Episode 63
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Clack, clack.
Though merely the sound of shoes echoing in the hallway, the footsteps were as measured as the boots of a leader commanding a battlefield.
All eyes turned at once.
"Goodness. I've been listening, and really."
Had she been listening from the start?
Castia swept in, her coat billowing.
"Invited to someone else's wedding, yet mixing criticism with your congratulations. Is this Cardel's etiquette?"
Her shoulder line, sharp as a military uniform, the gold embellishments, the dark skirt falling over heeled boots.
Her attire seemed to straddle the line between battlefield and banquet.
Castia walked slowly, her lips pressed into a firm line, her gaze sweeping over Gawain and Beloa.
Her gaze was heavy and icy.
With just that look, the surrounding air turned frigid.
"To think you're blood siblings... How can you so gently spew words laced with daggers?"
She openly rebuked the Cardel siblings, her quiet anger smoldering.
Odelia blinked, her face blank.
Castia was appearing at an entirely unexpected moment to help her.
"To swarm in and force your opinions on her just because your sister said a word. And besides... you're treating the North like some barbaric land."
Gawain tried to say something, but was silenced by Castia's force.
Skilled in noble rhetoric, he was vulnerable to direct rebuke.
The same went for Beloa.
Her cunning words and artificial smile vanished, leaving her speechless.
Castia pressed her advantage, lowering her voice.
It was an oppressive tone, meant to crush the other party.
"Noble Cardel... You must have inherited much, yet you failed to inherit any sense of shame or responsibility. Before you speak of power and honor, you should relearn the meaning of family."
"Your words are a bit much..."
"Nobles should have dignity in their words and actions. But all I see from you now is a hierarchy game and petty tricks, worse than beasts."
As if those words weren't enough, she exhaled and drove the point home.
"If you truly cared for this child, you should have apologized for the epidemic that occurred in the North and taken steps to prevent criticism from falling on her before you opened your mouths. Surely you're not incapable of such judgment? 'Hero' Cardel?"
To go that far?
The crowd, initially surprised by Castia's words, could no longer hide their dismay.
And the castle staff, who had been moving busily around the banquet hall, stopped in their tracks, inwardly sweating.
'You can't say such things in front of your in-laws, Your Highness!'
'You said nobles should have dignity in their words and actions! Where is your dignity, your dignity!'
'We only just regained peace with this marriage, what if it falls apart...!'
But it didn't end there.
Castia's gaze turned back to Odelia.
"If you are as weak as they say, so weak that you might collapse at any moment, you had better return to Cardel immediately."
Her cold voice was the same as before, but the content...
'Is she worried about me?'
Odelia blinked in confusion, then quickly dismissed the thought. Surely not.
Recalling the words she had spoken to her earlier.
Perhaps it was just her personality, unable to hold back what she wanted to say to anyone.
Unable to resist saying what she wanted to say right away... such a temperament.
And Castia, as if having said all she wanted to say, turned away with satisfaction.
People could only stare blankly at her retreating figure.
It was as if a storm had just passed through.
The confrontation with the Cardel siblings ended more anticlimactically than expected.
Beloa simply dragged Gawain away.
'It must be thanks to Lady Castia's public rebuke.'
She had openly pointed out Cardel's hypocrisy.
So directly that it was almost embarrassing.
They must have decided that further interaction would only worsen their image.
"Oh dear, it seems the late Grand Duke misunderstood us... Well, it's deserved, I suppose. Even if unintentionally, we made you sad."
"We sincerely bless your marriage. We want to show you with actions, not just words, that we are always supporting you from behind."
Pretending to care for and love their sister until the very end.
They left with such kind yet meaningful words.
Not long after, Ludville, who had been watching the entire scene from afar, appeared.
"So, did you have a good time catching up with your family?"
His tone was laced with suppressed sarcasm.
"Leaving your future husband to rot in the corner of the banquet hall."
In fact, Odelia had asked him beforehand.
To not interfere and stay away while she confronted the Cardel family.
He had followed her request and patiently watched the Cardels, whom he loathed, but Castia had barged in and caused a commotion, so it was understandable that he was annoyed.
But Odelia hadn't expected Castia's actions either.
'Why would she do that?'
It was the family affairs of a woman who had opposed the marriage so vehemently.
She found her to be quite an enigmatic person.
"If you weren't going to use me, why did you tell me to play the lover?"
As she was lost in thought, Ludville raised an eyebrow and asked again.
He seemed quite displeased that Odelia had faced Gawain and Beloa alone.
'...I don't think I ever told you to play the lover.'
That was clearly something he had volunteered to do.
Thanks to that, Odelia had ended up looking like a lovesick simpleton.
Of course, Odelia didn't care about what others thought.
The public opinion would be overturned soon anyway.
"As you know, crushing them in this setting is meaningless."
"Indeed. You're saying the same thing as my aide."
It seemed he had already been lectured.
She had thought his hatred for Cardel was extraordinary from the moment they first met...
Odelia glanced at him and cautiously asked.
"Were you bothered?"
"..."
Ludville didn't answer.
He simply stared at her for a long time, his lips sealed.
"...That was a slip of the tongue."
Odelia fiddled with her lips with her fingertips, correcting the words she had just spoken.
What was she trying to accomplish by saying such things?
[Article 9. All personal emotions will be completely excluded when dealing with each other.]
Not only was it specified in the clause...
And hadn't she engraved an even clearer rule in her mind?
'Whatever feelings Ludville may have for me, I must avoid him remembering me at all costs.'
She shouldn't even allow him to feel curious about the nature of the emotions he felt for her in the first place.
"Yes, I was bothered. Very much."
"!"
Suddenly, Ludville grasped the tip of her finger.
Odelia was startled and instinctively tried to shake off his hand, but at that moment.
"This is a banquet hall, Odelia. Shouldn't I naturally be concerned about my fiancée?"
He whispered in a low voice.
"There are many eyes around us. What would happen if our love story were revealed to be a lie now? All your plans would be for naught."
"..."
Odelia wore a bewildered expression.
Because she couldn't possibly refute him.
'Right. That's right.'
He had said that once the wedding ceremony began in earnest, he would act like a man madly in love.
"So, I'll let it slide just this once, but from now on, you absolutely won't be able to separate me from you."
Ludville nonchalantly wrapped his arm around her waist.
