RAMHM - Chapter 11 < If By Any Chance I Lose My Wife >

I was frozen until the third dance was over. The large hands that bound me were clearly wearing gloves, but I could feel their warm body heat right away. I knew that if the chaotic situation was resolved and the third dance was over, I would be the center of attention.

'No.'

Before meeting Noevian, I shouldn't be noticed by anyone...!

“How is Lady Marge...?”

“!”

Lady Marge. The man who called me by that unfamiliar title was the knight, Neil, who had come to the Acacia Mansion to conduct my census. Neil looked me up and down with wide eyes, and his face turned red as if he had been slapped. I came to my senses and tried to free my bound arms. As the hot hands that seemed like they would never let go slowly loosened, I turned my head slightly and looked behind me. My heart sank as I met his gleaming red eyes. At the same time, the pupils of the man who had met me narrowed.

'This is the guy who sent Neil.'

As I observed him, he also observed me. Slowly and persistently, his eyes searched between my bewildered expressions. I hastily averted my gaze and turned my head forward again. Then the arm that had been loosened was firmly grasped again, and his gleaming blond hair came close enough to brush my temple. He still stood behind me and spoke.

“It looks like you need help.”

“!”

The prodigal son of the empire. The troublemaker of the royal family. The devil of the battlefield. The red wolf calls for blood. It was clear that the adjectives I had seen in the gossip were not false. 

Who is troubling me now? Who is tying up the lady’s arms from behind and not letting go...! 

If it weren’t for his knights surrounding us, no matter how much dance music was flowing out, everyone would have focused on my face that was caught by him.

“It looks like you’re in trouble without a partner.”

The situation in which he had to follow his partner and take care of her and the voice of his subordinates speaking as if they had never seen his partner transferred from the beginning was so sweet and foreign.

"...Do you need help?”

"No!"

I shouted softly to the rhythm of the loud dance. I saw Neil, who was still hiding us and glancing at us, turn away with a pitiful expression as if that wasn't the right answer. 

Rhodnes pulled me closer to him. We were close enough that I could feel his breath from the top of my head to the nape of my neck. It gave me goosebumps.

“...Do you need help?”

I tense up and stubbornly keep on going at the more sinister voice. What I need is for this man to disappear. This man to disappear, and I need to find Noevian. Soon, I hear the sound of the dance gradually ending. And his knights who had been covering us started to move one by one as if it were a lie.

“Hey, wait a minute! This! Let go of this first!”

“...Do you need help?”

A gloomy but polite voice continued to ring in my ears. The sweet devil's whisper seemed to force every single hair on my head and grip my entire body tightly. With the sound of the dance ending, I nodded my head in resignation.

“Yes, I need help. So please let me go.”

Thump.

As I clenched my teeth and spoke, the hands that had been squeezing me loosened as if they had never been there. Soon, the sound that I could hear with my dull ears became clear as if I had left the water, and I could hear people talking nearby.

“...!”

Just like before, Rhodnes, with his arrogant and cold expression, was in front of me. The knights who had been covering us had dispersed without a trace. His hand suddenly reached out in front of me. It was a large hand wearing a white glove. With trembling eyes, I looked up at his long arm and neck, and his overly beautiful face. He was so tall that I had to raise my head far to meet his eyes.

Before I knew it, I felt the eyes of the people waiting for the fifth dance number turn to him and me, who had reached out their hands.

“Would you let me have your first dance?”

I don’t think he ever said that to the girl who first danced with him. 

The red-eyed beast spoke to me in a manner that was so polite that it almost felt arrogant. If I refuse, I’ll get more attention. 

I hurriedly grabbed the hand that was extended to me. The hand that was firmly held led me to the center of the hall like flowing water. The fifth dance began slowly as if it had been waiting for him and me to take our places. His hand immediately touched my bare back. I stumbled a little as my hair stood on end, but no one noticed it as Rhodnes naturally led me. 

I tried to look at his medals that filled my eyes even as I felt the gaze pouring down on me. Even when we were facing each other, I couldn’t bear to look at his face, so I just looked at his smooth, well-slender neck. His hand on my back was as hot as when he had grabbed my arm. And the tension that Noevian might be watching me consumed me.

'Prince Rhodes.'

How on earth did this Prince know the real me and be in the graveyard? 

If Neil had reported to this Prince that I was a maid named Marge, wouldn't it be normal for him to ask why a maid was here or get angry and ask why I deceived someone?

'Ha...'

As I was absentmindedly racking my brain, a man's extremely low voice, accompanied by hot breath, poured into my head.

“I heard that you are so humble that you can't have a surname.”

“...”

“This may be a story of no interest, but...”

He lifted me up lightly and spun me around. Having learned to dance diligently since I was young, I stumbled a little, but soon regained my composure. A low voice once again flowed out from Rhodnes’s mouth, which had a subtle expression on his face.

“A person who looks like you and I had our first dance here.”

"Thank you for giving me back those memories, Countess Acacia", he whispered in a lower voice.

“!”

