Chapter 27
Chapter 27 (28) Switched Bride
“Nice to meet you. It’s a pleasure. I’m Asilie Bonaparte, Duchess of Camédici.”
“I’ve heard a lot about you. I’m Siena Camédici, Lady Bonaparte.”
Asilie remembered clearly the first day she met Siena.
After the death of the Countess of Gariburn, Duke Esperad Camédici had been called a cursed and miserable man, shunned by society for a long time.
Then the news spread that he had married a widow he had been close to.
People mocked him, saying that the woman wouldn’t have married a cursed man if she hadn’t been a widow.
At the same time, they criticized Esperad for giving up his honor by marrying a woman who had already been taken in by someone else.
Still, they were curious—when would the widow die?
But before the ink on the marriage certificate had even dried, word spread that the Duke of Camédici had become a royal successor.
Asilie remembered the day Count Bonaparte flipped the entire dining table over when he heard that news. She remembered Joseph shouting angrily with a twisted face.
Maybe it was because she had seen it all herself that Esperad stuck out to her more after she decided to take revenge.
She thought she could replace Siena perfectly. That’s why she proposed marriage to Esperad.
But nothing changed. It wasn’t the same as when he married Siena.
Esperad gained nothing from marrying Asilie.
That might be why she felt so strange now.
Maybe she wasn’t even qualified to desire what belonged to someone else. Maybe she had ruined everything.
And she wasn’t the only one who suffered the damage.
Esperad was the one most directly affected.
Asilie had heard by chance how Esperad and Siena first met.
After the death of a close friend, Esperad had comforted his friend’s wife, and they had grown close, eventually marrying. That rumor had spread all over the capital.
If Asilie hadn’t married Esperad, he might have fallen in love with Siena again and made her his wife.
She felt a little weird inside.
It felt like she was in a place she shouldn’t be.
When she saw Siena speaking warmly with Esperad after their greetings, she felt even more uncomfortable.
“Anyway, thank you for inviting us for tea, even though we showed up so suddenly. I heard it was the Duchess’s idea.”
“…”
“Asilie?”
When Asilie didn’t respond to Siena’s words, Esperad turned to look at her.
She had been staring down in thought, but when he called her name, she looked up in surprise.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I was lost in thought for a moment.”
“My wife has had a lot on her mind lately.”
“It hasn’t been long since you got married, so of course you’re busy. Thank you for welcoming us so kindly. Come to think of it, Duke Esperad looks much better than before. Haha.”
Thomas tried to change the mood, and Siena nodded as well.
“True. You look brighter than the last time I saw you. Oh, and I’ve even heard in our territory that the Duke of Camédici is known to be a devoted husband. You’ve heard that too, right?”
“Of course. There’s even a rumor going around in our territory about how Esperad stood up to Lord Bonaparte at the palace banquet.”
“Oh…”
Asilie turned red in embarrassment.
Since it was a royal banquet, the Earl and Countess of Artlinger must have attended too.
That meant they might have seen what happened between her and Joseph—how she slapped him twice.
Thinking of that suddenly made her feel terribly embarrassed.
Esperad spoke up in her place.
“Whether or not I’m a devoted husband, it’s only natural not to sit back and watch Lord Bonaparte act rudely to my wife. I didn’t know it had become a rumor, though.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t know. Everyone’s talking about it—how the cursed duke is so devoted to his wife, or something like that.”
“Darling, calling him cursed…”
Siena glanced at her husband for using a potentially rude term, but Esperad didn’t seem offended. After all, he wasn’t truly cursed.
The more he thought about it, the more thankful he felt toward Asilie. It was thanks to her that he could be certain he wasn’t cursed.
“There’s nothing strange about a husband cherishing his wife. I don’t mind the rumor at all.”
Siena covered her mouth and laughed.
“I guess it’s true the Camédici couple is very close. Right, dear?”
“Seems like it. I’ll have to try harder—otherwise, they might give us good news before we do.”
“Oh my, you!”
Siena quickly covered Thomas’s mouth, having caught his meaning right away.
