A Mad Lady’s Confession - Chapter 7

He barely contained the laugh that tingled in his lungs and murmured quietly, “Ha, a good wife.”

Suddenly, everything about this situation became displeasing. The flushed cheeks of the woman claiming she’d be a good wife, as if they were playing house, and that innocence of hers felt ridiculous.

He lifted his gaze and told the startled woman the truth.

“Didn’t your brother explain it well enough? That our marriage is only for one year.”

When Matthias personally visited Count Brynhill holding the proposal, he had made the duration of the marriage unmistakably clear.

He didn’t want to feel like he was deceiving anyone for any reason.

This marriage would last only a single year, and in return, the matter from two years ago would never be spoken of again. That was the condition.

In fact, he’d even expected they would refuse. He thought any brother who cherished his sister would be offended by such terms. If that happened, he intended to withdraw everything and let it all go. But for reasons he couldn’t guess, Count Rumrow Brynhill, the young lady’s brother, accepted without resistance.

Only then did he realize the source of the discord he’d felt when he first saw her.

It wasn’t the fact that the woman in the rumors looked perfectly normal.

She had already been in love with him from the beginning, knowing everything. Just as other women tended to be.

Her cheeks flushed red, her eyes shimmering with moisture, glowing with some unknown anticipation.

He felt the need to nail the truth down again. They hadn’t even written a contract. And Matthias had never been someone who trusted others easily.

“We’ll only be together for a year, as a formal couple.”

The woman’s shimmering eyes looked like emeralds. As he wondered what his own blue eyes appeared like in their reflection, Matthias continued in a flat tone.

“There won’t be any time beyond that for us. Let me be clear. This is both a promise and a commitment. After one year, I’ll set you free.”

Was that enough for her to understand?

His tone was rather businesslike and cold. While he wondered if she might cry, which would make this the worst possible first meeting, her voice reached him, steadier than before.

“Whether it’s a year or a single day, what difference does it make?”

There was no trace of the earlier embarrassment. Instead, as if stating something obvious, she no longer blushed.

“I’ll still be a good wife for a year.”

“….”

“I’ll do everything I can. And I promise, I’ll also set you free after a year, Your Grace.”

Hearing the young lady repeat his exact words left Matthias momentarily speechless.

It was what he had wanted, yet her willingness to release him sounded so light and effortless.

The woman cautiously gauged his reaction before continuing.

“If… if it’s alright, may I say one thing?”

“…What is it?”

“No matter what happens, please keep the full year.”

“….”

“I’d like you to promise you won’t cast me out.”

No matter what happens.

Those words lodged in Matthias’s throat. As if she truly knew him, the woman smiled again.

“Don’t worry. I won’t ruin House Nielsen in that one year.”

She meant she wouldn’t indulge in extravagance, but to him it sounded like a joke. No one in the Empire, not even Matthias himself, could ruin House Nielsen.

“And also….”

“Also?”

This time, she hesitated longer.

“Please don’t make me angry.”

There couldn’t be many in Lemren who could fluster Matthias Nielsen. For the first time in his life, he lost his words for a moment.

She said she’d be a good wife. She asked him not to cast her out. And now she told him not to make her angry? What kind of nonsense was this?

But even as she spoke those final words, the woman remained completely serious.

And even after that, she still seemed to have something more to say, hesitating again. His baffled voice reached her.

“Don’t tell me, there’s more?”

“Yes….”

He let out a short breath, almost a scoff. The woman mumbled that people usually made three wishes.

“What is it? Let’s hear it.”

“For one year….”

“For one year?”

“….”

“I can’t hear you.”

It would be something predictable like asking him not to look at other women, not to be unfaithful, whatever trivial demand women usually make.

If she had ears, then she must’ve heard of Matthias Nielsen’s reputation.

As he waited for the obvious answer, the woman pushed out the words with her soft, plump lips.

“For one year, I want you to return home every night.”

“….”

“That’s the only thing I want.”

For a moment, a numb throb spread across his head, as if he’d been struck.

Return to the mansion every night.

“Is that too much?”

Even after proposing it, the woman anxiously searched his face for an answer. She looked like a small creature timidly watching her surroundings.

