Chapter 12. Is It Because of You or Me

At that moment, one of the nobles raised his voice again.

“Ulysse. What did we do wrong? We’re just saying she’s beautiful because she is.”

“That’s right. Can’t we even speak?”

The man snickered while blatantly staring at Yuelina.

“Seeing how smooth Her Highness the Grand Duchess’s skin is, it seems she’s receiving a lot of love from His Highness the Grand Duke?”

“By any chance, are all the people from that island… no, are all islanders this pretty? Please introduce me to a good companion too.”

“Hahaha. Don’t you have a wife?”

“I may have a wife, but I don’t even have a lover!”

They burst into boisterous laughter.

Unlike their trivial, boastful voices, the look in their eyes towards Yuelina was close to contempt.

Yuelina.

A woman from an island village who was married to the Grand Duke of the principality for the purpose of exchange by the Bios Empire.

The intentions of the Bios Empire were easy to understand.

Although the Empire promoted the marriage for the purpose of ‘exchange,’ they were soon planning to expand their territory to the unknown south, starting with the island village.

So it was fair to say that Yuelina had been sold.

Under the pretext of future peaceful prosperity for the Bios Empire.

And not to a noble of the Empire or people of the imperial faction, but to the Grand Duke of this principality.

What kind of person is Theo, the master of this principality?

He’s a cold-blooded man who let all three of his brides either run away or die, and is only obsessed with war and hunting.

They had already heard the rumors about Yuelina among the mansion’s servants.

That the two used separate rooms from the first day, and Theo had insisted there would be no wedding ceremony.

In short, Yuelina had been ignored from day one.

That’s why she was being briefly called to the hunting ground, not for a welcoming party or a wedding ceremony.

A commoner with no strong backing and no love from her husband.

No, she’s just a refugee. There was no need to treat her well or make a good impression.

“Your Highness the Grand Duchess. I too have quite a few magic stones I can operate.”

“I have many too! The village has three hundred, no, was it two hundred people? I can certainly feed that many. Hehe.”

Yuelina bit her lip at the men’s words.

Everyone was talking about why she had come to the north to marry Theo.

There was no one to welcome her, who had come to the principality because of magic stones.

“Yuelina.”

It was then.

Theo came down the stairs from the second floor of the cabin, thump, thump.

Wearing leather hunting clothes, Theo approached with his gaze fixed on Yuelina.

The voices of the nobles who had been snickering and chattering when Theo wasn’t around completely stopped.

His appearance alone completely changed the atmosphere inside.

“Go upstairs.”

Theo nodded to Ulysse. Ulysse quickly approached and guided Yuelina up the stairs.

As Yuelina disappeared from view, the nobles sat on the sofa, pretending to be nonchalant.

Since when had he been on the second floor?

They broke out in a cold sweat.

Thinking Theo wasn’t around, they had been thoroughly criticizing everything from the principality’s parliamentary agenda to Theo’s old Black Mansion.

The second floor of the cabin was where Theo stayed, like a villa.

The nobles had never been up there, so they became anxious, not knowing if it was well soundproofed.

“Haha. Your Highness, shall we go hunting now?”

“No, we can’t hunt anymore.”

“Pardon?”

“You lot are not well enough to do it.”

“Wh-what do you mean?”

Theo strode over and grabbed the collar of the noble sitting at the edge of the sofa.

Even the man known for his good build was no different from a meek lamb in front of Theo.

“You have quite a lot of magic stones?”

“Th-that’s!”

“How many? More than me?”

“Ack, ack…! Y-Your Highness! P-please let go!”

Theo held the man with one hand while twisting his wrist with the other.

“Arghhhh!!”

A chilling sound of bones twisting filled the air. The seated nobles froze in place.

How could he crush a wrist with just the strength of his hand in an instant?

The nobles could only blink, unable to say a word.

Theo stared at them one by one with a cold gaze.

“Choose.”

“……”

“Quietly go home, reflect on today’s events, and donate the magic stones you’ve hidden.”

“……”

“Or stand behind this idiot and have your collar grabbed by me.”

If grabbed by the collar, they would die or become crippled.

So there was only one choice they could make.

They began to rush out like an arrow.

