IDLA 08

Chapter 8

“Did Keila meet him like this too? I can’t remember.”

Thinking back carefully, I realized the first meeting between Ricardo and Keila in the original story had definitely been different from this. To begin with, Keila wasn’t the type of character who wandered around alone at dawn.

“The story has changed.”

Once again, it hit me that the original plot had already begun changing because I had transmigrated into Stella.

Now that I was seeing him in person, there was one thing I could say for certain:

The real Ricardo Zenkishi standing before me was far more handsome than the version I had imagined—or even the version from my dreams. Naturally, the illustrations from the novel couldn’t compare either.

Now I finally understood why Keila, who had screamed about not wanting to marry a bloodthirsty monster, fell hopelessly in love with him the moment she met him.

While I was lost in thought, he looked at me and asked flatly,

“Who are you?”

That snapped me back to reality.

From the way he asked, it was obvious he genuinely didn’t know who I was. Judging by those indifferent eyes, he probably thought I was just another maid working in the estate.

“What am I supposed to say? That I’m the woman who came here to marry you?”

I couldn’t bring myself to say it aloud. My dry lips only parted silently.

“I asked who you are. Why are you wandering around dressed like that at this hour?”

A trace of irritation entered his voice as he turned his gaze away from me and began sliding the sword in his hand back into its sheath.

Quickly clutching the robe that was slipping off my shoulders over my nightdress, I answered,

“Greetings, Your Grace. I am Stella Enrio. I was taking a walk and ended up getting lost.”

At my reply, he paused midway through sheathing his sword and looked back at me.

“Enrio?”

Crossing his arms, he slowly approached.

Perhaps he had been training alone at dawn, because up close I could see that his forehead and neck were damp with sweat. Beneath the shirt clinging to him, the firm lines of his chest were clearly visible. His dark blue eyes resembled a quiet winter lake—mysterious enough to pull someone in.

“So you’re the lady Her Majesty sent. I heard you had already arrived at my estate. Since I returned in the middle of the night, I didn’t have the chance to greet you properly.”

For someone supposedly apologizing, his eyes and tone were remarkably insincere.

“Though I didn’t expect you to be diligent enough to start snooping around the estate on your very first day.”

His mocking tone made it sound as though I were some stray cat sneaking around.

I already knew he had no reason to think kindly of me, but that didn’t mean I would quietly accept false accusations.

“I’m not sure what you mean. I simply got lost while walking and was looking for someone to ask for directions.”

Perhaps he sensed the sharp edge in my answer, because one corner of his lips lifted into a cold smile.

“We’ve never met before, so how did you know who I was? You shouldn’t even have known I was here. Was this encounter intentional?”

He spoke as if he had already decided in his mind that I was the Empress’s spy.

“There aren’t many people who speak so arrogantly to someone they’ve just met. If you aren’t the highest-ranking person in this estate, then the ducal household’s discipline must be embarrassingly poor.”

My answer must have provoked him, because his eyes turned cold. The mocking smile around his lips vanished.

For a brief moment, silence settled between us.

My gaze instinctively drifted toward the sword in his hand, half expecting him to point it at me in an instant.

“Wandering around a strange estate alone without even a maid. Are you fearless? Then again, any lady willing to come marry a man she’s never met in person must be unusual. The rumors about me were hardly flattering, yet you still came all this way to marry me.”

He let out a short, amused laugh, as though he found the situation understandable.

Just then, footsteps sounded from somewhere nearby. A servant who had apparently just stepped out from the staff quarters while stretching froze in shock upon seeing us together in the garden and hurried over.

“Y-Your Grace?!”

The terrifying expression Ricardo had been directing at me moments ago disappeared as he turned coldly to the servant.

“This lady says she’s lost.”

“Ah—yes, sir!”

The servant turned to me respectfully, clasping his hands together.

“Please follow me this way, my lady.”

“Thank you.”

I slowly followed after him.

Partway through walking, I glanced back.

Ricardo was still standing there, watching me.

His gaze didn’t resemble someone looking at his future bride—it looked more like he was staring at some insignificant creature that had wandered into his estate.

I hadn’t expected a warm reaction from him anyway, but feeling that cold gaze pressed against my entire body made my steps grow heavier.

