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Chapter 10
The bear, dancing in a silly way, was trying hard to cheer up Erica.
He offered her a rose, even juggled a small ball from who-knows-where.
When Erica finally burst out laughing, he pulled off the head of the costume.
His hair was damp with sweat from wearing it so long.
“O- Oppa…?”
“Happy birthday. I’m sorry I haven’t said it before.”
As soon as she heard his sincere apology, Erica started crying and sniffling — then promptly kicked him hard in the shin for wearing such a ridiculous bear suit.
Martin yelped, clutching his leg and hopping in place.
With narrowed eyes, he peeked at her reaction like someone pretending to be hurt.
“You know that really doesn’t suit you, right?”
“Here. Your present.”
It was the first gift she’d received in ten years. Her eyes trembled.
Seeing the moment, I also handed Erica the letter I’d written the night before.
Her hand shook slightly as she took it.
“You have to read this alone.”
“This is… the first handwritten letter I’ve ever gotten.”
Holding Martin’s gift and my letter in both hands, Erica made my nose sting with emotion.
The servants’ eyes were also moist.
Regretful murmurs came from here and there — wishing they’d cared for her like this sooner.
So… villainess redemption project: huge success?
If Martin was now personally celebrating his sister’s birthday, that was real progress.
And Erica herself had even made a donation, so there was nothing more to say.
I could survive now, right? There’s still hope, right?
“Wipe off your sweat. It’s gross. Don’t you think so, sister-in-law?”
Of course. Real siblings never change.
Her comment crashed the mood, and I covered my mouth in despair without answering.
After the birthday party, we also held a memorial service for their parents.
Since that day, Erica had been following me around asking to eat meals together, her lively tone unchanged.
I decided now was the perfect time to ask her about her love life.
I need to find out where she’s at.
Whether she’d met Crown Prince Oscar or not could change my own future.
“Come sit here, Erica.”
She pouted and came over in her usual aloof way.
“Aren’t you eating? I’m hungry.”
“First, I have something I want to ask you.”
“What is it? If it’s a bothersome question, I’ll have to think about answering.”
So chic. I smiled with my eyes. Now, how should I ask this…
“Are you not dating anyone?”
Straight to the point — so I could see her reaction directly.
What would she say? Would she admit she liked Oscar, the prince of this country?
Or maybe she was only slightly interested? Or maybe they hadn’t even met yet?
“You’ve been poking around about this since last time. Suspicious, sister-in-law.”
“So you have no love-related worries? You might not know this, but I’m an expert in that field.”
“You are?”
She narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms, studying me.
What’s with that look?
Did she not believe me? Well… fair enough.
The soul inside me was a lifelong single, “trained” only by romance novels.
But it’s not like I had nothing to show off—
[Wife.]
I had a husband now, after all.
“I even married your stiff, unsociable brother.”
Her gaze changed like she’d just learned something new, but maybe she still didn’t trust me enough to tell me everything.
This was going to be tricky.
“So, what do you think of Prince Oscar?”
“…!”
“He seems like he’d be really popular.”
She froze — clearly I’d hit the mark. So it was Oscar. Good thing I hadn’t asked during a meal.
Stay calm.
This was expected.
It was always part of the plot that “villainess” Erica liked the male lead, Oscar.
But… was it really impossible to change?
I could try convincing her.
Tell her Oscar was a terrible guy. A total jerk. That cutting him off would be the right thing to do!
“That guy is—”
“Huh? That guy?”
I shook my head hard. Of course, Oscar wasn’t really a jerk.
In fact, he promised undying love to the female lead.
…Which still made him better than my husband, Martin Cloud.
It was just a shame that the one he swore love to wasn’t Erica.
While I was lost in thought, Erica said casually,
“Well… he is handsome.”
So she was admitting it. That, plus how she froze earlier when I first said his name, made it obvious.
Her feelings would only grow stronger as she got older.
And there was no way I could stop that… no, I couldn’t stop that.
If Erica already likes Oscar before the story even starts…
There was nothing to debate.
The male and female leads hadn’t even met yet.
If I matched Erica and Oscar together now, it wouldn’t cause problems — right?
Besides, I had the advantage of knowing the original story.
Yes — the first meeting!