While he tried to excuse his words by saying they were married, Asilie and Esperad slowly understood what he meant and turned red.
Unfortunately, there would be no “good news” from the Camédici couple.
Though they slept in the same bed, they had never once been intimate.
Then what about the Siena before the time reset?
“She must’ve shared love with Esperad, unlike me.”
Suddenly, anger welled up inside her.
Asilie found it strange how just imagining them together made her so upset.
Even though she had seen, before the reset, that Siena had become the Duchess of Camédici.
As her face stiffened, Siena assumed it was because of her husband’s joke and quickly apologized.
“He was just teasing. We don’t have any plans either. My body still hasn’t recovered… I’m sorry if we startled you.”
“Oh, no, it’s fine.”
She wasn’t feeling good, but not for the reason Siena thought.
Noticing the awkward shift in mood, Asilie quickly changed the subject.
“By the way, is the Artlinger estate far from the capital?”
“It takes about half a day by carriage, so it’s not that close, but it’s not like some remote region either. We were going to arrive a day early for the palace banquet but just came on the day itself. It wasn’t too hard.”
“I see. Has anything been inconvenient since moving from the capital?”
“I’ve been to the Artlinger estate too, Asilie. It’s easier to travel than expected, and there’s plenty of exchange with the capital, so I didn’t feel much of a difference.”
“Just like the Duke said, there’s not much of a difference, so nothing really stands out. We get news fairly quickly too. Oh, speaking of which…!”
Suddenly, Siena clapped as if she remembered something.
All three of them turned to look at her at once.
“I just found out yesterday—Count Bellucci’s daughter and Lord Bonaparte are getting married. I received a wedding invitation.”
That reminded Asilie of Monica and Geoffrey’s wedding around this time.
An event that happened exactly as scheduled, nothing had changed.
Just as she nodded calmly and raised her teacup to drink, Esperad’s next words nearly made her drop it.
“Strange, isn’t it? Both the bride and groom were people who had issues with my wife.”
She didn’t understand at first.
She wondered if Esperad had confused Joseph and Geoffrey, but Siena and Thomas’s calm expressions made her think otherwise.
And Esperad wasn’t the type to mistake key members of rival noble families.
“I thought the same. Maybe Lord Bonaparte picked a fight with the Duchess because of Count Bellucci’s daughter?”
“I don’t remember hearing they were a couple.”
“Lots of people date in secret. Anyway, since it’s the eldest son and eldest daughter getting married, it’ll probably be a big event. Siena and I will likely return to the capital for it.”
The words “eldest son and eldest daughter getting married” confirmed it for Asilie.
Joseph and Monica really were getting married.
Normally, she’d be anxious that things were different from the past. But right now, all she felt was disgust.
Her former husband and the woman who was once her sister-in-law were now marrying.
And hadn’t she always suspected something between them during her marriage?
Esperad, misunderstanding her dark expression, spoke cautiously.
“Um, we probably won’t attend that wedding.”
“You didn’t get an invitation?”
“I came, but it might cause an uncomfortable situation.”
At that, Asilie lifted her head.
Esperad was looking at her with worried eyes. He was showing her kindness again.
“…I’m okay, Esperad. I think it’s better to attend.”
Their wedding made her not just uncomfortable but upset, but since Count and Countess Artlinger would be there, she couldn’t show her true feelings.
Besides, because she had a bad history with them, she had to go with even more confidence.
Asilie didn’t want to lose to those shameless and dirty people anymore.
“Will you be okay?”
Worry passed across his face.
“It’s something that already happened. I don’t hold on to the past. I don’t know about the people getting married, though.”
“Hmm, this might be out of line, but I also think it’s better for you two to attend the wedding. Even if something else comes up, people who like to make up stories will connect it to what happened at the palace party and spread more rumors.”
At Siena’s words, Thomas also nodded.
Esperad wanted to say more, but he stayed quiet.
Asilie always said she was fine even when there were problems, and she didn’t want to open up to him.
At first, he thought it was just her personality, but on the day Lydia didn’t return to the Medici mansion, he realized he had been ignoring a problem.
