Chapter 9

“Is that what you should be saying in front of Gael’s grave?”

“Gael. I wanted to become family with your sister.”

Briseyes wondered what he was talking about and retorted with a sigh.

“You are family to me and Gael. We’re like siblings.”

“That’s not the kind of family I meant.”

Callisten chuckled and came to her side. Then he gulped down the rum as if his throat was parched. As he drank, half of the large bottle disappeared instantly.

“Here.”

Briseyes looked at the alcohol he offered her and sighed.

“I told you I have class tomorrow.”

Yet she desperately wanted to drink it. Perhaps because it was Gael’s death anniversary, she couldn’t remain indifferent to the death of a family member who had followed her well.

So she impulsively took the alcohol he offered.

Then slowly, she drank from the bottle just as Callisten had done. Normally, she wouldn’t have behaved so inelegantly.

But now she didn’t have the mental space to care about such things.

Demian, for whom she wanted to maintain her dignity, had broken their most important promise; Gael, who had been like her real family, was dead; and she knew that even if she gave up on her current marriage, another marriage transaction would inevitably follow.

It felt like standing in a maze with blocked paths everywhere. Like being trapped in a maze where there were only walls no matter where she went.

“Ugh…”

She involuntarily made a sound as the bitter alcohol went down her throat.

“Mmph…”

“Be quiet, Cal.”

When Callisten saw her tipsy expression, he involuntarily made a sound.

“It’s because I’m in pain. Your expression looks strange.”

At his words, she handed him the bottle she was holding, and he stared at her intently.

Though it was night, her red hair was vividly visible. Along with her blue eyes that seemed to have forgotten the night.

“Don’t touch me.”

When he tucked her hair behind her ear, Briseyes swatted his hand away.

“Hiss…”

Briseyes involuntarily made a sound due to the wounds that remained all over her body from falling down the stairs.

“What’s that?”

But at her small reaction, Callisten’s eyes flashed as if he had realized something.

“Cal!”

He roughly threw the bottle to the ground and grabbed her wrist, pulling up her sleeve. Then he checked the bruise marks underneath.

“What is this?”

“Mmph… wait!”

He roughly removed her jacket. Then he looked directly at Briseyes and said:

“Will you tell me the truth, or should I see for myself?”

“What do you mean see? Are you crazy?”

“Yes. I’ve always been crazy, haven’t I?”

Then he tried to pull up her sleeve more forcefully to check. Soon, the sleeve that had been covering her elbow was pulled up to her armpit.

“Cal!”

“Did the Grand Duke hit you?”

“I fell down the stairs.”

“Did the Grand Duke push you down the stairs?”

“I fell, by accident.”

“Stop talking nonsense.”

Callisten’s eyes were flickering like flames. Briseyes found herself staring at him as if entranced.

“Tell me honestly before I check further.”

“I am being honest. I really fell down the stairs…”

He stared at her continuously without blinking, as if reading her expression.

“It wasn’t Demian.”

“Tell me honestly if the Grand Duke did this to you.”

“No. And even if he did, what does it matter to you?”

He laughed as if in disbelief at her words and said:

“If the Grand Duke hit you, that changes things.”

“…Cal.”

“I’m trying to divorce you. But if the Grand Duke hit you and made you like this, I’ll make you a widow.”

“You’re insane.”

“I’ve always been crazy, right?”

“Stop caring about me.”

When Briseyes spoke coldly, he replied without blinking:

“I told you. If you save me, I’m yours. But you’ve saved me repeatedly from when you were five until now.”

“That wasn’t intentional.”

“Whether it was intentional or not, I’ve already decided. So tell me the truth. Did the Grand Duke make you like this?”

She felt like her head was clearing up despite the slight intoxication.

“If he had, I wouldn’t have left Demian alone in the first place.”

She said this and picked up her outer garment that had fallen to the ground.

Callisten’s desire to possess her was different from the affection men typically feel. He was like a child who wanted to have what he couldn’t possess.

Perhaps if she fell into his grasp as he wished, he might be satisfied with that.

But Callisten was someone who grew tired of his numerous toys the moment they became his possession.

The moment she resigned herself to doing as he said.

He would grow tired of her.

At least, that’s what Briseyes thought Callisten was like.

From the beginning, she had come to realize that all those incidents where she had tried to save him were schemes he had devised to possess her.

She was no longer a five-year-old child either.

“I really want to have you, Bri.”

When she didn’t respond and just looked at him, he smiled and continued:

“Your beautiful eyes, these plump lips. Everything.”