And only the man with his collar grabbed and arm dangling remained. He made sobbing sounds with reddened eyes.

Theo stared at the man with a distorted face.

“Why are you crying so easily?”

“……”

“After daring to spout such words.”

Theo lightly threw the man to the floor. The man coughed and gasped for breath.

“You go and tell them.”

“……”

“If they say such nonsense again, it’s their necks. Tell them I’ll make them only able to make metallic sounds from their throats for the rest of their lives.”

The man hurriedly nodded and got up.

He grabbed his dangling wrist and rushed outside.

And the man realized one thing.

Theo acted as if he hadn’t heard about the parliamentary agenda, the embezzlement of magic stones, or the insults to his mansion.

He only clearly remembered their voices directed at the Grand Duchess.

* * *

Yuelina went up to the bedroom with Ulysse and sat on a soft sofa.

There was a loud noise from downstairs, but she couldn’t hear what was being said.

“Are you alright?”

Yuelina nodded forcefully at Ulysse’s question.

The men’s sticky and dirty gazes. The disgusting laughter and insulting words still echoed in her ears.

What was harder to bear was her own situation where she couldn’t say anything at that time.

Before long, the commotion died down.

Thump, thump.

And the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs was heard.

Yuelina wanted to get up from her seat. But her legs wouldn’t move.

“Grand Duchess.”

The owner of the footsteps was Theo.

He stood in front of Yuelina. His long shadow fell over her.

“There’s ointment in the drawer, bring it.”

Theo ordered Ulysse.

Ulysse took out white ointment in a round container and handed it to him.

“Then, I’ll go and clean up.”

Ulysse bowed to Theo and left the room.

Now only Yuelina and Theo were in the bedroom.

Theo reached out towards Yuelina with a deeply furrowed brow.

“Give me your hand.”

“Pardon?”

“You’re hurt.”

At Theo’s words, Yuelina examined her own hand.

Because she had been clenching her fist tightly, her nails had dug into her skin and blood had pooled.

When she didn’t know she was hurt, she didn’t feel the pain, but now that she saw the wound, a sudden stinging pain rushed in.

“Ah……”

Yuelina carefully extended her hand towards Theo.

Yuelina’s hand placed on Theo’s palm was truly small.

Blood had pooled on this small and soft skin.

And all because of useless nonsense.

Theo, with his brow furrowed, began to gently apply the ointment. His touch was rough and coarse, but his attitude was careful.

It seemed that just destroying the nobles’ hands and confiscating their property wouldn’t be enough.

He should call the Shadow and crush their legs too.

Make it so they can’t get up for a year, and when their bones heal, crush them again, and when they heal again, crush them once more.

“Ah! Your Highness, your hand too!”

Just then, Yuelina’s eyes widened as she looked at Theo’s fingers.

Only then did Theo stare at the wound on his own hand. His expression was calm, as if looking at someone else’s hand.

It was clearly a mark from when the man had scratched him while struggling as Theo grabbed his collar.

But this wasn’t the first time he had been wounded on his body.

Scratch marks would heal on their own after sleeping for a few days.

What mattered wasn’t this trivial wound on the back of his hand. It was that a scar had formed on Yuelina’s fair skin.

What kind of situation was this, all because of that quack doctor’s nonsensical words to check?

There was one more person who needed to be punished.

But Theo hesitated. Wasn’t it he who had willingly complied with the doctor’s words to check?

So the reason Yuelina was hurt could ultimately be seen as his fault.

On the other hand, seeing Theo’s wound, Yuelina felt her heart sink.

All sorts of imaginations ran through her mind, wondering if one of the men on the sofa had hit Theo.

“Is… is it because of me?”

“No matter how I think about it, it seems to be because of me.”

Theo muttered with a strange expression. Yuelina had done nothing wrong.

It was because of him who had left Yuelina alone in front of the nobles.

If she knew that he had placed her in front of those low-class nobles for the reason of confirming a spell, she would probably curse Theo and more.

He’s inviting punishment on himself.

Isn’t this encouraging her to leave for good?

At that moment, Yuelina reached out her delicate hand and held Theo’s hand.

Surprised by the sudden warmth, Theo closed his mouth and stared at her.