Chapter 16
“Ha ha. Compared to the vast gold and wealth owned by the Sephardi family, it must seem rather insignificant.”
“Ah… well, Lord Eskia, I’m afraid it’s a bit burdensome to accept such a gift without any particular reason.”
Right now, I had to make sure Maribel didn’t become the villainess.
Even if I somehow escaped from this possession—or whatever it was—I had to ensure Gabriella could live happily.
Pedro, who had no hope of redemption, could seize on my weaknesses, and besides, he wasn’t my type at all. It was best to keep as much distance from him as possible.
“You should give it to my mother instead. She’d really appreciate it.”
“I’ve already given one to the Duchess of Sephardi as well.”
Persistent bastard.
Pedro just smirked when he saw my forced smile, as if he’d read something in it.
“If I’d known you were such a beauty, I’d have brought a more dazzling jewel. A diamond, perhaps.”
His boastful voice rang loud.
At that, Princess Cecilia, who had turned her body toward Arius and whose face I could barely see until now, suddenly burst into a loud laugh.
“Pedro, your jokes are going too far.”
“What do you mean, Your Highness?”
“With Lady Sephardi’s hair and eye color being so dark, do you really think such a bright gem would even show?”
“Cecilia!”
It all happened in an instant.
The words slipped out of the princess’s mouth without a thought, and to my surprise, it was the crown prince who looked the most startled.
Not that such an insult could even scratch me.
“Oh, come now, brother. Why are you shouting again? It’s not as if I said something entirely untrue.”
Even if it wasn’t unforgivable, it certainly wasn’t appropriate for this setting—especially since it was the Sephardis who were hosting this banquet.
The atmosphere froze over. Kind Gabriella’s face went pale.
Then, Arius, who had been watching quietly, rose from his seat.
He tilted his head slightly, looking down at the princess.
“Your Highness, it seems you’ve had too much to drink.”
“What? I—what do you mean?”
“I only say so because your words have been excessively rude.”
He sounded so serious—like a loyal advisor offering an earnest admonition—that it almost carried a note of concern.
The one flustered now was the princess herself.
“I-I’m not drunk…”
“Of course. After all, you could still clearly make out the color of my hair—so perhaps you aren’t drunk after all.”
I took that moment to seize the opportunity.
“You’re right, Your Highness. Diamonds might not suit me well. I’ll take your advice deeply to heart.”
I had no desire to win the favor of someone who already disliked me.
Besides, this was a chance.
“I’d love to stay and enjoy your company longer, but I think I might have drunk a little too much. I’m feeling quite dizzy, actually.”
A perfect opportunity to learn more about Arius Romero.
I didn’t want to miss it, so I smiled at him.
“Lord Romero, if it’s not too much trouble, could you escort me back to my palacio? Please.”
“Ah…”
“Thank you.”
Before he could even reply, I stood up unsteadily.
“Maribel. I can take you—”
Pedro started to rise as well, but I quickly turned and leaned against Arius instead.
Pretending to be drunk wasn’t difficult at all.
Arius hesitated briefly, then supported me.
“Lord Romero already knows where my palacio is, so it’ll be easier to ask him.”
Let them imagine and misunderstand however they please.
I stumbled again, and this time my head brushed against Arius’s chest. I could feel him flinch.
I should probably thank him for not pushing me away.
He gently took hold of my arm and moved me just far enough to maintain propriety while still supporting me as we left the hall.
“Lady Maribel’s palacio?”
“Well, Lady Maribel said earlier that…”
Thankfully, Gabriella would be there to smooth things over.
* * *
The Sephardi ducal estate, perhaps because of the southern heat, had many open-air corridors leading outside.
Torches flickered here and there, and since it was a long summer day, the world was still washed in a faint bluish light that didn’t suit the bright moon above.
Arius was escorting me toward the separate building where my bedroom was located.
“Thank you.”
“I’m merely doing what must be done.”
“But isn’t it tiring to support me like that?”
Indeed, after a short while of awkwardly holding me up, Arius had simply lifted me into his arms as though I were luggage.
He must have found the constant accidental contact uncomfortable.
“This way is easier.”
His gaze remained astonishingly fixed forward.
Of course it was.
“I’m a little scared I might fall, though.”
“I won’t drop you.”
He didn’t even glance at me—just answered stiffly.
Sincere, devoted, bound by tradition and family—everything Luisa had said about me actually suited Arius far better.
With a face like that, he’d never even shown interest in love or women.
“Then I’ll trust you, Lord Romero.”
Arius Romero.
The Romero family, from the northeast, was from a duchy rich in trade and long-standing power—a region that had nearly stayed independent from the Bernaus before finally being absorbed into the Naparo Empire.
Even now, that duchy burned with the will for independence.
That was the beginning of the Romero family’s tragedy.
A baron from the Romero Duchy, who supported secession, murdered the duke and duchess and their eldest son.
The only survivor was the second son, Arius, who had been away serving as a general in the imperial army.
Of course, only the reader of the original novel knew that the murderer had been one of their own barons. Arius spent his life hunting the culprit, consumed by vengeance.
“May I ask you something, Lord Romero?”
“Go ahead, Lady Sephardi.”
“Do you intend to become a royal consort to the Bernau line?”
My question echoed quietly through the corridor.
His cool, pale green eyes finally turned toward me.
I didn’t look away.
“Why do you ask?”
What I saw beneath those eyes was rage—boiled, cooled, and boiled again a thousand times until it was hard as stone.
Pedro Eskia must have already fed him false information that the Romeros’ deaths had been orchestrated by the royal family. I could sense the hatred toward the royals in him.
Evil men truly are industrious.
I sighed softly. This might turn out trickier than I thought.
“I’ll ask again, Lady Sephardi. Why are you curious about that?”
“Why?”
Because if left alone, you’ll end up beheading the crown prince.
And my sister—Gabriella, who looks far too much like my real-life sister Yoon Gabi—would not only lose her husband but, after stirring Pedro’s obsessive void, be offered to God and burned at the stake.
She’d later come back in time and slaughter us all, Pedro included, but still—
“Lord Romero.”
Now, the one to use Arius’s fury wasn’t going to be Pedro.
It had to be me—so Gabriella could live happily, and I could keep my head attached to my neck.
“Why wouldn’t I be curious?”
Because Arius’s anger could help me.
“After all, I fell in love with you at first sight.”
I smiled brightly as I confessed.
Thud.
Arius, who had been walking steadily, stopped dead.
I tightened my arms around his neck so I wouldn’t fall.
“You said you wouldn’t drop me…”
I was about to complain—until his cold reply came.
“I’d advise against making such low-quality jokes. That’s quite inappropriate.”
“Joke?”
A woman confesses to him, and he calls it a joke?
That, I hadn’t expected.
“I may have drunk a little, but I wasn’t joking. Besides, we’re not close enough for me to joke about something like that. I just…”
Pedro had used him, only for Arius to later be executed as a traitor who rebelled against the emperor.
I remembered that one haunting line from the original novel:
“Believing he had at last avenged his family, he went to the execution ground looking strangely at peace.”
