RAMHM Chapter 48

The Crime of Killing One's Own Wife with One's Own Hands

Throughout the journey from the Imperial Palace back to the Count's estate, I was actually somewhat tense.

Because I'd ignored Novian's summons to come immediately to the Grand Ducal Estate. Who at the Count's estate, with the Count absent, could stop Novian? If he tried to take me to the bedroom right now to possess me, who would prevent it? Given Novian's temperament and pride, he probably wouldn't force a woman that way, but I couldn't be certain.

I might need to stay at the palace for a while.

The Crown Princess's palace always had guest rooms prepared for ladies-in-waiting. I'd thought I wouldn't need them since I was only "temporary," but I could use them anytime if necessary. As I wondered what to pack, whether to take Yona, the carriage stopped. An unexpected person was extending a hand toward the opened carriage door.

"...Rhodness?"

Seeing Rhodness standing in the warm afternoon sunlight, bathed fully in it, my breath caught. I didn't know why—it just did. Every time I saw Rhodness, I felt as though I wandered between the young 'An' of my childhood and the arrogant 'Second Prince' I'd clashed with.

"You entered the palace, but there was no word to me."

"Ah."

Had we arranged to meet? I kept my mouth closed, pondering, when Rhodness extended his hand closer. That large hand in white gloves no longer felt strange—how curious.

"Your hands are quite large."

"?"

At my words without taking his hand, Rhodness lifted his own hand to examine it with a baffled expression.

"...I consider them average."

"They're on the large side. Everything about you."

As I took Rhodness's hand to descend from the carriage, a sullen voice suddenly came.

"Good day, Sir Neil."

"Neil. Don't add your commentary."

Neil, who looked as though he had much to say, bowed his head slightly toward Rhodness before turning his gaze to me.

"Ah, Madam. Your skills are remarkable. Those were the most delicious cookies I've had in recent years..."

Thwack! Rhodness's long leg extended and kicked Neil's shin mercilessly. Neil doubled over like a shrimp in an instant, even shedding a tear as he whined to me.

"This is how I live, Madam!"

"I ordered him to guard you for the time being. Just temporarily, but he spouted dog... nonsense about how it's chivalry to greet the person you're serving, so his mind has gone... unsound. I apologize on his behalf."

I narrowed my eyes at Rhodness, who was working to refine his rough speech.

"...So, did you share the cookies I sent, or did Sir Neil eat them all?"

The surroundings instantly fell silent. Because both Rhodness and Neil kept their mouths firmly shut at that moment, like someone who'd eaten honey.

"The cookies you made for the first time in your life are still in my drawer."

"Good heavens, you still have them? They must have spoiled by now...!"

"It doesn't matter."

"It does matter."

"It doesn't matter to me. Rotten or filthy, I'll just eat them. Today. Right now, if you want—we can go to the palace together and you can watch me eat them."

"Just throw them away. What if you get a stomachache from eating them?"

"A stomachache? I've never once suffered such a trivial illness."

I wasn't particularly angry, but throughout our journey to a café near the Count's estate, Rhodness fidgeted restlessly. Glancing at me with a more rigid face than mine, he listed excuses that, summarized, came down to this:

The cookies reminded him of my death and caused him pain, and if he ate the cookies Bliea baked, I might be sad.

"I'd be more upset that the cookies I made hurt you than that you didn't eat them and threw them away."

At the word "upset," Rhodness's face alternated between pale and flushed repeatedly. Had he always been this reactive? That face that had been as impassive and perfect as a carved statue changed several times per second—so fascinating my eyes kept going to it.

"...I'm still going to eat them."

The carriage soon arrived at the café, and Rhodness leaped down, extending his hand to me again. This time I didn't hesitate. The surroundings, which had been murmuring since the carriage with the imperial crest arrived, grew slightly noisier.

"I'm healthy, so I won't get sick from eating that cute thing, but you'll be sad alone without showing it if your cookies are thrown away."

"No, I..."

"You're that kind of person. Adrienne."

"!"

"That's who you are."

Fragile and tender. Pretending not to care while dwelling on it and suffering. I looked up at him as that low murmuring voice continued. From his thick Adam's apple flowed a voice sweet enough to bring tears.

"You're that kind of person, Adrienne."

"So I... hate when you're even a little upset."

Though it was only a small whisper, it was a voice that seemed to shake my soul—I could only stand still for a moment.