“Should I just run away now?”

Ha. My determination to abandon him before being abandoned myself was already swaying like a reed before it had even truly begun.

Maybe the premise itself had been wrong from the start.

You can only throw something away after possessing it first.

But after seeing Ricardo Zenkishi in person, possessing him at all suddenly felt impossible.

“Should I completely change the plan now? Right. Instead of becoming his bride, I should become his subordinate instead. I can use the knowledge I have about the future to help him and make him see me as someone on his side. As long as I don’t die in the end, that’s enough!”

It was ridiculous how weak-hearted I became the moment I met him.

“I’m already becoming this pathetic—how am I supposed to change the original story?”

I felt absurdly ashamed of myself, but it was already too late to come up with another plan. I had already met the Empress. The wedding would happen soon, and I was now officially the bride despised by her future husband.

If I wanted to run away, I should have escaped back at the lord’s castle long ago.

“Haa…”

I stopped walking and grabbed my head, causing the servant in front of me to ask worriedly,

“Are you alright? Are you feeling unwell somewhere…?”

“No. I’m fine.”

Pretending nothing was wrong, I began walking again.

The one comforting thing was that I knew the original story.

Straightening my slumped shoulders, I lifted my chin once more.

“That’s right. I practically possess the strongest weapon in this world. Don’t be scared in advance.”

Repeating it to myself like a spell made me feel a little better.

*

Ricardo Zenkishi raised his long, heavily muscled arms and peeled off his sweat-soaked shirt in one motion.

Beneath his broad shoulders and thick chest, firm abdominal muscles were revealed. His lean waist, devoid of even an ounce of excess flesh, and the powerful thighs stretching below looked like the body of a warrior sculpted by the gods themselves.

After removing his shirt, he accepted the towel offered by a servant and wiped the sweat from his face and neck.

Having returned victorious from war, he had only arrived back at the estate deep into the night.

Even though he had to enter the imperial palace at daybreak, sleep refused to come. The mere fact that the woman chosen by the Empress to become his bride was already waiting in his estate irritated him deeply.

The thought that the Empress’s cunning reach had extended even into the deepest corners of his home caused something hot and violent to rise within him.

Unable to sleep until the sky outside turned blue with dawn, he eventually headed to the training grounds to clear his mind. Only after swinging his sword relentlessly and drenching himself in sweat did the flames inside him calm slightly.

Then, while leaving the training grounds early in the morning to prepare for his visit to the imperial palace, he encountered a woman in the garden.

“Greetings, Your Grace. I am Stella Enrio. I was taking a walk and ended up getting lost.”

Though she was supposedly some distant relative of the Empress, he had never even heard of her family name before. He’d only been told she was a woman brought from some insignificant territory on the empire’s outskirts.

If the Empress had carefully handpicked her, then he could already imagine the type. Either a cunning and extravagant woman like the Empress herself—or an outright idiot chosen specifically to mock him.

So when he first saw her in the garden, he truly hadn’t realized she was the woman sent by the Empress.

The woman he met wasn’t flashy like he expected, nor was she a fool.

The image of those violet eyes sparkling like a harmless little animal while staring directly at him remained vividly in his mind. Despite being so small she barely reached his shoulder, she had boldly answered back to him without fear.

A faint laugh escaped him at the realization that he had spent even a brief moment thinking about that woman.

After all, this was merely a political marriage.

He recalled the dying words left to him by the Dowager Empress before her death.

“Ricardo. This is your grandmother’s final wish. Swear before me and everyone here that from now on, as a son, you will obey your mother absolutely and without question.”

It had been the dying Dowager Empress’s final and best method to bring her grandson—who had lived like a slave—into the imperial family.

As she wished, he was acknowledged as the Emperor’s son, and he had kept the promise he made before her. He served the Emperor and Empress not as parents, but like a loyal retainer.

He fought in the empire’s most dangerous battles and narrowly escaped death countless times to secure victory for the empire. Even after being recognized as the Emperor’s son, he never dared covet the position of Crown Prince.

But there was one thing the late Dowager Empress had overlooked.

The Empress had never given him enough affection or trust for him to remain merely an obedient son.