Chapter 2.3

And that night, having the important duty of the wedding night, I lay collapsed from drinking and mumbled.

“Rubellian…”

“…”

“Undress me.”

“…!”

It wasn’t uncommon for brides to drink at weddings.

But what I hadn’t expected was that unlike my previous life where I could drink bomb shots by the bowl and still show up to work the next morning with full makeup, Evangeline had never touched wine once in this short life.

In the end, after drinking a few sips of wine that people around me offered, my face immediately turned red and I was hurriedly escorted to the bridal chamber by Rubellian.

“The guests…”

“I already sent them away. The wedding was about to end anyway.”

“Ah, you sent them away.”

Ah, I feel tipsy. Is this what being drunk feels like? It’s quite nice. The world is spinning. My mind is hazy. Ah, it’s good.

“The guests…”

“…”

“Ah, you sent them away.”

“…”

“The guests…”

“I sent them away.”

“…Ah, you sent them away.”

My nose felt tingly and my eyes felt hot. Am I crying right now? Would Rubellian be startled if I cry like this? Lying face down on the bed, I slowly sat up.

“Evangeline!”

“Why?”

My tongue is twisted. Looking at Rubellian who hurriedly supported me, I blinked. My vision was blurry so I couldn’t see what Rubellian looked like. I stared at him blankly for a moment, then opened my mouth.

“Hey.”

“…Hey?”

“Hey, why do you keep swaying? Stop! Stay still…!”

“…”

Rubellian had no answer. Instead he sighed deeply, and that annoyed me so I frowned hard.

“Why are you sighing? I should be the one sighing right now!”

“Yes, I understand, so just sleep for now.”

“Sleep? Sleep? Yes, let’s sleep. To sleep… I need to undress. Ah, this, this, how do I take it off?”

“I’ll call Lilith.”

When I struggled trying to grab the corset strings, Rubellian let go of the hand holding me and got up from the bed.

At that moment, I flopped down like a mollusk and, startled by that, grabbed tightly onto Rubellian’s hand as he stopped.

“Where are you going?”

“Didn’t I say I’d call Lilith? You need to undress.”

“Why call Lilith to undress? You can undress me.”

“What nonsense are you…”

“It’s our wedding night…”

I pouted. Are you really going to make me sleep alone on our wedding night? Why are you leaving, don’t go. Play with me.

“What wedding night talk when you’re this drunk?”

“Why not? Even if I’m drunk, hm? I can do everything I need to do.”

“I don’t have the hobby of embracing drunk people. You’re almost unconscious right now.”

“No, I’m fine. But why do you keep swaying? Please sit still.”

“Sigh… You’re the one swaying.”

“Then you sway along with me to match the amplitude. Then it’ll work.”

“…”

In this situation, I could feel Rubellian’s incredulous face staring at me.

But I was quite confident. Isn’t that how it usually is? What kind of marriage are you talking about if you can’t even do that?

That’s when it happened. My hand, which had been continuously searching for the corset strings at the back, seemed to find the exact end, and the moment I applied slight pressure, I felt the corset strings come undone with a pop.

Intoxicated by that feeling—the same as when you first take off your underwear when you come home—I smiled blissfully.

“Ah, comfortable.”

“Evangeline! What are you doing right now…!”

“Undressing? Aren’t you undressing? You can’t not undress, we can’t do it…”

At my words, Rubellian grabbed the back of his head. He seemed to finally feel the seriousness of the situation and hurriedly held me in his arms to stop my hands.

At the suddenly soft feeling, I stretched out both arms and hugged Rubellian.

“Ah, warm.”

“…This is maddening.”

“Maddening? What is? Why are you going mad? I should be the one going mad.”

“To think your drinking habit is taking off clothes and hugging people… I’d rather you smash things.”

“What are you saying? When did I ever hug people?”

At that, Rubellian said while holding my waist.

“Am I not a person?”

“You’re… you’re my husband. If not you, I wouldn’t hug anyone…”

Right, husband. A husband I never thought could exist in my life. I took a breath.

Life is really hard. I just wanted a peaceful life in this new world, but why does everything have to get so complicated? Is it really that offensive for me to live a long life?

“Do you hate me that much?”

At my question, Rubellian hesitated. He seemed to look at me for a moment, then narrowed his brows as if asking why I was asking that.

But from my perspective, I had no choice.

“You’re doing this for revenge, aren’t you?”

“…!”

“But didn’t you think that I could get caught up in it?”