We deliberately sat where surrounding people could see us well. Rhodness's hand twitched as though he worried about me, who had seemed on the verge of crying but ultimately didn't, but he finally withdrew it. I too withdrew my gaze that had been following his hand and presented the Ellaconian language book. Rhodness accepted the book silently, smiling faintly as he skimmed through it.

"You finished it all by yourself?"

"Yes. After that day you got angry at me in front of Empress Letina's portrait... we couldn't contact each other after that. I studied a lot on my own."

"You haven't changed at all."

Rhodness smiled with a slightly furrowed brow, as though recalling that time. His expression held a hint of apology.

"What hasn't?"

"No matter how bad the situation gets, you always try to move forward like that."

Closing the book, Rhodness gestured to Neil, who stood at a distance. Neil placed another one on the table. Another book.

"I was going to tutor you properly, but it looks like we'll advance quickly."

"Aren't you... busy? You don't have to push yourself."

"Even if I'm busy, I'll do it. This gives me an excuse to be with you."

He spoke so strangely and firmly that I had no time to blush. Wasn't Rhodness embarrassed at all?

"There must be a reason you deliberately came to such a public place using studying as an excuse?"

"...Yes."

"Whatever your plan is, I intend to cooperate fully. As long as it makes your heart comfortable."

Rhodness's eyes looked directly at me without wavering. I clasped my slightly trembling hands together and opened my mouth quietly.

"...I intend to extract a promise from Novian's mouth to make me Grand Duchess."

"...What?"

Rhodness's face went pale. In an instant, it looked as though all the blood had drained from his body.

"You want... to become Grand Duchess?"

Rhodness spoke with clenched fists. He had every right to be angry.

"I plan to use you to make Novian say such words, An."

"......"

Rhodness's eyes shook violently. I gently placed my hand over his fist, clenched so tightly no blood could flow. Rhodness flinched greatly, then slowly moved his gaze there.

"I intend to gain your cooperation. And Her Imperial Highness the Crown Princess's cooperation too."

"I don't understand what you mean."

"Remember what I said before?"

Rhodness waited silently for me to continue.

"I asked how to kill Novian Trovika... in the most cruel and miserable way."

"!"

"It was my mistake to ask you. Actually, I know how he could die most cruelly and miserably."

"Tell me and I'll..."

"Only I can do it."

I withdrew my hand from Rhodness and straightened my posture. Until I withdrew my hand and sat up properly, his gaze clung persistently to me.

"Novian values his honor above all else. I understand. As the Emperor's half-brother who survived by accumulating countless achievements, he absolutely doesn't want to lose what he devoted his lifetime to obtaining."

My throat was parched—I had to wet my mouth with cold tea.

"That's why he's hidden even his mistress, which everyone else has, and why he's so desperate to keep hiding it even now. Because he doesn't want to leave even a single stain on his honor."

"......"

"Over the past two months, facing Novian, what I've felt is... Novian wants Bliea far more than I thought."

"So?"

"If I, whom he already considered his, keep getting involved with you and with Her Imperial Highness the Crown Princess who opposes him—thinking he'll lose me, he'll probably do anything."

Whatever that "anything" meant... Novian had never failed to achieve what he set his mind to, so he would try to do anything. This time too.

"If I say I won't stay by his side unless it's as Grand Duchess... he might try any means necessary to seat me there. Even making politically reckless moves."

"Then..."

"When he keeps making reckless moves, when his followers turn away one by one and enemies surround him... if only I can find a decisive incident that could bring his downfall, making him never able to set foot in noble society again..."

"An incident that could cause his downfall? For example? For someone as trusted as Novian Trovika, unless it's treason or murder..."

"Would the crime of killing his own wife with his own hands be enough?"

"...What?"

Ignoring the stares pouring from a distance, Rhodness stood abruptly. Eyes swirling with every kind of emotion looked down at me in disbelief.

"What did you just say?"

"If I can only become the next Grand Duchess, I'll have opportunities to enter the Grand Duchess's office or Novian's office. If I can find anything then..."

"What did you just mean by that!"

Rhodness finally knelt on one knee before me as I continued speaking, trembling finely but resolutely. And he placed both hands on my knees so I couldn't move, gripping them tightly.

"He killed who with his own hands?"

Red eyes blazed as though they would burn me.

"...Poor Adrienne Pirreta."

"Adrienne!"

"In the end, she wasn't actually dying from illness..."

"Adrienne, please!"

"...She probably didn't even know her husband was killing her."

Thick teardrops I hadn't realized I was shedding fell—thump, thump—onto Rhodness's hands gripping my knees.

"...Because I saw what Bliea Acacia wrote in her diary."