
In a country where remarriage was permitted, April could be sold by her stepfather’s hand as soon as tomorrow.
“It sucks. If I ever meet him in real life, I’ll pull every hair out of my head.”
Grinding her teeth as she thought of Viscount Lebelin, April numbered the following.
[3. Dead husband’s property, all mine!]
She squinted as she stamped the dot part of the exclamation point, and her eyes focused on the sentence she’d written.
For a moment. The corner of April’s mouth twitched upward.
She tilted the quill back down to the paper, underlining question three and staring at the number in a frenzy.
“This is my favorite.”
I can’t help but snort.
This is the kind of family that pays for new brides for dead men.
There must be a lot of money in the count’s coffers……!
“I’ll live in luxury all my life.”
But there are no luxury goods or cars in this world, so what do you spend your money on?
“Well, we’ll have to think about that.”
April finally let go of the quill, folded the paper neatly into thirds, and shoved it deep into a desk drawer.
“Not that anyone cares.”
She wasn’t going to write down anything about the original story anyway.
“What’s the harm in keeping a record?
Nor did I feel the need to organize it. The events that April becomes entangled in aren’t that numerous or complicated.
“As long as I don’t get involved with the crown prince, I can live.
April vowed, over and over again, that she would never follow the original story. She wasn’t sure she’d fall for him anyway.
She let out a long breath, as if to relieve the tension, only after her fingertips had pushed the desk drawer shut.
A small mirror on the desk caught her eye.
April pulled it forward and looked into my face.
“Wow…….”
But the admiration was short-lived.
April.
Even in the dark, her beauty glowed.
April, who had been staring mesmerized at my reflection in the mirror, exclaimed.
“You’re so beautiful.”
I looked like a doll.
Dazzling blonde hair that looked like a river of honey flowing through it.
Blue eyes that looked like they’d been intricately carved out of a cloudless blue fall sky, and skin whiter than snow white.
Eyes with a hint of red at the corners and cheeks that blossomed into a light pink.
She was a young lady.
