A Mad Lady’s Confession - Chapter 31

Summer in Römern seemed to arrive slowly, then change its face in an instant. Until just yesterday, the weather had been pleasantly cool, only for the next morning to turn unbearably hot, scorching people without warning.

The season in the garden where the two walked side by side stood right at that boundary. Knowing that, Daphne Fram naturally spoke first.

“It seems the heat is coming a bit slower this year.”

“The imperial meteorologist said summer will be even longer this year.”

“Is that so? …At times like this, I want to visit it at least once, the sea of Gammelstad.”

Tilting her lace parasol slightly, Daphne looked up at the man walking beside her without replying. A refreshing presence radiated from him, untouched even by the summer heat. The arm beneath the hand she had placed on him out of formality for the escort felt firm.

She said casually, in a familiar tone, “It’s the first time we’ve met like this since that day.”

It was the same natural, friendly way of speaking they had used as children.

“How is your life… with that woman?”

“…There seem to be quite a few people curious about my married life today.”

Not only the emperor, but even the chamberlain had made the baseless remark that his complexion looked better after marriage.

That’s ridiculous. His face had always looked fine, and that woman was currently turning his insides upside down. It had already been ten days since he’d been staying at the second house.

The woman who had let slip that she couldn’t stand to look at him still didn’t pretend not to care. Whenever he returned to the second house, there would always be clothes, desserts, and cravats waiting for him, said to have been sent by the madam.

Why send things like that? Wasn’t it the same as telling him not to come home at all?

Because of the woman who kept sending things little by little so he couldn’t completely cut off his thoughts, he had been somewhat unsettled lately, and even feeling that was unfamiliar and irritating.

He had been burying himself in work to shut it out completely, sleeping barely three hours a day. So the chamberlain’s comment about him looking better had to be nonsense.

“I’m sorry, Matty.”

A soft voice, trembling at the end, broke into his thoughts. He turned his head and looked down at the woman, who was a head shorter than him.

“I know I have no right, and that I’m in no position to ask you for something like that, but I still did.”

Her slender hand in lace gloves gripped the parasol handle tightly. Even in this heat, the thin cotton dress covering the back of her hand stood out. Matthias knew what lay beneath those sleeves.

From long ago, there would be marks left by something he had once cherished that had wounded her. The girl who had smiled brightly and said she would ask for one wish someday, to the boy who bowed his head in guilt.

It couldn’t be said that was the only reason, but in any case, that mark had played a part in Matthias marrying Eleanor Brynhill.

Daphne, who had urged that decision, looked like that same young girl now, on the verge of tears.

“I’m truly sorry for placing that burden on you.”

“….”

For the first time since entering the imperial palace today, Matthias’s brows properly furrowed.

Daphne Fram’s apology was likely sincere. Her expression and tone held nothing false, and Matthias, who had known her since childhood, could tell.

Even so, his mood wasn’t good. To be exact, it was extremely unpleasant.

The way she referred to Eleanor Brynhill as a burden irritated him.

No, she was a burden, but could anyone other than himself use that word? Did anyone else have the right to call Eleanor Brynhill a burden?

He had felt something similar with the emperor. The irritating phrase that reduced it to nothing more than women’s affairs still included that woman, Eleanor Brynhill.

Who would dare treat Nielsen like that?

Yes, that was the nature of his anger. It wasn’t because such words were directed at Eleanor Brynhill, but because, no matter what, she was currently Nielsen.

While Matthias was organizing his irritation in that way, Daphne continued speaking, her voice on the verge of tears.

“I heard it from Miss Sorelson. How could she do something like that… I’m sorry. The physician said she was better… I believed that… I never imagined she would do something so insane. That woman is still mad—”

“I suppose Miss Sorelson didn’t mention that she stole something.”

“….”

“Rather than getting a bit of blood on her dress, I think it’s far more serious that a marquis’s daughter has the nasty habit of stealing from a duke’s house. Don’t you agree?”

The wind, perhaps carrying the last trace of coolness of the season, cut sharply between them. In that current, Matthias’s blond hair fell slightly out of place.

For a moment, Daphne watched it as if entranced, her mouth dry. Once, she had wanted to be the one to make him look like that. To grab his hair, wrap her legs around his waist, and throw him off balance.

As that old desire she had never acted on left her momentarily dazed, Matthias’s voice brought her back to herself.

“That matter has already been resolved. The person involved admitted it went too far, and I have already offered my apologies to the marquis’s house within my authority. It’s settled. …I don’t particularly enjoy outsiders speaking about my family’s affairs.”

At the slightly colder tone, Daphne was taken aback. She hadn’t expected the conversation to go in this direction.

“That’s not what I meant. No matter what, I was the one who entrusted Miss Brynhill to you…. So when I heard something like that happened, I was very shocked. It felt like it was my fault. I know I don’t have the right to say anything. But how could I stay silent and pretend I didn’t know?”

He knew that as well. Daphne Fram wasn’t the type of person to ignore or pretend not to see something she had set in motion. Not for an entire year.

Daphne hesitated, watching his expression, and continued, “I don’t mean anything else by it. Please don’t misunderstand.”

“….”

“You know what I’m like. The type who fusses over spilled water while watching it.”

At the mention of a childhood memory, Matthias let out a faint laugh. Only then did the atmosphere ease, and the two resumed walking slowly.

“Matty, it feels nice to walk like this and talk with you after so long.”

Daphne, Matthias, and Crown Prince Klaus had been quite close in their childhood. Alicia, who was a year younger, would occasionally join them, but for some reason, she didn’t like being among them.