I don’t really know what I’m saying right now. I was just spilling out everything I had accumulated inside.

I couldn’t see Rubellian’s expression exactly, but since he hadn’t thrown me off his lap yet, he didn’t seem angry.

So I borrowed that momentum to ask him.

“If you fail, what will you do?”

“Evangeline, you’re drunk. It would be good to wash up and sleep quickly.”

“If you fail and I die, what will you do?”

“You won’t die. Even if I die, I’ll die, not you.”

“Why won’t I die? I’m your wife.”

That’s right. Evangeline died purely because she was Rubellian’s wife. Throughout the entire story, she had done nothing wrong, and at most she was a woman who sat quietly at the Florence ducal family handling internal affairs.

Rubellian was a good husband. But he absolutely never loved Evangeline.

“If you die, how will I live? Didn’t you think I’d die if I got involved?”

“…”

“Even if I live alone, would that be living?”

The traitor’s family would have all property and titles confiscated, and the wife would lose any place to go.If there had even been a child involved, things would’ve been even more hopeless. No husband, no means to support herself—what options would she have had?

Actually, dying might have been the cleanest option.

“How can I live without you? I don’t know how to do anything, were you at ease leaving me behind?”

“Eve. You seem to be mistaken about something—I’m not dead yet.”

“I’m not talking about you. Not you, but Rubellian… That is… that bastard.”

“…”

“So don’t do it. I know it’s selfish, but still don’t do it.”

People are really selfish. I know what kind of past and pain Rubellian carries, yet I was stopping him.

But he wasn’t someone who would listen just because I stopped him, and since I didn’t expect him to anyway, I just laid out everything I wanted to say.

That’s when it happened.

“I understand.”

“…Hm?”

I think I heard something in this half-asleep state. It seems like he said he understands, but I’m not sure what he understands.

Having just poured out everything I wanted to say, I felt good for some reason and smiled drowsily as I closed my eyes. Soon the deep intoxication washed over me once again.

* * *

Ah, so soft and fluffy.

Warm too.

Nice. It felt good and the texture was nice, and on top of that, the embrace was warm like hugging a fireplace, which was really wonderful. But why does my head hurt?

Ah, I drank alcohol. Yesterday was the wedding. Really terrible. What’s with offering wine to the bride? But what did I do yesterday?

“Gasp!”

“Are you awake?”

The moment my memory returned, I opened my eyes wide. Right, the wedding. After finishing the wedding, Rubellian brought me to the bridal chamber…? I lifted my head. We came to the bridal chamber!

“Did you sleep well? Are you hurt anywhere or is anything strange?”

I blinked at the voice coming from right above my head.

Sure enough, familiar red eyes were looking at me. His voice was a little husky from the morning, yet somehow so sweet that it stirred something in me.

“Uh, um… I suppose so?”

Then I discovered that I was currently nestled in Rubellian’s arms.

No, but this… isn’t this a bed scene you often see in dramas? I never imagined there’d be a day I’d be the one making a moment like this.

I was currently wearing a thin slip, though I don’t know when I was changed into it. The only problem was that since it was prepared for the wedding night, it was much thinner than what I usually wore, so you could see right through it.

But that was one thing, the real highlight was elsewhere.

I discovered that my leg was sprawled right on top of Rubellian’s body.

“Mmm.”

When I moved my leg slightly because my body felt stiff, Rubellian immediately frowned.

Could it be heavy? Feeling sorry for no reason, I tried to move my leg down, but suddenly Rubellian’s hand holding my back tightened.

“Wait a moment.”

“Yes?”

“Just wait, don’t move, stay exactly in that position.”

I blinked. Does he perhaps like physical contact more than I thought? Thinking that, I carefully moved my leg slightly.

“Sshh.”

Ooh, this man can make such expressions too?

Come to think of it, my sleeping habits weren’t exactly well-behaved, were they? Obviously I would have moved my legs around while sleeping, and that would have stimulated some not-so-good places… I’ll omit any further description.

I opened my eyes wide and asked him.

“Oh my, are you perhaps excit…”

“Stop.”

He was really having a hard time, as he spoke to me in a rare growling manner.

“Should we just consummate our marriage now?”

Rubellian’s face turned toward me. He looked at me as if asking what kind of nonsense I was talking about, but I couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Why, wouldn’t it have its own charm even in broad daylight?”

“Please just be quiet.”

“So nothing happened between us last night?”

“What could have happened when you were making such a fuss?”

