Duke Ashillean’s Contractual Marriage - Chapter 3-2

Chapter 3 part 2

The nobles in the capital looked at Rubiana with mixed admiration and fear.

“I heard that she has three eyes and is more than two meters tall, but it looks like she wasn’t.”

“What I heard was that she was a terrifying person that has a pair of pitch black eyes and black hair.”

“Just lightly bumping into her and she will twist your neck.”

“Oh my, oh my. How can a savage and terrifying person be blood-related to Her Majesty?”

The nobles chatted like this to their sons and daughters about the nobles who participated in the Battle of Dawn. Rubiana suspected that an epidemic accompanied by amnesia may have spread in the capital for several years.

Callena burst into a laughter after Rubiana told her what she heard as if she was just telling a funny joke.

“Are you laughing?”

Since it was a place where the other two dukes and several officials were together, Rubiana spoke formally.

“Isn’t it funny? Did you just stop and listen to those kinds of talk? You should have twisted their necks at once.”

To Callena, who asked her why he didn’t twist the necks of the nobles who swore loyalty, Rubiana made an uncomfortable expression from the words ‘loyalty’.

“Don’t tell me, it was Your Majesty who spread those rumors?”

“Don’t set me up in a trap. Why would I do that?”

“…… So it was Your Majesty, indeed.”

Haa. A sigh came out automatically.

“Why did you do that?”

“It’s fun.”

“…….”

“My tongue slipped when I told them the tough situation my sister was facing in the North you had sent me in a letter.”

“Oh, yes.”

“I told them not to forget my older sister’s suffering in the north and to be grateful to you. They were the ones that exaggerated those words at their own will.”

“…….”

“If you don’t like it, twist their necks. Got it?”

“I said I won’t.”

“Really? That’s too bad. I was looking forward to it.”

Callena giggled and laughed.

Duke Dominent of the Black Tulip and Duke Feltharg, the two most handsome and popular unmarried men of the empire, looked at Callena with burning gazes.

Rubiana looked at the two flower-like beauties sitting on both sides of Callena with cold eyes.

I’m thinking about giving you a piece of advice not to be too close to Her Majesty.

“Stay in the capital for a while. Then the ridiculous rumors will subside quickly.”

Callena talked to her again.

“But I haven’t completely wiped out the beasts in the north.”

“You won’t be able to do it even for the rest of your life. You should come to the capital while the attacks aren’t severe.

“Do I really have to?”

Rubiana was wondering. What’s the point of going back and forth from the north and the capital every year? She wasn’t even in the position to be suspected of her loyalty.

In this place, it was alright to just laugh and cry. The distance between the north and the capital was quite long so she had to change horses several times on the way. As she had been in the barren land of the north for several years, even that was a waste.

When Rubiana looked dissatisfied, Callena smiled and spoke lightly as if she knew what she was thinking.

“Don’t do that, stay next to me and help me out. There’s still a lot to do because it is still not yet systematized.”

It was a light tone, but it didn’t sound as light.

Come to think of it, Callena’s face seemed a little emaciated.

Of course, it was from the perspective of Rubiana. Had Cadric and Rudante known Rubiana’s thoughts, they would have said this with a face as if they had eaten feces.

‘You’ve only seen half of her face.’

‘Is that what you seriously think of her? Your eyes must’ve been tainted with the devil’s blood.’

However, the two men did not have the ability to read other people’s minds. Rubiana also didn’t say what was in her mind.

“Alright.”

She just accepted it like an order from the Emperor. In her mind, Cadric and Rudante’s ‘younger sister’s husband’s candidate score’ fell sharply.

‘Come to think of it.’

Speaking of husband, she remembered something – the oath she made to God before following Callena. Soon, she’ll turn 30.

‘Even if I don’t want to, I have to give birth to two or more children. Should I start it by getting married?’

One child would be dedicated to God and the other would be her successor as the Duke, remaining loyal to the Emperor. In order to do that, she had to find a suitable husband. He should be a man with a strong lower back that can make two children.

‘Should I try searching for a husband while I am here?’

She will help her younger sister who was having hard time working, look for husband candidates for her incompetent younger sister who can just stand beside her, and also look a husband for herself. Then wouldn’t her travel to the capital and changing several horses be worthwhile? Rubiana felt a little better.

2. Encounter

Callena gave her a mansion near the Imperial Palace and Rubiana accepted it without refusing. The news spread out all over the capital’s social circle at once.

Rubiana stayed at the Imperial Palace for one day and went to the mansion she was given the next day. The invitations that arrived before her were piled up like a mountain. It has only been a few years since a new dynasty was established, and only a few years since the empire was established.

‘How did the central social circle flourish so much in just a few years?’

Rubiana was impressed. Attending banquets and tea times, she was even more impressed by the elegant attitude of the central nobles. They send out invitations to fight, but when she actually attends the meeting, they look at her with a ‘You’re really here?’ Within a week, Rubiana had lost interest in the capital’s social society.

But regardless of how she felt, she had to attend a moderate amount of social gatherings each week. That appropriate amount was set by Callena and the handmaid she sent to her mansion.

Callena showed her friendly relationship with the three Dukes, and had to press down on the sophisticated bastards of the capital. Therefore she had to attend the social gatherings attended by Callena.

The handmaiden was more faithful to Rubiana’s purpose. From a mountain of invitations, to the wonderful selection of gatherings for young and promising young people for her to attend. She didn’t know if it was Callena’s intention or a coincidence, but the handmaid sent to her looked exactly like the sister of her maternal grandmother.

For this reason, Rubiana, who had a good relationship with her maternal grandmother, did not dare to be harsh with the handmaid. Naturally, the power of the mansion fell on the handmaid. Rubiana had to helplessly accept the thick invitations from the mansion’s rules.

“D**n, d**n it.”

“A beautiful lady doesn’t say that.”

Whenever she tried to tear the invitation to shreds, the maternal grandmother, no, the handmaid comforted Rubiana with a sweet and elegant voice. It was fortunate that she didn’t ask her to attend the gatherings wearing a dress.

At first, she put out some pretty dresses to see where they came from. Then she smiled as she tore the dress apart. At that time, she didn’t feel guilty at what she was doing, something impossible to do to her maternal grandmother.