Chapter 015
Around that time, I had become accustomed to my position within the Raslet family.
No one in the Raslet household liked me.
The internal affairs, which were usually the responsibility of the lord’s wife, were so riddled with distrust that I couldn’t even touch them, and whenever there were gifts or letters from Rowen, even if they were just for show, I was subjected to cold stares for days on end.
At least when I was with Sioden, I could breathe a little easier.
He always maintained a certain level of courtesy, so others had no choice but to act accordingly.
There were whispers among the servants about his attitude.
“He must like her; that’s why he’s putting up with her. His nature is inherently upright, so he endures.”
I was already aware of that fact.
Because I had spoken to him about it.
“If you cannot like someone, you must at least regard them as important to uphold your dignity.”
Thus, it seemed that Sioden valued maintaining civility towards me. He likely didn’t like me.
But no matter how much he tried to tolerate me, bad things continued to happen in Raslet.
Embezzlement occurred, servants died, and the belongings of the late duchess were damaged.
When investigating these incidents, evidence showed that nine out of ten times, Rowen was involved.
Sometimes I was even pointed out as the mastermind, and that seemed to be the hardest for Sioden to endure.
One day, he could no longer contain himself and came to me, saying:
“Can you not stay still for even a moment?”
I truly wanted to listen to those words.
It was difficult to be disliked by Sioden. Knowing how kind and pleasant he was made it even harder.
Yet, no matter how much I tried to remain silent and invisible, unfortunate events kept occurring. Evidence continually pointed to Rowen as the culprit.
It was likely that Rowen was indeed behind it. My father and Iswen must have stirred things up in the Raslet household, leading to Sioden stepping on their tails.
Perhaps they even left traces on purpose.
Above all, Sioden wanted to protect his family. They probably tried to provoke him by unsettling the Raslets.
The difficult part was proving that my will had no part in the actions taken by my family.
“You cannot escape the name of your family, no matter where you go.”
As Iswen said, Sioden ultimately saw me as a Rowen.
In his eyes, I was the beloved daughter of the enemy and an untrustworthy spy.
Yet, I truly hadn’t done that much.
☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓 ☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓
That day, Sioden came to my bedroom early in the morning.
Since the incident where a servant from Rowen was caught embezzling funds early in our marriage, he had sent me to the annex and rarely visited, making this a surprising occurrence.
As I prepared to greet him after hearing he was waiting outside the door, he suddenly burst in.
“Iella Raslet.”
Sioden stood in the doorway, looking at me.
Unlike me, who hadn’t even changed my clothes yet, he was dressed impeccably.
It was strange. The fact that he was dressed up meant he had already met someone, and it was still close to dawn.
Sioden strode toward me and snatched something from a maid’s hands. It was only after it was draped over my shoulders that I realized he had put a coat around me.
In that moment of surprise at his sudden action, my wrist was grabbed.
“Come with me.”
Only then did I realize that Sioden was truly angry.
He dragged me across the corridor. Almost being pulled along, I took in the atmosphere inside the castle.
All the servants were whispering and looking at me.
Every time those gazes touched my skin, it felt like I was falling into a frozen sea. It stung and burned painfully.
Sioden led me to a forest behind the castle.
This was a place I had never entered before.
In the forest, there stood a special tree that was almost a symbol of the Raslet family. If caught entering without the head of the household’s permission, one would face execution.
Shivering in the chilly breeze, I followed him until he suddenly stopped. I, out of breath from trying to keep up, halted as well.
When he let go of my wrist and positioned me in front of him, I finally saw what lay in the family forest.
There were two large trees.
The tree on the right shone with a brilliant silver light, while the tree next to it was blackened and dead.
The reason for the tree’s death was evident at first glance—there were several large axe marks on its trunk.
It was a scene so horrific that it felt malicious.
I instinctively took a step back, but Sioden held me in place to prevent my escape.
He spoke.
“The dead tree belongs to Merwen.”
Merwen’s tree.
No one in the Raslet castle would be unfamiliar with that term.
In the forest behind the Raslet castle, a tree would grow whenever a direct descendant of the family was born.
That tree, named Glasir, was a remnant of the magical era, a blessing given by fairies to those who had helped them in the past.
The sap of Glasir could heal any wound or illness.
However, if a wound occurred, the tree would wither immediately, meaning the sap could only be obtained once.
The previous Duke of Raslet had his own Glasir.
My father had asked him to sell the sap from that Glasir, intending to use it for a heart condition that showed no improvement despite all kinds of medicine.
However, Glasir was a family heirloom and a symbol of the head of the household.
There was no way it could be sold.
The previous Duke of Raslet rejected my father’s proposal, and my father, harboring resentment, poisoned him.
Even if they valued the treasure, they would have no choice but to use it if they were dying, so he intended to kill the tree that way.
That was the kind of person my father was.
He couldn’t stand the thought of others having what he could not.
Yet, even while succumbing to poison, the previous Duke of Raslet did not cut down his share of Glasir.
The tree he protected was inherited by Merwen according to his will.
Since then, the people of Raslet began to refer to the tree left by the previous duke as Merwen’s tree.
Now, that tree stood before me, axed and dying.
The silver sap that flowed from the tree’s wounds and dried on the ground revealed that the perpetrator had aimed solely to kill the tree.
If someone wanted to see the tree’s effects, they wouldn’t have wasted the sap like that on the ground.
I didn’t know who had done this, but the malicious intent was chillingly apparent.
However, the biggest question was why Sioden was showing me this scene.
When I turned around, he coldly spoke.
“Last night, a knight from Rowen committed this act. He claimed you ordered it.”
“I—I never did such a thing.”
It was the truth.
I couldn’t possibly have ordered anything from the knights from Rowen. They all followed my father’s and Iswen’s commands.
Sioden did not believe my words.
“It’s useless to deny it. The perpetrator has already confessed everything.”
He pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to me.
It was a statement written in a familiar handwriting. It was penned by one of the knights my father had assigned to me.
The statement detailed how I had ordered the knight to sneak into the forest and harm the tree.
I had never said such a thing, yet the knight claimed he followed through even knowing it was wrong. The reason was… unbelievably, he felt sorry for me, hearing that I might lose my position to Merwen.
But if he truly cared about me, he wouldn’t have harmed Merwen.
That would only make me the prime suspect.
At the bottom of the statement was a neat signature swearing that all of this was true.
I was clearly innocent, yet I found myself in a situation where I was unavoidably implicated.
It was absurd, but more than that, I felt a deep fear.
This was not a problem that could be resolved by merely denying it.
With trembling hands, I handed the statement back to Sioden and said, “I really don’t know anything about this…”
Sioden didn’t let me finish my sentence.