Did I make a fuss? What kind of fuss? I didn’t remember much. You have to have been drunk before to know your drinking habits. Thinking that and tilting my head, someone knocked from outside.

Knock knock.

“Master, Madam. Are you awake?”

This voice belonged to Mrs. Jena. When I looked at Rubellian with eyes asking what to do, he spoke in a low voice.

“Come back in 30 minutes.”

“Understood.”

“Are you really not going to do it? It would be a shame.”

At my innocent face, Rubellian seemed to have lost his words. After staring intently at my eyes for a moment as if thinking about something, he flicked my forehead. Then he said firmly,

“That won’t happen.”

“Tch.”

I pursed my lips while harboring somewhat disappointed feelings.

But why am I disappointed?

* * *

And as scheduled, 30 minutes later, Mrs. Jena entered the room with numerous maids.

“First we need to change the sheets. Anna, Marie. You two attend to Madam’s bath.”

“Yes.”

Soon I followed the maids to the bathroom and entered a bathtub with warm water. Although we didn’t consummate our marriage, my body felt stiff so I moved around, and one of the maids smiled gently while washing my hair.

“Please tell me if it’s too hot.”

“Is there anywhere uncomfortable? I’ll give you a massage.”

My goodness, did all medieval nobles really live like this? I can understand why everyone wanted to become nobility.

Then, it became a bit noisy outside the room.

“Could you go see what’s happening?”

“Yes, just a moment.”

Anna, who was adjusting the water temperature, left the bathroom. After some time passed, she returned to the bathroom and said to me with a somewhat flustered face.

“Um, Madam… it seems Master won’t be able to have breakfast together…”

“What?”

Can’t eat breakfast together on the first day of our honeymoon? This man really! I made a fierce expression.

At my appearance, the maid bowed her head, and Rubellian’s voice was heard from outside.

“Eve.”

“What’s the matter? Come in and talk.”

At my words, both maids blushed. Soon after they left the bathroom, Rubellian seemed to hesitate a bit before entering the bathroom.

Seeing him unable to even meet my eyes, I felt mischievous for some reason and spoke.

“Look at me properly and talk. Otherwise I won’t give you permission.”

Actually, whether I gave permission or not, if he really had urgent business, there was nothing to be done, but even so, isn’t it rather bad manners to do this on the first day of marriage? While thinking that, Rubellian, who had been hesitating, sighed deeply and approached near the bathtub.

Soon he knelt on one knee, met my gaze, and spoke.

“It seems I’ll have to go to the imperial palace right after having breakfast together today.”

“The maid said you couldn’t eat breakfast.”

“Who said that?”

He frowned and looked directly at me.

“The maid said so earlier.”

“I have no intention of leaving you alone on our first day of marriage. We should at least eat breakfast together, shouldn’t we? Of course, I’m sorry I can’t stay by your side the whole time.”

“What’s the matter? Did a summons come down?”

“Yes.”

At his words, I had a feeling about something and slowly sat up. As my upper body, which had been completely submerged in water, was slightly exposed, Rubellian cleared his throat, but this wasn’t the time to worry about that.

Could it be…

“What’s the matter?”

When I asked carefully, Rubellian seemed to choose his words for a moment, then brought up the main point.

“This morning, it seems the ‘Power of the Goddess’ manifested in the capital’s theater district.”

“…!”

“Of course it’s not more important than the wedding, but still, since a summons came from the imperial family—”

“What do you mean it’s not important! It’s completely important!”

How could this be. I got caught up in the wedding and forgot.

Today is the day the original story begins! I had been counting down day by day, but to forget on the actual day—am I a blockhead? This was all because of last night’s hangover.

Seeing me suddenly yelling and acting like I might jump out of the bathtub, Rubellian was horrified.

Anyway, setting aside other things, this means I can meet the female lead today, right? How could this be—it felt like seeing an idol I’d dreamed of in person, so the emotions were fresh.

“Rubellian! I’ll wash my face, wash my hair, and put on pretty makeup today.”

“…?”

“So please take me to the imperial palace too.”

“That’s…”

“Pleease.”

I pouted and grabbed his arm. Soon, shaking his arm like a whining child, Rubellian stopped me and nodded with a complicated expression.

“Alright, then hurry up and get ready.”

“Okay! I’ll hurry and come out. I love you!”

I immediately called Anna and Marie with a face full of anticipation. Looking at Rubellian’s retreating figure with a face that couldn’t be more pleased, I saw him cover his mouth with his hand.

Why is he doing that?

I tilted my head but soon let that thought drift away.

* * *