I was struck by a slight shock. He immediately called me Countess Acacia. The lie that I was the maid of Countess Acacia's house was naturally a lie. There was no way a maid could wear such clothes and dance like this. And...

'The original me danced with this Prince?'

I have danced here only once in Adrienne's body. It was my first debutante when I was 20. It was at the masked ball that was held every New Year without fail.

'Who did I dance with that day?'

The only ones dancing that day were my older brother Gregory and Noevian? 

Unlike the warmth of his hands and my back, he kept an appropriate distance, neither too close nor too far away. Just like Noevian did when I was first a debutante. 

I relaxed my tense body and tried to continue dancing naturally until the end, recalling myself as a debutante when I was eighteen. The dance between Rhodnes and I was so well-matched that it was almost unbelievable as if we had always danced together. When the dance was coming to an end, Rhodnes, who had her hands clenched, was about to say something to me again. 

I followed the strangely felt gaze and raised my head. As I raised my face further past Rhodnes’ chiseled chin, I met Noevian’s blue eyes staring at me from the high steps.

“!”

I was so surprised that I stopped and stood there, but the dance ended just in time. I immediately pushed away Rhodnes’s firm chest and joined the crowd as they returned to their original positions. It was rude of me to do so.

"Ma'am!"

I heard Rhodnes' low cry, but when I met Noevian's gaze, my mind went blank and I couldn't think of anything.

'I can't miss this opportunity.'

I have to meet him. I have to meet him and check something out. 

I continued to climb the stairs, going against the tide of people looking for new partners to dance to the sixth dance number. 

*** 

Having lost sight of Noevian, I ran outside the party hall and through the garden. Shivering from the cold, I looked around to find Noevian. As I scanned the outer walls of the party hall building and examined the places where the terraces were gathered, I saw one of the many terraces that did not have an outer curtain. 

As soon as I spotted the black hair standing alone there, I ran up the outer stairs like a crazy woman. As soon as I opened the emergency door, pulled back the several layers of blackout curtains, and entered the second-floor hallway from which I had escaped, a cold hand grabbed my forearm in an instant.

"Ah!"

In an instant, I was sucked into a terrace where the curtains were drawn.

***

“Are you going to keep teasing me like this, Blie?”

The one who grabbed me was Noevian. A cold, low voice. 

Before I could even be surprised, I got goosebumps. Was it because it was cold? 

Yes, of course, that was true. I couldn't believe that he, who pretended not to see me on the first day of the funeral, called Blie's name exactly. I looked up at him, my two arms tightly held.

'Will you recognize me?'

Did he notice that something was a little different than usual? 

Noevian’s face was flushed. The pungent smell of alcohol vibrated. He seemed to have had quite a drink. His arms grabbed me tightly without hesitation, and his lower body came close. His heart pounded loud enough for me to hear. The terrace was as cold as the garden, but I felt like I was sweating. His eyes were pitch-black. His black hair was roughly tied up and messy as if he had never taken care of it. His deep eyelids took on an even more gloomy glow. It really wasn’t like him. It wasn’t the always perfect Noevian Trovica.

“Have you decided not to answer?”

He said with a sly smile, one corner of his mouth twisted. It was definitely Noevian, but it wasn’t the Noevian I knew. He frowned at me for a moment when I didn’t answer, then softened his expression as if he were showing mercy.

“Aren’t you going to keep your promise?”

Promise.

'What the hell is that fucking promise?'

Again, my voice was about to burst out. 

Noevian, what am I? Who are you to be doing this to me? Is Blie really your mistress?  Are the words that Count Acacia is saying, right before I die, really what you mean? 

I bit back the words that were about to burst out of my mouth and slowly opened my mouth.

“...What promise?”

I decided to start by asking about the 'promise' that had been bothering me for days. 

Noevian's hand that was holding my arm tightened. It was so tight that it stopped the blood flow. His thick eyebrows twitched noticeably. I absentmindedly looked at his face, seeing the fierce look in his eyes that Adrienne had never seen before.

“Is it going to come out like this?”

“...What, what promise?”

“The promise we made a year ago.”

'So, what promise are you talking about, Noevian?'

It's been two years since I married Noevian in Adrienne's body. And Blie and Noevian made a promise a year ago. What exactly did they promise?

“Do I really need to say that, as someone who lost his wife?”

Noevian wiped away his fierce face from before and whispered sadly. The two arms that had been tightly held on to me suddenly released as if it were a lie. He turned his long body and held on to the terrace railing instead of my arms, and lowered his head. With an expression that seemed as if he was about to vomit. When he said that he had lost his wife, I felt as if all the blood in my body was drained. He was truly sad. My heart began to beat faster.

“...Please tell me.”

But if not now, when will I hear it? 

He shrugged his shoulders and laughed at my insistence. But he didn't even look at my face until the end and lowered his gaze to the garden below the terrace.

“I want to confirm, so please tell me.”

I said it again, more strongly. The hand holding the railing began to tremble, and he suddenly approached me again.

“If by any chance I lose my wife...”

And then he half-growled and said to me.

“...You said you would be my complete government.”

Previous            Next

Support Novellate!