Come and Cry at My Funeral - Chapter 4
In the year Freesia turned twenty, Izar set off on a subjugation campaign against a major monster attack.
That day, she gathered her courage to join the crowd bidding him farewell.
‘Please, just look this way once.’
Standing on her tiptoes, she silently pleaded.
‘Just once, your Grace.’
But the mounted duke’s gaze never fell on her. Disappointed, she heard people whispering nearby.
“After this campaign, the lord is getting married, right?”
“I heard. Isn’t it to Ducal Lady Antares?”
“Our Duke deserves a woman of that stature.”
“Does this mean the imperial family has finally forgiven this place?”
The others spoke joyfully as if it was a happy occasion.
Freesia felt her blood slowly turn cold.
‘…I never had any expectations in the first place.’
It was a love that could never be fulfilled.
In the Celestica Empire, the class divide between nobility and commoners was vast. A marriage between a great noble and a lowborn commoner was as improbable as a union between a human and a beast.
‘All I need is my imaginary Duke.’
Like the lovers of the village did…
She imagined someone kissing her, smiling kindly at her, cherishing her.
But because she was ‘the madwoman’s daughter’, no one paid attention to Freesia.
‘But it would be sinful to fantasize about a married man, wouldn’t it?’
Izar was going to be another woman’s husband, consummate his marriage, and eventually have children.
The thought twisted her insides, leaving a bitter taste in her mouth.
A piercing sense of loss chilled her to the bone.
Freesia had nothing to lose to begin with, yet she found herself making such vain lamentations.
“If only I were a daughter of the Antares Duchy.”
Then she might have become the Duke’s wife.
She could have seen if her fantasies could become reality.
“Pfft. Haa…”
But even as she spoke, she laughed at the absurdity of her own words.
The daughter of a madwoman, the lowliest shepherdess of the territory.
‘How could someone like me ever become the bride of a nobleman?’
It was an impossible dream, and she knew she had to give it up.
Yet, life had been so devoid of sweetness that Freesia found it hard to let go of her fantasy.
‘I’ll imagine until the day Duke returns from the subjugation campaign.’
Unrequited love was painful, but it had sustained her through her hopeless existence.
She intended to be grateful for that and move on.
***
Months later, the aftermath of the monster attack reached the capital.
News arrived in the ducal estate that Izar’s party had saved the capital. People cheered for their lord’s victory, and Freesia sensed the impending end of her affection.
“When might he return?”
She wanted to hold onto her feelings until the very last moment.
But of course, there was no one to update a mere shepherdess about the Duke’s whereabouts.
“I wish I could see him just one more time…”
Just before entering her house, Freesia hesitated.
‘Why does it smell like blood at the door?’
Her heart pounded in her ears like a muffled drum.
‘Has Mother fallen out of bed?’
Her already frail mother had been ill more often that year. Instead of screaming in her nightmares, she drank herbal tea and slept, easing Freesia’s daily life somewhat.
Should she have run away at that moment?
“Mother! Are you al—”
But Freesia’s anxious hands had already flung the door wide open.
Her mother, who had been in bed that morning, was now lying on the floor. Beneath her, dark red blood was slowly spreading across the floor.
“……!”
Freesia was struck silent in shock.
People inside the dimly lit room approached her.
All but one wielded swords.
And the one without a sword approached her with a smile.
“Huu… All grown up now, hm? But who would’ve thought a bastard child was living here.”
Delicately manicured fair hands pulled back the hood covering the wearer’s face.
Freesia, meeting a noblewoman for the first time in her life, instantly realized who she was.
“She will be quite useful.”
This woman was the wife of her ‘father’.
Before long, Freesia was handed over to become the bride of Duke Arcturus.
It was during this year that she learned that, sometimes, wishes could be granted in the most twisted of ways.
***
Tracing back the origin of this situation, people blamed the former Duchess of Arcturus.
Izar’s mother had fallen in love with the leader of the rebels when he was three years old and left the ducal household. And after that, the rebels then successfully assassinated members of the imperial family using the secrets of the ducal house she brought with her.
The former Duke later suppressed the rebellion and took his own life as atonement. However, the Emperor’s anger for the loss of many family members was still fierce.
“House Arcturus should be grateful they have not been exterminated! As long as I sit on this throne, their sins shall never be forgiven!”
Due to the Emperor’s wrath, House Arcturus had been banished from the capital. A humiliating disgrace for a noble family.
However, when Izar saved the capital from monsters, public sentiment forced the Emperor to grant him a reward.
The Emperor decided to match him with a daughter from the prestigious Antares Duchy.
It was a stroke of luck for the Arcturus family, which had once hit rock bottom. It meant they’d be able to return to the imperial court’s activities.
However, far from the expectations of Arcturus and their vassals, the bride was not Atria, the only daughter of the Antares Duchy.
Instead, Duke Antares dredged up a bastard child he had with a fallen noblewoman. He put her forward as a substitute at the very last moment.
After the wedding ceremony, Izar repeatedly and roughly rubbed his face, letting out a dry laugh.
“Ha…”
In the bridal chamber, Freesia cowered in fear, not daring to raise her head.
Despite the shocking nature of the marriage, Izar had no escape.
The Antares Duchy was merely executing the Emperor’s orders. This mockery was the Emperor’s intention.
Unable to bear the heavy silence filled with scorn, Freesia spoke first.
“Your Grace…”
“Are you in on this too?”
“Pardon?”
“Are you asking if living in my estate was all part of your plan?”
Izar looked at her with disgust.
That look alone was enough to suffocate her.