“Dreams are free, Cal.”

She said this, then sighed and turned away first. He followed her.

She glanced at him who had followed her to the carriage, and pretending to be courteous, she got into the carriage.

“My dream will come true with you, I think?”

She didn’t answer his words, but he closed the carriage door as if he had heard a response.

So Briseyes headed to the Grand Duke’s residence, trying to organize her unsettled thoughts.

⁕⁕⁕

“Eek!”

Briseyes frowned as soon as she returned to the mansion. She was already in a bad mood, but what made her mood worse were Demian and Delilah.

“Demi! W-wait! Put me down!”

“Then say you love me.”

“Ah, th-that…”

Demian had lifted Delilah by the waist and was twirling her around, giggling in front of the main entrance of the first floor. He was spinning her so vigorously that Delilah’s skirt was spreading wide.

Moreover, even the clothes Delilah was wearing now belonged to Briseyes.

“Isn’t that my dress?”

Both of them turned to look at Briseyes simultaneously.

“Of all things, you chose to wear the dress my mother gave me?”

Briseyes felt strange that Delilah was wearing the dress her mother had specially commissioned for her when she got married.

“Are you being petty about dresses again?”

“That dress. It was originally meant for our reception.”

Briseyes didn’t have a reception at her wedding. The wedding itself had been rushed, and Demian had skipped the reception, saying he wanted to spend time with her.

“Then it’s a good thing, isn’t it? Dili is wearing the dress more beautifully than Bri would have.”

He slowly lowered Delilah to the ground.

The dress, which had been tailored specifically for Briseyes, seemed a bit large for Delilah, as there were traces of it being cut and sewn in various places.

Briseyes had a curvy figure. Compared to her, Delilah had a much more elegant body. That’s why Briseyes’s clothes would inevitably be a bit large for Delilah.

“Fine.”

Briseyes didn’t want to say anything more, so she said this and tried to enter her room first.

“Bri.”

Then Demian grabbed her arm and turned her around.

“Have you been drinking?”

“Yes, what about it?”

“You dare to drink outside, without your husband’s permission, until late at night? And you didn’t even come to the victory ceremony?”

“You told me not to come to the victory ceremony, Demian.”

Demian looked down at Briseyes with an angry expression.

“You’re indeed a wife who doesn’t know how to obey her husband.”

Demian noticed that the button on the sleeve of Briseyes’s left arm was dangling. Then, seeing the strange grass fragments stuck to her skirt and stockings, he felt strange.

“Are you secretly meeting someone behind my back?”

“What?”

“I’m doubting whether you’re still pure.”

“Do you think you’re in a position to ask me such things after kissing another woman?”

“I am your husband. It’s common for men to have mistresses.”

She felt disgusted at the thought of fighting with him again in the same circular manner.

“Jeron.”

Demian called for his servant.

“Yes, master.”

“I need to check if Bri is pure. Call a doctor.”

“What?”

Briseyes involuntarily clenched her fist at his words.

“Do you think I’ll cooperate with such a thing?”

“Why won’t you? So you did meet another man indecently while I was on the battlefield?”

“Are you really insane?”

“Yes. For women, it’s evident if they’re not virgins. So I need to check today.”

“What if I’m not pure? Will you divorce me then?”

“Of course not. Even if you’re not pure, you’re still my wife. However.”

He came close to Briseyes, looking down at her and sneering.

“I don’t know what will happen to your filthy lover. And if you’re not pure, you won’t be allowed to leave your room until you’re pregnant.”

At those words, Delilah pretended to be shocked and covered her mouth. She was frowning as if the situation was both surprising and unpleasant, but only Briseyes could see her expression behind Demian’s back.

“Come with me. I must test you.”

“Let go!”

Demian, who had grabbed her arm, was roughly leading Briseyes up the stairs towards the bedroom on the third floor.

“Your Highness! A, a guest…!”

As Briseyes and Demian were struggling on the stairs, a servant quickly approached and spoke.

“Tell them I’m busy. And hurry up with the doctor…”

“You dare to refuse me?”

A guest who could enter without waiting for permission.

That could only be the Crown Prince.

“His Highness the Crown Prince?”

Demian looked at him in surprise, and Callisten was staring intently at Briseyes’s arm that Demian was gripping, as if confirming something.

“Today was Gael’s death anniversary, yet you’re manhandling your wife even on such a day?”

Then he spoke as if testing, staring at Demian like a predator.