Matthias tried slowly to read her intentions. What could this demand mean? Was it some clever trap meant to bind him?

But even after examining her bright, open expression and turning the request over in his mind several times, he found no hidden edge.

Besides, wasn’t it absurd? Who was she, to make requests of him? She was the one who should be grateful simply for the fact that he’d agreed to marry her.

Her baseless confidence, or perhaps her brazenness, began to amuse him.

“If I don’t accept your three conditions, then will the marriage be cancelled?”

Her round eyes widened, shock filling them as if she’d heard something terrible.

“No, that’s not it…! These aren’t conditions. How could I dare…. These are only my wishes.”

Wishes. Wishes, she said.

“…Is it impossible?”

She cautiously lifted those large emerald eyes to look at him.

For a moment, he felt as if he were the one in the wrong. As if he were a heartless man unable to grant the simple wish of a small, harmless girl.

He could feel the nature of this meeting shifting. What was supposed to be a one-sided evaluation had begun to resemble a negotiation.

Matthias returned to the mindset of a negotiator and asked evenly, “Fine. If I grant your wish, then what will you promise in return?”

“I….”

The woman’s cheeks suddenly flushed again. She seemed to hesitate for a moment, then bit her lower lip out of habit.

As her red lip was pressed under her white upper teeth and momentarily stole his gaze, the woman opened her mouth as if she had made up her mind.

“I’ll fulfill my duties as a wife.”

Hadn’t she already said she’d be a good wife? Unsure of what exactly she meant, he asked again.

“Your duties as a wife. Do you know what that means?”

“…Yes.”

“I don’t.”

…Say it with your own mouth. Even with his unkind refusal to finish the sentence, the woman let the words spill from her plump lips. And they were shockingly bold.

“It means I’ll fulfill my duties at night as well.”

“…Ha.”

He let out a dry laugh. This time, it held no emotion. It simply escaped.

Was she truly not in her right mind? Despite her innocent face, there was something brazen, even daring, about her.

He lifted the corner of his handsome lips and threw out a question.

“Do you know what I’m like at night?”

“….”

After making such solemn promises, the woman couldn’t answer a teasing remark.

At that sight, he burst into loud laughter. It had been so long since he’d laughed like this that it felt strangely refreshing. But it lasted only a moment. There was something he wanted to make absolutely clear to her.

“I promise. For one year, no matter what happens, I won’t cast you out. But….”

He fixed his gaze firmly on her so she couldn’t misunderstand even a little.

“Spend your time alone as much as possible. Whether it’s day or night. Don’t concern yourself with me.”

The woman was arrogant. Arrogant enough to offer a duty he hadn’t even asked for.

“I won’t expect anything from you.”

Eleanor Brynhill was a woman who was far too proud. Just as the rumors in the capital had said.

“I’m not so starved that I’d bite into an unripe apple.”

As he spoke meaningfully with a faint smile, the woman’s neck and face flushed instantly, the color ripening like a well-grown apple.

If she reacted this much to a single sentence, what duties at night was she even talking about?

Then, suddenly, he grew curious. If she was this confident and audacious, then why hadn’t she offered a single explanation for the scandal two years ago?

With the intention of wrapping up the meeting, he willingly voiced the one question he had.

“I want to ask just one thing. Two years ago, why did you do it?”

The woman’s eyes cooled at once. In that fleeting moment, she seemed like a completely different person. While he was still feeling that strange sense of dissonance, the answer returned.

“Well… I don’t remember anything about it.”

Even while telling such an obvious lie, her tone was plain and unaffected.

***

After four Sundays passed, at the beginning of summer, Matthias Nielsen and Eleanor Brynhill held their wedding.

Considering the noble custom of taking some time for an engagement before marriage, it was a shockingly unconventional decision.

And that wasn’t the only breach of formality. Contrary to expectations of a massive guest list and overwhelming extravagance, the two held a modest ceremony.

Only the two required witnesses attended, and at Saint Knud Cathedral, they recited their vows. That was all.

Newspapers across Lemren speculated endlessly, but no one discovered the truth behind it.

And so, Eleanor Brynhill became Eleanor Nielsen.