“…Shall we spend time like this more often?”

Matthias looked down quietly at Daphne as she let her words trail off. Keeping her gaze fixed straight ahead, Daphne continued, “Don’t misunderstand. Just… as very close friends, like we used to be. It would be nice if we could spend time like this together and talk, even for a little while. I don’t mind where. …As long as it’s with you.”

“….”

“I meant what I said earlier. Won’t you take me to the sea of Gammelstad?”

The garden was in full bloom with all kinds of summer flowers. The imperial gardener had not only considered the visual harmony of colors and arrangements of the large flowering trees, but also the scent they would create when blended together. Every breath drew in a sweet fragrance.

In this beautiful place that delighted both eyes and nose, a woman who suited it better than anyone whispered in a voice that could ensnare the ears.

“After a year, once you’re divorced, take me to Gammelstad.”

For the first time in a very long while since their broken engagement, Daphne revealed what was truly in her heart.

It had been an engagement made when they were barely old enough to wipe their own noses. The adults told them to do it, so they did, accepting each other as fiancé and fiancée without much thought.

Only after losing it did Daphne realize what an extraordinary fortune and opportunity it had been in her life.

The feelings she had kept tightly suppressed even after that realization finally burst out now, when Matthias Nielsen had, even if only in formality, become another woman’s husband.

In truth, she had always known. That she had never once given up on Matthias Nielsen. Not even when they became cousins on paper.

“Matthias, let’s be together again.”

And she believed Matthias felt the same.

He had never shown any emotional agitation after their broken engagement, and she knew he’d had light, casual relationships with other women, but Daphne believed those were his own way of expressing his feelings toward her. That only Daphne Fram had ever been the one serious relationship in his life. It felt as if that was what he was saying.

She had been the same, so she had long believed they shared similar feelings.

It would have been nice if Matthias had been the one to make such a proposal first. It was a pity, but even that was like him. Being impatient and yearning didn’t suit him, and he had likely never done such a thing.

It would have been enough for her if he simply took the hand she extended. The feelings that had once burst out flowed forth again, now laced with a more seductive tone.

“I want to be alone with you. …Somewhere people can’t see us.”

She added it directly so as not to leave any ambiguity. Römern, especially Belgar, was quite conservative when it came to matters of sexuality. Of course, that was only on the surface.

The more something is suppressed, the stronger it surges. Ironically, both nobles and commoners alike indulged in secret debauchery. The existence of low-class gossip papers like ‘The Paper,’ and the rows of courtesan salons behind the streets of gentlemen’s clubs, were proof of that.

In such a place where everything was cloaked in metaphor and roundabout expression, the woman’s seduction was blatant.

Daphne believed Matthias would fully understand her intention, and that he would accept it. She was more than beautiful enough, and there was no man who could refuse a woman like her.

Sure enough, at her words, Matthias stopped walking and turned to face Daphne. His gaze wandered across her face as if measuring something, then gradually hardened.

“I don’t think that’s an appropriate thing to say, Your Highness.”

The gentle breeze that had been blowing came to an abrupt stop. A faint trace of contempt showed on the man’s face.

“I’m a married man.”

“….”

There was something she had overlooked. A certain aspect of the man named Matthias Nielsen, whom she had known since childhood.

Even though many things had changed as they grew up and became adults, there were parts of him that would never fade or be worn down.

“Somewhere in Saint Knud Cathedral, the marriage vows I signed, promising to be a faithful husband, are still there. I don’t know how Your Highness imagines me a year from now, but in any case, those are not words appropriate to share with me as I am ‘now.’”

“…Matty, what I meant—”

“The beginning of my marriage may have come from the two of you, but how it ends is for me to decide.”

“….”

“I think you’re under a rather serious misunderstanding. I’m the one who accepted this marriage. It wasn’t something Their Highnesses forced onto me.”

He hadn’t been pushed into a choice. He had made the choice himself.

Daphne, understanding the meaning behind his words, felt cornered. Because it was true.

If Matthias Nielsen had truly not wanted this marriage, he could have refused it, even if it was difficult. Even if an imperial order had been issued, there would have been some way for him to avoid it.

But Daphne had been mistaken. She had believed that Matthias had no choice but to accept it because of her tearful plea.

“Besides, speaking about what comes after, while I have a wife, is quite unpleasant.”

Ah.

Only then did Daphne recall the ‘real’ Matthias and bite her lip. The Matthias who had once made her fall in love. Not a noble, not a duke, but simply a man.

“I want to become the most elegant and beautiful noble lady in Römern, Klaus. What about you?”

“Me… I want to become the strongest man in Römern. Make everyone kneel at my feet.”

“Hmm. Matty, what about you?”

“Me? I’ll become a man devoted to one person.”

Only now did she remember the life goal the blond boy had spoken with shining blue eyes.

A man who seemed rigid, conservative, bound by rules and conventions, yet in truth held a loyal devotion meant for only one person in his heart.

Even if this marriage was nothing more than a one-year sham, Matthias would carry it out faithfully. Only now did she realize that. She had been too hasty.

Matthias turned his body toward the direction they had come from. In the distance stood the imperial palace guards. Gesturing toward them with his chin, he offered Daphne a polite bow.

“I will take my leave, as I have orders from His Majesty.”

After confirming that the palace guard had come for the escort, he turned without hesitation.

Watching his broad back as he strode away with large steps, Daphne felt a burning dryness in her throat. It carried a spark of impatience and anxiety, blazing down into her heart.