What flashed through my mind was their official “first meeting” in the book.
At a royal tea party, the female lead slips, and the male lead swoops in to catch her.
They exchange a few words… and fall in love at first sight.
What had Erica been doing at that time?
“Sister-in-law, what are you thinking about, sitting there in front of me?”
Right — she’d been glaring daggers at the female lead.
Even as I gave in to her demands for food, I kept thinking.
Will the female lead make her first appearance at this year’s tea party?
Every year there was one, but the novel began when the heroine finally appeared — after a childhood of illness and being bedridden, she was finally stepping out into society.
“Alright, Erica. We’ll aim for that moment.”
“Aim for what?”
I looked at her with mock seriousness.
“The day the roses are in full bloom.”
“…?”
“Because I’m going to be your Cupid.”
“You’re weird again. I’m really going to eat without you.”
I smiled in satisfaction.
The day the roses bloomed was still a ways off — for both Erica and me.
Plenty of time.
More than enough.
Even if Erica didn’t know what I meant, she kept urging me to hurry up and eat.
“Are you ready?”
A few days later, Martin came to find me while I was enjoying tea in the hall.
I’d been reviewing my future plans when he asked like he was checking if I’d forgotten something.
“I gave you a job — have you forgotten?”
As I lifted my cup, I suddenly remembered our conversation the night before Erica’s birthday in his study.
[“I want to entrust you with something else.”]
[“What is it?”]
[“Purchasing mining rights. Can you handle it?”]
In exchange, I’d made him wear the bear costume for Erica.
I pressed my fingers to my forehead.
“Get ready.”
“Now?”
“We need to leave this afternoon.”
He never mentioned that!
Already changed and handing his luggage to Babel, Martin looked ready to go.
“Wait… are you coming with me?”
“Is that a problem?”
“It’s just…”
I hadn’t even thought about it. Traveling together?
And what about lodging?
We slept in separate rooms at home, but we were still husband and wife.
This could be a big problem. How was I supposed to say that?
Trying to keep my lips tight, I asked,
“How do we usually handle… lodging?”
“What? Speak up — I can’t hear you.”
“Lod-ging.”
Good, that sounded natural.
But from Martin’s expression, maybe not.
He asked seriously,
“What lodging conditions do you want?”
Obviously, separate rooms. I just needed to say “anything but sharing a room.”
“Anything but separate rooms.”
Cold sweat broke out on my forehead the moment I said it.
The worst possible slip of the tongue.
If he’d laughed it off, maybe it would have been fine.
But he just looked at me seriously, lost in thought… even resting his chin on his hand.
“That’s not what I meant—!”
“I refuse.”
His sharp rejection made me bow my head in embarrassment.
Heat and shame hit me all at once.
Martin glanced between my face and the teacup, then shook his head and walked out of the hall.
A little later, Babel loaded both our luggage into the carriage.
Erica pouted.
“I wanted to go too.”
“You should have asked your brother. It would have been nice if you came — I think it’ll be boring going alone with him.”
“Then he said, ‘Who’s going to watch the mansion?’”
Martin muttered beside us, low enough for her to hear.
“Don’t say that out loud.”
Ignoring him, I told Erica,
“You’re the adult in charge while he’s away. Take care of the mansion.”
“I don’t care. I’m sleeping with Mari tonight.”
She peeked out from behind Babel.
“Do you want anything? Since we’re going to Delmant, I can buy you something.”
“No thanks.”
Her face darkened.
I’d meant well, but it came out wrong.
I took her hand. She said it was fine and not to worry, but this time she didn’t pull away first.
Martin cleared his throat.
“Hey — you’re not a kid. Let go.”
What was his problem? Criticizing me for holding her hand for once.
Wasn’t he supposed to be obsessed with his sister?
“Why are you picking on her?”
“And since when is she our Erica?”
Martin swung his coat and climbed into the carriage.
I patted Erica’s hand.
“I’ll be back, Erica. Don’t mind what he says.”
“I don’t.”
She stuck out her tongue at Martin through the curtain.
He yanked it shut, ending the scene.
Even after getting in, I waved to Erica through the gap.
Martin, one leg crossed, looked at me sideways.
“You planning on never seeing her again?”