Until Edgar asked for reinforcements, he hadn’t known anything about the situation.
Even though Asilie had said they were a team, she clearly didn’t rely on him. That fact had been painfully obvious that day.
Even after that, she still didn’t want to say anything.
This wasn’t healthy for their relationship, even if they got married for different reasons.
“Anyway, it’s a surprising match. I thought the Bonaparte family would marry into a neutral noble house.”
“That’s true. But they still have a second son, so they can always make a marriage alliance with someone else.”
While the Artlinger couple talked about Monica and Joseph’s marriage, Esperad and Asilie couldn’t focus, each thinking their own thoughts.
They had started tea time to clear their heads and lift their moods, but it only gave them more to worry about.
It had been about two weeks since life at the Medici mansion began, but Jonathan still hadn’t adjusted.
No, to be more exact, it wasn’t that he couldn’t adjust—it just didn’t feel real.
He used to start his days by getting hit. Going hungry was normal. On days when his uncle was in a bad mood, he was forced to pickpocket—badly—and got beaten even more when caught, then thrown into an alley.
That had been Jonathan’s life for fifteen years.
But now, things were different.
He used to shiver in the cold or sweat in the heat, but now he had a warm room with windows to keep out the cold and heat.
He used to fall asleep always tense, afraid of his uncle’s fists waking him up, but here, he could wake up when he wanted and wash with warm water.
Not only that, but he got meals with good meat every time. His old worn-out clothes were gone, and his closet was now full of soft, well-fitting clothes.
All the changes were good. But what he liked most was the ‘workshop’ made just for him.
The big workshop was full of proper tools and good materials. It melted away all his worries.
This amazing workshop completely stole his heart.
He didn’t know what the woman who brought him here wanted, but even if she planned to use him, he thought that was okay. No, he didn’t care if he was used.
Jonathan had lost many things in life, but he still had his pride: when someone helped him, he had to repay the favor.
That’s how his days were going when that woman came to see him.
“Have you been doing well?”
“L-Lady.”
The servants, who were now a bit friendlier, told him that the woman who saved him was the lady of the house.
She was a duchess, probably a very important person, but he didn’t know how to properly show respect to someone like her.
Feeling embarrassed by his ignorance, Jonathan bowed deeply.
“Hello.”
“Yes, hello.”
Asilie kindly accepted his greeting and spoke.
“I heard you’ve been working in the workshop every day, even though it hasn’t been long since you arrived. You don’t have to push yourself…”
“N-No, it’s okay. You give me food and a place to sleep, so I should do what I can. That’s why you brought me here, right?”
“Hmm, that’s true, but I didn’t want to make you feel pressured. Still, thank you. It’s nice to see you working so hard already.”
“It’s what I should do. I know that’s what you’re expecting from me…”
Jonathan realized his words sounded rude, but he couldn’t fix them and just trailed off.
From the first time she met him, Asilie liked that he wasn’t a bad kid.
“Is anything hard or difficult while you’re working?”
“Hard or difficult? Um…”
Jonathan frowned.
There were hard parts, and there were problems, but he didn’t know how to explain them.
He slowly chose his words and finally spoke.
“My skills aren’t perfect.”
“Not perfect?”
Asilie asked, and Jonathan nodded awkwardly.
“The first thing I made broke after a short time. I tried to make something like it again, but it didn’t work. I couldn’t make it as strong as the first one.”
To function as a weapon, the gun needed the power to shoot out a metal ball.
The reason the metal ball fired the first time was just luck. Jonathan had tried to figure out why it worked, but he couldn’t find any answers.
Since he had made it from scrap metal his uncle picked up, he didn’t even know what the materials were.
“To shoot the metal ball, it needs power. I think that power came from an explosion. But I have no idea how that explosion happened. I’m sorry.”
Jonathan lowered his head.
He felt ashamed that someone like him, who didn’t know much, was getting all this kindness. And at the same time, he was afraid that now that Asilie knew how ignorant he was, she might take everything back.
Asilie quietly looked down at the boy, who was blushing and lowering his head like he had done something wrong.
She thought—maybe she could help him finish the gun sooner.
