YWUSB~14

Chapter 14 

One of the two knights spoke in a trembling voice.

“Your Excellency.”

Sioden did not even look at him.

“I’ve been hearing a lot of talk.”

“…Since things have come to this, there is something I must say.”

“That was an order to keep your mouth shut.”

Still not sparing them a glance, Sioden strode toward me.

He stopped in front of the armchair where I was sitting curled up. Coincidentally, he positioned himself so that he completely blocked the others from view.

He lowered his head and looked at me. His blue gaze was shadowed, making it seem almost black.

“Why are you here like this?”

“My outer coat… where did it go?” Sioden murmured as he grabbed my wrist. A bitter scent mixed with the smell of wind drifted from him.

The unfamiliar fragrance and his cold fingers wrapped around my wrist felt strange.

Perhaps it was because I still vividly remembered the expression he had worn when he left me earlier—my lips wouldn’t move.

Sioden looked down at me, my mouth opening and closing without sound, then lifted me up. It wasn’t painful or rough, but it was an unmistakable act of control.

Holding my wrist, he walked down the corridor.

“The immediate family of the head of the house uses a different lounge. From now on, request to be guided there.”

“……”

“And don’t go eavesdropping and then write letters to your father.”

Without giving me a chance to respond, Sioden suddenly opened the door to a room.

The room was filled with the scent of flowers and soft light. Seeing the southern-style scented candles illuminating the elegant space, I realized this was the bridal chamber.

He pushed me inside and turned away.

“Call for a maid if you need one.”

As he tried to leave me there, I quickly grabbed him.

“W-wait, just a moment.”

I had so many things I wanted to say. Why he hadn’t contacted me, what he meant about planning to marry Merwen…

And above all, I wanted to tell him that I had no feelings for Aiden.

But I couldn’t even figure out how to explain it. In the end, the only words I could choose were the simplest ones.

“I have nothing to do with His Highness the Crown Prince.”

“That’s fine.”

But even taken at face value, Sioden’s expression remained cold.

And what he said next made me understand what he meant by “fine.”

“It’s already famous throughout the world. I’m not surprised.”

So that was it.

“However, now that you are married, refrain from drawing attention. I have no desire to be entangled in scandalous affairs.”

Sioden was mocking me.

I had been insulted like this before—by Damian or Iswen—but hearing it from him left me unable to respond.

He looked down at me, frozen in place.

“Do you have anything else to say?”

If I said no, he would probably turn around and leave immediately.

And if he left like this, I didn’t know when I would ever be able to speak to him again.

I had already learned, more than enough times, that people didn’t adjust themselves to my wishes.

Before Sioden could completely leave, I forced the words out.

“You said… you had something to say to me…”

My voice was so small it barely came out, as if it had lost all courage.

Sioden didn’t respond. It didn’t feel like he was ignoring me—rather, it seemed like he hadn’t properly understood what I meant.

In a smaller voice, I added,

“At that time… at the dress shop.”

Ah.

Sioden let out a cold scoff and closed the door.

With a sharp sound, he turned his back to the door and twisted his lips into a faint smile.

“So now you suddenly want to listen?”

“What… are you talking about…?”

“When I sent letters to Rowen Manor in the capital, you never replied even once. And now you suddenly want to hear what I have to say?”

Letters?

But I had never received any.

Could Iswen, my father, or Damian have intercepted them?

As my mind raced, Sioden took a step closer.

“Or are you clinging to some unwanted man for your father’s sake?”

That snapped my thoughts into place.

He thought I was trying to seduce him because of my father.

I hurriedly stepped back as he leaned in.

“That’s not it.”

Sioden followed my retreating steps slowly, closing the distance. With a tilt of his chin toward the bed my legs had nearly touched, he sneered.

“I know. You tried to use a man you had no feelings for just to cure your father’s illness.”

From his perspective, it probably did look that way.

Aiden himself had believed something similar after hearing it from his father.

But I had never intended anything like that.

How could I explain this? My lips moved helplessly.

Sioden frowned slightly and leaned down a little.

“Or what? Did you actually become attracted to me?”

Before I could answer, he stepped back.

“No. Impossible.”

He turned away coldly.

“Forget everything you heard today.”

“Wait!”

By then he was already near the door, standing by the fireplace.

The firelight stretched his shadow long across the floor, but he did not look back.

“I didn’t mean it like that.”

As I tried to explain, I realized that to him, everything I said must sound less credible than dust mixed in sand.

“I really just wanted to…”

“Don’t say any more.”

As expected, he cut me off coldly.

“Whatever you say, I cannot believe it.”

Then he half-turned and threw something into the fireplace. It was a rough motion, like he was shaking off something disgusting.

The flames flinched for a moment, then roared again as if nothing had been thrown into them.

Thud.

The door closed.

The next day, when a servant came to clean the fireplace, I found out what Sioden had burned.

“My name is Sioden Laslet.”

That day, the brooch he had given me.

“My name is Iella Rowen.”

The jewel I had returned to him along with those words—was now discarded, covered in soot.

Later

I wasn’t foolish enough not to understand what that meant.

Sioden had probably wanted to burn everything that happened that night.

Even if it had been a magical night for me, to him it must have been nothing more than ashes.

Even knowing all of that, I once went to see Sioden.

I wanted to tell him I truly had no feelings for Aiden, and that I hadn’t ignored his letters on purpose.

But Sioden didn’t listen to me.

“Let’s assume someone intercepted every letter sent to you out of malice. How do you intend to explain what I heard directly with my own ears?”

“……”

“Didn’t you say yourself that you married for the sake of Capren Rowen?”

To explain what that meant, I would have had to confess everything to Sioden.

How I grew up, and the hidden truth behind this marriage.

Even imagining telling him everything frightened me. I had never once revealed my family’s circumstances to anyone in my life.

Just imagining people being shocked—or not believing me at all—felt like being trapped in a room filled with water.

I didn’t want to feel that.

And yet, I had tried to say something to Sioden.

“No one in this world would believe that.”

Even that attempt had collapsed in an instant.

I don’t want to think about those days.

His sharp blue hostility that sometimes seemed to pierce through me, the twisted corners of his mouth filled with betrayal, and the cold affection that vanished without a trace—all of it hurt too much to dwell on.

In the end, our marriage could be summed up in one sentence.

Sioden Laslet was a man who kept his word to the end.

And even knowing that, I still wished—just once—that he might listen to me.

I knew that as long as I was Rowen and he was Laslet, there could be no trust between us.

But just once.

Wasn’t it possible for a person to change their mind once?

There was a time when even his smallest whim had been something I desperately wished for.

It was around the time three years had nearly passed since we married.