Episode 4
“Eda, do I really need to say that you were the one who spent the most nights with his brother?”
Eda was filled with resentment. Me, sharing a bed with Ivar? That wasn’t intimacy, it was plain abuse.
She remembered Ivar’s face as he deliberately slept with other women in front of her, just to torment her.
The image of Ingrid, straddling Ivar and smiling triumphantly at her, overlapped in her mind, and suddenly she suddenly felt nauseous.
“N-no, that’s not true.”
But her voice was too small. She had hardly ever spoken aloud before.
“I… I… I didn’t…”
Her voice was too hoarse and broken. As soon as she arrived here, someone had given her poison, and ever since then, her voice had become ruined.
Ivar used to laugh, saying her voice sounded like the dying gasp of a man being stabbed in the lung.
In any case, her small, broken voice did nothing to help resolve the situation.
“Not true?”
At the sight of Astaldo’s fearsome face, Eda sucked in a sharp breath.
Unlike Ivar, who had a softer appearance despite his vile personality, Astaldo looked truly terrifying.
“She’s lying. She spent every night together with him, didn’t she?”
When Ingrid said that as if seeking agreement, all the women who were in danger of dying nodded their heads.
Eda bit her lip. It was never by her will. Never!
As she saw the blood drain from Eda’s face, a smile crept across Ingrid’s face
“I see. So you spent the nights with my brother… He must have cherished you greatly.”
He curled the corner of his mouth upward. At the sound of his displeased voice, Eda shrank back, thinking her head was about to be cut off.
Astaldo let out a low breath and drew the sword at his waist.
Eda tightly shut her eyes and trembled all over.
Unlike Ingrid, she had even tried to run away. So there was no reason for him to keep her alive.
“Aaagh!”
But then, startled by the scream that followed, she opened her eyes. Astaldo’s sword had pierced Ingrid’s stomach.
Blood splattered everywhere. Eda let out a small gasp and lowered her head.
Why? Why on earth?
“Why?”
Ingrid, too, seemed unable to believe it. She clutched her stabbed stomach and gasped for breath.
Eda covered her mouth. A scream threatened to escape.
The knights approached and surrounded her.
And in that moment, Eda realized something.
She was undeniably someone who had tormented her. And yet, that very woman had lost her life at Astaldo’s hand. Blood poured like rain, soaking the floor.
Ingrid collapsed, the light vanishing from her eyes.
The screams around her were so loud that Eda felt like she was going to lose her mind.
But… is this right? Was Ingrid really supposed to die like this?
Eda looked at the man. Blood was still dripping from the sword in his hand.
With Ingrid’s death, all the women understood it now. That they were all going to die.
In that chaos, Eda felt her mind go blank.
She shook off the knights who tried to take her away and reached out to grab Astaldo’s arm, who was standing next to her.
“What…?”
The moment she grabbed him, Eda was the one more shocked. She had dared to touch the Grand Duke’s arm. Her whole body trembled.
If it had been Ivar, he would have slapped her without hesitation. Still shaking, Eda held on to his arm and shook her head.
“Don’t kill them…”
“……”
“P-please…”
It was a pitiful plea, but even though these women had harmed her, the idea that they would die just because of one man’s decision felt wrong.
She had wanted Ingrid dead, but seeing her actually die was far more horrifying than she imagined. Wasn’t it the same when she lost her mother and sister? Eda was afraid of death.
“Eda.”
Astaldo looked at her face once, then sheathed his sword with a displeased expression.
The knights also sheathed their blades and began dragging the women away.
Eda let out a breath of relief.
“My sister-in-law—no, my wife looks like a mess. Bathe her.”
Astaldo said while looking Eda straight in the eye.
“We will be sharing the Grand Duke’s bedchamber tonight.”
* * *
Eda sat blankly as the maids attended to her.
She still couldn’t believe what had happened.
Ingrid’s death, Astaldo’s choice, and the fact that she would soon be going to his bedchamber.
Why had Astaldo chosen her?
Eda looked down at her own body.
It was a small and emaciated body. When she turned, even her ribs were visible, truly a pitiful and unimpressive figure. On top of that, her body was covered with scars.
Scars from the years she spent wandering with her mother and sister.
Scars from being captured and brought to the Mahina Duchy.
Scars from this very place.
And now, the wounds on her knees, which she had gotten while being dragged back from her escape, were even more hideous as they bled profusely. Everything was a scar.
Her body was even more unsightly than the maids standing beside her.
And that wasn’t all. Ivar used to mock her silver hair, saying it looked like an old crone’s and the only thing worth looking at was her turquoise eyes.
“It suits you well.”
One of the maids said offhandedly as she dressed her.
The red slip had originally been meant for the voluptuous and fuller-figured Ingrit, so on Eda, it hung loosely, especially at the chest.
Eda raised her head. They had dressed her in a dead woman’s slip. The malice behind that act made her skin crawl. They were all maids who had once served Ingrid.
“This… this is…”
“Why? It looks good on you.”
“His Grace the Grand Duke will like it too.”
When Eda hesitantly spoke about her appearance, they chuckled under their breath.
She knew full well it was mockery.
In the end, she closed her mouth before saying anything more. She had no authority, no right.
“Well then, have a lovely evening.”
They offered a sickeningly polite farewell and closed the door.
Eda clenched the edge of the bed.
She knew why the maids were acting this way. They believed she had no future. Seeing her unattractive body while bathing her must have only reinforced their belief.
Astaldo was still unmarried. They were convinced he would discard this worthless wife left behind by his brother and bring in another woman of his own choosing.
When the new Grand Duchess arrived, they would serve her. Which meant there was no need for them to show Eda any respect.
She would be discarded. Eda sank into despair. Her knee, which she had injured while running away, suddenly stung faintly.
Eda looked at her knee. Though the bleeding had stopped, it still throbbed with pain.
The maids had seen it too, but pretended not to notice and bathed her, rubbed oils on her skin and simply moved on.
Eda looked at the wound, her mark of failure, with a bitter expression.
She had never resented the world before, but this time, she couldn’t help doing so.
She had always lived like a prey animal, nerves constantly on edge, trying to escape the fate that threatened to devour her.
But as always, when the bad ending became all too obvious, she was overcome with despair.
No matter what she did, she felt the helplessness of being unable to escape this swamp.
And so, time passed.
The room was silent. She was used to silence, but not to a room this spacious.
She knew exactly what he intended to do. She had seen the union between man and woman enough to be sick of it.
Eda looked into the mirror. Her sunken cheeks were painted in a garishly bright red powder.
She let out a hollow laugh and went to the washroom. She had no choice but to wash her face.
When she looked in the mirror again, it looked somewhat better. But her lips wouldn’t come clean, remaining blood-red, as if stained with real blood.
When she came back out after washing her face, a man wearing a robe was sitting in the chair.
It was Astaldo.
SoundlessWind21’s Notes:
If there are any errors, whether it be grammatical, spelling, translation, or website-related issues, feel free to let me know. (´◡`) Anyway, thank you for reading!