Chapter 014
One of the two knights spoke in a trembling voice.
“Your Excellency.”
Sioden didn’t even look back at him and replied.
“Everyone seems to have a lot to say.”
“…Since it has come to this, I have something to tell you.”
“I meant shut your mouth.”
Still not giving them a glance, Sioden strode toward me.
He stood in front of the armchair where I was curled up. Coincidentally, he blocked my view perfectly, obscuring the sight of everyone else.
He lowered his head to look at me. His blue gaze was shadowed, making it appear almost black.
“Why are you here like this?”
Where did the outer garment go again? Sioden grabbed my wrist and whispered softly. A bitter scent mixed with the smell of the wind came from him.
The unfamiliar fragrance and the cold fingers wrapped around my wrist were disconcerting.
Perhaps it was because I vividly recalled the expression he had worn when he left me just moments ago. I couldn’t find my voice at all.
Sioden looked down at me as I struggled to speak, then lifted me up. His actions were not painful or rough, but they clearly conveyed his intent.
As he held my wrist, he walked down the corridor and said,
“The direct family of the lord uses a different lounge. From now on, please ask to be taken there.”
“…”
“Don’t write a letter to your father while eavesdropping unnecessarily.”
Without giving me a chance to respond, Sioden abruptly opened the door to a room.
The room was filled with the scent of flowers and soft light. Seeing the southern-style scented candles illuminating the elegantly decorated space, I realized that this was the bridal chamber.
He pushed me inside and turned his head away.
“Call a maid or something.”
I hurriedly grabbed Sioden, who seemed about to leave me like this.
“Wait just a moment.”
I had so much I wanted to say to him. Starting with why he hadn’t contacted me and what it meant that he was supposed to marry Merwen.
Most importantly, I wanted to convey that I had no feelings for Aiden.
But I couldn’t even figure out how to explain it. In the end, the only thing I could choose was the simplest statement.
“I have no relationship with His Highness the Crown Prince.”
“It’s fine.”
However, Sioden’s expression was too cold to take that statement at face value.
I soon realized what he meant by “fine” with his next words.
“It’s already known throughout the world, so it wasn’t surprising.”
It was certain.
“Just now that you’re married, please refrain from actions that attract attention. I don’t want to be involved in a scandal.”
Sioden was mocking me.
I had experienced such ridicule from Demian and Iswen, but now facing the same from him left me at a loss for words.
Looking down at me, who was frozen in place, Sioden asked,
“Do you have more to say?”
If I said no, it felt like he would just turn his back and disappear.
If I let him go like this, I wouldn’t know when I could talk to him again.
I had already been through enough to know that people didn’t cater to my wishes.
Before Sioden could completely leave, I spoke up.
“You said you had something to tell me…”
My voice was already so small that it felt like I was crawling into a corner, having completely lost my courage.
Sioden didn’t respond. It seemed more like my words hadn’t been clearly conveyed to him rather than him ignoring me.
I added in a quiet voice, “Back then, in the dress shop…”
Ah. He let out a cold scoff as he closed the door to the room.
With a thud, he turned his back to me, twisting his lips into a smirk.
“Do you now feel like hearing what I have to say?”
“What do you mean…?”
“You didn’t bother to reply when I sent letters to Rowen Manor, yet now you seem interested in listening to me.”
Sent letters?
But I had never received any.
Could it be that Iswen, my father, or Demian intercepted them?
As my mind raced, Sioden took a step closer to me.
“Or are you clinging to a man you don’t like for the sake of your father?”
That statement snapped me back to reality.
Sioden thought I was trying to seduce him because of my father.
I quickly took a few steps back to avoid him and hurriedly denied it.
“That’s not it!”
Sioden moved slowly toward me, closing the distance. He gestured toward the bed that was now near my legs, mocking me.
“I know you brought in a man you don’t care for just to heal your father’s illness.”
From his perspective, it made sense to feel that way.
After all, Aiden had believed something similar when he heard it from his own father.
But I had never intended anything like that.
How should I convey this? I felt lost, my lips moving a few times without sound, and Sioden narrowed his eyes. He tilted his head slightly toward me.
“Or are you truly attracted to me?”
Before I could admit or deny it, he took a step back.
“That can’t be true.”
His cold self-mockery made him turn his back to me.
“Forget what you heard today.”
“Wait a moment!”
By then, Sioden had already approached the door, standing near the fireplace.
The light from the fireplace cast a long shadow of him, yet he didn’t turn back.
“It wasn’t intentional.”
As I made my excuse, I realized that he probably felt my words were mixed with less truth than the sand on the beach.
“I really do feel… about you…”
“Don’t say any more.”
As expected, he coldly cut me off.
“Whatever you say, I cannot believe you.”
He turned halfway, throwing something into the fireplace. His rough hands brushed away something unpleasant.
The flames flickered for a moment, then roared back to life as if they had swallowed nothing.
Thud.
The sound of the door closing echoed.
The next day, when the servant came to clean the fireplace, I discovered what Sioden had burned.
‘It’s my name, Sioden Raslet.’
The brooch he had given me that day.
‘My name is Iella Rowen.’
The jewel I had returned along with those words lay discarded, covered in soot.
☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓 ☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓
I wasn’t foolish enough to not understand the meaning behind his actions.
Sioden must have wanted to burn away everything that had happened that night.
What felt like magic to me was likely nothing more than ashes to him.
Even knowing his true feelings, I had sought out Sioden.
I wanted to convey that I truly had no feelings for Aiden and hadn’t deliberately ignored his letters.
But Sioden wouldn’t listen to me.
“Let’s say someone intercepted all the letters sent to you with malicious intent. How do you plan to explain what I heard directly?”
“…….”
“You said yourself that you entered this marriage for Capren Rowen.”
To explain what that meant, I would have to confess everything to Sioden.
I would have to reveal how I was raised and the hidden circumstances surrounding this marriage.
The mere thought of laying everything bare before him terrified me. I had never shared my family’s secrets with anyone in my life.
Imagining people being shocked or outright disbelieving of my story felt like being trapped in a room filled with water.
I didn’t want to experience that feeling.
Still, I had attempted to say something to Sioden.
“No one in the world would believe that.”
Though it was quickly dashed.
I didn’t want to recall the events from that time.
The piercing blue hostility, the twisted smirk filled with betrayal, and the kindness that had turned cold and vanished—all of it hurt more the more I dwelled on it.
In any case, one sentence would suffice to describe our married life.
Sioden Raslet is a person who thoroughly keeps his word.
Knowing that, I still hoped that he would listen to me at least once.
I understood that since I was a Rowen and he was a Raslet, there could be no trust between us.
But just once.
People can be fickle once in a while, can’t they?
Even his slightest whim was something I desperately desired.
It was around the time we had been married for three years.
