The Duke's Unwanted Wife

“Exactly what I said. What? Are you going to hit me like father did?”    

Sebastian’s anger slipped away. He didn’t realize he had already raised his hand and the others were looking at him with shock. He lowered his hand shamefully, walking out of the room. He had also forgotten it wasn’t his home and would get lost within a few minutes of walking.    

“Don’t worry about it, Vivia. I’ll send a servant to lead him,” Dame Violet said to reassure her daughter. A servant was immediately send to aid him and another to bring more food for the additional guest.    

“Since we’re here, won’t it cause trouble for the head knight and the troops?”    

“Ah, you’re right. I’ll send a messanger to tell them to come back home since you’re here. It’s not good to leave the Hazel Estate unprotected.”    

“If you need to send a letter quickly, I can help you send it now, grandmother,” Natalia suddenly said, placing her tea cup down. Vivia didn’t remember teaching her daughter table manners before she was locked up yet they were impeccable, like she had been practicing for many years. It was peculiar.    

Dame Violet didn’t question her granddaughter, writing the letter and handing it over to Natalia. Natalia snapped her fingers and a green light danced on her fingers. The box that Cheese slept in opened and the fairy watched intently what Natalia was doing. Natalia burned the letter and strangely, there were no ashes. It was slightly different to what she usually did but it worked as well.    

“What was that?”    

“It’s a discreet method of sending letters. Instead of risking the letter being compromised or leaked, you can register the magic signature of the person you want to send it to in your body by taking a bit of their mana into your body and they take yours into theirs. You can send the letter directly to them.”    

“But you’ve clearly not taken the Head Knight’s mana into yours.”    

“I actually have. Do you remember when he kissed my hand before he left?”    

“Yes, but that was such brief contact that you couldn’t possibly have exchanged mana like that. How is that even possible?”    

“I guess…it’s time I told the truth. But I don’t want to say it without Bastian here. I don’t want to repeat myself.”    

At first, they thought she was being considerate of her brother. Realizing she just didn’t want to repeat herself, it was a little amusing. The Dame sent another servant to call Sebastian back into the house but Natalia stopped her. Snapping her fingers, both Sebastian and the servant sent after him appeared in the room. They were incredibly confused but Natalia didn’t offer to explain.    

Vivia explained what happened to her son and the servant, putting their minds at rest. The servants left the room and Natalia discreetly applied a silence border spell around the room. She sighed and began telling her story from her first life. She remembered everything with precision and didn’t leave any detail out, especially those on how she became the flower of high society. When Vivia heard of how she died, she didn’t flinch. But when she heard of how Sebastian and Natalia died, tears fell from her eyes.    

While Sebastian comforted her, she began to talk about their second life. It was slightly more pleasant than the last but Natalia still suffered in her marriage, trying desperately to get her family and all the people she loved safely out of Ducroft. When she talked of those people she hadn’t met in this life yet, they could hear the longing and melancholy in her voice.    

“This is…quite the tale. Why would you tell us, particularly me?” Dame Violet asked with genuine confusion.    

“Because you’re all my family and I trust you. I regret not telling you anything in my last life. I regret resenting mother for being useless and not protecting me from the snakes in high society. I regret being jealous of Sebastian for being the perfect one with the perfect future. I regret going through the decision of marrying Fredrich.”    

Hearing her speak about her experiences, Sebastian couldn’t find it in his heart to resent her any longer. She had suffered longer than he had and she risked her life over and over again to make sure they had a better life. It didn’t matter if she was odd or rude. She was his sister and that’s all that mattered.    

“The reason why you told us this…isn’t only because we’re family, right?” Vivia asked her daughter. Natalia smiled and began talking again, this time telling them her plans. The more they listened, the more intrigued they were. They offered their insights and the rough plan started to take shape. Natalia’s gladness soared as she finally had help from others. She didn’t notice that Cheese’s box was now empty.    

“I have one question to ask,” Sebastian raised his hand, a bashful expression on his face. Natalia was curious but Vivia already had an idea of what he was curious about.    

“This princess you speak of, did I…love her?”    

Natalia suddenly remembered that the Sebastian in front of her was a man who hadn’t yet been traumatized about his father’s attempt to correct him sexually. He was a bashful, innocent teenager. She left that part out of the story because if he was free of trauma now, there was no need to remind him.    

“I don’t know if you loved her. Because I asked you to marry her and you couldn’t say no to me any longer, you decided to try your best to bear an heir with her. But if you still want to meet her in this life…”    

“No, that’s fine. If I didn’t love her, it would be better not to hurt her,” he replied righteously, even though his face was dark.    

“Princess Temara is considered to be a righteous and firm woman who is also one of the most beautiful women in Polivia. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say she is the most beautiful woman in Polivia. If you work hard, then one day you will get to meet her and see if you think love is worthy or not.”    

“...I see. Then what about you? What about the man you loved?”    

“What do you mean? I never gave up on him. Right now, the fairy god mother is working hard to help me protect him and the Divine bird. I wished to save him before that bastard prince got to him and I did.”    

“By bastard prince, you couldn’t possibly be referring to…”    

“Prince Reagan. That bastard. Although most of the princes in this continent are bastards. Is it innate?”    

Dame Violet laughed awkwardly, immediately deleting the plan of making Natalia meet the prince from her head. The boy was the best candidate for the throne with his magic potential but Natalia was right when she said there was something off about him, even if he was still a child.    

“So if you save the Grand Duke from untimely death, you won’t get engaged to him? It feels like he’ll get you engaged to his son to show his gratitude.”    

“That’s why he won’t know I’m the one who saved his life. He’ll think it’s the gods and return to his loving family. Mother, you should make plans to divorce father. I can assure you the royal family will approve of it quickly.”    

“How do you even know that?” Dame Hazel asked. Part of the marriage agreement actually linked to the royal family. It was a trade agreement that caused the Merchant Association and the Adamantine family to sell more Adamantine than Mythril to dominate the gem market. Since it needed to pass the approval of the royal family, it came with a hefty tax that was reduced with a little under the table agreement. It looked like Natalia had an idea but since she didn't mention it, she most likely didn’t know all of it.    

“Hallucinations and I have a god on my side. If I make some of my hallucination potion and have the fairy god mother mess with the king’s dream then he’ll sign it. It’s that easy.”    

“...it’s a brilliant plan but is it ethical?” Vivia asked, worried.    

“When has this family ever worried about something being ethical?”    

They agreed reluctantly. They were more worried about her just churning out a plan like that on the spot. Even though she had lived multiple lives, she was still just 9 years old.    

“I will prepare your rooms and start training you to be the family head, Sebastian. You may not be my family head but you have to become yours.”    

“Yes, grandmother.”    

It was still awkward for him to address her as his grandmother, unlike Natalia. They rarely saw each other and he almost couldn’t remember what she looked like. But she was warmer and that was what mattered. The hostile environment he grew up in was not present in the Hazel Estate.    

“Natalia, I’m…sorry.”    

“Why are you apologizing, Bastian?”    

“I’ve been a terrible brother. Forgive me.”    

“Hmm, it’s good that you realized that you were a terrible brother. So as an apology, you’ll give me all your strawberry tarts, right?”    

“B-But, that’s my favorite…” Sebastian felt Vivia staring at him with disapproval. He sighed and gave in.    

“I guess you can have all of them.”    

“I was just kidding. I prefer orange tarts. Don’t worry, Sebastian. I have already forgiven you a long time ago. I hold no hate for you in my heart.”    

“...thank you, Natalia.”